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

[Lebannen]

My biggest problem with FF xiv is that my char cant talk at all. Or rather doesnt.

[Fensfield]

My biggest problem with FF xiv is that my char cant talk at all. Or rather doesnt.

I'd love to see something like this, not only because it would make the conversation seem a bit more natural, it would also keep the player involved and let you develop a sense of character for your...uh...character. When I see my character not talking in cinemas over and over, it really gives the impression that she's a mute.

And do you know why they do it like that?

Because people that care what their character is like, and think up their personality, perhaps a backstory, or just like to imagine responses to dialogue and quests are as their character would be, get more than a little uncomfortable when the writers start telling them just how their character ought be speaking and behaving. The generally silent protagonist is the best answer available until someone comes up with a way for quests to be much, much more dynamic (which if you ask me is one of the current model's bigger flaws). They'd sure as hell write Forra completely wrong, I can say that for a start.

This is an MMORPG with free character creation, not one of those cheaper ones with little to no character customisation excused by taking character writing away from the player. I hate to use a tired and unkind turn, but if that's such a problem, why not go play Rusty Hearts, or Talesweaver, or Trickster, or any of the plethora of other chargen-less MMOs that take characterisation away from you?

Now, if there were more options with more effects in the dialogue, like if that scene where you get yelled at by a padjal for using the echo on her had actually let you go with one option or the other instead of forcing you to use the echo (which is bad enough) - that would be nice.

[Pollyanna]

And do you know why they do it like that?

Because people that care what their character is like, and think up their personality, perhaps a backstory, or just like to make what few choices are given them in dialogue and quests as their character would, get more than a little uncomfortable when the writers start telling them just how their character ought be behaving. They'd sure as hell write Forra completely wrong, I can say that for a start.

Right now they're telling me that my character is very patient and willing to listen silently to however much dialogue any given person has to spew at me. They're also telling me that she responds mutely to adversity. (And when she talks to other humans, they don't respond, so she's either talking in her head or so annoying that almost everyone ignores her)

But in saying so, I have to admit that I understand your point. When I see my character in certain situations, I think "that isn't how she should be acting", so I'm sure that feeling would pass over to certain dialogue choices as well.

Regardless, I still think I would enjoy the game more with dialogue trees. Having more natural conversation with at least some choices that fit my character would be a big enough positive to outweigh the choices that don't fit. It's not a big enough priority that it would drive me to another game, though.

[Fensfield]

Regardless, I still think I would enjoy the game more with dialogue trees. Having more natural conversation with at least some choices that fit my character would be a big enough positive to outweigh the choices that don't fit. It's not a big enough priority that it would drive me to another game, though.

Now, this I can agree on. As I said in my previous post:

Now, if there were more options with more effects in the dialogue, like if that scene where you get yelled at by a padjal for using the echo on her had actually let you go with one option or the other instead of forcing you to use the echo (which is bad enough) - that would be nice.

Did you ever play Mabinogi? I often refer back to it, but they had a very nice way of handling interactivity with NPCs in a format that makes complex dialogue trees (especially meaningful ones) difficult and expensive (although not impossible).

Until someone figures out a way for NPCs to respond and change dynamically based on player choices, I think Mabi's answer is one more MMORPG's ought consider learning from.

[Quisi]

I hate npc's dialogue in LL. It all I aarrr am arrrr a piaaaarrrrrr. Hate it so I don't even bother to read it there. Main reason I deleted my LL char and made one in Uldah.

[Cendres]

Thread title is misleading, the writing in this game is excellent in fact. That it is long is another thing, I suppose they could let us manage how much dialogue we'd like to actually read. Personally I have to read all of it and in such games with trees like Mabinogi and Bioware games I end up clicking through every possible choice... So to me the way FFXIV does it is fine.

Your character is not mute, you're supposed to fill in the blanks in your own head. Welcome to old school RPGs where the game let's you use your imagination, a dying breed.

[Jennestia]

Where are the good writers? I think we can tell with 100% certainty that they aren't working on the XIII games... did SE fire them?

Huh, XIII, XIII-2 and Versus XIII (thus far) has good writing, just because you dislike it doesn't mean it's bad.

[Alicia_WM]

Such as the beginning of one of the Grand Company quests saying the word "thousand" twice in a row and making no sense in doing so.

A thousand thousand is a million.

[Denmo]

I'm all for lore, but when I walk up to a ! over an NPC and get a diatribe of Old English in my face telling me his life story where all he's essentially telling me is that he needs me to deliver some parcels - I feel like the game's writer took his job a little too seriously.

It gets really bad when you can't tell the personality of one character to another. Everyone just vomits these paragraphs of ye olde English and it feels forced. For good writing, it should only take a sentence or two for players to get an idea of who they're talking to, what they're like, and what they want. Not everyone you meet randomly on the street will just give you paragraphs of info without any provocation.

At least make it a conversation, if you're going to.

Huh, XIII, XIII-2 and Versus XIII (thus far) has good writing, just because you dislike it doesn't mean it's bad.

You made me nearly spill my morning coffee.


(see kids,? one sentence and you know 3 things about me already. that's good writing)

[Renshi]

I don't catch the problem... I'm Swiss and I can undestand every word I'm reading.