Thread: Revelations from Patch 6.5: "Growing Light", Part 1

The quality of the writing for 6.1-6.5 have been very good. The way they develop Zero from a mistrusting loner to become a beacon of hope for the thirteenth in such a short period of time is amazing. They managed to use many different characters to interact with Zero and develop her perfectly.

The way they managed to have Garlemald and Radz-at-Han to interact with each other is also perfect. The biggest negative of Endwalker writing is the apparent disconnect between the Thavnair storyline and Garlemald storyline but they managed to wrap it nicely.

Having sat on it for a few weeks, I think I may have liked the 6.x series more if I'd gone through it all in one go instead of being drip-fed the story over a period of two years.

While the conclusion was well executed and the story itself was decently written (aside from the occasional cumbersome dialogue), it just felt like a lot of waiting around to be ferried to the next plot important event and the foregone conclusion of our victory was even more pronounced than usual which made the stakes feel completely nonexistent. Endwalker and Shadowbringers both let your all-consuming hero crown slip a little bit at least once each, whereas the one time in Newfound Adventure where you take a loss there's not even a shadow of a doubt that we're just going to rush back in and destroy Zeromus on our own terms.

Echoing what a few others have said, the alarming lack of any internal conflict among our allies is moving very swiftly into completely implausible territory. With all the narrative ground to cover in Endwalker I was willing to excuse it, but the mere prospect of significantly contributing to Garlemald's restoration should at the very least be remarked upon by anybody considering the amount of division the empire left behind and the fact that had they not fallen to internal conflict they would have gleefully continued their offensive in Eorzea without a second thought. Even if the outcome remains the same, I think it would benefit the story a lot to present some differing viewpoints or any kind of discussion.

More than anything else, though, I'm at least glad Y'shtola finally got some solid hours in the limelight. There's nothing wrong with a static character, especially with this cast, but it felt nice to finally get a glimpse into her motivations and character beyond sardonic one liners and being assured by that narrative that she is indeed moderately intelligent.

Knowing what we do now about Dawntrail, I feel like it would have been a better move to leave 6.1 as is, and branch off into the voidsent friendship adventure from after Alzadaal's Legacy much like they did with Myths and previously with Sorrow of Werlyt, and then spent the rest of the patches on the trail of Galuf Baldesion throughout Sharlayan, Garlemald, and Thavnair, until we ultimately find the old letter and prepare to go to Tural. A more grounded adventure seems like what most people expected based on the way it was advertised, and it would have made much better use of the new zones that were in my opinion just a touch underutilized. Oh well, best is yet to come, hopefully.

Margrat!

Okay, turns out the team in charge of figuring out the materials for the Ragnarok are concerningly invested in making arms and armor now! And next up: oh god it's the systms devs dealing with eye strain. This one's gonna hit too close to home.

I'm realizing that unlike with a lot of other custom deliveries, there's not actually a story or progression involved in Margrat's, it's just a procession of cute little character and worldbuilding pieces. I don't mind that, it's great, I just don't think we've had that since... well, M'naago or Kurenai.

Originally Posted by Cleretic

I'm realizing that unlike with a lot of other custom deliveries, there's not actually a story or progression involved in Margrat's, it's just a procession of cute little character and worldbuilding pieces. I don't mind that, it's great, I just don't think we've had that since... well, M'naago or Kurenai.

I suspect that at whatever point I get around to taking another alt through Endwalker, I'm going to find some newly familiar faces in the Sage Council gathering.

Level 19 IS

I also agree this was the first misstep, whereas I deeply enjoyed the previous two and the first one with the admiral felt logical and rewarding. All of the Island Sanctuary glams have been a mix of hit and miss for me- the previous tropical look did nothing. This one, with its most generic Margaritaville Dad look, was another miss but also because I play a female character and this was a set that leaned to fulfilling people who wanted more 'masculine'. What I do appreciate it that it finally gives a plain polo shirt for those that want to recreate The Twinning meme.

I like the Loporrits- not my fav but I think they are maligned to an overblown extent. Except Puddingway. He does not land for me. The mammets are ..meh. The final architectural look while heavy on the blue crystals does add back in the greenery and greenhouse vibes, and thankfully the designs stay in the Labyrinthos instead of Amaurotine/Elpis end of the spectrum.

A detour into glamour

Originally Posted by Denishia

All of the Island Sanctuary glams have been a mix of hit and miss for me- the previous tropical look did nothing. This one, with its most generic Margaritaville Dad look, was another miss but also because I play a female character and this was a set that leaned to fulfilling people who wanted more 'masculine'.

I just feel like it's really unfortunate if that's what people are after when they ask for "masculine" clothing in the game. It just feels wrong to me - and yes I know glamour is a mixed bag and the technology level is wherever they feel like setting it today, but it's still.... it feels like a non-outfit. I couldn't imagine using it for any of my male characters, even though I do use some of the other more modern (but detailed) outfits with them.

(Excuse my self-promotion while I link to my Eorzea Collection profile.)

I think there are a lot of things in the game that already look really good on male characters, and I've been trying to work through posting more healer/mage outfits since people keep overstating the lack of variety there. But then seeing it as masculine clothing also means recognising and appreciating historical styles and outfits that look flattering on male characters without being modern menswear.

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Separately, on the Loporrits being over-maligned, I would like them better if they were allowed to simply exist as characters who look cute, rather than actively trying to act cute all the time. It turns them into being irritating. It also doesn't help when there are so many identical characters and they all behave similarly, so they don't really build their own identities.

Re glamour: I would love for two things - more historical fashion, especially returning to the Renaissance vibe, and to get something with some honest-to-god slashing and puffed sleeves because the Voeburtine gear was a balm on my soul but too little and not enough. Ishgard drives me crazy because there's one female Burgundian hennin with a 'fantasy quasi mishmash of a hoppenlande gown going into an attempt at Tudor', which works fine with the Tudor vibes of a low budget tv show coat for the guys - but then the other fancy dress options are Pure fake Victorian visual kei which I expect from generic Japanese fantasy media. But then there's barely any of that. The Hraesvelgr doublet helped a smidge, but it is underrepresented as a whole.

The other problem when I first tried to make glams is that until recently there was virtually nothing for a PLAIN shirt (or skirt of mid or calf-length). The Extreme Survival Shirt was the closest thing to a no-frills, no extra belts and pouches plain shirt, and that sat horribly on most models. For longer sleeves the Anemos Suspenders was the best you could get if the undyeable belt and awkward front closure and silver brooch of the Spring Shirt didn't work.

Ironically having two dye channels should open up more the early base ARR chest pieces to work for simple, no-frills glamour.

Custom Delivery story

This is a rather interesting one because the story focus on explaining why certain flightless animals suddenly learns how to fly when they should have no physical ability to which explains why certain Mounts can fly despite their physical features should not allow them to fly.

Man idk why it took til now to realize that the WoL should be dead after entering the 7th heaven if we based it off of Ast Lore.