The way Square Enix depicts our characters...are we helpless, or are we heroes?

[GabbaGabba]

yeh i think right now in the storyline, we're still adventurers. i think they want to build up the story as to where we start out as helpless then given the opportunity and time, we become heroes. taking ffxi's storyline for example, the first missions that you got to do around lv50 basically revolved around you being caught in a story and heroes all around you (lion and that batman galka looking guy) once they revealed who the bad guy was, you then were given the chance to become heroes by defeating the shadowlord.

i also think that they want people to feel heroic in groups. everything you did in ffxi was with groups (talking about storyline missions) so instead of making you yourself feel like a hero, you accomplished a lot of heroic things with your group. i really hope thats how it turns out in ffxiv

[SilvertearRen]

yeh i think right now in the storyline, we're still adventurers. i think they want to build up the story as to where we start out as helpless then given the opportunity and time, we become heroes. taking ffxi's storyline for example, the first missions that you got to do around lv50 basically revolved around you being caught in a story and heroes all around you (lion and that batman galka looking guy) once they revealed who the bad guy was, you then were given the chance to become heroes by defeating the shadowlord.

i also think that they want people to feel heroic in groups. everything you did in ffxi was with groups (talking about storyline missions) so instead of making you yourself feel like a hero, you accomplished a lot of heroic things with your group. i really hope thats how it turns out in ffxiv

Yes, you could become heroes in the later storylines, but this isn't about JUST being a central character. It's also about depicting our characters visually as a central character. I want our characters to be fully animated in combat cutscenes against the enemy. And I don't mean like standing bolt upright still with your weapon sheathed and acting all shocked when the enemy character does something "powerful"...

If you've beaten the R46 Futures Perfect cutscene, pretend that your character is the one that actually fights the Garlean Legatus in that cutscene, rather than simply being off-screen...only then can you really see what I am trying to describe here.

Here's what I imagine about 6 months from now if Square Enix listens to this thread: My character as a R70 Dragoon, getting a chance for a rematch against that Garlean Legatus, and after a "normal" combat sequence, a regular combat cutscene ensues, showing the gunsword vs. lance battle in close quarters, with sweeping camera angles and highly animated movement. The battle shows a great deal of carnage, environmental destruction, and intense fighting. Towards the end, the Dragoon pulls out the ace-in-the-hole move (could be the equivalent to Chaos Thrust for Lancer) and finishes off the Legatus.

Then a normal cutscene begins with the Legatus uttering his last words. :3

See where I'm trying to go with this thread, now? This isn't about simply fighting the enemy as a hero of the realm, it's about Square-Enix's methods in presenting our characters in the cutscenes.