Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker: Beyond The Hype
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Endwalker is my favorite expansion. I think when considering how much the devs, well had to consider, for the conclusion? I think it was a epic end to a 10 year long story. And hey, I'm all for respecting opinions. Some people didn't like Endwalker, I think they're crazy đ But that said, I don't think they're stupid or wrong. It's their experience, it can't be confused with mine you know? I'm super excited for 6.3 and naturally the next expansion đ
100% on the PvP though! Frontlines is far too long of a match and if you don't like CC, which I don't, then it's such a shame/time sink. I wanted the mount but ultimately had to give up on it. Sad.
Brian you said everything I told my friends about FF14 Endwalker.
Like you, I have been not happy with the combat and how they implemented time traveling aswell, Hands down for FF11 on WoTG which did a wonderful story of time traveling.
Aswell for Criterian dungeons I wish they have implemented this long time ago, someone from FF11 mention this back in HW era and it was like 10 years ago and 10 years later they added this? Like a bit too late, I'm in FF11 and soon New World if I can manage my time better New World will be another place to be until FF14 gets back into their mmo roots.
While I agree that they certainly didn't stick the landing with the time travel aspect of the story, other than that I loved Endwalker. I felt satisfied with the closure some characters got, Urianger, Zenos, and Alisaie in particular, along with a promise of new adventures as everyone goes their own way (to eventually meet back up because they are main characters lmao)
And it's okay to not like Endwalker. Everyone's experience will be different and you may dislike what others like or vice versa, and that's fine. đ
Regarding the story critiques, while I do and always think people are entitled to their opinions, they are just opinions and I do think theyâre wrong. I do think the way Endwalker concluded was objectively good. When looked in the broader context of the whole story of the game, it did exactly what it should have. Iâve heard of all the criticism for the story and I just disagree with all it, I have no point where I agree with those criticisms for the EW story. I am an editor, and I do edit stories, and I had no issues with how they âpulled punchesâ here. Frankly, if you want to complain about the pulled punches in Endwalker, the blame is better laid at Stormblood and Shadowbringers stories. Stormblood and Shadowbringers had opportunities to, and should have, killed Scions if FFXIV wanted this to be a narrative norm. But they didn't. Shadownbringers baited us with both Thancred and Y'shtola (who now had the 2nd time where we were lead to believe she was going to be killed off) on potential character deaths and they didn't commit. For all the praise heaped on Shadowbringers, I would argue that's a pretty big narrative flaw considering I hear people complaining for Endwalker not going far enough on this point. However, it would have been too jarring in the way they conducted the Ultima Thule sequence. In fact it would have been too much of a âspectacleâ move had they done it. This is akin to drastically changing a story's theme in the conclusion paragraph or final chapter. It wouldn't have made sense. Not to mention the overarching theme of Endwalker was supposed to be hope in the face of despair. You can like or dislike it, thatâs fine, but objectively it doesnât necessarily make this a good/bad story. In fact, I argue strongly against the people who levy this criticism. This wouldn't have made good storytelling, it would have been worse. If this is the kind of storytelling you wanted, then you should be criticizing the narrative decisions made back in earlier expansions because Endwalker IS IN LINE with the narrative structure, plot progression, and themes established in all expansion titles so far. To deviate from that in the 11th hour would have been poor storytelling.
As for the criticism for the Systems, what I am hearing for Brian here is mostly timing. Implementing changes to PVP too little too late, implementing these class changes to cater to broader player bases, Criterion/Variant Dungeons too little too late, I just donât see it. Sorry, I just donât. Okay, sure PVP has been in the game for a while, and it hasnât been good for a while, but the devs only have so many resources to implement. Sorry, I just donât value this criticism. The too little too late argumentation doesnât hold a lot of weight to me. When we have a vast amount of content the devs implement and in a way that keeps it relevant no matter how long the game goes on, I just donât see how we can go back to this argument of saying they need to be spreading themselves so thin to implement all these features. I just donât see these criticism as realistic, they are here now and they are trying to implement them. Given the history of the game, FFXIV has attempted to be consistent with its content, only implementing new features it feels will do well, not swinging wildly with new content all over the place. Yoshi-P has already admitted he only has so much time and resources to implement at any given time.
