SE: Please tone it down a hair

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Originally Posted by Zaaku

... a 5 pages soliloquies about the nothingness of still could be happenings of what was once never there.

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Amen! Limsa's pirate talk and SE's fixation on apostrophes would be a prime candidates for a little tone down. Splitting a word randomly in 2 to insert an apostrophe does not make it fancy and mysterious.

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There seems to be a great deal of misinterpretation in this thread. (Or purposeful over exaggeration to swing favor but still) I suppose this could have been prevented with a more direct opening statement.

No one is suggested we downgrade writing style and lexicon to under achieving 7th grade level essay assignments. Only that they reel in the AMOUNT of text each NPC seems just so eager to spew forth any time someone happens to give them the least bit of attention.

Length =/= Quality

We can keep all the great (terrible) puns, the accents, and the unique FFXIV flavor that is ever present in the conversations with the soulless digital automations. We just don't need a 13 page sermon on why we should be doing something as mundane as collecting some coral from the beach.

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I applaud your writers and their use of every single page of the Infinity Flux Time Extensive Thesaurus of large words and fancy idioms but I'm begging you.

Please stop.

Pretty much every encounter with the Empire is a pretty good example of over doing it. Cloud an NPC's words in mystery and perhaps some foreshadowing riddles but not a 5 pages soliloquies about the nothingness of still could be happenings of what was once never there. I fancy myself an intelligent creature but trying to decipher every single sentence because it is so overladen with foreign Yoda speak is bringing down my self worth as a thinking man with every syllable.

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purposeful over exaggeration to swing favor

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http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instanc...x/19678392.jpg

Edit: Forgot to mention your little poll about XI vs. XIV.

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Originally Posted by IStolzI

I get that you're trying to show how smart you are throughout this topic, but really for someone who's accusing others of having poor reading skills you're clearly not even trying to understand the complaints.

People understand the concept of "flavor text," "immersion," or whatever else you want to call the way the NPCs talk. The problems are that a) it is over the top, and b) it is entirely too much. I don't have a problem with the pirates in Limsa talking like pirates. I do have a problem with it being so over the top that it comes off more as corny or silly than interesting. This also makes it hard to get interested in the story line.

As for the second problem, it goes on too long. This is a problem because it makes people lose interest in what's going on. Since you turned this into a "westernerz iz dumb" thing, I will use FFXI as an example. I enjoyed going around the cities and talking to the different NPCs and getting a feel for where I was and the different environments. In XIV I don't. I would like to, but I don't because I know I will end up trapped in text about someone's lost cat or practical joke addiction.

Skillfull writting isn't just about trying to make use of extremely complicated sentence structure or use of words that may impress some readers. It is also important to make them care and keep them interested. This game doesn't do that for most people. Sure some great novels are increadibly difficult to read, but there are others that are just as good with extremely basic writting... one example that comes to mind is Ernest Hemingway.

tl;dr - I agree with topic and I think most players would. Elexia is just being snooty.

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Most of your points are subjective. The dialogue is written and translated in dialect, and if you've ever read "Huckleberry Finn," or "To Kill a Mockingbird," it is a common and even celebrated writing style. Dialect is one of those things though where some ppl love it, and some ppl hate it. If the story is good enough, as in the novels I just mentioned, most will excuse it. There is no such thing as over-the-top when you are writing in dialect...it is an "anything goes" style as long as it is clear what dialect you are trying to portray, and that you portray it "accurately" and successfully. There is nothing in the pirate talk that is incomprehensible. Yes you have to read it slower because of how it is written, but the same is true for any novel you read that is written that way. Its used to make accents and voices pop out of a text as the writer wants them to be heard. This is established literary practice.

As far as the "too much" thing is concerned, I think the internet in general has absolutely destroyed anyone's willingness to read anything beyond a 5 sentence paragraph. Tis true. A single player rpg has far more text than FFXIV ever will, yet no one complains about that. There's something about being "online" that gives ppl an intolerance for exposition. I find it sad, but to each their own. As for my personal opinion, I quite enjoy all the text I get to read. As the officer in Maelstrom headquarters told me, "Eorzeans are a terribly longwinded lot." It characterizes the people around us, and the nature of the world we play in. Eorzeans are long-winded, and I really appreciate that fact. Its very well written, so I don't see why ppl hate all the paragraphs. There's thought behind it, I find it fun to read personally, and its not like you really have to be anywhere in a hurry. If you'll mine for 5 hours, grind levels for 8 hours, or turn in supplies for 16 hours, I think you can stomach reading for all of 2 mins...if that. Just my take.

