6.2 MSQ Story Review

[aveyond-dreams]

So none of what alphi went through over the last 8 years counts as growth/struggles?

It happened in 2015. It's 2022. We've been over this. Since then he hasn't been through much. You have to respect the player's perception of game events.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

It happened in 2015. It's 2022. We've been over this. Since then he hasn't been through much. You have to respect the player's perception of game events.

So none of his experience since 2015 counts? The dudes been an arcanist for 8 years, and clearly has the capacity to be a sage. Like, pretty sure they went over it in the story when he received the nouliths.


You just nitpick everything.

[WhiteWitch]

So none of his experience since 2015 counts? The dudes been an arcanist for 8 years, and clearly has the capacity to be a sage. Like, pretty sure they went over it in the story when he received the nouliths.


You just nitpick everything.

Yea ngl this OP does tend to nitpick everything . He even made a thread about the video guide art style that was on the launcher a week or two ago. It was sort of like comic sans corporate art but idk why it needed a whole damn thread

[aveyond-dreams]

So none of his experience since 2015 counts? The dudes been an arcanist for 8 years, and clearly has the capacity to be a sage. Like, pretty sure they went over it in the story when he received the nouliths.


You just nitpick everything.

No, I simply compare things to my own frame of reference. I don't play video games to watch stories unfold where kids get their AF sets handed to them by their parents after years of them not doing much of anything or growing as a character. It feels like all Alphinaud did was get other people in trouble and relearning the same lesson over and over again as he toppled nations left and right.

I want to see better.

Telling a good story with the character in 2015, pausing/repeating that too many times in the leadup to 2022, only for him to get an upgrade after not really working for or wanting it just isn't appealing to me. I also offered an alternate way in which the character could've been handled here.

[MagiusNecros]

I think the Scions all have hit their peak in their character arcs and don't need to take the big spotlight anymore. I for one cannot stand the Olsen twins cosplaying as little Elf people. More Ryne and Fordola pls.

What I would give to have punchy punch Yda back over whatever Lyse is supposed to be.

For too long has the WoL been a complimentary sidepiece that only serves to fight battles and move the plot along in proper World of Warcraft fashion.

That's where FFXI shines I feel where each xpac involved new characters and wasn't reliant on an ensemble cast for a majority of it's life.

[hagare]

So none of his experience since 2015 counts? The dudes been an arcanist for 8 years, and clearly has the capacity to be a sage. Like, pretty sure they went over it in the story when he received the nouliths.


You just nitpick everything.

I mean I wouldn't object to a Namek saga Super saiyan transformation with lots and lots of screaming and his hair turning blonde :P

[SentioftheHoukai]

You're not wrong though. In most games power upgrades whether for mmorpg characters or fixed protagonists in single-player games come after some kind of growth/struggle. Them being handed to the character so effortlessly like in Alphinaud's case is certainly unique, but not in a way that is in the game's best interest.

Yeah, you'd think they'd take this into narrative account. What with how they seem to love to push the marketing angle of "This is an MMO, but you can TOTALLY play it as a Single-Player JRPG if you wish!" despite it falling so utterly short in the presence of such monoliths of narrative gaming that SE has released in the past.

So none of his experience since 2015 counts? The dudes been an arcanist for 8 years, and clearly has the capacity to be a sage. Like, pretty sure they went over it in the story when he received the nouliths.

You just nitpick everything.

Yea ngl this OP does tend to nitpick everything . He even made a thread about the video guide art style that was on the launcher a week or two ago. It was sort of like comic sans corporate art but idk why it needed a whole damn thread

Sure, Aveyond does criticize the game a lot but in all fairness there's a lot there to critique. Unlike some other critics that get paid to do so, Aveyond ALSO offers solutions on how to improve the game as they see it. Something I see critics lack far too frequently to take them seriously.

Here's a hot-take: Perhaps some of y'all simply don't criticize FFXIV enough?

I think the Scions all have hit their peak in their character arcs and don't need to take the big spotlight anymore. I for one cannot stand the Olsen twins cosplaying as little Elf people. More Ryne and Fordola pls.