Sorry Brian, I am not a FFXIV defense force guy. I have my own personal issues, such as I do not like the reward structure for the current Criterion Dungeons, I wish the team would address the addon situation better, etc., but I just donât agree with you here.
I thought it would be amazing because is the last expansion of the story but to me felt short. Did not cause deep emotions to me like other expansions.
I think it's really unfair that you are evaluating Endwalker through 6.2 vs. all of the other content drops in their entirety.
You bring up Bozja in Shadowbringers, that didn't conclude until what, 5.5?
IMO if you want to compare the expansions and rank them, you have to do either just base expansions and base ARR vs. Endwalker or only evaluate the expansions + 2 content patches after.
I also think you could have used a lot more explanation with your time travel issue. I don't necessarily disagree but you basically said "time travel is hard and I didn't like it here." That's fine, but I have no idea why you disliked it and you didn't explain it.
Think the rest of the video is solid though, especially about the devs not taking risks. That's what drove me away from the game, personally.
I can understand where you are coming from with some of your thoughts regarding the story; I personally thought it would be a bold an interesting choice to even go as far as killing off the player character, but I can definitely see why they didn't do that lol.
For preference of expansion – for me, I can't separate them from each other – I don't have a favourite as I see them all as a whole story together now, which I absolutely love. I look forward to seeing what comes next; hopefully more moments to pull at my jaded heart strings đ
This video was kind of fascinating to me because I didn't expect it. Watching you play through the EW story and the joy and tears it brought make this video surprising to me. After listening to the video I understand more as to why now, but I was surprised as the video began.
I think it's just like anything. There are so many factors to a person's preference, where they are with life etc. that everyone will have a different experience.
I started playing in HW and have loved the expansion of characters and the story through EW. SB was still a lower point for me personally but I thoroughly enjoyed the rest and the conclusion and journey through EW for me was incredible. The time travel piece worked for me (time travel as you mention is hard to pull off but I was happy with what they did here) and I loved finishing this journey that started so many years ago for me. I still think the writing continues to be strong and I'm happy with what they've done with the characters.
Curious to hear about your other big news Brian and even though we disagree on EW, I appreciate your video!
too little too late. That somes it up
Even though I generally enjoyed Endwalker story (except that I felt it should have started with the invasion to Garlemald and everything prior to that should have been wrapped up in ShB patches), I do agree that not killing any major characters feels off. It goes against the rules set by the story earlier, which used to show that they're not afraid to kill main characters. But that's in the past, the last important friendly character to die was Papalymo and that was in Heavensward! Well, you could argue Minfilia died later, but let's be honest: she died in ARR, we just couldn't hold the funeral until ShB.
But after Papalymo it's been just one incredible save after the other. Gosetsu gets crushed by a castle? Just kidding, he's actually fine. Thancred almost kinda dies against Ran'jit? Just kidding, he's actually fine. G'raha Tia gets turned into a crystal and dies? Just kidding, he's actually fine. Y'shtola gets cut in half by Zenos? Just kidding, she's actually fine. Y'shtola falls into a pit and dies? Just kidding, she's actually fine. Every single scion dies a heroic death in Ultima Thule to pave the way to the final, desperate battle? Just kidding, they're all actually fine.
It's not that I want to see characters I like die, but it does take away from the impact of the story, that if you put characters into deadly situations similar to where other characters have died and they just survive them over and over and over. If you're trying to build these huge stakes, but aren't willing to commit to them, then the stakes aren't very big after all. When the characters started to drop in Ultima Thule I never thought for a second that they wouldn't come back, which in itself sucked a lot of the emotion out of the situation. Especially since come on, if they were to kill Thancred they weren't going to do it off-screen! At least try to make the fake-deaths believable!
Overall I still enjoyed Endwalker's story, but I do feel that the writers have lost their teeth as time has gone on. Poor Moenbryda, if you had joined the scions a bit later you would still be with us.
