The story is great, but it blatantly gets in the way of the rest of the game

[IdowhatIwant]

The problem is you went into the game with the wrong mindset as others like the OP have done, and saw the story as an obstacle (addressed this before too... but w/e) to be overcome, rather than a major part of the game.

Problem with this, is you shouldn't have to tell players, hey before you buy this make sure you are going in with the right mind set. If people quit because of issues with progressing through the story than it should be viewed something that is causing problems with players enjoyment.

you should probably study up on final fantasy there friendo, its a franchise that is very story rich and they will always prioritize it over everything else.

I have played every FF same in the series. I know what a FF game is. How ever these are also single player RPG games, some you can play with a second player during combat. You can't really compare a normal FF title to FFXIV as it is an MMO the only one you can compare to FFXIV is FFXI. Perhaps you should study up on game genres more.