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

[aveyond-dreams]

On that note, was anyone else disappointed by how normal Sharlayan ended up being? Every time we've interacted with anything Sharlayan outside of Endwalker it has always had sinister vibes to it. Eureka. The abandoned colony. The assassination squads sent to kill anyone sharing state secrets. It's a real shame it was simply reduced to a Disney style city of magic with no real grit. I also didn't like how the Scions had no reaction to the 'evacuation plan' picking and choosing which races were acceptable to take on board.

It's also annoying that it wasn't the Garleans who pieced together a spaceship given how that's...very much their sort of thing.

As an aside, do you have a source for that scene being expensive? It'd be good to dismantle the arguments that there's no wasteful spending.

Sharlayan as a place to afk and chill in is nice, the actual story I endured there was not. Given that it is home to the single-worst chain of filler MSQ quests, it was by far the weakest parts of Endwalker besides the Loporrit section of the Moon. There were so many problems with the way things went down over there, especially considering the stoic nature of our homogenous cast who couldn't give a human reaction when it was very clearly implied if not outright stated that the Garleans were going to be left behind.

The source for the interview was a translated one posted to the FFXIV reddit discord, but screenshotting it directly has proved a hassle. The translation was posted on January 9th, searching Estinien brought it up hidden behind spoiler text.

[Brinne]

My friend, all I'm offering is a different lens from which to view aspects of the story. If anything, it was my hope that explaining how some of these plot threads may be related to, or find root explanations in, Japanese culture/religion may open up new perspectives and understandings that go beyond a Eurocentric binary of "makes sense/doesn't make sense". My goal was not to definitively state "Yeah, Yoshi P and crew were definitely and intentionally hammering Japanese culture into this plot point", so much as providing new context. By all means, you can take it or leave it. So you can understand why it may seem a bit hollow for that to immediately be dismissed with "by claiming that Japanese culture may have at all influenced the game, you are dehumanizing Japanese people (but let me put in parentheses that you're not doing that so you don't get offended)".

If you want good faith, give it in kind.

For what it's worth, I was sincerely trying to post in good faith, and my "I don't think you are doing this" remarks were also sincere and my trying to be very clear about my stance and concerns and where they laid. I was hoping that since, well, honestly, you seemed like a thoughtful person who made insightful posts, "hey, let's be careful about where these kinds of broad generalizations could go in an environment already jumped-up on 'devs dumb and bad' juice" wouldn't be so grating. Again, I'm in a position in society where generalizations about "I bet your behavior is because of X condition you live in" is familiar, and can easily become upsetting. Perhaps I could have worded it better. But it's clear everyone would like to just drop this, so sure.

[MoofiaBossVal]

On that note, was anyone else disappointed by how normal Sharlayan ended up being? Every time we've interacted with anything Sharlayan outside of Endwalker it has always had sinister vibes to it. Eureka. The abandoned colony. The assassination squads sent to kill anyone sharing state secrets. It's a real shame it was simply reduced to a Disney style city of magic with no real grit. I also didn't like how the Scions had no reaction to the 'evacuation plan' picking and choosing which races were acceptable to take on board.

From the the 5.5 MSQ and the 6.0 previews, I thought that the Forum was somehow in collusion with Fandaniel and Zenos, building the towers for them (or providing the tech), and that dad was going to perform sabotage from the inside. He saw which way the wind was blowing in the Forum, but disagreed with the rest of the Forum (who voted unanimously to reject Eorzea's call for aid). So to maintain appearances, he voted to agree with the plan so he wouldn't have to resign or be silenced. He would still have power and freedom to act. He formally cut ties with his kids in order to keep them from being targetted by the Forum if they ever discovered he was actually working against them, and so that when he made his move and burned the Leveilleur name in the process, he wouldn't drag his kids down with him.

That theory that Anima would turn out to be mom was a lot more interesting than what we actually got.



Did we ever find out what this symbol inside the tower was supposed to mean? Why make an art asset that so closely resembles Sharlayan's symbol and arrangement of the Forum seats?