This is very brave of you knowing how psychotic the community has become in the past year. I hope you don't get too much flak for this but if you do just know that there are lots of us who agree with you and are used to getting shouted down by the hyperpositive white knight crowd so we really appreciate that you took the time to put out a vid like this.
I agree 100 percent. Why did shadowbringers feel like there were more things at stake than EW. Not a single important character died in EW
I agree with you, Endwalker was a rather unsatisfying conclusion, I have two major gripes with it.
The first is the utter lack of stakes. This is an expansion about apocalypse that doomed an entice civilization and we have absolutely no major characters die. Not even a city state leader or someone on the level of Emanellain Fortemps. 100% of deaths are either newcomers who got introduced specifically to die or characters who had big and obvious death marks on them from the very beginning(Hydaelyn, Zenos, etc). Not to mention that the Final Days are restricted to Thavnair and a bit of Garlemald and role quests donât show much destruction and true chaos. There is no lasting consequence on the world and this makes Final Days feel like a joke.
The second gripe is how they treat Venat/Hydaelyn as a hero. They completely went back on their morality of genocide and massive extermination being bad under any circumstance while presenting Hydaelyn as a hero despite her slaughtering entire race of people. Not to mention her reasons for it are laughable and in my opinion none of them up to and including maintaining the time loop hold to any scrutiny. The fact that they would elevate such a character shows that their morals and values mean absolute shit.
Either way, I applaud you for speaking out on the matter and there are more of us than you might think.
100% agree with what you said
Endwalker had way too many revelations that made me go, "That's it?"
Blessing of Light- A traveler's ward to prevent aetherical corruption.
Final Days- Caused by a flawed concept.
The Sundering- An intentional destruction of the world based on the assumptions of one person.
I found none of these to be satisfying answers. Endwalker covered so much ground, but it didn't feel like it covered enough. Combine all this with the worst (imo) final trial (the Endsinger is supposed to be this harbinger of destruction, yet none of the parties I was in broke a sweat while fighting her) and the whole thing was a serious letdown.
I don't agree with your specific points about the MSQ but have come to similar conclusions. E.g. I really liked EW's story, but then 6.1 killed my interest in the story when it became immediately about collecting the scions again and fighting the void. It felt very status quo (maybe it gets better, admittedly I haven't bothered to play 6.2's story).
The bigger issue for me and all of my friends who have played since ARR is the combat design. MSQ is done once; battle content is what typically keeps us playing for most of an expansion. I'm glad to see variant dungeons and another deep dungeon, but the core combat design choices in EW have felt…bad. And the more I hear Yoshi-P talk or see the patch notes, the less confidence I have in them fixing it. It's doubly hard because many of the jobs I enjoyed in Shb don't exist anymore (e.g. Shb summoner and monk) and now the talk of reworking paladin has made me worried/even less invested.
EW has made me appreciate GW2's approach to classes more: a new expansions bring new specs so you can try something different, but you don't lose an entire class/spec if you enjoy it. It also means a spec is allowed to become "complete" and not continually be changed just for the sake of change. It's a strength of horizonal progression I'm learning to appreciate.
Question – lets say ff xiv went through with it and ended the scions. Like we win but at the cost of all of them. Would brian of October 2022 have a drastically different opinion of the game right now?
agree 100%, they both oversold and underdelivered. the myriad of problems since 6.0, plus nonchalent tones from devs don't particularly bode well. wanting to hurriedly wrap up all of the remaining loose plot threads and character arcs and then having no real plan for what came afterwards was another big issue, that's not even touching on the convenient and contrived plot of EW itself. throw the job balance and design problems into the mix and it feels as if xiv is sleepwalking towards a giant pit, and the fanbase will attack anyone who even suggests this to be the case. I've had strong "managed decline" vibes since 6.0 dropped and you're spot on when you say that something currently feels "wrong" but it's hard to pinpoint what it is
I would call this expansion the most controversial one.
Both in terms of story and game design wise, it seems that every patch comes with a few problems.
