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

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

If by "story focused" we're talking cutscene-to-gameplay ratio, I'd say all of them. (except maybe XI which I haven't played)

I dunno, I have 15k+ hours in XIV, and I know nowhere near even 25% of that is story.

[Raoabolic]

I dunno, I have 15k+ hours in XIV, and I know nowhere near even 25% of that is story.

To be fair, if a game told me that I had to play 15k+ hours to 100% it and I have to pay monthly the amount of cutscenes would be the least of my issues. I would think i'm reading an Onion article, lol.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

To be fair, if a game told me that I had to play 15k+ hours to 100% it and I have to pay monthly the amount of cutscenes would be the least of my issues. I would think i'm reading an Onion article, lol.

It's an MMO.... Lots of hours comes with the territory. That's kind of its niche lol...

[Raoabolic]

It's an MMO.... Lots of hours comes with the territory. That's kind of its niche lol...

Then it shouldn't pretend to be a single player game since that niche has been filled, lol.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Then it shouldn't pretend to be a single player game since that niche has been filled, lol.

I mean, it can be both, having a expansive story and countless hours of non-story content.

And it has, in fact, been that since 2013. Why are we acting like this is some new development?

[Raoabolic]

I mean, it can be both, having a expansive story and countless hours of non-story content.

And it has, in fact, been that since 2013. Why are we acting like this is some new development?

Sorry, I can't resist low hanging fruit, lol. Though I do agree that some MMOs can have their cake and eat it as well but there is a difference between a contained, well written story, and a soap opera that XIV is more or less emulating now. You can even make the argument that this has been an issue since 3.0 and it doesn't help that the new writers would rather write a long story that never ends. That might be why ShB was so popular. It felt like the Treasures of Aht Urhgan as far as it being it's own self contained story. While there was some overlap with the main story the events on the first felt like a new side story with a proper ending (doubly so if you finish all the role quests!). EW just reminded us that we are still stuck on the same ride since 2013 except the old maintaince guys left and the new ones took over.

[Kazhar]

I'm not sure that's a strong argument, as the majority of gameplay for most of the Final Fantasy games involve random battles, walking to the next area, talking to a few people, and more random battles, a boss fight, repeat. Hell, cutscenes weren't really a think until Final Fantasy VII.

So no, I would disagree that "story-focused" means cutscene-to-gameplay-ratio. I would argue that story-focused means that there is a story driving the game forward, and how much that plays a role in the overall flow of the game. Final Fantasy VI is my favorite game of all time, but I can't imagine how someone could say that it wasn't as story-focused as FFXIV.

Now, if you wanted to argue that FFXIV has too many cutscenes, that's a different argument, but I don't believe that has to do with being story-focused.

Yes, you're right. I do have issues with the main gameplay loop of the MSQ, but I agree it was unfair of me to blame it on the game being too story focused, especially since most of Sakaguchi-era FF games were actually built from the ground up in service to a story, not the reverse. Even FFXIV refuses to break free from it's extremely rigid 6 zones, 6 dungeons, 3 trials formula despite the story focus, when some of the previous games in the series did basically whatever they wanted.

[Kele_Star]

I think the quest are the biggest issue. As someone who has played the other FF games, go to location X, to watch cutscene, to fight something doesnt bother me personally, but i can see how so much running back and forth could feel a bit dull. If your not big on reading, weather its a paragraph or a text box it probably wont change your mind. Cutscenes are probably easier to digest specifically voiced ones because you just sit and watch. the running back and forth can especially be grateing when you dont have your chocobo or dont have the gil to teleport yet. I personally have no idea how you would fix the quest structure issue but if i had to guess all the tedious running back and forth is probably what turns most people off of the MSQ and not the MSQ itself. Some people just want to do dungeons and trials with there friends.

[caffe_macchiato]

Also, what Final Fantasy games are less story focused and open world than FFXIV?

Prior to FFX, Final Fantasy games weren’t afraid to loosen the leash after a story sequence. For example, all prior to X had an overworld that left you responsible for finding the next town and fending off random encounters which could be very dangerous. The game would stop guiding you for hours at a time. A typical JRPG flow that kept the genre challenging for many years.

But the quest system in XIV means that each NPC has a giant marker on their heads and they constantly guide you to the next objective. The overworld is relatively safe, you can easily use your mount to avoid random encounters, and your objective is always just a few minutes away. You have segments of challenge, like a dungeon, but the hours spent in those are far less than in the guided MSQ.

The FFXIV story is easy and linear and most of your time is spent clicking through text boxes and moving to the next NPC for more text.

[Atelier-Bagur]

Prior to FFX, Final Fantasy games weren’t afraid to loosen the leash after a story sequence. For example, all prior to X had an overworld that left you responsible for finding the next town and fending off random encounters which could be very dangerous. The game would stop guiding you for hours at a time. A typical JRPG flow that kept the genre challenging for many years.

But the quest system in XIV means that each NPC has a giant marker on their heads and they constantly guide you to the next objective. The overworld is relatively safe, you can easily use your mount to avoid random encounters, and your objective is always just a few minutes away. You have segments of challenge, like a dungeon, but the hours spent in those are far less than in the guided MSQ.

The FFXIV story is easy and linear and most of your time is spent clicking through text boxes and moving to the next NPC for more text.

The thing is how well the game makes you value those npcs and the interaction between them. Personally I feel that the time spent talking and going through cutscenes is valuable enough to keep me engaged. It's how I got through ARR and which is why I absolutely detest how we have people whom hate it but try to tell people it gets better when it seriously doesn't if we're talking about gameplay wise but also dog on people who skip the story? My brothers and sisters you whom keep telling newcomers to skip ARR are exactly the reason why you have people not get invested in the story in the first place. How dare you even get angry at them when you enable that mentality! Hypocrites.

Bottom line is, the game has to have a sort of hook in the beginning to make you want to keep playing that's all. If people are having trouble getting into ARR then tell them to quit and don't bother, the game isn't for them and that's fine.