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

[Rulakir]

One of the Tales from the Shadows sidestories confirms that the Exarch's timeline was indeed split off into its own reality...though I don't even want to think about the deeper specifics of how it exists despite the fact the causal loop would've broken by our death.

I will never understand why they went with a time loop following an expansion with an AU. It makes no sense. It was also wholly unfulfilling being sent back in time not being able to change anything, causing a paradox, and having the agency of all major characters throughout lore stripped away in order to maintain said loop.

I feel like Ardbert's consciousness simply took some time to fade away completely after he merged with us, akin to how those who've passed into the Lifestream hold onto their memories temporarily before they've been completely cleansed and rendered a blank slate fit to be reborn.

I think I'm one of the few people who didn't like Ardbert talking through our character before the Hades' trial. I assume he 'dissipated' at the end when he met the ghosts of his friends, who arguably shouldn't exist as I believe their souls were used up to stop the Flood.

Also, everyone's character would've been alive during the seventh umbral calamity and I find a touch strange that there's no mention of people feeling different or otherwise sensing some manner of change in its aftermath. You'd think an overall increase in the world's aetherial density would be detectable and a potential cause for concern for some.

This is the problem with retcons. Prior to EW, I would've said they did a decent job essentially writing the lore in reverse. Now I feel like it's a mess. I talked to one writer who said if they were Ishikawa and told an expansion had to be scrapped and rewritten, that their time had been cut in half, that it had to be compressed into 6.0 (no patches), and that the ending was something they didn't plan for at all it'd be garbage and anyone would be a fool for expecting more. Not that it's relevant to the quoted part, just saying. :P

It's frustrating Yoshi-P visibly seems to hate talking lore based on the LL Q&A because there were a lot of inconsistencies and unanswered questions in EW. I wish we could get a candid interview with Ishikawa that doesn't involve him.

[PawPaw]

Yes, she was talking in the third person. It's not difficult to follow.

Why would we? Why wouldn't we? Yotsuyu had an abusive upbringing that lead her to the mental state where she did her misactions, which were heavily manipulated by the Empire in the first place. Going through the second stage of her arc, it's clear to see a part of her was capable and wanting of something more, but before that could be realized, her slimy brother again took advantage of her. As the WoL, through the echo, we were aware of her backstory as well as what we witnessed first hand. It would make sense to block her brother's attack with that being so; we even see the WoL tighten their fist clenched in anger. If Yotsuyu didn't kill her brother, we would have is what was implied. It would be more than sensible to have defended her from the start with that being so. Thanks for the input? Um, who are you again? This is a pretty open thread. It isn't just directed to you. Didn't even know you were a person who existed before you went out of your way to reply to her post. Lol.

You're right, this is an open thread, and as such I feel quite comfortable replying to anyone I feel like replying to. Again, thanks for your incredibly relevant input! And maybe whenever "she" has realized that "she" doesn't exist and is in fact YOU, then "she" can come out and join the rest of us in reality and offer something that isn't completely off-topic and bizarre.

[Yandere-chan]

Your thanks is irrelevant, which is the point of her reply. It's not that you can't reply to people, so long as you follow the rules, but rather the implications of what you are saying being rather off and self important in context to another person responding to the topic thread. It's not her problem that you have personal issues with following something so basic as the third person. You're just going to have to deal with it, she guesses, since doing so isn't against the rules and you have no power to abuse (since you seem like the type who would do so). Also, what she said wasn't irrelevant. She gave her opinion on Endwalker, which is what the topic is about, and included the one minor nitpick she had with it, which is a part of her opinion on Endwalker. It's your personal problem if you got hung up on that part of what she said. if you truly believe that her original response to the thread was off-topic though, feel free to try to report it as such. Pretty sure the mods will find that it is within the bounds of the thread topic though. Your reply to her though? Perhaps not, since it just came off as a vague personal attack for the sake of trying to rile another up.