Endwalker Summoner should have existed in Heavensward. A Realm Reborn Summoner should have never existed as soon as Summoner was introduced that way and players supported it let the developers know they could play it safe and get away with it.
I look at Endwalker like Endgame. At first, people were hyped to see the conclusion of this long arc, but the cracks start to get more noticeable as people spend time digesting what they just experienced. They both kinda botched a time travel element, too in my opinion. For me, my biggest disappointment was not seeing the other convocation that created Hydaelyn. Venat just shows up to some randos trying to pray to Zodiark, and kind of hijacks their prayer circle. The fake out with the Scion's deaths didn't sit well with me either. One of them needed to go, and, in my opinion, I would have liked to see Urianger or Thancred make a heroic sacrifice. In the end, I never expected such a conclusion to land flawlessly, but if the servers shut down tomorrow, I would still be satisfied.
In solidarity, here is my expansion ranking based solely on narrative from least to most enjoyable.
StB ( I really cannot be asked to care about Lyse*) -> ARR ->EW->HW->ShB.
You're certainly allowed to have your own opinions, but I don't see this at all the same way you do. Endwalker was easily the best story they made yet, and the fact that they are improving the systems going forward is proof that the game is on the right track.
1. About the story: There are two moments in Endwalker where I was legitimately scared, not just feeling powerless, not just angry, but scared. Nothing in ARR nor any of the other expansions made me feel that way. Furthermore, there were moments that I cried at the story in Endwalker, also didn't happen in any of the other expansions. The time travel makes sense (changing the past doesn't change the future, it's already set, or you're essentially traveling to a different past), characters that we have come to know and love don't get discarded just for the sake of drama, villains that landed flat before were given chances to have character growth, proper fake outs that gave the story twists that I didn't see coming were employed…honestly, I can go on and on. The only thing that felt off about it is the pacing, and that only slightly. This is the climax of a very long story, after all, so it's going to feel slightly rushed. With almost no exceptions that's just what climaxes are.
2. As to systems, every class that I play feels better in Endwalker vs Shadowbringers (though, to be fair, reaper wasn't in ShB), they're fixing things moving forward (and some things in much, much earlier content too!), and I've actually found some entertainment watching people play pvp in a game where it was extremely well known that pvp sucked hardcore. You're going to have to present something a lot more concrete than "something just feels off" if you want to even try to persuade me that the systems are getting worse, not better.
SE isn't perfect, they've made plenty of mistakes, Endwalker could have been better (would have been nice to see some espionage/tension between Venat's group as described in ShB and the Ascians/council, just to name an example), but at the end of the day the game is great where it is now and I personally think that it's getting better, not worse. It will likely take an odd dip before the next big story really gets moving, and there's no guarantee that the next story will land as well as this one did, but it might and I think SE has earned my money and more than just a single chance to see what they next have to offer.
interesting video. I personally have very few complaints about the story of endwalker. My main one is one you stated here, where its clear they pulled some punches. Urianger should not have made it through the base endwalker plot. His story is done, and his character has nowhere to go. I however completely agree with you on the combat and systems front. I have said this before, and it is never popular, if wow released the amount of content in an expansion that FF does at launch it would be considered on par with warlords of draenor. The customer base for FFXIV is easily served, and you guys seem content to accept almost nothing in terms of live service content.
On to combat content specifically. I have not enjoyed the trend in recent patches to increase the difficulty of extreme encounters. There is no point in having a difficulty mode different from savage if the fights are going to be at the level of the first 1 or 2 bosses, but drop less powerful gear. I enjoy savage, but that is not the experience I want to have from my extreme fights. I also find many jobs to be needlessly button bloaty, positionals should be left in 2008 where they belong, and the combo system is an albatross around the combat design teams neck. Combos are only combos if there is multiple branching paths, not literally 1, 2 ,3.
Ill also rate the expansions since you asked.
ARR- 5/10. ill note that I did this before it was heavily truncated. I dont give any points as to what constraints were on the team. I didnt do it for wow in 9.1 and I wont do it here. Its a very average story, and the only above average moment was the cutscene setting up heavensward. any moment yda and papalymo were on screen were 3/10 moments. I hated these characters, and did so until they were written out of the story.
