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[AwesomeJr44]

I have no idea why you want to change FFXIV from its origins as a balanced high fantasy story into that. There are other games that suit those specific tastes better than this one ever could.

Because people have the tendency to expect the games they play to bend to their will. FFXIV players go play WoW and expect FFXIV. WoW players play FFXIV and expect WoW. It's like a bunch of Chess players playing Checkers and demanding that the game be turned into Chess. These people came into the game wanting MCU level trash humor and they want the game to become that. The unfortunate part is that it seems the FFXIV dev team has been willing to abandon what the game was to cater to these people.

How was it sad and depressing though? Nobody in the present died except randos, villains and primals. No kingdom was substantially harmed, no lasting consequences at all. They even managed to sprinkle this whole story with goofiness and slapstick with Loporrits.

It was depressingly bad writing.

But in all seriousness, it's depressing to them because there's still some semblance of the old FFXIV, an actual story with stakes and conflict. They won't be happy until it's a slice of life story where everybody is friends.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

Because people have the tendency to expect the games they play to bend to their will. .

Both sides do this.....
Saying to go back to the writing of Heavenward, saying how things should happen X way, is pretty much doing the same thing.

[AwesomeJr44]

Both sides do this.....
Saying to go back to the writing of Heavenward, saying how things should happen X way, is pretty much doing the same thing.

Big difference between "We should stick to what worked in the past (aka HW/SHB) as that's why we came to the game all those years ago" and "We should change the game completely to be a slice of life humorfest". One is wanting the game to be the game. The other is wanting the game to be something completely different.

This is the classic fandom invasion cycle. Game/Movie/Show exists. People come in and try to change it. When the original fans protest, they're told to leave. Original fans leave and go to/make a new Game/Movie/Show. People come in and try to change it.

Just let FFXIV be FFXIV. Go watch Marvel if you want low-brow humor and happy vibes all day long.

[aveyond-dreams]

This is the classic fandom invasion cycle. Game/Movie/Show exists. People come in and try to change it. When the original fans protest, they're told to leave. Original fans leave and go to/make a new Game/Movie/Show. People come in and try to change it.

This is precisely what I feel has occurred with FFXIV. It is a tragic state of affairs when those of us who mean well are continuously shut down and treated dismissively by these newer "fans" who in any other case would likely not be playing Final Fantasy games at all had this game not catered to them to the extent that did.

[AwesomeJr44]

This is precisely what I feel has occurred with FFXIV. It is a tragic state of affairs when those of us who mean well are continuously shut down and treated dismissively by these newer "fans" who in any other case would likely not be playing Final Fantasy games at all had this game not catered to them to the extent that did.

That's because it IS happening to FFXIV right now. We're in the invasion cycle. Newer players rushed into the game and demanded that there be no stakes and that everything be fine because they wanted their comfort game but didn't want to put in the effort to find one that already existed. Thus Endwalker had zero stakes and anyone of value was in zero danger for the entire time. Seriously, did ANY of the scions actually get put in genuine danger at ANY point other than the obvious fake out in UT?

I swear, FFXIV is gonna be the next Marvel or Star Wars soon if they don't stop doing this. It's going to be a series where the creators cater to newer 'fans' (which aren't even real fans) while casting anyone who liked the older 'movies' (in this case, expansions) aside. How long until the writers for FFXIV start calling their real fans bigots ala Rian Johnson style for not getting on board with the new direction?

[TaleraRistain]

Newer players rushed into the game and demanded that there be no stakes and that everything be fine because they wanted their comfort game but didn't want to put in the effort to find one that already existed.

Honest question, have you played other JRPGs? How many do you know where the entire cast dies? Even in the Final Fantasy series itself it's not something that happens in every game. And it's very rare (not unheard of, just rare) for a main cast death to occur at all. I'm not sure why you think new players rushed into this game demanding anything. This expansion has felt the most like one of the old school Final Fantasy single player games to me more than any other expansion. If they're drawing in anyone, they're drawing in the core Final Fantasy audience that was kept away by this being an online game. Which is exactly the audience they were trying to draw in because they had gotten that feedback that single player fans wanted to experience this one.

[AwesomeJr44]

Honest question, have you played other JRPGs? How many do you know where the entire cast dies? Even in the Final Fantasy series itself it's not something that happens in every game. And it's very rare (not heard of, just rare) for a main cast death to occur at all. I'm not sure why you think new players rushed into this game demanding anything. This expansion has felt the most like one of the old school Final Fantasy single player games to me more than any other expansion. If they're drawing in anyone, they're drawing in the core Final Fantasy audience that was kept away by this being an online game. Which is exactly the audience they were trying to draw in because they had gotten that feedback that single player fans wanted to experience this one.

I'll just leave this here for you.

I suppose this might be another post to potentially bookmark in order to keep track of the points being raised but as has been pointed out in the past it is specifically being requested that there are meaningful lasting consequences for at least some of the major protagonists.

Not just throwaway side characters of little relevance who are created with the intention of dying horribly. Not only antagonists and villains who are predictably given a sob story to induce sympathy and then unceremoniously killed off.

The occasional character on the level of Alisae, Y'shtola, Urianger, Raubhan, Nanamo or Merlwyb actually facing death in a meaningful and well written fashion would do wonders to portray some actual stakes.

