I am so freaking bored of Shadowbringer's story

[NanaWiloh]

Oh yeah, when I was doing the Trolley arc I was bored too. I didn't see why we needed to be there or why it took so long to wrap up and very well didn't till Mt. Gulg and especially not till the secret area where everything thematically just 'clicked'. Now I absolutely think it's a necessary arc that really only needed a minor portion of fat removed, but that's small potatoes in my mind for the sake of a cohesive story.

Ill take a good cohesive story with a little extra fat over a scrambled like a rubix cube story with devs who retcon lore whenever it suits them. Looking at you WoW...

[MOZZYSTAR]

I can say with 100% certainty that I could've skipped every single cutscene from the Greatwood until now and I wouldn't have missed anything substantial.

This is why OP must be bored, l o l.

I don't think it's fair to judge an expansion so soon into the story. I didn't rant and rave about how good it was until I finished it, no skipping cutscenes what-so-ever. I even talked to some regular non-quest NPCs like the devs suggested. A good story usually happens as a whole, not as a single segment. If/when you finish the mainstory without any skips and you still feel it's boring, then oh well. Everyone has their own tastes.

But it is plain to see once it concludes that this Expansion is so much more wholesome than the previous ones. That's not to say it's better than any standalone single-player RPG, like FF9 or FF7, because unlike those this one isn't finished (the collective story from ARR to its ending expansion would probably be a better "equivalent"), but it is definitely way better than most MMO stories/MSQs. It actually felt closer on the lines of a typical FF game.

[Melichoir]

I've been reading how amazing it was and how it rivals single player RPGs... and here I am, bored out of my mind, just skipping through textbox after textbox. And it doesn't even feel like I'm missing anything. It's just that boring and pointless.

The first few hours were amazing. I liked everything until the Greatwood. And since then it went downhill so hard that I can barely bring myself to continue. The entire Greatwood felt like filler to me - from start to finish. The only relevant parts were the very beginning and the very end. Everything in between had so much padding and felt like dozens of sidequests rather than the main story. And then I got to the desert... and it's the same thing again.

I'm about to start the golem duty, and everything that happened in this zone so far felt like 100% filler. I don't even understand how you can write a 'story' filled with so much trivial, menial and pointless crap. It honestly feels like they are trying to pad the hell out of this zone, as nobody can tell me that getting this golem was the best way to reach that area I'm supposed to go to. Every explanation for why I can't just go the simple route is idiotic and unsatisfactory to me. I just destroyed an entire army of sin eaters. Just let me go to my destination directly and find a more interesting way to extend game time, please.

I can honestly say that I'm just completely disappointed with the story so far. The main beats are there, and they are better than anything before, but the everything in between is so utterly pointless that I can't wait to get to the end of it. And I can say with 100% certainty that I could've skipped every single cutscene from the Greatwood until now and I wouldn't have missed anything substantial. I have absolutely no idea what you guys are seeing here, but to me this has the exact same problems every other expansion had as well.

Alright.

You dont like the story.

So what? People who like will say as much, youre expressing you dont. Theres not much else to discuss as there's no point in trying to 'convince' you to enjoy it.

[Enla]

Ill take a good cohesive story with a little extra fat over a scrambled like a rubix cube story with devs who retcon lore whenever it suits them. Looking at you WoW...

As would I lol.

[Raikai]

I think the OP is complaining about the lack of "extremely exciting" moments all the time (basically what happened in the beginning), but then, I'd say you - need - some "lesser interesting" points in the story, to balance it all. Just don't go overboard with the filler and you'll be fine.

the only real downside aspect I have to say about 5.0 story is that it, for most of the zones, follow a "safe formula" that consists in you a) reach the zone b) befriend the people there c) do a number of different tasks (usually 3 "stages") to unlock your way d) kill the Lightwarden... As in, it's obvious that d) had to happen all the time, because that's the objective after all, but maybe approach them differently every time?

This is but a minor nitpick. The story is great in my opinion. Maybe you should take breaks while playing through? Remember, this is not a 6-episode netflix that you can binge in 2 days.

[Chiami]

Some people prefer to read stories in books.
Some people prefer to watch movies at theater.
Some people prefer to play games as games.

Some like mixing, some don't.

<Spoilers will exist beyond this point>

Me personally I like to mix them... sparingly and on my own terms. My biggest complaint about FFXIV is the content lock behind MSQ. I don't believe content should be locked around story. Story should be enjoyed as a story. It can be immersion breaking to have a story stop, and have to play, and then stop and have to read or watch again. But then again, I've been playing video games since the 80s. Back then, much of the story in a game was in the manual. I read the manual of every game I played. But when I played a game, it was to play the game.

When I played Everquest and World of Warcraft (two universes with hundred times more story and lore than FFXIV, sorry they do, if not in their respective games). There was very little story within the actual game. You would see references to events, or little lore hooks. You would put these hooks together and read on wikis, or novels, or manuals, or other literature to see what was related to what. That felt way more engaging than simply being strung along by the nose.

So I can see why someone who comes to FFXIV would feel disjointed. Couple this with the fact that you have no say in how the story unfolds. We get the following dialogue choices:

"Alright lets do this!"
"meh, if I must"
"..."


Whichever you choose, may change the initial reaction to what your character responds with, but you're still going to move forward on a train track. You just get to choose whether its a window seat or an aisle one.

