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

[MikkoAkure]

All I know is I'd rather be living the alternate timeline where Bozja wasn't ended prematurely and we received its Dalmasca arc complete with more FFXII and Ivalice themed outfits. Far as I'm concerned this expansion has permanently soured me on anything Hildibrand-related. If I had to choose between having a joke of a game and a one that takes itself seriously then the choice is obvious.

Bozja ended in patch 5.55. Were they supposed to keep going and invent x.6 patch just to satisfy you?

Bozja ends with Bozja being liberated. There's literally nothing more to do in Bozja with it being in the last patch of ShB and there wasn't any room to add more if there was any. Matsuno even said the Bozja part is finished.

The treatment of Ivalice is another instance where I wish we could know everything about what went on behind the scenes. While I personally have never been in love with Ivalice and its storylines in FFXIV, ShB ending its whole story unceremoniously in field notes was… certainly… something. Just another questionable story-telling decision in ShB patches that foretold the mess that was coming.

We already know some of the behind the scenes.

Yoshi-P and Matsuno said in an interview that the field notes weren't written in a panic and that was the intention. What probably wasn't the intention was not continuing the story. But from what Matsuno has said on twitter and in the interview, it seems that a combination of factors from the storyline not being well liked in Japan (the vague part we don't know), covid, and the idea that players are exhausted of war stories led to the story being left on "to be continued". Matsuno doesn't want a war of liberation arc for Dalmasca so we're not going to get it.

They've already said what the story would be like if they come back to it, and it would be similar to the first part of Bozja with a solo-playthrough and a trial.

[Midareyukki]

Bozja ended in patch 5.55. Were they supposed to keep going and invent x.6 patch just to satisfy you?

Bozja ends with Bozja being liberated. There's literally nothing more to do in Bozja with it being in the last patch of ShB and there wasn't any room to add more if there was any. Matsuno even said the Bozja part is finished.

In fairness, the plotline of Bozja continues in the Field Notes. It does not end in the cutscenes. The arc does, but the story doesn't.

Pagaga and Lyon walk around.
No word on Clarricie afaik.
Sicinius is scott free after Lyon broke him out of Dalmasca.
Gabranth "dies" but gets transplanted onto a clone. To the public, the death is staged as Lyon having murdered him.
Zero consequences for pretty much everyone that wasn't Menenius.

All of those characters save for Gabranth got introduced in Bozja proper and had a major role there. Gabranth was introduced in the preceeding arc, the Ivalice Raids, but has more development in Bozja than he ever does in Ivalice.

And right now it's left open-ended, with Gabranth musing on how he expected Bajsaljen to make the Bozjan constitution in the same vein as the Garlean rule and his own ideals (with maybe a lot less murder), and being seen walking around in Dalmasca despite being considered dead.

There's no closure due to that. They did say that if they ever came back to this story, it'd feature Dalmasca, however.

[SOLOUR]

Have you heard the good word? Zodiark Trance is officially over! Some people are truly bent out of shape by the fact that some people dislike a piece of fiction, and their special waifu Veness in particular. All the more proof that we are doing something right if we can get the terminally online so mad because (checks notes) a story didn't live up to some people's expectations…?

Oh no. Anyway. Back to the usual schedule of taking Endwalker apart.

Care to drop another link to the discord?

[Kazhar]

I have a weird question for you guys.

...is there anything you guys liked about Endwalker?

Like, sure, okay, it was a "major let down, end of" and all that jazz. But you guys are still here o: After 3 patches, and I assume it'll continue, yeah? Why? :| Do y'all think a miracle will happen and Square will change the course of their writing which they clearly haven't shown any indication of doing?

If we're talking about the story, I don't have much to say against Garlemald and Thavnair 2.0. (I know opinions are mixed on these so I'm only representing myself here.)
The zero consequence Fandaniel stunt at the end of Garlemald was certainly a sign of things to come, but otherwise I thought it was great. I loved the story of heroes wanting to liberate a country that doesn't want anything to do with them because you can't just erase decades of propaganda and bad blood like this.
Thavnair 2.0 delivered what I expected from the Final Days. Too bad the momentum died completely afterwards.
I really liked Pandaemonium so far too, but I reserve my judgement fom the time being. There's a lot that could potentially go wrong in a single patch.