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If you'll mine for 5 hours, grind levels for 8 hours, or turn in supplies for 16 hours, I think you can stomach reading for all of 2 mins...if that. Just my take.

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Now that's perspective, and it reminds me of something that I ought to have posted before now:

Quote from OP's last thread:

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~A return to longer EXP requirements. (3+ months per Job at the low end)

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Originally Posted by Eagleheart

Now that's perspective, and it reminds me of something that I ought to have posted before now:

Quote from OP's last thread:

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And that has what exactly to do with over bloated dialogue?

A little off topic, yes I would LOVE for the GAME to be longer. I do not advocate making the script overly wordy for the purpose to making it seem like the NPC's have a lot to say when really they are just talking in circles half the time. The other half they could have said what needed to be said in a much shorter variation which would stick in player's minds more vividly because they actually READ what was being said instead of skipping the next 14 pages of wall'o'text.

Shakespeare, Charles Dickens... Paradise Lost, To Kill a Mockingbird, Huckleberry Finn...

The great writers are rolling in their graves.

FFXIV doesn't even begin to approach such examples. It reads like FF fanfiction at times. Yoshi is starting to clean it up. I can't wait for 2.0 so they can start editing out the beginning quests of needless words.

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Originally Posted by Eagleheart

Now that's perspective, and it reminds me of something that I ought to have posted before now:

Quote from OP's last thread:

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Leveling is a completely different beast though...

Story text is definitely NOT something you should make longer just for the sake of taking up time...

Leveling is a type of time sink... I KNOW you are not suggesting the dialogue in the game be a time sink... Even YOU can't be that silly...

A better example would be how SE lowers the drop rates so we have to spam content over and over and over... so a 25 minute dungeon can last for 100+ hours of gameplay...

And in some of the dialogue... you have to spam chat boxes because the point has such a low drop rate

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And that has what exactly to do with over bloated dialogue?

A little off topic, yes I would LOVE for the GAME to be longer. I do not advocate making the script overly wordy for the purpose to making it seem like the NPC's have a lot to say when really they are just talking in circles half the time. The other half they could have said what needed to be said in a much shorter variation which would stick in player's minds more vividly because they actually READ what was being said instead of skipping the next 14 pages of wall'o'text.

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You wheedle for bloated, inflated gameplay times, then whine incessantly about less than a minute worth of reading, that's what.

This isn't texting or IMing. People do have long conversations in reality, and in storybooks. The Lord of the Rings was perhaps one of the most verbose novels ever, and it is well-loved for it. You're simply impatient about all the wrong things.

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Leveling is a completely different beast though...

Story text is definitely NOT something you should make longer just for the sake of taking up time...

Leveling is a type of time sink... I KNOW you are not suggesting the dialogue in the game be a time sink... Even YOU can't be that silly...

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At some point in the thread, I would appreciate you moving beyond making false arguments and actually leveling a rational counterpoint, without resorting to putting words in other's mouths.

And taking the time to read all of ten sentences is not a timesink, nor do I know of anyone with a reading level low enough to think such a thing.

Edit: Until now.

Edit 2: I hate to break into the much-maligned Shakespeare here, but certainly, at some point, you've got to realize this is all much ado about nothing. <.<

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Originally Posted by Eagleheart

At some point in the thread, I would appreciate you moving beyond making false arguments and actually leveling a rational counterpoint, without resorting to putting words in other's mouths.

And taking the time to read all of ten sentences is not a timesink, nor do I know of anyone with a reading level low enough to think such a thing.

Edit: Until now.

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Well when you compare it to what the OP said about making leveling longer... that is what you're saying

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Well when you compare it to what the OP said about making leveling longer... that is what you're saying

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Negative. I am pointing out that he's all about timesinks, on a far grander scale.

He wants changes that make the lot of us grind for months, but he can't be bothered to read five paragraphs from Louisoix. It is at once amusing, and annoying as all get-out.

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Originally Posted by Eagleheart

Negative. I am pointing out that he's all about timesinks, on a far grander scale.

He wants changes that make the lot of us grind for months, but he can't be bothered to read five paragraphs from Louisoix. It is at once amusing, and annoying as all get-out.