Heavensward- 7.5/10 Hooked me in pretty good, but was ultimately held back by some rough animations that really broke my immersion. Every time a dragon lands, it roars in a canned animation. even if the story implies that shouldnt be happening. I much preferred the post release story to the base experience.
Stormblood- 7/10. The base experience is a 4/10. It makes absolutely no sense. How does fighting a war on two fronts increase our chances of victory? Why are there so many mcguffins in very close proximity to the quest givers that they apparently have been missing for years? Ludo-narrative dissonance really did a number on the base experience. The patch content was an 8/10 in a vacuum. the yotsuyu arc in particular really hit me hard.
Shadowbringers- 8/10 Simply a well executed plot that contextualized everything that had come before in a satisfying way. Also emet-selch is the most well done villain I have ever had the pleasure of spending time with. I initially was not a fan of the crystal exarch and I always chose the most abrasive dialogue option the game would let me until near the end. He grew on me at the end though, and I couldnt imagine going through endwalker without him.
Endwalker- 9/10. It loses a point for pulling punches at the end. But it is overall a very well told conclusion to this massive saga, and does a pretty decent job of tackling some pretty adult subjects. This expansion really made me think about some things in a new way, and I have to give massive props to any interactive experience that can do that.
I was a WoW refugee, played through everything in about 4 months. I was loving it until EW. Thematically, I thought it was atrocious. It came across as having been written by people who haven't experienced suffering and despair but imagine what it's like and believe people should be able to bootstrap their way out of it. The culmination of this being the tone deaf cutscene with Venat (which so many praise) where she acts as judge, jury, and executioner to people who narrowly survived extinction but aren't "forging ahead" from their grief and trauma sufficiently for her.
Speaking of which, Venat is an anti-villain the game tries to pass off as a tragic heroine and it didn't work for me. She embodies the ideologies and more importantly methods of previous antagonists, but never gets called out for it. Quite the opposite, as of 6.2 the game is still kissing her ass which, along with Pandemonium, is ultimately what caused me to quit. I don't feel like the writers and I are ethically on the same page so I have no further interest in seeing more "conflicts of values" from them when, frankly, I no longer feel like the WoL is a good person.
I lost respect for and resent the Scions. Not only because they're hypocrites when it comes to crimes against humanity that benefit them, but because they're clad in so much plot armor I can no longer take them seriously. EW had no stakes for anyone but the Ancients and they were othered so badly people actually argue their eradication was justified. It should be a red flag when the narrative goes full genocide apologism, but apparently not. The Final Days also did less overall damage than a calamity.
I appreciate any content creator being critical because it's rare to see. The FFXIV community has so much toxic positivity that discussing issues opens yourself up to being attacked. GCBTW indeed.
TL;DR: My ranking would be (best to worst) HW->ShB->(undecided which I dislike more)EW=SB->ARR
I started last year with ARR in Gridania. When playing it I did enjoy the story, the primal fights and Ultima (FF7 nostalgia). Trying extremes without prior knowledge (I was able to do Titan, failed at Garuda and Moogle Mog). The in between ARR and HW was rough for me cause of fetch quests. I got familiar with the FF14 YT community in that time. And it did diminish my ARR experience, although I did like it. But it also gave me hope for HW and to persevere. Halfway through the story picks up and I really liked the Uldah sequences.
HW absolutely loved story wise. SB I was kinda meh about preemptively. Everyone was so excited for ShB and that trailer was lit! So SB felt like a chore. I did enjoy it, especially the boss fights. ShB did deliver story wise, but only in its finale to me. And it's still fetch quests. EW story to me was awesome and emotional. Not because of the friends but because of the ancients. Also the question why we live hit home for me. I really liked that I could do dungeons and a raid with my team, and not some random PCs.
I get you on the end with the friends. It's unbelievable that everyone lives. In that sequence I couldn't believe everyone's dead.
I am hoping in 7.0 with the now exploring 13th world its gonna shake things up. Curious how the story will unfold.
