Review of 6.3 Story Content

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams

It's quite telling when there are articles like this being written unironically. Who is this game even for anymore? We went from an era of hype and speculation back in Shadowbringers to this? Why the unnecessary fixation on food of all things? Let alone trying to score meaningless points with the crowd who is so up in arms about representation at every corner while the most basic fantasy and character creation elements to this day remain largely absent from the game.

What a waste.

https://www.fanbyte.com/games/featur...and-animation/

---

So you use an article to try n prove your point, AGAIN relying on someone else's opinion. For someone who hates the games current state you do ALOT of digging around in its spaces.

Also what is the issue with food? I understand you're traumatized or whatever due to Graha and the burger but come on dude...the entire point of that scene was very well done imo. Made even better because it was Jullus sharing his food this time as it was us who shared with him in 6.0. Shows growth, on his part and Zeros. I swear it's like this stuff flies over some of you all heads n you just default to "ugh food".

Ofc the "points" may be meaningless to you cause you aren't part of that equation. You may not like that group but let's not generalize them all. It achieves nothing good. Lastly sure the game could use a better creator, it's been said a million times (not sure why you care about that when you aren't subbed presumably).

Problem with the food is game is promoting the bad food. It start with the low poly grape. We look at grape and want to eat. But no grape is sharp and will cut. Writer see this and they work many hour to improve the food. Next is the delicious cheesie burger. We love the cheesie burger but is food of the sin. Is opposite element to the Ayyybeyond element so it does the critical hit. Is super effective. So is forbid. So writer say they want to go health. We support this. They make the apple. The apple it is good but it can not be drain with the magic. This is not how apple is eat. Does not make any sense. Final is delicious manju bun. This is lie. Is not bun because is not have the long ear. Is just soup bread. Writer keep betray the expect of player it happen since the Shadowbringer. Is why guild fight.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by IkaraGreydancer

So you use an article to try n prove your point, AGAIN relying on someone else's opinion. For someone who hates the games current state you do ALOT of digging around in its spaces.

Also what is the issue with food? I understand you're traumatized or whatever due to Graha and the burger but come on dude...the entire point of that scene was very well done imo. Made even better because it was Jullus sharing his food this time as it was us who shared with him in 6.0. Shows growth, on his part and Zeros. I swear it's like this stuff flies over some of you all heads n you just default to "ugh food".

Ofc the "points" may be meaningless to you cause you aren't part of that equation. You may not like that group but let's not generalize them all. It achieves nothing good. Lastly sure the game could use a better creator, it's been said a million times (not sure why you care about that when you aren't subbed presumably).

---

Its honestly beginning to be such an awkward trend to aveyond's rants if it's always about the food. What's even the point nitpicking it?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Atelier-Bagur

Its currently considered as the worst patch in FFXIV's history.

---

In terms of content both 6.2 and 6.3 are pretty sub par.

I think they expected Island Sanctuary to way more well received,

I imagine the idea is that they're wasting dev resources on something he deems pointless even though it's completely different people working on those things sooo ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Personally I think storywise EW has been pretty mid but I've played through worse so it doesn't bother me too much. The general lackluster repeatable content bothers me more than a mediocre story ever could.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hobostew

I imagine the idea is that they're wasting dev resources on something he deems pointless even though it's completely different people working on those things sooo ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Personally I think storywise EW has been pretty mid but I've played through worse so it doesn't bother me too much. The general lackluster repeatable content bothers me more than a mediocre story ever could.

---

Unfortunately we can't even say that cause SE has CBUIII working on two FFs

Quote:

---

Keeping them as they are and moving forward with them into 7.0 would be disastrous in terms of storytelling. I should like to think that decent stories worth listening to actually do something with their characters but that's not what we've been getting with the current writing of the Scions.

---

..and your experience in MMO gaming and writing is....?

Quote:

---

Why the unnecessary fixation on food of all things?

---

The symbolism of a former enemy and a potential new friend breaking bread together went right over your head, didnt it?

You are so SLOW..............

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by VelKallor

..and your experience in MMO gaming and writing is....?

---

oh sweet sweet jebus I hope that is a joke and you are not so monumentally foolish as to try and use that as an argument against criticism.

