All the Final Fantasy references, but there's no soul

[UkcsAlias]

Do we just want them to copypasta stories we've already experienced or show honor to them but tell a different story?

Its not always about copy pasting stories. Its about preserving a character in presentation. Anima, THE strongest Aeon next to sin in ffx's story (magus sisters are NOT part of that), was disgustingly placed at the end of a dungeon. Making all his strength appear as if its nothing. Its a character deserving to be a trial.

And that is an important part of fan service. As that way a character is reminded the way they remember it. Even if story wise its completely diffirent (and maybe like yojimbo anima also has a chance for a real opportunity to be a trial, but story wise it feels like they made that near impossible).

I dont care if a character gets changed, as long as the character keeps its personality and relative strength towards its original story.

The magus sisters on that were a bit more difficult as the individual fights matter (and on that, putting them in a single dungeon was on that not a realy bad choise), but again, it does not show their strength, and therefor feels like a waste.

You can make an enemy in a story a friend of you, but even then, that character needs to show its quirks of evilness it had. Even if its just in the relentless way of taking care of other enemies. Its those details that define the character. A diffirent personality means that such character could have been replaced by anything random. Its the known personality behind such character that allows further speculations etc to happen. And this is an important part of story telling, keeping the player active into thinking about all possibilities, and imagining how such character would react to it. That is an artform on its own, and EW failed a lot at this.

[AwesomeJr44]

Anima, THE strongest Aeon next to sin in ffx's story (magus sisters are NOT part of that), was disgustingly placed at the end of a dungeon.

This honestly was frustrating. At that point why even use Anima if you're just gonna make her a dungeon boss? If making Anima a trial wasn't possible with the way the story was supposed to play out, then just save Anima for when she can be a trial. The most annoying part about this isn't just that Anima wasn't implemented well, it's that there probably won't ever be a proper Anima trial now.

Do we just want them to copypasta stories we've already experienced or show honor to them but tell a different story? I'd rather have the latter.

Big same.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

This honestly was frustrating. At that point why even use Anima if you're just gonna make her a dungeon boss? If making Anima a trial wasn't possible with the way the story was supposed to play out, then just save Anima for when she can be a trial. The most annoying part about this isn't just that Anima wasn't implemented well, it's that there probably won't ever be a proper Anima trial now.

Ill Echo This, its WAY to obvious I am a FFX fan, so naturally I got ULTRA Excited at Anima...just for a Dungeon Boss.
Was expecting like a big lucrative Trial, that would have been 1000x Better then the BS we got. Not that I HATED ot...but I do HATE that they couldn't have done Anima Greater Justice by Dedicating a Trial.

Would Love to Throw YoshiP and Team the idea to make a Unique and Separate Side Quest to give us a Real, Epic, and Proper Trial for her. They could even use the Minstrels Ballad an an Excuse for it. That and maybe a Giant What-If Zodiark was at Full Power....could turn that into an Ultimate.

[TaleraRistain]

Its not always about copy pasting stories. Its about preserving a character in presentation. Anima, THE strongest Aeon next to sin in ffx's story (magus sisters are NOT part of that), was disgustingly placed at the end of a dungeon. Making all his strength appear as if its nothing. Its a character deserving to be a trial.

That raised my eyebrows as well but makes sense with the story they used the character in. I wouldn't be surprised if they were also trying to keep us on our toes a bit. And at least on a positive to it, I get that dungeon a lot, really enjoy everything about it, and I feel like I see Anima much more than I would if it was something that we had a chance to see if it only popped up in trial roulette.

[Seraphor]

That raised my eyebrows as well but makes sense with the story they used the character in. I wouldn't be surprised if they were also trying to keep us on our toes a bit. And at least on a positive to it, I get that dungeon a lot, really enjoy everything about it, and I feel like I see Anima much more than I would if it was something that we had a chance to see if it only popped up in trial roulette.

Ironically, I think what they attempted to do was use the gravitas of something as strong as Anima being 'merely a dungeon boss' (and similar for Magus Sisters) in order to sell how big the Endwalker story was getting. It was to subvert expectations. The expectation would be for Magus Sisters and Anima to be trials as the key primals of the arc, with Zodiark as the final boss, but they tried to make it bigger than those expectations.
It's like; primals used to be massive trials, but now there are bigger things than mere primals. Like "even the dungeons are bigger now!" but in reality, they're still "just dungeons."
It's a technical limitation, if they could have had 3 extra trials in this expansion, then you'd see Magus Sisters, Anima and Hermes as major trials too, with Zodiark, Hydaelyn and Endsinger as something above the order of 'trial'.

I mean, they got all of the story elements bang on for Anima. He shares the same relationship with the main antagonist, highlighting the same callous, psychopathic disregard for his parents, he's narratively an incredibly powerful primal, exerting influence over an entire nation, and beyond, and being used to power a moon-destroying weapon. The gravitas is there, they just couldn't afford a stage big enough to hold it. It's like booking Beyonce for your school dance.

[UkcsAlias]

That raised my eyebrows as well but makes sense with the story they used the character in. I wouldn't be surprised if they were also trying to keep us on our toes a bit. And at least on a positive to it, I get that dungeon a lot, really enjoy everything about it, and I feel like I see Anima much more than I would if it was something that we had a chance to see if it only popped up in trial roulette.

But thats why i mention yojimbo, as that character is shown in multiple ways: a dungeon boss, a trial, saucer event. Each having their own points in which they matter, and the event being the one where it shows a lot of its key aspects. And while a lot of players wont see the trial, yet will see the dungeon, the saucer event makes it clear why it cant be an iconic fight (plot armor prevents a life/death situation).

A trial just gives a bit more attention to a character. And unlike dungeons, trials involve more insta kills (makes the enemy appear stronger), and often wipe mechanics. For a boss ment to be strong this is demanded. And lore wise, while yojimbo has such insta kill, it makes no sense to have it used against you in the trial (except as enrage mechanic). But Yojimbo doesnt even need this because of the way he handles. But it shows that even for an enemy like this, they can find ways to reintroduce them later on.

For revival ways i see a big opportunity anyway. As his ulti looks as a transition towards the 13th, so its very likely possible his soul still remained there (as in the end, the body is always partialy there). And as it looks like something that can easily live there, it makes this a big opportunity.

But no matter what, it wont solve the part where the first fight feels like a waste. You see such strong enemy, of which the people around you were realy scared. You go in, hoping its going to be a trial of similar calibre as it has been done before, only to see it being a simple boss.