I'm not convinced that one sided magic and world altering abilities are particularly engaging, either. Wanting more fantasy elements does not necessarily equal wanting them to manifest solely as an excuse to shield the major characters at almost every turn, especially when the story is written in such a way as to disallow the antagonists to score any meaningful on screen victories.

I want a compelling story and lasting consequences would achieve that as far as I'm concerned.

As has been pointed out over the numerous past occasions where the 'this is not Game of Thrones' line has been spouted, many of us aren't asking for mass death for the sake of mass death and are instead asking for death to occur where and when it makes sense. Cladding the bulk of the cast in extensive plot armour simply sends things in the opposite direction.

I would humbly suggest bookmarking this post if you're able to. It might help refresh your memory next time this same point is raised.

[Midareyukki]

Honest question, have you played other JRPGs? How many do you know where the entire cast dies? Even in the Final Fantasy series itself it's not something that happens in every game. And it's very rare (not heard of, just rare) for a main cast death to occur at all. I'm not sure why you think new players rushed into this game demanding anything. This expansion has felt the most like one of the old school Final Fantasy single player games to me more than any other expansion. If they're drawing in anyone, they're drawing in the core Final Fantasy audience that was kept away by this being an online game. Which is exactly the audience they were trying to draw in because they had gotten that feedback that single player fans wanted to experience this one.

- FF4, FF6, FF7, FF9, FF10 (kinda, especially in the new sound novel they made as a sequel to 10-2) FF13... but it's complicated. And FF15. These are all mainline games where at least one of the main playable characters dies permanently at some point.
- Crisis Core and Type-0 feature the death of the entire playable roster. Though Type-0 does have a way to avert it, but it doesn't erase the fact that those deaths still happened.
- Dissidia 012 kills off its prologue characters before the main Dissidia campaign. They're brought back somehow in NT tho.
- FFT makes it ambiguous whether or not the main character and his sister survive. We don't know whether he's actually alive, Delita's dying hallucination or just a gratuitous image to contrast the circumstances of Delita's death, like an allegory.

Death does happen somewhat regularly. It's never the entire cast except for two games: the first one is a single-player adventure, so it doesn't count, and the 2nd one has a secret ending where you can un-make the entire campaign.

Edit: If anyone's curious, the FF10 death is that Tidus is such a bigshot blitzball player and neglects Yuna for a bit, he then goes to the beach, finds a ball, thinks it's a Blitzball and kicks it. It's actually a Bomb and he dies. Yuna mourns him and tries to bring him back, but out of nowhere, Sin comes back. The end. Just... no further context, that's all the narration says xD And since there's no follow-up, he's still dead.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

Big difference between "We should stick to what worked in the past (aka HW/SHB) as that's why we came to the game all those years ago" and "We should change the game completely to be a slice of life humorfest". One is wanting the game to be the game. The other is wanting the game to be something completely different.

This is the classic fandom invasion cycle. Game/Movie/Show exists. People come in and try to change it. When the original fans protest, they're told to leave. Original fans leave and go to/make a new Game/Movie/Show. People come in and try to change it.

Just let FFXIV be FFXIV. Go watch Marvel if you want low-brow humor and happy vibes all day long.

Nobody is being told to leave (at least not from where Ive looked), quite the opposite; you just told people ""Go watch Marvel if you want low-brow humor and happy vibes all day long."" So...whos the one telling people to leave?
You're still naming the same thing. I see the differences, but they are both the same effect: Change the Game to how I want it.
Thats my point. Not which one is better.

I swear, FFXIV is gonna be the next Marvel or Star Wars soon if they don't stop doing this. It's going to be a series where the creators cater to newer 'fans' (which aren't even real fans) while casting anyone who liked the older 'movies' (in this case, expansions) aside. How long until the writers for FFXIV start calling their real fans bigots ala Rian Johnson style for not getting on board with the new direction?

-_-;
This is some Next Level Boom-Saying.
And just dismissing other Players

This is precisely what I feel has occurred with FFXIV. It is a tragic state of affairs when those of us who mean well are continuously shut down and treated dismissively by these newer "fans" who in any other case would likely not be playing Final Fantasy games at all had this game not catered to them to the extent that did.

Nobody is being shut down for having an Opinion.
But your language here is pretty dismissive of those other peoples opinions.

[AwesomeJr44]

Nobody is being told to leave (at least not from where Ive looked), quite the opposite; you just told people ""Go watch Marvel if you want low-brow humor and happy vibes all day long."" So...whos the one telling people to leave?

Again, one is telling people that if they want Marvel to go watch Marvel, and that FFXIV shouldn't try to be something it isn't. The other is telling people that FFXIV should completely alter itself and be Marvel and if you don't like it, leave because you're not welcome anymore. The former is asking that you don't try and change FFXIV when you could instead consume products that fit what you want better. The latter is coming into a pre-existing community and trying to corrupt it into something completely different because you don't care enough about the game or its community to leave it alone and consume something else. There is a big difference between those. It's not hard to understand unless you don't want to. Let FFXIV be FFXIV. FFXIV is not Marvel.

And whenever someone has a minor critique of the game and makes a thread on it, within two pages they already get comments telling them to leave if they don't like the new direction of the game. (And this is on the Official Forums, a place that is supposedly a negative echo chamber compared to the positive echo chambers that are Reddit and Twitter, so I wonder how bad it must be over there) So yes, we are indeed approaching the 'get out if you don't like what the game has mutated into' stage of the invasion cycle.