Endwalker Main Scenario Commentary & Feedback

[Cleretic]

My prediction is that the general opinions about the expansion will include 'incorrect amount of Emet-Selch'.

I don't know if it's too much or too little Emet-Selch just yet, but I can guarantee that no matter how much Emet-Selch is in the story, it will be considered incorrect.

[vormela]

Regarding preconceptions about tempering and WoL (I am in third zone now and attuned to the second aetherite):

I am glad it was clarified early on! I thought we were tempered because of our prejudice against Garlemald.

Hearing that Imperial song for the first time outside of a "meanwhile in Garlemald" scene was creepy and there are so many good moments like this... that was without a doubt one of the most impactful moments so far.

The chains for the Garlemald symbol and them being underdogs of sorts I understood (and I thought this was why Emet-Selch chose them...still haven\\\\'t clarified the third-eye thing) but the leader explaining the symbol and color symbolism and then leaving a huge actual bloodstain on the flag was just macabre and great. Felt so hollow compared to the two girls. I was wondering how their whole dependence on strong rulers that Gaius monologued about would play out with no leader. I guess I will find out more when I continue the story tomorrow. The whole thing feels very appropriate right now with nationalism and post-industrial societal problems and cultural stagnation and is very timely. Very artfully rendered and affecting.

As for favorite scenes up to this level 83ish point in the story in the third zone,

(I am right after the twins and WoL get escorted and eventually are able to attune to the aetherite) I think my favorite scene so far has been dialogue between Alphinaud/Alisaie where Alisaie figures out her ideals and Alphinaud clarifies his.

I also loved and was completely surprised by one of the first truly emotional scenes being a heart-to-heart between the three grown men Scions. (Concerning the telophoroi.)

Emet-Selch in Fandaniel\\\\'s memories being basically a multilevel marketing door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman desperate to put his work on he underlings so he can steal their work cracked me up so much. I just love him. I loved him since he just strolls up dressed like an emperor and no one recognizes him except Uberdanger the Nerd and he is fine with that. I know they will rip my heart out over and over about Emet-Selch by the time this is through and I will love it.

I was expecting Amon because of the 5.5 Owen commentary and the "SNAP" but I didn\\\\'t know it would be Fandaniel. But I love it. The voice is growing on me and I laugh at almost every single one of his lines. The voice actor nails it. As disgusted as I currently am by this character, I think he will be one of my favorites by the end. I love how he is bored and flabbergasted by Zenos\\\\' one-track mind... can you imagine how he must see Zenos, having been around so many technological advances??? He met base instinct face to face. We know he is the biggest genius in the game but they are actually evenly matched at this point. I am surprised they can have any conversations at all. Whatever their ultimate goal is, I am not clear on it yet, which works out just fine storywise so far.

[TheCookieGod]

Just here to rant a little, as it's 5am and I just finished.

End of the MSQ spoilers

There were only two moments I really did not like in this expansion, and they were both the bits with Zenos. The body hopping was gross and awful and it served LITERALLY NO PURPOSE. Nothing came out of that whole scenario. It exists only to be upsetting and violate the WoL. The entire premise is flawed, because if Fandaniel can just teleport the WoL, incapacitate them OFF SCREEN, and swap our soul around, there is zero reason that the WoL should not already be dead. We would never have even managed to defeat Lahabrea if the ascians could do something that casually.

But even if that moment hadn't existed, I never would have fought Zenos if given an actual choice. With everything he has done, he doesn't deserve to get what he wants. I don't like the writers forcibly characterizing the WoL as Goku - always wanting to fight strong opponents. My WoL is not Goku and has zero desire to be Goku. Either let us characterize the WoL as we like, or drop this concept entirely and let the WoL be a character in the story. This middle of the road nonsense needs to stop.

Zenos' presence in the story has been utterly pointless since his death in Stormblood, and the story would be stronger if he had just remained dead. I'm of the mind that the writers probably agree with me, seeing as Zenos did absolutely nothing in Endwalker of note. "Well we brought Zenos back, but it turns out we don't actually need him for the story we decided to tell."

