Why does everyone complain about STORY based MMO's?

[Carin-Eri]

In a game where the story is main focus behind the game, you are not rushed to get to endgame, you are not FORCED to play optimally to get through content...

Yet every day i see the same thing: 'WAH WAH STORY IS TOO LONG'

Seriously, The game IS the story.

It is a FINAL FANTASY game.

There are plenty of MMO's out there that destroy their own storylines for the 'endgame progression' aspect of the game, if you want to play those, then do that.

FFXIV should never move away from the story aspect of the game, the MSQ is what keeps this game coherent.

Couldn't agree more.

One of the reasons I quit The MMO I played before I switched to FFXIV was it's ridiculously overwhelming emphasis on Endgame content. In fact, the emphasis on that was such that you could pretty much play the MSQ of that game in a matter of days, even if you didn't hurry your way through it - partly because powercreep made the game preposterously easy (something the Devs of that game have, for many years, show no interest in addressing).

The CM of that game outright admitted, in a Q&A Livestream, that the Devs focus had turned to producing/selling Gamble boxes and item bundles . Which is a bit pointless when the Devs of said game only produce one or two new episodes every five or so months to use said purchases in.

[Kaurhz]

A lot of things, as previously stated, most especially when it relates to the story only really with the benefit of hindsight. It's very difficult to get a well-balanced and told story that absolutely nobody will complain about, or find to be controversial for that matter. This expansion has just had all these issues exacerbated because there are even more eyes on the game, and the story itself.

That being said, there are a lot of people that do it for the sake of doing it; complaining just for the sake of complaining. Then there are just a lot of people that think all things need to be edgy with no slice-of-life moments, and then you have the crowd that just doesn't simply don't understand the purpose of nuances in the story. e.g., the whole arc with the loporrits.

[Avoidy]

Probably because the story has a lot of unnecessary padding with fetch quests that people flat out mock in other games.
In hindsight, teaching the Loporrits how to sew clothes didn't really affect anything in the plot of Endwalker did it.

This is it, yeah. There's a good story but it's bogged down by MMO padding, i.e. fetch quests and filler arcs done to pad the expansion. This game claims to be story focused, but the cutscenes are stiffly animated and rarely voice acted. And then when the story finally starts to go somewhere, it hits the brakes for several hours at a time to make the player perform some filler fetch quest task so they can pad the expansion and say it's 40 hours long or whatever. Presentation matters more than people in this thread are going to pretend it does. It's why post-ARR turns away so many newbies that it's widely considered a filter for new players. Most people who just want to play with their friends in one of the few thriving MMORPGs left aren't thrilled to discover that 99% of the content is gated behind a 250 hour walking simulator, so they leave or they buy a story skip.

To be clear, I'm not dumping on the actual story that we have. I'm dumping on the way it's presented, because it's evident that the presentation gets in the way a lot. Other FF games have had dynamically animated cutscenes with ample voice acting. I'm not sure why this one doesn't. It sure rakes in the dough, but every optional trial sidequest is unvoiced, every raid cutscene is unvoiced, a significant portion of the msq is unvoiced, the cutscenes themselves are just people standing in a circle nodding, occasionally one guy clenches his fist, like -- it's boring to watch. Which isn't good for a visual medium of entertainment. If they fixed that and then took out a bunch of the filler fetch quests, I think way more people would be enthusiastically enjoying the msq instead of skipping cutscenes like crazy because they gave it a chance in arr and had their faith "rewarded" with post-arr and didn't trust the story ever since.

[Eldtagg]

Couldn't agree more.

One of the reasons I quit The MMO I played before I switched to FFXIV was it's ridiculously overwhelming emphasis on Endgame content. In fact, the emphasis on that was such that you could pretty much play the MSQ of that game in a matter of days, even if you didn't hurry your way through it - partly because powercreep made the game preposterously easy (something the Devs of that game have, for many years, show no interest in addressing).

The CM of that game outright admitted, in a Q&A Livestream, that the Devs focus had turned to producing/selling Gamble boxes and item bundles . Which is a bit pointless when the Devs of said game only produce one or two new episodes every five or so months to use said purchases in.

Is the game you are refering to SWTOR, perhaps?

[VelKallor]

An other issue with the story is the difficulty.. It's too easy. Now I'm not saying make it savage hard or anything.. but when the story is trying to paint a picture of inescapable doom any battles that connect to that should at least feel like you narrowly avoided defeat. Instead of feeling like you just bad slapped that peril away.. and i don't mean like the zeons fights where the game essentially cheats.. you can roflstomp the hell outta zenos but magically the game still drops you to 1 hp... cheap..

