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

[ZavosEsperian]

I dunno. I just can't find the mid-air rescue all that contrived when we've seen Ancient magicks do precise things like pluck a specific person's soul from the Lifestream and conjure them the clothes they were wearing before they vanished, or recreate a whole city from memory and inhabit it with shades of the past, or erase memories from a very specific starting point. Mind you, all of this was done by unsundered Ancients like Venat, so I don't see why she's the one deserving of flack when she does it.

There are lots of contrived failures within the plot and usually, when they happen, it is to a character who should be able to overcome the issue at hand without much struggle. Venat failing to catch Meteion is one specific example that has long standing implications on the plot since catching Meteion would cause the plot to end right there unless Hermes had a few spare Meteia in his proverbial back pocket. Furthermore, it is likely the most egregious case of someone failing when they honestly shouldn't from the protagonists side of the story. I will list some of the other cases below since there are quite a few I can name off of the top of my head.

Some would argue the early loss against Ranjit in 5.0 was a case of contrived failure. Or, particularly more infuriating if you are a ranged class at the time, when Misija gives up control over Mikoto inside of the Bozja storyline, thereby opening themselves up to a ranged attack to neutralize her. Throwing Nidhogg's eyes off a bridge, while seemingly a good idea, ends up coming back haunt the protagonists later down the line. There are likely others, but none of these have the same consequences from contrived failure as what Venat's failure had.

To me, these sorts of devices cause more plot contrivances than not and they tend to come at the expense of the story as a whole since then clarification is likely needed to explain why character X couldn't do action Y. It isn't per say a fault of Venat herself, it is more of a fault of the writers.

[Sayo_]

Same here. Whilst I gather it's generally a pretty popular part of the Endwalker story in most player's view, I hated it.

I absolutely detest countdown timers and in this case I'll admit, it stressed me out. I'd have been fine if the same scenario had occurred without that damned timer but as it was I failed it the first time making stupid mistakes that I wouldn't have otherwise made.

I didn't mind the timer so much as the way you're forced to interact with things in a specific order. And the quick time event at the end felt kinda cheap. I'm glad I was paying attention. But I also didn't really like how the situation was setup or how nothing came of it.

[Vyrerus]

But I also didn't really like how the situation was setup or how nothing came of it.

I know you're talking about In From The Cold, but this sentence really does apply to pretty much every major story beat in Endwalker for me.

But also especially to that quest, because legitimately it was just a thing that happened. Zenos didn't use our body for anything other than a menacing stroll. We didn't seem to really learn anything by piloting the Garlean's body. There were no references or tie ins back to it, as of yet.

Some theory crafting in and around the whole, "Soul Supply" section of Solution-9 does have some thinkers thinking, but theory crafting generally trends towards mostly inaccurate, given our writers'/devs' love of expectation subversion.

[Swordsman]

But also especially to that quest, because legitimately it was just a thing that happened. Zenos didn't use our body for anything other than a menacing stroll.

Yeah, where the hell did that body switch ability come from? It's like the writers just threw that into the game to create some manufactured tension for the audience.

[Supersnow845]

I have a story question that I’m not sure if it’s fully explained or not, well two questions in one sorta

1) did the twelve get sundered, if yes where does their immense power come from and what about the shards of the 12, if no then my second question

2) does deryk retain memories of the unsundered world

(Half of me is genuinely curious the other half is trying to make my WOLxderyk headcanon world lore accurate)

[Carin-Eri]

I have a story question that I’m not sure if it’s fully explained or not, well two questions in one sorta

1) did the twelve get sundered, if yes where does their immense power come from and what about the shards of the 12, if no then my second question

2) does deryk retain memories of the unsundered world

(Half of me is genuinely curious the other half is trying to make my WOLxderyk headcanon world lore accurate)

Can only recall the answer to #1 - and that, I think, was that they were sundered in their Ancient forms but Hydaelyn used the souls of the relevant, sundered, Ancients as the 'core' for the reincarnated forms they took as members of the twelve.

[Sayo_]

I know you're talking about In From The Cold, but this sentence really does apply to pretty much every major story beat in Endwalker for me.

But also especially to that quest, because legitimately it was just a thing that happened. Zenos didn't use our body for anything other than a menacing stroll. We didn't seem to really learn anything by piloting the Garlean's body. There were no references or tie ins back to it, as of yet.

Not only that, but I was really bothered by how we were just captured by Fandaniel. Like, if it were that easy why did the Ascians even have trouble with us to begin with?

[Sayo_]

Yeah, where the hell did that body switch ability come from? It's like the writers just threw that into the game to create some manufactured tension for the audience.

I think I can answer that one, but it's just a theory. Back during Ala Mhigo (the dungeon) one of the bosses rips your soul out of your body. So maybe it's just the next evolution of that?

[Absurdity]

Not only that, but I was really bothered by how we were just captured by Fandaniel. Like, if it were that easy why did the Ascians even have trouble with us to begin with?

It's the Superman problem, we're always exactly as strong as the plot needs us to be...and utterly useless in cutscenes.

[Dikatis]

Yeah, where the hell did that body switch ability come from? It's like the writers just threw that into the game to create some manufactured tension for the audience.

Anyone with sufficient mastery of the Echo can body hop. The Ascians, a Sahagin priest, and Minfilia all do it. Zenos does it unwittingly after giving himself an artificial Echo via the Resonance procedure in Stormblood in tandem with Aulus Asina's research into the soul, as shown when Aulus' machinery extracts it while he's fighting you at Ala Mhigo. Fandaniel retrieved his research (which was widespread enough for Misjia to use it to give herself the Resonance in Bozja) and used it to rip WoL's soul out for Zenos to inhabit the body.

There was plenty of foreshadowing for this being a possibility. It didn't come out of nowhere like you're claiming.