Critique of Endwalker Characters

[Mordrick]

I've disliked Alphinaud for a long time. But the worst offense he ever did to us IMO was talking smack to Vauthry in his throne room surrounded by his sin eaters just because we were there with him, and he knew that if Vauthry ordered his execution right on the spot for being a brat we'd have to save his butt.

We were actively used as his personal bodyguard just so he could be a brat to a ruler while feeling safe about it.

I mean to be fair, I wanted to talk smack to Vauthry so I was more than happy to let Alphinaud do it and I would have gladly blasted his rotund backside.

[aveyond-dreams]

Did you finish the story? There was a bit at the end where they all discuss breaking up the band.

Everyone went their separate ways. The Scions aren't a thing anymore and there's a good chance that we're moving on from the majority of them outside of a quest line here and there.

We're more than likely going back to the "adventure in need" trope again instead of the "WoL" shtick.

Y'shtola has no interest in collecting 20 boar hooves. Or I guess in ffxiv's case, running around between 7 zones talking to people one time back and forth for 20 mins to complete one stage of one quest.

So you're safe.

I finished the story and they are quite literally still around just waiting to inch their way back on screen, with interviews having already hinted at Thancred having some sort of involvement in 6.1. Can't say I'm particularly looking forward to the MSQ of that patch if he's got anything to do with it. 7.0 can't come soon enough...

Whether you think he is annoying or not, him having photogenic memory helped him learn the levitation spell which he used to uncover the secrets within the noumenon, which then proceed to use that spell to save dozen of people including ourselves in the Tower of Zot

This was little more than FFIV fanservice calling back to when Rosa saved the party as the Tower of Zot fell out of the sky, except this time it was done arguably more poorly.

[Kolsykol]

I feel like people downplay G'raha's role more often just cause of his hero-worship or fanboyism attitude, which some may find annoying but this is something that is more tolerable and looked at as 'cute' in Eastern culture.

Whether you think he is annoying or not, him having photogenic memory helped him learn the levitation spell which he used to uncover the secrets within the noumenon, which then proceed to use that spell to save dozen of people including ourselves in the Tower of Zot, then what he did in Thavanir which particularly one of his highlight moments in EW, without his stance things would have turned out far worst, and his existence alone helped us travel back to Elpis, it was him who kept Elidibus stored within the tower and it is him alone who is able to control the tower, and with his help we went back to Elpis and uncovered all we needed to know.

I am sorry, you may find him annoying or insufferable or whatever really, but that will never downplay his role within the Scions, he did same if not even more than what others did as well, so in general, choosing to ignore all that is just a person being willingly blind.

Also while some people think that him as the Exarch was really cool and awesome, I hate when people keep secrets to themselves thinking it is for the greater good, and that is something Urangier was doing alot, so I never was happy with the whole Exarch "I know what's best for us" thing.

That is my opinion.

Imo I don't mind Gra'ha so much.
But I also didn't like how the game treated him as if I as the player thought he was the best thing ever.
I didn't view him as the Exarch really I viewed him as a new guy and that's how he came across to me, he was basically Gra'ha with the Exarch's memories if I remember and understand it correctly.
Which is fine, I consider the Exarch dead tho because that's actually what did happen regardless of the soul transference he still did die in the Crystal Tower in Shadowbringers.
So the writers treating Gra'ha like my best friend and giving him so much attention over the other Scions felt strange to me.
He really did feel like he got a disproportionate amount of it when there were other Scions I think should've been fleshed out more instead ( like Y'shtola ).

And his fanboy:ism just felt overbearing I wanted my character to just tell him to stop and cool it down a little but instead my character always acted like he was my favorite friend or something.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

This may come across as shocking to some but compared to other rpgs like Dragon Age or even other mainline FF games, the present core cast of FFXIV is quite weak by comparison. The interesting characters have exited the plot and are unlikely to return, and I don't think that FFXIV players should be subjected to a further 10 years of characters who contribute nothing.

Theres nothing shocking about it, calm down lol
Sometimes a cast isnt 'that' great
Moving on...

Well we dont know what will happen, until it happens. We have a decent handful of characters who could form a new cast, while some of the old might finally retire somewhere else and may no longer be relevant, until they become neccessary later. At that point theyd probly be written better.
If YoshiP and team really do plan on another 10 year arc, Im sure they will see the criticisms and adjust to it and try to improve. They have to if they wanna thrive for 1 more decade

Inb4 someone @s me about X thing like Drk.

[RedaAlert]

I finished the story and they are quite literally still around just waiting to inch their way back on screen, with interviews having already hinted at Thancred having some sort of involvement in 6.1. Can't say I'm particularly looking forward to the MSQ of that patch if he's got anything to do with it. 7.0 can't come soon enough...



This was little more than FFIV fanservice calling back to when Rosa saved the party as the Tower of Zot fell out of the sky, except this time it was done arguably more poorly.

We can discuss how half of FFXIV is just a fanservice from previous FFs and done somewhat more poorly, but for people who never played other FFs, like me and many of my friends and others, I won't start to nitpick every single easter-egg and say "aw they are just using that from that one previous game, how lazy". Honestly I don't care whether they do or not.

[kpxmanifesto]

•Hermes was a character who would have benefitted from a significantly larger amount of time fleshing out and showing us more meaningful or traumatic events happening to him the little we saw in game. He is a villain who I had very little patience or interest for.

