Final Fantasy XIV doesn't actually have that good of a story

[Kolsykol]

The '' pseudo-Shakespearean English '' adds a lot of character to the game and the writing.
What you're essentially asking for is dumbing down of the dialogue and to make people speak like robots instead of human beings.
Yes you can dumb down sentences to be as short and quick as possible, but that's not how normal people speak.
In fact this is one of my biggest problems with the writing in WoW and it makes the dialogue in WoW sound like it was written by a toddler.
And the '' Shakespearean '' makes the dialogue sound more otherwordly and like it's from a different world with its own speech patterns which imo is actually really cool.

As for the rest about no memorable character etc I mean uh.
There are so many countless memorable characters imo, even side-characters that don't have a lot of screen time.
And the game does a great job at giving characters believable motives and not making them just black and white, characters grow a lot and are allowed to be redeemed without it feeling stupid or forced.
But at the same time just because they've had a redemption arc also doesn't mean that all is forgiven and that they're just good, it's more about empathy in a more genuine way.

It's funny that you mention Cid too because he's one of the dullest characters imo.
I mean maybe what you're saying I could sorta understand a tiny bit if you're like in mid ARR or something before the story has really begun to shine.
But if you've finished ARR and especially if you're in Heavensward then I dunno what game you're playing because it doesn't sound like FFXIV.

Edit: I understand if you haven't finished it that you might not like it yet FFXIV's story has A LOT of build-up and ARR for the most part I think acted a lot like world building.
But I think it's pretty silly to judge a story you haven't finished yet, I think ARR was alright but it's pretty commonly accepted that Heavensward is when it really stepped up.
And the story in FFXIV is one where it might not seem like it makes sense at first or like you think it's going to go one way, but then in the end it actually does make sense or is way less predictable than you thought.
It's just silly in general to judge a story you haven't finished but I think it's especially silly with FFXIV.

I know that it's sort of a meme to bring him up but if you watched Asmongold stream the game he has repeatedly changed his mind because of this.
At first he was all like '' this is stupid I hate these characters '' but now he's super into it.
I actually like that FFXIV treats me like an adult and doesn't feel like it has to frontload everything immediately it takes its time and it makes it better in the end imo.

Your take about throw-away characters in particular couldn't be more wrong.
The game constantly brings characters back and actually gives them actual roles that makes sense.

[WanderingMist]

It's funny you talk about how "normal people" speak when referring to the writing in this game. I don't know where you are from but I have never heard anyone say things like " 'Tis no ordinary woman who can face a primal and emerge the victor! " and "Mayhap a brief summary of the situation would help clarify your thoughts on the matter" or how about "And all not afield will aid the fight from afar"

The writing is used to make the events and things said seem more sophisticated and grand. Here, I can do it too if you really like:

"Please go to the store to get some milk"
can be turned into:
"If you are so willing, go henceforth to the store and procure me some milk"

Both say the exact same thing. Which one was easier to read and understand? Which one sounds more like how people actually speak? You think that just because a character uses long words that it is more adult?

As for the characters, if they are so memorable, give me some defining character traits of say, Minfillia or Yshtola or Alphinaud. For all the time we have "interacted" with them, we know hardly anything about them. I know more about Sylvie from the Conjurer storyline than any of the Scions, despite having done a fraction of the quests with her.

[Herebedragons]

It's funny you talk about how "normal people" speak when referring to the writing in this game. I don't know where you are from but I have never heard anyone say things like " 'Tis no ordinary woman who can face a primal and emerge the victor! " and "Mayhap a brief summary of the situation would help clarify your thoughts on the matter" or how about "And all not afield will aid the fight from afar"

The writing is used to make the events and things said seem more sophisticated and grand. Here, I can do it too if you really like:

"Please go to the store to get some milk"
can be turned into:
"If you are so willing, go henceforth to the store and procure me some milk"

Both say the exact same thing. Which one was easier to read and understand? Which one sounds more like how people actually speak? You think that just because a character uses long words that it is more adult?

