Did Zenos ruin Endwalker

[Themarvin]

Yes... Zenos was an entire waste of development time...

Meteion on the other hand I found brilliant... she is very much in our present time... people today in the real world feel dishonored... stepped on and anything just because they sneese.... Meteions extreme sensivity and more to peoples feelings and the sourroundings represent that well and also the will be believe in what whatever high up clown says online for mostly his own benefit.

All Garlemald and more it is very much spot on what is happening in the world right now or what it can turn into.

[MoofiaBossVal]

Endwalker ruined Endwalker. Zenos was a very small part of that. The incredibly padded out story, the boring cast, the sheer amount of navel gazing and empty platitudes, the lack of payoff on longrunning storylines that had been built up for years, and the lack of tension.

[GTK0HLK]

I'm of the mind that it was consumable, and definitely didn't cause any issues personally when digesting 6.0

But personal handling aside<Since it's a easy route to judging people's tastes>

it did it's task, and did it well enough.
and by far could of been worse.
How worse.., about as bad as those who wished the Scions to die worse. Without weighing the consequences. Or the fact they devs could of written it better if they had more time.

<Gotta praise Ishikawa for making those adjustments to the plot and gaining approval so soon after their Story Trip>
[Regardless if you like the story or not]

Whilst you can say that they went back to insert a few nods to 6.0 or other instances.
They also tied other miscellaneous things, cutting down the amount of loose threads.

Zenos did what was expected of him.
With opinion remaining unchanged, or flip-flopping based on the person asked.

If Zenos ever came back, I find it highly unlikely that it'll be in his Garlean Body..,
Or His Ex-Imperial Prince History.
<Potential New Beginnings after a new Birth. Specially if it's a world we're pushing into a better direction.>

That said, it's unlikely we'll run into him.
<Unless that __ took an express trip/cut the line for reborn souls.>
[Would we even be that old near the end of the next 10 years? To have to run across a young "Zenos".
Or run into a Shard of Him in another realm.
Despite the fact he was Unrecognized enough by ancients to be allowed the idea of one gone forever, never known, and slipped through the cracks]

TLDR:
He did is job.., Wilk he stay an outsider forever, who knows.
Likely never to come back in the body/memory of a Garlean Prince though.

But it's a shame that Emets line dies. <Despite all the good Emet did though, LoL. jk>

[Gemina]

Zenos was the best part of Endwalker for me. He far from ruined it, and I'd actually go as far to say as he redeemed it. This game hyped up Zodiark like no one else's business, and to reduce him to a pawn of the scheme of a PoS ancient who takes over the body of one of the most PoS whiny arseholes in SB really took the cake on an abysmal failure. Then we have mommy Hydaelyn who depending on your perspective could be considered a genocidal she-demon, or a messiah/shepherd whose foresight is only rivaled by her tendency to gamble and play Russian roulette with man's entire existence.

Zenos however, we always knew what we got with him. A being of insurmountable power rivaled only by the WoL. He never waivered, and was always consistent. He didn't fly across the great expanse to save the world, he did it to be side by side with the only friend he ever had, and the only enemy that could contest him. Zenos taught the WoL to seek out their limits, and then transcend them. That was in his words, "his gift to us". Sure, he was mostly one dimensional, but it's also all he needed. He was never meant to be this multi-faceted character filled with complexities like Emet, and it's also difficult to seem him being that way. He's a monster, a foe, and quite possibly the only character who sees deep down into the heart of the WoL and knows he/she is an adventurer above all.

Despite all the hatred this guy gets, I think he is absolutely fantastic. I hope we never see him again.

[AngelCheese77]

Zenos and Meteion did.
Zenos legit could have his proper death in Stormblood.
Meteion concept was good, but her presentation and development were terrible, specially for a 10 years arc final antagonist.

I feel the same. What the story did to Varis was crap as Zenos didn’t care about Garlemald anyway.

I was fine with Meteiin. Just not the part with the Scions

[Oizen]

"And then Garlemald was destroyed off Screen"

ruined endwalker.

[Atelier-Bagur]

"And then Garlemald was destroyed off Screen"

ruined endwalker.

Lets not start telling lies. Shadowbringers killed Garlemald both on and off screen while we were messing around in the First. Endwalker was just the result of the missed potential that Shadowbringers started.

[Simple_Barghest]

Lets not start telling lies. Shadowbringers killed Garlemald both on and off screen while we were messing around in the First. Endwalker was just the result of the missed potential that Shadowbringers started.

Let's not leave A Realm Reborn and Heavensward out of this either, where we're 'told' that Garlemald had a massive civil war off-screen resulting in Varis becoming Emperor, which practically sets up the bowling pins for Zenos to knock down.
A country suffering two civil wars in such a short amount of time will do any nation dirty.

[Oizen]

so we're all in agreement that stormblood is the best expansion

[EliaStormblade]

so we're all in agreement that stormblood is the best expansion

Story-wise? Not at all, but I do believe it's unfairly maligned by a lot of people.

4.0 was mostly meh to me barring some few good moments like the Azim Steppe and a few bits of Yanxia, but it had really solid post-patches. I'd say everything put together, Stormblood's MSQ (4.0 and 4.x) might be equal to Heavensward's MSQ. (3.0 and 3.x)