*SPOILERS* Terrified for the remaining Scions!

[Theodric]

I'm not asking for Game of Thrones here, but there does need to be some actual consequences for actions taken. So yeah, some characters need to die (and stay dead) to keep things interesting and impactful. Also, trauma? Come on now. That's a whole other issue that we can't help with.

At least one major protagonist per expansion in my opinion.

Ideally someone who is fairly important rather than a throwaway character specifically created to be killed off in the same patch/expansion that they're introduced in.

It's a fair compromise - and allows for new characters to gradually be weaved into the story. After all, the cast is becoming very bloated and we've already seen some major characters reduced to only showing up as a brief cameo standing around at a meeting table with no actual dialogue.

[KizuyaKatogami]

I just don’t see how you can get any satisfaction from a story that has had dark themes, and expect purely happy feels. We’re literally going to be in an actual apocalypse next expansion, the same type of apocalypse that almost killed the planet before. If we come out unscathed from that, i’ll happily take my leave from the game. I really hope the devs write what they want to write and don’t give in to the small portion of the playerbase that gets all sensitive when characters die. A good story has consequences for both the protagonists and the antagonists. It’s why past final fantasy games have done so well.

[ViolaLance]

FYI, "risks" doesn't mean in anyway shape or form mean a character has to die to make a story interesting. Nor does "playing safe" mean the heroes always have to win or live.

[Almagnus1]

Y'shtola will at the very least have a near death experience we need to save her from, I can tell you that much.

That happens about every other expansion tbh.

[Elissar]

Tbh when they tell us about what we lost i never thought about the scions but the world itself during the calamity or Amaurot.
The Scions are part of the marketing already and people loves them. If i had the pen i certainly would kill Urianger. Then Alisaie. Finally Estinien.

[Lauront]

FYI, "risks" doesn't mean in anyway shape or form mean a character has to die to make a story interesting. Nor does "playing safe" mean the heroes always have to win or live.

Bizarre approach to an apocalypse.

[Jojoya]

The frequent near misses are making it more and more difficult to stay interested in characters that have been given such heavy plot armor. Even our own character's plot armor gets annoying at times (even if it's necessary to give us a reason to keep playing).

We've known for a couple of expansions that one of the Scion's is effectively knocking at death's door. I doubt SE would have bothered drawing attention to it if the intent wasn't for that specific door to open at some point (as opposed to the other door that keeps opening).

Some players are speculating that certain other Scions may on the chopping block due to similarities with other FF games.

Allowing them all to survive would be just as unrealistic as killing them all off. This is a war, after all, and we're going to be pushing behind enemy lines. Things happen.

Who hurt you people?

I don’t know, I kind of respect that FFXIV seems to understand a social compact that is lost these days: Escapist media fails at its job when it feels the need to provide more trauma.

Both of your perspectives are valid, which is part of why I’m worried because I can see and understand them… all while hoping the devs continue to respect said aforementioned social compact: “you keep me in mostly happy feels, I keep paying you.”

Characters can still die while we stay in "mostly happy feels". It depends on how the death was handled.

The "escapist" part is already covered through our own character. We know that our character can't die because that would effectively end the game.

[ViolaLance]

Bizarre approach to an apocalypse.

Hmm... really, is it really a bizarre approach though?

Seems like many claiming to be fans of FF series suddenly forget many the other risks in the past games have taken have been, having known and loved characters become Villains or antivillains due to situations causing them to adjust their view and insight on the situation. Even during an apocalypse. Even a reoccurring Villain becoming a minor hero / antihero is part of the series.

Again taking risks doesn't nor will it ever solely mean "someone has to die" for it to be impactful and successful.

[RyuDragnier]

A reminder to you all, we're at the end of the main arc the game has been following up to now, and the Scions won't have much reason to exist after this. It's very likely we may see a lot of them being forcefully retired or killed since this is a literal end of the world scenario. If you were to treat the story from 2.0 up to 6.0 as a single game, we're entering the final act, people are going to die, they always die during the final act. It's Ishikawa writing the finale, look forward to what she'll pull off.

[KizuyaKatogami]

Hmm... really, is it reall? Seems like many claiming to be fans of FF series suddenly forget many the other risks in the past games have taken have been, having known and loved characters become Villains or antivillains due to situations causing them to adjust their view and insight on the situation. Even during an apocalypse. Even a reoccurring Villain becoming a minor hero / antihero is part of the series.

Again taking risks doesn't nor will it ever solely mean "someone has to die" for it to be impactful and successful.

Again, every single ff game has had characters die, had consequences for the protags, and have had the antagonists even win. But for some reason 14 hasn’t been following that. I sure wonder if it has to do with the fact the playerbase is super sensitive about this kind of storytelling. I mean, 8 years and people still haven’t gotten over elf boy. Honestly, it really does affect the story because typically, they give character unrealistic amount of plot armor and have them create plot holes which disrupt the story. Case in point Graha at the end of ShB where it was an insanely big plot hole that just ruined the story for me, all to keep some of the characters alive.