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

[Miiu]

While I was fully expecting not all of the scions to make it over the finish line I have to ask does a character's death really make a story more meaningful/better?
I'd argue that in a lot of stories killing of main characters during the final moments of a story is usually only done to create a reaction or go for a cheap emotional impact.

[KizuyaKatogami]

While I was fully expecting not all of the scions to make it over the finish line I have to ask does a character's death really make a story more meaningful/better?
I'd argue that in a lot of stories killing of main characters during the final moments of a story is usually only done to create a reaction or go for a cheap emotional impact.

When an expansion is advertised with the main dev constantly saying things like “no one is safe, anyone can die,” It sets a precedent. The problem here is this is an apocalypse that once decimated the entire planet and not even the god-like ancients could escape from unscathed. Yet somehow this time everyone survives. It reduces the impact significantly. I’ll ask you a question as well then. Does major plot armor really make a story more meaningful/better? Does dropping a major plot point really make it better just so a character can continue living?(Yshtola). As for cheap emotional impact this was literally Ultima Thule. With them using emotional manipulation with the scions despite most people knowing they weren’t going to die lmao. The problem here as well is, their decision on not killing off any of the characters but in fact, resurrecting them literally goes against the themes of this expansion. People like to preach about the themes that the writers put forward, yet don’t seem to acknowledge the contradictions that the main cast faces with that die to their unwillingness to kill anyone off. The main song is literally “loss,fire,and faith.” Yet where’s the loss here? There’s a reason they have to keep reusing the same 3-4 characters every single expansion. It’s because it’s been 3 expansions since we lost anyone substantial. Now i’m not saying btw, that they just need to randomly kill someone off, and i think that’s pretty apparent. But considering this expansion was probably as high stakes as this game is ever going to get, there wouldn’t have been a better tie to do so. Both in this expansion and shadowbringers. We’ve lost characters to far less than that of say, two unsundered beings or a literal end of world apocalypse. When you prattle on about how dangerous this event is, and how no one is safe, but then everyone survives with literally no consequences whatsoever. That’s when it’s a problem.As far as the despair goes, i do find it a bit unrealistic that none of the scions gave into despair for even a second. Especially the twins, considering they’re younger. Even if it meant no one dying, at least seeing one or two of them struggle with despair, struggling with their feelings would’ve been interesting. At this point they all feel like cardboard cutouts.

Y’shtola does not need plot armor, she has marketing armor. She is the FFXIV mascot used in other SE games and in advertising. She is just as immortal as us and the only thing that will happen to her is a nice cozy retirement when the time comes, no death, no harm.

Tbf, this rings a bit hollow considering Noctis is the ffxv mascot for marketing and uh...you know.

[Rolder50]

While I was fully expecting not all of the scions to make it over the finish line I have to ask does a character's death really make a story more meaningful/better?
I'd argue that in a lot of stories killing of main characters during the final moments of a story is usually only done to create a reaction or go for a cheap emotional impact.

To me, it's not so much that I need a character to die to feel invested in the story, it's more like they are so unwilling to do so, that if a scion is put into a threatening position later, I won't feel as much about it because I know they aren't going to actually kill them. So it dampens the mood / dampens the stakes later on down the line.