Now with that said, I did enjoy the Shadowbringers story. It was much better than Stormblood, and even an improvement over Heavensward. And I was able to enjoy it during a time where I was ready to read through some story. But I have a friend who has yet to do 71-80. They have the expansion. But even if I were to get them to 80, they could NOT do the content we wish to do together. They would need to go through the MSQ to catch up. I don't believe that should be the case.

They would like to see the story. But they would like to see it on their terms. There's no challenge to the MSQ. Its clicking through text boxes, traveling a few feet or a teleport to aetheryte to talk to the next person. Even the dungeons can simply go in as a DPS and let the Trust do all the work. Its just time. All it takes is time. Time spent mostly reading, and watching. Time spent reading and watching, when a person might simply wish to play the game.

And I get it, I already know the arguments. Its to slow us down, its so we don't get bored too fast, blah blah blah. Yeah those statements. Ridiculous.

Why? I did the MSQ, I beat Hades using a lightwarden light aether infused axe, and I know that Ascians are Tempered by the God-Primal Zodiark, I know the WoL/D maybe tempered by the God-Primal Hydaelen. And I know that Zenos committed regicide and sent Eldibrius scurrying with his tail between his legs. I read and watched everything. It took me 2 days to do that. I've been playing now for 18 days. Less than 10% of my time spent playing was on MSQ (those two days weren't all on MSQ, but on doing some other stuff too). If skipping the MSQ would make the game too quick and make me bored.. wouldn't that have happened already?

And if it did, its only keeping me for 2 extra days. But that's irrelevant. I'm not bored yet. I've got expert dungeons to perfect. I've got classes to level. And I've got extremes to do. I've got an entire game's expansion to play through, and we haven't even had our first content patch yet.

MSQ isn't for everyone. Some just want to play the game, the game itself is great. Best dungeons of any MMORPG right now. Most varied, most diverse, most quality and quantity at that. But most importantly. Everyone ought to be able to play the game they wish to do. They ought to enjoy the story on their terms. I agree that we must all face the same challenges. Its only just. But clicking a text box and watching animation isn't a challenge. Its just time spent. And we ought to spend the time doing what we like to do.

This. So. much. this.

I love the story. But HAVING to do it first before doing any other content for real leads to this feeling of "Meh get through it fast" so I can do ALL THE OTHER THINGS that interest me. Can't access zones. Can't do DoH/DoL quests. Hunt, instances, whatever. Nothing. A situation leading to the temptation to not take your time, savor the story, enjoy the dialogues, maybe also click on the other NPCs on the side to get these extra little tidbits. Many gamers, including some "youtube influencers" have already admitted being guilty of that.

It's like going to a theme park and wanting to enjoy this ride and that attraction and yes, we also want to go to the movie theater... but no. Before we can do ANYTHING we HAVE to watch the movies. Even if we might wanna go to the waterslide first...

Furthermore, for those of us who have and enjoy doing things with alts (and yes we exist, and "then don't have alts" is a pretty lame answer to the issue)... well, imagine having to do the same MSQ over... and over... and over again. 2nd alt? Can still be fine but a bit meh. 3rd already feels bad. 4th you want to shoot yourself.

So yes, please give us these wonderful stories... but don't lock zones and everything else behind it. Force-feeding things isn't the best way to make people enjoy content.

[Evergrey]

I'm astounded how many think that OP first started to skip the story and then complain that it is boring.
If you read the OP he/she mentioned that the first hours were amazing. Meaning that at one point he/she did read/watch the cutscenes.
But along the way it got more and more boring.
And I'm pretty sure most people here have skipped what they think is boring stuff in different kinds of media.

[Bright-Flower]

IMO the msq is best at the beginning and the end. The middle drags in palces.

Spoilers below.

The beginning up through the start of Il Mehg is great. It really sets the tone and got me invested in the setting.

However, the game does start to become formulaic for a big part of the middle. Go to zone, find light warden, kill light warden, rest at inn. I can see this feeling boring for some people. I like Il Mehg but if the fae aren't your thing it's going to be a chore. Parts of the Greatwood wore me down but the parts with Emet I liked a lot. Then Ahm Araeng is suuuuuuuuper dull in the first part until you get to the Thancred/Ran'jit fight then it picks. At that point I feel like the msq manages to keep building up steam until the end.

Really the only part that bored me TOO much was the start of ahm araeng but I can also see why il mehg and the greatwood would wear people down too.

[galbsadi]

You've done it now, OP. You actually went public and said something about FFXIV story that isn't positive.
You will now get eaten alive by this community.

That's not necessarily true.

FFXIV does have some story issues at certain points.

Example: the stuff right before Titan is a bit of a slog. Yes, there's a couple humorous moments, but it's a bit of a slog.

The stuff around 2.1-2.2ish is a bit of a slog. Again, a couple good moments, and don't get me wrong, a TON of setup for later stuff, but a bit of a slog.

The stuff around late lv60ish in Stormblood is a bit of a slog. Doesn't last super long so you don't really notice much, but it's there.

However, overall, the story was okay in 2.0, fantastic in 3.0, good in 4.0, and (so far) absolutely amazing in 5.0.

[Nedkel]

I really did not like the troley story, like what the hell it was even about?
Wouldnt it be easier to just gather everyone in the plate place and jump at once to open the gate? Instead of going back na forth and arguing with one stubborn cat about his wife and son?