As for the characters, if they are so memorable, give me some defining character traits of say, Minfillia or Yshtola or Alphinaud. For all the time we have "interacted" with them, we know hardly anything about them. I know more about Sylvie from the Conjurer storyline than any of the Scions, despite having done a fraction of the quests with her.

I'm not sure why people are so hung up on the way some characters speak. The use of colloquial, common or elevated speech in itself tells you something about a character. For example, let's compare Arenvald and Urianger. The former is an orphan who never received an education and resorted to petty crimes to survive, the latter is a Sharlayan Archon who was taught by Louisoix himself. Their speech patterns reflect that. It's not about being easy to understand, it's about character and world building.

As for characters being memorable, there's a part of subjective in that too. For some people it sticks, for others it doesn't. I agree with you about Minfilia, but not Y'shtola and Alphinaud. Someone else will think differently still.

Also, do keep in mind that the MSQ isn't the only content that gives information on the background of major characters: the SMN job quests, the ALC job quests, off the top of my head.

[WanderingMist]

I'm not sure why people are so hung up on the way some characters speak. The use of colloquial, common or elevated speech in itself tells you something about a character. For example, let's compare Arenvald and Urianger. The former is an orphan who never received an education and resorted to petty crimes to survive, the latter is a Sharlayan Archon who was taught by Louisoix himself. Their speech patterns reflect that. It's not about being easy to understand, it's about character and world building.

As for characters being memorable, there's a part of subjective in that too. For some people it sticks, for others it doesn't. I agree with you about Minfilia, but not Y'shtola and Alphinaud. Someone else will think differently still.

Also, do keep in mind that the MSQ isn't the only content that gives information on the background of major characters: the SMN job quests, the ALC job quests, off the top of my head.

"It's not about being easy to understand" - I'm sorry, but when you're being asked to spend the majority of your playtime reading text dialogue, yes is it about being easy to understand. Maybe I'm just stupid but to me, the writing is so pretentious and long-winded that I spend more time deciphering it than I do actually connecting with the characters.

You say Alphinaud and Y'shtola are memorable? Alright then, let's do the same thing we did with Minfillia.

Alphinaud
Backstory? Has a sister named Alisaie and is the grandchild of Louisoix Leveilleur (again, Louisoix is never explained in the MSQ so unless you played ffxiv when it first came out, you don't know who this is).
Character traits? Wants to stop the primals
Character development? NADA

Y'shtola
Backstory? NADA
Character traits? Wants to stop the primals and loyally protects the other Scions
Character development? NADA

You may remember these characters more than others but that is only because you see their names more often during the story. But what do you actually KNOW about them? NADA

[Herebedragons]

"It's not about being easy to understand" - I'm sorry, but when you're being asked to spend the majority of your playtime reading text dialogue, yes is it about being easy to understand. Maybe I'm just stupid but to me, the writing is so pretentious and long-winded that I spend more time deciphering it than I do actually connecting with the characters.

You say Alphinaud and Y'shtola are memorable? Alright then, let's do the same thing we did with Minfillia.

Alphinaud
Backstory? Has a sister named Alisaie and is the grandchild of Louisoix Leveilleur (again, Louisoix is never explained in the MSQ so unless you played ffxiv when it first came out, you don't know who this is).
Character traits? Wants to stop the primals
Character development? NADA

Y'shtola
Backstory? NADA
Character traits? Wants to stop the primals and loyally protects the other Scions
Character development? NADA

You may remember these characters more than others but that is only because you see their names more often during the story. But what do you actually KNOW about them? NADA

I'm not part of the localization team. You don't like the style they went with? Well, tough luck I suppose. All I'm saying is, this fancy talk isn't just to spite the readers. And I provided a plausible explanation, nothing more, nothing less.

If that's all you know about Alphinaud and Y'shtola, you're either way overleveled or you stopped paying attention at some point.

[WanderingMist]

I'm not part of the localization team. You don't like the style they went with? Well, tough luck I suppose. All I'm saying is, this fancy talk isn't just to spite the readers. And I provided a plausible explanation, nothing more, nothing less.

If that's all you know about Alphinaud and Y'shtola, you're either way overleveled or you stopped paying attention at some point.

