Wrapping up the series with my thoughts on the Pandemonium finale, the MSQ, and the future in general. Trying something new with a casual chat video rather than a formal lore deep dive, let me know what you think!
source
Wrapping up the series with my thoughts on the Pandemonium finale, the MSQ, and the future in general. Trying something new with a casual chat video rather than a formal lore deep dive, let me know what you think!
source
Yesss i agree that the shards should start rejoining without her influence.
I feel like 7.0s teaser is a bait and switch, there is no way they do such a low stakes thing for an entire expansion, even heavenward had nidhogg and the war. Also I feel that the ancients are such an integral part of ff14s story at this point that they can’t just ignore them entirely, so I hope that if some of the writers being unhappy with the treatment of the story I hope they will be able to do something about it, as unlikely as it is. There are still around 6 ascians left I think so they can’t just ignore them forever, much as they try. It is strange that there is so little criticism of something with so many flaws. Thank you for filling that role.
Pandemonium is what happens when your crazy ex tries to achieve godhood.
When Endwalker promised me that the Scion's would go their own way for a while, just to have most of them back through the Patches … also seeing them all in the new Trailer was a bit of a downer. I hate most Scion's with a passion and I'm not looking forward to the 'teams' Yoshida talked about :/
There's a lot I could say but for now I will just say this: thanks for compiling your opinions and criticisms. I may not resonate with them 100% but it's the kind of perspective I have not seen enough in my XIV bubbles. I do also feel bad on your behalf about quitting the game. I've considered it too but I still find the Source fascinating enough to keep subbing, even though New World's hype levels are at the ocean floor for me.
Well if you are not returning in video making allow me to thank you for this series at the very least. I did like Pandamonium personally but I do see the issues others took with it and I can agree with those as well, I suppose I would also much rather take the good I could from it and be happy it didn't double down too hard on a bunch the issues prior.
Thank you to the people involved in this for putting it out there so there is a "voice" so to speak out there pointing out the major flaws of Endwalker on Venat's character and how she is showcased.
Thanks for the video series, hope it was cathartic.
I'm torn on the dawntrail expansion teaser. It does seem to be a return to relatable stakes – ie no planets being thrown at each other, threats of universal destruction nor incentive to have them conjure up particularly egregious retcons -, but without severely dampening the WoL's strength I just can't see it being able to convey much sense of threat.
I also would much rather leave the new world to the blue mage quests, which seem to have somewhat lost the plot of late. That "where's my cow?" offering from 6.45 could easily have been much shorter without losing any worth. Then again it's not like there's all that many shards left – just 4 by my count (7 rejoined, 1 source, 1st and void), so burning through all of those at a great rate of knots would be a bit of a worrying sign in my eyes.
Pretty disenchanted with the story and writing team overall, although morbidly curious to see just where and what they plan on doing now that they've thrown so many pieces from the board. At least it's not interdimensional toaster-bath simulator to gather the other soul bits. Probably.
Well, your voice will be missed. I very much enjoyed this series. I myself will quit XIV if 7.0 fails to hold my interest. It's a bit late to quit I suppose, given how disappointed I was with Endwalker, but I do mean it.
I will point out though, that we only have the, "teaser" trail currently for 7.0 as well. Looking back in history, the teaser trailer for Stormblood only showed Ala Mhigan resistance, and the then unnamed Lyse sparring with WoL in the Palm of Rhalgr. Only for a few fanfests later to get the full unveiled trailer, which revealed the WoL in Kugane slicing through Garlean musket balls. There may be more intriguing things to see with regards to 7.0, but I do tend to inhale copium in large doses. (my thoughts with them showing all of the Scions except Alphinaud was to idk, allay the fragile fanbase's fears that we might lose one in 6.5).
Thank you for finishing your series on Venat. I hope it sparks other creators to do the same.
I was strongly hoping they'd have the WoL spill the beans to Elidibus… particularly now that the "conjunction" of timelines has already taken place (not that this means much without the writers actually clarifying what it even means in practice…) and that they'd hint at the possibility of an AU for the ancients where things ended better, but it seems it was not to be. As I said elsewhere, perhaps when they grow desperate enough it'll come about.
Thank you for doing the Venat series. I was starting to feel like a crazy person constantly getting pushback on my belief there is no such thing as "necessary genocide."
I'm really hoping they have at least some kind of grander scale foreshadowing in 6.5 that hints at a bigger problem we'll be addressing in 7.0 onwards, because XIV's story has historically felt very…busy since ARR due to the villain duumvirate of the Garleans and Ascians as well as all the politics happening in the background and things have felt very slow in the 6.x post-MSQ due to how little is happening comparatively.
I don't think I'll ever quit the game entirely but with how dry and repetitive the content cycle has been with little signs of changing, I might just abandon my house and unsub during content lulls.
It's been an honor to be part of this journey, I doubt things will change that much since 14, it's the type of game where people come to rp, without thinking too much into anything.
""Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next product".
Aside from that, most big content creators/streammers will probably call out what's wrong with pve but msq? yeah no. Considering the cult-mentality of the fanbase regarding the story or "mommy", any criticism will instantly make you "controversial or a hater".