I mean...cmon man. add the jk lol at the end in an edit.

please....

Necrotica: no offence, buit in all truth

Quote:

---

would be disastrous in terms of storytelling

---

is more Aveyond hyperbole

"Everyone wants the twins gone" - no they dont

"All of us want Yshtola to go" - no we dont.

and now this. Ill take Natsuko-san's skill as a writer over his any day.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by VelKallor

Necrotica: no offence, buit in all truth



is more Aveyond hyperbole

"Everyone wants the twins gone" - no they dont

"All of us want Yshtola to go" - no we dont.

and now this. Ill take Natsuko-san's skill as a writer over his any day.

---

Can't take any of your feedback seriously unless I can see your linkedin profile with at least 5 years experience writing and design for mmos.
lol jk

Quote:

---

Can't take any of your feedback seriously unless I can see your linkedin profile with at least 5 years experience writing and design for mmos.
lol jk

---

Not asking you to. Feel free to ignore it all.

After seeing this thread, I went into 6.30 expecting it to be shockingly awful.

...It was... fine??

I'm not afraid to be a merciless critic of this game when I feel like it's justified, and Endwalker's 80-90 MSQ made me want to delete the neurons that recorded experiencing it (really? The past 12 years were building to... a sad space bird? Really? That's what everything was for?!?!).

...But, like... 6.30 seemed fine to me. There was as much content, information, and story progression as most other "patch MSQs". Quite honestly, most of the Heavensward patch MSQs were notoriously glacial and "water-treading". Stormblood wasted 2 entire patches on almost nothing but the tedious drama of one dysfunctional Yanxian family, neglecting Ala Mhigo and the wider Far East heavily in the process.

By way of comparison, 6.30 was filled with story and developments. And the writing seemed fine? Better than Endwalker 80-90, certainly (although that's not exactly a difficult hurdle to clear). In fact, the "ex-Scions" are beginning to feel significantly more tolerable and natural as characters, and develop something resembling actual personalities, now that they aren't mandated to always report to the same room all the time.

Zero is unremarkable, yes, and feels like a fan-fiction character conceived by a 14-year-old girl's Tumblr account, and is following a very paint-by-numbers / connect-the-dots character progression...

...but... uh... that is not exactly new in FFXIV. Having endured characters as empty and generic as ARR Minfilia, HW Unukalhai, SB's "Surprise! I'm actually Lyse! Let's go on a road trip to Japan!", Hien Rijin (whose purpose has always been to be a pretty and marketable himbo, and not much else), SB Alpha (whose only personality trait was, and still is, "lol it's cute"), ShB's Gaia (who was basically Zero 1.0, right down to the "lol I like food!" gimmick), and probably a host of other examples that I'm forgetting...

...I honestly don't feel like Zero is anything unusual for FFXIV's writing and storytelling. This game has always had an affinity for bland, safe, hyper-tropey, copy+paste anime characters, and Zero hardly seems like the worst of them.


The food complaints

The emphasis on food in cutscenes is probably because it's something incredibly mundane to "normal people" (ostensibly us, the characters and the audience) but incredibly exotic to Voidsent. Therefore, the fact it provides sustenance in a strange way to Zero, but is an everyday thing to people on the Source, acts as a sort of logical bridge by which Zero begins to acclimate and accept this different world, since food is one of the few "living" customs that initially has any reason to interest her. Through being drawn to that interest, she inadvertently begins to form wider connections.

Food is also just safe. It's a reliable bet that most living audience members will like food and eating. And that they will associate food with peaceable and positive times, such as family gatherings and holidays. Therefore, if the writers are aiming to cultivate a sense of positivity and warmth in a scene, they can hit a large number of viewers with their emotional AOE combo by including a dining scene.

Myths of the Realm

As for Myths of the Realm, it was... fine?? Yeah, it's not going to win a Hugo Award, but... er... that's Alliance Raids in general?

The entire Crystal Tower storyline was basically written with crayons. Almost nothing happened each chapter, and what did happen was on the same storytelling tier as an episode of Pokémon. ("We blew up some pillars, wow there was a maze with a guy in it!"; "Hi we're clones, by the way, there's an evil man in the tower. Go kill him okay? Oh no! Clones got sucked into the void-hole!"; "We killed a cloud and Nero got void-eczema. G'raha left to go set up the plot of our third expansion.")