I'm talking about what we know of them at the end of the base ARR storyline, which is a large chunk of the game. Still, if you think I've sold those characters short, then please, give me some unique character traits of Y'shtola or Alphinaud.

[Herebedragons]

I'm talking about what we know of them at the end of the base ARR storyline, which is a large chunk of the game. Still, if you think I've sold those characters short, then please, give me some unique character traits of Y'shtola or Alphinaud.

That's why I mentioned you being overleveled. Otherwise, at the point where I assume you are (HW patches or starting SB), the characters are more fleshed out than they were in ARR. Besides, their story ends with Endwalker, you can't judge their characterization on the base game alone.

Even if we consider only ARR.

Alphinaud and Y'shtola are both Sharlayan, Y'shtola being one of the Archons who stayed behind when they evacuated the city-state which became Idyllshire right before the calamity. And she's already the sassy expert in aetherology we see later on. If you play SMN, you even learn that she has a sister.

If you run the Coils, you learn more about Louisoix and his relationship with both Alphinaud and Alisaie. In the MSQ, you see Alphinaud as a spoiled lordling, extremely naive, with grand ideals and plans of unification for Eorzea, which all lead us to the Crystal Braves debacle.

So yes, I do believe you were a tiny bit unfair in your assessment.

[Kolsykol]

I'm not part of the localization team. You don't like the style they went with? Well, tough luck I suppose. All I'm saying is, this fancy talk isn't just to spite the readers. And I provided a plausible explanation, nothing more, nothing less.

If that's all you know about Alphinaud and Y'shtola, you're either way overleveled or you stopped paying attention at some point.

Probably overleveled tbh, you overlevel the MSQ so fast even without doing side-content.

I'm talking about what we know of them at the end of the base ARR storyline, which is a large chunk of the game. Still, if you think I've sold those characters short, then please, give me some unique character traits of Y'shtola or Alphinaud.

It's not actually a very large chunk.
And Alphinaud spends basically the entire expansion of Heavensward with you and gets a ton of development he's essentially the second main character.

In fact, what happens in ARR plays a role in that you'd know that if you had actually played the story instead of playing a small part of it then complain about it.
Things have actual consequences and affect the characters long term and that requires setup.

Characters also actually do things even when they're off-screen that come up later, in most other games your character is the center of the universe that solves all problems but in FFXIV that's not really the case.
In FFXIV characters are active even when they're away from you and then when you meet them again it turns out they've actually been up to something that matters instead of shoving that unto the player too.

[Elladie]

It's funny you talk about how "normal people" speak when referring to the writing in this game. I don't know where you are from but I have never heard anyone say things like " 'Tis no ordinary woman who can face a primal and emerge the victor! " and "Mayhap a brief summary of the situation would help clarify your thoughts on the matter" or how about "And all not afield will aid the fight from afar"

The writing is used to make the events and things said seem more sophisticated and grand. Here, I can do it too if you really like:

"Please go to the store to get some milk"
can be turned into:
"If you are so willing, go henceforth to the store and procure me some milk"

Both say the exact same thing. Which one was easier to read and understand? Which one sounds more like how people actually speak? You think that just because a character uses long words that it is more adult?

As for the characters, if they are so memorable, give me some defining character traits of say, Minfillia or Yshtola or Alphinaud. For all the time we have "interacted" with them, we know hardly anything about them. I know more about Sylvie from the Conjurer storyline than any of the Scions, despite having done a fraction of the quests with her.

Really? Of course it's not how people speak now. Because it's not set now. It's set in a medieval /Elizabethan fantasy universe with some unexpected techie advances and a lot of magic that lets the inhabitants do cool stuff. People now can't teleport either; do you object to that being in the game too?
The language people use in a story is part of the world building process. When Hilary Mantel wrote Wolf Hall she didn't have people going round saying 'hey, bro, sic shades', people spoke in a way that was as close to Elizabethan English as was able to be understood. Similarly Tolkien had his characters speak in a more formal old fashioned manner that fit with the world picture he was trying to create
I'm not calling Oda and Ishikawa, Tolkien, but the principle is the same.