Please help me like the MSQ ending more

[LineageRazor]

O.P.: I definitely understand your frustration with the whole "Warrior or Darkness" not really being dark at all - but I felt that the storytelling in this expansion was overall quite good. I thought the game did a great job of portraying a world on the verge of destruction, while its inhabitants' lives continued to go on - I felt that the portrayal of hope in the face of hopelessness we found everywhere we went was very inspiring. The Crystal Exarch, while not native to the world, was another great example of this; he continued to hold out hope, even in the face of the crushing odds against him. Emet-Selch... I didn't expect to like or sympathize with him, but by golly, I did. I could understand why he was doing what he was doing, and felt badly for the situation he was in.

It sounds like a big part of problem you have is that the Warrior of Light is basically untouchable, and I can sympathize with that feeling. I really preferred the player's situation in FFXI, where we accomplished and were involved in some incredible things, but we were not some kind of paragon-like god among mortals. If you take the player character out of the equation, how does the story feel to you, now?

While I do like how FFXIV handles dark and mature themes, I was a bit worried the story could go in the nowadays popular "shocking" and edgy direction. If a story is too bleak and/or tries too hard to shock me, I just roll my eyes and stop caring about it. To me hopeless crap sack worlds are just as uninteresting as sickly sweet flowers & rainbows settings.

I'm in agreement, here. About halfway through Game of Thrones, I'd WELL reached the point of Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy, and was mainly only still watching so that I'd be able to chat about it with my friends and relatives who were fans. Bolt-from-the-blue deaths might be more "realistic", but this is a fantasy story, and I'm fine with meaningful deaths.

That said, I was deeply disappointed they dipped into the rescue-from-the-lifestream well AGAIN for Y'shtola. To me, it cheapened the original rescue - especially considering that Y'sh didn't even suffer any physical effects (that we know of) this time, like her blindness from the first. I'm not saying they should have killed her off, but if their goal was to show how much she was willing to sacrifice for her new people, I would have preferred another way.

[Erendis]

That said, I was deeply disappointed they dipped into the rescue-from-the-lifestream well AGAIN for Y'shtola. To me, it cheapened the original rescue - especially considering that Y'sh didn't even suffer any physical effects (that we know of) this time, like her blindness from the first.

That's probably because this time she spent there a lot less time.

[Hezzlocks]

That said, I was deeply disappointed they dipped into the rescue-from-the-lifestream well AGAIN for Y'shtola. To me, it cheapened the original rescue - especially considering that Y'sh didn't even suffer any physical effects (that we know of) this time, like her blindness from the first. I'm not saying they should have killed her off, but if their goal was to show how much she was willing to sacrifice for her new people, I would have preferred another way.

I actually felt like the lifestream thing didn't cheapen out the original rescue at all, and i'm glad there weren't any repercussions as she barely spent any time in the lifestream this time. Rather, I felt like it was less about Y'shtola and more about Emet-Selch. When it was discovered she was lost in the lifestream again, the Scions had all but given up hope on her surviving. Urianger himself said they had no way of recovering her without the elements help like last time.

But, this led into the perfect opportunity for Emet-Selch to showcase just how powerful he is, that he could easily do with a snap of his fingers what it took the elements and three Padjali white mages some fair amount of effort - and then snapped his fingers again to clothe her just for good measure. At the same time, he also earned a little bit of favour with the Scions, and displayed his genuine desire for cooperation, should we prove ourselves worthy.

As such, I feel like Y'shtola's time in the Lifestream was less about her, and more about Emet-Selch being a badass.

[Theodric]

Never mind Y'shtola and Ran'jit. If the plot can find a way to have them both get out of that pit unscathed then we better see the clumsy soldier again too. He only showed up in a couple of scenes but he made quite the impression.

Part of me is entertaining the idea that the pit actually leads into Shadowbringer's version of POTD/HOH. The Ronkan architecture and traps just lend themselves very well to such a thing.

[TankHunter678]

Never mind Y'shtola and Ran'jit. If the plot can find a way to have them both get out of that pit unscathed then we better see the clumsy soldier again too. He only showed up in a couple of scenes but he made quite the impression.

