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

[Theodric]

Yes, ideally more of the slice of life stuff should be locked behind side quests. It's a shame that a vocal minority act like this game is a dating sim and not...a Final Fantasy game with dragons and swords.

You know why that wouldn't get the same reaction? Because Brahne is fat and ugly. If they'd rectify that, then it would work just as well.

Fair point! It reminds me of someone I saw over on the lore forum who insisted that there was never a justification for the existence of an 'Empire'. Then they played Fire Emblem: Three Houses and suddenly they were perfectly acceptable - so long as Edelgard was in charge.

[BaconBits]

How many people do you think would be thirsting over Vauthry and unironically calling him "Daddy of Light" if he started off in his handsome form instead of transforming during his trial?

[CrownySuccubus]

Was the 'Buddhist' angle even officially stated anywhere? I've only ever seen it pushed by players - some of whom try to hide behind it to deflect any criticism away from certain characters.

Personally, I've constantly brought up all the Buddhism parallels and references in the plot, and I've never shied away from stating how bad it is.

These parallels are very much not "official", but said parallels are so spot-on that it makes the possibility of sheer coincidence unlikely. Especially given that Japanese media, in general, tends to at least reference Buddhist myth on a superficial level same way that Western media can have (just as an example) two stone slabs with writing labeled from 1 to 10 and people can instantly get that it's a Ten Commandments reference.

It was a shame to see that the game's script still refuses to explicitly refer to the Sundering as a genocide.

Even this, in a sense, is why the Buddhism reference is obvious. In Buddhist mythology, the Deva and Asura are gods who are so concerned with the pleasures or desires of their world that they are incapable of recognizing or understanding suffering. According to Buddhism, the only way these beings can ever truly escape the cycle of suffering they're trapped in is to lose their divinity and be reborn as humans who must learn how to suffer, die, and be reborn as better people until they become enlightened.

Again, I do not believe in nor agree with Buddhism, so I am in complete agreement that this neither excuses or denies that what Venat did was "genocide" even if these Buddhism parallels were true. But, again, it's the exact same vein as Christians, who also typically deny calling God wiping out the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah "genocide" and refer to it as reasonable consequences for the cities' sins.

[AziraSyuren]

Was the 'Buddhist' angle even officially stated anywhere? I've only ever seen it pushed by players - some of whom try to hide behind it to deflect any criticism away from certain characters.

No, but Buddhism is as big in the East as Christianity is in the West so the themes permeate their writing in similar ways. At that point you can just assume the allegory is there whether it’s outright stated (or even intentional) or not.

[Theodric]

I suppose I can sort of see what they were potentially going for with that in mind, though I can't claim to be particularly religious so a lot of it consists of belief systems I am fiercely opposed to. I'm a fan of the idea of mitigating suffering rather than glorifying it as well as striking a balance between allowing people agency and freedom but in a way that doesn't lead to 'anything goes'.

Personally I prefer deities to be written as largely unfathomable in terms of how they operate. It adds a bit more mystery. With that said, I never really viewed the Ancients as 'deities' deserving of a fall from grace. Instead of trying to force some sort of brutal origin story for the Sundered, I think the Sundering itself should have simply been presented as a horrific accident or a spiteful act. Trying to portray it as a 'good thing' simply takes too much stretching and the glorification of suffering makes light of anyone who doesn't conveniently have the many perks afforded to the protagonists.

[aveyond-dreams]

The post I had already written got erased due to a connection error, so I will summarize it briefly below:

Omega's interactions during the 6.15 quest were more entertaining and less obnoxious than our interactions with the majority of the Scions.

This robot would make for a better party member and all rounder to replace the catboy who must not be named.

Although this patch is also giving us Hildibrand and Tataru quests I refuse to do either because my patience for "humour" has already been exhausted by the MSQ, and I refuse to subject myself to more of that without a significant reward attached to it.

I can only hope that the writing gets back on track in 6.2. "Lighthearted" start of an adventure is one thing, meme circus is another situation entirely and write now the (English version) of FFXIV is leaning more and more towards that with how characters continually degrade themselves for the amusement of the social media crowds.

