How to actually bring a character back

[@scubarubanzaii]

One small side detail: apparently Emet Selch actually changes his physical stance in the end. Across the (Shadowbringers) expansion, he is slouched over as if the burden of the world was on his shoulders, but once you defeat him, he actually stands straight as if to show that the weight of the world has been lifted.

[@Froggsroxx]

Can confirm he does.

[@valgardgaming]

I never actually realised, but going back through some of the cinematics that makes sense. Just one of those little details which even if you don't realise just adds to the experience which really does show FFXIV attention to some details. Thank you for watching

[@RratRemi]

Missed out on what was probably the biggest tear jerking part: the part where he saves you from the void during the WOL fight. No one expected him to appear especially in that form

[@Shiirow]

Arthas "I see only... darkness before me." Thats Ardenwaeld son, its going to be hell.

[@shadeblackwolf1508]

Don't forget that in ff14 souls are known to reincarnate, and worlds have non-parallel time. That way, we could see the next cycle of emet-selch without feeling cheated about his death.

[@valgardgaming]

You make an excellent point as well, it's always nice when the universe has a pre-existing framework for bringing people back. It's not that normally realistic series kind of deal where you see someone 'die' but they miraciously survived because it happened off screen. Thank you for watching and commenting as always

[@Itsatragedeigh]

Emet-selch is one of my absolute favorite characters. Couldn’t place why WoWs story didnt do it for me and this made perfect sense.

[@markup6394]

Someone said that Arthas' story is tragic and doesnt have a happy end. Him being reduced to a floating cotton ball is just emphasis on his sad story. That may be true, but I still think having him reduced to a mere plotpoint for other characters and having them s**t on him despite knowing that his actions were called by someone else (even though this was a retcon), really left a sour tang with me. I dont know if there will be some epilog, and I think we can hardly expect Blizzard to actually finish what they've started (that would be first...). Its just disrespectful of an old character and the many fans he has. Dragging him out of his grave, hyping him up during the whole expansion, only for this weird cinematic where his leftover dissipate into thin air... it wasnt what was promissed (the devs promissed to do his character justice) and it certainly what was hoped for. Emet on the other hand... among all the brilliantly written characters in FF14 he surely sticks out - in a positive way. We know he is the villian, but we also know why, and would the roles be reversed, most of us would've acted the same as he did (or at least be hard pressed to argue against it). Like with Arthas we came to understand why a normal person would turn into a mass murderer and still be able to look his own reflexion into the eyes. But in Endwalker, Emet isnt a villian opposing us, he becomes a friend (sort of), an ally, and when its time for the second farewell, its bittersweet: Like before in Shadowbringer we want to "save" him - and yet know its simply impossible. And again, he goes with a smile, passing the torch to us to continue on. I dont know what wouldve been a satisfying conclusion for Arthas, how a "passing of the torch" would look like with him, but I also know that the basics for such a story are there - and it couldve been awesome.

[@valgardgaming]

The only promise they've kept is that this wouldn't be another WoD because it's worse. At least back then what content was in the game wasn't too much of a grind and really fun. They just had nothing but pain for the playerbase this expansion and them dragging Arthas out like that really does just leave that sour taste just like you said. I doubt they'll be an epilogue with this 2 patch expansion and the next one being announced in a month, but this really was the coup de grâce for any hope I had in retail WoW. Emet-Selch is a fan favourite for a very good reason, and why Shadowbringers was probably my favourite expansion so far. Having the villain actually there to try and reason with you was brilliant, show his side and then you do reach that same conclusion that maybe he has a point. As your right that ultimately you'd do the same thing in his position, the only real reason we're fighting him is that we want our people to live just as much as he does. Arthas would have needed a patch where we found him in the maw and he helped us get out of it, or something like that. He would have needed to be present and like the prince before he picked up Frostmourne, just anything than what we got. Thank you for watching, and your well considered comment

[@Shiirow]

its because the current crop of writers for wow couldnt write an actual character to save their lives, they are like Capcom, a character is merely a literary cog in the machine, a "function" if you will. which is why they all come off as stiff as they do and why they just slot in characters like a literary mad lib. the only decent one was Denathrius and he was just a walking talking amalgamation of camp cliches.

[@dafire9634]

many many people took the 2 cinematics(the anduin and the jailer one) as the writing director(danuser) slapping players in the face and saying "You remember this?, yeah well forget about it, it's MY STORY NOW!!" like a massive middle finger to the playerbase that had followed the game's lore up until that point, couple that with the immense amount of retcons to retrofit his story to be "relevant" with the old lore, with takes like "the jailer was actually behind everything, but we never got any hint of it, until this expac!" and this same immensely smart and powerful being, not only does not say *why* he's doing it, instead saying the equivalent of "because reasons lol" when he was put to trial in the flashback, but he gets beaten by pointy sticks?? with no outside help??? the power levels have no sense or meaning anymore, and to cite someone else: "any good game **earns** and spends a lot of setup on its big moments, while wow shoehorns in a scene, tells you it's a big moment, but makes 0 effort to do any setup, so it falls flat"

[@valgardgaming]

It really feels that way, and even if he didn't intend it then it becomes even worse as they failed the first rule of good communication; it doesn't matter how you understand whats being said, it's about how your audience takes it. And looking at most peoples reactions, a slap in the face is a severe understatment When it comes to power levels your spot on, and actually something they could take a page out of FFXIV's book as they're now dealing with de-power leveling after Endwalker. They're willing to take the step back which becomes 100% necessary as otherwise you get what your saying which is absurdly shoehorned bigger bad-guys with little set up. Thank you for watching, and the comments as always

