Please don't harass people for ignoring/disliking the story

[Mat13295]

I feel like we're missing an important part of this story which is how the subject of story skipping even comes up. Depending on how you present this, it can affect people's response.


I have a friend that told me about their skipping and the reason was they just wanted to get to the action. It's not like they don't enjoy a good story, as we've discussed other movies and series. I understood where they were coming from, but at the same time, it seems odd to go through all these fights and such with no real context.

Because the story's gameplay sucks. Go talk to X ad infinitum and stare at the ground for 5 seconds makes up 90% of your objectives in the story. Hell I barely remember getting into any fights beyond the obvious trials in Endwalker. Everything was just an escort mission but without even needing to escort the person. Made me feel like i was playing the worst part of an AC game again. This combined with how much of a long slog of quests there are to get to the actual content of the game, no wonder Square Enix makes so much money from skips.

[Teeko]

Because the story's gameplay sucks. Go talk to X ad infinitum and stare at the ground for 5 seconds makes up 90% of your objectives in the story. Hell I barely remember getting into any fights beyond the obvious trials in Endwalker. Everything was just an escort mission but without even needing to escort the person. Made me feel like i was playing the worst part of an AC game again. This combined with how much of a long slog of quests there are to get to the actual content of the game, no wonder Square Enix makes so much money from skips.

Nobody asked you to defend why you don't like the story.

[Deveryn]

Because the story's gameplay sucks. Go talk to X ad infinitum and stare at the ground for 5 seconds makes up 90% of your objectives in the story. Hell I barely remember getting into any fights beyond the obvious trials in Endwalker. Everything was just an escort mission but without even needing to escort the person. Made me feel like i was playing the worst part of an AC game again. This combined with how much of a long slog of quests there are to get to the actual content of the game, no wonder Square Enix makes so much money from skips.

I definitely wasn't asking you or anyone for an opinion on the story, but here's a perfect example of what would lead to "bullying" in the first place.

[Mat13295]

I mean i enjoyed the game's story from Heavensward onward but please put words in my mouth because I pointed out why people skip the fetchquests.

[Deveryn]

I mean i enjoyed the game's story from Heavensward onward but please put words in my mouth because I pointed out why people skip the fetchquests.

Nobody asked why people skip. I asked how the subject of skipping came up. There's a big difference. Nobody put words in your mouth. You're butting into a conversation that isn't about you and your problems.

but whatever, you're clearly so bothered by the story and the gameplay that you just have to overstate the obvious that this opinion exists.

[Taiku]

buying story skips.

I don't think buying a skip should be conflated with skipping cutscenes. One is someone writing off the early/midgame & jumping straight into endgame, the other is someone who doesn't like the story but is otherwise enjoying the process of reaching endgame. If someone skips straight to endgame they probably won't be sticking around for long anyway, whereas someone playing the game but skipping cutscenes is likely still enjoying themselves.

how [does] the subject of story skipping even come up?

The most common I've seen is someone getting approached by another player trying to engage with them about the story. That's understandable, people want to talk about the things they enjoy. But if a player says they don't really care, that can lead to interrogation & feeling like they're being targeted or need to defend themselves, and they don't have to. Disinterest in the story doesn't need a justification.

I've also seen memes on popular FFXIV social media pages that depict story skipping as an unforgivable sin that must be shunned, which just enables harassment further. I don't follow any general FFXIV pages at all anymore because they're almost an inevitability.

The most extreme thing I've witnessed (and why I wrote OP) was someone bragging about how they unapolagetically pressure people into watching cutscenes, and basically threatened a new player not to skip when they were just asking for beginner's advice. When I called them out on it, another user and a moderator defended them. That's the kind of behavior I want to push back against.

In general, I think players hold the story in way too high a regard, to the point where you can't say anything even remotely negative without someone getting overly defensive. The appropriate thing to do when encountering someone who isn't invested in the story is just leave them be, regardless of context. If they're being genuine, they're likely still enjoying the game and that's okay. If they're being malicious, engaging with them is exactly what they want.

Above all else, players are allowed to play the game for anything it has to offer; be it roulettes, raids, EX content, PvP, hunts, FATEs, maps, crafting, gathering, housing, glamour, the Gold Saucer, Mahjong, Triple Triad, Chocobo racing, or any other reason.

[LianaThorne]

Nobody asked why people skip. I asked how the subject of skipping came up. There's a big difference. Nobody put words in your mouth. You're butting into a conversation that isn't about you and your problems.

but whatever, you're clearly so bothered by the story and the gameplay that you just have to overstate the obvious that this opinion exists.

Just sticking my head in to point out that you're literally doing what the thread is about. Someone has a very strong opinion about the game (which they're allowed to have) and they voice it, leading to a reaction similar to yours because for some reason someone having a strong negative opinion about an aspect of the game irritates people to no end. So what if they think the quests are boring? Being real, post-ARR is absolute garbage and a slog even with the cuts they made. Some bits of Endwalker put me to sleep as well. If you liked them, wonderful. I'm glad you found something positive about them that I didn't. However, that doesn't mean that my opinion (or is in this case their opinion) is invalid or that I deserve to be harassed over it.

So, maybe less hostility would be nice, especially when it comes to the topic of harassment over disliking the story....

[Teeko]

Strong negative unasked for opinions about anything tend to annoy people, to be fair. Within the context of this conversation, butting in to state why the story was bad was simply teetering on off topic.

It's okay to think the story is bad, I don't really care why you think the story is bad. There's a difference.

[LianaThorne]

Could we have some examples of this "literally bully"ing that is going on? When you say that someone "basically threatened a new player" could you give us exact quotes?

Not in the know of the situation but can speak from my own experience of the fights that can happen. I remember day 1 of Endwalker people were going back and forth in shout chat harassing one person because they said something along the lines of not enjoying the beginning of the story so far. This resulted in like....3 or 4 people piling on them telling them they're wrong/stupid/have poor taste and going at the person while myself and another were just trying to tell everyone to shut up and play the game. XD

Novice Network is another great example because you'll see sprouts bring up something about the story (usually in the ARR stage) and how boring it is/asking about buying a skip to HW and they'll get harassed by mentors for not enjoying the story and wanting to feed the Mogstation.

It's more common than you'd think but not like something you'll see daily on the street, if that makes sense.

[MistyMew]

It's your sub, play however you want. Just don't come complaining that you don't understand what's going on when you skipped all the story that explains it.

agreed BUT at the same time though, dont complain when someone doesnt care what happens ....ever