MSQ Needs Further Condensing

[Ammokkx]

There's a difference between synching down to do a FATE on your 80's or whatever else like a dungeon and helping someone get to semi relevant content like gazelleskin/dragonskin maps. Or even helping them level their crafts up with leves. They can grind them out but have to rely on the marketboard to get the items, or other friends to farm materials that have access to later areas. That isn't a "HUGE" issue with crafting, but wanting to do something other than some fates in northern Thanalan or some similar area, is not a bad thing to want to do.

...?????

I still don't see why you can't do any of what you're suggesting here on your main with the friend. My synced comment was more in reference to how you seemed to want to be on an equal playing field with someone you reccommend the game to, but again, they would be having to go through the MSQ anyway and doing it at the same time keeps you on-pace. In fact, I'd argue you'd be helping them "get to semi relevant content" a lot faster by just using your main than you would by starting up an alt for some reason.

Well ok then. Back to the meat of my point, there is no denying a very large portion of the plot point about white auricite is 100% filler time waste. I haven't read a developer say "this is time waste", but I have read some one who quoted them saying they literally made some of these quests to keep people busy during the down time between 2.0 and 3.0 with a goal of 15 minutes per quest. Which is basically saying "we made these quests in a way to keep you busy and paying your subscription". I'll pay my subscription and play the game if I'm having fun. I don't generally have fun doing laps around a map wondering if I'm being kept busy on purpose. I find enjoyment in the other filler content, like housing tho. That's 100% filler, and it's not "bad". Needs some help, but not in the actual house department. The Getting a house/ supply/and decorating process needs help. Floating/etc that is what could be trimmed from the experience.

W-

what quests do you think they cut out?

There was this entire chain of Mor Dhona quests that were like "huhhey thanks for helping out but we need another material" and when you handed it in the guy want "huhhey thanks for helping out but we need another material" for like 7 quests at a time. Yeah, that was gigantic filler content and they cut that out. The stuff that actually remains in the game all has to do with actual plot, whether it be plot directly related to the ongoing primal threat or plot dealing with the side story of a character, like Tataru.

Housing isn't "filler" content, it's side content. Filler is something you're forced to go through to artificially pad game time, and I'm gonna be honest, I think they've just about removed every pure filler quest in the game. The ones that remain have a lot more ambiguity as to their filler nature and you could pose a fair argument for them needing to be there.

I don't think you have a very good grip on the MSQ, my dude.

[Sauteed]

...?????

I still don't see why you can't do any of what you're suggesting here on your main with the friend. My synced comment was more in reference to how you seemed to want to be on an equal playing field with someone you reccommend the game to, but again, they would be having to go through the MSQ anyway and doing it at the same time keeps you on-pace. In fact, I'd argue you'd be helping them "get to semi relevant content" a lot faster by just using your main than you would by starting up an alt for some reason.



W-

what quests do you think they cut out?

There was this entire chain of Mor Dhona quests that were like "huhhey thanks for helping out but we need another material" and when you handed it in the guy want "huhhey thanks for helping out but we need another material" for like 7 quests at a time. Yeah, that was gigantic filler content and they cut that out. The stuff that actually remains in the game all has to do with actual plot, whether it be plot directly related to the ongoing primal threat or plot dealing with the side story of a character, like Tataru.

Housing isn't "filler" content, it's side content. Filler is something you're forced to go through to artificially pad game time, and I'm gonna be honest, I think they've just about removed every pure filler quest in the game. The ones that remain have a lot more ambiguity as to their filler nature and you could pose a fair argument for them needing to be there.

I don't think you have a very good grip on the MSQ, my dude.

Trust me I'm not your dude, or your friend. No problem admitting I may be mistaken on plot points either (not gonna shy away from saying they're pretty boring plot points either), but the fact remains I'm absolutely of the belief the MSQ needs further pruning.
I got a good enough grip on the MSQ I did it right before they trimmed it with a character, and leveled on specifically after they trimmed it to see what got trimmed. I didn't set a stop watch, I just played some each day after I got off work, and the take away was..
They trimmed out 20 quests and made the Crystal Tower series mandatory. I kind of chuckled about it, I wasn't mad or upset. I was just wondering why they left in so much that could have been taken out as well, and made CT series mandatory. It's ludicrous it took this many years for them to address the length of time between 2.0 and 3.0 and the result was maybe a net gain or 3-5 minutes of a person's time being trimmed off? Maybe more if they insta queued into CT after doing all the cut scene'ing and running around involved with that series. Sure I'm stupid and a failure at being intimately versed with XIV lore, but too much is too much "dude".

