[Endwalker Spoilers] MSQ Hearbreak and Dissillusionment. [Personal Opinion Vent]

[AlysanneVrannai]

snip

I was thinking of writing a longer response but this basically feels like it nails everything on the head.

Theres also a certain trend of people being bothered by "not being my character" in the MSQ, but the fact of the matter is you are playing a character that is always going to perform certain actions in the MSQ, and you are expected to create a motivation that fits those actions, not the other way around. The Warrior of Light is not your OC, when you are playing the MSQ you are playing a slight variation of a pretty rigid character. Make of that what you wish, but it has been like that from the very beginning, and if you only noticed now its just that the OC in your mind happened to align with the character Squenix created called "The Warrior of Light". Unfortunate that you had to realize like this, but this is how the game is made and you have had plenty of expansions to figure it out.

I am sorry you felt disappointed by the game though, but alas, the nature of media means that someone has to dislike something.

[Themis]

Theres also a certain trend of people being bothered by "not being my character" in the MSQ [...] The Warrior of Light is not your OC, when you are playing the MSQ you are playing a slight variation of a pretty rigid character.

I've seen this comment made a few times in various other contexts, too. This isn't an RPG where you play a blank-slate character and get to project your own personality or traits on it - even if it does allow for that outside of the MSQ. For the purpose of the MSQ, your character is the writer's protagonist, to tell their story, and you are role-playing that character. It isn't a story where you are just some OC-insert to another's story. Just like most other JRPG, or games/stories/novels for that matter, where you play a given type of character with an already fixed path and follow along as that journey unfolds.

I'm not entirely sure where this started happening. Maybe I've just played too many JRPGs and don't really expect to self-insert like I might in a D&D session.

[OhNooo]

Just like most other JRPG, or games/stories/novels for that matter, where you play a given type of character with an already fixed path and follow along as that journey unfolds.

I'm not entirely sure where this started happening. Maybe I've just played too many JRPGs and don't really expect to self-insert like I might in a D&D session.

Yeah I actually never played any type of rpg or mmo before ffxiv. Never played any other ff game besides this one. I actually found out about d&d like 3 months ago lol. That might be more to my liking.

[KariTheFox]

First of all OP, I want to say thanks for pouring your heart out in this post. I disagree with a few of your perspectives regarding Meteion and empathy being villlianized, but I don't really want to "debate" your post. I too, really valued that Hydaelyn was a benevolent mother figure, though I mostly appreciate what was done with her, and that we were able to bond with her in the form of Venat. It gave me the feeling of growing older and bonding with your mother as an adult, learning that she's a person like you. I thought it was nice.

I agree that Thavanair was particularly emotionally draining and brutal, I ended up putting the game down for a few days after the death of Ahewann. Probably a good thing, too. I don't think I'd have been able to enjoy meeting Hermes and Venat as much if the events of Thavanair were still so raw. (Garlemald was draining too, thoug the intrigue of what was going on with Zenos and Fandaniel carried me through that. And then the moon bunnies were a decent palate cleanser.)

[Rulakir]

I'm not entirely sure where this started happening.

Whenever they started adding diversity in dialog options. They used to be more varied. At the beginning of SB I could tell Alphinaud that Ala Mhigo wasn't my problem. Sure, it didn't change anything, but it still gave the player the ability to attribute their thoughts and feelings to their (custom made) character. Even in ShB I had options like telling Ardbert he was putting me off my dinner which, by the way, is the best choice for the conversation that follows.

It becomes glaringly obvious when in some situations you can chose (for the sake of example) "I'd love to!" or "Go fly a kite!" vs. other situations are something like "Gosh you're amazing!" or "You're the best person ever!" It's having your character hard react positively or negatively to something that's noticeable and jarring. I had the option in SB to tell Zenos I accepted him, in EW I don't recall a single time I was able to say anything that wasn't spiteful. The irony being I didn't like him in SB, but warmed up to him in EW.

I've played my fair share of JRPGs, but never one in which I had the ability to design my own character or was given any dialog choices at all. It's usually obvious from the beginning that you're RPing an established character even if it's a silent protagonist.

[Vexander]

It becomes glaringly obvious when in some situations you can chose (for the sake of example) "I'd love to!" or "Go fly a kite!" vs. other situations are something like "Gosh you're amazing!" or "You're the best person ever!" It's having your character hard react positively or negatively to something that's noticeable and jarring. I had the option in SB to tell Zenos I accepted him, in EW I don't recall a single time I was able to say anything that wasn't spiteful. The irony being I didn't like him in SB, but warmed up to him in EW.

Side note here, but there is one thing I've wanted to vent my spleen about for ages.

Back in Stormblood when you're in the Azim Steppe and there's a dialogue option where a Buduga Au Ra is staring you up and down, trying to figure out if they want you or Hien as a captive, and the dialogue options are, "What are you looking at!?" or, "Me! Me! Me! Pick me!" Like damn but I hated those two options FIERCELY. One is so confrontational and almost makes it come off as if you're offended (or homophobic if playing a male character), and the other is childish and immature (or under a certain light, cringe-inducing levels of desperate/salacious). I get that there won't always be a perfect choice for how we each envision our characters, but damn if I haven't always tried to do the MSQ as a polite, well meaning kind of Warrior of Light, the one who'd tell Zenos he was wrong when comparing himself to the WoL, the one who wouldn't say, "Ala Mhigo isn't my fight," even if on an OOC level that was how I felt about it. That one option in Azim Steppe has ALWAYS stuck with me as one I hated because there was no right answer.

[Denishia]

Sometimes the best option really is '...' because the quest must continue but the dialogue choices written are not to choice.

[Rulakir]

Sometimes the best option really is '...' because the quest must continue but the dialogue choices written are not to choice.

You'd think so, but I've chosen that one a few times only for my character's facial expressions to be manipulated. It's like, I chose that option because you either didn't give me an alternative with the others or I don't have any feelings one way or the other about what's going on, but you're going to have my character facially react in the same spirit as the options I didn't choose anyway.

[RyuDragnier]

Sometimes the best option really is '...' because the quest must continue but the dialogue choices written are not to choice.

No, the best option will always be "...this is one of those moments where what I say doesn't matter, isn't it?"

[OhNooo]

Hydaelyn sundering the world has a very strong connotation of "grow the fuck up". Humanity needed to stop wanting to be coddled 100% of the time, it's time to be an adult and face the world as it is, with it's joys and it's difficulties.

I missed the part where hydaelyn was actually someone's parent. She was one person in a society of people. One adult among other adults who found out some information and took it upon herself to make a decision that took away everyone's autonomy in the whole world "for the greater good." That's like a random person finding out some information about a horrible event and then deciding that we're not good enough to figure out a plan and thinking "they're not gonna make it, I gotta fix things myself" Then then they decide on their own to do something crazy that changes everyone's life forever. Nah eff that.