[Lauront]

Someone call security, we have another of those "Supreme Deity" situations on our hands!

[KageTokage]

I will never understand why they went with a time loop following an expansion with an AU. It makes no sense. It was also wholly unfulfilling being sent back in time not being able to change anything, causing a paradox, and having the agency of all major characters throughout lore stripped away in order to maintain said loop.

It felt like they just really wanted us to personally spend time with the Ancients who were major players in the story because the only meaningful information we gleaned from the whole experience was what was causing the Final Days, which could've reasonably been provided through other less...intrusive means that don't damage the integrity of the story.

[Lucida3b]

Honestly anyone else ever read the mini area names around the zodiark seal? like things like

"The numbing brand"
"the crushing brand"
"The searing brand"

All very fucked up names..

[YukikoKurosawa]

First of all, the other seven shards did not merge with us during our current lifetime. Calamities were thousands of years apart.

7th calamity happened while you were alive, canonically. It was only 5 years ago. It was the events of 1.0 that literally led to ARR. The 6 previous calamities happened before you were alive, though.

[YukikoKurosawa]

Also, everyone's character would've been alive during the seventh umbral calamity and I find a touch strange that there's no mention of people feeling different or otherwise sensing some manner of change in its aftermath. You'd think an overall increase in the world's aetherial density would be detectable and a potential cause for concern for some.

The correct answer is because the writers had not written that yet

And they probably still have not even thought about it in hindsight.

[Teraq]

Honestly anyone else ever read the mini area names around the zodiark seal? like things like

"The numbing brand"
"the crushing brand"
"The searing brand"

All very fucked up names..

The adjectives refer to the 6 elements. But yeah, it doesn't sound like this past dozen of millenia were a fun time for Zodiark.

(snip)

Agreed on all points here. IMO it's pretty silly to :
1. establish branching timelines are perfectly possible – although technically I suppose nobody in-universe knows that the 8th calamity timeline is still thriving in spite of the time meddling and hasn't just gone poof.
2. then you have the dude sending you back in time tell you "in all likelihood my guy you ain't getting out of this timeline" – which, mind you, he doesn't really know about, either, because why would he? In fact, he saw the Exarch's memories of the alt timeline, so he should know the opposite is possible (though not that it persisted).
3. then you get there and your local troublemaker drags his friend into materializing the space-time anomaly he sees with his super power. OH SHIT WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO AFFECT THE TIMELINE AND SAVE ALL THESE PEOPLE THAT DESERVED NONE OF WHAT IS COMING!!!!
4. no you don't lmao. All of this because Venat threw an Apple AirTag on Meteion and she just kinda decided the person she met for a day was super cool and much more worth saving than her entire people, whom we know she ended up only very half-assedly helping considering no other Ancient we've talked to / heard of knew about Meteion or the role of Dynamis in the Final Days. Guess they didn't pass the secret fair and objective test.

Yeah didn't care much for Ardbert personally. I'm also assuming his consciousness took some time to dissipate, akin to souls in the lifestream (I dislike this entire concept tbh, and everything in the Aitiascope, but that's just me. I'd rather have death be a brutal, permanent end to the character as we know them rather than all this lingering stuff).

I have no idea how anyone could think a storyline that involves a closed time loop that acts as its own justification for big character moments (the Unsundering?? omg I'm not getting over this particular bit of lazy plot handwaving), a memory wiping machine, a magical memory unwiping mechanism and The Power of Friendship™ that only some people are allowed to wield because plot said so, is a good storyline. Objectively speaking here. Like, anyone is free to like it, god knows I like some terrible stuff, but damn I'm not sure about this being the pinnacle of writing.

I want Ishikawa to spill the whole damn truth about the making of the story since late Stormblood.

[Lucida3b]

Also one of the big criticisms for the ancients is creation magic when used with zodiark...., venat gave creation magicks to the rabbits....

Who unflinchigly serve humans