Outside of the immediate topic of msq needing further pruning (which I am 100% for), reasons why I won't watch any of cut scenes is the dialogue of most of the characters is just bad. Most of the stuff going on doesn't matter either.. I'm glad a lot of it is there tho, because that is a huge drawing point for a lot of people. But if you can't reasonably see there's a lot of garbage in the way of that stuff people legitimately find interesting, it's not me that needs to get in touch with MSQ plot points or whatever else. I put with having to go through it, on top of various non "intended" gameplay issues like marketboard bots/scammers/lag issues/etc but of all elements within the game design's control a little trimming of the msq would be probably the most beneficial of their time, as well as letting players get a little more area to explore/ do stuff in a little earlier.. not advocating day 1 access to The Lochs or anything like that, but sooner than trudging through all of ARR and a hefty time in Heavensward before they can start getting around a bit more.

[Ammokkx]

I was just wondering why they left in so much that could have been taken out as well, and made CT series mandatory.

because

The stuff that actually remains in the game all has to do with actual plot, whether it be plot directly related to the ongoing primal threat or plot dealing with the side story of a character, like Tataru.

as for why CT is mandatory, if you'd bothered to actually watch the 5.3 cutscenes, the ending of 5.3 literally can not function unless the ending of the crystal tower raid is reached. Local best boi needs to be taking his nap or else we can't wake him up.

I got a good enough grip on the MSQ I did it right before they trimmed it with a character, and leveled on specifically after they trimmed it to see what got trimmed.

...

It's ludicrous it took this many years for them to address the length of time between 2.0 and 3.0 and the result was maybe a net gain or 3-5 minutes of a person's time being trimmed off? Maybe more if they insta queued into CT after doing all the cut scene'ing and running around involved with that series. Sure I'm stupid and a failure at being intimately versed with XIV lore, but too much is too much "dude".

Listen, man, I don't know what to tell you, but you've admitted to not even watching the story of ShB because you think it's "dogshit". Everyone's entitled to your opinion, but if you're going to be this disinterested in the going-ons of one of the game's big selling points, you're not an authority on the subject.

Quests are there because they're telling a story. The ones who didn't advance the story got cut. It's as simple as that. Besides, if each quest took 15 minutes as you say, and they trimmed 20 quests, that's 300 minutes of time cut out, or 5 hours. That's quite a fair amount of filler quests to be cut.

I'm also not asking you to be well versed in the lore, but you fail to have a basic grip on the simple facts of the story laid out in front of you. I'm not asking you what the 6 elements of Eorzae are and which align with Umbral and Astral. I'm asking you "how did 3/4 ascians die on-screen" because it directly relates to a point you were making.

They cut what unquestionably needed to be cut. That's the long and short of it. To argue they needed to cut more, you need to argue why some sections of the story should be cut out. A story you, I'm sorry to say, don't have nearly enough of a solid grip on to make any kind of judgement call.

[Sauteed]

because



as for why CT is mandatory, if you'd bothered to actually watch the 5.3 cutscenes, the ending of 5.3 literally can not function unless the ending of the crystal tower raid is reached. Local best boi needs to be taking his nap or else we can't wake him up.




Listen, man, I don't know what to tell you, but you've admitted to not even watching the story of ShB because you think it's "dogshit". Everyone's entitled to your opinion, but if you're going to be this disinterested in the going-ons of one of the game's big selling points, you're not an authority on the subject.

Quests are there because they're telling a story. The ones who didn't advance the story got cut. It's as simple as that. Besides, if each quest took 15 minutes as you say, and they trimmed 20 quests, that's 300 minutes of time cut out, or 6 hours. That's quite a fair amount of filler quests to be cut.

I'm also not asking you to be well versed in the lore, but you fail to have a basic grip on the simple facts of the story laid out in front of you. I'm not asking you what the 6 elements of Eorzae are and which align with Umbral and Astral. I'm asking you "how did 3/4 ascians die on-screen" because it directly relates to a point you were making.