Youâre definitely not alone with that opinion.
Ngl…I was disappointed in EW. My favorite expansion is actually StB for gameplay and HW for story. After EW I just didn't have fun playing anymore so I moved on to other games.
Nobody expected the Scion to actually die each time they vanished, you were even told the crystal had the power of creation and even istola said they can be brought back but should not as each is needed to paved a way forward to reach meteon, if brought back early they can't reach meteon.
Pulled their punches is spot on.
I wish they would ramp down the stakes as well and make the stories more personal. I dont need the worlds fate to be in the balance or time travel. Id be just as, if not more invested in the fate of my character and the group with far smaller stakes if the antagonist and their motivation were solid
You die a hero, or live long enough to become a villain – it applies to more than people.
Heavenward is still my favorite expansion and after that Stormblood, because they are grounded for the lack of a better word, dragons, underwater and sky cities are still very fantasy so is not like they are realistic, but for me it feels more realistic inside that world.
With Endwalker and Shadowbringer it feels like they jump the shark in a way, even if I know is not true because they have set up a lot of it over the years.
Going to Garlemald was one of my most requested thing in the game and what I got was disappointing, I know why they did it, but I didn't like it.
I was looking forward to a more grounded Eorzea back to basic story arc after Endwalker, but it seems like that's not what we going with. Will see.
Based
I get your frustrations; sad to see you go in reference to your departure from the game. Personally, I think the state of Endwalker's story was fine; but story is always down to preference too! Though I pretty much mostly agree about your gameplay gripes. Gonna miss your ff stuff but heres to brighter horizons!
I will stand by this, Stormblood is the best 14 expansion as a TOTAL package (solid story, job uniqueness, amazing trials, IVALICE, Eureka and it's rewards, Omega Savage and music).
Endwalker however is my least favourite so far (convoluted plot, lazy pacing, poor job balance and 2 min burst mess, unimaginative raid and overall post Msq blandness)
it was an excessively safe and very tame ending. I expected apocalypse level stuff. And, if anything….(Spoilers Down below)
The two scions that should have remained "Dead" or unmade in the story should have been Yshtola and Thancred. Hear me out: Thancred was unmade first when going to ultimate thule. Your character wakes up an undisclosed amount of time later. Who's to say that the ability to recreate his body wasn't temporary due to the length of time he was unmade?
Then there's Yshtola, who's been unmade three times during the story. The only draw back that she's had was now she's technically blind. But it doesn't affect how she functions in the game. So…what was the point? That in mind, wouldn't it have been a compelling way to send off the character by saying "She ran out of times that her body could be unmade, so now it isn't stable enough to stay that corporeal. And considering the ties between thancred and Yshtola, the missed opportunity to see those two talk amongst themselves one last time as they fade away at the end of a story can't be recreated.
In the end, the story was mid. I'm glad people like it, because bringing back the game from the brink of death is not something a lot of people can do, and to that, I applaud the devs and Yoshi-P.
I think a lot of the resources that would have gone into EW this time around went into fixing up ARR. The changes to the ARR instances and how they've upgraded it from the original incarnation, which is good for the long-term health of the game, along with adding in systems like duty-support to the ARR and HW instances because (IMO) leveling as a DPS through the MSQ is one of the worst things you can do in this game because of the DPS queue.
I'd say EW was a good enough conclusion, but I'm curious who you think should have died from the EW story that didn't.
I personally find the stance (that often I see), that in order to have stakes in the story you necessarily have to kill off major characters, that many are invested in, … incredibly intellectually lackluster. And it does not apply to FFXIV specifically or gaming for that matter – but all media in general: be at movies, TV, books…
What you mentioned about "the long walk" was one of my biggest issues with EW's story especially after seeing some of the other content creators saying they were in tears. I was ready to cry. I wanted the feels. I've never rolled my eyes so hard at a scene in FFXIV in my life. I always see a lot of "killing chacters off doesn't make a better story" comments but I don't think that's the point that people who bring this up are trying to make. This is the conclusion to a story that spanned YEARS. Thancred being taken out and basically sacrificing himself to create the area the party ends up in could and should have been much more impactiful. Many people mention that his arc was finished and as much as I'd hate to see him go, it would have been a great moment knowing that this "being" has killed one of our beloved members and using his last breath he helps us indirectly. Thancred just got obliterated and we got no emotion from them. At first they're like, "he must have gotten lost or something" and I'm sitting here like there's no way he'd just leave. lol. Literally once the party finds out that once you "die" you create another extention of Utima Thule to explore, they freely give themselves up. And then it gets to the point where Y'stola literally tells you that "YOU CAN SUMMON US BACK."
