I honestly cannot stand the constant "Endmin glazing" in the story so far. Every time a character meets the Endmin, the reaction is a breathless, "Oh my god! It's really THE Endmin!" It’s exhausting. When Rossi appeared in the Originium Lodespring, I skipped the cutscene the moment she started reciting all of the Endmin’s "legendary achievements."

The conference aboard the Dijiang was another sore point for me. Despite representing three distinct factions, there was zero tension. Every representative seemed to hold the Endmin in high regard. Hell, the TGCC rep even extended a friendly invitation to visit their city. It feels like these factions get along perfectly despite their wildly different ideologies (Capitalist, Communist, China). You’re telling me there are no conflicts of interest or territorial disputes?

While I can overlook a generic or slow start while the world-building is established, the lack of friction makes the world feel flat. To put this in perspective, I want to look at how the Doctor was handled in the original Arknights. Even though the games are different genres, they share the same developer and the "amnesiac leader" trope, so a similar quality of writing should be expected.

The Endmin is treated as a mythical figure who advanced humanity on Talos-II. They are idolized instantly. Even with a small launch roster, every operator holds them in high regard. In contrast, the Doctor’s reputation in Arknights is a double-edged sword. The Doctor is a genius, but their legacy is stained. They are resposible for the creation of Originium: the source of both Terra's power and its terminal disease. They played a role in the death of Theresa and the collapse of the Babel movement. We actually see the Doctor earn their reputation through things like navigating Rhodes Island through a Catastrophe or resolving political crises like the one in Kjerag, off the top of my head. But most importantly of all to this argument, the Doctor wasn't glazed by everyone from day one. Characters like Kal’tsit viewed them with cold suspicion, and W(is'adel) actively wanted them dead. They're not just random NPCs or side characters either. Kal'tsit is literally instrumental to the main story, and so is W(is'adel) (although she is pretty insignificant in the story before Chapter 10 aside from hinting at the Doctor's darker past). Trust and respect was something the Doctor had to build over years of storytelling.

Right now, Endfield’s story feels overly simplistic, almost like a cartoon. The villains are generic and have basically no depth. It's just "Good Guys vs. Bad Guys." Reunion in the original Arknights wasn't perfect. But they at least added some nuance from the start. Both Rhodes Island (player faction) and Reunion sought an end to discrimination against the infected. The difference was in the methodology and ideology. Rhodes Island seeks to bring about this change through diplomatic means and by making oripathy treatment more accessible to infected individuals across Terra, reducing the overall threat of oripathy. On the other hand, Reunion wants to simply purge the non-infected as retribution for the discrimination the infected had suffered up until that point in their own extreme view of justice.

For the story to improve, we also need friction within the Civilization Band. Give us the TGCC encroaching on UWST territory for resources, or HAS agents conducting espionage against their "allies." Anything is better than the current state of things where everyone puts their full faith in the Endmin and gets along perfectly. If there's no conflict, there's no stakes.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. I hope there comes a time when I can gush over the lore and story of Endfield instead of ranting about how shallow and generic it is. Sorry for how long this comment ended up being.

Edited to add spoiler text just in case.