What is with the constant mistreatment of the Garlean story?(6.1 Patch spoilers)

[KizuyaKatogami]

In FF7, you can steal Tifa’s underwear in a serious flashback scene and Tifa even yells at you that you’re supposed to be taking this seriously.

You utilize a dolphin to jump and put you up into a Shinra base you’re sneaking into.

Red XIII dresses in a Shinra uniform and pretends to be a human while sneaking on a ship.

Tifa escapes being executed and has a slap fight with Scarlett on top of a giant gun.

Cait Sith exists.

You utilize said dolphin to help you after just saving a girl from drowning. I’d hardly call that fanservice of comic relief. How is Red XIII in costume any form of slice of life or fanservice? It fits with the scenario. The slap fight and underwear i will 100% agree is pure fanservice though, however that’s 2 examples
compared to….how many in Endwalker? Also, Cait Sith makes sense. He’s supposed to be as unsuspecting as possible because he’s literally a spy. A spy who also sacrifices himself and has an entire building collapse on him but i digress. The amount of slice of life/fanservice prevalent in an expansion about the end of the world is beyond ridiculous and the pacing for it is what makes it horrible.

[MikkoAkure]

You utilize said dolphin to help you after just saving a girl from drowning. I’d hardly call that fanservice of comic relief. How is Red XIII in costume any form of slice of life or fanservice? It fits with the scenario. The slap fight and underwear i will 100% agree is pure fanservice though, however that’s 2 examples
compared to….how many in Endwalker? Also, Cait Sith makes sense. He’s supposed to be as unsuspecting as possible because he’s literally a spy. A spy who also sacrifices himself and has an entire building collapse on him but i digress. The amount of slice of life/fanservice prevalent in an expansion about the end of the world is beyond ridiculous and the pacing for it is what makes it horrible.

I’m not sure what world you’re from where a 4-legged talking animal dressed up in people clothes and walking around on 2 legs while pretending to be a human and cracking jokes is “serious content”.

If you want slice-of-life, there’s going snowboarding at the Golden Saucer or going on a date with the girls of your party (or Barret) right before you go to the Temple of the Ancients.

I’m not sure either why people keep pointing at Lopporits either when every expansion has had their equivalent. We had Sylph in ARR, Moogles in HW, Namazu in SB (living in a manor and getting drunk off of tea in the middle of a depressing battlefield full of craters), and Pixies in ShB who had an entire happy fun land in the middle of an otherwise dark expansion.

Shadowbringers had the same “relax at the inn” stuff in between zones that Endwalker had and I don’t remember people making a big deal about that or the whole half of a zone devoted to a race that was added to the game specifically for fanservice. It feels like classic forums to start off by complaining about the Garleans and then devolving into “Endwalker has too many funny/relaxing scenes”.

[aveyond-dreams]

If you thought the pixies were living in a happy and fun land then perhaps you should revisit Shadowbringers. Il Mheg is by far still one of the strongest zones in game, where the pixie's nonsense was balanced out by the dark and dangerous undertones. Endwalker with how eager it is to cast away longstanding concepts and threats warranted no such focus on "relief."

No expansion was as offensive in this regard except Endwalker. Shadowbringers was an expansion where we were constantly under threat and the occasional break - in the inn - was handled a lot better than the breaks at - the college dormitory - one fit far better than the other.

This direction is not sustainable. You have a story turning into more of a convoluted joke with each patch and gameplay that is failing on many fronts. At this rate it won't be long before every complaint that FFXIV is just a visual novel ends up validated. At that point there'll be nothing left to defend, with everything I liked about this game gone. All for the sake of fanartists and streamer clout. Please.

[anhaato]

The game is already a giant joke when you look at item descriptions. For the whole of Ishgard restoration I had to sit back and fake laugh at them bringing up the salt rock "joke" over and over again. They clearly want every written aspect of this game to be an extended meme, might as well start calling it a comedy game at this rate.

[grinkdaboy]

yoship had a direct hand in writing this expansion, i think he came up with the lopporits

i think they wanted another popular meme race like the namazu except IN SPACE

[Raven2014]

At this rate it won't be long before every complaint that FFXIV is just a visual novel ends up validated. At that point there'll be nothing left to defend, All for the sake of fanartists and streamer clout.

