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

[Enkidoh]

Margrat, Rank 3

Margrat's story is fantastic so far by the way, if you haven't been following it I highly recommend it.

Good to see someone's researching that epidemic of flying rideable animals!

Also, we have this patch's Gridanian Goldsmith mention! Did we ever find a mention of him in 6.4?

"Something something a deluge of wind-aspected aether has awashed the world and made all mounts fly... or something."

[SannaR]

Margrat, Rank 3

Margrat's story is fantastic so far by the way, if you haven't been following it I highly recommend it.

Good to see someone's researching that epidemic of flying rideable animals!

Also, we have this patch's Gridanian Goldsmith mention! Did we ever find a mention of him in 6.4?

10 things

I'm not sure if they did mention them. Unless they for whatever reason got mentioned in Mt. Rokkon. I haven't gotten all of the notes as I have a beef with the samurai boss. I also haven't gone to look up the notes.

Unrelated MSQ question

Where or who has OG Golbez's memoria crystal? I can't wait til we figure out a way to undo sealing. As they're the closest looks wise to concept crystals and those just seem to need an injection of aether. I do wonder if the Ascians chose to move away from teaching people how to make that kind of crystal.

[Cilia]

Unrelated MSQ question

Where or who has OG Golbez's memoria crystal? I can't wait til we figure out a way to undo sealing. As they're the closest looks wise to concept crystals and those just seem to need an injection of aether. I do wonder if the Ascians chose to move away from teaching people how to make that kind of crystal.

Unrelated MSQ answer

Zero dropped Golbez' Memoria crystal into the newly-formed Zeromus' cloud during her ineffective attack on it back in the ending of 6.4, and in 6.5 2/3 of the Lunar Subterrane is actually walking through his memories. It can be deduced that the crystal broke apart and Golbez (or at least his memories / aether) was subsumed into Zeromus, or his aether was just free-floating down there until we walked through said memories. The latter seems... less likely to me, but who knows.

[Zero-ELEC]

Unrelated MSQ answer

Zero dropped Golbez' Memoria crystal into the newly-formed Zeromus' cloud during her ineffective attack on it back in the ending of 6.4, and in 6.5 2/3 of the Lunar Subterrane is actually walking through his memories. It can be deduced that the crystal broke apart and Golbez (or at least his memories / aether) was subsumed into Zeromus, or his aether was just free-floating down there until we walked through said memories. The latter seems... less likely to me, but who knows.

The Baron part of the Lunar Subterrane is framed as the Warrior of Light and their companions finding the memoria. We see the complete crystal rise and glow in-dungeon and I believe in the post-dungeon cutscene. The memoria appears intact.

[SannaR]

The Baron part of the Lunar Subterrane is framed as the Warrior of Light and their companions finding the memoria. We see the complete crystal rise and glow in-dungeon and I believe in the post-dungeon cutscene. The memoria appears intact.

Yeah I meant post Zeromus fight.

[Cilia]

Having just rewatched the cutscene... I don't recall it appearing at any point after the Lunar Subterrane dungeon, wherein after the memory ends Zero just picks it up and puts it away.

Presumably she still has it?

[Cassar]

From my understanding, at the end of the Lunar Subterrane dungeon, Zero takes Golbez's memoria crystal. After we defeat Zeromus, she also takes its memoria crystal and, in the end, we give her the archfiends' memoria crystal (which I guess we had?) and exchange it for Zeromus', which we later deliver to the First.

So, currently, Zero has Golbez's and the Archfiends' memoria crystal (Hopefully they don't get mixed up!!), while Zeromus' lies on the First with Beq Lugg and co.

[Naraku_Diabolos]

Why is a vast majority of the players disgusted by how the Endwalker patches and dialogue has been? I don’t see nor understand this with people. This patch series has been fine, and I have greatly enjoyed learning about the Thirteenth and if it could be saved. I’m eager to see if any future stories have us going back to the Thirteenth to help it’s planet and people.

[Cilia]

Why is a vast majority of the players disgusted by how the Endwalker patches and dialogue has been? I don’t see nor understand this with people. This patch series has been fine, and I have greatly enjoyed learning about the Thirteenth and if it could be saved. I’m eager to see if any future stories have us going back to the Thirteenth to help it’s planet and people.

Since you're asking... (and bear in mind I do not agree with all of the following points...)

1. Lingering resentment over 6.0 not meeting expectations. (The "Endwalker SUCKS!!!" thread over in General is still there... with people still complaining... almost 2 years later...)

2. Bad pacing.

3. Trite, shounen "power of friendship trust" lesson.

4. Rough if not outright bad dialogue at points. ("That was what possessed me," indeed.)

5. No shakeup of the status quo (re: "consequences").

6. Leaning so heavily on IV fanservice for the MSQ.

... and the fact Dawntrail is shaping up to be a fun adventure instead of dark and gritty has the same people so critical of Endwalker very nettled, which isn't helping matters.

The worldbuilding around the Void was interesting, and Golbez and the Archfiends were good characters... but the rest was pretty terribad, to be honest.

[Lunaxia]

....

Lists all the valid reasons these patches have been pretty awful and agrees with a chunk of them... still feels the need to slate the thread.

But yes, pretty much this. I'd say the biggest sin is the quality of the writing, to be honest. You can forgive a lot of cheese and self-indulgent fluff when it's written reasonably well, but for some reason the quality has dropped off more noticeably lately than at any other time in FFXIV's history - and when the plot is that bland, it needs all the help from the writing it can get. The combination of both being disappointing and the lack of a satisfying pay-off for what has been nearly two years of some pretty lacklustre storytelling that most people assumed was building up to something worthwhile has left a lot of players feeling understandably let down.

The idea that it was supposed to be the trials side quest for the expansion that wound up fleshed out into the MSQ has been thrown around quite a bit, and you can kind of see why.