What's the point with that quite lackluster story in Endwalker?

[ZavosEsperian]

I can do this too. 6.0 post patches were boring and I literally had zero interest in them. I was very happy to see it end. 6.0 by comparison was amazing. La la la

Meanwhile, I find both of them rather difficult to enjoy due to various plot holes that exist. That being said I wont tell you what you should think is "good" or "bad"

[Lady_Silvermoon]

Meanwhile, I find both of them rather difficult to enjoy due to various plot holes that exist. That being said I wont tell you what you should think is "good" or "bad"

I was just happy no more blood was being added to our ledger. "Oh, a story about the power of friendship, that's cool." Though I really hope we're done with the assisted suicide boss fights, it's getting depressing. I'm tired of powerful beings using the WoL to end their existence. Build a volcano or something and leave me out of it.

[Vyrerus]

I'm still a bit bent out of shape about the whole dialogue between Zero and Durante.

"Do you think we could truly have the world of old back?"

"Anything is possible if we work together!"

Straight up kneecapping their own themes for the 6.0 expansion in the 6.5 story resolution. I'm not sure if they've ever done that quite so overtly before.

[Theodric]

It's unfortunate but it's exactly what I expect to see more of moving forward. The game has always been exceedingly preachy but I think a lot of people could stomach it much more easily when it at least tried to be consistent.

That aside, I remain morbidly curious to see what the upcoming Fan Fest intends to reveal in order to drum up excitement and further investment in the game's story.

[EgilTheStressedMage]

I'm still a bit bent out of shape about the whole dialogue between Zero and Durante.

"Do you think we could truly have the world of old back?"

"Anything is possible if we work together!"

Straight up kneecapping their own themes for the 6.0 expansion in the 6.5 story resolution. I'm not sure if they've ever done that quite so overtly before.

Bold of you to assume the writers remembering anything they didn't write, like, or want in their story.

[Palladiamors]

Bold of you to assume the writers remembering anything they didn't write, like, or want in their story.

And that is the problem with projects of this nature, too many hands in the pot. When you have writers who can work with and respect others work it's fine but XIV hasn't had that since at LEAST Stormblood and I feel like people could point me to earlier examples as well.

As someone who has voraciously devoured books since first grade, the worst thing you can do is have multiple writers work on the same story or book series without a strong collaboration. At best it feels like taking an unexpected step down in the dark, at worst like you just dropped off a cliff.

[strawberrycake]

I feel like XIV in particular has just gotten away from what it means to tell a compelling story. A lot of what drew me in was the internal conflicts of the WoL as well as the possibility that we were fighting a fight that would possibly be our undoing. But it ultimately fell short due to so much of what has happened, what was happening and now seemingly what is going to happen, be reduced to Shounen anime nonsense with a feel good msg. And I'll be honest, some of my favorite animes are just that, but at least in those cases it doesn't feel reductive. Metion feels reductive, how the ancients turned out feels reductive.

One moment I'm praising the story for there to be this possibility that the planet itself was enacting a possible cycle, this unknown sound coming seemingly from deep within the planet, to a giant bird familiar who's too empathetic, manipulating the powers of emotion to exact her vengeance for making her feel feels......Can we go back to when we thought Zodiark and Hydaelyn were two parts of some bigger Primal God that was in the earth making the sounds that turned people into monsters?

[Solakor]

I feel like XIV in particular has just gotten away from what it means to tell a compelling story. A lot of what drew me in was the internal conflicts of the WoL as well as the possibility that we were fighting a fight that would possibly be our undoing. But it ultimately fell short due to so much of what has happened, what was happening and now seemingly what is going to happen, be reduced to Shounen anime nonsense with a fell good msg. And I'll be honest, some of my favorite animes are just that, but at least in those cases it feels reductive. Metion feels reductive, how the ancients turned out feels reductive.

One moment I'm praising the story for there to be this possibility that the planet itself was enacting a possible cycle, this unknown sound comming seemingly from deep within the planet, to a giant bird familiar who's too empathetic, manipulating the powers of emotion to exact her vengence for making her feel feels......Can we go back to when we thought Zodiark and Hydaelyn were two parts of some bigger Primal God that was in the earth making the sounds that turned people into monsters?

This.
I don't understand how you can eat up this nonsense after the more mature writing that happened before.
Like how do the "best minds" who can literally do almost anything decide that an immature kid who is confused with his emotions and how the world works should be a leader of a section of their society and then make him able to create a thing without restraints?
And the biggest offender, power of feelings. M8 did they pay disney for the copyright for that?

I will give the writer a bit of leeway for covid and trying to cram everything into a single patch so ultimately the fault lies with the one who decided they need to wrap things up quick.
IMO they should have just took their time and made 2 expacs to flesh out the garlemald arc and then the asciancs arc.

[Lady_Silvermoon]

And the biggest offender, power of feelings. M8 did they pay disney for the copyright for that?

Oh how I wish my problem with Endwalker was that it had a lame saccharin sweet moral. Because see, the moral I got wasn't the power of feelings, but that for the strong to survive, the weak must be culled. And the weak are any ethnic group sitting on land we want and the mentally ill. Hermes, Meteion and the blasphemies are all dangers to society due to an inability to handle trauma. So much of a danger that the entire universe might end if these weaklings are allowed to roam free. They must be put down for the good of all. It's the kind of mentality that gets mentally ill people choked to death on subways because the passengers are afraid of their strange behavior.

How they gave our beloved mommy the same worldview as Zenos without noticing is beyond me. "Meaningless? Men die that others may live. Those who survive are stronger for it." How do you accidentally make an argument for fascism?! How did no one see what was being implied by Endwalker?

So by the time we get to the 6.1 content and they are sticking with morals as benign as the importance teamwork, you get no complaints from me because at least it's not about who we should exterminate for the good of all. But then based on comments here it hit me that Golbez has been working with others the entire time. Both before and after their world fell to darkness, so the argument that their world fell to darkness because they fought alone falls flat. They came out on a tricycle with training wheels and still messed up their themes. I am afraid for Dawntrail. I just don't trust these writers to not have us do a colonialism at this point.

I'm already getting my arguments ready as to why it's wrong to go to a foreign land, conquer them and install a government that serves our interests because at this point we didn't defeat the Garleans--we became them.

[Solakor]

I don't think they meant for that kind of message tbh but the fact that you can make so many head canons and not having a good coherent story is why it is bad.
Again, trying to fit 2 expacs (at least) worth of stuff into a single patch is bound to fail.