The only thing that Zenos actually did in Endwalker was be the floor for the final boss. You know what else is good at being the floor? The floor.

Literally the only thing of note that Zenos did after his death in Stormblood and before Endwalker was kill Varis. Fandaniel could have just as easily accomplished that same task, and then done the same things with Garlemald using Varis' corpse as a puppet before eventually making it into Anima.

Or, if Zenos had to stick around, have him be the one who gets to pilot Zodiark. Fandaniel escapes, Zenos is out of story, and then we don't have to fight three different versions of Fandaniel in one expansion. Twice was satisfying, three times was a bit silly.

Zenos was a plot device, and not a particularly good one, and it served only to mar an otherwise amazing expansion's story. The end.

[Remilia_Nightfall]

Just here to rant a little, as it's 5am and I just finished.

End of the MSQ spoilers

There were only two moments I really did not like in this expansion, and they were both the bits with Zenos. The body hopping was gross and awful and it served LITERALLY NO PURPOSE. Nothing came out of that whole scenario. It exists only to be upsetting and violate the WoL. The entire premise is flawed, because if Fandaniel can just teleport the WoL, incapacitate them OFF SCREEN, and swap our soul around, there is zero reason that the WoL should not already be dead. We would never have even managed to defeat Lahabrea if the ascians could do something that casually.

But even if that moment hadn't existed, I never would have fought Zenos if given an actual choice. With everything he has done, he doesn't deserve to get what he wants. I don't like the writers forcibly characterizing the WoL as Goku - always wanting to fight strong opponents. My WoL is not Goku and has zero desire to be Goku. Either let us characterize the WoL as we like, or drop this concept entirely and let the WoL be a character in the story. This middle of the road nonsense needs to stop.

Zenos' presence in the story has been utterly pointless since his death in Stormblood, and the story would be stronger if he had just remained dead. I'm of the mind that the writers probably agree with me, seeing as Zenos did absolutely nothing in Endwalker of note. "Well we brought Zenos back, but it turns out we don't actually need him for the story we decided to tell."

The only thing that Zenos actually did in Endwalker was be the floor for the final boss. You know what else is good at being the floor? The floor.

Literally the only thing of note that Zenos did after his death in Stormblood and before Endwalker was kill Varis. Fandaniel could have just as easily accomplished that same task, and then done the same things with Garlemald using Varis' corpse as a puppet before eventually making it into Anima.

Or, if Zenos had to stick around, have him be the one who gets to pilot Zodiark. Fandaniel escapes, Zenos is out of story, and then we don't have to fight three different versions of Fandaniel in one expansion. Twice was satisfying, three times was a bit silly.

Zenos was a plot device, and not a particularly good one, and it served only to mar an otherwise amazing expansion's story. The end.

I agree with you. The main story was amazing and one of the best FF stories ever told, but yeah, what you describe is on point.

[Hustensaft]

Just here to rant a little, as it's 5am and I just finished.

End of the MSQ spoilers

There were only two moments I really did not like in this expansion, and they were both the bits with Zenos. The body hopping was gross and awful and it served LITERALLY NO PURPOSE. Nothing came out of that whole scenario. It exists only to be upsetting and violate the WoL. The entire premise is flawed, because if Fandaniel can just teleport the WoL, incapacitate them OFF SCREEN, and swap our soul around, there is zero reason that the WoL should not already be dead. We would never have even managed to defeat Lahabrea if the ascians could do something that casually.

But even if that moment hadn't existed, I never would have fought Zenos if given an actual choice. With everything he has done, he doesn't deserve to get what he wants. I don't like the writers forcibly characterizing the WoL as Goku - always wanting to fight strong opponents. My WoL is not Goku and has zero desire to be Goku. Either let us characterize the WoL as we like, or drop this concept entirely and let the WoL be a character in the story. This middle of the road nonsense needs to stop.

