Does FF14 get faster?

I just finished going through the first part of ARR. Killed that big boss in that Full Party group. (Can't remember his name.) The one with the loooooong, unskippable cut scenes.

Question:

So far it's been feeling like 5-10 minutes of cutscenes and quest text, then 30 seconds of actually doing something. (Not counting having to travel to 50 different places.)

Does it get better? Because I'm having a hard time logging in, knowing I'll have to slog through another 10 minutes before I get to do something interesting.

I know FF games are known for their storytelling. So I am not asking for changes or anything like that.

I'm just saying...for me...it's getting tough to get through.


Look at my join date. And I'm only this far because of this.

Luckily, those two 8-man dungeons are the only places with unskippable cutscenes. Things should start to get quicker for you, especially once you hit HW content and up.
(I personally think the story picks up right before HW with a big plot twist.)

Yes and no.

There are still parts where it's a bunch of cutscenes, then kill x of y, or do a dungeon and then more talking, but the pacing does get better as you progress. (ARR is kinda them figuring out their flow, so it's a bit wonky compared to the more recent stuff.)
Those two full party dungeons are the only two of their kind. You won't see any more cutscene dungeons like that. But do be warned that post ARR/pre HW is a little notorious for not being so good on the pacing. But it does pick up right beefore you head into ishgard. (though, if you're adverse to long cutscenes, do be warned, the cutscene at the absolute end of post ARR is Very Long. It's good, but loooooooong.)

It does get a bit better but not much. It is still a very story driven game with lots of cut scenes and dialog. There won't be too many like the ones you just endured though. They are broken up a bit more now.

Prae and Castrum were one time things. The questing gets far more refined in the expansions. ARR used to be far far worse less then 3 months ago actually lol

Some quest are now one step that used to be 3 steps.

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Originally Posted by Snowdove

I just finished going through the first part of ARR. Killed that big boss in that Full Party group. (Can't remember his name.) The one with the loooooong, unskippable cut scenes.

Question:

So far it's been feeling like 5-10 minutes of cutscenes and quest text, then 30 seconds of actually doing something. (Not counting having to travel to 50 different places.)

Does it get better? Because I'm having a hard time logging in, knowing I'll have to slog through another 10 minutes before I get to do something interesting.

I know FF games are known for their storytelling. So I am not asking for changes or anything like that.

I'm just saying...for me...it's getting tough to get through.


Look at my join date. And I'm only this far because of this.

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I’d say just purchase a skip to Shadowbringers. You’re a long way away from anything that isn’t depreciated.

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Originally Posted by Mimilu

Luckily, those two 8-man dungeons are the only places with unskippable cutscenes. Things should start to get quicker for you, especially once you hit HW content and up.
(I personally think the story picks up right before HW with a big plot twist.)

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If new players aren't having fun, thinking things are dying too fast, or the gameplay is slow. Shadowbringers is actually where the game picks up, frankly.

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Originally Posted by van_arn

I’d say just purchase a skip to Shadowbringers. You’re a long way away from anything that isn’t depreciated.

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It's a good story, even if "Steven King" length.


I guess this all came to a boil when I heard the announcement for Endwalker and they said the MSQ was going to be about 50 hours. I thought, "Oh my gosh, is this going to be 49 1/2 hours of quest text and cutscenes and 30 minutes of actual fun?!"

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Originally Posted by Snowdove

It's a good story, even if "Steven King" length.


I guess this all came to a boil when I heard the announcement for Endwalker and they said the MSQ was going to be about 50 hours. I thought, "Oh my gosh, is this going to be 49 1/2 hours of quest text and cutscenes and 30 minutes of actual fun?!"

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Think of the story content as the tutorial. It becomes an MMO once you’re caught up.

Shadowbringers is actually a decent place to skip to, too, since you get reintroduced to a lot of the important characters. You’ll have a few minutes where you’re not sure what the big fuss is about, but it being in another world helps limit the number of times that happens.

More importantly, you’d not have to quest through two more expansions of content that has been indirectly nerfed by the release of Shadowbringers. You’d have a more interesting rotation, and the boss fights your experience In Shadowbringers are generally pretty clever.

