The Worst Part of Endwalker

[Hurlstone]

Overall I really loved Endwalker, and have few real complaints. I kinda wish... a Scion had died? I dunno, their endless 'Oh we are gonna sacrifice ourselves ITS NOT LIKE YOU HAVE AN ITEM TO BRING US BACK ON YOU" got a bit monotonous. Also, whilst I personally loved what they did with Hydaelyn and she has kinda become my favourite character now, it would have been cool to see some of the Scions take a more judgemental stance.

[Novae]

The worst part? Easy: Labyrinthos act 2 (after Elpis). It was such an obvious, forced and boring filler, I really REALLY disliked it.
Second worst, the fake deaths, the fake finale days, the fake disband. I can't take it anymore.

[YukikoKurosawa]

I genuinely wonder how many more times the writers think they can get away with the fake-out deaths. It's one thing to be apprehensive about killing a character off because of how fans might respond (Emet's death already proving 99% of people would be okay with it despite how much said character is loved and will still keep making tons and tons of fanart of them.), but repeatedly pretending to do it when you know you have no intention of going through with it is just blatantly disrespecting the intelligence of your audience and wasting valuable run-time on yet another slow motion of [insert character here] getting mortally wounded, someone shounting [insert character name here] "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOES", and then they're just fine the next scene through whatever contrived justification.

Actually do it or stop pretending.

[Bad_Luck]

*************SPOILER ALERT*********************
Also, I am not looking to draw negativity from anyone, so if thats all you have, then keep it to yourself please.

What, you're the only allowed to complain? *pft* Also, we knew Zodiark wasn't the big bad since SHB. You can't really bitch when you didn't pay attention.

[LordGiggles]

What, you're the only allowed to complain? *pft* Also, we knew Zodiark wasn't the big bad since SHB. You can't really bitch when you didn't pay attention.

I imagine they meant they want a discussion of it, not just people who come into threads and immediately pick fights or just actively do their best to derail the entire discussion. "draw negativity" reads like that to me at least. it's not a terribly high quality thread though, so who knows

[Midareyukki]

I don't think Zodiark was the big bad after Shadowbringers set up "the sound" (really a song, but okay). I just wasn't expecting it to be a done deal this quick. I wish Zodiark had a bit more gravitas, but eh c'est la vie

guy can't have any more gravitas than bending the whole plot around him for about five expansions now can he?

[Gemina]

I'm having trouble deciding between:

The quest before unlocking Aeitiascope dungeon that has you find 8 randos
The moon letdown
The Elpis letdown
The inexplicable, and quite uncomfortable vibes Ultima Thule gives me

[Enkidoh]

Really, the only things I truely disliked about EW was... a number of odd retcons and changes to certain terms and names in the story - such as the Lifestream suddenly being discarded for "the aetherial sea", the whole 'Etheirys-replaces-Hydaelyn as the planet's name' thing, and the attempt to try and fix the contradictions with the Echo by saying it was the Blessing of Light that really protected against Primal tempering which only created even more glaring plot holes and contradictions. Probably this was a result of the staff changes behind the scenes in the Localization department (what with Ferne being seconded to FFXVI's development), but it still came across as glaring.

Meteion being the game's 'Necron moment' was also a bit weak, but at least Meteion had an actual story explanation and development, unlike Necron, who literally came out of nowhere in the last battle.

[VelKallor]

Echo by saying it was the Blessing of Light that really protected against Primal tempering

Wrong. Emet - Selch and Elidibus explained that.

Shadowbringers..the Echo was something we always had, weakened by the sundering. The Echo was an ASCIIAN ability, a trait, a power that existed before the fall of Amaurot.

On the First, Elidibus revealed the true nature of the Echo to the Warrior of Light and their companions. The Echo awakened in those who witnessed a Calamity that bore a likeness to their innate ancient memories of the Final Days many millennia ago. After creating a star shower in the sky above Crystarium, the Echo was awakened in a small number of individuals in the crowd below. Using the form of Ardbert he convinced the now awakened crowd members to become Warriors of Light themselves.

The reason we cant be tempered is because we have what Venat had given us, a "travellers ward".

The Echo is something all Ancients had in its purest, most controllable form, but being sundered makes it weaker and harder to control.

The Echo is the awakened remnant of an Ancient soul tapping into a smidgen of their inherent abilities. The Blessing of Light is the "traveler's ward" that prevents aether corruption. Remember, there was a "big reveal" that the Ascians use the Echo to traverse the Rift and possess people, and this was how Arbert and crew used it to shed their bodies and come to the Source back in Heavensward. Zenos proved that a person without the Blessing can resist tempering as long as they have a stronger will (perhaps dynamis is at play here?) and it is implied that his Resonant (and therefore the Echo in those tha

[Enkidoh]

It's still a retcon though because of numerous occurances earlier in the game of those without the Blessing but posessing the Echo still being protected - the big one was when Midgardsormr sealed the Blessing and yet the WoL was still protected against tempering as normal.

Really it was to try and plug the plothole where Emet announced that the Ascians were tempered by Zodiark, despite.. having the Echo themselves, and SE then had to try and write themselves out of that contradiction (this is a problem with writing a story over a long time, keeping metaphysical frameworks consistant in the narrative is never easy and all to often contradictions gradually work their way in, and often retcons are the only way to deal with it, as unsatisfactory as it is). Either way, it just opened more plotholes than it fixed.