I see a lot of compliments for what many consider to be a "good story" and I have to say, I vehemently disagree.
While by now I obviously have gotten used to how passive our characters are in cutscenes, one could chalk that down to typical Japanese storytelling of the under confident and humble fledgling hero.
The thing is of course it strains credibility to still be the under confident humble fledgling after saving the world about a dozen times by now, and with this story it's particularily infuriating. That isn't the only reason this story fails, so I'll break it down into clear parts.
The player character is a soulless puppet devoid of will.
All they do is nod and follow instructions and do not see blatant things that will get them into trouble later. For example, immediately after being informed that many of the Crystal Braves have been compromised, my character comes upon a random Crystal Brave and... tells him exactly what she's doing and who she's come to meet. Surprise surprise, this guy is one of the bad guys.
The most egregious example of this is just after Nanamo's poisoning (an element which by the way was so incredibly obvious, the creepy handmaiden who poisoned her might as well have been wearing a black top hat and mustache) our character passively submits to arrest by Teledi and a bunch of generic goons. No resistance from a multiple world saviour with a weapon that is worth more than all the goons' gear combined, nope, off in chains she goes!
Meanwhile Thancred faced with the exact same situation chooses to fight, and hey he gets away.
Alphinaud is really stupid
Okay, come on, really? I can buy he's a bit naive, but so incredibly dumb that 90% of his private army turn against him? And I can only assume Yoshi really hates Alphinaud, as they keep drilling home the point that he's dumber than a kettle of fish. Even after recognising that the Braves have been ridiculously compromised and after knowing one of his men was murdered by his fellows, he still goes off to meet a bunch of Braves alone and can thank pure dumb luck that he still has his head.
Raubahn is the only character in the entire plot with a functioning brain
I have to credit SE one thing, and that's they at least have one character see the paper thin conspiracy for what it is while everyone else is either fooled or just sits there sucking their thumbs in confusion. But it's hardly great writing to have one character look good by making everyone else look like imbeciles.
Every Scion except Thancred is completely useless
Even after Smirking Dummy (I forget his name) cuts Raubahn's arm off and admits to masterminding Nanamo's death, the rest of the Scions stand there and watch passively as Smirking Dummy and Raubahn fight. Most embarassingly, when Raubahn is punted across the room, Ysh'tola acts... only to shield herself and her fellow passive bystanders. No really, thanks for your support lady!
The worst part, the absolute worst part of course is when Raubahn unties my character. "Great!" I thought. "Now it's on! Together we will..." ... be told to run away even though in any logical term, Smirking Dummy + Random Goons vs. Me + Rauhban + Scions = Smirking Dummy loses.
Now before you say it yes, even if they still had to run from the whole Ul'dan army they'd be in a better position!
Let's shoe-horn Cid in, in a really bad way
So really. Me and Alphinaud flee to the Black Shroud and then get on the Enterprise for shelter in Coerthas?
Excuse me? We just went through several scenes where the leaders of the Eorzan Alliance state they will always put their own interests first and you're telling me it's not save in Gridania? Senna would just allow Ul'dans to search her territory, cajole her people and forcibly remove a Gridanian citizen (which my character is not that they'd remember that of course)?
I would totally get this idea if Cid, say, flew up to the Ul'dan ramparts and rescued our character that way. Which is entirely possible since he has an airship
Now please understand this is not me nitpicking. If I wanted to nitpick I'd point out that Yugiri with her mask off apparently walked around Coerthas in the middle of a dragon invasion without comment.
I can deal with minor niggles. I can't deal with a plot that's utterly disjointed and only works if every single character is drinking gasoline.
This story is not good, and makes me fear for the expansion if all we're going to get is more of this.
Unless, of course, this is all a genius subversive narrative intended to prove the Garlean Empire and everything Gaius said absolutely right. Eorzea completely needs the authority and leadership of Garlemald because hell, everybody in charge of it has no business leading a parade, let alone nations or organisations.
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04-02-2015, 01:56 AMVeliaOur passive characters and why the 2.55 story fails (BIG SPOILERS) (rant warning)
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04-02-2015, 02:03 AMAdamFyi
You can edit your post to bypass the character limit.
Anyway, will edit post, so sit tight! Spoilers ahead! Be warned!
