Endwalker Main Scenario Commentary & Feedback

[Tyssyn]

All I can say is Yoshi-P and the writers owe me a box of kleenex. I've done all of MSQ and all the side quests, and spent many many moments in tears, occasionally laughing through those tears. So from this particular WoL, a huge thank you for an amazing story, and I'm looking forward to our new adventures.

[YianKutku]

I just read through the thread now that I've finished the expansion and spent a couple of days digesting it, so I think I'm probably caught up on reactions so far.

Overall my score for Endwalker is a little complicated: to me, it surpasses Shadowbringers, but that's because I've been deeply immersed in the story and setting of FFXIV, and Endwalker is a huge parade of all our connections coming together, including all the sidequests that seem like one-and-done at first, but now have extra meaning and context.

However, I can see someone who basically just does MSQ and little else feeling less happy with Endwalker, because they don't have those scenes where sidequest characters turn up and acknowledge you, and so it may seem a little emptier. Shadowbringers is, I think, a more self-contained story, with more instantly impactful scenes. Endwalker really needs the background of everything that went on before to bring out the emotional highs.

I do have a rather common criticism regarding the pacing, though: the return to Labyrinthos at 87-89 is rather terrible, which I think can be blamed on one particular aspect. It's not the busywork or the much-maligned Sage's Council quest, which I actually didn't mind in itself, since there were several similar filler quests in previous expansions. Rather, I think the biggest offender is the background music: it changes from the (personally decent) Labyrinthos theme to a small looping portion of the Endwalker Footfalls theme, specifically the Torn From The Heavens part. As in, a fifty-second portion, looping over and over again, for the hours you're in the zone doing the MSQ. The choice is even more bizarre when the looping part ends just before the female vocal part of the "Higher" section, so the tension of expectation never gets released.

Fifty seconds at a time, for hours on end, looping nonstop. It's a glaring mistake on the part of the music direction.

My other criticism is probably much more subjective, and has to do with what we see in Zone 5:

It is very obvious that almost every Ancient, except for I think Emet-Selch, uses the Elezen rigging. I was immediately dragged out of immersion when I first saw Hythlodaeus and went "by the Twelve what happened to your NECK".

[RyuDragnier]

Oh, in case anybody hasn't discovered this, there's new dialogue with Rammbroes in Mor Dhona if you ask about the NOAH Report on Emperor Xande.

[Fenral]

Oh, in case anybody hasn't discovered this, there's new dialogue with Rammbroes in Mor Dhona if you ask about the NOAH Report on Emperor Xande.

Thanks for the tip! There's also a "much-crumpled report page" that I don't recall having seen before, and the contents are bittersweet. More sweet than bitter, now, but I'm sure glad it wasn't there back in 2.5.

[Iscah]

Got to the ending a few hours ago. Still processing. Just dropped in to read the last page without looking through everything yet.

Overall feeling: lots of good moments but I did not appreciate the final fight so the whole thing fell a bit flat at the end.

My other criticism is probably much more subjective, and has to do with what we see in Zone 5:

It is very obvious that almost every Ancient, except for I think Emet-Selch, uses the Elezen rigging. I was immediately dragged out of immersion when I first saw Hythlodaeus and went "by the Twelve what happened to your NECK".

Emet uses an Elezen model as well – he just has a lot of custom animations/stances and unique outfit to conceal it, so it's harder to notice without having looked up the character model data.

Elezen do move oddly but I've gotten kind of used to it by this time. Well past the "what is wrong with you" and into "Elezen animations strike again".

Thanks for the tip! There's also a "much-crumpled report page" that I don't recall having seen before, and the contents are bittersweet. More sweet than bitter, now, but I'm sure glad it wasn't there back in 2.5.

The crumpled report turned up after 5.3, from memory.

[Theozilla]

I just finished Endwalker yesterday (also did all the side-quests) & today I unlocked & beat the two optional level 90 expert dungeons. Looks like one of them might be setting up one of the Beast Tribe quests for EW?

Anyways, man what an ending, I actually got a little choked up during the final cutscenes (after the credits). What a momentous experience & feeling indeed.
During the cutscene after the final dungeon but before the final trial, for a brief moment I was a little worried that the build up might feel somewhat repetitive to 5.0 finale, but the direction it did end up going was a revelation & completely flabbergasted me.
While ShB perhaps had slightly better pacing, EW was truly an ending of endings, that it drew on so much of what came before in the entire game’s history was truly astonishing & amazing. At the present at least, EW is about equal to ShB for me.

