Rewritten MSQ - Garlemald and EW

[aveyond-dreams]

It doesn't feel like your rewrites would fix anything. It just feels like FFXII randomly stapled into the FFXIV MSQ at best, and fanfiction that ignores existing lore in order to satisfy your preferences at worst.

And neither did the fanfiction that made it into the MSQ with burger eating catboys and nonstop preaching about hope vs despair so hard that it became intolerable. Yes I am bringing up that scene again and yes it is absolutely justified given that it was the most out of place scene in the entire game. We are extremely unlikely to ever agree on what or what doesn't work for the story, and quite frankly I make no attempt to hide my own biases here - if something gets in the way of what I believe is effective storytelling then I ignore or remove it. I wrote down what I thought would be a cool experience. That's it.

I even mused on what incorporating Landis instead of Rozarria would have turned out like, but it seems you didn't like my ideas on that much given it would have been impossible for me to tell a compelling story by simply handing control of the republic back to a faceless senate instead of having Noah van Gabranth take charge of the place. Involving him in the political game being played out across Ilsabard would not have made for a bad story mind you, but "reverting" to democracy as you would have these nations do would have come across as dull and tired after having done this far too many times over the past decade.

I did what I could to reign myself in at times as I was writing that whole thing in the span of...somewhat less than 24 hours but given that it's summer I do not follow anything resembling a normal sleep schedule these days. Anyway, next year when FFXVI comes out I get the Final Fantasy game of my dreams. The next game of the mainline series was entrusted to writers who I believe did an effective job with their storytelling in Heavensward and across various Ivalice-adjacent media. I will be playing that while if things continue going downhill here, 6.4 will have the WoL working at a Wendy’s in the Void because the line between what could be taken seriously and what cannot has been crossed and the intended audience – seemingly – has shifted directly away from me.

[Theodric]

If the game truly intends to appeal to a broad audience, then it can afford to be flexible with its supposed 'themes'. Aveyond's proposal is an excellent compromise - the provinces who wish to break away can do as much but the ones who do not can remain with yet others being cut loose at a later date once stability has been restored.

As it stands, the game isn't even consistent with its own supposed 'themes' and often embraces a stance of 'rules for thee but not for me'.

As for the Omega side quests, I agree that such rhetoric should be present in the MSQ's instead. By hiding such things away in optional content many players simply aren't going to see it...and in all honesty it seems as though the writers themselves forgot some of the things that they set up in side content because it either never received further exploration or it directly contradicts what the MSQ's portray at times.

[IkaraGreydancer]

If the game truly intends to appeal to a broad audience, then it can afford to be flexible with its supposed 'themes'. Aveyond's proposal is an excellent compromise - the provinces who wish to break away can do as much but the ones who do not can remain with yet others being cut loose at a later date once stability has been restored.

As it stands, the game isn't even consistent with its own supposed 'themes' and often embraces a stance of 'rules for thee but not for me'.

As for the Omega side quests, I agree that such rhetoric should be present in the MSQ's instead. By hiding such things away in optional content many players simply aren't going to see it...and in all honesty it seems as though the writers themselves forgot some of the things that they set up in side content because it either never received further exploration or it directly contradicts what the MSQ's portray at times.

Thing is I don't recall anyone ever saying Venat did nothing wrong. It's more just understanding and acceptance for the most part. Context and the position within the story matter as well. I don't think it's wrong for folks to give Venat more leeway when actions created the lives we now have while Emets strove to take those away. Even with that I never felt the story tried to paint him or even Elidibus as evil. Same as I never felt the game was trying to paint Venat as this Uber hero. She's a woman with a huge burden that cares deeply for her people same as Emet. They both made huge choices that resulted in alot of suffering. Yet neither revel in it. I can accept that. Same for Ysh and her familiars. I'd take issue with what she did if she didn't console them at the end. That shows she cares and doesn't do it lightly.

Who's to say the scions don't operate on the same or similar logic?

[DBriggs304]

Please no. Dabbling around in headcanons is one thing. Attempting to re-write what millions of people love just because a few people can't accept it is another.

Aye, pretty much this.

[aveyond-dreams]

If only the actual Endwalker MSQ wasn't so oversaturated with fluff and slice of life moments then perhaps that logic would hold. It does feel like a high school AU headcanon at times and not a continuation of a story that was taking itself pretty seriously by that point. This doesn't even scratch the surface of the mismanagement regarding the major pillars holding up the plot. We also know that Endwalker did have parts of it rewritten at some point, resulting in a story that:

- had no lasting consequences for any main cast members.
- rushed through 2 expansion's worth of content in one.
- whether by localization issues or fundamental writing issues cast an outright villainess as the supreme goddess of the world.
- introduced the plot device of Dynamis at the last minute and will likely never use it again.
- removed all agency from the player character by way of the time loop.
- failed to appropriately allocate budget for the "epic" showdowns that should have been shown on-screen, but weren't.

I feel like I am being forced to cede territory to a playerbase who rather than being enraptured by cataclysmic battles and thrilling storytelling would rather sit around and justify why eating Uber Eats with the scions is so much more amazing than the kind of action I would rightfully expect from a full-fledged Final Fantasy game.

[andrealfus]

go back to wattpad

[TimotheusReed]

I think we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this one, I fundamentally do not like the idea of a fantasy world left bereft of the forces that once dominated it. I do not think using religion as a plot point moving forward is worth the player’s time because at this point the player is aware of most in-game mysteries – except for whatever is going on with the Twelve.

I honestly really like the idea of a world bereft of its gods. I mean most of the gods we encountered weren't even real gods or even their own individual entities. They were manifested wishes and prayers.
Born from the wishes and prayers of mortal beings or the Ascians.

This is also not the first FF game, where the game continues after the forces which once controlled the world were eradicated. FFX-2 and FF XIII for example did the same thing.
I didn't really like both games that much tbh, but I still find the idea interesting. Because many FF games end with the defeat of a god etc. or the forces which once controlled the world.
And I always was interested on how the world will continue after that. FFX-2 and FFXIII explored the aftermath for example. And I like it that FFXIV does it too.

There is always potential for new entities, gods or enemies to appear, because the whole concept of aether is so flexible.
Even stronger foes than the ones we already faced are potentially possible.

There is also a lot that is still unknown about the nature of aether in general and a lot of potential for new forces to establish themselves.
There still are a lot of mysteries and things even the Ascians didn't know. For example we discovered time travel before the Ascians did.
There might also be other forces in the universe we don't know about. FFXIV doesn't necessarily need gods and all-powerful beings. There are also a lot of other Final Fantasy games which didn't need gods to establish a good plot.

I mean even we as WoLs are not all-powerful gods and we did defeat those beings with the help of others. There can still be beings which have similar WoL-like powers.
Or maybe other entities could find a way to rob us of our powers and infuse our WoL blessing onto themselves.

I would like a plot, where the power of the WoL gets stolen and someone else uses our power. There are a lot of possibilities.

[Knot_D]

I would like a plot, where the power of the WoL gets stolen and someone else uses our power. There are a lot of possibilities.

Already happened on Garlemand instance

[Theodric]

Already happened on Garlemand instance

Which, unfortunately, amounted to absolutely nothing. Not even one of the Scions being injured.

[Knot_D]

Which, unfortunately, amounted to absolutely nothing. Not even one of the Scions being injured.

...Which is good? Why you want them get injured badly??

Another reason to leave lore in forum I guess...