Endwalker was "meh" (for reasons other than technical issues)

[Thoosa]

It’s funny, when you mean Hermes, he comes over a basically a nice guy who cares about his creations and you see he can’t bear to kill off the bad creations that run around killing things, and it pains him to terminate them. So then he decides “screw this, I can’t handle this responsibility, the world deserves to burn” instead of “screw this, I can’t handle this responsibility, im going to get another job”. Feels like they shoe-horned him in at the end because they didn’t have enough story to get to 90? We also know at this point that there’s no way they will let the world burn, because then we can’t go back to the other zones and do any endgame, so for me it was kinda eh.

[LaughingBanana]

It’s funny, when you mean Hermes, he comes over a basically a nice guy who cares about his creations and you see he can’t bear to kill off the bad creations that run around killing things, and it pains him to terminate them. So then he decides “screw this, I can’t handle this responsibility, the world deserves to burn” instead of “screw this, I can’t handle this responsibility, im going to get another job”. Feels like they shoe-horned him in at the end because they didn’t have enough story to get to 90? We also know at this point that there’s no way they will let the world burn, because then we can’t go back to the other zones and do any endgame, so for me it was kinda eh.

Out of all the characters in EW, I am confident in saying that I actually hate Hermes the most. Can't stand stuck up characters like him who is so convinced about his self-righteousness that he is blinded to other things, a blindedness that in the end killed so many and almost destroyed everything.

Kinda annoyed that they included him on the nice art at the end, hahah.

[Alleo]

I understood Hermes when he thought life shouldn't be curated but left to a natural process. Even when he let Meteion go I was still on his side thinking, well maybe he wants to let his "daughters" live. But then Meteion went kind of bonkers saying all life is just suffering and it should end. I look towards Hermes thinking, "It's time to turn off the crazy and let her go... back to the aether." Nope he went full on koolaid and joined her.

The only reasonable explanation I could think of to make this story good, is that while the Ancient excelled in nearly everything, they simply haven't developed any form of psychiatric help. Hermes suffered from Major Depression.

And its not like he is much better than the other Ancients. He still creates other beings he just hates having to kill them. I can understand his position, but at the same time you do have creatures that would bring so much harm to other creatures that they kinda have to be killed.

Also he is completely fine to create Meteion and her sisters for his own sake. He sents them out to find answers too. Not knowing what dangers might await them...and at the same time he should have noticed that they were not up to the task...Meteion suffering like that just because he is angry or sad...did it never come to him that other planets would not be such a "paradise"?

I dunno wtf it is with this forum, it's so negative lol.

I genuinely don't believe that most people here talking about the story even pay attention to it or they even skipped it.
I am biased cuz MNK but especially with characters like Lyse and how people unironically think that she didn't grow as a character and people don't even understand or remember stuff that was explained ( like how Flow works ) and then hate on events in the story based on not understanding.
Even tho it's literally spelled out multiple times.

And I honestly cant believe that there are some posters here saying that someone does not understand the story or even skipped it just because they dont like or may have problems with some parts. Stories are subjective. Just look at stuff like the Twilight books or movies.

So in the end he still creates, does side projects that he does not register at the office and is ready to let every living being on the star including his beloved creatures die to the final days just so that Meteion can have her answer...

[Luluna]

I loved Endwalker for so many reasons...11 years and I felt lots of emotions. I love FFXIV and the story though and that is why I play.

Nothing is perfect and not everyone will feel the same but I feel this was amazing.

[JanVanding]

Knowing the origins of your boring generic doomsday villain does not make it any less of a boring generic doomsday villain.

You must really hate the final fantasy series then, given that kind of villain is in oh, I dunno....every Final Fantasy game to ever exist.

Backstory is Important to understanding the why they went that way.

[Ririta]

You must really hate the final fantasy series then, given that kind of villain is in oh, I dunno....every Final Fantasy game to ever exist.

Backstory is Important to understanding the why they went that way.

Please don't drag the beloved villains like Kuja, Sephiroth and Kefka down just to make a point in favor of the most boring villain even inside of FFXIV. I mean, come on, we just came from Emet-Selch of all people.

[DoH]

Put differently, “Endwalker” was to the FFXIV franchise what “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” was to the Indiana Jones franchise.

[RyuDragnier]

Put differently, “Endwalker” was to the FFXIV franchise what “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” was to the Indiana Jones franchise.

You don't know what constitutes a good story if you call Endwalker bad.

Btw, just going to say the reason why we couldn't attune to the Aetheryte at Radz-at-Han here for everybody thinking it's dumb. They are dealing with people who kidnap and temper others, who can look like anybody else. The Aetheryte was shut off because they don't want a group or ARMY of these tempered thralls suddenly appearing in the middle of their capital city to kidnap/temper others. This leaves the front gate, which was at that moment under heavy guard, making it near impossible for a tempered individual to get in.

[technole]

I feel I can almost understand why they delayed EW, because the story is so jam-packed and they probably felt a lot of arm-twisting to get the ironing board out until the 11th hour. Then having to QA this entire story is probably maddening it itself. Sometimes I do think they spent so much time on perfection, even if it's not there it was still way more than "meh", it's very good.

Nonetheless I enjoyed what we got, sure some of the pacing is off at certain points but I suppose there were things on the cutting room floor in-order to make this story work, not be too long, and cover all the big points.

Garlamald does hit you on the heart because that situation is very real. You can't just expect to meet peace with charity by words. It has to be done with action, and we faced that head on with our new friend in the story. Even in the real world this occurs with trusting exercises. I enjoyed this section quite a bit, more than I realize. In fact it kinds of brings tears to my eyes again thinking about it when he cried getting something warm from our Ala Mhigo friends.

[Raim]

You completely zoned out on the Garlean storyline then. Its a nationalist, isolated military country that despises its neighbors which it is perpetually at war with. Theres 24/7 propaganda blaring on their radios before the Final Days. Their leader was assassinated and their capital exploded, all of which was blamed on Eorzeans through propaganda. And now you stroll in with multiple armies and you think its weird that they don't trust your intentions? They think you're there to conquer, to get revenge. It doesn't matter if you claim to just want to give them food and aid. For all they know you are just waiting to get their guard down and be complacent so you can enslave them. The Garlean's concerns are completely realistic given the situation.