I’d still recommend you watch a video to catch you up on your job’s rotation before driving in, but you should be fine just skipping if you do your mechanics homework.

Keep in mind you’d need both a story skip and a job skip, assuming you don’t already have a level 70 character.

I wouldn't really recommend a story skip unless you REALLY don't like main scenario stuff or single-player games. Heavensward was a really great expansion. Stormblood is forgettable. But skipping both to get to Shadowbringers will leave you not getting the full picture of what's going on and it's not the same if you just watch a video to catch up. It's like skipping most of a book just to get to the climax and not really knowing who the characters are or why they're doing things. The rest of ARR is a bit of a slog, but as soon as you get to the final (like 45 minute long cutscene) and then start Heavensward, the game picks up more and you can tell that they learned how to pace better.

But I don't personally believe the end game in FFXIV is good enough to justify skipping the rest of the content. I look at FFXIV as a longer FF game that has multiplayer elements and weekly tasks for in-game currency.

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Originally Posted by Snowdove

It's a good story, even if "Steven King" length.


I guess this all came to a boil when I heard the announcement for Endwalker and they said the MSQ was going to be about 50 hours. I thought, "Oh my gosh, is this going to be 49 1/2 hours of quest text and cutscenes and 30 minutes of actual fun?!"

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HW/SHB stories far outclass ARR Storyline, it be worth it.

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Originally Posted by Snowdove

I just finished going through the first part of ARR. Killed that big boss in that Full Party group. (Can't remember his name.) The one with the loooooong, unskippable cut scenes.

Question:

So far it's been feeling like 5-10 minutes of cutscenes and quest text, then 30 seconds of actually doing something. (Not counting having to travel to 50 different places.)

Does it get better? Because I'm having a hard time logging in, knowing I'll have to slog through another 10 minutes before I get to do something interesting.

I know FF games are known for their storytelling. So I am not asking for changes or anything like that.

I'm just saying...for me...it's getting tough to get through.


Look at my join date. And I'm only this far because of this.

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The story is always the priority in this game and it always will be.

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Originally Posted by MikkoAkure

I wouldn't really recommend a story skip unless you REALLY don't like main scenario stuff or single-player games. Heavensward was a really great expansion. Stormblood is forgettable. But skipping both to get to Shadowbringers will leave you not getting the full picture of what's going on and it's not the same if you just watch a video to catch up. It's like skipping most of a book just to get to the climax and not really knowing who the characters are or why they're doing things. The rest of ARR is a bit of a slog, but as soon as you get to the final (like 45 minute long cutscene) and then start Heavensward, the game picks up more and you can tell that they learned how to pace better.

But I don't personally believe the end game in FFXIV is good enough to justify skipping the rest of the content. I look at FFXIV as a longer FF game that has multiplayer elements and weekly tasks for in-game currency.

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They’ve been trying to play since 2018. They’re welcome to skip to where the content gets interesting if they don’t like the msq cutscene gallery.

Perhaps the story presented with competent gameplay will make them double back and ng+ or inn the parts they missed, but even if it doesn’t I’m glad they finally figured out how to enjoy the game on their own terms.

Of course, it’s possible they’d skip to Shadowbringers and find they simply don’t like the game at all. But that’s fine too, there’s no more stringing them along through content they don’t enjoy and they know they can give up.

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Originally Posted by van_arn

They’ve been trying to play since 2018. They’re welcome to skip to where the content gets interesting if they don’t like the msq cutscene gallery.

Perhaps the story presented with competent gameplay will make them double back and ng+ or inn the parts they missed, but even if it doesn’t I’m glad they finally figured out how to enjoy the game on their own terms.

Of course, it’s possible they’d skip to Shadowbringers and find they simply don’t like the game at all. But that’s fine too, there’s no more stringing them along through content they don’t enjoy and they know they can give up.

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Yeah.. with the way I am reading this OP, I don't think they would make it through HW, let alone make it to endgame. They would more likely than not get burned out, no matter how great some may think the story is. Besides, Shadowbringers was an excellent expansion, for story, and a great place for a new player to familarize themselves with the game and it's characters, while having a more rounded skillset, and actual fights - rather than fights that matter so little now, you just stand there and eat mechanics.

