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

[Teraq]

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand FINAL FANTASY FOURTEEN ONLINE: ENDWALKER. The themes are extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of buddhist existentialism most of the dialogue will go over a typical viewer's head. There's also Meteion's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into her characterisation- her personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these lines, to realise that they're not just entertainment- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike FINAL FANTASY FOURTEEN ONLINE: ENDWALKER truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the nuance in Venat's existential catchphrase "Forge ahead", which itself is a cryptic reference to Tom Mills's musical epic Close In The Distance. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Y'shtola's genius rebuttal of the Ea unfolds itself on their computer or television screens. What fools.. how I pity them.
And yes, by the way, i DO have a FINAL FANTASY FOURTEEN ONLINE: ENDWALKER tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for G'raha Tia's eyes only- and even then he has to demonstrate that he's within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand. Nothin personnel kid ������


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Every now and then I check to see what's being said over on 5ch. Here are some recent examples (edited character names and expansion titles):

I love the guy(s) going on about Kairos. The Clown Garbage Beam...

[SentioftheHoukai]

There is no point in Endwalker's story. The only point to Endwalker is the pointy end of our blade in Venat's ample bosom, and yet even that simple desire was denied us. In life, as well as death.



......Not to put too fine a point on it or anything, of course.

[Theodric]

It's nice to see that there's Japanese players who echo many of our same stances. Less nice to see that they, too, have to deal with their fair share of 'knights' as they aptly put it.

[SentioftheHoukai]

It's nice to see that there's Japanese players who echo many of our same stances. Less nice to see that they, too, have to deal with their fair share of 'knights' as they aptly put it.

Can I just say that I love that terminology? Just..... Knights. Yeah. Rolls right of the 'ole tongue it does.

[Rulakir]

It's nice to see that there's Japanese players who echo many of our same stances. Less nice to see that they, too, have to deal with their fair share of 'knights' as they aptly put it.

JP was throwing shade long before we were. There'd be no need to "communicate that Hydaelyn's not a bad guy" in the LL Q&A given the absolute unmitigated gush fest that was happening in the west at the time. As much as I'd love it if this thread factored into some of the backpedaling we saw with the Omega quest chain, I can't help but think the impetus for that was coming from JP players.

It just makes it all the more ridiculous when people try to say it's just a handful of people complaining in this thread. Not to mention that most of the people who hated EW unsubbed months ago, it's just us masochists sticking around hoping for something better in 6.2. :P

[Striker44]

It's nice to see that there's Japanese players who echo many of our same stances. Less nice to see that they, too, have to deal with their fair share of 'knights' as they aptly put it.

Well, I mean, technically that's true. It would be true of literally any topic under the sun, and with any group of people, that there would be someone somewhere who has a similar opinion as you, but...if it helps you sleep at night...

It just makes it all the more ridiculous when people try to say it's just a handful of people complaining in this thread.

Well, because it is. Peruse the thread a bit and you'll see the same handful of names coming up over and over again. Then go take a trip over to Youtube and start going through some EW videos. Can be gameplay, can be the OST, doesn't really matter. You'll be wading through hundreds and hundreds of comments from hundreds and hundreds of different people almost universally praising the game. It's like the shock some people experienced recently with that poll about characters and seeing so many of the Scions actually rank as very popular. If your view is limited to the echo chamber that is this forum, you'd be taken completely by surprise. But if you step back and see the bigger picture, you'll see that people's takes in general about EW are far and away that it's a great expansion with great characters.

