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

[Ralphe2449]

Reading some comments it almost feels like some people want the story to be as boring and terrible as wow’s, where you don’t have any depth and it is just ‘lol bad guy appears in new xpac, lol bad guy dies in end of xpac’ and the lore is literally just ‘watch YouTube videos of lore nerds talking about how that one item descriptions requires an hour long video.

I am sorry but ff14 is a story focused mmo, story that has a degree of quality unlike the utterly boring and bland stories the average western mmorpg makes that I personally wouldn’t even use the term ‘story’ for it

[Ameela]

Reading some comments it almost feels like some people want the story to be as boring and terrible as wow’s, where you don’t have any depth and it is just ‘lol bad guy appears in new xpac, lol bad guy dies in end of xpac’ and the lore is literally just ‘watch YouTube videos of lore nerds talking about how that one item descriptions requires an hour long video.

I am sorry but ff14 is a story focused mmo, story that has a degree of quality unlike the utterly boring and bland stories the average western mmorpg makes that I personally wouldn’t even use the term ‘story’ for it

I mean, there's nothing wrong with WoW's approach to storytelling (outside of sticking important lore stuff in books), I quite like the idea of the leveling zones being focused on self-contained world building quests and then having the main storyline for each expansion mostly take place in the endgame raids. This gives players a lot more freedom in how they can tackle each area and the way they level their characters. The actual quality of the writing is another matter entirely but that's besides the point.
XIV even tried something similar to WoW with ARR, where Coil was really the main conclusion of the story while the actual leveling MSQ was mostly set dressing, though of course the mere presence of the MSQ in the first place meant that the game couldn't afford to be as freeform as WoW. One of the things that always fascinated me about the game was how depending on what race you choose at the start, even within your own allegiance, you can have a completely different leveling experience in unique zones that never overlap at all, meaning that if you start as, say, a human and then decide to make a dwarf character later you're unlikely to have any overlap in quests, areas or dungeons with your already-existing human character. That kind of freedom is really cool, especially for an MMO where you might want to play with your friends - catching up is as simple as getting to a high enough level and then just walking to whatever area they're questing in.

[Kazhar]

And the lore is literally just ‘watch YouTube videos of lore nerds talking about how that one item descriptions requires an hour long video.

Honestly? I wish we had any item description interesting enough to get an hour long video about it.
Storytelling through the world is really cool and a better use of the video game medium than watching some cutscenes for hours.

[Atelier-Bagur]

Honestly? I wish we had any item description interesting enough to get an hour long video about it.
Storytelling through the world is really cool and a better use of the video game medium than watching some cutscenes for hours.

There are a some interesting lore bits through item descriptions sprinkled in the game. I don't think the DS approach to story telling would work in a FF game since that's not how they normally present their tales to begin with. It only works in the Souls games because of the free form world design it was built around for it.

[Raoabolic]

Reading some comments it almost feels like some people want the story to be as boring and terrible as wow’s, where you don’t have any depth and it is just ‘lol bad guy appears in new xpac, lol bad guy dies in end of xpac’ and the lore is literally just ‘watch YouTube videos of lore nerds talking about how that one item descriptions requires an hour long video.

I mean, we are more or less there. The story is boring with little stakes, if at all. Not to mention thanks to time travel we now have contradictions in the story so it's not even well written once you ignore the tear jerker scenes made for "content creators" it seems. I mean, it's sad when the head dev is shocked that people are paying attention to the story. At least Pandemonium has shown us that there is someone that can write but the MSQ suffers narratively of the same things that soap operas suffer from. They can't end, it is made to keep you here. If XIV is story focused then the devs should focus on the story...

By the way, I would love if XIV was so lore rich that we can make hour long videos on items in the game. I doubt that would work though since that would require a bit of reading and the average "gamur" would rather have voice acting since reading is for boomers, lol.

[Lelila38]

By the way, I would love if XIV was so lore rich that we can make hour long videos on items in the game. I doubt that would work though since that would require a bit of reading and the average "gamur" would rather have voice acting since reading is for boomers, lol.

Sad thing is, it is lore rich. The lore is just not used, disregarded or retconned. Or replaced by fan-service, that you neither get nor appreciate if you haven't played that specific FF title.
I was honestly shocked at that "didn't think you'd care that much" line. If the devs don't care about their own world's lore, why should the players?

[Raoabolic]

Sad thing is, it is lore rich. The lore is just not used, disregarded or retconned. Or replaced by fan-service, that you neither get nor appreciate if you haven't played that specific FF title.
I was honestly shocked at that "didn't think you'd care that much" line. If the devs don't care about their own world's lore, why should the players?

I'm really worried they will retcon some of the sil'dah story due to the Criterion dungeons having something to do with them. As you know, we can't have grey areas so my gut reaction is that they will absolve Ul'dah of all wrongdoings.

[Artemiz]

Criticizing bizarre takes isn't "harassing" anyone, OP. If one tosses out critique of any kind (and this goes for everything in life), one should expect critique in turn. The number of times I've seen people yelling about so called "plot holes" on this forum only for someone else to point out why those things weren't plot holes ("y no kill Hermes/Meteion in Elpis?!?!!?111) is hilarious. I have my own issues here and there with Endwalker (more Garlemald, dammit! JP player base wanted less apparently, so rip Garleans), but jfc, the hyperbole on this forum...

