Anyone else get the feeling they are still figuring out the story for 6.X and 7.0 ?

[Omedon]

As a former WoW player, who is seeing deep WoW story points of their next expansion spoiled in the peripheral vision of social media just by being an MMO gamer, I find the idea of not knowing what's happening next in FFXIV to be an extreme novelty, and a breath of fresh air!

[Jeeqbit]

the return to a potentially high fantasy setting in the provinces of Ilsabard with a plot that treats the political situation there with greater care than that of Garlemald would strongly interest me. However, the fact that the story doesn't even want to mention that part of the world right now instead of gradually leading up to it is disappointing.

Graha mentioned Corvos a lot, enough to make me wonder if it was being hinted for the next expansion.

I want FFXIV to lean more towards a refined and mature way of storytelling and not being afraid to do bold things with its characters. That was how things were when I fell in love with the game back in Heavensward but now it seems that the storytelling is no longer aimed at players like me.

If you think about it, the people who were killed in the MSQ were not that endeared to us for a long time.

• The nameless scions killed by Livia.
• Moenbryda makes sudden first appearance in 2.0, then dies.
• Haurchefant just an ishgard soldier, battles with you a bit but you didn't really know him that long.
• Ysale designed for the HW expansion, died for the HW expansion.
• Papalymo had been lost since ARR, usually was away with Yda.
• Minfilia had been irrelevant and forgotten for many expansions when she died.
• Hydaelyn we barely had interaction with. Once we did, it was contained to an expansion.

None of these characters are in the same league as the amount of text interaction we have had with the current scions. Even at the point of each of their deaths, we had more interaction with others than them. You could argue they have never been as bold as we are imagining.

The Void being reduced to patch content filler arcs instead of a devoted expansion set in a dark fantasy world is disheartening

I agree it would be a good expansion idea, just like Shadowbringers but in reverse, but I am sure this occurred to them and they just decided to do it in patches for now. Maybe it's too close to Shadowbringers.

It doesn't feel like those in charge of these aspects of the game are getting an accurate read from a wide variety of perspectives, causing them to double down on elements like modern slice of life or humor that is starting to deter players like me away from the game.

The game has always had a strange humor thing. It was hard to read at first but I just accepted it as a quirk of the game. One of the recurring ones in beast tribes is making you complete a quest and then being honest that it was excrement.

[NekoMataMata]

I'm not sure what more you want. The only way to get more information is to play it yourself and that isn't going to happen until it releases.

Have they ever done live demonstrations or anything like that?

[Deveryn]

I agree it would be a good expansion idea, just like Shadowbringers but in reverse, but I am sure this occurred to them and they just decided to do it in patches for now. Maybe it's too close to Shadowbringers.

The void has been an ever present topic and threat, much like Garlemald. I disagree with having a full expansion set in that world. We already had Shadowbringers. Why do we need something more or less the same in reverse?

The game has always had a strange humor thing. It was hard to read at first but I just accepted it as a quirk of the game. One of the recurring ones in beast tribes is making you complete a quest and then being honest that it was excrement.

XIV has a lot of reference humor in it. These quests in particular reference past MMO fetch quests where they straight up told you to go farm shit. Starting levels had you killing rats, bats and spiders and picking up all manner of trash. Having gone through that, it's actually funny to find out you've been tricked into doing that.

In general, the humor isn't all that strange if you've had any familiarity with anime and their storytelling. Even other FF games are like this. You need humor to balance out all the serious stuff or the whole experience is less enjoyable. The game is supposed to be a fun escape. If the story moved along more like Game of Thrones where all manner of characters are just getting killed for the sake of it, this game wouldn't last all that long.

[Jeeqbit]

Have they ever done live demonstrations or anything like that?

Yoshi-P logs in and queues for some of the content we are getting and we see some of the first mechanics up until they get him. He shows off the new mounts and minions and hints where the story is heading. The patch trailers do the same thing and show us footage of new raids, dungeons and trials. They don't go as far as spoiling the entire fight and all of the mechanics though.

[Hurlstone]

The only thing that concerns me story-wise in the future is the reliance on the Scions. I do not think they should be got rid off forever, but given how Endwalker ended with them going their separate ways and 7.0 meant to be a fresh start, meeting up with more then half of them straight after was a little disappointing in a way. Like, Y'shtola makes sense because of her intent to travel the Worlds, but could they have not give Estinien a rest? G'raha Tia? (Especially as he has his own staring role in the The Twelve raids) Its not a major concern though, I still enjoyed the patch and I suspect this is simply due to closing the gap between expansions. I still hope that 7.0 will be more of a fresh start with a new band of friends.

Have to say I really do not share in this idea that Endwalker’s story is the ‘beginning of the end’ for the game lore-wise. The game has many issues it needs to address, but story is not one of them. I understand some people here on this forum and elsewhere really did not like elements or the story as a whole, and thats fair enough. We all have our own opinions on these matters, but I for one really enjoyed it despite some flaws and if 7.0 is the same quality, then I will be a happy adventurer. Plus it seems the wider playerbase enjoyed the story, or at least seems to like it more then say ARR and Stormblood (I still love you Stormy…)

[Striker44]

• The nameless scions killed by Livia.
• Moenbryda makes sudden first appearance in 2.0, then dies.
• Haurchefant just an ishgard soldier, battles with you a bit but you didn't really know him that long.
• Ysale designed for the HW expansion, died for the HW expansion.
• Papalymo had been lost since ARR, usually was away with Yda.
• Minfilia had been irrelevant and forgotten for many expansions when she died.
• Hydaelyn we barely had interaction with. Once we did, it was contained to an expansion.