[Lauront]

Yeah almost like fans of a thing gravitate to other media of it, particularly on videos of it with soundtracks relating to it. There's over 1m players of this game, who play it for different reasons, and rate it at varying levels of satisfaction, and those self-same player count figures exhibit a considerable degree of churn. Going to the sites with the most gushing enthusiasm isn't going to get you an honest view of it any more than fixating solely on complaints on a site built for providing feedback - although as Yoshi knows, neither is it a particularly bright idea as a business to just brush those away and assume those who are silent are fully content. I am not sure what "shock" you are referring to, or why you think anyone here only posts on this forum, when we've repeatedly mentioned we frequent other sites too, including those which lean "positive", such as Reddit which, by the by, is also showing increasing levels of fragmentation in its views towards EW. Now if you have nothing else to do but spam "but if only you saw what I saw, you'd know the truth", while doing absolutely nothing to substantiate your opinions except citing sites which have their own issues in acting as representative samples of the game's overall playerbase, then there is little further point in commenting on the matter, because you're not adding anything. What difference does it make to those who disliked it to know we're some vaguely defined minority? It changes virtually nothing. But if believing your own pronouncements that the game is "great" and preaching about it non stop to the heathens helps you sleep at night, carry on. Perhaps you really need that positive self-reinforcement. Something tells me you don't really believe your own swill and that's the reason behind the constant attempts to control the narrative.

[Tama-Kanzashi]

Well, I mean, technically that's true. It would be true of literally any topic under the sun, and with any group of people, that there would be someone somewhere who has a similar opinion as you, but...if it helps you sleep at night...



Well, because it is. Peruse the thread a bit and you'll see the same handful of names coming up over and over again. Then go take a trip over to Youtube and start going through some EW videos. Can be gameplay, can be the OST, doesn't really matter. You'll be wading through hundreds and hundreds of comments from hundreds and hundreds of different people almost universally praising the game. It's like the shock some people experienced recently with that poll about characters and seeing so many of the Scions actually rank as very popular. If your view is limited to the echo chamber that is this forum, you'd be taken completely by surprise. But if you step back and see the bigger picture, you'll see that people's takes in general about EW are far and away that it's a great expansion with great characters.

Have you considered for a moment that it is people like you who make those who are dissatisfied borderline scared of voicing their opinion? Because whenever even the slightest, tiniest bit of criticism is offered, people like you crawl out of the woodwork and start screaming about "HOW DARE! EVERYONE LOVES IT! YOU ARE WRONG!!1".
And then people like you and your amigos who cannot accept different opinions come into this thread, start screaming the same thing and insist that you are right.

Yes, this is exactly what happens here - those who are feverishly obsessed with the game insisting that it can do no wrong and that their opinion is the ultimate pinnacle of objectiveness just trample over those who dare to voice criticism. Scream them into the ground until they are too scared to say anything.

Then once something goes horribly wrong with the game you will also be the first ones to start whining "Why did nobody ever say anything?!".

[Cilia]

Have you considered for a moment that it is people like you who make those who are dissatisfied borderline scared of voicing their opinion? Because whenever even the slightest, tiniest bit of criticism is offered, people like you crawl out of the woodwork and start screaming about "HOW DARE! EVERYONE LOVES IT! YOU ARE WRONG!!1".
And then people like you and your amigos who cannot accept different opinions come into this thread, start screaming the same thing and insist that you are right.

Yes, this is exactly what happens here - those who are feverishly obsessed with the game insisting that it can do no wrong and that their opinion is the ultimate pinnacle of objectiveness just trample over those who dare to voice criticism. Scream them into the ground until they are too scared to say anything.

Then once something goes horribly wrong with the game you will also be the first ones to start whining "Why did nobody ever say anything?!".

I don't see anyone dissatisfied holding their tongues here, and from the sounds of it you're more interested in having other people validate your opinions on the subject than actually discussing them. Point of fact it seems to me the people who are satisfied with Endwalker and do enjoy its story and characters are the ones being shouted into silence, on this forum if nothing else.

If you want the official forums to be an Endwalker hate echo chamber... I mean... I guess that's fine, so long as you recognize it for what it is. But it's an open forum, and people with dissenting opinions are free to voice that. Criticize all you like - different strokes for different folks - but please don't insult, belittle, or attack people who contest your assertions. Respectfully.

[Theodric]

I think that's a pretty disingenuous reading of the situation. I would not say that the people who enjoyed Endwalker are being persecuted or shouted down.