So at this point, you know people are going to "die." My issue was that they have these long drawn out speeches beforehand as if they'll never see eachother again. They try and create this sense of dread and tension like this is a battle the WOL could possibly lose but we all know that's not how it goes in this game. And we all know that once we beat the final boss, all will be restored. There should have been more of a response to things. The Scions are always too cool about everything. I would have loved to see them mentally broken down due to the endless negativity of Ultima Thule and Meteion just fucking around with them almost have it was with Kefka and the World of Ruin. Or having the Scions sacrifice themselves knowing that what they're doing is for the overall greater good but not knowing if they'll return or not. It literally got to a point where it's like, "oh, it's my turn? Oh welp…see ya around!"
EW overall felt like a letdown to especially off the heels of Shdaowbringers. It just didn't hold my attention outside of certain moments like when Zenos took control of the WoL's body and confronted the Scions. It was a very tense scene and I was legit worried someone was going to get taken out…but nope, he just lets us go and returns to what he's doing. Zodiark (while I know is a huge topic of discssion on how it was presented) was also a HUGE letdown for me. This being that we've heard about since ARR, we finally get to see it and it's presented in a lv83 trial. I felt the same about Hydaelyn. I felt like the more we see Emet Selch, the more his value decreases too. His story was so powerful in SB and had a great ending…so why does SE keep bringing him back in so many cutscenes?
Well, can't say I'm entirely in disagreement with you on how Endwalker's story hits. As I was playing through it, I loved almost all of it, but looking back? There are aspects that bother me. But when it comes to no one close to us dying, except Xenos.. finally (and they even managed to make me like him in the process), it does feel off. The fake out scion death (especially Y'shtola's) has been done so often at this point that I didn't even pause to consider it as an actual option. They're dying to change the landscape so we can get through it? My first thought was quite literally "yeah, no, we'll be bringing them back before we even leave the zone, or at least reach the dungeon." I do kinda wish at least a couple of them had gone permanently, though which would be coin toss based on present mood when asked. But I think I might have been more disappointed had they not been brought back, solely because none of their 'deaths' were really… special in any fashion. "Argue a point, get snapped out of existance" is kind of a boring death, all in all, especially for long standing characters. So yeah, I do feel they could have done so much better there. Heck, I'd have been fine if WE were the one that didn't come back, as much as that just does not work at all for an mmo so was never really an option to begin with.
Mechanically.. things definitely feel like they've taken a step backward. Though maybe not a big one, but outside of things like being able to get 3 melee bursts in a row with a RDM if you start a fight on full resources, it just all feels a little "off" now, and I can't really explain how or why. I don't really do any of the savage stuff, so I don't even do the things where this matters more to give any kind of true thoughts on the matter. I've also only ever known Shadowbringer's systems, so can't compare to older versions. But yeah, it's just.. off a bit, shifted slightly out of phase, something of that sort to me. At least pvp, for all I hear (it's just not my thing) is doing great for once.
I totally agree. I braced myself for a difficult death or ending. They did give us a sad death of a side character…the heart retching story of the baby, but again these are side characters caught up in the story. The story leading up was great (timey wimey stuff is always weird…but I'm used to that weirdness thanks doctor who). But in the end when no one close or significant died, there was no real consequence, the oh we just happen to have exactly what you need to accomplish this insane universe saving mission, and everything was just hunky dory back to normy after such an epic crazy ride just seemed…like a let down. You said it best…endwalker pulled its punches for sure.