The Shadows of Mhach storyline was, again, extremely-simplistic. "Hi we're pirates, but it's okay, we're good pirates. Also the bad pirates stole the thing. Oh no, the bad pirates got killed for stealing the thing. Now the bad pirates will help us do good things. Also, a talking cat will help us kill Satan."

Return to Ivalice was only convoluted because Matsuno decided to just copy+paste FFT and FFXII directly into FFXIV almost without modification, puffing up the lore and backstory via transplantation. The actual "original" parts of Return to Ivalice were pretty damn simplistic, and basically just a vehicle to summarize the plot of FFT so that people who owned a PS1 in 1997 could do the "DiCaprio points at screen" meme for 10 hours. Rather than cringey Sharlayan researchers, you had cringey HiLaRiOuS Moogles who want to be actors! :joy: :joy: :joy:

Sadly, Shadowbringers did not have an Alliance Raid series, only an extended marketing collaboration with Yoko Taro, due to the lack of good judgment that FFXIV's director suffers from (and/or possession of a ruthlessly-shrewd business sense). Therefore, there is no story or substance to even comment on for the ShB case.

Weighed against its direct competition, Myths of the Realm is... basically right on par. Yeah, it's lacking in "edginess" I guess, but I think the writers are handling the Twelve with mittens because the player characters choose these deities at creation. It's been a part of the players's identities for a long time, and so they can't go too wild with it, or it has the potential to make some really uncomfortable situations where players don't like seeing their Patron on their character screen.

From that perspective, Myths of the Realm is basically designed to be light-hearted wish-fulfillment for the audience, and it's serving that purpose fine. I'll happily take 100 more Myths of the Realm and Snoegheims, than have to deal with brazen, empty, masturbatory, completely-pointless trash like Dark Apocalypse and the HiLaRiOuS Dwarf Twins ever again.

I also feel like the hate on Snoegheim is exaggerated. She is really not any more obnoxious than probably 100s of other bit characters that have been introduced, and honestly, outside her "haha zany nerd" scenes, she contributes plenty of perfectly-fine serious commentary to the plot. She's just a "weird researcher". It's not even an unrealistic depiction of the kinds of bizarre personalities that end up in real-life graduate and PhD tracks.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Atelier-Bagur

Its currently considered as the worst patch in FFXIV's history.

---

(I am not sure if this post is seriously suggesting that, but I will stick with what I wrote encase some do eventually make that claim!)

By who? Who gets to decide that? Did I miss the invite to the vote? Oh Moggle post... Anyway I feel you are gonna need a bit more then a Reddit thread and some tweets to make an objective ruling. Personally speaking I would nominate 4.1, but thats just me haha.

Just so I am clear

Quote:

---

The phrase to break bread with someone is to share a meaningful connection over a meal, often bringing together two people or groups who previously had reason to be disconnected.

---

I am not surprised Aveyond could not see what was in front of him, but I am more than a little sad to see someone who says they can write better stories than the SE team be that BLIND. The parallels between postwar Berlin, postwar Japan and today are blindingly clear to anyone who looks for them.

6.3 sets the scene for a future with Garlemald, time and again we see the words 'reconstruction " and "restoration" used, time and again he has skipped over them in his righteous indignation..yet that one scene hammers home memories of our own real past, how old enemies now become friends and allies..forgetting that healing must start not with city states, but with its people.

The scene with Zero and Jullus is not only highly appropriate for that setting, it also adds to the wrapping up of an old, bitter, hard fought war in which EVERYONE lost..regardless of what happens next, the old Garlemald will never regain its former glory.

Maybe....thats as it should be.

Jullus, in that moment, broke bread with his worst enemies. The symbolism, the meaning of that one gesture, was perfectly timed.

On a totally separate note, I find it funny that they seem to have heard the complaints from people who missed the RPR specific dialogue in the previous MSQ patches and made it occur regardless of whether or not you have the job equipped.

It made Jullus acknowledging that we had someone skilled in the reaper arts and the accompanying camera focus on me a little confusing initially because I was on BLM at the time, which prompted a thought of "Going off of...what exactly?".

