Our passive characters and why the 2.55 story fails (BIG SPOILERS) (rant warning)

[MilesSaintboroguh]

I already accepted the fact that the player character isn't really us, the player. It's a character that we model to look like us, nothing more. The character we play as isn't US personally. It's sort of like Link from the Zelda games; we can name him whatever we wish and choose how he responds to NPCs, but in the end, he is his own character. The story for FF14 is already decided and we are just there for the ride. No amount of "character responses" is going to change anything unless Square suddenly decides to write different scenarios for every action we choose to take.


It's less frustrating that way and if you really want a better story to player interaction, it's not going to be here.

[Dyne_Fellpool]

ITT: so many people don't understand (or don't want to understand) that Midgarsormr took away the blessing of light, which is the only thing that let us do all those awesome things like fight Primals, and are mad because the WoL doesn't make the same foolish knee-jerk reactions "they would have done" which would have either gotten them killed or played right into the enemies' hands.

The Warrior of Light is not the badass you think he is. He has, as Nabriales observed, "lost his fangs". Yes, you might have a crazy-strong Relic weapon but you are still just one man. Your skill as a fighter is probably quite good, but not "I can single-handedly defeat dozens of skilled swordsman" good.

A whole lot just happened, and its a lot to take in. It seems clear that Teledji Adeledji is an enemy, but who else is? The entire syndicate? All the Monetarists? Every brass blade? Just a few? Who is truly a foe and who is an unwitting pawn? It would be foolhardy to just start killing people without taking time to examine the situation and try to mitigate innocent deaths. Even if you could cut a swath through the whole city of Ul'dah, which you couldn't, you would be very likely to be killing a lot of innocents and making an enemy of the city for life. You really don't want to end up with the people of Ul'dah remembering you as a butcher.

A lot of people seem to be basically complaining that they felt helpless during all this -- good. I think we're supposed to. We were not ready for this level of betrayal. We're the victim of an expertly crafted trap which has been sprung on us all of a sudden and it goes way deeper than we feared to think. Sh*t just hit the fan in a major way and its probably fairly realistic to feel a bit helpless as friends betray us, allies are murdered, a city turns on us, and the entire socio-political climate changes in a blink of an eye. WoL or not, you're probably gonna feel pretty helpless and confused as all this happens around you. Needing to get away, to have time to take it all in and assess what is really going on and who is truly friend/foe, is pretty understandable and probably even quite necessary.

[Felis]

(not that I would have ever let Nanamo drink anything after she told me her plans). Being a lvl 50 alchemist I would expect that my character would be knowledgeable or at least have the contacts at her disposal to discover what this suspicious liquid I am carrying around is before I walk into a situation where people I don't trust could spring a trap on me. I mean, I trust Nanamo, but the people around her? Not with a grain of salt.

Something like this?

Quest window pop up:
Require Alchemist lv 50 to process this quest

Player: "What?! I have to level up Alchemist for this? No way, I don't have time for that!"

[Mistoltin]

A lot of people seem to be basically complaining that they felt helpless during all this -- good. I think we're supposed to. We're the victim of an expertly crafted trap which has been sprung on us all of a sudden and it goes way deeper than we feared to think. Sh*t just hit the fan in a major way and its probably fairly realistic to feel a bit helpless as friends betray us, allies are murdered, a city turns on us, and the entire socio-political climate changes in a blink of an eye. WoL or not, you're probably gonna feel pretty helpless and confused as all this happens around you. Needing to get away, to have time to take it all in and assess what is really going on and who is truly friend/foe, is pretty understandable and probably even quite necessary.

Just want to quickly put forward the fact that a lot of people felt helpless as a player, and not as the character. There was a major disconnect between them and their avatar in this situation, which in other Final Fantasies and games with pre-crafted PCs, but when it comes to MMOs these characters are us.

[Kallera]

Even if we never had to deal with the political ramifications of killing folks before, and likely wouldn't start now, this whole thing just vanishes after the cut scene. Those that think you guilty, those that want you dead, all missing from the map whilst you "seek asylum" from a force that doesn't exist in game.

And I still get called on to handle the viciously dangerous. Shiva extreme, odin? hell Nabriales is at the least extremely powerful.

[Dyne_Fellpool]

Just want to quickly put forward the fact that a lot of people felt helpless as a player, and not as the character. There was a major disconnect between them and their avatar in this situation, which in other Final Fantasies and games with pre-crafted PCs, but when it comes to MMOs these characters are us.

Both the player and the character feel helpless. That's the opposite of disconnect. You are feeling, as a player, what the character is likely feeling.

[Mirakumi]

I felt helpless, I kind of felt like Minfilia. I didn't like it needless to say I was pissed at the end to see you know who. orangutan. lol.

Though I felt like I was watching Game of Thrones, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

[Hyrist]

Just want to quickly put forward the fact that a lot of people felt helpless as a player, and not as the character. There was a major disconnect between them and their avatar in this situation, which in other Final Fantasies and games with pre-crafted PCs, but when it comes to MMOs these characters are us.

That's a misnomer of interpretation on the player's side. Rarely if ever will an MMO give their players such agency, and even then it's more of the illusion of choice.

The MSQ hero is not you, nor a character of your design. It is an avatar you have created to fill a role. Whatever reactions you imagined are not, in fact, the reactions the character designed to fill that role would do. That's where all the mistakes are being made here. This isn't 'your' character, it's SE's, at least as far as the main story line is concerned. Outside, if you're Roleplayng, well, it's whatever you want. But the "My character wouldn't do that." Falls flat on its face when you're entering a proprietary story.

[Fyce]

Even if we never had to deal with the political ramifications of killing folks before, and likely wouldn't start now, this whole thing just vanishes after the cut scene. Those that think you guilty, those that want you dead, all missing from the map whilst you "seek asylum" from a force that doesn't exist in game.

And I still get called on to handle the viciously dangerous. Shiva extreme, odin? hell Nabriales is at the least extremely powerful.

Talk to NPCs. Everything is explained, even why you can walk free.

Also, you are not "called to handle with primals and such" anymore. The fact that you can still go and fight Shiva is completly outside the storyline and it's pure gameplay with no lore associated to it. Stop trying to merge it with the main story, it doesn't make any sense.

[Riepah]

ITT: so many people don't understand (or don't want to understand) that Midgarsormr took away the blessing of light, which is the only thing that let us do all those awesome things like fight Primals, and are mad because the WoL doesn't make the same foolish knee-jerk reactions "they would have done" which would have either gotten them killed or played right into the enemies' hands.

We still went to Ishgard by ourselves, killing bunches of dragons on our own that groups of sellswords were entirely unable to defeat, with ease. Then we go and accomplish a feat the whole army of Ishgard wouldn't have been able to do without us. Our combat strength through all this - which happens way after we lose "the blessing of light, which is the only thing that let us do all those awesome things". So no. The blessing of light is not the source of our strength, or they couldn't have put those story fights and the duty in after the story.