[CrownySuccubus]

I honestly don't even think they look that similar. The two designs have spiral shape, but that's about it.

[MoofiaBossVal]

The source for the interview was a translated one posted to the FFXIV reddit discord, but screenshotting it directly has proved a hassle. The translation was posted on January 9th, searching Estinien brought it up hidden behind spoiler text.

Thanks. For all to see:

[SieyaM]

In the end, this whole thing feels like the original plan for Hydaelyn and Zodiark has long been scrapped or forgotten and a new plot was hastily put together to accommodate fan favorites and popularity. I remember getting very distinct hints that Hydaelyn had been controlling us and pushing us to action through some form of tempering, and someone pointed out earlier that Sharlayan ended up being much more tame than we had been led to believe before now. For a city that had been sending assassination squads and incredibly concerned with secrecy they sure are welcoming of a strangers showing up at their port. Even more so towards the end when everyone you ever met shows up to help build the super secret space ship that after decades of keeping a close guarded secret just decided to tell everyone everywhere about.

[Kaurhz]

Did we ever find out what this symbol inside the tower was supposed to mean? Why make an art asset that so closely resembles Sharlayan's symbol and arrangement of the Forum seats?

Can't say as I could contribute much, as I don't think their meaning has ever been established in game. But as far as connecting it with real-world concepts and the sort, there's always been stark similarities between these symbols and Logarithmic and Adinkra Spirals, if my memory is to serve me correctly.

[KizuyaKatogami]

Thanks. For all to see:

This is beyond pathetic. The game really has just turned into an anime fluff novel and slice of life. Imagine if yknow, for the 10 year ending arc story we had gotten an fmv sequence of the two primals fighting or something. But no, tataru’s muffins and estinien’s foot is more important i guess.

[Xirean]

In the end, this whole thing feels like the original plan for Hydaelyn and Zodiark has long been scrapped or forgotten and a new plot was hastily put together to accommodate fan favorites and popularity. I remember getting very distinct hints that Hydaelyn had been controlling us and pushing us to action through some form of tempering, and someone pointed out earlier that Sharlayan ended up being much more tame than we had been led to believe before now. For a city that had been sending assassination squads and incredibly concerned with secrecy they sure are welcoming of a strangers showing up at their port. Even more so towards the end when everyone you ever met shows up to help build the super secret space ship that after decades of keeping a close guarded secret just decided to tell everyone everywhere about.

The Twins dad was already telling people about the ship. The Forum had decided that the time to act was now. It had become public knowledge before this scene.

[Rulakir]

If what Y'shtola believes about the blasphemies is true, then all the people who turned on The Source probably also doomed other people.

I hadn't thought about this. I was envisioning everything becoming whole again eventually except there would be a lot of souls who would be incapable of it. You'd end up with a sect of 6/14 souls running around who'd have even less ability than the current denizens of the Source. Even the WoL at 9/14 can't wield enough creation magic to fashion a robe (but we can create Fray/Esteem :P).

I remember getting very distinct hints that Hydaelyn had been controlling us and pushing us to action through some form of tempering, and someone pointed out earlier that Sharlayan ended up being much more tame than we had been led to believe before now.

I though Sharlayan was going to end up being founded by Venat's followers and a large part of their secrecy was going to revolve around keeping the wisdom of the Ancients concealed from the public. Instead, we get a bunch of scholars equally seduced by Hydaelyn who at most are trying to keep the knowledge of the Final Days hidden.

I was fairly certain they weren't going to have the WoL tempered because people would riot that their character had no free will all this time (which is laughable given how little agency we had throughout ARR and EW), but I still maintain Hydaelyn tempering makes more sense than what we got which was everyone trusting her implicitly and never questioning or criticizing her. Krile, in particular, I just wanted to smack. Every Scion, every scholar in Sharlayan, Midgarsomr, and basically anyone else who comes in contact with her falls under her thrall. Not to mention my own character going from "I can't trust you" to rather quickly returning to being her lackey.