Is there a way to buy a story skip for "Just" Heavensward? (Spoilers)

I don't know how people say Heavensward has a better story than ARR. The worst part about ARR was the fetch quest and that duty where you kill enslaved individuals.

Heavensward I'm stuck doing work in a city who's history is built on the back of lies. Only a portion of the city wants to deal with the truth, and even worse they hate dealing with "outsiders." Unlike ARR, where I cared for Gridania and Limsa as a whole, I really only care for particular individuals in Isungard.

Even worse, even though it's the city that's the perpetrators of the war, all of quest ties to the city because they are our "fellow man." The entire lens is under the city and there's barely any quests of Isungard itself doing work to gain favor towards the dragons. Just a peace treaty, while we have dragon momma here saving a child from a falling building. It's asinine that we're spending some much time working with the perpetrators

Combine that with the fact that "Iceheart" gets black widowed, (what is with FFXIV and killing off major female npc's....) and then having to join this competition against two nations that I prefer infinitely more, and this expansion has been a hard wash for me. I already finished the main storyline and I'll gladly pay money to just jump to stormblood, because the writing here is awful for me.

Unfortunately, I only see a story skip that allows you to jump to level 80, and I just want to skip heavensward. Does anyone know if there's an option to just skip to stormblood.

Tales of Adventure: Heavensward will skip you to the start of Stormblood. https://store.finalfantasyxiv.com/ff...us/product/802

thank you! I definitely appreciate it lol.

If you don't like HW, I got bad news about the rest of the game.

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Originally Posted by Kira619

I don't know how people say Heavensward has a better story than ARR. The worst part about ARR was the fetch quest and that duty where you kill enslaved individuals.

Heavensward I'm stuck doing work in a city who's history is built on the back of lies.

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Well firstly, you are missing the point if you think the story is about that work you're doing. If SE makes you do work, it is usually to help you learn about the life and culture there and set up the foundation or lead-in for the expansion's arc.

Secondly, if you actually do the story you discover that we (the player) literally fight against said city that is lying. Because obviously we won't side with the ones lying since we're the righteous hero.

Thirdly, at the start they typically split you between two areas to split congestion on an expansion release. They also don't rush you into battle duties or dungeons because this increases congestion that famously created "Raubahn Savage" in Stormblood. But again, this helps you learn about the story arc and setup the foundation of the expansion.

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Only a portion of the city wants to deal with the truth, and even worse they hate dealing with "outsiders."

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Personally, I like how that reflects real life. Not liking outsiders is a common thing in real life and living in a bubble (different world to their citizens) is also common among nation leaders. Ishgard mostly reflects the UK as it is right now.

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there's barely any quests of Isungard itself doing work to gain favor towards the dragons.

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Did you do all the sidequests? I mean, over time a lot of things happen such as the Dravanian Forelands sidequests, moogle sidequests that involve rebuilding things for dragons, moogle beast tribe quests that involve rebuilding trust with the dragons and Ishgard Restoration side content that involves a custom delivery story where you integrate dragons into Ishgard to live and work there.

It sounds like you're already well into post-HW content so why not just continue on?

A lot of your complaints are the reasons I liked Heavensward. Their history being twisted because the current narrative fits those in power, not everyone wanting peace and forgiveness - both of those make it feel more real. The only complaint I share is the death of Iceheart because it felt to me like "we don't know what to do with this character anymore, time to die".

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Originally Posted by TaleraRistain

It sounds like you're already well into post-HW content so why not just continue on?

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Yeah if they're talking about the peace talks at Falcons Nest then they're in or at 3.3 and just getting to the build up for Stormblood and other things.

Matter of tastes, no point discussing that, he got his answer from Moomba33, topic should've end there.

The people defending their favorite expansion here lol... Just finally grow up and understand that everyone has different tastes. Topic should be closed by now.

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Originally Posted by Chrisie

The people defending their favorite expansion here lol... Just finally grow up and understand that everyone has different tastes. Topic should be closed by now.

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I'm not even trying to sell them on the expansion. For me and probably Talera it just feels a bit odd to be wanting a skip at where they are in the post 3.0 patches. It would be like if someone had watched a season of a show and told their friend they couldn't watch that season anymore because they couldn't stand it anymore with only two more episodes left in the season. Two episodes that make the start of the next season make sense.

Considering how Stormblood is seen as fairly divisive amongst the fan base. It's either way better than people make it out to be. Feels majorly disjointed due to how they handle how the story plays out or up to that point the worst thing since the original Titan and Garuda parts of 2.0. That and the "main" subject of Stormblood isn't everyone's tea.

