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

[AziraSyuren]

I mean, yeah, but FF stories are basically just the popcorn flicks of RPG stories so it’s not really fair to compare them to Mass Effect. The goals of the two are entirely different.

(I’d also argue that some of the high points of the FF franchise like Tidus and Kuja’s character arcs and all of Crisis Core are at least on par in terms of their nuances and characterization but that’s a discussion for another day.)

[GrizzlyTank]

I had a longer post typed up but decided against posting it. Today was bad, I feel more isolated and belittled than I already was when it comes to this game's future and direction. This isn't my game or my story anymore. It's theirs.

But... It's always been theirs...

[Theodric]

I had a longer post typed up but decided against posting it. Today was bad, I feel more isolated and belittled than I already was when it comes to this game's future and direction. This isn't my game or my story anymore. It's theirs.

It's unfortunate but the recent Live Letter simply made it clear that this isn't actually a story driven game any longer. It just pretends to be one. Anyone invested in the story is punished for paying attention and even more so if they dare to want depth rather than lazy 'hApPy EnDiNgS' that mysteriously clad the protagonists in plot armour, give them everything they want and force the antagonists to lose absolutely everything they care about - including their ideals. Even the antagonists that stick around - such as Fordola and Gaius - are forced to admit that they were 'wrong' in a way that punishes them disproportionately.

I've already got one foot out of the door. The shift towards slice of life and 'comedy' already annoyed me but now the relic weapons are being tired to something that I loathe and find to be beyond childish. I'm going to be using Elder Scrolls Online as a stepping stone until Ashes of Creation comes out. This is no longer the game I fell in love with and it isn't going back to where I want it to be. Players who actually liked the setting for what it originally was have, unfortunately, been thrown under the bus.

I agree with Rulakir's suggestion, though - you're certainly not alone in your thoughts.

[Lauront]

Yep, at this point I just don't see much room for improvement. Pandaemonium is about the only thing I have to look forward to and even with that storyline, I am worried they're just going to mess up the ancient backstory further.

[Katoar]

until Ashes of Creation comes out.

I actually can't wait for it to release. I played in Alpha and healers lvl10 there were better designed than in FFXIV.

[myahele]

I've never been a fan of Hildabrand and that type of humour, so its unfortunate that he's part of the relic questline. I guess this really is the direction the game is heading?

[ReynTime]

I don't expect future mmorpgs to hold their stories to any good standard. It's drastically easier to tell a cohesive plot when your game isn't going on indefinitely. And even if they take the self contained per expansion approach they will always be held back by the fact they're still mmorpgs, limiting the risks you can take.

Likewise the industry realised the only way to maintain mmorpgs with production quality equivalent to WoW or higher they need to make the game appeal to people who quite frankly want all the progress and reward but don't like the pve content cycles enough to like being challenged and only see the necessity of cooperating with other players as an annoyance.

So I have no faith in Ashes of Creation. And I think I'll be lucky if Pantheon ever fully delivers what was promised from the start.

I think these attempts at making mmorpgs feel like offline rpgs have all been miserable failures at best in the execution. Because the features that make them MMOs will always get in the way.

FF games have very easy to digest writing and they don't really go very deep, but at least prior to XIII (except VIII) they had something that XIV lacks: cohesion.

XIV's writing was doomed from the beginning since ARR was being handled by people who have complete disdain by the foundations after all.

There will NEVER be any mmorpg with the writing of the likes of Mass Effect, the original Dragon Age, Xenogears... XIV couldn't even rehash Chrono Trigger properly since their time travel rules change to whatever is convenient for the expansion. And there will never be a mmorpg that offers challenge at least at the level of the easiest single player Final Fantasy not called Mystic Quest during its main story.

So really the way I see it MMOs are a terrible place to look for anything well written or with balanced difficulty with any level of decision making. I'm really done with the genre entirely.

[GrizzlyTank]

I've already got one foot out of the door. The shift towards slice of life and 'comedy' already annoyed me but now the relic weapons are being tired to something that I loathe and find to be beyond childish.

O horror! O harrow!
O tyranny! O, humour in a game!

... The irony of such statements. Often coming from those who end up acting exceedingly childish themselves. Who do you think it is that writes this "childish" comedy?

Adults. Adults who wants to create. Adults who want to bring joy to others. Adults working to enjoy the world to the fullest and not restrict themselves with childish attitudes towards anything not deemed "mature".

[aveyond-dreams]

Aveyond, join the Convocation. You don't belong here.

Seriously though, I know you're adverse to interacting with the community, but most of the people who agree with you are in the thread Discord. https://discord.gg/uzUNyK4T

Also, if it makes you feel any better, your threads were linked and translated by JP players on 5ch. They echo a lot of the same issues you've voiced.

Thank you for this, though I don't talk much on discord I'll give some of the channels a read through when I get the chance. Today I think I'm gonna take a break and play some more FFXI. Even after so many years that game is still comforting to log into. There's still a handful of jobs I still haven't fully levelled yet. I also may as well chase down the remaining relic armor and weapons I don't have in that game instead of going after FFXIV's Manderville relics.

[ReynTime]

O horror! O harrow!
O tyranny! O, humour in a game!

... The irony of such statements. Often coming from those who end up acting exceedingly childish themselves. Who do you think it is that writes this "childish" comedy?

Adults. Adults who wants to create. Adults who want to bring joy to others. Adults working to enjoy the world to the fullest and not restrict themselves with childish attitudes towards anything not deemed "mature".

There is such a thing as "too much".

Obviously I love hildibrand's quests but I agree with comments that XIV's writing got worse when they started leaking hildibrand style comedy into the MSQ so often.

Endwalker often downplayed it's doom atmosphere drastically willy nilly too. Every story has its breathers but they handled it extremely poorly paced here, with and without the humor.