Brevity is the soul of wit: Request to fix the horrible writing on XIV's quests

[Hulan]

I would like to see an example given of a quest that XI has done better than XIV (I say XI because it was mentioned in the OP). I fail to see how the delivery is any different.

In XI, most of the sidequests are delivered purely though text, as they are in XIV.
In XI, most of the AF quests are delivered well, with animation and whatnot, as they are in XIV (class quests).
In XI, the main story quests are well done, as they are in XIV.

I don't really see the difference. If you're going to provide an example, provide one with a game where one party cannot speak. I couldn't really understand the correlation to Tactics.

I may be diverging slightly from the OP's point, but what I have taken away from the original point is this: Fundamentally, FFXIV lacks spice such as dialog. Now in SquareEnix MMOs, you play the part of a silent protagonist. This does not exclude the possibility of dialog, however. The best example I can think of off the top of my head from FFXI would be the Sleepga II line of quests (because they are neither main storyline missions, nor super important quests such as AF quests). In these quests, you follow the exploits of two Tarutaru who are competing streetvendors in Jeuno. The quest introductions are full of dialog between the two NPCs; sometimes they will turn to you, asking for your advice, pausing in the place of your response.

These scenes are quite long, much longer then the posted example by the OP. However, they are for lack of a better word, eventful. Writing, literacy, interest in lore, these things are not limited only to the quantity of text, but the delivery.

I would like to add also, that I love the stories in FFXIV. They are expertly designed in my mind. However, I completely agree with the OP that they are not well delivered when compared to other things we have seen from SE.

[AmyRae]

I may be diverging slightly from the OP's point, but what I have taken away from the original point is this: Fundamentally, FFXIV lacks spice such as dialog. Now in SquareEnix MMOs, you play the part of a silent protagonist. This does not exclude the possibility of dialog, however. The best example I can think of off the top of my head from FFXI would be the Sleepga II line of quests (because they are neither main storyline missions, nor super important quests such as AF quests). In these quests, you follow the exploits of two Tarutaru who are competing streetvendors in Jeuno. The quest introductions are full of dialog between the two NPCs; sometimes they will turn to you, asking for your advice, pausing in the place of your response.

I don't think having your character offer a response had much to do with what made those memorable.

It was the interaction between NPCs who were trying to deal with a problem, how their foibles and personality came across, and their continued appearances in various story and quest threads.

Not every Shantotto quest involved a cast of characters, but she consistently had the Santa Claus laugh and spoke in rhymes. She thought very highly of her abilities, and was well-versed in the vernacular to properly insult everyone else's. So whether it was when she tried to implicate your character for nearly murdering a snoopy reporter she'd cursed, or when she had the King of Hearts level up on one of Aphmau's puppets, it was always entertaining.

A dry, text-based soliloquy from an NPC you've never noticed before isn't really going to measure up to that. A telling moment is when someone had asked Yoshida in a recent interview what character he'd chose to put in Dissidia as FFXIV's representative and he had to admit they were all pretty weak.