As someone who read perhaps 80% translated VN available (official or unofficial), please ... the people who think FF14 (or any MMO for that matter) resemblance a VN are clueless, and if you think they will be validated ... I don't think you know what a VN is either. Comparing something like the Trail series to a VN will even be a stretch, but people say FF14 is just a VN is stereotyping to the extreme.

At that point there'll be nothing left to defend,

Don't know why you think there have to be something to defend. It's a game, the only defend it needs is being worthwhile and fun, to which it has an almost ironclass defense, at least at the moment. You seem to want to assign some arbitrary ... things to the game, which neither here or there.


Do I think FF14's story great? Yes and no. Yes it's great for an MMO, but comparing to the majority of Singpleplay JRPG I played, FF14's story is a D+ at most. Do I like all the corniness, cheesy and cringy scene? No, but I accept it's the natural part of the medium. But, that doesn't mean I can't enjoy them. It's like while I certain prefer 5stars fine dining, that doesn't mean I can't enjoy a simple fast food burger, as long as I know I'm eating one. Too many complain here is like order a BicMac and complains why it doesn't taste the same as a New York steak.

with everything I liked about this game gone.

And I can't help but love this game more and more. I started in 2014, and in the first 3 years I only played 1 char. Around 2017 I rolled an alt and kept it active. Then last years, I created 2 more alts. And I don't simply park my alt around, I actively played all of them. So ... mileage may vary. If this game doesn't suit you any longer ... well the good news is it's not the only game that exist.

All for the sake of fanartists and streamer clout.

Here you're projecting, and you know it. I don't know why people always feel the need to insert non-sense like this into their argument.

[Theodric]

You don't think the lead developer interviewing streamers and talking about their reactions to cutscenes isn't seeking to pander to them to at least some degree? Much of Endwalker was built around 'feels bait'. Nothing of consequence actually happens, though the game hides that behind throwing all sorts of different things at the player all at once which amount to very little.

The Tower of Zot is an excellent example. It's meant to be creepy and tense though we walk away saving...absolutely everybody inside with minimal effort because, conveniently, G'raha can suddenly mass teleport people to safety.

[Rulakir]

yoship had a direct hand in writing this expansion

Sadly, to its detriment. Going forward I sincerely hopes he give the writers creative freedom and just focuses on being a director/producer.

You don't think the lead developer interviewing streamers and talking about their reactions to cutscenes isn't seeking to pander to them to at least some degree? Much of Endwalker was built around 'feels bait'. Nothing of consequence actually happens, though the game hides that behind throwing all sorts of different things at the player all at once which amount to very little.

It's even more ridiculous because streamers overreact for a living. They're entertainers. Speaking as someone who is a hair trigger crier and usually easily emotionally manipulated through feels, EW did nothing for me. The few times I cried were more out of fury than anything else. (Thanks, EW, prior to this expansion I can't recall having ever rage cried. GSBTW. /s)

Edit: Forgot to mention the Scions are immortal, have been since HW. Nobody legitimately thinks they're in any danger anymore.

[Voidedge_Ragna]

Getting back to the Bozja part, I'm almost 100% certain there were meant to be 3 stages rather then 2. Even the relic weapons had some odd stages some parts felt long enough to cover 2 stages and others were entirely skipped. This is the first time we never actually have the non shiny final stage, the only way to get it is via replica.

Bozjas story had so much potential yet since the empire falls Bozja updates kinda make no sense, looks like they took the resources out and redirected them, makes you wonder if DR was meant to have a "savage" version in the first place and not a 2nd raid duty similar to how BA works. Turning DR Savage surely would be easier then tuning a new savage only raid.

Gabranth being there only in name is such a weird move, and not only that but being supposedly killed in fieldnotes, its a flag name of FFXII which is tied to Bozja, or rather ivalice, wasted potential. If they don't wanna use him, just keep it in your back pocket to eventually make use of it, but like this ... its such a odd move.

There should've been a 3rd area which lead up to a fight with Gabranth, but there likely just wasn't any time/resource ... as Bozja was already delayed.

[IkaraGreydancer]

The game is already a giant joke when you look at item descriptions. For the whole of Ishgard restoration I had to sit back and fake laugh at them bringing up the salt rock "joke" over and over again. They clearly want every written aspect of this game to be an extended meme, might as well start calling it a comedy game at this rate.

Hyperbole won't win you any points. See this is the type of complaining that does nothing good for either side of the spectrum here. This here is complaining for the sake of. Not complaining while offering ways to "fix" these so called issues.