Is Bozja a failed storyline?

[GrizzlyTank]

Let's also not forget that they made all these claims about the content itself, but it turned out to be just the standard run of the mill fate farm with a couple dungeons thrown in. Ppl complained about being able to get the drops outside in hw zone fates, but it really wasn't any different than what you were doing in Bozja, just with a more reliable drop rate.

Can really just add it to the list of things in this game that missed the mark.

If they want to continue content like Eureka and Bozja, then they really got to take a note from just how extensive and "natural" fates/events in GW2 works. The zones just felt bland, running from circle to circle dodging high tier mobs that will ruin your day while waiting for the boss to spawn. In GW2 there are multiple zones that are one giant fate train of fate trains, with each step having a notably different objective.

[Saefinn]

For me it was the whole middle section and the fact, as somebody's already said, your WoL drinks the big idiot juice and it just didn't feel right and I felt the mix of the two killed the credibility of the plot line.

I preferred it when I thought Misija's whole motive was classism and how she benefitted from the Garleans' meritocracy as being a reason for why she turned against the Bozjan resistance and for me this all felt coherent and plausible. Which is the direction we see when we find out she's a traitor. Especially as the IVth Legion here didn't show the same xenophobia we're used to from some other legions and said meritocracy appeared present. So I think it makes sense that Misija would think a IVth Legion rule is better than a Bozjan one.

But it just got weird and messy when they tried to work Gunnhilde into her motive to make it so she'd be an incarnation of her. It threw me off and couldn't bring me back on board, I mean, I can think of ways to have done it better. But her character ended up falling flat and didn't feel consistent.

I felt like given her motive and that Mikoto treated her like a friend, was nice to her and was never a part of the classism she faced that she would not mistreat Mikoto and I felt if they took the "I'm doing this because I have to" angle, this would have felt more credible, but it felt more like, "now that I've been revealed as a villain, time to act like a villain and do what a villain does".

Then the progression of this plot just relies on the WoL being a moron who doesn't do anything.

Then when we get to Zadnor, I think it picks up again and I think the plot starts working better and I think it ends well, whilst I groaned at Misija saving the day, but that middle section just ruined it. You see some of Misija's characterisation back when she turns into a good guy again, but it was too late, I decided I was going to take the option to kill her already.

But it does feel like enough loose ends are left that we're probably going to see a continuation. Dalmasca is still populated by the IVth Legion, there's pressure on the borders, we obviously have Nagxia from the opposite side and we don't get a lot of detail on their end, but I dig that we got 2 Nagxian heroes in Zadnor (and it's nice we get more lore on Nagxia out of this)

Although I don't like the plot itself, there's a lot surrounding it that I do like.

[Bhearil]

Pesonally hating Eureka and Borjza with a true passion, I will be extremely happy if they dont pull that crap for the third time and make something else instead but we know that SE doesnt shine content wise outside narrative (and sometimes they can even screw that) and they are quite predictable so im quite expecting for SE to pull out that boring slog of grind once again in EW with a different name and a new coat of paint

[PeppermintBrown]

Snip

Regarding Misjia they make the common mistake of having her go too 'evil' during the 'evil' part of the arc to the point any sort of attempt to redeem them is laughable.

I don't care what Yotsuyu's sad backstory is or about her innocence via amnesia arc when she's introduced forcing peasants to murder eachother to get her jollies off.

I don't care that Mis comes around at the end after gleefully enslaving the Blades as tempered thralls and no qualms with mistreating Mikoto etc.

There are all too many story arcs where a character goes evil, does unforgivable things, and then they get redeemed at the end and like, one act of self sacrifice or heroism is supposed to redeem all that? No. Dying is easy. Living and working to make up for your mistakes is hard. And some things are not easily forgiven or swept under the rug by a sob story. If you want to redeem a character, or make them more sympathetic after doing evil, BE CAREFUL WITH WHAT EVIL DEEDS YOU HAVE THE COMMIT.

[MoofiaBossVal]

The abrupt ending aside, I thought that the story was overall decent. I wanted a war story and it overall hit the notes, though I think that the Blades characters could have been better presented so that the events at the end of Castrum would have hit harder. It's also rather disappointing that you don't get to stop by any Bozjan settlements and talk to NPC townfolk and such. Even the Werlyt storyline at least had Terncliff. My biggest gripe was that I couldn't shank Misija myself at the end.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

I personally loved nearly everything of it - from the storyline to the amount of Ivalice references, from the combat system allowing you to do a hundred and one different styles and offroles (regardless of dps efficiency, mind you, I enjoyed DPS tanking or Tank healing) to some of the mechanical nuances in some fights.

