What happened to SB (story)?

[Thunda_Cat_SMASH]

In my honest opinion, both from a writing/lore/gameplay PoV, HW fell completely flat at every turn. Sure, it was trying to tell an epic story, but... about who? Very few, if any, characters in HW were memorable beyond Alisaie and maybe the elf ruler bloke, but ultimately HW felt incredibly hollow, trying to tell an epic tale without any characters that really fit the bill of what such a story needs to really sell it.

Conversely, SB was infinitely more human. Characters were better written, the dungeons and bosses were both memorable and unique, the supporting cast was infinitely stronger, and it felt like a much better more enjoyable experience. To me.

As for deaths... I can't honestly name any deaths that happened in HW either. Did we ever actually lose anyone important? I'm pretty sure we didn't.

[Avatre]

In my honest opinion, both from a writing/lore/gameplay PoV, HW fell completely flat at every turn. Sure, it was trying to tell an epic story, but... about who? Very few, if any, characters in HW were memorable beyond Alisaie and maybe the elf ruler bloke, but ultimately HW felt incredibly hollow, trying to tell an epic tale without any characters that really fit the bill of what such a story needs to really sell it.

Conversely, SB was infinitely more human. Characters were better written, the dungeons and bosses were both memorable and unique, the supporting cast was infinitely stronger, and it felt like a much better more enjoyable experience. To me.

As for deaths... I can't honestly name any deaths that happened in HW either. Did we ever actually lose anyone important? I'm pretty sure we didn't.

You can visit his grave in the Central Highlands, overlooking the Steps of Faith. There is even an emote named after him

[Thunda_Cat_SMASH]

You can visit his grave in the Central Highlands, overlooking the Steps of Faith. There is even an emote named after him

Who? I watched every cutscene throughout the story and I can't remember a single important character dying. Maybe a couple of weak side characters but those characters are rarely memorable in the first place.

[Tsukino]

I can't agree OP. I liked SB's story far more than I liked HW.

This; I thought Heavensward was a lot to do about nothing, and everything built up to what was supposed to be a huge reveal and instead felt to me completely anticlimactic.

Different strokes for different folks.

[SendohJin]

Who? I watched every cutscene throughout the story and I can't remember a single important character dying. Maybe a couple of weak side characters but those characters are rarely memorable in the first place.

who is or isn't memorable is very subjective. Ysayle is certainly not a weak side character in the HW story.

i also like SB more than HW overall.

[Enla]

My problem with HW is that it honestly felt like they were still operating with the same children's gloves they donned to pen 2.0 after edging away from what I've read about the 1.0 storyline. Not only does it hurt what should have been a gritty story about bloodlines and the sins of your fore-bearers - but it also makes most of what happened honestly inconsequential. You essentially scolded two entire populaces into 'playing nice' and any potential ramifications of changing a thousand year old societal system were swept under the rug whilst the developers focused on tying the story up with a neat and pristine little bow. It ruined all sense of pacing and tension for me once it became clear that the writers were only going to gloss over the surface of the treasure trove of complications their story could have introduced; and while playing the 60-70 MCH showed that they are at least somewhat sorry for the state they left Ishgard in, it's too little and far too late to address at this point.

With SB it feels as if they finally stopped caring about gameplay over story and decided to rush headlong into telling something gripping. Some of the same problems are still apparent and nowhere is that more obvious than with Lyse and how she was gifted the role of leader with absolutely no build up or pay off, but overall it does feel like the writing team learned from some of their mistakes. Not all of them, but I'll take a slow and steady uphill climb as opposed to a mad, bone breaking tumble down the same hill.

Who? I watched every cutscene throughout the story and I can't remember a single important character dying. Maybe a couple of weak side characters but those characters are rarely memorable in the first place.

They're talking about Haurchefant.

[NolLacnala]

ARR was an amazing hero origin story...

lol? Are we even playing the same game? Fetchfilia was unforgivable, and ARR was only stomachable at a handful of points (usually when Gaius showed up to break things). Nearly everything up until the sultana was just pathetic.

[MyaValentine]

tldr? no? oh well... Idk what this is about but I loved SB story ARR and HW just as much this game story is just awesome.

[HyoMinPark]

I enjoyed SB's story. There were a few things I would have preferred to be different:


--The Liberation of both Ala Mhigo and Doma in the base expansion. Heavensward drew out the Dragonsong War and Nidhogg's storyline for the base game and two subsequent patches, yet in Stormblood, we managed to liberate two countries from 25 years of tyranny at the hands of the Empire. Granted, the Dragonsong War was well over 2 1/2 decades, but still...felt a bit rushed to me, and I wish they had made the base game liberating one, and then 2-3 patches afterwards focusing on liberating the other. That would still give them a couple patches to build up to 5.0's story, wherever that may take us.
--Killing off Zenos. This seems extremely abrupt, and I still disagree with killing him off so soon. Especially since Nidhogg stuck around for quite a bit after Heavensward's base story. Perhaps now we'll finally see what the Ascians have been up to, but I still don't like that a major antagonist was killed off so suddenly, even if the final battle was epic.

We'll just have to see what 4.1 and beyond brings. But I still enjoyed the base story.

[Thunda_Cat_SMASH]

They're talking about Haurchefant.

Oh. The creepy elf dude?