Endwalker's message (spoilers!)

[Iscah]

First off, the themes of loss: There was a lot of loss in ARR and Heavensward but after that not much, not for the WoL. We keep seeing it come up that the WoL has suffered immensely but did they? Their life isn't easy but most of the people closest to them are doing fine. They lost three companions: Haurchefant, Papalymo and Minfilia. Minfilia happened more in the background, Thancred felt that loss the most.

Wilred, Moenbryda, everyone at the Waking Sands... just because the number of named characters dying has stopped going up doesn't mean there isn't a lot of grief still to bear.

Even these trips to the past come with their own strange experience, almost like a reverse mourning: we know how these people's lives will end, but we bond with them all the same.

Additionally I feel like the WoL is the type to be invested in every person they meet – everyone they've been forced to fight or failed to save. They keep it close and don't let it break them, but they remember.

For the record, I didn't care about the scions' "sacrifice". It was obvious they'd be back and I don't think they were what mattered at that point.

This is a common sentiment here and I get it to a point. From a narrative standpoint there's no way they're going to just kill off the whole cast like this – but the characters don't know that. They don't know if there is a way back for them – as a character you doesn't know if there's a way back for them – and they are willing to risk their entire existence to give you the chance to overcome this.

The first few didn't hit too hard but once we got to G'raha... maybe because he's a favourite of mine, maybe the poignancy of that earnest 'promise' of future adventures together as he prepares to go to what might be his death, maybe the power of the music with the lyrics kicking in... I was in tears all the way from there and through the following climb to their restoration.

And really, as much as we-the-player could be fairly certain they would be revived, there was always a chance that their sacrifice would be permanent and they'd only be temporarily restored to us as spirits for a final farewell. So I still feared for them and was ultimately glad to see them safe.

That was the most potent and emotional part of the game for me and unfortunately the ending (from the dungeon to the final fights) failed to carry it through. The dungeon felt disjointed; the trial I had anticipated to be another full-team trust battle turned into pushing them away and having to rely on one of my least favourite characters for assistance instead, and then have him upstage the ending.

[hynaku]

What is the end message to Endwalker that 7.0 going to be like Star Trek or something.

[Rinhi]

b) Meteion killed most of those civilizations herself.
If a is true ... wow, someone at Squeenix is a MAJOR pessimist. And if b is true ... it's a big universe. If one single person can end it that easily, why hasn't it ended long before now?

I don't remember if it's straight up said or strongly implied, but Meteion could also influence the emotions of others iirc

[kpxmanifesto]

The message is the WoL has plot armor and always prevails

Pretty much all the main characters have plot armor. When the scions were all disappearing on Ultima Thule, I'm sure there were many players thinking there was no way they were actually dead.

[Vyrerus]

What is the end message to Endwalker that 7.0 going to be like Star Trek or something.

More like reverse Star Trek. Every star is dead, dying, or completely unknown somehow, so it's time to be a tourist on the Source again.

[RitsukoSonoda]

More like reverse Star Trek. Every star is dead, dying, or completely unknown somehow, so it's time to be a tourist on the Source again.

I wouldn't say it was an indication of the universe being lifeless or dying. Meteion seemed to be specifically seeking out intelligent civilizations in order to learn what their answer was to the question that was given may have ignored worlds containing life that did not have any notable intelligence. Another thing that might be worth considering is that she most likely stopped searching at the time of that final report to set the end of days in motion. Given the amount of time that passed between then and the present sentient life and civilizations could have sprouted and developed though not likely in any place between ultima thule and ethyris since anything in that path would have been caught in the crossfire unless it also had a sufficient amount of aether to shield itself. Also edge of the universe could easily be subjective and just be the edge of the universe that was known to the ancients rather than the edge of all existence.

[kpxmanifesto]

More like reverse Star Trek. Every star is dead, dying, or completely unknown somehow, so it's time to be a tourist on the Source again.

Yeah it's the final frontier because everyone's dead and there are no frontiers to explore.

[Hazama999]

As a HCW, the message definitely resonated with me. Not the most original message, but I feel like it did reach me. Unlike the plethora of streamers and people reacting to the game on social media in an emotional manner, I feel like this expansion elicited a much more subdued reaction out of me. Oh, I connected with it. I've known what it is to feel despair, to find oneself in dark places, to contemplate the unthinkable... That said, it was very much because of these experiences that I didn't cry my eyes out. My reaction was more of a tacit affirmation, a sort of "been there, done that" without any snark or derision, if you will.

If this expansion's message has connected with people or has in any way helped them get through any particular tribulation, well... Good.

[EaraGrace]

Gotta say, some of these arguments are frustrating. Only G’raha and Estinien suffered really?

Not Thancred, the orphan boy forced to steal to survive, who just buried his adoptive daughter and had to say goodbye to another potentially forever?

Not Y’shtola, the young girl separated from her family who grew up in a cave studying magic, has lost her eyesight and now is separated from someone she clearly cares for deeply?

Not Urianger, who watched his closest friend and love die tragically in an act of selfsacrifice and has been guilt ridden over ever since, to the point of being ashamed to see her parents, some of the only family he has left?

Not Krile, whose the only survivor of the destruction of her order and has lost her closest friends over and over?

Not Alphinaud or Alisaie, who left home as teenagers and have experienced more war in those few years since than one should experience in a lifetime, lost many of their friends and people around them to horrific circumstances and betrayal, were disowned by their father and watched their grandfather pass on?

And that’s not even including the deaths of Tesleen or Papalymo or Ysayle.

Like cmon.

[Theodric]

Gotta say, some of these arguments are frustrating. Only G’raha and Estinien suffered really?

Not Thancred, the orphan boy forced to steal to survive, who just buried his adoptive daughter and had to say goodbye to another potentially forever?

Not Y’shtola, the young girl separated from her family who grew up in a cave studying magic, has lost her eyesight and now is separated from someone she clearly cares for deeply?

Not Urianger, who watched his closest friend and love die tragically in an act of selfsacrifice and has been guilt ridden over ever since, to the point of being ashamed to see her parents, some of the only family he has left?

Not Krile, whose the only survivor of the destruction of her order and has lost her closest friends over and over?

Not Alphinaud or Alisaie, who left home as teenagers and have experienced more war in those few years since than one should experience in a lifetime, lost many of their friends and people around them to horrific circumstances and betrayal, were disowned by their father and watched their grandfather pass on?

And that’s not even including the deaths of Tesleen or Papalymo or Ysayle.

Like cmon.

I'm not sure why that would be 'frustrating' since most of that 'suffering' took place in the past and isn't remotely comparable to the extent of the suffering endured by the majority of the antagonists.

I think it's pretty safe to suggest that it's a bigger deal for someone to lose their entire family, their friends, their neighbours, their pets and their culture/society as a whole.

It's perfectly possible to sympathise with individual losses, of course, but it comes across as narcissistic preaching for the Scions to claim to have lost 'so much' when things have gone their way more often than not and everything ultimately wraps up in a neat little bow with minimal lasting consequences. As such, much of the 'burdens' they are speaking about are applicable to other people and nations.

On your list, only Krile really comes close to that and she wasn't present during the game's final stretch by virtue of not really being much of a fighter.