If you're as far in as you say you are, I would suggest actually not skipping it because the patches set up what happens in Stormblood, and another one makes Shadowbringers hit harder. I don't mind when people skip if something is boring, but I really feel like you're the meme of the person digging a tunnel and they stop right before they hit the good stuff.

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Originally Posted by SannaR

I'm not even trying to sell them on the expansion. For me and probably Talera it just feels a bit odd to be wanting a skip at where they are in the post 3.0 patches. It would be like if someone had watched a season of a show and told their friend they couldn't watch that season anymore because they couldn't stand it anymore with only two more episodes left in the season. Two episodes that make the start of the next season make sense.

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I wanted to skip because i was running into way too many instances of cognitive dissonance. I didn't want to only play a small portion of the expansion and then write it out without the possibility of most of my criticisms being corrected. But that never came. There were no main story quests where Ishgard is trying to make amends with the dragons. Instead, it was constantly Ishgard asking the dragons for help. It was too one sided, and with the way they try to match it to real life counterparts such as racism, it was incredibly offputting. The main character I related to in the entire expansion, Iceheart, gets black widowed. Like Tony Stark, our Ishgard friend gets a full blown memorial while Iceheart gets words referenced too. My character would have made a memorial right beside him. On the other end, I could literally care less about the azure dragoon, he was an absolute douche in my eyes, and yet the story wants me to care about this guy like we go way back since the beginning. I'm like I don't care about this guy, why is the game trying to force me to view him as a friend.

You combine that with the fact that they were forcing me to be with Ishgard's team, which I said, I couldn't care about at alll as a city as a whole, and there were too many instances of me brute forcing the expansion and playing something that my character mostly wouldn't do. I wouldn't have side with Ishgard. I would have side with Gridania. Unlike Ishguard, where I care about maybe 3-4 people in the entire city, Gridania, (and to a lesser extent Limsa) are much more my home.

What they should have done, is allow you the opportunity of either siding with Ishguard or Iceheart, with both coming to the eventual conclusion of needing to take out Nidhogg and the Holy See. That would be the best option. But if they couldn't do that, at least have some quests where Ishguard is helping the dragons with content. And again, I'm talking about Ishguard, not the warrior of light. Ishguard constantly keeps asking for everything under the sun, a request for peace where you're ancestors were the perpetrators needs to be a give/take relationship, and the value place on dragons seems to be incredibly lower than that of Ishguard itself.

So yeah, I'm definitely glad I'm done with this chapter. Seeing as my mount speed indicates cities like Hingashi, I'm hoping the Ishgard chapter is over lol.

Yeah exactly, Sanna. My comment was more than it sounds like if you've gotten to Vidofnir saving the child then you're nearly out of the places you don't like, Kira, so a skip probably isn't worth it. Patch 3.3 is the official end of HW. And patch 3.4 has a story point that will gain significant relevance later and you won't want to miss it.

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Originally Posted by Kira619

There were no main story quests where Ishgard is trying to make amends with the dragons.

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Before amends can be made, a truce must exist.

That couldn't happen while Nidhogg exists. Nidhogg's sole purpose in life became to destroy Ishgard and nothing could stop him from trying to do it. Not his own siblings at the time he started his vengeance, not his father once his father recognized the new Ishgardian leadership was ready to end the conflict and seek peace with the dragons.

So 3.2 and 3.3 deal with the efforts to establish a truce and peace.

As for amends, how could either side make amends for the past slaughter that can't be undone? They can't. All they can do is change their ways and do better in the future.

Which would have seen in the MSQ if you allowed yourself to experience all of it instead of skipping it.

Remember this is fiction. It is a story, not real life, and one that is interwoven so initial events have an impact on events yet to come. You may not like the story that is being told, but it is written that way for reasons that become apparent later.

Skipping is going to cause you problems because you won't have context for where you find yourself when Stormblood begins. You won't know who a couple of the characters are even though the story is written as if you're very familiar with them. You aren't going to have context for your WoL's opinions about historical villains in Shadowbringers.

That the story can provoke the current response you're having to it out of you that you're having shows how well it's actually written. If it wasn't well done, you'd be feeling bored instead of upset. You may want to reconsider skipping any of the MSQ if story matters to you.

To answer SannaR's message,

it's odd for you, but not for them. Just simply don't care about such small things. They made their choice and they're happy with it, as you can see below. That's all that should matter. OP's question is resolved. Let's move on with our lives.

