Storytelling

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Originally Posted by matteoxyz

the plot takes many twists and turns.

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Both ARR and HW followed similar lines, arguably each have three arcs:

1) a 'main story' if you like, ARR being the Garlean invasion and HW having the war with the dragons
2) a series of disjoint Primal fights with frankly very little connection between them
3) a side-story dealing with the Acians

1+3 could be considered parts of the same, the Primals are clearly unrelated and IMO simply there to provide the excuse for more instanced progression gating, I find these fights entirely pointless as far as the story they're running concurrently with.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Berethos

Something tells me that the "lot of things go down" that you just kind of glossed over here would end up putting a particular given story in FFXI closer to what you see in FFXIV, just presented in a less theme-park, please follow the dotted line fashion.

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I didn't detail FFXI's stories cause some of them are very, very long. Can look on this wiki page here if you want to read up on one: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XI:_Chains_of_Promathia

Also, what I was mainly getting at wasn't the plot, but the reactions and actions the characters take to it. The plot isn't bad, but it feels like the characters drag their feet a bit to much at times. I can understand some, like when someone dies their going to feel a bit sad about it. But in other cases it just seems like problems could be avoided by acting more and thinking less.

A man who spends all his time thinking, and never doing, is a dreamer.

And a man who acts, but never thinks, is a fool.

What we need is a mix of the two. A man who thinks when he needs to, and acts when he needs to. FFXIV at the minute feels like 70% thinking, and 30% acting. I want it to be 50% thinking, and 50% acting.

To me, most of our interactions with vital NPCs become a lengthy, wordy, esoterical mess. There are characters that speak in rhymes, characters that speak in an Eorzean Shakespearen way, and characters who flat out make up their own dialect. Personally, I find the wording to be filler-esque, and quite honestly, I wish they added more bolded text (or colored) for key points.

The pacing from HW onwards is pretty great, but everything before that should really be trimmed down. It's one of the biggest barriers of entry for new players in this game.

I don't think there's anything wrong with Early Modern English. Shakespeare for example. But in this game it doesn't have a natural flow. Reading actual contemporary writings in older styles, it's lyrical, very succinct and.. beautiful, really.

I find it easy to follow, only two things are bad, in my opinion.

1. Patch 3.4 was a bit confusing, felt rushed and we were nuked with alot of information.
2. Pirate lingo

Kan E Senna's long winded, fake middle english paragraph over how she needs to dispense with the pleasantries made me want to slap her.
Unlike some folks, I'm not into simple conflicts in this game. Likely because I'm just not invested in the whole "Warrior of light" thing, as I attribute it to dogmatically following "the alliance" without question, instead of the "hear, feel, think" advice, which sounds a lot like deciding for ourselves . I hope for choice, true choice, instead of two lines describing about how little choice we have. :)