You dont need the story.

[Mahoukenshi]

FF1 is not a story based game
FFT is incredibly story based and lets you skip all the story by button mashing.
FF14 has some of the worst characters, and some really great stuff crammed in between. Its painful to have to put up with the bad parts of this game to get to the good stuff. AKA any character from waking sands please kill them all. Like I legit thought I liked Raubahns character until I had to hold his hand for 60 quests in SB. Then he was just another baby to sit.

Lets all remember the amazing FF13 and FF15 stories that were flaming garbage as well before we tout FF being a story based franchise.

LOL, nice trolling. You not liking a story doesn't mean that a game isn't story-driven. And again, "the bad parts" and " the good stuff" depends from player to player.

[TaleraRistain]

FF1 is not a story based game
FFT is incredibly story based and lets you skip all the story by button mashing.
FF14 has some of the worst characters, and some really great stuff crammed in between. Its painful to have to put up with the bad parts of this game to get to the good stuff. AKA any character from waking sands please kill them all. Like I legit thought I liked Raubahns character until I had to hold his hand for 60 quests in SB. Then he was just another baby to sit.

Lets all remember the amazing FF13 and FF15 stories that were flaming garbage as well before we tout FF being a story based franchise.

I fail to see how I is not story based. You're following the story of the four Warriors of Light saving the world from Garland's machinations. And most JRPGs let you go through the dialogue at your own pace. None of them force you to read what you press buttons through, but that's not the same as letting you skip the process entirely.

You mention XIII and XV but then you leave out IV, VI, IX, X, XII. Final Fantasy is a JRPG series. JRPG series are story-based. It's a trait that you see in any of them, no matter who the developer is.

To the OP, it's fine if folks want to skip the story. But then you give up any position to comment on it or complain if development time is spent on it. I'm not the least interested in PvP and I just skip it. Glad it's there for those who like it. We should all be able to find something we enjoy in the game. But we really can't have a valid opinion on the quality of something if we don't personally try to experience it.

It's also fine if someone is like "Oh man, that's too bad, you're missing out". My friends who enjoy PvP say that to me all the time. There's really nothing there to take personally. Unless people are throwing insults at those who don't like the story the way the OP has repeatedly in this thread at those who do.

[VelKallor]

I have been gaming since the days of BBS. Have read thousands of books, played all genres of games over the years.

I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of games I have seen with the quality and scope of Shadowbringers.

I am delighted and elated that Natsuko Ishikawa will be writing for Endwalker, and look forward to the wonders she will create. Shadowbringers made me laugh, made me cry, made me ball my fists in impotent fury..and broke my heart a dozen times over. Not since Lord of the Rings, maybe System Shock 2 and a few others has a story and a narrative captivated me to this level. You may dismiss the story as inconsequential..I for one loved every single moment of it.

Shadowbringers was like a handful of books I started to read..and could not put down even if I wanted to. In the early hours when i could not sleep ( and that has been the case for a long time...grief may fade but never goes away ), I walked the Crystarium and explored Norvrandt at night....

“A sea of shimmering stars. Diamonds strewn across a raven gown, boundless and beautiful.“

One of my greatest regrets is that i may never get the chance to tell them in person ( I had planned to go to Japan for Fanfest before things went south ) what all of it meant to me personally.

For those we have lost...for those we can yet save

[SturmChurro]

I agree I would rather they not touch a hair on the MSQ and make it optional.

We didn't lose much in the pruning, but it didn't really help either, and it didn't really address the real problems. It seems to be longer now that Crystal Tower is required.

That is unfortunate! The problem with the way the "pruning", or "cutting was done doesn't make ANY party happy. I think it could have been done better, or other avenues of play could have been introduced. For example, EW will end the current story line, soon is a perfect time to alter the new player experience. As in, allow new players to start here at EW (or later), or at ARR, something as simple as a free jump could work. I just feel like story skips, and the like aren't an elegant way to handle the issue. A story skip just dumps a player into a section of the story, with no context. I have never liked the solution.

My stance has literally never changed on this subject, because I always liked the story. I just get laughed out of the room constantly when I have the audacity to try and think of alternative ways, that I think could make the new player experience better.

[Nayout]

200 hours of content someone may find boring blocking them from access to content they may not find boring is too much. While I understand this game is story-based, it is also a themepark MMORPG. It can (and does) cater to both types of players.

However, I don't necessarily agree with pruning, or cutting of ARR story content. That's story content lost forever, bits that can give further context, etc. I'd rather they figure out a way to re-implement this stuff different than outright cut.

It is that the narrative of FFXIV is similar to that found in any other JRPG on the market.
Yakuza 7 doesn't really start the good until it's 20 hours of play time.
Person 5 you take even longer
I am playing Yx IX, I have been 10 hours and they have recently introduced me to 2 characters because the first hours in any of these games are about character development, FFXIV instead of using this for character development they use it in WorldBuilding throughout ARR, and Of course, being a game with a history of 5+ years it is clear that "prologue" is much longer than a game that lasts 100+ hours as Persona 5.

You want a perfect example, there you have The Legend of Heroes which is a story that consists of more than 10 games and skipping one means not knowing enough context for some installments such as Hajimami or Sen IV

[TurtlesAWD]

only story i skipped was OP's

[VeradBV]

It's a decent story for a video game. The world building is very good though and I'm here for that.

[DreadCrow]

I think people are absolutely free to skip all the cut-scenes and not enjoy the story.

I also feel that 95% of the people who talk about how they skip the cut-scenes and hate the story (yet skipped all the cut scenes so they don't know the story) are at best, wanting everyone to know they have a contrarian opinion since they fell it makes them special... Or at worst, deliberately trolling since they know the vast majority of the player base has a strong emotional connection to the story and characters and that it's not a popular opinion.

I mean, I don't like the Beatles. I feel they are over-rated. Great musicians, sure... But their rock and roll stuff? I'd rather listen to something like Chuck Berry or Little Richard. Their pop-oriented stuff? Give me the Beach Boys. Their psychedelic stuff? I'll take any of the harder edged bands... But I also, 100% understand that in music circles, my opinion isn't popular and if I share it a lot of people will call me out. It's an unpopular opinion to have. If you share an unpopular opinion, you 100% have to expect people to vocally disagree.

[Teppie]

I think people are absolutely free to skip all the cut-scenes and not enjoy the story.

I also feel that 95% of the people who talk about how they skip the cut-scenes and hate the story (yet skipped all the cut scenes so they don't know the story) are at best, wanting everyone to know they have a contrarian opinion since they fell it makes them special... Or at worst, deliberately trolling since they know the vast majority of the player base has a strong emotional connection to the story and characters and that it's not a popular opinion.

I have a friend who hates the story, they even played through to watch all the cutscenes just to see why everyone got mad at them for not liking it. They're not actively disdainful towards it, you know going to rooftops shouting their opinion. It normally comes up when people are talking about the story or lore and notice they're very quiet, so they try to include them and ask their opinion. Then the secret comes out that they think the story is garbage.

I think you hit the nail on the head with that, the OP wants to be contrarian for funsies.

[Krokov]

I like the story, IMO it provides an element that, depending on the player, provides an important part of the game. Even WoW has a story.