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

[Vryn]

Look, dont overthink it, they made your character culpable in 9 genocides after all with their little time travel trick into Elpis, but you know at least the grass will look lovely this time around.

[Vryn]

It's not ableism because the majority will be affected by mental illness in their life. I think it is trying to linguistically remove the shame or negative element from their idealised setting (men >= gods) because its always an external force that does it because it's rare that we see humans being both good and evil based on the goals they set in life and their experiences and yes mental instability due to those experiences can be a factor but dont mix the mental condition with the corrupting force or the original goals set, its an accelerant not a cause.

It's rare to see a case such as Ardyn brought about by his actions, and you see him try to cope to the point he breaks, and the response by his brother is to try and kill him while ridiculing him about the death of his wife. Ardyn was a character in the saviour Archetype who committed blasphemy or original sin and willingly bore the consequences to his kin and gods' disdain.

Ardyn is the hero of the story initially for a reason. He was the only one with a moral solution that didn't involve breading an entire family line through the use of eugenics to produce the prince that was promised so the prophecy could be fulfilled. The answer to that was to deal with the issue in front of you, bear the responsibility for your actions, and even though that might bring you into conflict with those around you, if you hold fast to your convictions, you could never call yourself a monster, even if you look like one in the end.

FF14 = death is sad. Therefore, life is meaningless and should end to stop the sadness which is resolved by 9 genocides, mutilation of a species and a world all so we can kill the Frankenstein's monster. They have taken so much from the Greek myth in this expansion they should have probably taken the Gaia myth too and made the actual planet the enemy as it was angry that the ancients where abusing their creation magics etc i.e the gigantomachy.

Also, does anyone else find it weird how the minute Zodiark dies the laws he governed began to unravel but the minute Hydaelyn dies nothing happens to the shards or the source returning to normal?

[Theodric]

I'm firmly in the camp of just wanting the writers to allow me to enjoy a story without trying to force specific takes down my throat. I might strongly disagree with pretty much everything Venat said and did but I'd be a lot happier with Endwalker had I been given the opportunity to have my character call her out and disapprove of her actions.

[CrownySuccubus]

As I've said in the past, the Ea was the point where I mentally checked out in the story. A group of nearly omnipotent, all-wise aliens claim to have solved every problem they can conceive of on their planet, but become suicidally depressed because they learn that the heat death of the universe is inevitable? They all aggressively sought to end their lives because in, like, a hundred billion years or whatever, the universe will end? Are you kidding me?

And to make it even worse, let me just say two words:

Time. Travel.

We have established that it is possible to travel back in time and (based on the existence of the Crystal Exarch) stay there basically permanently. That is achievable via technology that is available on present-day Etheirys, plus another 200 years after the planet has been reduced back to the stone ages. This proves that there still were/are challenges for the Ea to learn and overcome -- even if they can't stop the end of the universe, they can literally go to another universe ad infinitum.

The Plenty is just as stupid. "We've eliminated all problems, and we couldn't remember why after a bird asked us some questions. Therefore, we all can't wait to die."

This is just....grade school-level bad writing.

[Caurcas]

I do agree that the jrpg genre is really only a rpg in the department of taking mechanics and numbers not in story telling. They tend to be linear narratives without player input.

[Vryn]

As I've said in the past, the Ea was the point where I mentally checked out in the story. A group of nearly omnipotent, all-wise aliens claim to have solved every problem they can conceive of on their planet, but become suicidally depressed because they learn that the heat death of the universe is inevitable? They all aggressively sought to end their lives because in, like, a hundred billion years or whatever, the universe will end? Are you kidding me?

And to make it even worse, let me just say two words:

Time. Travel.

We have established that it is possible to travel back in time and (based on the existence of the Crystal Exarch) stay there basically permanently. That is achievable via technology that is available on present-day Etheirys, plus another 200 years after the planet has been reduced back to the stone ages. This proves that there still were/are challenges for the Ea to learn and overcome -- even if they can't stop the end of the universe, they can literally go to another universe ad infinitum.

The Plenty is just as stupid. "We've eliminated all problems, and we couldn't remember why after a bird asked us some questions. Therefore, we call can't wait to die."

This is just....grade school-level bad writing.

Our entire world should be found dead the minute we come back from Ultima Thul because we kill Hydaelyn. The laws which Zodiark governed began to unravel the minute he died, were still talking about shards for some reason after Hydaelyns death.

[KizuyaKatogami]

As I've said in the past, the Ea was the point where I mentally checked out in the story. A group of nearly omnipotent, all-wise aliens claim to have solved every problem they can conceive of on their planet, but become suicidally depressed because they learn that the heat death of the universe is inevitable? They all aggressively sought to end their lives because in, like, a hundred billion years or whatever, the universe will end? Are you kidding me?

And to make it even worse, let me just say two words:

Time. Travel.

We have established that it is possible to travel back in time and (based on the existence of the Crystal Exarch) stay there basically permanently. That is achievable via technology that is available on present-day Etheirys, plus another 200 years after the planet has been reduced back to the stone ages. This proves that there still were/are challenges for the Ea to learn and overcome -- even if they can't stop the end of the universe, they can literally go to another universe ad infinitum.

The Plenty is just as stupid. "We've eliminated all problems, and we couldn't remember why after a bird asked us some questions. Therefore, we call can't wait to die."

This is just....grade school-level bad writing.

What’s rich to me is somehow the sundered word is conveniently exempt from all of this stuff. Apparently it’s just going to be perfectly fine and won’t give in to any of these faults.

[kpxmanifesto]

My main question is, what does square have against mentally ill characters? It's becoming a trend in FF7. First, you had Seph, who wanted his mommy, for god sake, and then there was Kefka and the FF10 with the father.

Perhaps they think making these characters mentally unstable adds a layer of complexity or makes them unique in some way. It could just be their method of making a villain not come across as "cookiecutter."

[Vryn]

Yeah, but dont you see that's because we have the power of friendship, love and hope. The white witch said it herself that the ancients who had just sacrificed 75% of their population hadn't experienced enough suffering and therefore needed to be trapped in an endless cycle of life and death split across 14 reflections and made to wallow in a diminished state for 12000 yrs because she felt like they didn't deserve to continue their society.

[Vryn]

Perhaps they think making these characters mentally unstable adds a layer of complexity or makes them unique in some way. It could just be their method of making a villain not come across as "cookiecutter."

It doesn't and the only villain that didnt have it so far was Emit the fan favourite,