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

[Estariel]

Note the separation between their sentiments in the post. This is an individual stating people taking umbrage with the story should be harassed, and those who were skipping. Context is very important.

In other words, they're saying any and all criticisms are worthy of harassment regardless of whether or not someone has taken the time to watch the entire story.

That´s why I said, i´m against harassing, but I also understand people who are sick and tired about "skippers" who trash about the story and know nothing about it.

[Absimiliard]

That´s why I said, i´m against harassing, but I also understand people who are sick and tired about "skippers" who trash about the story and know nothing about it.

One needn't watch the cutscenes to understand the story. There are any number of lore repositories available at this time, many of which provide ample proof of accuracy. Is it better to watch them? Yes, but choosing not to does not automatically disqualify someone from the conversation.

The above aside, while I will agree with you on the point of people needing to know what they're talking about before trying to tear the story to shreds, more than a few of the people coming out against it do know what they are talking about.

[Estariel]

One needn't watch the cutscenes to understand the story. There are any number of lore repositories available at this time, many of which provide ample proof of accuracy. Is it better to watch them? Yes, but choosing not to does not automatically disqualify someone from the conversation.

The above aside, while I will agree with you on the point of people needing to know what they're talking about before trying to tear the story to shreds, more than a few of the people coming out against it do know what they are talking about.

And if they know, great.

Which brings me back to: worst story ever. a monkey could write a better story.

Taste differs, what one may like, someone else doesn´t.

That doesn´t mean that its bad, just that some like it and some not.

[Packetdancer]

I need to stress that if you love the story and think more people should experience it, that's fine. I also need to stress that I'm not talking about players who skip everything & write essays about how bad the story is. Those people are dumb, and I honestly don't think they're common enough to be worth complaining about.

What drives me absolutely bonkers—and what I encounter surprisingly often, compared to "I just always skip story"—are the people who skip through story because they want to rush to endgame, then complain that everything going on story-wise is too confusing. Well... yes? You fundamentally picked up a book and started reading at chapter 23 or whatever; it should not be terribly surprising there will be stuff in the previous 22 chapters which might be relevant to the portions you are reading now.

If folks always skip the story because they enjoy the gameplay and don't care about the story at all, cool; I have no problem with that. I personally think they're missing out, but different people have different tastes, and I won't criticize for that. If you're not actively ruining other people's enjoyment of the game, then you go do you; it's not my place to decide how you engage with media.

But if you are skipping the story because you're impatient to get to higher-level content yet plan to stop skipping it and take it slower once caught up... then yeah, in those cases, I'm absolutely going to tell you I think you're making a mistake. Not like, in a bullying manner, but in a "you're doing your future self no favors" fashion. And if you choose to still skip ahead to endgame, then please at least go back and read a summary of the story you skipped, rather than complaining to everyone else that the story's confusing and asking them to explain it just because you chose to skip all the context.

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.

This, basically.

[jameseoakes]

Venat loves you, never forget.

Venat doesn't love anyone but herself

[Striker44]

I can assure you he isn't 'crying'. He's simply telling it like it is - and given that his comment was posted in response to others generalising people who criticised the story this appears to be little more than the usual attempt at deflection on your part.

Also please don't swear. It's very rude and not at all appropriate for a game written and increasingly intended to cater to a young audience.

We both know he's not telling it "like it is." Heck, around here it's effectively the opposite - say you actually like the story (or anything about this game) and watch the little cabal of negativity go to town. Case in point - when IS came out there were the usual posters with the whole "IS is terrible" threads. There was onethread from someone talking about what they enjoyed about it - and within the first several comments were several someones (I won't name names, but notably present in this thread, too) either straight-up going after them or passive-aggressively saying they were "wrong" for liking it. They're so bitter they can't even stand the thought of someone else being happy. It's sad, really.

Frankly, there's only two cases I see where people get criticized for commenting negatively on the story here. One was already taken care of by the OP - the people who skip the story and then complain about it. The second is people who act as if they're the arbiters of what is "good" and "bad," rather than just offering an opinion on something. They tend to directly and personally attack the dev team (and other players who are having a good time), and when it comes down to it, it basically amounts to a very immature "they didn't write the story I wanted, therefore it's bad" philosophy. So yes, it's a natural human response when you (a proverbial "you," not you personally) effectively harass people by claiming they're wrong for enjoying something, to get flak in return.

[Ransu]

People get harassed for skipping cutscenes? That's news to me. As long as you aren't braindead with whatever class you are using...I think you are fine. Some people play for gameplay...not story. I played WoW for years and I couldn't give you a single line of what the story is about.

The difference is the story in WoW isn't front and center like it is for FFXIV. I wouldn't ever recommend FFXIV to anyone if they want more MMO than story like WoW considering how narrative driven FFXIV is.

[Nikki]

Neat? Skip away I guess? Seems like a waste when story is like 80% of the game, but whatever.

Thats what i did with shadowbringer. Skipped away to try new jobs. Then grabbed myself a nice cup of coffee and watched the story on YouTube. Watching someone else narrate story in 20 mins videos while i can kick back and relax is much more enjoyable and i didn't miss a thing. I play ffxiv for combat, glam and trying new classes. Will do the same with Endwalker.

[SturmChurro]

Well, that's too late: last year I literally got harassed and canceled by my own FC after saying that I didn't like the SHB story, because how dare I have a personal opinion. SHB is the literal bible of storytelling, don't you know?!?!?!?!

Unfortunately, this seems to be very common. The story here is something sacred to many, criticizing it is, somehow, criticizing them personally. It's always sad to read harassment happen on that level due to an opinion on the story. I personally thought ShB was fairly enjoyable, for what it was, but I won't hold it against someone else if they didn't like it or aspects of it.

[Knot_D]

Venat doesn't love anyone but herself

> "My love will be forever with yours, my dearest children."
> VENAT HATES EVERYONE BUT HERSELF!

cherrypicking.jpg