Live Letter Thoughts

[aveyond-dreams]

She acknowledges she did terrible things. Since SE wrote this line from her, they are obviously aware of it.

And then the game proceeded to paint her as a heroine in the Codex entry, and are now poised to refer back to us as her champion. I feel as though my character has been manipulated and deceived by Hydaelyn too much to consider himself her champion. We were supposed to not be the Warrior of Light anymore and just be an adventurer. What has become of that promise?

But she also endured eras of time while preparing a way to reach Meteion and to create a means of escape from the Final Days, preserving the continued existence of her people's souls.

Perhaps if she had told the Convocation what was going on and had Hermes locked up before he could further sabotage everything, she may not have had to. In any case it wasn't her that preserved anyone's souls, that was the function of Zodiark whose summoners' souls weren't consumed by him like Hydaelyn did hers. Had the final sacrifice of plant and animal life come to fruition, they likely would've been able to escape their predicament.

Instead she sundered the planet and humanity went from the state of risking blasphemies spawning whenever they used magic, to risking turning into one for succumbing to despair. To classify her as a hero for doing such a thing is something I simply cannot wrap my head around.

She provides her own explanation for why she can't tell anyone. Hermes could go crazy again and Emet-Selch wouldn't believe her when he didn't the first time, so she had to identify specific people that would believe her and use the information right.

Her explanation was found wanting by enough people to generate discussions surrounding the topic that have carried on to this day. It was not well-written. The logic underlying her actions should have been handled with greater care so as to remove all doubt and ensure precise clarity as to why these things had to play out the way they did. This wasn't accomplished.

The echo existed in that era, so she was more than capable of proving herself true to anyone. Not believing her isn't a good enough explanation, not given what the game already showed us.

Emet-Selch even admits to us that their ways would not have led them to Meteion, so it's his opinion that if Venat had told them it would not have caused them to arrive at Meteion. Their best solution would probably have still been to summon Zodiark, so nothing changes.

Summoning Zodiark and performing the necessary sacrifices to return the stability of creation magic and the lives lost in his original summoning seems to like a far better option than being left in the compromised state the Sundering left humanity in, with Venat's backup plan of sending them out in space without the protection of Zodiark almost assuredly putting them directly within Meteion's reach.

Do you see why people have taken issue with the way in which this story was constructed and the ways in which it attempts to justify its plot points? This experience has severely undermined people's confidence in future storytelling along with the many issues surrounding the treatment of:

Garlemald, now a republic left in runs.

Zenos, whose more compelling teases in Shadowbringers weren't followed up - and given this game's lack of permanent death for main cast members has his fans wondering why they were not afforded the same courtesy as fans of the Scions have been in terms of bringing them back.

The Ancients, of whom an inconsistent picture has been painted through a combination of conflicting visions, writing, and interpretations.

Now the Void, which many of are cautious about getting too invested in given the fact that the 6.2 trailer showed dawn breaking in its skies and the implications that the loss of this game's demon realm would have for its worldbuilding. Moving forward we would like to see in 6.2 and beyond less one-sided protagonist centric victories unless similar concessions are willing to be made for the antagonist faction as well, less of a focus on subverting expectations and generally being more clear as to what we should expect, and for the world to not be left in a lesser state as a result of our journey through it.