I remember watching pint's kugane video the other day, it was fine until he said that, "ew was probably the best piece of content so far", and I'm like ??????
As for the teaser it sucked ass lol.
Anyways, Thank you again kindly for your vids!❤and hopefully you can find a better mmo, and if so pray tell xD.
Thanks for this! So much work went into this. It is nice to have something different out there. Personally I stopped playing before I met the critique but could not put why into words. This is why this video and the likes of it were important. Clarity and the voice for us who didn't go with this.
Nice wrap-up and thank you again for the series. Pandemonium was such a mixed bag for me. I had hoped it would lead to an AU for the Ancients, which sure, we may never see, but it would have given me peace of mind at least. It hurts even more after endearing us to Erich and Themis. I can be happy with the latter no longer being soul-dead but man, the bar is so low.
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Also, one thing I wanted to note about Dawntrail. The premise is as follows – The protagonist heads to the New World to assist in a ceremony to determine Tural's next ruler. Little do they know that it will also see the Scions divided – This would have been great in Endwalker, huh? I highly doubt it will be anything serious, but the story shouldn't have been afraid to have discourse among the Scions. It's not like disagreements haven't happened in the past. i.e. Y'shtola and Urianger discussing the huge amount of light inside us in ShB – Thancred and Y'shtola arguing about Ryne's condition. Everyone shouldn't tip-toe around Venat- with some (Krile) compromising and others (G'raha/Thancred) being vehemently against her plan B. Leading into a discussion about why this whole mess shouldn't have happened in the first place.
Not really a hate watch, more "Jesse, what the fuck you're talking about".
Even Venat knows that there is no justification in her actions of sundering the world. That is why she accepted her consequence of her soul being spent and no rebirth…at least that is how i understand after her trial
yes thank you, while I don't agree with every point, its been driving me nuts when I tell people I was team 3rd option, they'd be like Vanet had no choice, and I'd start listing a practical novel of all the things that could have been done differently from, ya know, mass genocide. They wrote themselves into a corner, and thats forgivable, I get it, but what they should have done was give the player the option to say, I don't think what Vanet did was the right thing. That's all they needed to do to fix this issue, give us the choice to say, we disagree.
Every streamer and content creator I see do that Omega quests picks "they were all right" while I scream, "No, they were all WRONG!!!"
All right, but I would keep WoL out of discussions on what it should or shouldn't have done because being a self insert it is a slave to history and to the group that surrounds him/her, in fact it is mostly silent and never acts unless guided by someone . The only time he was independent was when he summoned Hythlodeus and Emet in Ultima Thule. For the rest he is controlled by the scions and by the various characters he meets, he/she often takes merits that are not his/her and his only peculiarity is his strength.
And also for this reason that I never liked self insert characters
Watching these has made me incredibly embittered. I was fine with Endwalker until stumbling upon this, and now I just see so many bad things about it. Yoshida simped so hard for Venat that he caused the writing to go into Protagonists Centered Morality (I.E. if you do it, its fine. If someone else does it, its evil). All because Shadowbringers was the best story FFXIV ever had and he's jealous he didn't write it (Though take that with a HUGE grain of salt, because I have nothing to back that up, just random speculation)
Granted, I, and probably like half of the playerbase, don't really use the story for the characters I made there, but it's still rather upsetting realizing that the person you've been playing as isn't the hero they are shown as.
I still enjoyed what we got, but in retrospect it fails so badly that 1.0 sounds better by comparison. It also says something about Yoshi-P that what he thinks Venat did was right, because that just paints him as some sort of eugenics supporter. (Either that or he doesn't realize thats what he painted himself as, or he's somehow so petty that he'll take that over Shadowbringers because he probably hates the Ascians and Ancients. I'm really hoping its the former.)
I just wish we could be a fly on the wall and find out just what the hell happened that had caused Endwalker to change it's story (besides the accursed virus). So many things could've been done instead; split it in two, have one where the end of one you fight and kill Zodiark, causing the Final Days post-expantion, have the other find out that merging timelines is what's causing the Sound, have Pandæmonium be an MSQ and have Ultima be the cause of Dynamis (which could still work, same with Ultima Thule, just not how we got it), and we go to defeat her there or whatever caused it IN Pandæmonium itself. And make Venat into an anti-villain, have the Scions, and even the people of Sharlyan question if what she did was right, with her trying to justify it only for no one agreeing with her. Have Thancred particularly pissed off at her for ultimately using Minfillia for her own selfish gain then, or the WoL be pissed off for not helping Ardbert and gods know how many others Warriors of Light in the other shards. Have the battle with her and her death be cathartic, not melancholic. Just a few of MANY things that could've happened.
I don't blame you for the bitterness. I thank you for opening my eyes to the catastrophe that is Endwalker.
The sad part is though, I'll still take and play it. I still like what we got, and I hate that I like it now. I'll still play it, because I'm 3 years deep into it on an emotional roller-coaster with too many loops and dips. But I just wish we had something else.