They cut what unquestionably needed to be cut. That's the long and short of it. To argue they needed to cut more, you need to argue why some sections of the story should be cut out. A story you, I'm sorry to say, don't have nearly enough of a solid grip on to make any kind of judgement call.

It's comical you say I don't have authority to make a judgement call on something, when you don't have authority to tell me I do or don't. I also didn't use a swear word, so the quotation marks aren't needed around your own defining of my view point. I skipped a lot of the cut scenes because they are just run on and ultimately in the way and could be more concise, and less in the way. Which is a MASSIVE reason why they should be trimmed down. My opinion might seem like dreadful to someone who gets excited to watch Game of Thrones or whatever is hip with the younguns but, reality is if I'm paying to play this game, and I feel like something needs to be addressed, I've been given a forum to share/discuss/be as valid/be as stupid/ as I can be and I've got just as much authority as someone who could recite every word from the MSQ and all it's little lore niblets. I don't feel like XIV makes wise use of it's available resources in terms of story/lore/capabilities. I don't need to be a walking Encyclopedia Eorzea to state I feel the MSQ needs massive pruning still.

[Ammokkx]

listen, my man, I'm just gonna

I don't need to be a walking Encyclopedia Eorzea to state I feel the MSQ needs massive pruning still.

Yes, yes you do. You need to know what you're talking about before you want to talk about cutting stuff out. I don't trust my hairdresser to do brain surgery. They know a fair bit about the head, but not enough to go poking around inside of it with a scalpel.

edit: goodnight lads, it's 1:30 in the morning and I am done with the topic

[Sauteed]

listen, my man, I'm just gonna



Yes, yes you do. You need to know what you're talking about before you want to talk about cutting stuff out. I don't trust my hairdresser to do brain surgery. They know a fair bit about the head, but not enough to go poking around inside of it with a scalpel.

No, I don't need to be the one doing the cutting, but I also don't go to a hospital and demand to perform surgery on myself when my appendix is ruptured either. I DO know there needs to be some cutting done on that msq, in my honest opinion. Love some of these little quips tho. Keep em coming.


To give some examples of why I started insta skipping 5.0 and further cut scenes and why I will every single time I get that "feeling", just think about Thancred fighting Ranjit and "dying", and then being right there alive just seconds later, or Y'shtola dying and being brought back like 5 minutes later as a cludgey attempt to help someone identify with someone who also says he believes we're all fake anyways, and wants to kill us all anyhow to bring about the rejoining.. Or watch the exacrch get shot in the back as some kind of big deal by said person, and then you get him back immediately after kiling him in the ultimate battle with them, etc, most ardbert stuff just seemed kind of tacked on (to me), and of all the people in the story Vaulthry to me was the most interesting and also bizarre there was. Elidibus stuff was pretty bad also (like meeting and talking to him and just deciding to let him go around try to convince people to be warriors of light, maybe to discern some further plot? Or what?) That and emet selch again just being able to freely come and go as he chooses with us? Like why did even tolerate this guy? Story purposes? The Thancred thing tho, and actually going and raiding Eulmore "finally" was enough for me to just realize I wasn't ever going to like ShB. And thus, I've chosen to completely and utterly stop watching XIV cutscenes unless I just feel like I should.. which is what happened with 5.4 up until we get to see the Fandaniel schpeel, and they'll be getting skipped again maybe til 6.0 if I'm still here by then.

Anybody that can read books with lots of pictures can kind of know this is some hamfisted not well written stuff that just in my opinion again, isn't worth getting invested in or obsessing over. It's a video game, it's got a story. It's not good, it's not great, but it does it's job for a video game. It COULD be so much better, but it's not. So it could be shorter.. and well, hoping it is soon™

