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

[Lustre]

Hey maybe if this thread reaches a thousand pages, we can get a half-decent storyline in 7.0

[Misplaced_Marbles]

Hey maybe if this thread reaches a thousand pages, we can get a half-decent storyline in 7.0

No, see, that's actually when the thread gets deleted because "it is affecting the forum load times".

[Reap00]

Hey maybe if this thread reaches a thousand pages, we can get a half-decent storyline in 7.0

The story was actually fantastic. Opinions are neat aren't they?

[BRVV]

The story was actually fantastic. Opinions are neat aren't they?

Glad that you enjoyed a story which was almost inconsequential, had tons of plot armor, deus ex machina, jump the shark moments, gary stus, actively eliminated any little bit of upcoming tension and of course plot holes.

But yeah to each their own

[Lustre]

The story was actually fantastic. Opinions are neat aren't they?

What point are you actually trying to make? That my opinion is "just an opinion"? Because I never said it was anything else...

[Reap00]

Glad that you enjoyed a story which was almost inconsequential, had tons of plot armor, deus ex machina, jump the shark moments, gary stus, actively eliminated any little bit of upcoming tension and of course plot holes.

But yeah to each their own

I actually LOVED the story. i thought it was phenomenal.

[Theodric]

Their admittance that they're plenty willing to shelve plot elements the moment they've lost interest in them and that they were surprised about how deeply people were thinking about the story was a bit...disheartening, to say in the least.

It's made me feel like it's really better to just take things at face value because chances are, whatever you think is going to happen or where they're going to go with something is going to be less interesting/satisfying then it turns out in practice, assuming they decide to go anywhere with it at all.

One of the things I was most disappointed by was the fact that Zenos having visions of the Final Days amounted to literally nothing in the end and it felt like a particularly egregious example of them dangling a plot thread in front of our faces then cutting it because they didn't know what to do with it.

Yeah, as someone who once enjoyed doing every side quest in order to soak up every last bit of world building I have to say my enthusiasm began to decline with the increasing amount of dropped plot threads that amounted to very little. I think it's important in an ongoing story to keep things consistent because when it comes to MMO's, there's a broad range of players who invest in different aspects of the story and cast.

I remain baffled by the decision to artificially end the focus on the Ancients and Garleans in order to supposedly move on to something new only for the story to go right back to pulling at plot threads that have existed since the days of 1.0 and 2.0 once again.

I'm actually pleased that the likes of Sil'dih and the Thirteenth aren't being forgotten but I really hope that the game doesn't neglect the places mentioned in the Return to Ivalice/Save the Queen storyline. Ilsabard in general is a huge landmass that I'd rather not see remain covered in clouds.

[Jagick]

Yeah, as someone who once enjoyed doing every side quest in order to soak up every last bit of world building I have to say my enthusiasm began to decline with the increasing amount of dropped plot threads that amounted to very little. I think it's important in an ongoing story to keep things consistent because when it comes to MMO's, there's a broad range of players who invest in different aspects of the story and cast.

I remain baffled by the decision to artificially end the focus on the Ancients and Garleans in order to supposedly move on to something new only for the story to go right back to pulling at plot threads that have existed since the days of 1.0 and 2.0 once again.

I'm actually pleased that the likes of Sil'dih and the Thirteenth aren't being forgotten but I really hope that the game doesn't neglect the places mentioned in the Return to Ivalice/Save the Queen storyline. Ilsabard in general is a huge landmass that I'd rather not see remain covered in clouds.

Sadly, I wouldn't hold your breath friend. They seem to have absolutely no interest in continuing that after Matsuno either left or got pushed out. Those plot threads were explained away in the post-Bozja field reports. Incredibly disappointing. Maybe we'll get to go there some day, but for some reason I find myself doubting.

[KageTokage]

It feels like they might be trying to set up plot threads again by having the lesser Scions scattering all about the world and promising they'll let us know if anything interesting comes up, with Nagxia, Aerslaent, Meracydia, and Corvos all being mentioned.

Hopefully they're not just misdirecting and we get word from one or more of those regions in the lead-up to 7.x...though I'd really rather not have another expansion that spans multiple continents.

[aveyond-dreams]

I think they would rather write a scenario that has us going to Wendy's on the 13th than have us return to Ilsabard. The Garlemald role quest and the underwhelming way in which the provinces were handled has done nothing to further my confidence in any future settings. This, paired with a community that is all too eager to repeat "not everything has to be so serious!" whenever challenged on the continuous encroach of slice of life and attempts at comedy, doesn't seem like it'll make for a worthwhile story. It certainly doesn't help when we have influencers like Meoni who went out of their way to double down on justifying Hildibrand being ok to tie into the relic while misrepresenting and belittling other people's complaints, no matter how nice he went about it.

Obviously I'd like to be proven wrong, but what evidence is there to suggest that things will be handled better moving forward? How do I know that the Void won't be made a mockery of? If we take Alphinaud et co over there, then if we follow on from previous trends they'll have a fully functioning republic by the end of 7.0, after a journey full of more fakeouts and "funny" moments. How do I know that the same won't happen to Meracydia and the New World as well? No matter where we go from here, if these same trends continue then we'll have anything but a story of Heavensward's caliber again - because at this point it's clear there will never be another Shadowbringers.

For an mmorpg whose story is supposed to be the main attractor, most of the writing that has come out since the launch of 6.0 has been nothing I could recommend to other people. A story whose take on suffering is disconnected at best combined with a total lack of respect for long-awaited reveals like Zodiark, a bloated cast incapable of retaining previous growth and character development, and a budget blown on pizza and burgers while leaving epic moments unshown. The fact that someone even tried to argue against the inclusion of scenes such as Hydaelyn’s or Zodiark’s transformation is ridiculous – they told me that they wouldn’t have remembered such a scene and that the comedy bits were more memorable.

I have to ask, why are such individuals playing a Final Fantasy game? Why are they playing a Final Fantasy game when they readily admit to preferring that instead of moments on par with the summoning of Alexander in FFIX, or the intense character arcs for characters like Vanille in FFXIII? Why must FFXIV cede territory to people who by their own admission are not here for what makes these RPGs different from a TV sitcom? Because comedy will only carry a game so far. Why are they not playing visual novels instead? Why was the story that I was invested in since 2013 ruined for the sake of their tastes?

I honestly have to wonder whether I should have become the type that watches shows like Big Brother and Love Island instead of purchasing FFXIV all those years ago.