Not THIS again...

We have been over this repeatedly. The MSQ is this way by deliberate design because it has to cater to people of all skill levels. it is STORY content not a savage or extreme. There is plenty of hard content in FF 14 ( and more to come ) that can cater to this miniscule portion of the playerbase...the MSQ is not meant to be a brick wall. It is not meant to be completed "by only the worthy".

"The time between seconds" is the one you are referring to. That scene with Zenos? Is a no win scenario. An illustration of just how powerful he is...and to drive home that not even the Warrior of Light is invincible.

This game claims to be story focused, but the cutscenes are stiffly animated and rarely voice acted

Are we playing the same game?

I think way more people would be enthusiastically enjoying the msq instead of skipping cutscenes like crazy because they gave it a chance in arr and had their faith "rewarded" with post-arr and didn't trust the story ever since.

Given that both Endwalker and Shadowbringers received MASSIVE rave reviews for the story, and that millions enjoyed it ( and obviously you can do better?..no you cant...), Ill take that comment with a grain of salt the size of the Titanic...

[VelKallor]

IGN

My character never really gets to answer, and many hours later, I think that's because Square Enix also directs the question to us as players: Have the last eight years of FFXIV and all those hundreds of cutscenes been worth the time? I wish I had had the chance to say so, because after Endwalker, my answer is an unequivocal “yes.” Parts of this roughly 50-hour story move a little slower than I'd have liked, but when so many games, TV shows, and movie series seem incapable of delivering a satisfactory ending, it's refreshing to see one that mostly manages to stick the landing to an arc that’s gone on for so long. For that matter, Endwalker is good enough that it removes any doubt that this reborn MMORPG deserves inclusion in any discussion of the best Final Fantasy stories ever written.

Gnomecore

I looooooooooooooved it! Like I always said as I advanced through the expansions, it becomes better and better with every next expansion , hopping over its own head every next time, and Endwalker pushed it to the limit. It’s not just a good story by MMO standards, it surpasses the whole bulk of media – books, series, movies, single player games – name it. Let’s just say when I finished the final quest, I was sitting like in a warm emotional blanket, awashed with emotions, musing about the characters, the revelations, the story flow, the epic finale and resolutions of many, many arcs and questions. I just sat there, literally swaying in my chair, tears of happiness drying on my face, and slowly moving a cursor over characters in Scions base (well, I still have to talk to them and give in the final quest, lol)

Gamesradar

Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker is a landmark achievement in narrative development. Able to pull together story threads from over a decade into one cohesive tale, wrapping up everything superbly with so much expectation and pressure on its back is nothing short of astounding on the part of Square Enix’s development team. A pair of puzzling villains don’t do too much to put a dampener on some brilliant action, with Dungeons and every new location offering fascinating combat and storytelling developments alike. Shadowbringers might have thrust Final Fantasy 14 into the limelight over two years ago, but it’s Endwalker that cements it in the argument as one of the best Final Fantasy games ever made.

Metacritic 92, overall gamescore 94.

So no it isnt 'way more people"..its only you.

Ive said it before, this forum is a small fraction of a fraction of a fraction of 1% of the playerbase, and as such does not represent the millions who play...you dont speak for them you dont speak for me.

[BRVV]

Oh look the struggling gaming media is rating a game highly that is hyped! Never heard of that before!

I fail to see why slice-of-life parts have to happen while the world is in immediate danger. There were plenty of ways to write an actual downtime into EW, where no real threat is immediant.

[Padudu]

I enjoy you Karening out over people's criticism of XIV lately, Dixie!

HAHA, also posting IGN/game website reviews of XIV as if it represents the XIV population as a whole? lol Jesus Christ sometimes SE's defense team is beyond help.

[VelKallor]

HAHA, also posting IGN/game website reviews of XIV as if it represents the XIV population as a whole? lol Jesus Christ sometimes SE's defense team is beyond help.

..defence team? Wut?

I never said it represented the playerbase either, I said that Endwalker received rave reviews. It did.

[BRVV]

..defence team? Wut?

I never said it represented the playerbase either, I said that Endwalker received rave reviews. It did.

So no it isnt 'way more people"..its only you.

Ive said it before, this forum is a small fraction of a fraction of a fraction of 1% of the playerbase, and as such does not represent the millions who play...you dont speak for them you dont speak for me.

So your "it's only you" meant you as in a significant portion of the playerbase and not the individiual, got it.