Starting cities: initial storyline quests 1-15 Can they be played?

[Niwashi]

I mean sure I can roll and alt, but I'd only play it to get through those storylines really.

At least the different part is all isolated to the beginning of the game.

Levels 1-15 are all different quests (equivalent in gameplay execution, as Enkidoh mentioned, but different in the stories that are going on). Then the next few quests have just some slight dialog differences (mostly amounting to which NPCs will greet you as an old friend and which greet you as a stranger they've heard good reports about). And then there's a level 17 quest that will have different NPCs involved depending on where you started and which NPCs you met there. But then that's it and it's the same story from there on.

It would be different if the starting-city differences extended further into the game, requiring a more lengthy commitment to an alt in order to see them, but 17 levels worth isn't too bad for getting to see the other cities' storylines.

[Viciouspen]

At least the different part is all isolated to the beginning of the game.

Levels 1-15 are all different quests (equivalent in gameplay execution, as Enkidoh mentioned, but different in the stories that are going on). Then the next few quests have just some slight dialog differences (mostly amounting to which NPCs will greet you as an old friend and which greet you as a stranger they've heard good reports about). And then there's a level 17 quest that will have different NPCs involved depending on where you started and which NPCs you met there. But then that's it and it's the same story from there on.

Yeah but the difference is not as tiny as like, just talking to this npc or that is it? I mean like in Gridania there was the whole thing leading up to the guardian tree fight, and in other areas there are different things. those are the storylines you miss out on though I'm guessing.

[Niwashi]

Yeah but the difference is not as tiny as like, just talking to this npc or that is it? I mean like in Gridania there was the whole thing leading up to the guardian tree fight, and in other areas there are different things. those are the storylines you miss out on though I'm guessing.

The first 15 levels of quests tell significantly different stories (despite having some parallels between them). My point was that that's true only of the first 15 levels. After that, there are a few levels of minor differences, and then they all merge into being the same. So if your only reason for creating alts is to see these stories, it would suffice to take those alts through just the first 15 or 17 levels. You can stick with just a single main character beyond that and not miss anything.