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Originally Posted by van_arn

Think of the story content as the tutorial..

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Not at all. Skipping story content is like reading a book, but skipping everything but the last few pages. You miss all the good stuff, and the end makes no sense anyway without knowing what went before it.

As others have said, the story really does pick up in HW, and you’re almost there. But the msq is always dialogue/cutscene -> go to a place -> do a small task -> dialogue/cutscene and repeat until you get to a solo instance/trial/dungeon. This never changes. If you don’t want to put up with that, a story skip may actually be for you. Especially if you have been trying for years.

It’s not something I typically recommend for first time players, but with New Game + and videos available, it’s not like you have absolutely no way of experiencing the story on your own time.

If you do go that route, just keep in mind that a story skip doesn’t increase your level, so you’ll need a level skip as well to do content in ShB right away if you don’t want to take the time to grind from 50ish through 70.

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Originally Posted by MistakeNot

Not at all. Skipping story content is like reading a book, but skipping everything but the last few pages. You miss all the good stuff, and the end makes no sense anyway without knowing what went before it.

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Some people don’t need the story and don’t care to know what’s going on. This person has been trying to get into the story since 2018 and hasn’t.

That’s why I say to skip. Time for a different strategy, no matter how mad it makes the forums.

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Originally Posted by van_arn

I’d say just purchase a skip to Shadowbringers. You’re a long way away from anything that isn’t depreciated.

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Awful advice.

Jump potions were intended for veterans who want an alt, not for new players who want to pay to not play the game.

If you don't like the game, don't play it. Not everyone likes final fantasy's style, and that's just fine.

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Originally Posted by van_arn

Some people don’t need the story and don’t care to know what’s going on. This person has been trying to get into the story since 2018 and hasn’t.

That’s why I say to skip. Time for a different strategy, no matter how mad it makes the forums.

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I can understand that and I can accept it as long as they dont reach the endgame and then complain the game has a foremost focus on story, an immersive world with many beautiful details and casual content.

This is thankfully not WoW and if they are looking for that kind of game, one that abandons everything for high-end endgame content then clearly the game wouldnt fit them to begin with.

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Originally Posted by Ralph2449

I can understand that and I can accept it as long as they dont reach the endgame and then complain the game has a foremost focus on story, an immersive world with many beautiful details and casual content.

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I understand and accept that FF is always story-driven. As I mentioned in the OP, I am not asking for changes.


I just was hoping that the game gets to a point where 99% of the time isn't just quest-reading/cutscenes.

Does it speed up? No.

Does the story get significantly better once you're out of ARR and into HW? Yes.

Does the amount of combat-based content within the MSQ increase? Not really, though most of the later solo duties are more interesting than the early ones.

If you're looking for something more combat focused with less story detail, there are other games out there designed for that. This game is designed for those who like a story-based experience.

If you're enjoying this game other than MSQ, skip the cutscenes and just do whatever your quest objective says to do next. I've met players who do that so they can get to level cap and end game content as fast as possible. Most of them also regretted it because they didn't have a clue what was going on in the instanced content and ended up starting a new character from scratch.

It's okay not to like the game and quit playing if you feel like you're wasting your time. It's not going to be right for everyone, just as there are other games I've tried and no longer play because they're not right for me.

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Originally Posted by Snowdove

I just was hoping that the game gets to a point where 99% of the time isn't just quest-reading/cutscenes.

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Then that would probably be classic endgame then with dailies, unlocks, gear grind etc but considering how long the story is it would take a while without the skips someone suggested.

I cannot imagine how long it would take to reach that since I ve been playing for almost week now and only now getting close to the end of ARR last patch, though I did take breaks to unlock stuff like all the extreme trials which can be a nice break from reading text too much xD

Though I assume that would depend on where you are, I ve heard that JP dc has more people queing for extreme trials like old primals compared to NA, playing in JP dc while progressing MSQ i ve pretty much managed to find groups relatively fast evening Australia/Japan time for most extreme primals outside of Thornmarch(Probably cuz it doesnt have a quest), not sure if the same applies to NA but you could try to unlock that as a break from msq.

