I don't really know how to express my feeling towards the story of EW but I can say that I feel like it felt mostly like misery prawn. There was a lot of talk about misery and the theme was clearly nihilism vs hope, but the way it came across wasn't really that good. The end of Ultima Thule is a huge example of this. I'm not saying it wasn't effective, but that it was pure misery and loss for the sake of misery and loss. Dead ends is a beautiful dungeon but hammers down too hard how everyone is miserable everywhere in this wide universe and beyond. We know why abimonations are born but what does it mean to fall in despair in FFXIV is unclear.

I'm still wondering what are the clues for Metion that Yoshi-P hinted before EW. I thought the plot would have taken the more logical turn of Hydelyn is the bad guy after all the hinting. Hermes and Metion are not bad characters but feel like they don't belong in this story. As many have already said, they feel tacked on and hastly made. Both could have worked better with more careful writing. Even Athena would've made more sense and had had more clues.

I personally would have preferred if Sharlayan had been a nation that had found out about the ancients and had become arrogant. (So effectively to have no connection to Hydelyn and the excuse of 'we are building an ark no one knows about because...?') The pure need to protect and shield themselves from every and all outsiders as a nation is already something that is implied. Elpis should have been brought up earlier. Garlemald was OK but there's something is still bothering me... Is that whole area just an area for the body swap and a way to get to the moon? Lopoporrits were fine I guess but could have had a bigger role on the moon and as a whole.

One thing that annoys me is that this was marketed as a closing chapter but there wasn't really that much closing. Just finishing things and quickly moving on. What I mean by this is that e.g. the job quests got ther epilogues in Shadowbringers already. There weren't any kind of stories after the MSQ that felt like they were a closing chapter after a story. Just a quick new start. The Zero story line could have been that if it was better written and not just FF IV redux. I don't know if this bothers anyone else.

There were more than one good portion however. Not fan of the body swap but it's an importan scenario. Aitioscope is great. The Urianger scene in Sharlayan is great. The part with Quintus is great. Mother crystal (the battle) is great. The idea of Dead ends is great. I love the conversation scene with Venat. So it's not all bad.