Brevity is the soul of wit: Request to fix the horrible writing on XIV's quests

OP, how would you feel about dialogue options for the quests, similar to, say, Mass Effect (and, don't quote me, but I believe the upcoming The Old Republic)?
That way, people who want all the (admittedly tedious) dialogue is optional to the player?

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Originally Posted by Falen

OP, how would you feel about dialogue options for the quests, similar to, say, Mass Effect (and, don't quote me, but I believe the upcoming The Old Republic)?
That way, people who want all the (admittedly tedious) dialogue is optional to the player?

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Not to comment completely off topic, but I'd say Mass Effect style dialog trees are pretty much a given in The Old Republic. Bioware is nothing if not formulaic. Don't get me wrong, it's a formula that works, but formulaic non the less.

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Originally Posted by Hulan

Not to comment completely off topic, but I'd say Mass Effect style dialog trees are pretty much a given in The Old Republic. Bioware is nothing if not formulaic. Don't get me wrong, it's a formula that works, but formulaic non the less.

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Yes, but, in respect, do you agree or disagree that making it like more flowing, two-sided dialogue could make it a better experience for the reader?

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Originally Posted by Savasana

- Some appreciate the lore and effort put into by the writers and localisation team but dislike the volume and verbosity (me included).

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I find myself in this category, as well. I'm a lore junkie, and I read everything each NPC has to say in every game I play. And in FFXIV, sometimes it's just plain exhausting.

I agree that sometimes the dialogue could be more concise without losing the flavor.

I do NOT want it toned down on wordiness.

With that said if they want to make it more engaging somehow by moving around or w/e fine go for it.

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Originally Posted by Hulan

I may be diverging slightly from the OP's point, but what I have taken away from the original point is this: Fundamentally, FFXIV lacks spice such as dialog. Now in SquareEnix MMOs, you play the part of a silent protagonist. This does not exclude the possibility of dialog, however. The best example I can think of off the top of my head from FFXI would be the Sleepga II line of quests (because they are neither main storyline missions, nor super important quests such as AF quests). In these quests, you follow the exploits of two Tarutaru who are competing streetvendors in Jeuno. The quest introductions are full of dialog between the two NPCs; sometimes they will turn to you, asking for your advice, pausing in the place of your response.

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I don't think having your character offer a response had much to do with what made those memorable.

It was the interaction between NPCs who were trying to deal with a problem, how their foibles and personality came across, and their continued appearances in various story and quest threads.

Not every Shantotto quest involved a cast of characters, but she consistently had the Santa Claus laugh and spoke in rhymes. She thought very highly of her abilities, and was well-versed in the vernacular to properly insult everyone else's. So whether it was when she tried to implicate your character for nearly murdering a snoopy reporter she'd cursed, or when she had the King of Hearts level up on one of Aphmau's puppets, it was always entertaining.

A dry, text-based soliloquy from an NPC you've never noticed before isn't really going to measure up to that. A telling moment is when someone had asked Yoshida in a recent interview what character he'd chose to put in Dissidia as FFXIV's representative and he had to admit they were all pretty weak.

Offtopic: Can't say I was really a fan of the PSP FFT dialogue.

Ontopic: I'm a story person so that's what I play for mostly, but I do think they could present better sometimes. Hopefully that's something that'll be worked out by 2.0.

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Originally Posted by Majidah

Its not about reading lore. Anyone can make up a bunch of stuff and call it lore.

FFXIV fails at delivering it.

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Yes the delivery is as cheap as any wow-trash quest but I honestly think the writing itself lacks any coherent theme and most importantly mood.

Every FF title had primary themes that were explored in different ways int the sidequests. Even XI that maintained the theme of repairable loss and the memories of war.

XIV main or sub-plots have no theme nor mood and the cheap presentation of the plot in the NPC-quests only serves to highlight how the story lacks any direction and emotion from it.

Where are the good writers? I think we can tell with 100% certainty that they aren't working on the XIII games... did SE fire them?

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Originally Posted by Falen

Yes, but, in respect, do you agree or disagree that making it like more flowing, two-sided dialogue could make it a better experience for the reader?

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I'd love to see something like this, not only because it would make the conversation seem a bit more natural, it would also keep the player involved and let you develop a sense of character for your...uh...character. When I see my character not talking in cinemas over and over, it really gives the impression that she's a mute.

They really put a lot of work into the flavor of the writing and I'm grateful for that, but it could stand to be a little less verbose, or at least involve the player a bit more.

Also, there are way too many alliterations, especially in enemy names. It's cute here and there, but they've gone wayyyy overboard.

Sorry, but I'm afraid I love it as-is and would find most any change to the writing very disheartening.

The quest dialogue is something I always find fascinating and nearly always read through, enjoy and understand. I realise it would not be the fix you'd prefer, but if it's a terrible bother to you, why not petition for a more effective skip function on NPCs instead?

Not that it's all too hard to skip through, even now. However this really does seem to be more an issue of differing tastes than a genuine problem, even if there are some improvements could be made with regard to choreography and so forth.