Well, being accused for treason is serious business. Retaliating against them would only serve to cause more conflict. Sure, you could fight back, but then you'll only be stirring more trouble. Plus you're surrounded, and stuck in that small room with only one exit. I do think that there could be more that the WoL could have done, but Nanamo already drank the poison. Thancred managed to get away simply because only a few goons were sent to apprehend him. The WoL had no means of escape and was terribly outnumbered and also was in the presence Teledji Adeledji - a member of the Syndicate, mind you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Velia
I personally thought he explained himself well in the final few cutscenes of why he didn't act sooner.Quote:
Originally Posted by Velia
Raubahn took arms against a member of the Syndicate in an place and situation where weapons are forbidden to be drawn. Ysh'tola only acted in defense which is why she put up a shield.Quote:
Originally Posted by Velia
They probably wouldn't. Risk being captured over one man or flee to see another day? You saw the number of people hunting your group down the moment you stepped out of the banquet hall, right? Any later than that and you would have been easy prey for capture.Quote:
Originally Posted by Velia
See, there's a problem here too. If Ul'dah were to find out that either Limsa Lominsa or Gridania were protecting the fugitive they are hunting down, it would cause terrible political consequences. Hence, this is why the group went to Ishgard - because at that point, Ishgard isn't part of the Eorzean Alliance, yet.Quote:
Originally Posted by Velia
Anyway, I'm just pointing out what I thought of why the events went down as such. I loved the narration and story - this latest implementation is no exception. Am I biased? Probably. -
04-02-2015, 02:08 AMVeliaI.. did not know that. Derp.Quote:
Originally Posted by AdamFyi
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04-02-2015, 02:10 AMReokudo
Technicalities. Your character is a soulless puppet because giving your character a personality would remove the feeling that its you. Imagine they made your character an overly aggressive moron who gets blown up all the time. You'd sit there like "That's not what I'd do!" SE can only do so much.
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04-02-2015, 02:13 AMRiepah
Yeah our characters' passiveness was painful. They better let us skewer Ilberd (Smirking Dummy's actual name if I remember correctly) personally in a cutscene down the line. Teledji's execution was beautiful, so I hope Ilberd's will be just as satisfying. And no more people staying behind for us to fight a few nameless goons.
Aside from our characters' rather pitiful role in all of this, I found the story rather interesting and exciting, although I remain hopeful and confident that not everyone who appears to be dead is actually dead. Otherwise I'd be quite pissed. -
04-02-2015, 02:13 AMValkyrie_Lenneth
Remember, you lost your "Warrior of Light" powers when you fought Midgardsormr, and you also have no weapon when you are with the sultana. The fight on the Steps of Faith was mostly done with cannons and dragonkillers.
It may be a plot device, making it so you can't retaliate, but its within the lore of the story up to this point. -
04-02-2015, 02:13 AMVeliaWhatever our characters are from the humblest white mage to the most arrogant dragoon, they are all fighters, so the idea that a character at this stage in the plot would merely submit to arrest in the most obvious of trap conspiracies ever completely destroys any connection with my character.Quote:
Originally Posted by Reokudo
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04-02-2015, 02:14 AMSaderWell, they could work this in by giving us 2 options such as "Give in and accept arrest" or "Fight the guards." It's not like the tech isn't there as they use this choice system in postmoogle quest cutscenes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Reokudo
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04-02-2015, 02:18 AMRisvertasashi
I'll just add one thing.
Commonly in RPGs, even quite a few single player ones... the player-controlled character is intentionally shallow. The idea is to give a blank slate that you can project yourself onto, and MMOs allowing customization at all, and especially deep customization, goes particularly well with that.
It does present some difficulties. More active protagonists with well defined and 'deep' personalities have their own flair, but can interfere with players projecting themselves onto the character they play as (which has the potential be a bigger problem than you might think). One way to sort of run around this is to have allies commonly with you that have their own personality. Then, even if you hate them or simply don't relate well, at least it's not the virtual you.
Would be nice were it not so, but the less vague they make the plot, the more specific details they have to build on. Actual input choices are difficult (though not impossible). But they can show an animation of your character talking, and let your imagination fill in the blanks for how you would talk (which is far more limitless than having a few multiple choice options and maybe 3 voice options for your character).
...It is pretty frustrating in situations like this, though, where we really want to act while our character just sits by... -
04-02-2015, 02:21 AMIfritRebornBut... that's not me though...Quote:
Originally Posted by Reokudo
When Yda asked me to go collect the flower from Rowena MY response would've been "F*** you Yda! What the hell have you done! You are lazy, you are pathetic, and you are a waste of aether! Go do everyone a favor and die! No I won't get you your f***ing flower! Do it yourself you lazy b****!"
I NEVER would have allowed Ilberd to throw me to the ground like that! And I never would've stayed silent as I watched those two other buffoons leave me captive after I saved BOTH their nations numerous times and exit the room without even lifting a finger!
No sorry the PC already has a personality! A wuss whose as smart as a box of hammers! For goodness sakes the PC has so many screws loose he/she can start a hardware store