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Originally Posted by Kira619

I wanted to skip because i was running into way too many instances of cognitive dissonance. I didn't want to only play a small portion of the expansion and then write it out without the possibility of most of my criticisms being corrected. But that never came. There were no main story quests where Ishgard is trying to make amends with the dragons. Instead, it was constantly Ishgard asking the dragons for help. It was too one sided, and with the way they try to match it to real life counterparts such as racism, it was incredibly offputting. The main character I related to in the entire expansion, Iceheart, gets black widowed. Like Tony Stark, our Ishgard friend gets a full blown memorial while Iceheart gets words referenced too. My character would have made a memorial right beside him. On the other end, I could literally care less about the azure dragoon, he was an absolute douche in my eyes, and yet the story wants me to care about this guy like we go way back since the beginning. I'm like I don't care about this guy, why is the game trying to force me to view him as a friend.

You combine that with the fact that they were forcing me to be with Ishgard's team, which I said, I couldn't care about at alll as a city as a whole, and there were too many instances of me brute forcing the expansion and playing something that my character mostly wouldn't do. I wouldn't have side with Ishgard. I would have side with Gridania. Unlike Ishguard, where I care about maybe 3-4 people in the entire city, Gridania, (and to a lesser extent Limsa) are much more my home.

What they should have done, is allow you the opportunity of either siding with Ishguard or Iceheart, with both coming to the eventual conclusion of needing to take out Nidhogg and the Holy See. That would be the best option. But if they couldn't do that, at least have some quests where Ishguard is helping the dragons with content. And again, I'm talking about Ishguard, not the warrior of light. Ishguard constantly keeps asking for everything under the sun, a request for peace where you're ancestors were the perpetrators needs to be a give/take relationship, and the value place on dragons seems to be incredibly lower than that of Ishguard itself.

So yeah, I'm definitely glad I'm done with this chapter. Seeing as my mount speed indicates cities like Hingashi, I'm hoping the Ishgard chapter is over lol.

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Personally I hated the gate guard that's forced upon us(I refuse to use his name), he's a pointless character you interact with for 1 quest chain at level 30 odd, then again for 5m at the beginning of heavensward, sadly they drag his memory about like he was your best friend since childhood. I detested the story of heavensward so much it was genuinely a chore to get through (I played on it's release, many many moons ago). Luckily for me back then the classes were in a much much more enjoyable state and the game was heather as a whole imo.

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Originally Posted by Jojoya

Before amends can be made, a truce must exist.

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Disagree, amends can be made to show a truce is authetic and not paperweight. Now I'm not saying the amends would disolve the long history of war they had, but the amends need to be displayed from both sides instead of Ishguard saying "gimme gimme gimme" all the time. Now how could Ishguard show they want peace? Simple, the dragons had a Gnath issue. Instead of relying entirely on the warrior of light, they could have send a small battalion to aid in the dragons dealing with the Gnath. It shows the "give" part of a give/take relationship. It shows Ishguard is willing to come to the dragons aid instead of it always being the reverse, and with the warrior of light leading the battilion, it gives an inroad for both sides to help show the dragons that they mean business. But as I said, the storyline was mostly under the lenses of Ishguard and how the dragons had to bend over backwards for there to be peace, which again was offputting.

LOL I think we disagree heavily on a game making me want to quit shows how well written it is. The only reason I'm continuing with the game is that I regularly see folks say Endwalker and Shadowbringer are the top tier of MMORPG content and often I see folks say FF14 has the best story out of any FF, including 7. Seeing as 7 is my favorite, I had to check it out. This isn't publicity where folks say bad publicity=good publicity. If a game makes you want to quit, it's not a good game in that person eyes. Fortunately, I have the ability to skip lol. For any parts I miss, I can always watch on Youtube and then it's someone else's character going through it instead of my own.

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Originally Posted by Malthir

I detested the story of heavensward so much it was genuinely a chore to get through (I played on it's release, many many moons ago).

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Thank you, I'm not saying everyone needs to agree with me. I just found it shocking that I kept seeing heavensward being the turnaround for FFXIV when for me it felt a step backwards from ARR. I can respect the story's attempt for nuance, but then you get whiplash by the pidgeonholing you get associated with that nuance which = cognitive dissonance. Especially when it's supposed to be "your character" that's in this role. If this was the story of say "kratos", I wouldn't have cared anywhere near as much because it's not supposed to be my character. And when you say the classes were in a much more enjoyable state, were you talking about the change to summoner? Because coming back to that was another shocking change lol.

In any case, thanks again for the info, and it's been a lot less stressful and more enjoyable now I can definitely say that.

