Square Enix should adopt a curated mod gallery/collection ala Skyrim / Fallout 4

[Edax]

Again, keep in mind the gigantic amount of players who have enjoyed Bethesda games despite ALL THE BUGS, vanilla.

You can enjoy bad things. The quality of the product however, can be objectively measured. There's no getting around Skyrim's mountain of bugs. That list I posted didn't even include the giant amount of exploits in the game that Bethesda just left in the game despite rereleasing the game 7 times.

[SturmChurro]

You can enjoy bad things. The quality of the product however, can be objectively measured. There's no getting around Skyrim's mountain of bugs. That list I posted didn't even include the giant amount of exploits in the game that Bethesda just left in the game despite rereleasing the game 7 times.

Every game has bugs, and my arguments might seem jumbled, because I am doing multiple things at once. In short Skyrim is objectively good despite the bad, mods that fix these bug just make that good experience better. They stand well enough on their own without mods, to continue to rerelease those "7" times.

Sorry, I'd write a longer essay, but I am literally tabbing in and out of FFXIV, and going AFK. Doubt I will go back and solidify my argument.

[Edax]

Every game has bugs, and my arguments might seem jumbled, because I am doing multiple things at once. In short Skyrim is objectively good despite the bad, mods that fix these bug just make that good experience better. They stand well enough on their own without mods, to continue to rerelease those "7" times.

Sorry, I'd write a longer essay, but I am literally tabbing in and out of FFXIV, and going AFK. Doubt I will go back and solidify my argument.

Every games has bugs, few AAA games however managed to rival Bethesda bugs. As for Skyrim, the story is really weak, the characters are really weak, the only thing that stood out to me was the gameplay. And it's with the gameplay that the glitches drag it down. Even the DLC was so buggy that I couldn't even finish a single one, apart from the one where I built a really glitchy house. Perhaps calling Skyrim "bad" is too far but the fact remains the game was buried in problems. I can't remember the story, I only remember characters by their appearance and I vaguely remember really bad voice acting, what I remember most about Skyrim was looting caves. For me, retrospectively, I didn't get a lot out of Skyrim even though I remember being amazed by it on release.

[SturmChurro]

Every games has bugs, few AAA games however managed to rival Bethesda bugs. As for Skyrim, the story is really weak, the characters are really weak, the only thing that stood out to me was the gameplay. And it's with the gameplay that the glitches drag it down. Even the DLC was so buggy that I couldn't even finish a single one, apart from the one where I built a really glitchy house. Perhaps calling Skyrim "bad" is too far but the fact remains the game was buried in problems. I can't remember the story, I only remember characters by their appearance and I vaguely remember really bad voice acting, what I remember most about Skyrim was looting caves. For me, retrospectively, I didn't get a lot out of Skyrim even though I remember being amazed by it on release.

Is that really true though? Have you been keeping up with Triple A releases of the past decade? Warcraft 3: Reforged, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Anthem, The Division, Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, Battlefield V, WWE 2K20, and the list goes on and on and on and on. Can good gameplay, carry a game? The players of Fallout 4 seem to think so, since when that came out I remember in my YouTube feed, and what I saw regurgitated on various message boards, "good game, bad Fallout game". On the flipside, can a good story (good writing) carry bad gameplay? Again many players (and reviewers) of various games that suffer from this also seem to think so. I'd say hmm.. Planescape Torment could fall under this category, as an example.

[Edax]

Is that really true though? Have you been keeping up with Triple A releases of the past decade? Warcraft 3: Reforged, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Anthem, The Division, Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, Battlefield V, WWE 2K20, and the list goes on and on and on and on. Can good gameplay, carry a game? The players of Fallout 4 seem to think so, since when that came out I remember in my YouTube feed, and what I saw regurgitated on various message boards, "good game, bad Fallout game". On the flipside, can a good story (good writing) carry bad gameplay? Again many players (and reviewers) of various games that suffer from this also seem to think so.

The answer is no, I haven't played a single one. I was a former Mass Effect fan but from the reviews and gameplay footage of Mass Effect: Andromeda's tired faces and ripped off story, it just wasn't for me. It's subjective if one element can carry it for you personally, but it's objective that there are problems that affect the quality of the game. Bad writing (story or character) is bad, bad gameplay is bad. Ideally AAA games should avoid these to produce a better product.

I enjoy salisbury steak served on a bed of mac and cheese and a pool of gravy, but I know this isn't a quality meal or fine dining.

[MintnHoney]

I'm just afraid that, if they allow mods, they would start not developing features in the game in favor of letting mods provide the features.

The funny thing is that a reason why many mods exist (not necessarily strictly about FFXIV, though it's likely very true here as well) is because the developers of a game won't develop them or don't seem to have a priority for their development. I.E., Hrothgar and Viera hairstyles, clothes (like with the genderlocking issue) and weapon skins, facial hair on men, etc. Things that the devs have said they cannot or will not develop, or are not "high on their list of priorities."
If I understand correctly, even male Viera and Female Hrothgar have been addressed via mods.

To those of you who think that a majority of this could be alleviated via design contests, there's an even bigger issue to present: Squeen, apparently, can't keep up with the demand of working on their own stuff. Why would they promise to be able to develop things that other people design, and on a higher frequency? I believe we're still waiting for various design contest winners to be implemented as it is, and I doubt they'll (be allowed to) expand their workforce to take on more projects.
And, if I'm honest, I'd rather they address the fact that they hurt the Astrologian job so badly, rather than try to focus manpower on a dress I can live without...

[linay]

The funny thing is that a reason why many mods exist (not necessarily strictly about FFXIV, though it's likely very true here as well) is because the developers of a game won't develop them or don't seem to have a priority for their development. I.E., Hrothgar and Viera hairstyles, clothes (like with the genderlocking issue) and weapon skins, facial hair on men, etc. Things that the devs have said they cannot or will not develop, or are not "high on their list of priorities."
If I understand correctly, even male Viera and Female Hrothgar have been addressed via mods.

And as long as mods are not officially supported, players can keep asking for missing features, which can be an incentive for the devs, though of course nothing is guaranteed. But if mods are officially supported, other players would likely recommend using them.

An example is last name in WoW. Because of plugin availability, people are quick to shut down the request and to recommend the use of some RP plugins instead to provide last name feature rather than having the game provide an actual option for last name.

[MonsutaMan]

They would need private servers or something because mods would replace cosmetic items. Players are far superior to devs when it comes to designing armor. Fallout 76 was debating on adding mods due to this, but came to the conclusion of private servers if I recall correctly. Mods for mmo are tricky, because game makers are greedy. A sub is not enough, they want to charge you for more than that.

[Nandrolone]

Personally, I look at mods as a way of implementing what the game lacks. (within reason) I dunno, that’s just me anyway.

[MintnHoney]

And as long as mods are not officially supported, players can keep asking for missing features, which can be an incentive for the devs, though of course nothing is guaranteed. But if mods are officially supported, other players would likely recommend using them.

An example is last name in WoW. Because of plugin availability, people are quick to shut down the request and to recommend the use of some RP plugins instead to provide last name feature rather than having the game provide an actual option for last name.

Players are free to request anything. Players currently request a lot of things right now, and many of those requests fall on deaf ears.
So basically, you're worried about something that's already happening.