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

[Xirean]

This is a lazy argument. This is literally the only RPG in existence where progression and story don't flow together seamlessly and back each other up, but instead get in each other's way. That is the criticism I have for this game, and I'm not going to accept "If you hate that the story and the progression fight each other you just don't like the story enough" as an argument for why things should be that way.

It's a massive flaw in the game. There is no other RPG I can think of that has this problem or where this would be acceptable.

I'm confused how the two fight each other. Can you explain this?

[Tychonius]

I'm confused how the two fight each other. Can you explain this?

Essentially people enjoy multiple aspects of a game at the same time. They enjoy the challenge of a game, they enjoy expressing themselves through a game, they enjoy socializing through a game, they enjoy experiencing a narrative in a game, and they also enjoy a sense of progression in a game.

The most common conflict between different aspects of a game is challenge vs. expression. People want to express themselves through a game, which includes character customization, costuming, but also playing the classes or races that they think are coolest. People also want to take on the challenge of the game, which means being pushed toward building a powerful character. If the game isn't challenging enough to need a powerful character, or if being a powerful character excludes you from playing your favorite class or race then people would say the game is unbalanced. Developers strive to make sure that all the options you can pick as a means to express your individual preferences are also valid as a means to take on the challenge of the game. What's being balanced is two different reasons people enjoy the game so that they don't come into conflict.

What's coming into conflict here is people wanting to experience the narrative of a game, and people wanting to have a sense of progression. In order to experience the story your progression is simply put on hold for weeks at a time. The only way around it is to story skip and miss a large chunk of the narrative. Two aspects of the game that should be enjoyed simultaneously are put into conflict with each other, which makes the overall experience much worse.

Now, much like you have people who don't care about expression at all and simply play whatever is most powerful, or people who don't care about challenge at all and are perfectly fine playing a weak character or an easy game you also have people who don't care about progression or narrative at all. Most people care at least a little bit about all of these though, and having to forego any one of them makes the game feel a lot worse.