Live Letter Thoughts

[AwesomeJr44]

I don't think anyone posting here has an issue with humour so much as the very one sided, samey humour as well as more and more side content being dictated by it.

Agreed. There's absolutely nothing wrong with humor or lightheartedness, but it has a time and place, and when it is used outside of that time and place it loses its effectiveness. It's really almost ironic, if you try to be funny all of the time, even in the wrong time and place for it, you're typically one of the least funny people around as people will get sick of your humor very fast.

[TheMightyMollusk]

Until Shadowbringers, the only time we really had the entire group of Scions around were in patches. And even then, we usually focused on two to three at a time.

[Misplaced_Marbles]

Until Shadowbringers, the only time we really had the entire group of Scions around were in patches. And even then, we usually focused on two to three at a time.

Yeah, but let's be honest: when you can easily predict when you're traveling with Alphinaud, chances are pretty high that, regardless of what you'll be doing, someone is eventually going to be getting an earful of the usual out of place, out of touch speech. It gets very tiresome.

[Jeeqbit]

At first, I thought they were disbanding as well, but there is line at the end of it spoken by Alphinaud that implies it's a deception.

"We are disbanding the Scions of the Seventh Dawn."
"At least...that is what the story will be."

I still took that and the New Adventure direction to imply that we would get some different people to adventure with. The last thing you would want in a new adventure is for it to not feel new.

[TaleraRistain]

I still took that and the New Adventure direction to imply that we would get some different people to adventure with. The last thing you would want in a new adventure is for it to not feel new.

It looks like we are now, though. And they laid the groundwork for it narratively to make sense, such as Varshahn joining us. Even Big Varshahn makes sense because IIRC he mentioned some side project he was working on. That is probably his adult simulacrum though it could be something else. I'm sure we'll find out.

I think the dissatisfaction of so many stemmed from the idea that they didn't get all new people immediately but that would have destroyed the narrative. We needed a reason for others to show up.

And as others have said, we're just returning to pattern from before Shadowbringers where we have one or two of our usuals with us at a time.

[Jeeqbit]

It looks like we are now, though. And they laid the groundwork for it narratively to make sense, such as Varshahn joining us.

Yes and there wasn't really doubt in my mind that they would bring new characters in for a new adventure, it just takes time to bring us to the new characters without rushing.

I'm choosing to highlight this specific part of your post because of how much it stood out to me. This is not a message that I feel does justice to the issues surrounding loss and grief. I expect better care for topics such as these from the story.

Most of what you say about "forge ahead" doesn't make sense to me, but based on this it seems like one of your biggest problems is with how people experiencing grief and loss simply turn into beasts or get calmed by the scions.

Again, that is just something that happens in Endwalker and people most likely won't turn into beasts under those circumstances in the next expansion. It doesn't necessarily happen in sidequests or future expansions, yet your concerns extend to future expansions.

The story isn't about the grief of all these little people. I'm sure some of them will get support. In fact, when you do the sidequests you find out that some of them do get support from the community, such as the people of Palaka's Stand and the foster parents of the baby. Yet, you come across people who weren't so lucky to get support from others, who are orphans in the MSQ and turn to stealing.

[LisSquid]

They're never getting rid of the Scions. Y'shtola is never going to actually die. This is a fun romp fantasy adventure - the same it has been since ARR. The stakes don't matter, and we're always going to kill god like JRPG's finest.

These characters have no actual agency and exist for our entertainment. Not to act in some neo-Dante's Inferno.

[aveyond-dreams]

There was a lot of activity since I last checked this thread but all I have to say is that while I appreciate these first few steps in a better direction, there remains the issue with how Endwalker pushes its "forge ahead" message and I did my best to explain why that message wasn't received well by some players. Generally speaking, if you wouldn't try and say a message like that to someone going through something serious in real life, I don't see why it's ok for the game to try and push that message onto people.

The arguing about opinion vs statements isn't something I'm willing to entertain, I speak like how I speak and that's really all there is to it. Going any further on that tangent than that wouldn't be in the best interest of this or any discussion moving forward. I want the game to do well, and I think that pivoting away from both that sort of message and taking a more serious tone in the main story/raid quests will be a good thing. You can get humor anywhere, but Final Fantasy storytelling is what is unique to the game. Sadly, Endwalker's writing doesn't really match up well with the precedent set by previous expansions and other FF games.

By changing up the cast and giving people both a new heroine and male lead with the reaper and Vrtra, this will help make us like our party more and balance out the two scions that are with us at present. At the moment I do not support having 7 other people there for the sake of being able to have a Trust mode for trials, but if other members are to be added I want them to be unique. The scions' arcs are largely over and G'raha Tia already got his adventure with us. It is time to move on. 10 more years of them all again wouldn't be in the game's best interest.

The state in which Island Sanctuary is releasing doesn't really inspire me to take part in the content, though the apparent reward of "Jenomis Hair" is rather curious as it could allude to either an Ivalician or Garlean hairstyle that isn't presently accessible to players. Since Jenomis uses hair from Gold Saucer, it cannot be his own haircut. I only hope that all races are able to use it at launch.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

the story just started. Its probly way to soon to introduce new characters, and more then likely they will later when the story picks up and these new characters become relevant to reveal.

Not a Dunk or anything...just saying...

[aveyond-dreams]

the story just started. Its probly way to soon to introduce new characters, and more then likely they will later when the story picks up and these new characters become relevant to reveal.

I disagree with your statement based on the fact that most if not all RPGs introduce new party members quite early on in the story and there is no reason as to why we should spend time on filler at the beginning as opposed to a more thrilling start. I see no reason as to why this new reaper lady couldn't have been a fellow adventurer that Estinien meets in Thavnair and then introduces to us when we go treasure hunting. This would have made my 6.1 story experience far better than it was. Instead we got more G'raha Tia behavior and lore lectures from the scions.

This is why I am more excited about 6.2, as this new reaper is clearly shown fighting with us in the Void and riding on the back of a voidsent along with the rest of the party. I'm also looking forward to finally having a new masculine male lead in the form of Vrtra's new adult form. After they put Thancred in all white clothes and made Estinien tie up his signature elf hair neither were all that impressive visually. At least the male Au Ra build and presumably face 1 characteristics make for a more attractive hero with an outfit from Thavnair that doesn't look too bad.