I feel like people are too harsh on Endwalker, though...

[Mimilu]

Personally, I was dissapointed with EW's story, it didn't pluck my heartstrings, wrench my gut, or jerk my tears. ꉂ (´∀｀)ʱªʱªʱª

Things I personally didn't like about EW's main plot (in no particular order of importance):
-The focus of the story was more on secondary and side characters then on the WoL, like they did with SB versus the more WoL-focused ShB and HW (to a lesser-extent).
-The stakes of the story were so high that there was no way we would fail, leading to a loss of tension for me. Status Quo is god, Status Quo is life (at least for the devs and story writers).
-While I liked seeing the Ancients, how they handled them, especially with Hermes and Venat, felt so forced and stupid.
-With all the areas we got this expansion not being connected or even close to each other, it felt very jumpy.
-Saradie mentioned Necron from IX coming from nowhere and that's how I view Meteion/the End Singer. Necron at least has the benefit of being thematically relevant to IX's core messages about mortality, The End Singer only themetically works for EW's story, not the whole of XIV's story we experienced up to this point.
-While I can appreciate that they tried to tackle so darker themes, I felt they handle them shallowly (and at times juvenilely) with platitudes and inspiring handwaves.
-The impressions they gave during fanfests and other presentation of the story was that we were bringing the war to the Garlean's doorstep. We did not...
-I hated the Scion sacrificing scenes in Ultima Thule. It's become a running joke that the Scions do these kind of sacrifices and get away scotch free. Removes all tension and sentimentality from the scene for me.
-Zenos. I never cared for Zenos as a enemy, let alone our (the WoL's) personal enemy. Having said that, the only time I felt any form of tension during EW's story was Zenos's body swapping episode only for that to lead to nothing.

I could post more but I'll leave it at this for now. (≖‿≖)

[WillIrishclover]

I loved base story Endwalker, i thought it was a bit slow at the start, but I genuinely had a blast finishing it.

The patch story however just wasn't up to the usual quality, I however get it was basically made to help build sometime up for the new story arc beginning in Dawntrail, but yeah 6.0 story I enjoyed, 6.X patch story eh...

[Mecia]

Bunch of one and done content and ''content''. Thankfully DT has field content back which was sorely missed.

Ive no complaints with the story itself though.

[Swordsman]

Personally, I was dissapointed with EW's story, it didn't pluck my heartstrings, wrench my gut, or jerk my tears. ꉂ (´∀｀)ʱªʱªʱª

Things I personally didn't like about EW's main plot (in no particular order of importance):
-The focus of the story was more on secondary and side characters then on the WoL, like they did with SB versus the more WoL-focused ShB and HW (to a lesser-extent).
-The stakes of the story were so high that there was no way we would fail, leading to a loss of tension for me. Status Quo is god, Status Quo is life (at least for the devs and story writers).
-While I liked seeing the Ancients, how they handled them, especially with Hermes and Venat, felt so forced and stupid.
-With all the areas we got this expansion not being connected or even close to each other, it felt very jumpy.
-Saradie mentioned Necron from IX coming from nowhere and that's how I view Meteion/the End Singer. Necron at least has the benefit of being thematically relevant to IX's core messages about mortality, The End Singer only themetically works for EW's story, not the whole of XIV's story we experienced up to this point.
-While I can appreciate that they tried to tackle so darker themes, I felt they handle them shallowly (and at times juvenilely) with platitudes and inspiring handwaves.
-The impressions they gave during fanfests and other presentation of the story was that we were bringing the war to the Garlean's doorstep. We did not...
-I hated the Scion sacrificing scenes in Ultima Thule. It's become a running joke that the Scions do these kind of sacrifices and get away scotch free. Removes all tension and sentimentality from the scene for me.
-Zenos. I never cared for Zenos as a enemy, let alone our (the WoL's) personal enemy. Having said that, the only time I felt any form of tension during EW's story was Zenos's body swapping episode only for that to lead to nothing.

I could post more but I'll leave it at this for now. (≖‿≖)

Yep, I agree with a lot of this. Endwalker MSQ is a great example of style over substance.

[Jeeqbit]

Maybe it's just the parts of the internet I'm on, but it feels like people really don't like this expansion, almost in it's entirety

It's just the people you spend your time around. Endwalker is a very popular expansion with some amazing, magical scenes and experiences in the story, and fun dungeons and trials. Most people think that; it's just the veteran players that spend all their time in the game, repeated all the content to the point of boredom and then started to complain about it all.

6.0 had some of the most heart-string plucking, gut-wrenching, and tear-jerking story, interactions, and overall plot that I've ever had the joy of playing through...

It does. It helped a lot of people through depression by daring to confront it, when many other people would stay far away from that. I can't imagine other storytellers daring to confront it so deeply. It didn't really impact me like that because I'm not depressed, but it directly taps into a lot of the feelings people have when they're depressed and tries to help them find a way to be positive about life.

There were people who didn't like the "fake deaths", but they are definitely missing the point. The story was meant to make you feel depressed in a land of depression, and a way to snatch that from you is to take away characters you've grown attached to. The story was meant to make you feel hopeful as you progressed through Ultima Thule, so they introduced the possibility they might return. Then at the end they did so that hope was restored. Just leaving them dead would have ended the story on a very depressing note when that wasn't the goal of the story. The goal was to overcome said depression.

Though the patch content leaves much to be desired.

I've enjoyed it but I agree it has sort of been like the sidequest trial stories. I don't think most expansions' patch quests are really much deeper though, at least until the .3, .4 and .5 patches.

I think doing what ARR did and setting up another story that we might not see the full pay off for until much later is a step backwards.