I remember really disliking earlier HW, I was complaining about it to people and was basically coming back every few minutes to be like AND ANOTHER THING. it wasn't until near the end that it became one of my favorite expansions. But if you're upset with these topics, you may also dislike Stormblood, there's sooo many racist microaggressions and red flags throughout it in the actual writing/art, I remember just having my mouth drop open at a few points, and the playerbase really, really prefers to never, ever talk acknowledge that.

Regretfully, Shadowbringers and Endwalker are so good in part because of what they're building on from these earlier expansions, so trudging through them is a bit necessary to really get that truly wow factor out of the later parts.

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Originally Posted by Kira619

Disagree, amends can be made to show a truce is authetic and not paperweight. Now I'm not saying the amends would disolve the long history of war they had, but the amends need to be displayed from both sides instead of Ishguard saying "gimme gimme gimme" all the time. Now how could Ishguard show they want peace? Simple, the dragons had a Gnath issue. Instead of relying entirely on the warrior of light, they could have send a small battalion to aid in the dragons dealing with the Gnath. It shows the "give" part of a give/take relationship. It shows Ishguard is willing to come to the dragons aid instead of it always being the reverse, and with the warrior of light leading the battilion, it gives an inroad for both sides to help show the dragons that they mean business. But as I said, the storyline was mostly under the lenses of Ishguard and how the dragons had to bend over backwards for there to be peace, which again was offputting.

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In this particular issue, there's one big reason that Ishgard couldn't send help: Ravana. Throwing troops without the Echo into battle against a primal is just handing the primal more conscripts. It's even noted that Ravana is a big reason the dragons are struggling with the Gnath at all, because they're not protected against tempering either and don't dare get close to the hive.

that 'douche' estinien got character developement though. no reason to love him, but at least he brings flowers to ysayles 'grave'

not like she's completely forgotten

OP do as you like but be aware that this is how the rest of the game plays out. You don't get choices on who to side with, you get the companions you get and your character likes them regardless of your opinions. This isn't a game where choices matter or are even considered (outside of random references to jobs if you have them unlocked) you get what the devs want to give you.

ARR was the exception as you can pick which GC to join, which city to start in, etc. HW -> EW, you're along for the ride.

There are a few things you have to understand here.

First of all, Nidhogg was the one perpetuating the war. King Thordan and his knights instigated it, but they died well over a thousand years ago, and Nidhogg knew this. He chose to lock the Ishgardians in a prolonged war of attrition purely out of vengeance and retribution just to make them suffer, and made no distinction between the current day Ishgardians who had nothing to do with what happened to Ratatoskr and those who had wronged him. As Jojoya said, there was never any hope of reconciliation so long as he lived. The other dragons who were not of his brood had no part in it, and kept mostly to themselves. Truthfully, they likely suffered more at the hands of Nidhogg for refusing the call to join his campaign than as a result of anything the mortals did to them.

If you're looking at who lost the most, it's the Ishgardians who are the victims here. They were manipulated and lied to their entire lives for generations by senior members of the Church in order to ensure their compliance in giving their lives fighting a meaningless war they had no idea they could never actually win. You can hardly blame them for struggling with the truth that everything that had defined their lives until that point for over a thousand years was built on a lie, after having been indoctrinated since birth into believing theirs was the righteous cause - and all of this on the word of individuals they had been raised to see as their nation's mortal enemy. All things considered, they actually adapted rather well.

Fundamentally, Heavensward is not a story that lends itself well to black and white views of morality, and in general that's what made it so popular - it's a much more honest and realistic view of how people behave rather than a "the baddies are bad and the good guys always do the right thing" morality tale, and it makes the characters all the more relatable and interesting for it. Nobody is truly innocent or solely to blame here, save for Thordan and in his own way, Nidhogg, and your view that the Ishgardians should be bending over backwards trying to win the favor of the dragons because technically they "started" it oversimplifies what is a much more complex situation.

I'm also a little sceptical of how much attention you've been paying to parts of the story when you're highlighting Ishgard's attitude towards outsiders as a problem and then claiming you managed to grow fond of Gridania of all places. I'd maybe go back and replay that portion again, lol.

ETA: Full agree on Iceheart, though. That was a cheap shot and I share similar feelings on how they tend to deal with certain kinds of female characters.

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Originally Posted by Chrisie

To answer SannaR's message,

it's odd for you, but not for them. Just simply don't care about such small things. They made their choice and they're happy with it, as you can see below. That's all that should matter. OP's question is resolved. Let's move on with our lives.

