What's the point with that quite lackluster story in Endwalker?

[Lauront]

It seems like Yoshi-P couldn't be done with the Ancients and Garlemald fast enough and it's frustrating. Combine that with flashbacks to the LL Q&A where the message I got was not to think about the story too much and it just takes what little wind was left out of my sails.

Is it confirmed the "junior writers" worked on 6.1? Because I am not a fan of the comical angle they're taking with the characters. Estinien being the butt of jokes in 6.0 was bad enough, but now we've got Aymeric in an elephant suit, Y'shtola going full on anime, etc.

She mentioned it here. I thought this trend already started with the G'raha sparkle-eyes but it seems to be something they want to stick with...

[Rulakir]

Well, my current thought process is this: The 13th is essentially the result of a Flood of Darkness, right? So, shouldn't that mean the whole star is a dark version of The Empty on the First? Even if we do manage to restore the 13th, what purpose would that serve (and what would that mean for the RPR job)? It'd be years before it was inhabitable again (noting that Yoshi-P is loathe to commit to any significant passage of time). Assuming we figure out a way to reverse being voidsent they couldn't feasibly live there any more than anyone on the First can currently stay in The Empty.

Also, I'm not a fan of the idea that the sundered can manage a way to undo in a short period of time what neither the Ascians or Hydaelyn could figure out in 10k years. While it probably won't happen for obvious reasons, I'd love to see a recount of events on the 13th showing Hydaelyn having abandoned them to their fate while, conversely, Elidibus tried to save as many as he could. Feel free to refresh my memory, but I don't recall Unukalhai or Cylva commenting that they had any "divine" assistance against the coming doom and, unlike the Flood of Light, Hydaelyn doesn't have the same excuse of being too weak when that was the first shard to fall.

Seems like the void and voidsent still need to exist to some extent just based on the RPR job alone.

As for the Garleans, I got nothing other than maybe them studying technology on the moon will eventually lead to a reason for us to go back there? Frankly, it feels like the powers that be just wanted to be done with them as a race, as a culture, as even an influence on anything. Hopefully I'm wrong about that, but right now it just looks bad.

Edit: Forgot to mention I was hoping the junior writers would give us grittier storytelling not more comedy.

[aveyond-dreams]

Edit: Forgot to mention I was hoping the junior writers would give us grittier storytelling not more comedy.

To be fair I found Fourchenault offering the Garleans Sharlayan citizenship so soon after having nearly abandoned them to their fate incredibly hilarious. I must also commend them for dressing up Aymeric as a blue elephant! Now that I've moved my apartment to Ishgard I look forward to seeing him whenever I walk outside to use the marketboard. Do you mean to say that this isn't what you come to FFXIV for?

[CrownySuccubus]

Well, my current thought process is this: The 13th is essentially the result of a Flood of Darkness, right? So, shouldn't that mean the whole star is a dark version of The Empty on the First?

In ShB, they explained that original assumptions about the nature of light and dark were reversed: light is stagnation and stasis, while dark is mutation and change. So while the Empty was a result of aether being completely stilled to the point that everything turned to white dust, the Void seems to be a warped and twisted world where everyone and everything has mutated into something grotesque. In 6.1, they also speculate that because the Flood of Light never fully completed on the First, whatever final change or destruction was going to happen never occurred there, unlike on the Thirteenth. So far, it seems like the Thirteenth has shattered into an asteroid belt made of continents floating over a dark abyss.

[Rulakir]

Do you mean to say that this isn't what you come to FFXIV for?

Definitely not. :P I loved HW, so it's off-putting (to say the least) to see the characters treated this way. *sigh*

So while the Empty was a result of aether being completely stilled to the point that everything turned to white dust, the Void seems to be a warped and twisted world where everyone and everything has mutated into something grotesque.

Well, in that case the 13th should be beyond hope. One of the points made when treating tempering was that once physical transformation had occurred they couldn't be helped. Plus, if the planet is truly fragmented then there's no star to save anymore either.

[Caurcas]

Silver lining, maybe this signals the decoupling of narrative from gameplay. Also, sidenote, why did the Garleans still employ melee when they had tech for multiple shot, metallic cartridge ranged weaponry they could've just madd producted? Just seemed dumb, and this is going back to ARR.

[Theodric]

As for the jokes, unfortunately the mature/dirty humour of ARR is being quietly removed...much in the same way as how Blizzard decided to censor anything even a little racy.

My guess is that the company is going to continue to gaslight and retcon things and pretend as if the game always lacked the nuance and grey morality that drew many players into the setting during ARR and HW.

Some of the 'humour' in recent content patches has consisted of such childish antics that I'd feel embarrassed having someone watch me play.

[myahele]

I was wondering if I made the right decision in skipping the 6.1 msq story and based on comments here and in other places it seems like I did. I was annoyed that I had to do some of the new msq just to unlock the Myths of the Realm raid and then there's that unskippable cutscene.

Not surprised they're still using that form of humour and I dread them going to the 13th and use the same humour over there.

I also heard that Corvos was also handled offscreen and then Nerva.

[Caurcas]

They did similar with Regula, where even though he featured for a non-trial Weapon fight, they refused to show his form beneath the armour.

To be fair we didn't see Gaius unmasked til 4.3 iirc. Although Nero was seen unmasked in ARR, so very inconsistent.

[Rulakir]

Eden is more side content I haven't done, so unfortunately those references are lost on me as well. I hate this direction they've gone where you have to have done raid content to have a full understanding of what's happening in the MSQ. This seems to have started when Ishikawa took over writing?