None of these characters are in the same league as the amount of text interaction we have had with the current scions. Even at the point of each of their deaths, we had more interaction with others than them. You could argue they have never been as bold as we are imagining.

Honestly, the only one from that list I'd agree with is possibly Ysayle. ARR was all about the Scions, and Paplymo was just as much a part of the team as anyone else. His was also the first death of a main Scion, which in itself gives it an impact. Not to mention the impact a certain side quest in Old Sharlayan has on people in EW...

Moenbryda's death was meant to be shocking, and again a first for a main associate character to be killed off.

Haurchefant's death remains one of the most tear-jerking moments in the entire game, and was most certainly as "bold" as we think it is. People still have strong reactions to even little things like your character doing the /haurchefant emote when talking to Venat in Elpis. He was much, much more than "just an Ishgard soldier"; he was the first friend and ally we had in an otherwise hostile land. It's even stronger in the Japanese version, where the feelings between Haurchefant and the PC are explicitly made deeper.

Minfilia was an extremely popular character and the single biggest driving force behind your PC's story progression in ARR. While she took a back seat afterward, that doesn't mean people will suddenly forget about her or think it's meaningless if something happens to her. That still hits people deep.

Hydaelyn has also been there the entire time, and the connection with her was even substantially deepened with the entire Elpis part of EW itself.

These are people who were significantly and deeply endeared to us for a long time. For some of the ones who died earlier (Haurchefant, Papalymo, etc.), check YT or Reddit threads from years ago when those deaths occurred and you'll see people most definitely felt strongly about them back then, too.

[Tlamila]

If you think about it, the people who were killed in the MSQ were not that endeared to us for a long time.

And yet, each and every npc on that list was way dearer to me than any of the current scions, except Tataru and Alphi. If the rest of the scions was to die now (like they pretended to do many times so far) I wouldn't even be sad, maybe even happy, while for almost all those I cried plenty when they died.

[Jeeqbit]

Haurchefant's death remains one of the most tear-jerking moments in the entire game, and was most certainly as "bold" as we think it is.

It wasn't for me and it wasn't for many people. It was a shocking moment, but I was not as connected to Haurchefant as the game wanted to pretend I was. I had forgotten about him by the time we visited the grave at the end of Heavensward and I didn't care for seeing him in the 3.3 cutscene where we throw the eyes away. I would have rather seen Ysale next to me. I think most people's connection to Haurchefant now is more about the fanfiction and fan art that has been created around him.

Minfilia was an extremely popular character and the single biggest driving force behind your PC's story progression in ARR. While she took a back seat afterward, that doesn't mean people will suddenly forget about her or think it's meaningless if something happens to her. That still hits people deep.

If, as a new player, you do the story right now, then Minfilia is probably recent in your mind, but if you only did ARR all the way back in 2013-2015 then she is going to be very faded in your mind by now. It was a lot easier to lose her after that many years but I can understand if that is different for a new player.

Hydaelyn has also been there the entire time

Not talking to us at all though. Almost the only thing we got when we talked to her was either "Hear, Feel, Think" or words by proxy of Minfilia and then we had nothing for many, many years. There isn't that much connection to be had with a silent crystal.

If the only deep connection to Hydaelyn that we really formed was in EW, then it doesn't count as bold because it was effectively a character created in EW, to die in EW. That's very different to what I think is implied by "bold", which is killing Alphinaud, Y'shtola and the other scions who have been with you for many expansions talking to you for the last 10 years.

And yet, each and every npc on that list was way dearer to me than any of the current scions, except Tataru and Alphi. If the rest of the scions was to die now (like they pretended to do many times so far) I wouldn't even be sad, maybe even happy, while for almost all those I cried plenty when they died.

I know how I would feel because I was confronted with this possibility in EW and although I might handle some of them dying, my feeling toward all of them dying was the very word they were using, despair. They spent 10 years building these characters up and to get rid of all of them would be like throwing the last 10 years out of the window. They could kill some of them or make them all side characters, but I don't think killing all of them would have been the right answer.

I wouldn't mind if Tataru and Alphinaud died, to be honest. My attachment to Alphinaud decreased a lot when the actor changed in Heavensward.

[Kes13a]

I think at this point I would prefer for him to be more honest and straightforward in order to set more accurate expectations. This "marketing strategy" was partially responsible for the negative reception of male Hrothgar in place of male Viera, and overall I'm simply tired of him trying to subvert our expectations.

your expectations are unrealistic at best.

he will never state specifically what is coming up, thats not how things are done.. ever. why? because then other companies can rush to release the same kind of thing first. to expect full disclosure is to live in a fantasy world. most negative receptions are a result of a player base expecting something that was never deliverable in the first place.

I'll decide after things are released whether they are good or not. getting all hyoed up or depressed over something in the future is a certain path to mental health issues. I prefer to manage expectations and either be pleasantly surprised, or decide to take a break and enjoy other options. dont tie your happiness to a game... it wont end well.

I dont see them AT ALL trying to "subvert expectations". all I see is that their hands are tied in releasing information. for good reasons. I think you read far too much into it and are making assumptions