What sort of content are you actually looking for that isn't questing story/lore? I mean. There's always trials/raids to unlock, but those aren't exactly huge time investments, unless you're trying to sync/min ilvl the old ones, or you're caught up to be progging the newest ones. Which, still, once you've got them on farm, you're just left waiting for weekly resets to keep riding the gear treadmill.

Other than that, there's..? Maybe if crafting/gathering catches your interest, or making some attempt at dominating the marketboards. But nothing's stopping you from starting out with that at any point concurrently with running story quests.

Idk. Just sorta sounds like you're asking for busywork. If that's all you want, just find a thing you want to do and do it? Go hunt those mounts/minions/cards. Throw yourself into the deep dungeons. Max out all the jobs. Go glamour hunting. Try PVP.

It's an amusement park game. If you're not having fun doing one thing, try another. MSQ still gates everything, so you might still feel the slog trying to get through to something else.

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Originally Posted by iVolke

Awful advice.

Jump potions were intended for veterans who want an alt, not for new players who want to pay to not play the game.

If you don't like the game, don't play it. Not everyone likes final fantasy's style, and that's just fine.

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What’s awful advice is to say everyone should do the story from the beginning. Shadowbringers is an excellent starting point, and that’s by design.

If you’re going to quit if you have to play through hundreds of hours of cutscenes and mindless fights, I’d rather you skip them and enjoy the actual game instead.

Provided you do your gameplay homework. I also expect players to kick you if you haven’t done your gameplay homework.

I like the story myself; I log in at patch drop just so I can have everything done before spoilers hit. I have the presence of mind to realize not everyone is like this, though, and encourage them to play the game the way they like.

That means encouraging skips if that’s what it takes to get to the “fast bit” which is exactly what Shadowbringers is right now. They’re not going to get that until late Stormblood otherwise.

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Originally Posted by Snowdove

I understand and accept that FF is always story-driven. As I mentioned in the OP, I am not asking for changes.

I just was hoping that the game gets to a point where 99% of the time isn't just quest-reading/cutscenes.

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While doing the main story, no, it'll be mostly reading quest text and watching cut scenes.

The main scenario spans ARR (1-50) and its 5 patches, Heavensward (50-60) and its 5 patches, Stormblood (60-70) and its 5 patches and Shadowbringers (70-80) and its 4 patches. That's a very long way to go and could keep you busy for months or years depending on your pace, and doesn't even touch upon all of the great sidequests and side content that also has this sort of story.

Of course, when you do finally get through it, there is high-end content like extreme trials, savage raids and ultimates, and the glowing relic weapon content.

You can do a lot of other content without being max level, such as dungeons, pvp (level 30+), the gold saucer (15+ I think), palace of the dead (17+), normal mode trials, normal mode raids, crafting, gathering, ocean fishing, open world content like treasure maps, blue mage and hunts.

Castrum Meridianum and Praetorium had these long cutscenes mid-fight and were obviously a mistake, so they didn't repeat it. That's the last it happens (beside coils but these are optional).

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Originally Posted by van_arn

If you’re going to quit if you have to play through hundreds of hours of cutscenes and mindless fights, I’d rather you skip them and enjoy the actual game instead.

That means encouraging skips if that’s what it takes to get to the “fast bit” which is exactly what Shadowbringers is right now.

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Although I personally encourage enjoying the story, especially as the content's mechanics is inspired by the story, if you really can't get through it then skip packs are definitely an option for some people. Once you've skipped, you can use New Game+ to slowly re-experience the story quests when you can be bothered, whilst still having access to max level areas and content.

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Originally Posted by van_arn

What’s awful advice is to say everyone should do the story from the beginning. Shadowbringers is an excellent starting point, and that’s by design.

If you’re going to quit if you have to play through hundreds of hours of cutscenes and mindless fights, I’d rather you skip them and enjoy the actual game instead.

Provided you do your gameplay homework. I also expect players to kick you if you haven’t done your gameplay homework.

I like the story myself; I log in at patch drop just so I can have everything done before spoilers hit. I have the presence of mind to realize not everyone is like this, though, and encourage them to play the game the way they like.