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It's ok, Eagle... It's all about opinions... It's a matter of preference... I think the dialogue is just ok... but could be better... You like mediocre dialogue... to each his own...

No one is knocking you because you enjoy the works of Stephenie Meyer

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It's ok, Eagle... It's all about opinions... It's a matter of preference... I think the dialogue is just ok... but could be better... You like mediocre dialogue... to each his own...

No one is knocking you because you enjoy the works of Stephenie Meyer

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I freely admit that I am not familiar with that particular author. (>.> ) Judging by your comment, though, I wager that you find her an inferior novelist, and so I am forced to say that you're scraping bottom barrel here, dude.

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Originally Posted by Eagleheart

I freely admit that I am not familiar with that particular author. (>.> ) Judging by your comment, though, I wager that you find her an inferior novelist, and so I am forced to say that you're scraping bottom barrel here, dude.

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It's the twilight chick... and that's funny

That would be a good reason why I am unfamiliar with her, yes. I do not like vampire stories. Being a Paladin, I rather hate vampires. >.>

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Originally Posted by Eagleheart

That would be a good reason why I am unfamiliar with her, yes. I do not like vampire stories. Being a Paladin, I rather hate vampires. >.>

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hehe... I chuckled... but like I said earlier... I LOVE the story... I just want to dive deeper into it...
I want the text to grab people more... I feel like this story has the potential to please EVERYONE....
Something where classic literature lovers and modern superhero aficionados can agree on....

Edit: stop pretending you are unfamiliar with twilight... lol... just joking with ya

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Originally Posted by Zaaku

I applaud your writers and their use of every single page of the Infinity Flux Time Extensive Thesaurus of large words and fancy idioms but I'm begging you.

Please stop.

Pretty much every encounter with the Empire is a pretty good example of over doing it. Cloud an NPC's words in mystery and perhaps some foreshadowing riddles but not a 5 pages soliloquies about the nothingness of still could be happenings of what was once never there. I fancy myself an intelligent creature but trying to decipher every single sentence because it is so overladen with foreign Yoda speak is bringing down my self worth as a thinking man with every syllable.

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I don't agree with you.
I'm not even an English native speaker and I can easily understand more than 90% of what they are talking about.
(And the remaining 10% is mostly due to being tired when I play.)
It's no different than reading a book, you don't have to understand every single word perfectly to understand and enjoy what it's all about (and you can always check later the meaning of unknown words or the wording of difficult sentences -- it's called learning, who said we shouldn't learn anything while playing video games?).

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Originally Posted by Rydin

Leveling is a completely different beast though...

Story text is definitely NOT something you should make longer just for the sake of taking up time...

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You can say this about anything, story is not the only thing that shouldn't commit this sin.

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Leveling is a type of time sink... I KNOW you are not suggesting the dialogue in the game be a time sink... Even YOU can't be that silly...

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The point is precisely that its not a time-sink at all. Five paragraphs of text is not a time-sink. It will take you roughly anywhere from 60 seconds to 2 minutes to read. Do you really define 2 mins of reading a time-sink? Seriously? As I said before, ppl can stomach doing all kinds of monotonous and repetitive activities for hours because they like them. They cry for more grinding, cry for long-lasting content, etc etc. Different strokes for different folks right? Yet for some reason taking a couple minutes to read is a huge waste of time, a huge time-sink, and should be shortened so that it takes a max of 15 seconds to process whatever is being said. What sense does this make? That is just impatience, and is definitely no basis for judging the writing quality or content. I'll reiterate, the internet has destroyed ppl's patience for actually reading anything beyond a paragraph. I know you play a game to play, not read, but rpg's have always had a lot of exposition. If you don't like reading you are in the wrong genre. Skip it if you don't want to read it, but those of us who enjoy the literary aspect of the RPG are quite happy to take an extra 2 minutes to read a story. If you want to know whats going on find a summary.

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Originally Posted by Lux_Rayna

You can say this about anything, story is not the only thing that shouldn't commit this sin.