What I would give to have punchy punch Yda back over whatever Lyse is supposed to be.

For too long has the WoL been a complimentary sidepiece that only serves to fight battles and move the plot along in proper World of Warcraft fashion.

That's where FFXI shines I feel where each xpac involved new characters and wasn't reliant on an ensemble cast for a majority of it's life.

Yeah, I feel as if some of the posters here don't realize or perhaps willfully misinterpret the intent of some of us. As for myself, I don't even wish to see ALL of the Scions gone at least not permanently. I just think they've had their run of the show, and strongly desire to see new and exciting things and people. I want new and improved party make-ups with some Scions and some non-Scions, not this "all the Scions get together despite their faux-disbandment" and nearly no new party members. This "one shiny-new party member that promptly vanishes from the plot the very next patch" just isn't doing it for me. Same goes for the new antagonists. I feel their throwing them away far too quickly, and abandoning any possibility for character development and interesting backstories. It's a disservice to the characters involved, doubly so since they seem intent and invested on making so many references. What they're doing now just doesn't do FFIV, for instance any justice.

[dapperfaffer]

So uh, the story didn't really bring up the issue of absconding with what is more or less the village leader from the 13th, take them to another plane of existence, and said leader is all "Nah, that's cool. Voidsent suck even though I have shown empathy to them in this patch :^)" Am I just dumb and missing something? The further past 6.0 I go the more the writing gets inconsistent. lol

I imagine its because there is supposed to be a unrevealed/presumed parallel between voidsent being the people of the 13th but changed into monsters, in the same way that the 1st had its light monsters that were mutated people.

which is why deadalyn in her crystal form cleansed the soul of Zenos Reaper slave to make them human again, or at least human-ish to the nature of the corrupted 13th shard.

Or worse that where you would expect Zero to be Zemus or Zeromus from FF4(?) or even Zenos, Zero is actually a fragment of Hydealyns sundered soul going through the awakening process, and we get a new Hydealyn because Hydealyn gunna Hydealyn.

[aveyond-dreams]

Critiquing and analysing both the good and bad parts of the things you love is essential for it to remain in an ideal state and so that it can further improve. If I see something worth discussing, I bring it up as I see fit to do so. I want FFXIV to be the best it can be, yet as of late there has been numerous controversies due to the way in which the story was handled.

This...isn't the norm. Shadowbringers may have had some slower patches but it was a very great high fantasy journey that I wouldn't mind going on again. Stormblood was a bit of a letdown in some respects but the gameplay and content more than made up for the initial 4.0 MSQ. Wanting things to be good and improve really shouldn't be that big a deal, but a handful of players seem to not want to let go of the status quo.

Endwalker shifted the balance too far in favor of a type of story and storytelling that I don't think was becoming of what FFXIV was up to this point. However, Pandaemonium if nothing else is shaping up to be a very satisfying quest series so long as its final arc is handled properly, and perhaps with FFXVI done Maehiro can return and help guide this new team of writers and create a more Heavensward-like story for 7.0.

[Xeronia]

I would actually agree the lack of any consequences for the main cast is getting rather tiring, bear in mind when I say consequences I don't mean just death. The characters simply just don't have lasting effects from things that really should have left some kind of mark. Let's take Y'shtola's use of Flow and her blindness for example, it is never a negative for her aside from it draining her own life force which honestly I think the writer's forgot about. Is it ever shown after we were told it is draining away her life to use aether to see that it impacts her and her decision making? No because she goes on to use Flow again later and never seems to bring up she is on a shorter timer then the rest of us as reasoning behind her actions. Thancred has a similar issue of aside from a few throw away lines his now lack of being able to control aether isn't ever a real problem. Consequences don't really mean much if they can be largely ignored which seems a lot more prevalent in ShB and EW. In fact I would go so far as to say the writing as it stands is far to willing to bring our old emotional moments instead of creating new ones with familiar faces that even those start to lose what once made them moving.