• ARR foreshadowed Stormblood with Little Ala Mhigo, Doman Refugees arriving, battles with Ilberd and discussions about Omega.
• Heavensward patches foreshadowed Shadowbringers with describing the shard split, the sundering, the Warriors of Darkness and Minfilia traveling to The First. (You could argue it foreshadowed Zodiark being bound to the moon in Endwalker as well).
• Stormblood patches foreshadowed going to Garlemald... although, at the time, the plan did not seem it would be destroyed when we went there. But that's how it turned out. It also foreshadowed Zenos' return.

Things are typically foreshadowed in the patches leading up to the prior expansion, rather than the patches leading up to the expansion itself. They are just doing what they always do.

One thing I will give only flak for is the Relic Weapons though.

Yes, relics need to be earned. If you want a quick weapon, get a crafted weapon from the market board or farm an extreme if you are into High-End duties.

Me and my friends are all excited for the new story, and the new classes in Dawntrail, knowing full well that we're not doing much other than having fun in the Turalian sun

It is not going to be a holiday. That's what they want to make casual players think, but if you even slightly glance at the media outside of the trailer or the theme of the pre-order rewards, it will become clear there is far more to Dawntrail than that.

[Supersnow845]

EW really didn’t feel like it had time to breathe but also spent too long trying to force in moments of levity that while needed ended up being too long and distracted from the main story (loporits im looking at you)

The final resolution with garlemald was rushed, garlemald has been the driving antagonistic force behind the game since even pre meteor project legacy, sure the ascians were ultimately responsible but they didn’t really come into the light with a defined plan until about the post SB MSQ, whereas garlemald has been there since day 0

The final days we had both caught a glimpse of in amurot and they also felt like a poor copy of the light soaked first when we first visit it in kholusia and arm areng, they also didn’t feel like they had any “oomph behind them considering they were limited to so geographically limited area

The actual final antagonist being Meteion I actually didn’t mind, the ancients destroying their own world and the entire universe in their own hubris over their perceived perfection is a perfect end state of their society and that also enhanced characters like emet selch who despite all of this was still utterly convinced of the superiority of the ancients. However the time travel plotline “pigeonholing the unsundered and venat was horrid because it basically removed the agency of everyone except Hermes who by rights isn’t really a villain, just a conduit of the flawed worldview of the ancients

The content for the expansion was horrid however. The 6.1-6.5 story is basically just a re-organised trial questline and the sloppy inclusion of the first is hilariously bad, the actual battle content ranges from bad to boring

[Jeeqbit]

moments of levity that while needed ended up being too long and distracted from the main story

I mean they do but Final Fantasy and FFXIV in particular always does this. Typically an FF game will take you through a village where you meet a new race. If you don't like that race then the entire thing is tedious and boring.

FFXIV in particular has always done that sort of thing, such as sending us to find out about Little Ala Mhigo and beast tribes that sent you running around the Sylph area. Heavensward sent us to learn all about the moogles and do all their quests. Stormblood had us messing around with the tribes in the Azim Steppe and the Namazu. Shadowbringers had us messing around with the dwarfs and the not-Sahagin.

If you don't like these races then they are going to be tedious and boring. But it is just what FFXIV always does and probably will do again. I entirely expected it to happen the moment they said "you will encounter The Lopporits in Endwalker".

The final resolution with garlemald was rushed, garlemald has been the driving antagonistic force behind the game since even pre meteor project legacy, sure the ascians were ultimately responsible but they didn’t really come into the light with a defined plan until about the post SB MSQ, whereas garlemald has been there since day 0

Although I was once excited for a Garlean expansion, there are a few truths to consider.

Shadowbringers destroyed my excitement for a Garlean expansion by sweeping me into a different world and revealing that Garlemald was created by Ascians. In that moment they reduced them to a mere puppet.

We already had a Garlean expansion, in a way, by fighting the Garleans in Othard and again in Gyr Abania.

We fought the Garleans in Bozja and it would be very difficult to top Bozja in terms of feeling like we're fighting a war. Main Story quests don't quite replicate the feeling of navigating the Bozjan Southern Front and participating in Skirmishes and Critical Engagements.

[Brynne]

I sincerely believe that this type of audience is a problem. Because by assuming that video games should only ever be a form of pleasurable escapade, we're stifling the medium, which no longer has a future. It wouldn't occur to anyone to claim that literature should only deal with pleasurable themes (... Although; in view of certain polemics in the US, I'm beginning to doubt it), so why claim it for videogamess?

As for the rest, we all have our traumas. It's impossible to avoid them all, except by presenting a game that's all rainbows and kittens.

Whether or not it's a problem is subjective. I personally think there's absolutely room for an audience like that, you're not alone. I hope you do get a game that caters to your tastes, and if a game developer wants to go that route, they should feel the freedom to do so. But this particular game is not going in that direction, and I personally hope it never does. FFXIV has always had the underlying theme of hope overcoming despair. It's not going to be everyone's jam, but it clearly resonates with a lot of people, and I don't think they're a 'problem' for wanting a game like that. Is there room in the industry for dark, gritty, no-hand-holding stories? Sure there is; the fact that you are saying this and others are agreeing with you is proof. But there's always going to be a large audience who want escapist fantasy, and games that cater to that audience. I think there's room for both genres to co-exist.

[ReynTime]

Of all of XIV's expansions, Endwalker stands out as the most shallow, style over substance, calculatingly manufactured, often contradictory, and full of cheap forced attempts at 'feels' piece of shit this game ever had in 10 years.
People who cried at any point during Endwalker cutscenes probably shed a tear from watching Avengers.

[Boblawblah]

People who cried at any point during Endwalker cutscenes probably shed a tear from watching Avengers.

I cried during Endgame, I cried during Life is Beautiful, and I cried during homeward bound.



It's OKAY to get involved in a story and cry even if debbie downers don't like it.