The point is precisely that its not a time-sink at all. Five paragraphs of text is not a time-sink. It will take you roughly anywhere from 60 seconds to 2 minutes to read. Do you really define 2 mins of reading a time-sink? Seriously? As I said before, ppl can stomach doing all kinds of monotonous and repetitive activities for hours because they like them. They cry for more grinding, cry for long-lasting content, etc etc. Different strokes for different folks right? Yet for some reason taking a couple minutes to read is a huge waste of time, a huge time-sink, and should be shortened so that it takes a max of 15 seconds to process whatever is being said. What sense does this make? That is just impatience, and is definitely no basis for judging the writing quality or content. I'll reiterate, the internet has destroyed ppl's patience for actually reading anything beyond a paragraph. I know you play a game to play, not read, but rpg's have always had a lot of exposition. If you don't like reading you are in the wrong genre. Skip it if you don't want to read it, but those of us who enjoy the literary aspect of the RPG are quite happy to take an extra 2 minutes to read a story. If you want to know whats going on find a summary.

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I wouldn't mind a long read if it was impactful...
5 paragraphs that can be summed up in 1 sentence... I'll pass
If there are 5 paragraphs... I should walk away with so much to think about

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Originally Posted by Rydin

I wouldn't mind a long read if it was impactful...
5 paragraphs that can be summed up in 1 sentence... I'll pass
If there are 5 paragraphs... I should walk away with so much to think about

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That depends on the goal of the text. In FFXIV's case, the dialogue is not meant to be art, but to be an expression of life. Life is full of meaningless 5+ paragraph conversations. You hear them every day, you even make them yourself. These conversations are often not designed to invoke enlightenment upon your listeners, but rather talk for the sake of talking; after all, talking is fun. If Eorzea is, indeed, supposed to be a world full of life and character, it would make sense for there to be plenty of meaningless conversation and lots of blather. No one is forcing you to read it all, you can easily just pick out the important nuggets and tune the rest out...often like what we do in real life. Its supposed to be entertaining, not a literary masterpiece. I find it entertaining, as do others who enjoy reading for the sake of reading. Obviously you do not enjoy reading purely for the sake of reading, so please feel free to /ignore what Eorzeans have to say. This does not translate into "this crap needs to be revisited," as there are plenty who like the extra touch and extra effort to bring a world to life.

*tries to cover up this thread before those three awake~~~oooh shoot it's too late!!!*
*petrified by stare before being smashed by a raging fluffy and an unidentified bipedal creature*

One of them is already in the office. Eeep!

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Originally Posted by Fiosha_Maureiba

*tries to cover up this thread before those three awake~~~oooh shoot it's too late!!!*
*petrified by stare before being smashed by a raging fluffy and an unidentified bipedal creature*

One of them is already in the office. Eeep!

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REALITY HOPPER, TELL US WHAT DID YOU SEE IN YOUR REALM? HOW DID YOU GET HERE?

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Originally Posted by Lux_Rayna

That depends on the goal of the text. In FFXIV's case, the dialogue is not meant to be art, but to be an expression of life. Life is full of meaningless 5+ paragraph conversations. You hear them every day, you even make them yourself. These conversations are often not designed to invoke enlightenment upon your listeners, but rather talk for the sake of talking; after all, talking is fun. If Eorzea is, indeed, supposed to be a world full of life and character, it would make sense for there to be plenty of meaningless conversation and lots of blather. No one is forcing you to read it all, you can easily just pick out the important nuggets and tune the rest out...often like what we do in real life. Its supposed to be entertaining, not a literary masterpiece. I find it entertaining, as do others who enjoy reading for the sake of reading. Obviously you do not enjoy reading purely for the sake of reading, so please feel free to /ignore what Eorzeans have to say. This does not translate into "this crap needs to be revisited," as there are plenty who like the extra touch and extra effort to bring a world to life.

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Yea.. but in real life no EVERYONE talks like that... the entire world isn't so verbose

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Originally Posted by Rydin

Yea.. but in real life no EVERYONE talks like that... the entire world isn't so verbose

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Not every npc in eorzea is verbose either. I know I've randomly talked to quite a few of them. Quest npcs are verbose, but they should be. You better have a really good damn reason why you need me to go to x place to do y amount of things instead of you just doing it yourself. But really verbosity is a trait of Eorzeans, even if not all of them are like that. It is what makes Eorzeans who they are, despite being from entirely different places and belonging to different races. Course if you hate Eorzeans for their verbosity, so be it, but thats what makes Eorzeans who they are. Love it or hate it, it is a quality of the game that really brings the place to life. Just look at all the discussion it spawned!