Feels like you, and other people of like mind, wanted to say goodbye to FFXIV with EW and the game prevented you from doing so in some fashion. You ended up leaving anyway, but it seems there's resentment on the departure because it wasn't completely on your own terms. More like being pushed out because of "systems", "decisions" and whatever else you want to call it.
I find this a bit ironic myself, because I think EW is an actual triumphant goodbye and a powerful statement that the game it's just like life itself: it ain't changing much, but your outlook on it can – drastically. Emotions are all there is here, just look at what Edgerunners did for Cyberpunk 2077 – people actually went to play it in their attempt to appease their own emotional state. A bit of the reverse of what's happening here (including in the comments, judging by the complaints on EW).
That said, on this and the other farewell video, you sound minimally liberated. That's always good man.
It was only ever a videogame anyway. It's a videogame 10h in, 100h in and 10000h in. It's amazing how often people forget this.
I can definitely understand your perspective and while in the moment, during any expansion really, I'm fully immersed and have been satisfied going through. Its upon reflection that I see where it could have been better especially since when trying to rank them I put Shadowbringers on top with Endwalker after because they feel so much like Endwalker doesn't stand alone it needs the previous expansions to hold it's weight even with all times it left me a sobbing mess. After watching other people go through the walk and add portraits of the people who's lines are being spoken do I wonder, "Why didn't they use their new Character dialog boxes here?!" It's been so many years since some people have heard these lines wouldn't it have made since to remind them who said them? And the Ultima Thule segment was generally predictable it's execution still had me enthralled but I can agree the constant fake outs really hurt the story. While I absolutely HATE stories that just off their characters for no reason, this fake out after fake out takes the threat out of the perceived danger and while in the moment I'll be okay with it upon reflection it makes for a weaker story.
I'm sorry some of the comments that show up here are rude but I'm glad we can have these discussions đ
Endwalker started out great, and there were some good emotional moments…. however, having had time to review my time with it, I'm going to say Shadowbringers was when this game was at it's best.
The story of "I want to destroy the world bc everyone is sad" is bs to me. Xenos is the worst thing about the expansion imo. This wasnt just a world breaker story, they tried to extinguish the UNIVERSE. Where can you go from there? And Endwalker as an expax ended in December with a story now that no one cares about (SAVE THE DRAGON).
And systematically, I am soooooo tired of the "regular raid/savage raid" 1 dungeon thing. I remember when the Expert Roulette was, you know, A ROULETTE and not a coin flip. I ran the Variant dungeon, and it is boring to tears. (I haven't run Criterion yet}. There is no mid tier content. (Again, criterion notwithstanding). You are either super casual, or a savage raider.
As a controller on PC player, I also agree with combat. Tanks have no personality, and are more the same than ever, and to make people happy they destroy the "lore" of the class. Look, I don't WANT PLD leading dps…. it SHOULD be the holy sword and board knight with the best mitigation. That is a PLAY STYLE. WAR should NOT be the tankiest tank. It should do DMG. Gunbreaker should be a dps, not a tank. DRK should do dmg and should be able to heal itself so much better with black arts type skills.
But again, mostly, it's content. For those of us who want to play something challenging, but do not have the time to raid and coordinate with 7 other people 2-3 days a week, there is nothing. Just nothing.
PVP in this game was, is, and always will be trash.
I think the saddest part is ive never got to learn more about zenos's past, every character has a past told except zenos
The Scions weren't going to die. That was pretty obvious. The whole point of that was to promote hope. It was to punch you into the ground and then raise you up.
ShB is the best story imo. For me, HW looked the best as I enjoy that look and design the most (outside of the goblins and Alexander, which I found monotonous and boring).
ShB>HW>ARR>SB – EW(I did not like the SB split story, couldn't care less about the Samurai's story, and I have major problems with EW being too "EVERYTHING IS GOING TO END" and Xenos is useless and boring to me.)
Its crazy to see so many comments about the communities toxicity even though there's such praise about the 14 community…
Brian did you finally get tired of the ballerina dance routine fights?