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by KageTokage

On a totally separate note, I find it funny that they seem to have heard the complaints from people who missed the RPR specific dialogue in the previous MSQ patches and made it occur regardless of whether or not you have the job equipped.


edit:
Though it was mostly weird due to the fact I knew I missed Zeros Dialog, so instead of being mostly natural. it was obvious SE made those changes.
it's almost like Jullus had fourth wall knowledge and was trying to appease us.
It made Jullus acknowledging that we had someone skilled in the reaper arts and the accompanying camera focus on me a little confusing initially because I was on BLM at the time, which prompted a thought of "Going off of...what exactly?".

---

yeah. jullus mentioningbit was kinda odd.., but I found it OK, since I leveled everything to max, so they'd know eventually.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eorzean_username

Sadly,*Shadowbringers*did not have an Alliance Raid series, only an extended marketing collaboration with Yoko Taro, due to the lack of good judgment that FFXIV's director suffers from (and/or possession of a ruthlessly-shrewd business sense). Therefore, there is no story or substance to even comment on for the ShB case.

---

I liked the story with the dwarf twins. Their feelings of isolation and need to be accepted by their peers. Plus the ending was rather bittersweet.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by KageTokage

On a totally separate note, I find it funny that they seem to have heard the complaints from people who missed the RPR specific dialogue in the previous MSQ patches and made it occur regardless of whether or not you have the job equipped.

It made Jullus acknowledging that we had someone skilled in the reaper arts and the accompanying camera focus on me a little confusing initially because I was on BLM at the time, which prompted a thought of "Going off of...what exactly?".

---

That's interesting to know. I was on Reaper for it so it made sense to mention

Yeah I thought the reaper reference was odd as I am pretty sure I was SCH for the cutscene. Curious if anything changes if you don't even have RPR unlocked. Would be a pretty dumb oversight if the CS was exactly the same.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Necrotica

oh sweet sweet jebus I hope that is a joke and you are not so monumentally foolish as to try and use that as an argument against criticism.

I mean...cmon man. add the jk lol at the end in an edit.

please....

---

You can search OP post history. You’ll find his version of storytelling horrible, immature, and lacking in senses.

In his own term, disastrous.

Ok so basically what I can gather from the last several long-winded essays is that if I’m expecting anything other than a game handled with kiddie gloves that god forbid has anything to do with the more fleshed out Final Fantasy worlds/writing then I should just leave. Cool. There’s no point sticking around in a game that has seemingly completely betrayed me at every turn - 6.4 will either be the final nail in this coffin if Pandaemonium ends in some nonsense that fawns over Venat again or makes further mockery of Lahabrea.

Whatever this has become it no longer resembles the way this game was back in Heavensward. What a mistake it was to get invested in a game that I thought would take itself seriously. And yet, FFXVI seems to have embraced those elements. A contradiction I’ll never understand as to where CBU3’s true interests lie. One thing is for certain is that this game didn’t have half as many controversies when the team members of FFXVI were in charge, I’ll certainly take the regime of Maehiro/Koji over whoever is steering the FFXIV ship now.

You could just stay unsubbed this time. That would probably be better for everyone involved.

With all due respect OP: Your opinion is as valid as anyone else's and you're in your right to drop the game at your heart's desire if you're no longer happy with it. What I can't understand is the entitled, rude, confrontational and provocative attitude.

You do you, but yikes...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FirstGearFirstGear

You could just stay unsubbed this time. That would probably be better for everyone involved.

---

Or the game could fix itself and revert back to the way it was before we had 700+ page threads about what a disaster the story was or people being disappointed each time their favorite jobs get hit with an unwanted rework. Goodness knows that you would be just as well off and those of us who wanted a decent FF video game instead of a spotify subscription would actually find some enjoyment in the current game.

Welcome Back Aveyond-Dreams
Looking foreword to your Next Ranting Review in 6.4

Quote:

---

<snip> Cool. There’s no point sticking around in a game that has seemingly completely betrayed me at every turn -.

---

Its up to you, but in all truth, from every single "essay" that YOU have written ( You have repeatedly ignored or dismissed anyone who doesnt ascribe to your unbelievably entitled view on what YOU want the game to be....never mind that no one else wants what you want, you think you are the ultimate arbiter of what is good - newsflash: you aint ) you seem to not like anything about the game at all.

