The Arcadion's Story Was Severely Disappointing

[eseraphim]

The Arcadion storyline was incredibly disappointing to me. It did in fact feel like a complete step down in writing compared to previous raids, especially something like Pandemonium. I will preface this by saying I am very much aware that they were ultimately trying to exemplify professional wrestling, kayfabe and all, but the ending, and much of the writing, felt incredibly hand-wavy. I also genuinely feel like Eutrope's character, and many of the women, were treated with a severe lack of care. This will obviously have spoilers so be sure to take care reading this if you don't want to be spoiled

I will state the good first:

- The boss design was really cool! I really enjoyed seeing all the different styles for the wrestlers, and the music especially gave them a lot of character, and they all felt very memorable.
- The kayfabe and showmanship was really cool! The moment where Tyrant shows up and stomps on the previous three fighters of the heavyweight tier because they were attempting to fight outside the ring was very fun. Also his car was so silly.
- The boss mechanics were all extremely fun, and I think were a huge step up in terms of design and replayability.

Now the bad.

1 - Eutrope's Character

How Eutrope was handled was severely, and incredibly disappointing. The potential this character had to become a heel for our character that reappears in the cruiserweight or heavyweight tier was there! She had the motivation, the rage!!! She was dying, and believed that taking our soul was necessary for her own survival. After being beat for the first time her desperation increases, and she engages in more and more deplorable actions in order to achieve her goals.

Instead, she was doing it all for her loser coward of a boyfriend Retsarra. Retsarra, a deplorable and cowardly man who is well aware that he is dying but does nothing about it because he simply wishes to continue fighting. Don't get me wrong, I don't think this isn't believable. I totally understand why he acted the way he did, including him withholding information from his best friend. But in the end he only gets a dressing down from Yaana and all is forgiven? If Eutrope had any internality, she would of broken up with him! Like what an actual coward he was!

Instead, the reappearing heel was actually Brute Bomber, which moves us on to the next problem:

[eseraphim]

2 - How is Brute Bomber Alive?

The explanation for Brute Bomber still being alive was beyond insufficient. Nevermind his character in and outside the ring being quite literally the same (lazy in my opinion), why was he somehow just fine after over infusing himself with feral souls? We are told explicitly that he has psychonekrosis, and should he continue he will ultimately end up dying. He then, after being lied to by the president, infuses himself with an overabundance of feral souls in order to fight us. This should have been fatal! I understand the intent was ultimately to pull kayfabe, and that the president perhaps somehow knew that Bomber was not going to die, but it feels so unsatisfying. There's no teeth here!

Instead the Brute Bomber reappears, totally fine, and able to aid us without any hindrance against the Lindwurm. He simply says that he woke up somewhere feeling better? Huh? Is that truly the best we can do with writing? Nevermind all of the emotional weight that was lost from his senseless death. Leading into the next issue: Psychonekrosis.

3 - Psychonekrosis

Psychonekrosis (PN) is clearly meant to be a metaphor for juicing, along with the real physical toll that wrestling has on the body. Yet, despite this, we don't see anyone actually die or truly suffer from it in the end. Juicing has actual severe lasting effects on the body, and can in some cases fatal! What was supposed to be an severe threat to people's wellbeing and life ends up ultimately being easily solved, and hand-waved away because of the Lindwurm's nascent regeneration.

I ultimately don't have any issue with people getting better, and healing from PN. It's actually quite nice that a cure is available and ready for people. FFXIV has always been a story about beating the odds and proving that science and magic can be used to beat what we believed to be unbeatable. We see this with aetheric corruption and tempering! But why does no one we interact with actually end up being a casualty to this supposedly incredibly deadly disease? Nevermind the fact that we never once bother to attempt to discuss this issue with Krile or Y'shtola, who are literally a 5 minute jog away! I understand that the raid stories typically try to keep it isolated to the relevant characters, but it makes the WoL seem like such a fool!

[eseraphim]

The President Was Actually Nice All Along Teehee

This was the most confusing part of the whole storyline. The president is set up as our primary antagonist, a man who cares little for his talent and knowingly subjects them to using feral souls in order to drive up ratings and profit for his own personal gain. Except, actually, he truly really cared all along and is actually just a nice misunderstood guy. Eugh. What an actual genuine waste. Wrestling as a sport, and like any other sport, has always had issues with the upper management being neglectful and turning an eye to the unhealthy things that their workers do because profit and spectacle is what is most important to them. This is clearly what the setup is from the beginning, and turning into a simple misunderstanding makes all of the emotional impact this story could have had evaporate in thin air.

No longer are we discussing the ways bosses and management take advantage of their workers. No longer are we looking at the ways workers betray one another (Retsarra and the heavyweight fighters) for their own personal gain. Instead they care just as much and are simply misunderstood uwu beans. It's tripe, and not reflective of the actual reality of professional wrestling, or how worker boss relationships exist.

In Conclusion

In conclusion, I find the Arcadion's story to be incredibly underwhelming, and any stakes it built was ultimately lost. I sincerely hope we do not see a repeat of this in the next expansion. Again this is all my opinion, and I don't expect anyone to necessarily agree with me. I totally understand the angle of this was all kayfabe in the end, but that is simply unsatisfying to me.

[Jeeqbit]

We've had this discussion (scroll back a few pages). Some people think it was "bad writing" but for those that understand wrestling, it's easier to appreciate what they were doing.

The president being misunderstood makes sense and the reason is because professional wrestling is entertainment, and so of course he was doing this entire thing for entertainment. It's not uncommon in wrestling for the management to be involved in the "storyline" and for the story to be that they are corrupt or nasty. So of course, the president wanted to portray themselves as corrupt and nasty for story purposes, and end things in a spectacle that would draw crowds, but secretly convey to you via the announcer that they weren't really like that.

In wrestling they'd typically tell the performers the story, of course, but if Square Enix told us everything in advance, it would spoil the entire story for us, so obviously they had to not do that.

[Oizen]

Emotional Weight and Death is something XIV has been terrified of since Stormblood ended. You're not going to see that in Dawntrail.

[eseraphim]

We've had this discussion (scroll back a few pages). Some people think it was "bad writing" but for those that understand wrestling, it's easier to appreciate what they were doing.

I will take a look for that thread then. I feel you're assuming that I don't understand wrestling when I very much do, it's something I've watched and paid attention to since I was a child. I am very much aware of how kayfabe works, and how ultimately kayfabe is what was happening throughout the entire story, even with the president. What I am criticizing is that even with that understanding, the writing is incredibly lackluster and fails to address actual issues that do exist within the realm of professional wrestling. I don't think you're engaging with what I have actually written.

[eseraphim]

Emotional Weight and Death is something XIV has been terrified of since Stormblood ended. You're not going to see that in Dawntrail.

Very true unfortunately.