Live Letter Thoughts

[VelKallor]

So.... what ARE the credentials for "being on Ishikawa's level", anyway? Do you even realize how ridiculous you sound right now? This is literally grade schoolyard bullying level rebuttals, here.

That is my assessment, based on decades of reading, MMO and other gaming media. I can look at writers such as Salvatore, Heinlein, Asimov, McCaffrey, Alan E Nourse for example, whose work set the standards of excellence. Asimov , for example, is renowned for the creation of the Foundation series, his work on the robot universe is unparalleled, characters such as Dr Susan Calvin are remembered forever.

Asimov created the Three Laws, created Dr Susan Calvin, Heinlein's Starship Troopers, Friday, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Red Planet, Time Enough for Love..Anne McCaffrey, who taught dragons to fly and starships to sing, creator of the Dragons of Pern, Petaybee, Crystal Singer series, the Rowan...all of them in the halls of fame.

You may choose to disagree, thats up to you..from my POV after Shadowbringers and now Endwalker, after years in gaming on both ends of that media, I see her as one of the best in her field.

[Solarra]

You're right. As much as I love to read, I got tired of being told by instructors that there's only a single way to interpret a given piece of literature and so crossed that out on my list of possible majors...
...Being closeminded to other opinions is a sure path to stagnation.

I felt so sad reading this, your instructors did you a great disservice. The main purpose of education should be to encourage people to think for themselves.

I must say I'm enjoying the debate. I know people tend to be passionate about their games and games aren't great literature, but they are an art form and definitely worth discussing.

With a game that is principally story-driven I think fans are entitled to expect a higher standard than they would for a combat-based game. Although, in this case I suspect the very length and complexity of the story was why we ended up so many plot holes and inconsistencies in EW.

It could have been handled better and I feel a little sorry for the writers having to tackle such an enormous task in such a short amount of time. Considering the whole thing was wrapped up in a rush, I'm not entirely surprised it failed to hit the mark.

[VelKallor]

Being told that I need to voice my posts differently makes me want to disengage from the greater conversation altogether and leave everyone to their business

No one has ever said that.

What i have said repeatedly is to ask you by what metric you speak for anyone save yourself.

Having ones own opinion is fine, we all do...but I take great exception to your claiming that you represent in any way the opinion of people you dont know and have never met.

[Ransu]

I would much rather see the medieval soldier in the party behave like one as opposed to being reduced to the end of a joke whose only growth over the course of Endwalker was learning to manage money. It fundamentally did not deliver on the experience I hoped the addition of this character would provide. There was no back and forth, no banter, no sarcasm, nothing that made his presence in the plot memorable for me aside the 2 scenes with Vrtra at the beginning and during the return to Thavnair.

I wasn't aware that a spear wielding, spikey armor wearing soldier that can jump 100 feet in the air was a medieval soldier. Last I checked, this is a fantasy game. Your notions and expectations of Estinien are absolutely ridiculous. His character growth has been good.

[Padudu]

What kind of growth do you want to see Estinien have? His character development already happened with HW and then some with SB IIRC. He's not even a soldier, he's a mercenary. There's no standards for him to uphold to lol.

[VelKallor]

There was no back and forth, no banter

Estinen watches, listens, like a wise old owl, speaks rarely. What was it Krile calls him? Sir Reticent?

[aveyond-dreams]

What kind of growth do you want to see Estinien have? His character development already happened with HW and then some with SB IIRC. He's not even a soldier, he's a mercenary. There's no standards for him to uphold to lol.

Thank you for asking this question. To begin with, I must once again assert that in the context of FFXIV he is indeed a medieval soldier. A lance, chainmail, hailing from a small village in the shadow of a distant castle and all. It is an entirely appropriate description of him. With his early life marred by tragedy, especially with the loss of his entire family and his subsequent further strengthening during the Dragonsong War through its conclusion and beyond, there is a lot of potential material to work with.



As a more mature and independent member of the party, I would have liked to see him actively disagree and challenge the more idealistic scions and act as a check on their behavior. No older brother would have willingly allowed for the younger to march into enemy territory in the way that Alphinaud did in Garlemald – seeing him throw down his lance and offer to accompany him would have been consistent with his character, and his subsequent behavior when faced with Quintus may have given them reason to use the shock collar and witness him being humbled in that moment.

We could have seen him struggle to both free himself and Alphinaud, brothers defending each other and perhaps even sustaining an injury or two as a result of the escape attempt. Perhaps he may have succeeded in getting Alphinaud to safety only to subsequently be recaptured and about to be subjected to further mistreatment prior to a large-scale force moving in to save him and/or him being allowed to walk free after the suicide of Quintus. Notably, it would have been interesting to see him interact with Jullus at length and draw comparisons into how both characters fell into military service and the struggles both have endured as a result of both their respective campaigns and the current situation affecting the world.