I guess something else to give comparison to as well is Star Wars.. I liked the original triology that came out Episode 4 5 and 6. After seeing 1 and 2 (which I fell asleep during) I didn't watch or care about 3 until years later, and can no longer go back and just 'relive" the excitement of 4 5 and 6 (which I loved dearly decades ago). I have not watched any of the newer star wars things either, except for bits and pieces of The Force Awakens. As far as star wars is concerned, I'm done with it. I can't call some hollywood liberal and ask them to revert or change things, I can't call my congressman, I can get on a fan ran forum and complain, and get told I'm dumb and then ip blocked off the forum or whatever they do in those places. As it stands, star wars will never receive a cent of my money or a moment of my time outside of me saying I just can't stand it anymore. Now why did that happen? They just kept going in a direction I felt sucked.. so I just kind of hoped the next part would be better and it sucked way worse (in my opinion mind you), and I decided to give it another chance years later and felt like it was just totally dead and gone. Many years later, someone asked if I wanted to watch the "then new" star wars movie with them and I said you know, ok.. I hope it's better than the last one. And you know, imo it wasn't. Again, I can't go anywhere and have any chance of pushing my hopes for the series that I'm willing to go. I don't like Reddit or facebook or even making youtube videos at all. So, I just tossed my little hands up and said you're dead to me and decided to play some online games again. I don't watch a lot of movies, I feel most of them are little cinematic catastrophes and I think the vast majority of people also do. It's a dying genre. We get netflix series now, and some of them make it, a lot of them don't.

My hope tho is XIV lasts super long time, and just gets better. Not more restrictive, and not in need of investing hundreds of MORE hours than already are there to get to places where people who've been playing for years are at. My playtime according to steam is around 5k hours. My actual play time is much less, as I've left the game on in the background or on overnight or while I was at work. In sincerity, the game could do with a mighty pruning about and be better for it. Again, I'm not super versed in the lore, I have played for years and watched some of these cutscenes 1 time years ago, and ceased caring about the story in much the same way I ceased caring for Star Wars stuff. (which I could have told you stuff out of books and all the little names of pieces of a light saber, it was like that for me back then). XIV will never have a place in my mind or heart like that.. the story will just never be that tier for me. I don't need to go look at a list of MSQ's on console gaming wiki and wade through those to feel I have "earned" some right to come to this conclusion. Simply having played through it several times is what I base my opinion on.

Have a happy starlight tho.

[HyperiusUltima]

I don't like how "I" feel about the story.

Honestly if we're going to start trying to bash 5.0 Story, you obviously didn't read into it. If you weren't clicking through boxes too fast for so long you'd know that Tankred was saved by the others after he fought off Ran'jit(Think about who was in the cart at the time when the Talos was moving). And about Rak'tika with Ysh'tola pulling off what she did in Before the Fall(AGAIN): If you bothered to listen to Matoya as little as she shows up, she told Ysh'tola not to do that again for a reason. If anything, asking Emet to help us get her back at least shows his empathic nature, and is honestly something that you don't see in your normal Final Fantasy or MMORPG Villain nowadays. As for the Exarch, remember that guy's connected to the Crystal Tower. In 5.3, we see him becoming more crystallized. Why? Because he's bloodletting himself to try and find a solution to getting the Scions home using the Allagan Royal Blood he carries.

We can assume properly that he survived thanks to that connection in Amaurot after he had been shot(outside trying to Deus Ex Machina Hades in our moment so to speak). As for Elidibus, if you actually paid attention to the man in the white robe in previous expansions, you'd understand better what kind of guy he is. He's a manipulator that only serves one purpose - The Rejoining. He has a savior complex that shows itself in 5.3 if you've been reading the story side that has turned into an obsession(hence his turning into the First Warrior of Light as depicted in the storybook in the Cabinet of Curiosity). Ardbert is also not tacked on, because if you remember Soul Surrender, that story ties into 5.0 in particular. The First is Ardbert's home world - and he cares about it A LOT. Even going through his story about his companions in the Role Quests helps show a lot more about his allies and how he's grown himself; in addition, he also is another perspective taken in a few scenes, especially the scene in one of the Duties in Lakeland.

But, given how you want to continue to leverage your opinion in opposition to what is a well-written story with FAR, FAR LESS continuity issues than the likes of WoW and the praise the story has received from a mass majority of the playerbase, just writing it off as "But this is boring because story exposition and bland characters and blah blah blah" is derogatory; but you do you, Boo Boo.

Next time you try to make a critical statement about a story, read through the entire damn thing and try to point out flaws(not character flaws, but usually established personalities of characters that contradict their action lest their reason be stated, continuity problems. I can criticize Stormblood for some of its storyboarding from 4.0-4.3, but it was a more political expansion than most in regards to story content outside of 4.0's short-fallings).