I do have a couple of spoiler related questions/clarifications I wanted to ask (sorry if any have already been addressed earlier in the thread)

One minor quibble, unless I missed something, Zenos’ reoccurring dream of the Final Days (from 5.2) and Fandaniel’s commentary of “Could Emet-Selch have found a way…?” wasn’t ever addressed/explained, correct? I wonder if it’s something that’s being saved to explore later in the future MSQ or side content (like maybe the Pandemonium raids?), or is it just a dropped plot point? If it’s the latter it’s not a huge biggie, but somewhat surprising that something depicted in a voiced cutscene wasn’t at least somewhat followed up on.


My other question is in regards to the status of the inhabitants of Ultima Thule after finishing 6.0: namely, are the inhabitants of UT now actually alive/living for real now?
Because I understood that the areas aren't the actual remnants of the original planets (i.e. stars) that the Meteia encountered in their journey, but rather are recreations of them. And I believe Y'shtola and/or Urianger compare the inhabitants to the shades of the Ancients in Emet-Selch's recreated Amaurot. So wouldn't that mean that like the Ancient shades, they weren't the actual original souls of the dead planets, right? But after Meteion is beat and she restores "life/hope" to the universe, did that turn the inhabitants of Ultima Thule into for-real alive/original souls denizens?

Because the way the game discusses them and the side-quests treat them (after beating 6.0), it appears like they are living beings with souls now. (and from what I understood Meteion collected the dead souls of the planets she had visited and sequestered them away in the dead sun, so that they wouldn't continue to be reincarnated/reborn into potential future new lives, right?)

Or were the inhabitants of UT always alive, & it was only the specific individuals that the Scions had to emotionally overcome in order to progress through the zone (the ones that turned into black birds) that weren't alive and were only recreated shades?

Oh, I also recommend reading this little essay this person wrote on Endwalker and Buddhism, as I had a lot of very similar thoughts when playing and finishing the MSQ.

https://twitter.com/SayaKiyohara/sta...818637316?s=20

[Fenral]

The crumpled report turned up after 5.3, from memory.

That sounds about right, actually. I apparently just didn't check the NOAH reports again after checking Ramnbroes' other new dialogue. For some reason.

[Theodric]

Further MSQ thoughts:

Although I stand by my previous comments in regards to thinking that some parts were rushed and other parts a bit convoluted, I consider the portions that take place in Garlemald, Thavnair, Radz-at-Han and Elpis to be some of the best MSQ content in the game to date. I'll need further time to sink my teeth into the side quests, since there's a lot of them.

Between the Reaper storyline and the Garlemald MSQ's, I'm pleased to see that the nuance was handled well and that it was made clear that Garleans have been fighting for survival for quite some time now. I'm curious to see if the Garleans retreat from the frozen wasteland and settle in their original homeland given how frequently it was brought up and name dropped.

I think a genuine effort was made to squeeze as much fan service in as possible for every character brought up even in passing. I can appreciate that and I'm glad that some of the side characters who might have otherwise have been 'one and done' characters showed up again. Sicard being one of the more prominent examples to my liking.

I appreciated the body horror for the monster transformations. I hope we get more stuff along those lines in the future.

As I thought, we're also moving towards seeing our character become an adventurer again. That pleases me and it makes sense given that we have a largely clean slate to work with now. I imagine we'll still see much of Endwalker spent on wrapping up the plot threads established within the expansion itself as well as building up the groundwork for whatever the new storyline happens to be.

Although I would have liked to have seen Hydaelyn and Zodiark team up against the cause of the Final Days and potentially stick around after that fact, I'm glad that they're both gone - having one linger but not the other would not have felt right to me and with the Sundering being revealed as a deliberate act and not an accident, I could not help but see her as an abusive, if well meaning mother figure.

Though as Yoshi-P said, it's a complex situation and a matter of perspective so a lot of people are going to have varied thoughts on pretty much every major event that occurred during Endwalker.

Overall, Labyrinthos ended up being the weakest link for me. It wasn't terrible, though the first portion didn't grip me as much as the first trip to Thavnair did and the second visit to Labyrinthos had a bit too much padding for my liking. Visually, though, the zone is very pleasing. Old Sharlayan, too, is a beautiful city.

[Jirah]

*Spoilers*






Was it ever clear what zodiark’s role was that prevented Meteoin from turning the planet into shit? Because that flew over my head abit.

[Rannie]

*Spoilers*






Was it ever clear what zodiark’s role was that prevented Meteoin from turning the planet into shit? Because that flew over my head abit.

He created a shield of aether around the planet since they saw the issue occurring in areas where aether was the weakest. As well as to be used to jump start the aether since he is a Dark aspected Primal.