Well by all means then do not heed my opinions or my advice regarding the current handling of this cast's characterization...it will be curious to see whether or not this game holds on to its reputation for storytelling if we pair the lack of meaningful character development together with a lack of stakes, and a setting that fails to deliver on what fans want to go to and see.

Depending on what releases coincide with 7.0 there's a decent chance that I may not even bother with the MSQ once it launches, especially if something like FFVII Remake Part 2 happens to release too close to it. Or better yet, Dragon Age 4. Why should I stick around for another expansion, or goodness forbid 10 more years of Alphinaud going through cycles of regression while still taking up space in the cast? FFXIV is fast becoming a game that once upon a time I couldn't help but praise into a game I no longer have decent arguments for getting people to try out.

Why should I tell my friends to play this game and enjoy it for its "story" if that story is one that ends up like Endwalker did? That would be like me hyping up Game of Thrones despite knowing how that turned out as well. In FFXIV’s case, we ended up with a world now homogenous in terms of ideology and a party that ultimately wore away at the uniqueness of its members with little to look forward to when it comes to character interactions.

Most good stories feel better the more one looks back at them...yet in Endwalker this was the total opposite. The more I thought, even mildly about what I had just experienced the more the plot unraveled and laid bare what was ultimately a story that either shouldn't have gone through the re-write it did, or should have been constructed with better care.