7.2 MSQ opinions (spoiler obviously)

[Lunaxia]

The biggest crux of such society...

I don't think it's that there wasn't any dissent, but rather they were able to work through it, for the most part, peacefully and fairly. It's probably why debate and rhetoric appeared to play a considerable part in their society; not only was it an integral part of their culture and education, but it also functioned as a way to communicate and understand one another through disputes and disagreements. There are even two Amaurotines "arguing" about foreign intervention in the side quests that take you through the city, but it's presented as friendly discourse. In both Amaurot and Elpis you can also see there were all manners of Ancients, some friendly, some snippy, some arrogant, some odd, happy, irritated, sad or otherwise, so it's not so much of a matter of suppression as the communal mindset of working through differences and setting aside petty personal vices and vendettas for the sake of the wider picture. Which I don't find difficult to believe in, personally, but YMMV.

I'm guessing you mean post-Sundering. And I'll say again, the answers you're looking for are already there for you if you look closer - Emet was clearly plagued by moments of doubt and in a difficult place of both actively looking for a reason to be freed from his awful mission while simultaneously feeling completely beholden to it, to the point that he took it upon himself to immerse himself in living as a mortal to find a reason for their survival (and failed.) Lahabrea grew reckless and effectively lost his mind in pursuit of their goal, and Elidibus, being part primal at that point and wholly in service to Zodiark, served almost as a cattle prod to keep them on track. They were gradually broken down in individual ways over the eons by what had happened to them, their isolation and the weight of what they were trying to achieve. I think Emet did realise it was futile in the end, but his devotion to his duty still meant he couldn't let go unless he was stopped. The other two were too far gone, and I don't find it at all hard to believe that their love and sense of duty towards their people blinded them from seeing any other path. It's funny how you feel so much for Hermes and his sense of isolation, but conversely expect so much from them under such circumstances.

I disagree on what constitutes "cruelty" and "indifference" here, on what I'd call a matter of ignorance. And of those who met Hermes and his point of view, almost all were sympathetic and trying to help, including one of the Ascians themselves, even if they struggled to know how. By all accounts, I think part of his problem was his reluctance to reach out, because we see the Ancients demonstrate a capability for growth and change when actually given the opportunity to.

Oh it won't surprise me. I was there when we have our little forum pvp back in Endwalker XD

It's almost nostalgic, huh?

[OMGJesuis66]

(snip)

I agree with the reluctance bit, but that would have been still a "Me X World" scenario. As for the rest, it's individual interpretations of what was left vague in the narrative. I still have an incredible hard time to relate to them given measures and conducts that took them to *seven times* cause global catastrophes over thousands and thousands of years. They had time for a lot of different options and growth.

But, it is what it is, I would be just repeating myself at this point and forward.

[Lunaxia]

I agree with the reluctance bit, but that would have been still a "Me X World" scenario. As for the rest, it's individual interpretations of what was left vague in the narrative. I still have an incredible hard time to relate to them given measures and conducts that took them to *seven times* cause global catastrophes over thousands and thousands of years. They had time for a lot of different options and growth.

But, it is what it is, I would be just repeating myself at this point and forward.

I wonder? Speculation is all we really have given they've now closed that chapter, but it's worth remembering that goes both ways. What you mention as lacking in their society could conceivably exist; pockets of disagreement, rebellion, frustration, all of which you're looking for. Perhaps Amaurot was perceived less positively by its neighbours for its attitude than one might think, and was something of an outlier for the standards it chose to live by. We may never know. The rest, however, does come through in the story when you actually keep an eye out for it.

And it's fair to criticise them and question them for why they did in fact never pause to think, or become able to view the Sundered through a different lens. What I call a sense of love and duty does also mean damnation for the choices made for that cause, albeit I do think your expectations are a little high. And maybe there were shards of the other Ascians who thought it was a lost cause and called time - after all, we have a fragment of Loghrif who chose to walk away from it, despite her connection to her partner from back then. My point isn't that you should sympathise, but goes back to your original post saying the story itself fails to set up an adequate and plausible explanation for the path they chose to take, which I firmly believe it absolutely does.

[MoofiaBossVal]

I thought it was neat that Wuk Lamat was talking to people in the background. I thought it made her look like someone who could get stuff done, cared about people, was doing some work as a representative of Tural, etc. Previously she wasn't shown really stepping up to do anything. Yeah she broke into the dome but that felt more like her derelicting her duty as a leader to go on a selfish pursuit and satisfying her own curiosity rather than organizing her country and assuaging the people. I still think it is odd that she - a foreign head of state who killed the local sovereign - is still loitering in Alexandria. That just sounds like a risky idea.

[KageTokage]

The fact that Calyx immediately recognizes us as the actual threat he should be paying attention to was refreshing after Zoraal Ja didn't so much as acknowledge our existence.

[Hallarem]

"I shouldnt do anything to shake the political situation."

THEN LEAVE!

it was just dev lip service tbh. Like "We know some of you like political intrigue and actual worldbuilding..... aaaaaanyway. Heres some more slop"

Patch was decent, Sphene was great but it only takes one bad turn from this shakey Wuk Lamat ridden road to full 7.0 Wukkie slop again.

[Kozh]

"I shouldnt do anything to shake the political situation."

THEN LEAVE!

it was just dev lip service tbh. Like "We know some of you like political intrigue and actual worldbuilding..... aaaaaanyway. Heres some more slop".

Bingo. At this point anything resembling political intrigue is just a half assed attempt from the writer to bait people into thinking they still care about it. They couldn't even do worldbulding properly for Tural, which was basically a blank sheet since we barely knew anything about it.

They should bring maehiro (HW writer) back, isn't ff16 done already?

[Zelda206]

I've analyzed the plot of DT, the story, the characters and I've found that the biggest glaring issue with this expansion is that it doesn't know what to do with itself because it heavily focuses on politics.
And for a character (or two) to express doubts about getting INVOLVED with politics while being a political figurehead (i.e. leader of a nation) is a blatant red flag to the minds writing this particular story. It somewhat reminds me of the time when Bioware was talking about making "The Dreadwolf" and said "Oh, this time it's going to be a lot more involved with politics" when, from the get-go, the franchise already had slavery and prejudice.

I'm not saying we need doom-and-gloom at all times to make an interesting story (despite Shadowbringers being made up entirely of that with pockets of sunshine and still being praised as one of the best expansions in the MMORPG), but the tail-chasing in DT makes it wholly unappealing, not just disinteresting.