What's the point with that quite lackluster story in Endwalker?

[YukikoKurosawa]

One of the problems I have with trying to discuss criticisms with this game's writing in most places outside of here is that 99% of the people who dislike the story dislike it soley because they have to "read". Too many times do I see complaints from people who complain about the story, or streamers, does their complaint ultimately boil down to "too much reading, if it was fully voiced acted it'd be good tho". Ask them about any actual deeper criticisms and they'll just repeat "I hate having to read so much, I'd have no problem if it was voiced completely". I have seen people trash the story soley because of the reading involved then go on to praise GW2 because it's fully voice acted (this is despite the fact that GW2 is almost universally reviled for some of worst writing in MMOs, if not video game, history, and the voice acting is extremely cringe outside of a few talent actors like Steve Blum).

People either really love the story without complaint, or hate it only because of the amount of reading involved. Those with actual serious, deep criticisms of the writing are very few and far between.

However I think the problem lies with the fact that most people really only enjoy a story on an absolute surface level, so they do not actually care about deeper nuances in writing, and would never take issue with narrative flaws, inconsistent characterization, etc. Just give them le epic poggers moments, le funneh reddit meme humor, le super emotional moments and voice acting (don't you dare make them read) and they're most likely good and will look no deeper into a story. So naturally they will get filtered by a story that asks them to read but not a story with massive plot holes, horrendous moral lessons, characters acting inconsistently, etc.

And, sadly, this is the criticism the devs are seeing primarily. So maybe we'll get more voice acting in the future, at least.

[Brinne]

Yeah, EW is simultaneously my second favorite expansion after Shadowbringers, and my least favorite expansion. The parts I enjoyed and found compelling and well-written were still moreso than, again, anything except Shadowbringers, whereas the parts I disliked are the parts I probably most disliked in all of FFXIV and made me consider, for the first time ever, starting to skip cutscenes. It was, uh, sort of a stressful experience overall, in that way!

I've always said that I don't think the "bad" aspects of it were done maliciously, and that's part of why I'm willing to talk about it on the much-maligned official forums - a very, very naive hope, especially for a product-based corporation like this, lmao, that perhaps if the writers understood what had happened and what they actually ended up writing, it might actually mean something to them, and they might course-correct. (And perhaps they are...? Omega Quests Good, Please Continue In This Direction)

And for better or worse, I'm still talking about it and thinking about it actively, moreso, again, than any other expansion besides ShB - six months after the fact. Does that say more about me or the game? It Is A Mystery.

[Teraq]

Zepla can think whatever she wants, since she never actually read the the thread and just looked at the title.

One of the problems I have with trying to discuss criticisms with this game's writing in most places outside of here is that 99% of the people who dislike the story dislike it soley because they have to "read". Too many times do I see complaints from people who complain about the story, or streamers, does their complaint ultimately boil down to "too much reading, if it was fully voiced acted it'd be good tho". Ask them about any actual deeper criticisms and they'll just repeat "I hate having to read so much, I'd have no problem if it was voiced completely". I have seen people trash the story soley because of the reading involved then go on to praise GW2 because it's fully voice acted (this is despite the fact that GW2 is almost universally reviled for some of worst writing in MMOs, if not video game, history, and the voice acting is extremely cringe outside of a few talent actors like Steve Blum).

The solution here, then, seems quite obvious to me...

What's the point with that quite lackluster story in Endwalker? – A Dramatic reading: Part 1 of 105

[aveyond-dreams]

The solution here, then, seems quite obvious to me...

What's the point with that quite lackluster story in Endwalker? – A Dramatic reading: Part 1 of 105

If nothing else it would prove to be an entertaining stream. Though I imagine the current gushing over "Tweetingway" taking over the official FFXIV twitter today will probably take priority.

[Theodric]

If nothing else it would prove to be an entertaining stream. Though I imagine the current gushing over "Tweetingway" taking over the official FFXIV twitter today will probably take priority.

It's a shame. As much as I think the presence of the Lopporits was poorly timed, I'm not afraid to admit that they're endearing and cute. Yet now because they're popular they're going to be milked until they become as unwelcome to me as 'forge ahead' and 'a smile better suits a hero' as Haurchefant is brought up yet again.

As an aside, if the game is doing so well for itself then I wonder why the marketing team is so desperate to get the FFXIV tag trending at every possible turn? Even we say 'every business wants to make money' which is true, it isn't a good reflection of the game to push cutesy stuff and little else.

I look at upcoming MMO's and they're showing off character models, weather effects, combat. The meat of their product rather than 'haHa funy joke1111'.