That means encouraging skips if that’s what it takes to get to the “fast bit” which is exactly what Shadowbringers is right now. They’re not going to get that until late Stormblood otherwise.

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Here is the problem with skipping: Its not just skipping important story beats. Its also skipping the chance to get used to the pacing of ffxiv that will keep going after the skip. They still have to go through the entire Shadowbringers and post Shadowbringers content, which consists mainly of cutscenes, dialogues, and boring fetch quests. Its still going to be a long while before they reach the "fast bits", and new expansions and patches are just going to add more and more until they reach end game.

The other problem with skipping is that now you spent an extra 50$ or so on a game that you have a hard time logging in to go through the story that you find to be a slog, and can't enjoy it. Skipping is not a cheap thing.

The best suggestion I can give, really is to tough it out until you reach Heavensward. Or buy an ARR skip (its only 11$) to see if the Heavensward story is good enough to motivate you to play a bit more. There isn't really anything important that happens between the place you're currently at and the start of Heavensward (other than 1 major event that happens in 1 or 2 quests before Heavensward starts) So, your not left too confused about what is going on in the story, but there will still be some confusion. A lot less than skipping to Shadowbringers, completing it, and then meeting a bunch of characters that were previously introduced in the past, and being left completely confused about who they are and why they are so important.

HW is where the expansion really takes off in terms of story telling. However, if you skip the whole ARR, you won't really get as much of an impact that Heavensward gives.

They recently changed the storyline in ARR so the main story scenario quests are more streamlined. On one hand, they removed a lot of fluff from it (fetch quests included). On the other hand, some things that got removed actually helped build character developments and insight on the way they live if you like to learn about the world and the NPCs involved. Some dialogue was actually funny when playing through it for the first time (the scions and the Truesight Scalebombs for example, if you were to talk to each one of them during the story and during each part of the quest, they mention some funny tidbits about how they view their friends). However, because the quests were shortened and removed, some of that impact of the initial scene was really blunted. Subtle nuances about characters were removed in favor for a short description of the events that actually happened that doesn't really capture the whole picture and makes it feel like a quest just for the purpose of moving the storyline forward. As a player who replayed ARR 2.0, those cutscenes really didn't feel impactful as before but I at least understood the joke and implications because I remember what happened there. This is not to say the changes were bad, but it's just different. The impact is very different as the main character isn't as involved with the quests on a personal level anymore. You won't really notice the changes if you haven't interacted with most of the characters to to get a feel of their life as you progress through the MSQ. This is really apparent in ARR and HW iirc. Once you start Stormblood, a lot of the quest journal flavor text and NPC flavor text doesn't update as often as before or just get cut out entirely.

Does the game get better? - From a storyline standpoint and gameplay standpoint, yes since you have more access to skills and bosses start picking up speed at which mechanics fire at you. The story also stops feeling like you're a bystander and you feel more involved than before. Does the gameplay get faster? Your GCD is still 2.5 seconds, but you get skills you can use between GCDs so it does feel 'faster' but the overall speed is relatively the same.

You can pay like 25 bux to skip the story line. 100% worth it imo

if you are talking combat speed... it will get faster later, but not because the combat speed, because you will start doing skill weaving a lot later on, so it will feel faster (by miles)

as for story/quest pacing speed... it depend... i guess? if you are not into story thing

vanilla (ARR) story pacing definitely the slowest, because its the starting point so they need to introduce you a lot of things. also the "danger" plot didnt reach you until somewhere 3/4 of the ARR storyline so before you reach that point, everything feels like your standard "adventures / slice of life" story which can be boring for some people. but i give some leeway for ARR story because its the first one so i cant be mad about it.

HW is where things getting interesting, starting HW you will notice a lot of less "filler" and more focus on the main plot, it still has some "relaxing / why we doing this?" part, but at least its not as much as ARR

SB is a step down for me, the main plot is interesting but the way the presenting it.... its basically ARR 2.0

SHB? sit down, have a good drink beside you and some snack, and get ready for a wild ride. you are basically playing another FF within FF lol