FFXIV population decline continues

[Hallarem]

This was extremely sudden, I agree, but I came round to it after a while. It does make sense to me that he'd put his values aside and succumb to the pressure to represent his people (people fighting wars or born into fame have to do this); the problem is just how extremely sudden it was.

Let's take Darth Vader. Seems completely evil just choking people, not redeemable in the slightest. There is a slow process of Luke Skywalker slowly instilling into his brain that he has values he's been suppressing and that those values are the reason he wouldn't kill him. He continually says things like "that was why you couldn't destroy me", "I will not turn, and you'll be forced to kill me", "you can't do this, I've felt the good in you, the conflict", "like my father before me", etc. Leading to a moment where he has to choose between his SON and some "evil friend" he's had for decades, and he realizes Luke was right.

Whereas Bakool Ja Ja was completely out of nowhere with no build up to that turn, and at least no foreshadowing that I remember (but I didn't replay it yet). At least having some noticeable breadcrumbs we could use to start the process of relating to him may have made it a bit less sudden.

Yeah, pretty sure there wasn't a spot or gradual build up. Just a sudden 180 twist when the plot demanded it. Without going too deeply into the failure of the story of DT, that one was my pet peeve. Along with the clear easy choices like making the two "villains" do the cooking contest together and the two "heroes" instead of mixing it up. Kinda hypocritical of a contest thats meant to show you how the land works together and is enjoying ""Papa's peace" but I doubt these writers think too deeply about these things.

[Chasingstars]

I think they need a timeskip for the story. Like a legitimate few years forward. And that the stakes should be impactful and yet personal, and pertains to the WoL. Which is why the tail-end of stormblood and into shadowbringers worked as it managed to weave the personal and cosmic stakes together in a great way, and I am referring to the 5.0 MSQ in order to prevent another rejoining.

And the other reason I think an actual timeskip is needed is the world of FFXIV is becoming a floating timeline. Like after ARR, HW, SB, SHB, EW, and DT, it is beginning to seem really implausible that all these events for the source happens in a single year. Floating Timelines are basically the Peter Pan of fictional worlds, the world and its characters seem in a perpetual stasis despite all the events that happen, often this is because the main characters are very marketable and iconic as they currently are and actually allowing them to grow older would potentially ruin that marketability. This can also apply to locations where nothing seems to really change.