[@ArmageddonEvil]

I have to agree with everything you have said in this video! World of Warcraft / Blizzard Entertainment shallow endings with *OH NOES, there's a bigger bad on the horizon.* FFXIV / Creative Team 3's ending is "Let's take a break from the epic saga that we concluded and get back to simpler times where you are adventuring!" Everyone who says, World of Warcraft's Story is great, about you look at every *single* one of their plot points and they are the SAME, 'We are trying to save you from the VOID! Or a Bigger Bad.' They have no idea how to actually END their story. And they go *patch by patch* for the story and only say, they do what FFXIV does, aka plans far ahead in advance, yeah right. If they plan far ahead in advance, we would have gotten Shadowlands *right* after Wrath of the Lich King and not after Battle For Azeroth. The only thing they plan the systems far in advance and how to wring money out of their player base.

[@valgardgaming]

Thank you for watching, and as always for taking the time to comment. I swear Blizzard writing has become all foreshadowing, no pay-off, which can work for a little while but has looooooong since become tired. I'll be interested to see what the next expansion is as they're announcing it April 19th, as who knows where they'll go from here. Your also right on FFXIV where I'm really glad that they were willing to actually finish a saga, have a story line that ends with all the loose ends pretty neatly tidied away. So now we can go back to adventuring, which i'm 100% keen for, the live letters have been making it look really nice.

[@ArmageddonEvil]

@@valgardgaming Also, I do like the Alliance Raid series is going to help us figure out what's the hell is going on with the 12. lol Edit: Blizzard is going to use the same tired plot they've been using since the inception of the Warcraft Universe. Even technically, Warcraft III had that vibe. Since they've been ruining that game for a long time.

[@anotherjannajay]

Depends on the importance of the character death and narrative for the medium, but there's also the argument that if you revive a character too early the impact of their first death is meaningless. Regardless, I will agree that if there is a plan to revive a character it needs to matter to the story.

[@valgardgaming]

I 100% agree that there is a too early point to bring someone back, although would also argue there has to be some connection/relation to the current events. That idea that you needed that specific character back as opposed to just bringing them back for nostaliga. Thank you for watching, and commenting as always

[@imaran1303]

To be fair, it wasn't really voluntarily as the most important part of her soul was missing, the good part having been sent to the Jailer when Arthas stabbed her, much the same what happened to Uther, but yeah, watching her talk shit to Arthas was a kick to the balls, and this coming from someone who liked Sylvanas before she was butchered to be Garrosh 2.0 but worse.

[@Zenith118]

Imo this is mostly good but you missed multiple things and got some flat out wrong information. Sylvanas didnt really talk shit to Arthas. She was reflecting on herself. Arthas wasnt really *there*. Arthas had a massive nostalgia factor and his shadow was massive across all of Shadowlands. Even before the Afterlives cinematic you mentioned, people were wondering if we were going to see him. Emet Selch was a relatively new character so imo the two arent comparable from that perspective. The last thing you missed imo is the gameplay/cinematic ratio in tthe two games. Most of WoWs cinematics are max a few minutes long. If WoW wants to compete in terms of story, they need to add a lot more of story IN GAME rather than external sources like books.

[@ElmntFire]

I agree completely with ditching the books. You need to tell your in-game story in game. I would argue, however, that Emet's shadow was definitely looming over Endwalker from the moment it was announced, even if he was a relatively new villain in comparison. He's the narrator for the trailer and was the closest thing we had to an expert on the Final Days, meaning that exploring that territory would involve him in some capacity. The hype surrounding his return was immediate and immense. Sylvanas' dialogue when talking to 35 anima Arthas was fine until she got this really dismissive tone towards the end, especially in how she says begone. I think this may have been an error with vocal direction rather than shit talking Arthas, but with how badly the Jailer's death was bungled it's hard to provide charitable interpretations of the writer's intent.

[@valgardgaming]

Thank you for watching, and for the comment, I really do appreciate it as your right. Saying that she was talking shit was definately a bit of a misnomer, instead I should have leant more on my point that they used Arthas as a narrative device for her to wax philosophical about her own life. Oh he was certainly a shadow over the plot and has been since his death as he had a major impact on every character. More of an historical figure than a current one. They just went the extra step to bring him physically (although only what was left) back up which is where I have the issue. I'm 100% with you on the gameplay/cinematic ratio in both games, it's why FFXIV wins out on a narrative level more broadly. I would however argue that WoW is trying its hand having a more cohesive narrative which currently it's game setup isn't allowing and over reliance on books (especially late ones like the Sylv one) help create these moments where the story becomes de facto rage bait.

[@ArmageddonEvil]

Um, Steve Danuser is using Sylvanas Windrunner to tell all the people who loved Arthas as a character to 'fuck off' in the simplest sense of the word. Because he absolutely doesn't like the OG Lore since that's why all three of the cinematics failed in all honesty. Because Steve Danuser only cares about HIS Fanfiction and not what came before it.

[@apokal0082]

Dude, you are not playing in game "who can pronounce more words in second". Speak slower when you do your videos. Kinda I'm not English speaker, but I don't have any problems watching videos in English, except your. You literally sound like "makethedecisiontosummonzodiactoforestallthefinal". Idk, do some pauses or whatever.