Had he been allowed to venture to the moon with us, we could have seen him be actively distrustful of the Loporrits and rebel against their plan of abandoning the Source. Given his nature, someone like him would find little joy in being stuck within the moon’s residential quarters as opposed to the highlands of Coerthas which he fought tooth and nail to defend. Overall, his treatment during the second visit to Thavnair was fine but in 6.1 I did not appreciate having to see him be made the end of a joke, one that I do not feel was delivered quite well in the English version of the game and that downplayed his importance as the mature, steadfast, hero in the party.

If more in the way of 6.1’s treatment of him is what awaits us, I would rather see a new character take up his place and for Estinien to rejoin Aymeric in Ishgard, or else act as a permanent setpiece in Thavnair’s tavern. Oh, and it would have helped massively if they hadn't tied up his hair and made his appearance come across as so generic combined with continuing to use his "Iceheart" armor that is really just the level 70 DRG artifact set. Resources should have been dedicated to modifying either another existing armor set or creating a new one to accommodate his looks rather than making him look the way he does now.

Perhaps something like this would've worked splendidly, even with tied up hair there is enough fantasy and character to this armor set that it makes up for the hair situation:

[Lustre]

Estinien was my favourite character in the game until he joined the scions and became stiff, awkward and the butt of jokes. It was like in order to join the scions you have to be neutered because the estinien we have now is not the same estinien I grew to love in HW. I'd love to see more focus on him, and as aveyond already said, provide a bit of "grit" to the party. I dislike how none of our main cast are even slightly rough around the edges. They're all soft and fluffy and full of platitudes.

Honestly, if I could recreate the adventuring party it would be something like, WoL, Estinien (without main scions), Fordola/Gosetsu/Arenvald (with legs), and maybe one of the minor scions like Riol. Of course, I'm not saying this like it would ever happen, what with gosetsus arc being resolved etc. But there in that party we see variety, we see grit and "roughness", we'd see conflict between them etc. Not to mention it would be more visually appealing. A variety of viewpoints as opposed to the usual Forge Ahead homogenized diatribes we've had stuffed down our throats since 6.0.

A massive reason as to why people love HW so much is because the Scions took a backseat and the story was localised, tightly woven with an interesting cast. That and it actually had real stakes, what with people not wearing 70 layers of plot armor back then. I'd like to see them do more of this but looking at 6.2, I'm not confident.

[VelKallor]

Fordola

Is still a paroled prisoner and still seen as a traitor to Ala Migho..I take it you didnt do the role quests ( I did ALL of them ) and had you seen Raubahn's conversation with her, you'd know that she still, despite her tenuous attachment to the Scions, is more less a prisoner allowed small privileges. That collar she wears isnt there for decoration.

Both Ala Migho and the Flames would NOT have allowed her free rein, nor has she earned it...she is lucky she wasnt executed. Her character growth and arc notwithstanding, first and foremost she is a traitor to her own people, a Quisling, a collaborator, guilty of multiple crimes not the least of which was the torture and extortion of her own people.

After an occupation ends, quislings are usually tried and executed...those that are captured alive, that is. ( Pierre Laval ring a bell? Vichy Government? ).

She is being, to a degree, rehabilitated, but in story terms she is nowhere near free to go wherever she wants.

[Lustre]

Is still a paroled prisoner and still seen as a traitor to Ala Migho..I take it you didnt do the role quests ( I did ALL of them ) and had you seen Raubahn's conversation with her, you'd know that she still, despite her tenuous attachment to the Scions, is more less a prisoner allowed small privileges. That collar she wears isnt there for decoration.

Both Ala Migho and the Flames would NOT have allowed her free rein, nor has she earned it...she is lucky she wasnt executed. Her character growth and arc notwithstanding, first and foremost she is a traitor to her own people, a Quisling, a collaborator, guilty of multiple crimes not the least of which was the torture and extortion of her own people.

After an occupation ends, quislings are usually tried and executed...those that are captured alive, that is. ( Pierre Laval ring a bell? Vichy Government? ).

She is being, to a degree, rehabilitated, but in story terms she is nowhere near free to go wherever she wants.

I've finished all of the role quests in the game, I just cant remember many of them due to how forgettable they were. Didnt skip any cutscenes either so yeah. You must've missed the point where I said "This will never happen". I'm well aware there are accentuating circumstances that mean my proposed party cant exist. I literally said it in the post...