Zenos' presence in the story has been utterly pointless since his death in Stormblood, and the story would be stronger if he had just remained dead. I'm of the mind that the writers probably agree with me, seeing as Zenos did absolutely nothing in Endwalker of note. "Well we brought Zenos back, but it turns out we don't actually need him for the story we decided to tell."

The only thing that Zenos actually did in Endwalker was be the floor for the final boss. You know what else is good at being the floor? The floor.

Literally the only thing of note that Zenos did after his death in Stormblood and before Endwalker was kill Varis. Fandaniel could have just as easily accomplished that same task, and then done the same things with Garlemald using Varis' corpse as a puppet before eventually making it into Anima.

Or, if Zenos had to stick around, have him be the one who gets to pilot Zodiark. Fandaniel escapes, Zenos is out of story, and then we don't have to fight three different versions of Fandaniel in one expansion. Twice was satisfying, three times was a bit silly.

Zenos was a plot device, and not a particularly good one, and it served only to mar an otherwise amazing expansion's story. The end.

I felt the exact same way...

[Kisshu]

Just here to rant a little, as it's 5am and I just finished.

End of the MSQ spoilers

There were only two moments I really did not like in this expansion, and they were both the bits with Zenos. The body hopping was gross and awful and it served LITERALLY NO PURPOSE. Nothing came out of that whole scenario. It exists only to be upsetting and violate the WoL. The entire premise is flawed, because if Fandaniel can just teleport the WoL, incapacitate them OFF SCREEN, and swap our soul around, there is zero reason that the WoL should not already be dead. We would never have even managed to defeat Lahabrea if the ascians could do something that casually.

But even if that moment hadn't existed, I never would have fought Zenos if given an actual choice. With everything he has done, he doesn't deserve to get what he wants. I don't like the writers forcibly characterizing the WoL as Goku - always wanting to fight strong opponents. My WoL is not Goku and has zero desire to be Goku. Either let us characterize the WoL as we like, or drop this concept entirely and let the WoL be a character in the story. This middle of the road nonsense needs to stop.

Zenos' presence in the story has been utterly pointless since his death in Stormblood, and the story would be stronger if he had just remained dead. I'm of the mind that the writers probably agree with me, seeing as Zenos did absolutely nothing in Endwalker of note. "Well we brought Zenos back, but it turns out we don't actually need him for the story we decided to tell."

The only thing that Zenos actually did in Endwalker was be the floor for the final boss. You know what else is good at being the floor? The floor.

Literally the only thing of note that Zenos did after his death in Stormblood and before Endwalker was kill Varis. Fandaniel could have just as easily accomplished that same task, and then done the same things with Garlemald using Varis' corpse as a puppet before eventually making it into Anima.

Or, if Zenos had to stick around, have him be the one who gets to pilot Zodiark. Fandaniel escapes, Zenos is out of story, and then we don't have to fight three different versions of Fandaniel in one expansion. Twice was satisfying, three times was a bit silly.

Zenos was a plot device, and not a particularly good one, and it served only to mar an otherwise amazing expansion's story. The end.

I can only agree 100% with this

When Endsinger said someone was trying to break in, I was saying to myself I hoped it wasn't Zenos, and behold, there he was.

A big part of the finale imo hinges on how big a Zenos fan you are, and for someone who wanted him to be left behind in SB it was near awful. The whole final part was a clear attempt to set it up as FFXIV's version of Cloud and Sephiroth's final battle in FFVII.

Zenos could be removed from EW and the story would not have suffered, might even be better.

I kinda wanna glamour the chicken suit and watch the final fist fight again, just for the lols.

[yajnaji]

Quick take.

After Elpis, I lost interest. The Labyrinthos segment could be much smaller (it reeks of filler) and after that its just... I don't know, too much fluff and too predictable. It felt way off.

I still liked it, but again after Elpis it becomes pretty mediocre. Honestly it looks rushed and unfinished.