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

[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.