FF is not GoT.

[CyrilLucifer]

Oh boy, looks like someone didn't play FFXI.

I actually started writing out a list of characters that either flat our die or suffer unpleasant fates in one of XI's many multiverses, but stopped when I hit 7 because I realized that holy hell XI is a depressing game and it basically nullifies your point entirely because it would list every single named character in the game. I'm sorry. Seekers of Adoulin alone is almost brutal enough to put Heavensward to shame; the one character that does live through his death ends up a vampire...thing, not just a fakeout death like XIV is prone to.

But I respectfully disagree. You can make many generalizations about Final Fantasy, but your vision of what Final Fantasy 'should' be isn't always what Final Fantasy 'is;' there is no one singular, unified Final Fantasy. Death has been a thing in FF all the way back in FFII, where you had more playable characters dead than alive. And FFI? That entire game is about characters suffering horrible fates in a time loop. I'm sorry you don't enjoy Heavensward, but I don't think it's really anyone's place but the developer's to make the decision on the tone of the story.