On top of that you are literally throwing out the contents of a deep dungeon you havent even SEEN yet..what are we to think?

BTW It was YOU who said " other games we should be playing" ( YOUR WORDS ), so again, what can we take away from that?

I am not saying you should leave, I am not saying you should stay, thats totally your call. Tbh, what grates on me, and on others, is your persistent claim that "you speak for a majority" when you clearly DONT, your so called "source" are a few malcontents on that toxic Reddit site,where if you dare argue with the Hivemind you are downvoted to hell and SILENCED, that you seem to think that you are the best person to decide for others on what the game should and should not be?

You arent.

The game has "betrayed" you?

I cant even make head nor tails of where THIS comes from, "betrayed you"...the game "owes you" something?

So Ill ask , who are YOU to decide for me or for others what we should or should not enjoy? Based on your own "rightous outrage'?

Final nail'? Hyperbole much?

This repeated perception of yours that if the game doesnt go the way you want, then it will fail..literally beggars belief..how DID the devs and writers manage before you came along to send them back to the path they have sadly "strayed from'? Only the shadow knows..

Quote:

---

Whatever this has become it no longer resembles the way this game was back in Heavensward.

---

Well no it isnt. The Dragonsong War is over. BTW talk to any crafter, they will say the same thing, HW crafting SUCKED, a lot of the changes from then to now have been, IMHO, for the better

Quote:

---

What a mistake it was to get invested in a game that I thought would take itself seriously. And yet, FFXVI seems to have embraced those elements.

---

16 isnt an MMO, isnt in the same universe. FF 14 isnt FF 4 either. Your point is?

( cont....)

Quote:

---

A contradiction I’ll never understand as to where CBU3’s true interests lie. One thing is for certain is that this game didn’t have half as many controversies

---

What controversies would that be....aside from your own strident demands that the devs do what you say, that is...

Quote:

---

when the team members of FFXVI were in charge

---

They are. YoshiP is in charge of both. Or had you forgotten?

Quote:

---

, I’ll certainly take the regime of Maehiro/Koji over whoever is steering the FFXIV ship now.

---

The guy that is steering the ship is the same guy who took us from 1.0 to 6.3, making this game an absolute giant in the process.

Quote:

---

Or the game could fix itself and revert back to the way it was before we had 700+ page threads about what a disaster the story was

---

We have seen your "fixes" and I have asked this before, you have of course ignored it: what makes you think that what you want will be in any way popular or what the players even WANT? How do you know what will be well received and what wont? How do you know whether or not these supposed 'fixes" wont result in a mass exodus?

How do you know with any certainty that the wishes of others even remotely reflect your ideals? You dont ...do you?

Quote:

---

or people being disappointed each time their favorite jobs get hit with an unwanted rework. Goodness knows that you would be just as well off and those of us who wanted a decent FF video game instead of a spotify subscription would actually find some enjoyment in the current game.

---

Im enjoying myself immensely..so guess what. What you want isnt what i want. Not even close....in a way you are headed down the same cul de sac Blizzard did, "this is our game and our vision, we dont care what you want or dont like"..see theres your "ideas", and outside this absolutely miniscule message board are millions who are loving the game as it is.

So: how do you intend to address this fundamental disconnect?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams

Or the game could fix itself and revert back to the way it was before we had 700+ page threads about what a disaster the story was or people being disappointed each time their favorite jobs get hit with an unwanted rework. Goodness knows that you would be just as well off and those of us who wanted a decent FF video game instead of a spotify subscription would actually find some enjoyment in the current game.

---

The game doesn't need to fix itself. You enjoy citing other people's opinions when you think they support yours, so I'll do the same. Endwalker currently has 90 rating on Metacritic, same as Shadowbringers and four points higher than Heavensward. It has a Very - Mostly Positive on Steam. Reviews were universally positive at time of release and it won a raft of awards, including most recently Best Ongoing Game at the 2022 Game Awards. It sold so well that Square Enix specifically cited it as a major driver of their 2021 profits.

By ever reasonable metric, Endwalker is a success and people want more of it. Why should CBU3 listen to a 700 page thread of people with no ability to critically analyze a story?