But I can safely say I no longer play this game for the story. It used to be a major motivation for me, now I'm basically here only because I still enjoy the raids and playing with my group of friends. Have they not been here, I would probably have unsubbed.

If 6.1 onwards was a completely blank slate with an entirely new cast (and generally more exciting than what they delivered so far), I could have seen myself giving the new story a chance. But it seems it's gonna be more of the same (and Yoshi-P's comments that they want 7.0 to be another "battle of values" are worrying to say the least. After EW I have no faith they'll do it right, and I firmly believe ShB was a happy accident).

[VentVanitas]

I really liked Pandaemonium so far too, but I reserve my judgement fom the time being. There's a lot that could potentially go wrong in a single patch.

Yyyup. One patch was all it took to ruin the Eden story for me because I was genuinely interested in learning about Eden itself and it all went out the window as soon as Mitron appeared. Felt so lazy, "sike! it was ascians all along". Praying the last tier of Pandaemonium won't take a nosedive with its story too.

[Rosenstrauch]

I have a weird question for you guys.

...is there anything you guys liked about Endwalker?

Aside from 99% of everything in Elpis, because I seriously can't get enough of the Ancients and would gladly trade whatever plans the devs have for 7.0 or 8.0 in exchange for an entire expansion set in the Unsundered World?

I was quite fond of 99% of what went down in Garlemald, too. I've got my gripes about that, of course, and I'm also of the mind that we should've gotten a Greater Garlemald expansion that ended in the capital rather than containing the entire thing to one zone, but what we got was good enough, I think.

I also really like what I've seen in Pandaemonium, the Sharlayan idiot who sent us there aside. Themis and Erichthonios are lovely characters, and it was nice to see a side to Lahabrea that was unfortunately absent due the lack of planning that went into him in prior MSQ content. I even think Athena, a sociopathic megalomaniac with a penchant for human transmutation, is a pretty rad villain. She's what Amon-daniel should've been, honestly.

Finally, I like Zero. I don't care some details, as usual. But I'm a sucker for broken people learning to live again, and Zero scratches that itch well enough for me. I can only hope they don't do something stupid with her in 6.4, 'cause "the writers do something stupid with a character I warmed up to" has been a recurring problem with Endwalker for me, but that's for the future.

Now, I'm not saying "Go play another game if you're so bothered" since that's a stupid thing to say overall. But I don't understand why you guys want to remain in the game, knowing it won't change, knowing Square hasn't heard anyone's voice thus far...

For me? Hope, mostly. Right now I'm in the "only paying one month per patch at most" phase of walking away, but so long as there's some hope that CBU3 will look at the backlash Endwalker received and course correct. And if they don't, well, I've got a pretty big backlog to work through, games I've been itching to replay, and so on.

In fact, I'm not even paying my sub right now. Couldn't log in if I wanted to. I only have forum access because it takes weeks for the verification check to kick in.

Especially not when so many people have praised the expansion, both within and outside the forums.

Prepare to cringe.

But seriously, I am never going to give a fuck about that.

[Midareyukki]

But seriously, I am never going to give a fuck about that.

Even if that's what Square is having the most? o: Because "some hope that CBU3 will look at the backlash Endwalker received and course correct" might not happen if they think they did well.

[Rosenstrauch]

Even if that's what Square is having the most? o: Because "some hope that CBU3 will look at the backlash Endwalker received and course correct" might not happen if they think they did well.

Then I'll just keep crowing about it until the sun burns out, the rivers run dry, and my forum access expires.

[Midareyukki]

Then I'll just keep crowing about it until the sun burns out, the rivers run dry, and my forum access expires.

Alright xD

And yeah, overall, I disagreed with parts of Endwalker really hard, but I also found stuff that I enjoyed too. I found some stuff to be hella cringe, but other stuff to work just fine.

Well, still. I hope I didn't make anyone uncomfortable tbh. I just figured... "People are saying it sucked and that it's the end of that. And that the incoming content isn't being good either. But that can't be right, they have to like something, otherwise they wouldn't be continuously discussing it". As in, clearly there had to be something else, because only saying "I don't like it" and leaving it at that wouldn't make for an almost-800 page thread. Things would eventually just die out.

Even if this thread is among the "few" (questionable?) who are vocal about what the disagreement with the story is, hopefuly Square does hear at least some of it and can do better in the future.