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

[Conadrium]

• The mighty Zodiark, which has been build up as this mighty(evil) entity over several expansions, turns out to be nothing but filler trash for the first Endwalker trial
• The true cause of the Final Days is a pet-project from an ancient which goes mad after observing countless dead world and possibly causing the death of several world by projecting negative emotions unto them, and is thus dead-set on bringing despair to every world, upon which said ancient goes mad and is now letting her run her course to test humanity if they can withstand/fight despair
• Venat, who hasn't had her memory wiped + still remembers you from being in Elpis, quite apparently doesn't lift a finger to learn about Dynamis herself or to mobilize the other ancients to end Meteion then and there, and instead chooses to turn herself into Hydaelyn, sunder the world and the inhabitants, thereby forcing them to live with and face despair and gambling that their resilience against despair might be enough to face Meteion one day

Really?
This is the best SQ could do in terms of story after ShB?

1) I realize this is a very old post but it’s on the front page so I’m going to reply to it.

2) Zodiark has NEVER been evil. He saved the world. The only reason we exist is because his power has been protecting this planet for thousands of years. Hydaelyn was summoned to stop him because the PEOPLE were going to sacrifice the life on the planet to bring their people back. There’s a whole moralistic argument there that can be had about a small minority making decisions for the masses that literally means their demise. Also Zodiark was barely over half strength when we fought him. 6? of the reflections still remain.

3) Ever heard of a paradox? Venat couldn’t stop it. Things had to go exactly as they did, or you wouldn’t have gone to the past and she would know nothing. She suffered for millennia to give us a chance. To fight or flee as our own resolve determined.

[redheadturk]

1) I realize this is a very old post but it’s on the front page so I’m going to reply to it.

2) Zodiark has NEVER been evil. He saved the world. The only reason we exist is because his power has been protecting this planet for thousands of years. Hydaelyn was summoned to stop him because the PEOPLE were going to sacrifice the life on the planet to bring their people back. There’s a whole moralistic argument there that can be had about a small minority making decisions for the masses that literally means their demise. Also Zodiark was barely over half strength when we fought him. 6? of the reflections still remain.

3) Ever heard of a paradox? Venat couldn’t stop it. Things had to go exactly as they did, or you wouldn’t have gone to the past and she would know nothing. She suffered for millennia to give us a chance. To fight or flee as our own resolve determined.

Paradoxes result in split timelines 99% of the time. I am ok with that, as most players are.

[DiaDeem]

I found this quote at the end of the Omicron quests which I think sums it all up very well:

[Misplaced_Marbles]

I found this quote at the end of the Omicron quests which I think sums it all up very well:

Or, if we simply get to the gist of it:

[EgilTheStressedMage]

Or, if we simply get to the gist of it:

Story was alright. Mount alone was worth it.

[DiaDeem]

Or, if we simply get to the gist of it:

Not gonna argue with this xD

[Brinne]

Just self-indulgently, and with over-sentimentalism, thinking a little more about Shadowbringers: it's hard for me to express how affecting and important I found the validation of everyone involved in the final conflict, and how much more specifically relevant I found it (Endwalker by contrast helps clarify this even further than my initial appreciation, in some ways) as the Intended Audience For An MMORPG - ie, someone presumably living in the modern, industrialized society who has the time and luxury to sit on a PC playing a game like this for hundreds of hours.

Knowing that the advantages I have, my current living situation, my life and identity itself as I know it, are largely built on the bones of those who suffered unjust, pretty unspeakable atrocities, is it still okay for me to live? Is it okay for me to want to live? Yes, it is, says Shadowbringers, and you have a right to fight for that right to live.

Speaking more personally, being a disabled person unable to work, who struggles internally a lot with feeling like a resource drain on others around me, knowing that there are many Desperately Needed Positions in society that I simply do not have the power to fulfill, is it still okay for me to live? Is it okay for me to want to live? Yes, it is, says Shadowbringers. And you don't need to be able to present a Logical and Reasoned Argument about material resources or otherwise about it, come up with any concrete justification if challenged. You have a right to live.

And at the same time - does Emet-Selch, a surviving member of an atrocity (a textbook genocide!), have a right to feel hatred, resentment, and mourning for what he's lost and his people - the first people - who were massacred? Does he have a right to feel diasporic anguish about how this world doesn't seem to have a place for him, no matter how hard he tries? Does he have a right to demand respect and dignity for the victims of the atrocities he was left as a survivor of, that have had even that much stripped from them? Does he have a right to demand justice for happened to those people? Yes, he does. He really does.

And we're left to navigate correlating all of those simultaneous "yes"-es, and while Shadowbringers acknowledges the answer isn't ideal or perfect - we'll always wish for and strive for, when possible, an outcome where everyone can be saved - the one it came to - you have a right to live, but you also have a duty to remember, respect, and work to be the best person you can be to honor those who have been lost and sacrificed so you can exist in your current form - was basically as close as you could get to it, for me.

Man. Shadowbringers was good.

(And then Endwalker saunters in and goes actually, something something Social Darwinist Strongman Theory, sure sucks about the "weak" people who were mass slaughtered (they were biologically unfit anyway) but it was on the altar of the "strong" learning to be able to move forward something something, so, you know, thanks.)

[Conadrium]

Paradoxes result in split timelines 99% of the time. I am ok with that, as most players are.

Why do I feel like you pulled two percents out of your butt there? (99% and most players)

[Cpt_Jack_Irons]

holy... i did not realize how long this thread has become

what happened?