Quote:

---

It sold so well that Square Enix specifically cited it as a major driver of their 2021 profits.

---

It sold so well they had to take it off the market as they couldnt handle the influx

Quote:

---

Writing on the Final Fantasy XIV website, producer and director Naoki Yoshida explained that the sheer amount of people playing Endwalker has far exceeded Square’s server capacity. In order to try and alleviate the long wait times for players logging in, the company has decided to stop selling Final Fantasy XIV to new players to temporarily stem the tide of incoming server traffic.

---

Kinda makes you look at Aveyond and go hmmmm..doesnt it........

I went into this patch with low expectations and still came out disappointed.

Four archfiends were killed with zero effort in two patches. There is no tension, no suspense. There are no stakes. Nobody will get hurt, let alone perish. It's not even a matter of "if" Azdaja will be saved. There is no doubt as to how the stories will turn out now. No reason to stay invested in the story.

It has been over a year since the Scions disbanded... and yet they're still the main cast, just with the addition of Varshan and Zero. Same formulaic conversations of scholars standing around nodding and being polite and speaking empty platitudes and sciencing up the magic.

I don't care about any of the current storylines. That would be fine... if the GAMEPLAY in the video GAME was fun. Unfortunately there isn't any fun content releasing. Teleporting onto a platform to fight a strictly choreographed boss fight isn't very fun. No grind zones to spend hours and hours in this expansion with at least some amount of character customization. Not even new limited jobs like Beastmaster.

Whatever FFXIV wants to be - a visual novel or a MMO - it needs to be good at it. Either have good gameplay and/or have good story. Endwalker is not succeeding at either.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Heroman3003

The role-playing solo duties are probably best in the game of all solo duties in my experience. They are a limited preview of jobs you may not have unlocked/played, they allow you a different perspective for once and more importantly - they are the best fine-tuned solo duty fights there are, definitely better than where you play yourself.

---

I found the level 70 Red Mage solo instance to be way more engaging. It was a decent challenge, died on my first attempt. I can't recall having ever lost a role-play solo duty. They're pretty braindead easy.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by KageTokage

At this point I just want them to get the void storyline over with so I can see if the story beats in 6.5/7.x kindle a semblance of the passion I had for the game originally.

---

I've been hoping that 7.0 was when there would be a turn around, but I'm starting to think that that's a cope, just like when I had hoped that the post-6.0 storyline would be better since theoretically the writers would be able to write a story and characters they are passionate about right now rather than rushing plot threads they apparently lost interest in. Seems like the game's current tone and story direction might be here to stay.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ElysiumDragon

I think there's one major point everyone's overlooking.

This is a filler arc. It's not meant to be 'life-changing philosophical storytelling' like Endwalker was, or a 'flawlessly written post-apocalyptic isekai' like Shadowbringers. It's basically "Hey, we need a short story involving an established threat, to lead into the next major story arc. I know, let's do an FF4-inspired story that deals with the voidsent, they've been quiet for a while".

---

Still could've written a story where the antagonists are actually threatening and maybe had some victories.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Puremallace

It took LITERALLY the base game plus 2 expansions to even build up to Shadowbringers but you want them to bring out something amazing right away?

---

I never thought ShB's MSQ was as amazing as the fanboys hyped it up to be. I thought it was a decent fantasy adventure story, but my favorite story arc was ARR (and to a lesser extent, HW and base Stormblood). The bad guys felt powerful and threatening and sometimes succeeding in killing the heroes and the heroes didn't feel like they were invincible or could accomplish anything they wanted. I was interested in seeing if and how the heroes would try to achieve their goals and what happened when they got foiled or had to compromise.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams

I can only hope that they eventually see reason or if nothing else consider whether its worth the pushback they've been getting for the way they've handled the story of Endwalker and finally ground themselves next expansion with another Heavensward. Preferably with a Bloody Banquet scene on the side. We've been long overdue for one. I want to relive the joy I had back in 2.55 when all the worst characters in the game were banished from the story, if only for a time.

---

From interviews it seems that Shadowbringers was written almost immediately after Stormblood launched, and Endwalker within a few weeks of ShB's launch. I fear that the next expansion would have been decided upon within a few weeks after Endwalker's launch, perhaps before the lore Q&A where Yoshida got blindsided by reactions he clearly had not anticipated.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by caffe_macchiato

Something had to be sent to the chopping block and I’d rather it be this patch’s monster-of-the-week gimmick.

