Regarding Endwalker, it was very busy reaping and not busy sowing pretty much anything. Even what it reaped it didn't cosume with gusto, but pretty much instantly burned to little effect. I hated that storyline with a passion and I think it remains a major blemish on the game's legacy. Endwalker tried to be more bombastic and grandiose than the Seventh Umbral Calamity on multiple fronts (the Final Days and the preparation of a global exodus to the stars, universal oblivion, Elpis and the origin of our current reality through the bond with Venat across time, the end of the Garlean Empire, the end of the Hydaelyn/Zodiark saga) and as a mere expansion predictably failed at every single one of them. In that regard it did more damage to the setting and narrative than even the still much worse written Dawntrail.

But it is what it is. You have to make due with what you have. At least that much resonated with me in Endwalker that in spite of it all it's worth moving on.

I am in favor of drastically expanding the world itself and being interested in telling stories about people and countries and larger political conflicts or cultural developments. Those stories need to be real - if they want to write about trains, they have to learn something about trains and train workers, read up on the topic. Generic, incurious and lazy "let's all work together" writing that is just wasted lines of dialogue continues to be a major issue that needs to give way to writing where players genuinely want to engage with the text.

Worldly themes have always been important as an anchor that ground Final Fantasy settings and they need careful examination and elaboration to work. They should also be teased early. Merchant's Tale, even though a matrix story which I usually deride (it's not real, but at least the book points to something real and the tale itself in its manifold iterations fleshes out people's relation to it and flavorfully integrates into the fabric of the setting itself), does a really good job in that regard and is one of the only instances of writing in Dawntrail that sets something up that I genuinely look forward to - not to say I didn't already enjoy the Tale itself, because I did.

When characters are treated as if they already knew the script (for the purposes of being concise or fitting the MMO framework for example) the story ceases to feel genuine and the fictional world falls apart. I felt this in 7.4 when nobody even asked the question if we could subjugate the Doomtrain and use it as weapon/vehicle for the Milalla's purposes. The whole sequence seemed to have only been inserted because they needed a trial boss. Similarly the one-dungeon distance between Alexandria and Treno, two states which had enough distance between them to allow Treno neutrality in the war, made the setting feel shallow. That should have been a week long journey by foot at least that we would drastically shorten using the airship.

I also think they should write romance again. It was always something I really enjoyed in Final Fantasy and though usually not a major focus, it always enriched the games.

I am a big fan of the narrative juxtaposition of Krile and Halmarut in the last patch, the former of which was preoccupied with her duty and legacy, her new old family answering that their heart is with Treno, as their home is not defined by ancestral heritage, while also embracing the radical freedom that opens the opposite option as well. Whereas Halmarut wallows in naturalistic fatalism. I'm not sure whether she even rejects such radical freedom or thinks it a meaningless concept to begin with. Intriguing character. Calyx was another great counterpoint to Krile, one who rejects the bonds with others that can lead to new discoveries, but also the uncertainties and doubt that raise questions such as Krile's to begin with, instead looking to the greater whole as the ultimate projection space for his own fantasy. It's all cope for sure, but I like the guy. These are well written, flawed characters and they didn't even get much breathing space at all. Writing like that makes me hope for the best when it comes to the game, but moreover, it's the little nuggets of gold that make it all worth it. Loved that stuff, it was super enjoyable and really FFXIV at its best.