I think Ishgard mellowing out is the natural end for Heavensward. It's not the actual events themselves that really put me off, because Nidhogg being whacked and reformation being implemented was completely inevitable. It's the fact that the story is paced atrociously and that there is never any sense that this ending was earned by, well, anyone.
Pacing is, of course, a double-edged sword. Too slow and it drags on and nothing gets accomplished. Too quick and the story ends up being rushed and unsatisfying.
If they really had to pull off the "Nidhogg comes back to life" plot device, then Heavensward should have ended with Nidhogg's first death followed immediately by Estinien's possession. 3.1 and 3.2 would deal with Aymeric acting in direct opposition to Archbishop Thordan in order to secure peace with Hraesvelgr's brood. 3.2 would still end with Vidofnir getting shanked. 3.3, Nidhogg dies. 3.4 and 3.5 would deal with the conflict of Ishgard's reformation and the expansion ends with Thordan becoming a Primal in a desperate bid to secure the theocracy's power after peace had been achieved with the dragons.
Instead, more than half of the initial expansion story and the subsequent 3.1 and 3.2 patches is spent fucking around with the Scions, watching the Ascians and Warriors of Darkness twirl their bad-guy mustaches going "Guys we are totally still relevant to the story", Regula van Hydrus shows up to join the mustache twirling by going "Look the Garleans are still relevant too", and seeing Square Enix completely fucking bomb any potential that Ul'dah had to be interesting by not going through with killing off the Sultana.
Then in the subsequent patches, peace is achieved effortlessly by Aymeric going to Vidofnir and saying "We're really really sorry", we fuck around with the Scions some more, Minfillia gets the boot, and then the whole thing kind of sputters and...ends.
I mean, I get that the main conflict is between the Scions and the Ascians regarding the revival of Zodiark. Fine. I just don't think that the pacing of a far more interesting storyline (the Dragonsong war) should have been completely butchered in order to make room for the Scions and Ascians who really don't even do anything besides show up in the background and remind you that things are going to happen. Not that they are happening, but that eventually there'll be some kind of payoff.
And I'm not exactly advocating for Game of Thrones-esque levels of character death. Grimdarkness is absolutely unnecessary, and arbitrary edginess is a horrific thing to see.
But even in light-hearted, idealistic stories, there are struggles. There is an ordeal for our heroes to conquer, and the resolution is earned. Can you imagine if, in the Lord of the Rings, Frodo and Sam really did take the Eagles to Mordor and just dropped the ring into Mount Doom? Pop, just like that?
But in Heavensward there was no struggle. No sacrifice. And no, Haurchefant and Ysayle don't count because Haurchefant was a completely one-dimensional character whose death was needless and idiotic (The Warrior of Light could be a master at four different healing classes and sort of just watches him die because drama) and Ysayle dies in a context that is completely irrelevant to her character arc.
Estinien's struggle over Nidhogg and subsequently over his own vengeance, then dying in order to keep both of those things from continuing to hurt people he cares about. That's a struggle and sacrifice. That's a price paid to overcome a meaningful conflict. But Estinien is just fine too. Turns out, all he had to do to kill his most hated enemy was get possessed by him. Huh! More people should try that.
It just makes me tear my hair out because this story could have been good. But it's not. Lack the manpower and resources or something.
Pacing is, of course, a double-edged sword. Too slow and it drags on and nothing gets accomplished. Too quick and the story ends up being rushed and unsatisfying.
If they really had to pull off the "Nidhogg comes back to life" plot device, then Heavensward should have ended with Nidhogg's first death followed immediately by Estinien's possession. 3.1 and 3.2 would deal with Aymeric acting in direct opposition to Archbishop Thordan in order to secure peace with Hraesvelgr's brood. 3.2 would still end with Vidofnir getting shanked. 3.3, Nidhogg dies. 3.4 and 3.5 would deal with the conflict of Ishgard's reformation and the expansion ends with Thordan becoming a Primal in a desperate bid to secure the theocracy's power after peace had been achieved with the dragons.
Instead, more than half of the initial expansion story and the subsequent 3.1 and 3.2 patches is spent fucking around with the Scions, watching the Ascians and Warriors of Darkness twirl their bad-guy mustaches going "Guys we are totally still relevant to the story", Regula van Hydrus shows up to join the mustache twirling by going "Look the Garleans are still relevant too", and seeing Square Enix completely fucking bomb any potential that Ul'dah had to be interesting by not going through with killing off the Sultana.
Then in the subsequent patches, peace is achieved effortlessly by Aymeric going to Vidofnir and saying "We're really really sorry", we fuck around with the Scions some more, Minfillia gets the boot, and then the whole thing kind of sputters and...ends.
I mean, I get that the main conflict is between the Scions and the Ascians regarding the revival of Zodiark. Fine. I just don't think that the pacing of a far more interesting storyline (the Dragonsong war) should have been completely butchered in order to make room for the Scions and Ascians who really don't even do anything besides show up in the background and remind you that things are going to happen. Not that they are happening, but that eventually there'll be some kind of payoff.
And I'm not exactly advocating for Game of Thrones-esque levels of character death. Grimdarkness is absolutely unnecessary, and arbitrary edginess is a horrific thing to see.
But even in light-hearted, idealistic stories, there are struggles. There is an ordeal for our heroes to conquer, and the resolution is earned. Can you imagine if, in the Lord of the Rings, Frodo and Sam really did take the Eagles to Mordor and just dropped the ring into Mount Doom? Pop, just like that?
But in Heavensward there was no struggle. No sacrifice. And no, Haurchefant and Ysayle don't count because Haurchefant was a completely one-dimensional character whose death was needless and idiotic (The Warrior of Light could be a master at four different healing classes and sort of just watches him die because drama) and Ysayle dies in a context that is completely irrelevant to her character arc.
Estinien's struggle over Nidhogg and subsequently over his own vengeance, then dying in order to keep both of those things from continuing to hurt people he cares about. That's a struggle and sacrifice. That's a price paid to overcome a meaningful conflict. But Estinien is just fine too. Turns out, all he had to do to kill his most hated enemy was get possessed by him. Huh! More people should try that.
It just makes me tear my hair out because this story could have been good. But it's not. Lack the manpower and resources or something.