Part of me is entertaining the idea that the pit actually leads into Shadowbringer's version of POTD/HOH. The Ronkan architecture and traps just lend themselves very well to such a thing.

And because Ran'jit only rushed through it he did not get any leveling done which is why he lost later to Thancred? I could see that being the case.

[Vayanne]

That poor Eulmoran Adjutant, he was such a good comic relief. I have a slight hope we may see him in the Hildibrand quests, he's a perfect fit.

[MistakeNot]

You don't think this expansions story is over yet, do you?
Judging from the earlier expansions, the Shadowbringers story won't conclude until around patch 5.3 or so.

[Ayuhra]

I liked the story but I agree with one thing: The ending of the "light sickness" plot thread was disappointing.

I was hoping we'd carry that into the post MSQ.

What I think would have been cool is the WoL and the Scions trying to find a way to restore all the sin eaters into "human" forms and during that quest the WoL turns into a Lightwarden. You have to play through a complicated Duty as one of the Scions and fight the new Lightwarden and then this cure is applied, turning the WoL and everyone else back to normal.

Having the WoL in existential peril made me more invested since normally WoL is untouchable through all of their plot armor.

[ICountFrom0]

I liked the story but I agree with one thing: The ending of the "light sickness" plot thread was disappointing.

I was hoping we'd carry that into the post MSQ.

I've been thinking about this, and nobody else in this topic seems to have looked at it, but...

Everybody on the source, who had been an original person, is now split into 14 people spread across all 14 shards due to the devision.
Those who where strong enough reincarnated and echoed down through history.

When two shards joined, all the souls on them joined too, becoming a new stronger person who will think they had always been that person.

This means that with 6 calamaties, we are 7/14th of a complete person, half the soul of the 3 ascians who never where divided by the fight between hydalin and zodark.

The flood of light is 90% of the ether of an entire world being skewed to the light. Some major potion of that was sealed into the wardens to maintain this imbalance. We where attempting to hold 90% of the aether of an entire world, and all of it in one aspect. Yes it's a shard world, yes it's only 1/7th of the total power that there is on the source, but that's still quite a bit.

The old hero of that world, just happens to be one of the fragments of you, and rejoins himself with you, and becomes consumed. This makes you 8/14th it takes you over half complete.

That's the edge needed it seems to take you from handling 6 of them, to being able to handle the totality of it, of having all 7 spirits in you. This lets you get a handle on the power, just enough to get it under control, and then forge that power, with guidance from Ryne, into a blade of light, releasing it back into the world, not as light, but simply as aether that has been used, allowing the world to start recovering.

Course, now we are even harder to kill then we ever have been before...

[MrThinker]

I've been thinking about this, and nobody else in this topic seems to have looked at it, but...

Everybody on the source, who had been an original person, is now split into 14 people spread across all 14 shards due to the devision.
Those who where strong enough reincarnated and echoed down through history.

When two shards joined, all the souls on them joined too, becoming a new stronger person who will think they had always been that person.

This means that with 6 calamaties, we are 7/14th of a complete person, half the soul of the 3 ascians who never where divided by the fight between hydalin and zodark.

The flood of light is 90% of the ether of an entire world being skewed to the light. Some major potion of that was sealed into the wardens to maintain this imbalance. We where attempting to hold 90% of the aether of an entire world, and all of it in one aspect. Yes it's a shard world, yes it's only 1/7th of the total power that there is on the source, but that's still quite a bit.

The old hero of that world, just happens to be one of the fragments of you, and rejoins himself with you, and becomes consumed. This makes you 8/14th it takes you over half complete.

That's the edge needed it seems to take you from handling 6 of them, to being able to handle the totality of it, of having all 7 spirits in you. This lets you get a handle on the power, just enough to get it under control, and then forge that power, with guidance from Ryne, into a blade of light, releasing it back into the world, not as light, but simply as aether that has been used, allowing the world to start recovering.

Course, now we are even harder to kill then we ever have been before...

Just so you remember, there was indeed a 7th calamity involving a dragon primal breaking out of a moon prison and laying waste to the land which, despite any mitigations to its far reaching consequences thanks to a certain Archon, did indeed result in the rejoining of a shard, so we should be 9/14 of a full ancients soul by the end of 5.0