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I'm not sure if you're correct in your assumption. Sure, they probably didn't know that outside of Endwalker every post expansion patch concludes on the .3 patch and starts the build up to the next expansion from there. Yet the OP's problem seems to stem from not enjoying the story. In a game that builds onto and expands on things prior expansions go and explain. Threads like this one can be very helpful and informative for others down the line. Maybe someone else has the same question the OP does for similar reasons of not liking the Ishgardians or their story. Yet they might not go and buy that story skip if they know that the story stops being one focused on Ishgard and moves its focus to Ala Mhigo and the Near East. Or that they're close to the end and feel they can try and hold out in hopes the build up to Stormblood rewets their appetite for the story.

This is of course an assumption that anyone finding this thread down the road is wanting a skip for Heavensward for the same reason as the OP. As they could be wanting to skip for other reasons. At times I'm glad that most of the forums don't work the same way as the technical support and bug section.

3 pages of people telling OP is wrong about what they like is insane.

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Originally Posted by Kira619

Fortunately, I have the ability to skip lol. For any parts I miss, I can always watch on Youtube and then it's someone else's character going through it instead of my own.

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You're about done with Heavensward so I recommend not skipping, or at least make sure you watch on Youtube before continuing with Stormblood. There's some crucial pieces that set up Stormblood coming up, so you'll want to know exactly what's going on before you step into that expansion.

As for pigeonholing your character, I'm afraid that's something the story does fairly frequently. It's quite nice when you agree with it but a little jarring when you don't. The story will have you feel certain ways about certain characters, agree with certain philosophies, and so on. I do recommend holding out for Shadowbringers since you've made it this far, but if you're still unhappy with the game after that, Endwalker probably won't save it for you. Sometimes a story just doesn't resonate right for whatever reason.

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Originally Posted by colby0

I remember really disliking earlier HW, I was complaining about it to people and was basically coming back every few minutes to be like AND ANOTHER THING. it wasn't until near the end that it became one of my favorite expansions. But if you're upset with these topics, you may also dislike Stormblood, there's sooo many racist microaggressions and red flags throughout it in the actual writing/art, I remember just having my mouth drop open at a few points, and the playerbase really, really prefers to never, ever talk acknowledge that.

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Funny enough that's how I felt about HW, the microaggressions there felt like someone attempting to write a nuance story without really understanding the side that received the aggressions. The fact that stormblood contains the same problems is problematic to say the least, but at least it sounds like the remaining 2 expansions break past that.

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Originally Posted by TheMightyMollusk

In this particular issue, there's one big reason that Ishgard couldn't send help: Ravana. Throwing troops without the Echo into battle against a primal is just handing the primal more conscripts.

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Oh I wasn't saying Ishguard could've stopped Ravana, I was saying there should have been a battalion to handle the smaller forces of the Gnath, while the warrior of light addressed Ravana. After all, did the dragons stopped Nidhogg? No they didn't, not even Hraevsgar did, because the story centers around the warrior of light. But the point wasn't for Ishguard to stop the Gnath, the point was for Ishguard to actually participate in the struggles that the dragons were going through. Because as mentioned, all of the requests were done by the side who committed the aggressions.

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Originally Posted by Lunaxia

There are a few things you have to understand here.

If you're looking at who lost the most, it's the Ishgardians who are the victims here.


ETA: Full agree on Iceheart, though. That was a cheap shot and I share similar feelings on how they tend to deal with certain kinds of female characters.

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What? If you believe the ones who lost the most isn't the original group of people who receive the transgressions, but the descendants of the people who caused those transgression just because they were lied to, then the only thing "we're" going to understand is that we're going to have a massively drastic viewpoint on who were the ones that lost the most. If people enjoy Heavensward, more power to them. I already said my piece of the problematic nature seen within Heavensward. And the only thing that reflects to me, like similar situations irl, is that there will always be folks who view topics such as these differently. No skin off my back, I'm just glad I get to skip what I'm not enjoying.

Is this boiling down to a political thread?

Is that thread troll? I mean... Surely nobody wants to have a story where you side with the good guys who are perfectly innocent, to fight the bad guys who are perfectly corrupt?

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Originally Posted by Merrigan

Is that thread troll? I mean... Surely nobody wants to have a story where you side with the good guys who are perfectly innocent, to fight the bad guys who are perfectly corrupt?

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Yes to both questions.

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Originally Posted by Boblawblah

Yes to both questions.

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You're only viewing it as a troll thread because you and others wish to twist the original criticism I gave into an entirely different meaning. If people can't understand that I wished for a stronger representation under those who were the originators of those aggressed, that's not my problem. I got my answer on how to skip the story and am happy that I did. Any sort of shifting my criticisms into a different meaning falls under you all.