•Meteion was great to interact with but like Hermes suffered from too little time spent with her prior to her transformation, though I ultimately had sympathy for her as an individual when she was overtaken by the hive mind of her sisters, who I read as overpowering and suppressing her until we finally broke through to her again in Ultima Thule.

Couldn't agree more. The orchestrators of the Final Days got way too little screen time. These two characters and dynamis were what started the whole plot behind FFXIV, yet they feel like they were just shoehorned in. Furthermore, they didn't even seem like proper villains which led to, what I personally felt was, an overall unsatisfying and corny ending. Was the entire story of FFXIV really just started by a science experiment that couldn't control their "emotions?"

[KizuyaKatogami]

.

Don’t forget how they completely retconned the whole, her life is slowly sapping away plotline.It’s literally never even mentioned after Hw. Guess can’t have the cat lady who has to shill money for the game die.

My personal opinions on the scions are, they’re all bland and boring. Specifically this expansion,
Yshtola did absolutely nothing of substantial value until the final zone of the game.
Alisaie had basically no development this expansion despite them teasing it in ShB with her even acknowledging her low development. All she got was a clothes change.
Thancred stayed the same, nothing substantial happened but he at least was useful in the garlemald infiltration i suppose.
Urianger had the bunnies as his plot line i guess but he’s just there a lot.Doesn’t feel too important or long lasting.
Graha was his same old annoying self. Constant hero ego worshipper and overpowered mary sue.
Alphinaud was basically the same as well. Speech after speech hand clench after hand clench.
Personally i enjoyed my time with the ancient characters far more and felt they were far more down to earth than any of the scions.

[Kolsykol]

Couldn't agree more. The orchestrators of the Final Days got way too little screen time. These two characters and dynamis were what started the whole plot behind FFXIV, yet they feel like they were just shoehorned in. Furthermore, they didn't even seem like proper villains which led to, what I personally felt was, an overall unsatisfying and corny ending. Was the entire story of FFXIV really just started by a science experiment that couldn't control their "emotions?"

Wasn't it that Meteion was actually created through the use of Dynamis and to be especially sensitive to emotions?
One of the first things she says to you is to ask you to share your thoughts and emotions with her which makes sense with the purpose of her creation.
So I don't think it's just that she couldn't control it it's that she was overwhelmed by it and was especially sensitive to it.
She was also connected to her sisters and was basically bombarded with all they had gathered at once.
I think your framing is perhaps downplaying it a bit much.

I kinda wanted more screen time of them tho but I think they got enough for what their purpose was.
I wonder if they had gotten more if people would've felt the opposite way and that it was too dragged out.
Ultimately I feel like the final days and all that isn't necessarily '' the plot ''.
It was '' a plot '', the other expansions still stood on their own legs and still do.
Obviously this was a more grand plot that affected the universe basically but I still think that FFXIV has always been about more than just the Ascians and all that.

Don’t forget how they completely retconned the whole, her life is slowly sapping away plotline.It’s literally never even mentioned after Hw. Guess can’t have the cat lady who has to shill money for the game die.

Have they actually retconned it tho?
Or is it just that not all that much time has actually passed?
Remember that in Shadowbringers she wasn't actually using her real body, they were basically spirits manifesting physical form.

It might come up again later but I think it's more of a background thing that is just always there that she won't live to see a really old age.

[KizuyaKatogami]

Wasn't it that Meteion was actually created through the use of Dynamis and to be especially sensitive to emotions?
One of the first things she says to you is to ask you to share your thoughts and emotions with her which makes sense with the purpose of her creation.
So I don't think it's just that she couldn't control it it's that she was overwhelmed by it and was especially sensitive to it.
She was also connected to her sisters and was basically bombarded with all they had gathered at once.
I think your framing is perhaps downplaying it a bit much.

I kinda wanted more screen time of them tho but I think they got enough for what their purpose was.
I wonder if they had gotten more if people would've felt the opposite way and that it was too dragged out.
Ultimately I feel like the final days and all that isn't necessarily '' the plot ''.
It was '' a plot '', the other expansions still stood on their own legs and still do.
Obviously this was a more grand plot that affected the universe basically but I still think that FFXIV has always been about more than just the Ascians and all that.



Have they actually retconned it tho?
Or is it just that not all that much time has actually passed?
Remember that in Shadowbringers she wasn't actually using her real body, they were basically spirits manifesting physical form.

It might come up again later but I think it's more of a background thing that is just always there that she won't live to see a really old age.

We know at the very least 6 months have passed. It’s moreso the fact she has continued to do more daring and dangerous feats, requiring vast amounts of aether and she’s shown 0 signs of degradation. The opposite in fact that she’s actually gotten stronger despite her life supposedly sapping away. Pretty sure it’s a retconned since it hasn’t been mentioned for literally 3 expansions now.

[Jin-]

Good post OP. Imo Scions are completely irrelevant in EW. I really hope 6.1 won't start again with the infamous line, speak with Alphinaud /"shivers"

Edit. And we don't need Alphinaud much anymore since our character has learned to speak. Alphinaud originally was just a voice for us and way to move the story onwards. But now we have better writers on board and we can move on instead of being shackled to the old.