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Originally Posted by Lux_Rayna

Not every npc in eorzea is verbose either. I know I've randomly talked to quite a few of them. Quest npcs are verbose, but they should be. You better have a really good damn reason why you need me to go to x place to do y amount of things instead of you just doing it yourself. But really verbosity is a trait of Eorzeans, even if not all of them are like that. It is what makes Eorzeans who they are, despite being from entirely different places and belonging to different races. Course if you hate Eorzeans for their verbosity, so be it, but thats what makes Eorzeans who they are. Love it or hate it, it is a quality of the game that really brings the place to life. Just look at all the discussion it spawned!

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But thats the thing... many of them aren't even clear on the quest specifics....
If the journal didn't have any words or a journal map... would you EVER know where to go or what the hell was going on?

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Originally Posted by Rydin

But thats the thing... many of them aren't even clear on the quest specifics....
If the journal didn't have any words or a journal map... would you EVER know where to go or what the hell was going on?

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When I pay attention yes, but you'd have to read pretty closely in order to get the message, and some quest npcs don't give a clear message at all. In that case, they might need to be redesigned to give quest specifics without the use of a journal if it bothers you that much. This would, of course, add an additional paragraph. I'm quite certain you do not want more text lol.

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Originally Posted by Lux_Rayna

When I pay attention yes, but you'd have to read pretty closely in order to get the message, and some quest npcs don't give a clear message at all. In that case, they might need to be redesigned to give quest specifics without the use of a journal if it bothers you that much. This would, of course, add an additional paragraph. I'm quite certain you do not want more text lol.

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Do you not see the issue here? You're saying the quest NPCs talk a lot because they have to be specific about what you have to do... But if they actually told you what was required of you (As a normal quest NPC should) it would add yet ANOTHER paragraph of text....

What is it going to take for you to admit that the NPCs in this game use a lot of words but "ain't sayin nothin'"

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Originally Posted by Akira_Tenshi

Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn is a stupid name.

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Akira Tenshi is a stupid name.

As someone once said, "what's in a name?"

So it's unpronounceable. Big deal.

I bet if you told that to her face, she'd beat you up and throw you in the ocean. ;p

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Originally Posted by Rydin

Do you not see the issue here? You're saying the quest NPCs talk a lot because they have to be specific about what you have to do... But if they actually told you what was required of you (As a normal quest NPC should) it would add yet ANOTHER paragraph of text....

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That is not what I said at all. I said quest npcs talk a lot because a quest npc *should* talk a lot to explain why you need to do anything. And all quest npcs I have ever talked to explain why I am doing what I am doing. Do they say all the particulars of the task? No. They don't really need to, and if you feel like they need to, you'll need to add more text which you don't want to read. The point is quest npcs give you background on a problem, why its a problem, and why they want *you* to deal with the problem. I think thats great. I dont need them to tell me exactly on the map where I am going, what I will be fighting, how many of x item i need to collect..etc etc etc because we have quest journals for that. Would it be great if I could get all that from them? I guess. I dont think its necessary, but I wouldnt mind it at all.

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What is it going to take for you to admit that the NPCs in this game use a lot of words but "ain't sayin nothin'"

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Idk if you've forgotten our conversation but I've already admitted it. Like I said, life is full of meaningless and verbose blather, and the goal of a game is to bring a world to life...not impart enlightenment on your person.

Hello all.

Loving this thread so far.. Seems to be full of good points/counterpoints, discussions, and almost no-flaming! Lovely!

I think so far there are at least three main points being brought up in this thread:


The skill level of the language
There have been discussions on both sides, suggesting that the level of the language could be brought down a bit to keep it simpler, and easier to digest. Whereas others believe it should be kept at a higher level, with some references to 'college level' english being mentioned.

Personally, I would prefer if the vocabulary was not brought down, nor were the nuances of sentence strutures kept from being sophisticated so as to appeal to wider audiences. In addition, SE seems to cater to critical situations by presenting 'plaintext' statements in off-colour when it relates directly to game mechanics.




The length/quality of the text passages
This is a touchy point. Whereas I can appreciate wanting to have nice long discussions to create 'atmosphere' it does not always meet up to this expectation. They say the key to the good joke is delivery. The way the passages are delivered are not at the right times. Often it is when everyone is in a hurry (and can not stop to enjoy the passage) or when it is unexpected (and they were not in the mood for the passage of text).

