Anyone gets tired of the level 50 main story quest? Is this a recurring thread?

[BillyKaplan]

My biggest gripe with this long stretch is that in the grander scheme of things, it's pointless.

Raubahn lost his arm but he went right back to being Flame General. Nanamo is alive. The entire thing was kept secret as to not cause chaos in the populace in Ul'dah and the Flames and Blades are scared of you so you don't feel anything while running around in Ul'dah. Gridania and Limsa outright refused to acknowledge it so you don't feel anything there either until Lolorito realized this entire thing was stupid and did his best to retcon it out of relevance with the exception of Rauhbahn's arm - and when's he getting a magitek replacement, anyway? Long overdo, Cid, get to it. And if he won't, Nero would.

In light of this, even thinking about replaying that story-patch, regardless of how much or little I enjoyed it (Proper disclosure, The Striking Tree and Thornmarch are two of my favorite trials), leaves me with very little motivation to ever replay it again. Only reason why I would is because buying story potions for all my charas is a bit more than I care to spend on this game, and if I'm shilling out the cash, it would be on glamour and mounts.

[Zeonsilt]

We must have been playing different games. I found the 2.x MSQ neither awful nor boring.

Maybe.
In my memory 2.10 - 2.55 transition to HW was the worst experience. It took me 5 days just to complete them.

In entire FF Mainstory quest line there's too many quests that just sit there to waste your time and they add zero to main story.
Those fetch quests should be erased entirely, main storyline is even bigger now with Stormblood, we don't need those quests anymore.

p.s. Speaking of 2.10 - 2.55 maybe 1 from 10 quests was related to Main Story, the other 9 was "Get there, collect 3 dogs poop, back there, then go here, feed 5 soldiers, back, repeat, again".

[Felis]

Maybe.
In my memory 2.10 - 2.55 transition to HW was the worst experience. It took me 5 days just to complete them.

Maybe this was the problem. You consumed the quests instead of enjoying the story. Focused on the tasks, instead of what the NPCs have to say.

p.s. Speaking of 2.10 - 2.55 maybe 1 from 10 quests was related to Main Story, the other 9 was "Get there, collect 3 dogs poop, back there, then go here, feed 5 soldiers, back, repeat, again".

Those tasks (not story) you also have in the HW and SB MSQ. Story is written in the NPC text bubbles, not in the quest journal.

[MistakeNot]

Maybe.
In my memory 2.10 - 2.55 transition to HW was the worst experience. It took me 5 days just to complete them.

5 days really isn't long at all. Sounds like you tried to rush through it - which would of course make it less fun.

In entire FF Mainstory quest line there's too many quests that just sit there to waste your time and they add zero to main story.
Those fetch quests should be erased entirely, main storyline is even bigger now with Stormblood, we don't need those quests anymore.

p.s. Speaking of 2.10 - 2.55 maybe 1 from 10 quests was related to Main Story, the other 9 was "Get there, collect 3 dogs poop, back there, then go here, feed 5 soldiers, back, repeat, again".

During the whole of 2.x - from the time we start the game until we seek exile in Ishgard - there isn't really a Main Story as such. The game through all that is really the story about how we became the Warrior of Light, and consists of multiple shorter stories that are mostly unrelated to each other. So it really doesn't make sense to say those quests are not related to the Main Story, since they are all equally much part of the WoL's story.

This is unlike HW which does have a clear Main Story - it is the story about the ending of the Dragonsong War.

[ChaoticCrimson]

Admittedly, yes a pretty good portion of the 2.x story after ARR does tend to drag on. The constant fetch quests and being forced to fight the three original Primals (but only slightly harder) come to mind. But there are some good parts, particularly imo once you get to the stuff that leads into HW as well as when the Ascians start getting involved again. The very end of this part right before HW is pretty epic, despite the impact of a lot of those events being lessened later on. It does actually set the stage for certain characters leading into the content much later in the story though.

[Berethos]

Writing and pace of story in this game is not very good, most of the MSQ quests could be cut down and no one woild see the difference, even the latest patch MSQ is stretched to insane level, while being hellishly boring. SE, just stop, make FEW interesting voiced dialogs and cutscenes with few quest battles, thats all, no more this 10-20 "talk to this guy, then again, and again, AND AGAIN!" type of MSQ quests.