To say the story is "failed" is a bit subjective, it takes roots from Stormblood story naturally with the garlean war theme and I can see why some arent into it, but not every story needs to have a billion plottwists and revelations to be good like how Shadowbringers did and Endwalker will.

That being said, I really want to know what kind of content you guys expect in place of Bozja. Can you guys give concrete examples of what you want and if its from another game, do you mind elaborating it and explain how it could be done in FFxiv?

[Saefinn]

Regarding Misjia they make the common mistake of having her go too 'evil' during the 'evil' part of the arc to the point any sort of attempt to redeem them is laughable.

I don't care what Yotsuyu's sad backstory is or about her innocence via amnesia arc when she's introduced forcing peasants to murder eachother to get her jollies off.

I don't care that Mis comes around at the end after gleefully enslaving the Blades as tempered thralls and no qualms with mistreating Mikoto etc.

There are all too many story arcs where a character goes evil, does unforgivable things, and then they get redeemed at the end and like, one act of self sacrifice or heroism is supposed to redeem all that? No. Dying is easy. Living and working to make up for your mistakes is hard. And some things are not easily forgiven or swept under the rug by a sob story. If you want to redeem a character, or make them more sympathetic after doing evil, BE CAREFUL WITH WHAT EVIL DEEDS YOU HAVE THE COMMIT.

With Yotsuyu, I agree with everything you've said, but I like how they ended it for her at least (and I enjoy her fight), because I think there was a bit of a divide, those who of us who were like "kill her, we don't empathise with her character, villain must die" and those who were in love with Yotsuyu, in the end she got closure, which is an end I figure people who liked her would be satisfied with and we got to kill her off. And I guess you have that choice with Misija too.

However, there is a third character here worth mentioning, which is Fordola. She's not been fulling explored yet, but out of the three I feel like so far she could have the most potential to be interesting. But like much of Ala Mhigo she hasn't got much love/attention, but the current MSQ can change that. Fordola's motive made sense and her characterisation matches it and she reacts naturally to how things happen and her character remains consistent with her motive and she didn't devolve into "evil because evil" but does bad things because those bad things progress her goals and the bigger picture she's and that's equality with the Garleans - she buys into the meritocracy kinda like Misija does. But her tone does change once The Ala Mhigan Resistance and Eorzean Alliance show substance and that their way has merit, and her skepticism remains meaning she still wants them to prove themselves. But she steps down from being an adversary to try and better see things from another perspective, so a redemption arc I think would end up working better for Fordola. So I am interested to see what they do with that.

I also liked Gaius' redemption arc, though I say it in the past tense, but I feel like he's not reached the end of it, but gotten over the first few hurdles. Because hey, war crimes are big debt to pay. I didn't end up feeling much in the way of sympathy for him - maybe some because I think it's human to, however, he's been responsible for his share of suffering. I had more sympathy for his kids, Allie especially. Although I thought they were being dumb at the beginning, once we learned more about what they were doing & why it made more sense. But what I did gain from Gaius was perspective and a growing respect for his character, who I want to see learn from his wrongs and do greater things, like help rebuild what's left of Werlyt and help aid the people he once wronged.

[_Pigzig]

(spoiler alert, if people haven't said so already?)

I liked Yotsuyu, wish she lived. However I forgot the bad stuff she did, I quit during Stormblood and came back recently. I only remember the castle fall and onward.

[SieyaM]

Personally hating Eureka and Borjza with a true passion, I will be extremely happy if they dont pull that crap for the third time and make something else instead but we know that SE doesn't shine content wise outside narrative (and sometimes they can even screw that) and they are quite predictable so I'm quite expecting for SE to pull out that boring slog of grind once again in EW with a different name and a new coat of paint

I would absolutely expect another FATE zone in EW that will have another independent levelling system and will also be a place to progress your relic weapon. This has become the established pattern and they do not deviate from patterns.

[Bhearil]

I would absolutely expect another FATE zone in EW that will have another independent levelling system and will also be a place to progress your relic weapon. This has become the established pattern and they do not deviate from patterns.

Exactly, FF14 is slowly becoming WoW aka "Why innovate? players love our game!!Just give them more of the same!!" and players will eventually become bored of repeating the same content over and over with a different layer of paint . On Heavensward and even Stormblood each expansion was more or less a discovery, on ShB you could accurately predict the content pattern before it was released and EW is not gonna be the exception.

Im starting to get annoyed to feel myself held hostage of FF14 because I dont want to lose my hard earned house and theres about over 2 months left before next content patch arrives, Even if on every content patch theres "a lot" of things to do, many are either "more of the same" or pure grind slogs that im not interested, and having autopilot dungeons do not help the feeling of "sigh, not this again..."