I wanna ramble a little about Eden's Verse, because it might actually be my favourite storyline in this whole game. And I know that's probably a hot take, but still, I wanna celebrate it a little! It has so much great stuff that it does:
I do understand that people have some issues with the storyline: The iffy reasoning for Ryne needing to be Shiva's vessel, Gaia being annoying at the start, needing to sit through that Shiva cutscene every time, etc. And I understand those flaws. But despite any of them, I loved this storyline so much. I think it's some of the most well written side content we've ever had.
I know some people might disagree with me, but I adored Eden's Verse, and just had to explain why I love it so much.
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It explores Ryne's character in a really great way. 5.0 MSQ had a lot dedicated to Ryne, but it was largely about her burden of duty and crisis of identity. Her whole arc was figuring out who she is and learning to become her own person. Eden's Verse is really cool because, much more than Eden's Gate before it, it explores who the person that Ryne became really is. You get to see her interacting with the first friend her own age that she's really made, get excited over normal kid stuff (coffee biscuits!), and see how she maintains her determined heroism even in absence of a given duty. It's really wonderful getting to see what Ryne is really like now that she gets to be herself.
Gaia is a really great character. I know some people are annoyed at how prickly she starts the story as, but I think it adds a good element to her; she's a scared, lost, confused kid, who's lashing out and subsequently has to learn to accept people. Her core arc is really engaging, seeing her go from nihilistic and near-suicidal to wanting to see what tomorrow brings. She's a really relatable and realistically written character, and her arc is deftly written, managing to get what feels like a lot of meaningful development within a relatively short period of story.
Thancred and Urianger get some great moments, too! It's awesome to see them (and the Warrior of Light) really embracing their roles as Ryne's mentors and parental figures. Thancred especially has some cool miniature moments of development where he reflects on her status as Ryne's surrogate father. It's a cool little coda to one of his major arcs from 5.0 MSQ.
The storytelling at hand in the Shiva fight is astounding. The way that it presents the lingering vestiges of Light as a threat and connects it implicitly to Hydaelyn is awe-inspiring; the motifs are great, and using ice as a stand-in for light was really smart (even if I do wish we got a little more rumination on Ysayle). And the whole bit at the end of the fight is such a wonderful climax to the arc. I know it can be kind of annoying to sit through the cutscene on every weekly clear, but I honestly think it's worth it just for the emotional weight of Gaia rushing in to save Ryne right at the end. It's a great cap to (this leg of) her arc.
The storyline manages to resolve the "restoring life to the Empty" hook while dealing with a whole new arc in Gaia, and I think it's very admirably done. Combining Ifrit and Garuda into one fight and having Shiva be a core part of the story allows them to resolve the primal killing part of the Eden story before the final tier even comes, and lends a lot more emotional weight to the final fight than Titan had.
The cutscenes themselves are super good. Cutscenes this time around are really high effort, with some awesome bits of direction; moments like Gaia first demonstrating her power or the Warrior of Light eavesdropping via squats add a lot of life to the story.
The music, obviously, is amazing throughout. Return to Oblivion might legitimately be my favourite track in the entire game. The voice acting that's present is also awesome, as is the visual design in all the fights. Production values are generally really impressive.
I do understand that people have some issues with the storyline: The iffy reasoning for Ryne needing to be Shiva's vessel, Gaia being annoying at the start, needing to sit through that Shiva cutscene every time, etc. And I understand those flaws. But despite any of them, I loved this storyline so much. I think it's some of the most well written side content we've ever had.
I know some people might disagree with me, but I adored Eden's Verse, and just had to explain why I love it so much.
submitted by /u/AigisAegis
[link] [comments]
Continue reading...