---

Why does anything have to go to the chopping block? Stormblood was releasing trials, deep dungeons, multiple dungeons, raids, alliance raids, and grind zones each patch. The quantity and variety of content has drastically decreased since then, despite the game having exploded in popularity. The game should be pumping out at least Stormblood levels of content quantity and variety, if not more so.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams

Whatever this has become it no longer resembles the way this game was back in Heavensward. What a mistake it was to get invested in a game that I thought would take itself seriously.

---

I don't think it was a mistake. I've seen this happen before with other franchises, such as Trails. There is no way to predict that there is going to be a massive creative shift by the creators who then throw out stuff they promised earlier on as they lose interest and the narrative becomes increasingly puerile and divorced from what was originally setup.

Quote:

---

It has been over a year since the Scions disbanded... and yet they're still the main cast

---

That was the story they told the city states. As Alphinaud said, they are stepping back to let the states manage these crises by themselves, in much the same way as an elite team goes home and rests, their mission done for now.

Quote:

---

Returning to the Rising Stones to celebrate their victory, the Scions decided the rest of the world needed to learn to resolve problems themselves. With no more world-ending threats to Eorzea, the Scions publicly disbanded and went their separate ways but vowed that should the world be threatened, they would reunite to combat the threat.

---

h/t Kes13a ...in yet ANOTHER thread by Aveyond :D:D:D:D:D

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...ws-from-Reddit.

Quote:

---

Quote Originally Posted by Kes13a View Post
thing is, the "disbanding" was just so the leaders of Eorzea would stop calling on them to solve all their problems. it was never going to be a "goodbye, never see you again" kind of thing. they were still going to be around, but the only way to get off the speed dial was to dissolve the scions and appear to go about their separate ways. its nice to be the only fire brigade in Eorzea.. but the leaders need to hire their own fire brigade, not always run to us.

---

/waves to Kes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by VelKallor

We have seen your "fixes" and I have asked this before, you have of course ignored it: what makes you think that what you want will be in any way popular or what the players even WANT? How do you know what will be well received and what wont? How do you know whether or not these supposed 'fixes" wont result in a mass exodus?

How do you know with any certainty that the wishes of others even remotely reflect your ideals? You dont ...do you?



Im enjoying myself immensely..so guess what. What you want isnt what i want. Not even close....in a way you are headed down the same cul de sac Blizzard did, "this is our game and our vision, we dont care what you want or dont like"..see theres your "ideas", and outside this absolutely miniscule message board are millions who are loving the game as it is.

So: how do you intend to address this fundamental disconnect?

---

Oh, I can answer this as it has been explained by him. Long story short he is convinced that people who like the story are extremely dumb so they would not leave whatever the story might be.

We're also spending a lot of time with the Scions because this is likely the last time we're going to see many of them again, at least for a long while. Much of Endwalker's patch content has been a farewell tour to the past decade of the game. The MSQ content feels a bit awkward because it has to juggle the multiple responsibilities of building out the Thirteenth, serving as an epilogue to the Scions' character arcs, and eventually setting things up for 7.0. But it is still ultimately a long farewell.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MoofiaBossVal

I don't care about any of the current storylines. That would be fine... if the GAMEPLAY in the video GAME was fun. Unfortunately there isn't any fun content releasing. Teleporting onto a platform to fight a strictly choreographed boss fight isn't very fun. No grind zones to spend hours and hours in this expansion with at least some amount of character customization. Not even new limited jobs like Beastmaster.

---

I wanna take a moment to acknowledge that unlike OP, you actually seem like a reasonable person. I will say something though: Taste is a very personal thing. You seem to be the type that enjoys the grind in MMOs, and I imagine you'd be the type of player to have a bunch of relics and stuff from Bozja and Eureka, and I think that's cool. A lot of people hate the grind in MMOs though. I know people who hate both Eureka and Bozja. I'm somewhere in the middle. I can enjoy a grind for a good reward, but as someone who has every ShB relic, it just becomes exhausting after a while, though I think it's cool if that's your favorite type of content.