Some of us enjoy a properly paced story with character development and plot points that happen without being rushed like a Saturday morning cartoon on fast forward.

[SenorPatty]

Maybe this was the problem. You consumed the quests instead of enjoying the story. Focused on the tasks, instead of what the NPCs have to say.


Those tasks (not story) you also have in the HW and SB MSQ. Story is written in the NPC text bubbles, not in the quest journal.

Can't agree with this. You can binge read/watch a story and really enjoy it. I'm sorry but I'm with Zeonsilt on this one.

[Berethos]

Maybe.
In my memory 2.10 - 2.55 transition to HW was the worst experience. It took me 5 days just to complete them.

In entire FF Mainstory quest line there's too many quests that just sit there to waste your time and they add zero to main story.

Try having to grind out the gear to meet the minimum ilvl requirements between story bits, as was the case between when 2.55 was added and before Heavensward launched. Also, you don't have to do the guildhests anymore, which added a bunch more time waiting in queue if you were DPS. The current version 2.x, with it handing out the gear you need, is trivial to get through.

As for adding to the main story...there's maybe 10 quests out of the 100 in 2.x that you could remove without it impacting something else in the main story. The primal fights introduce new elements of how both primals and the echo work. The refugee+political stuff in Ul'dah...well if you've played through Stormblood it should be obvious how 2.x was the foundation for that. And of course the lead-in to the Dragonsong War in Ishgard starting around 2.3/2.4. Character motivations and interactions are developed as the WoL and crew go through these things - without these, later developments don't have a chance at having any sort of real impact. There's more connective story tissue there than you give them credit for.

Should Square probably make it so going through those chunks of storyline are optional, meaning you can just pick-up with the start of Heavensward if you're at 50 and really want to instead of needing to do the 2.x quests? Maybe.

Should they remove a single word? Not a chance. Every line is part of an intentional pacing of the story (it's fine if you don't like that pacing) - it's not created to waste anyone's time.

Can't agree with this. You can binge read/watch a story and really enjoy it. I'm sorry but I'm with Zeonsilt on this one.

On the not enjoying part? That's subjective, so that can't really be argued against anyway.

On the it adding "zero" to the main story? Pages can be written on how that's objectively wrong.

@OP - really the 2.x series had an unenviable task. It followed the clearer arc of becoming the Warrior of Light that lasted from 1 to 50 and also needed to set the stage for future story developments (in this case at least two expansions, and it's a big reason why HW and SB can get right into the action the way they do). That element of story pacing (especially in an episodic TV show-like approach, which is essentially what we have), by its nature, will tend to not be as full of exciting climactic moments...but at least in this game many of those story elements introduced in the 2.x series do end up leading somewhere.

[Gemina]

Can't agree with this. You can binge read/watch a story and really enjoy it. I'm sorry but I'm with Zeonsilt on this one.

There's a difference in mindsets here. What you're describing is binge watching something because you enjoy it. What Zeon did was binge through the quests, because he was rushing to get to HW.

I'm not saying if he paced it a bit, he would have enjoyed it more. But what I am saying is that most players getting though several months worth of content in a matter of days really aren't interested in the story as much as they are getting to the content that is locked behind the MSQ, and it is really tough to take in what you're not really interested in.

[kikix12]

I enjoy the story and I read it (or speed-read through it when in party), but that part was a pain. Not because there was a lot of story and little of playing. Because there was some story and a lot of pointless teleporting around. It would be a lot better if the text was long, with no need to go around so much only for some ridiculous reason.

And an organization that uses long-distance tool having their best warrior send MESSAGES of all things (not even top-secret) all around instead of just...like...using the linkpearl...is actually a plot hole instead of a proper quest. It's painfully clear that it is PURELY for the sake of stopping someone from progressing with the story and do something else. Except, that something else is the worst kind possible.

It wouldn't be nearly as bad if there were more quests about some sort of activity, like escorting a merchant (not even necessarily with an attack), getting some items (from mobs OR even from NPC...)...but nope. Go to X, pick an item that you cannot fail at picking (why isn't it automatic I don't know...), go back to Y, go to another guy (near X, far from Y) to tell him that you took that something to X...Damn, that's illogical!