Atrocious early gameplay aside, you would struggle to retain me as a player or even sell me FFXIV if all I had to look forward to was memes instead of gods battling each other in cutscenes in the late game, especially when you combine that with a Summoner job that is as restrained as it is now, the victim of 8 years of mismanagement only for it's rework to come a decade too late.

As a Final Fantasy fan, you need at least either story or gameplay to remain a strong pillar holding the game up. Significant consideration needs to go into ways of fixing both.

[Theodric]

I think they mostly cater to 'nerdy' tastes when it comes to humour these days. I can't say I have much interest in that sort of thing but it is what it is and social media does unfortunately lap it up.

It's certainly contributed to eliminating a lot of my interest in the game. I unironically mostly play it for the sake of PvP and player housing at this point. Even then, I'm prepared to jump ship as soon as a genuine competitor arrives on the scene.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

I think they mostly cater to 'nerdy' tastes when it comes to humour these days. I can't say I have much interest in that sort of thing but it is what it is and social media does unfortunately lap it up.

It's certainly contributed to eliminating a lot of my interest in the game. I unironically mostly play it for the sake of PvP and player housing at this point. Even then, I'm prepared to jump ship as soon as a genuine competitor arrives on the scene.

Have you tried Lost Ark?
I hear its much better then FFXIV

[Rulakir]

This is long overdue:

Hermes

A character who clearly has not received enough criticism in large part due to the controversy surrounding Venat. He is someone who has passed under the radar and given that the Famitsu interview and Omega quests seem to imply he had some positive benefit on mankind this needs to be addressed.

1. I've not gotten the impression from anything I've seen that it was Ishikawa's intention to depict Hermes as mentally ill, autistic, or any other diagnosis I've seen applied to him. (Feel free to post information to the contrary.) He is spoken of as a rational individual with no disorders that would have led him to making the decisions he did. This is important because many of his thoughts and actions have been excused for these reasons.
2. There's no indication that the Song of Oblivion was anything short of an extinction level event. Not just for Etheirys, but the universe. How am I to accept the Final Days as a 'test' rather than an execution sentence? Additionally, the fact that Hermes is a universal issue rather than localized to Etheirys seems to be ignored. Assuming I accept that the Final Days served a purpose, what about all the worlds that didn't survive them? Do we write those off because Etheirys benefitted?
3. Hermes knows how the Final Days play out due to the WoL. Just because he erases his memories with Kairos doesn't mean he doesn't already know the end result, he does. This makes it more likely it was spiteful rather than any true test of mankind.
4. The gaslighting with him is eerily similar to Venat. We're told he has a "pure" and "noble" soul, yet he acts in contradiction to this. He may have moments where he expresses a seemingly sincere desire to change society, but beneath that appears to be a deep seated resentment towards others not thinking and feeling the way he does. (This seems to be a theme of EW that if people aren't behaving the way you want it's okay to force that behavior through violence.)
5. Learning from Meteion's report that Etheirys is essentially the best place in the universe must have been particularly galling given his issues with his people. As Teraq said, he's a first world problem. :P
6. If the Final "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" Days is somehow a net positive, then why doesn't Omega acknowledge that rejoinings would also make Etheirys and the people on it stronger? The double standard between rejoinings and the Final Days (and Sundering) is still perpetuated. This quest line seemed to have been meant to address some of that, but it continues to condemn one type of genocide while asserting the other two had benefits.

Random list of thoughts I've had that I couldn't figure out how to write coherently any other way. I'd like to know if anyone else had an issue with how Hermes' character has been presented in interviews and this quest chain? Do you think he had a point? Do you think the Final Days taught mankind anything or improved them in any way?

[jameseoakes]

Hermes

I think there are a lot of good points, at this point with Hermes I just think the writers had no idea what they were writing with him, there is nothing pure and noble about him. He's a mass murderer both as an ancient and as a ascian, I just can't understand what the writers where trying to get across with him, good people don't erase there friends memories and instatage the horrendous death by fire and monsters of there own people. The man is pure evil