The point I'm trying to make is that no matter what they do, it's going to be impossible to please everybody every patch. If they made another zone like Eureka and Bozja that you would enjoy, and even if it was really good, you'd have people saying... "The creativity is dead, and we have yet another boring zone to just grind mindlessly". My favorite type of recent content is easily Variant dungeons, and though that wasn't on this patch, I'm ok with it. Raiders are gonna get another Ultimate and I think that's super cool for them.

Deep Dungeons have a dedicated fanbase, and they had to wait an entire expansion to get a new one, and I'm very happy for them. Maybe you'll enjoy that? It will be on this patch cycle, though I'm not sure about how you feel about DDs. I just find myself happy at how many things there are in the game for all kinds of players, and I understand that not every patch is gonna be the "next best thing" for me.

I'm sorry you aren't enjoying the patch too much this time, but chances are they'll eventually rotate to make content more up your alley.

PS: I think it's cool you appreciate some of the stuff that goes unnoticed in ARR's story, which I think suffers more from pacing than from being a bad story or poorly written.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MoofiaBossVal

Four archfiends were killed with zero effort

---

Kinda like how they were in IV?

https://scontent-ams4-1.xx.fbcdn.net...Ig&oe=63E72A0F

is this a early april fool aveyond-dreams thread? or a imposter

Unless i did miss it he did not complain about Jullus and Zero eating buuz and we know from past thread´s how he feel about Npc eating food

Quote:

---

Unless i did miss it he did not complain about Jullus and Zero eating buuz and we know from past thread´s how he feel about Npc eating food

---

Actually...he did.

https://media.tenor.com/dhp_CgTV32YAAAAC/alice-in.gif

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by VelKallor

Actually...he did.

---

Pewww thank the twelve so it's a typical aveyond-dream thread, thought for a second that i woke up in a different realm there.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams

Ok so basically what I can gather from the last several long-winded essays is that if I’m expecting anything other than a game handled with kiddie gloves that god forbid has anything to do with the more fleshed out Final Fantasy worlds/writing then I should just leave. Cool. There’s no point sticking around in a game that has seemingly completely betrayed me at every turn - 6.4 will either be the final nail in this coffin if Pandaemonium ends in some nonsense that fawns over Venat again or makes further mockery of Lahabrea.

Whatever this has become it no longer resembles the way this game was back in Heavensward. What a mistake it was to get invested in a game that I thought would take itself seriously. And yet, FFXVI seems to have embraced those elements. A contradiction I’ll never understand as to where CBU3’s true interests lie. One thing is for certain is that this game didn’t have half as many controversies when the team members of FFXVI were in charge, I’ll certainly take the regime of Maehiro/Koji over whoever is steering the FFXIV ship now.

---

Weird that you take the game not being what you want as a personal attack. That alone tells me theres red flags here. Ill let you in on a secret, none of the devs know or care about who you or anyone else here is as an individual. Its not personal dude, like at all.

Story is quite literally fleshing out the world of XIV so even that bit makes little sense. Also we get it...you hate Venat (yet bring her up at any turn more than her fans do). Also when did Laha start to be mocked at all? If not for EW he'd be the "Harr harr I'm bad" guy we've seen 100 times. His dynamic with himself and hi son is very interesting and well done so far imo.

Also yes new flash, games change over time. A stagnant game is a dead one. Also I'm seeing deju vu here as you've said this already before. The game does take itself seriously it just doesn't need to be super edgy all the time. Hell not even HW was. There's quite literally no contradiction. XIV is a theme park MMO. Always has and will be.

But as we all know, you won't leave. You'll be back to repeat the same stuff in a coming patch. Go fund XVI, the better game as you claim

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MoofiaBossVal

Why does anything have to go to the chopping block? Stormblood was releasing trials, deep dungeons, multiple dungeons, raids, alliance raids, and grind zones each patch. The quantity and variety of content has drastically decreased since then, despite the game having exploded in popularity. The game should be pumping out at least Stormblood levels of content quantity and variety, if not more so.

---

HW and SB era had so many extra dungeons. Meanwhile ShB and EW have two each. When I went back and did all the Sb dungeons I could feel all the love put into them. It was a lot of fun. But I guess now that the games made it big the devs don't care.