This is coupled with the great distribution of key plots of stories over a long period of time. All but the most fanatic devout would be able to remember a story line distributed piecemeal over the course of 3-6 months (about how long it may take a casual player to go through the main story line and the GC story line).


Personall, I do not have a problem with the length of the messages, although I would agree that several of the game texts could be 'punched up' a bit to make for more interesting reading (sorry SE ; ; ). For me, the biggest issue is the small piecemeal approach.

If SE adopted more of a 'chapter' based approach, where there is only small amount of story distributed along the way with a big chapter-ending scene that ties everything together and really delivers home what is going on. Then that would be good.

This could also be coupled with more detailed information in the Journal than is presented at quest time. I think FFXIII may have done something similiar with their journal/quest pages.




Accents
I'm sorry... I love San D'Oria... I choose to come to Limsa Lominsa since it reminded me of it... but those accents... really.. it MAY work if it was voiced, but trying to read it (especially when it is littered with tidbits of vulgarity/slang/profanity that not everyone instantly recognizes) made it so difficult to read that I actually joined the Ul'Dah GC instead of Limsa Lominsa's in fear of not being able to understand what they are trying to tell me.

A few words here and there for flavour can always be thrown in, yes. But when there are more contractions and apostrophes than letters, I need to borrow a magic decoder ring to figure out what is going on ^^;



Moving forward, what I would suggest to SE is:
1 -- Ease up on the accents a fair bit. Not completely, but a fair bit.
2 -- Implement MUCH bigger chapter-end cutscenes with deeper explanation and more information in the journals lore wise.
3 -- Do not ease up on the reading skill level -- its' fine.

The complexity of the writing is over-stated in the OP. It might require a little more brain activity than other games, but I'll take that over mind-numbing any day.

If you've ever played a game like WoW, you're familiar with the: "block of text no one reads that appears instantly" followed quickly by the: "press the accept button and look at what you're supposed to do in your mini-taskbar" syndrome. At least that's how I've come to understand the quest system in WoW.

I would hate this game if it followed that formula. While there are moments where I physically sigh due to the sheer amount of pointless information being thrown about, I find the time taken to try to create a high level of immersion fairly impressive. There are other ways for players to feel immersed, however. It does not necessarily need to come from extremely long NPC conversations. Perhaps the solution is to cut out some of the fluff and slightly tone down the moments of excessive thesaurus use.

My only dislike:

It is a pain in the arse to read Pirate slang/accents. I swear on the twelve I just skip through it.

I hope we get more voice acting for cut scenes.

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Originally Posted by Andrien

My only dislike:

It is a pain in the arse to read Pirate slang/accents. I swear on the twelve I just skip through it.

I hope we get more voice acting for cut scenes.

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That's the only slang in the game I actually like... arr... ._.

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Originally Posted by Colino

That's the only slang in the game I actually like... arr... ._.

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The only slang you like arr what? You didn't complete your sentence!
jk

Anyways, I like the dialogue. I wouldn't like NPCs talking to me like I'm stupid or something.

"Oh, its one of you mindless adventurers. Here, let me put this in words you can understand: bad guys wearing metal attack my home. I like my home. Please go fight bad guys. Come back here when you're done."

I think they need represent the dialogue text better, somehow I lost track on understanding the text, and feels like disintegrated on the character talking in the cutscene. I kinda wish they use text baloon but some people dont like it :(

I like the writing its in depth and a good story well done SE

I think Asiaine summed it up pretty nicely. I'm not in favor of removing the pirate talk but I do agree it's hard to read at times (reading it aloud actually helps :P). Cutting down on the amount of text might help, but only as long as it doesn't reduce the information of the dialogue.

Things might change with 2.0, and I do hope we will get more voice acting than we have now. I just hope they don't go and dumb down the dialogues.

I don't know, english is not my first language and I don't find the dialogue difficult to understand at all, so it really can't be THAT bad... The pirates would be the only exception for me, but I assumed that was... you know, for me, and because the aforementioned reason.

I'll just say this again. Plot is amazing, dialogue is amazing, but frequently it is just too drawn out.

Not so much for the BIG quests (main scenario, GC, job/class), but especially for some of the side quests where eventually I'm like "OH MY GOD STOP TALKING!!!". But I read it all anyway, because I want to absorb every bit of lore I can. :)

Complaints aside, when it comes to story we should all be able to agree that FF MMOs, both XI and XIV, have done it way better than any others...cept maybe Asheron's Call...