LogFAQs > #960703264

The day before early access began I made three predicitons:

1) By the end of 6.0 Hydaelyn and Zodiark are both dead, with at least one of them being the boss of the final trial
2) Zenos will be alive at the end of 6.0 because there is no god
3) Alphinaud will get a fakeout death scene a la Thancred vs. Ranjiit

1 I was two thirds correct, 2 I whiffed on (but am very happy I was wrong!), and 3 was technically correct but failed to hit the full scope of Ultima Thule. Still, I will take being over 500.

I guess I'll start with what I thought was the weakest part of the MSQ, the first half or so of Elpis. So many monologues, so many "go here and watch a cutscene" quests with so little action happening. In retrospect I get it - they had to introduce Hermes and Meteion and get you to sympathize with both of them, or the last third of the plot doesn't work. Still, as it was happening I felt like the plot had slowed to a crawl and really wished something, anything interesting would happen. It picks up once you meet Venat, and once Meteion starts freaking out and you have to chase her down I was back to fully invested.

(Also if you didn't do the 87 dungeon with trusts oh my god what is wrong with you)

Just about everything else hit near-perfectly to me. The Garlemald plotline did an excellent job of showing how fascist indoctrination produces a society that always needs an enemy and is constitutionally incapable of trusting anyone outside of that society. It's another section that can feel drawn out but had to be that way to show just how entrenched the fear of the outside is in the Garlean zeitgeist - at multiple points Jullus clearly knows that what he's ordered to do is morally wrong, but he does it anyway because any Garlean is clearly more trustworthy than any outsider, and to disobey his orders would be admitting that everything he was taught was wrong, that he and his entire society had spent their entire lives being wrong. It's a very human response, even if I did feel frustrated seeing him go through it.

Speaking of human responses, one of the things I loved most about Shadowbringers' MSQ was the moments of downtime, when you would go back to your inn room in the Crystarium and chat with Ardbert. I was thrilled to see those moments of rest continue into Endwalker, ranging from the lunch you and the gang have after the 81 dungeon to the final time heading through Sharlayan to hang out with your friends the day before the ship launches. It helps to flesh out these characters as people to see them doing completely normal shit like having dinner with their colleagues, inadvertently falling asleep reading, or being nervous about meeting their friend's mom over tea.

And of course, that quest was perfectly placed to do maximum emotional damage.

I cannot talk about Endwalker without mentioning how utterly perfect Ultima Thule was. At first there's the sense of adventure, of going somewhere utterly foreign where no one's been before to save the universe, which is gradually replaced by confusion after Thancred disappears, then fear and horror when Estinien goes too, and creeping dread once Urianger explains what's going on. From then on it's all just twisting the knife planted in your heart - G'raha making you promise to go on another adventure with him before his sacrifice, the walk up the crystal with the twins as they reflect on what's happened, the Nekropolis, and my beautiful elf children giving their lives so I could keep going. The forced slow walk up the last slope, passing all the ghosts of your past was one of many times the MSQ made me tear up.

And then you arrive, and Meteion tells you you haven't gone far enough, you have no more comrades left to sacrifice and it's all hopeless... except she clearly doesn't know about Azem's crystal. I don't even have the words to describe how much I loved the next sequence - Emet-Selch and the flowers, the last dungeon, sending the newly-revived squad back to the ship to face the final boss alone, the FF4 reference of their prayers giving you the strength to win... it's all so brilliantly done.

My only quibble with the last section is Zenos. He is in my opinion the single most boring villain FF14 has ever had, and ever since he was first revived in post-Stormblood I've just wanted him to die. I don't even hate or dislike him; I'm just exhausted by his perpetual boredom and homocidal yandere routine. So to me, the duel after the last trial felt anticlimactic. I wanted nothing more than to just go back to the ship and leave his edgy ass there at the end of the universe while I go party with my friends. I'm glad they resolved that plotline, but really I just wanted him to go away and leave me alone.

Finally, I must say that Soken absolutely exceeded himself with the soundtrack. Every single song on the OST was fantastic, from the gentle piano reprises of the expansion themes to the bombastic boss battle music. It's all phenomenal, and if he hadn't already I feel like Soken has solidified his claim as Uematsu's successor.

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Besides, marijuana is far more harmful than steroids. - BlitzBomb
I headbang to Bruckner.