Anyway:



No, people understand that just fine, though I'd wager it's a lot less than certain people make it out to be. That said, what those insisting that the game should focus less on story refuse to accept is that not everything has to cater to everyone, and that attempting to do so often makes things worse. "I left this other MMO for X reason(s), but THIS one should be more like ABC MMO!" is a more condensed (slightly exaggerated) argument, among others, that I've seen.

It's honestly baffling that saying "it's ok if it doesn't appeal to you, and it's ok to move on" is so contentious... people act as if it's a personal attack for goodness sake. You know what I do if something just isn't jiving with me? I do something else, and that's okay. I did that with WoW (mid BFA, before the controversy hit... played since vanilla) and ESO.

It's the height of arrogance to insist that an MMO that has been a certain way for years (and has grown consistently because of it, NOT in spite of it... let's not pretend that the influx at the start of Endwalker was anything new; it was just a bit larger) should be changed to cater to them. I won't argue against QoL updates and the devs trying new things at times (Island Sanc), but making the game less story focused wouldn't be a QoL update... it'd be tearing out the heart and tossing it to the wayside, making it like any other MMO. Great idea, considering few, if any, do what FFXIV does. /s

It sounds like you just weren't the demographic the devs aimed for, and that's fine. If you keep playing despite that because you find other things in the game you enjoy, that's fine too, but insisting the game should change at a fundamental level because you (or anyone else, for that matter) don't care for the MSQ is inane.

I realise I might sound hostile to you, but that isn't my intent; I'm just tired of the same, old-as-dirt "game should cater to me" posts, and my blunt wording reflects that. These "arguments" come off as incredibly childish and demanding, and I just have no patience for it.


... Do I really need to point out the hypocrisy here...?

One last thing... if you forgot, fair enough, but your friends can try FFXIV without spending a single cent. FFXIV trial accounts allow you to complete Heavensward(might even be SB too now, not sure), which is more than enough time for them to decide if they enjoy it or not, so your "wasting money" argument doesn't even hold water.

Congratulations on being the exact person the OP is trying to get through to. I've been around this game since 2.0, I don't need you, or anyone else to lecture me about what I can and cannot like about it. I took nothing personally and insulted nobody, All I did was point out the obvious flaw in in a continously growing and mandatoy MSQ, and suggested I don't like it. You then went and wrote War and Peace trying to point out how arrogant I am, how inane I am, how hypocritical I am and how childish I am, how demanding I am and how I want the game to cater to me. You then go on to say I am the one taking things personally.... amazing.

I'm not going to bother snip quoting and pointing out all the obvious flaws in your rant, I'd rather play the MSQ and that says something! Just calm yourself down, stop evangelising and understand that not everyone wants to slog through 500 hours of a game before they get to the bit they actually wanted to do.

[Raoabolic]

Congratulations on being the exact person the OP is trying to get through to. I've been around this game since 2.0, I don't need you, or anyone else to lecture me about what I can and cannot like about it. I took nothing personally and insulted nobody, All I did was point out the obvious flaw in in a continously growing and mandatoy MSQ, and suggested I don't like it. You then went and wrote War and Peace trying to point out how arrogant I am, how inane I am, how hypocritical I am and how childish I am, how demanding I am and how I want the game to cater to me. You then go on to say I am the one taking things personally.... amazing.

I'm not going to bother snip quoting and pointing out all the obvious flaws in your rant, I'd rather play the MSQ and that says something! Just calm yourself down, stop evangelising and understand that not everyone wants to slog through 500 hours of a game before they get to the bit they actually wanted to do.

I mean, the mogstation option IS there if you want to skip the story. SE thinks of the players after all~!

[SannaR]

I mean, we are more or less there. The story is boring with little stakes, if at all. Not to mention thanks to time travel we now have contradictions in the story so it's not even well written once you ignore the tear jerker scenes made for "content creators" it seems. I mean, it's sad when the head dev is shocked that people are paying attention to the story. At least Pandemonium has shown us that there is someone that can write but the MSQ suffers narratively of the same things that soap operas suffer from. They can't end, it is made to keep you here. If XIV is story focused then the devs should focus on the story...

By the way, I would love if XIV was so lore rich that we can make hour long videos on items in the game. I doubt that would work though since that would require a bit of reading and the average "gamur" would rather have voice acting since reading is for boomers, lol.

But the game we're playing is an MMO the story or at least A story kind of has to continue on happening. At least until XIV gets to where XI is now. Then you can wrap it all up and let the game coast. Only to maybe many a year after the devs said the game was going into maintenance mode to give it one more story after many fans didn't think they'd get anything more. If I were to equate XIV to XI I'd say we're just now finishing Rise of the Zilart and starting Chains of Promothia. Sure, it took us a lot longer. We also know that if they only focused on the story those who aren't here for it would rant and rave that they're not getting paid attention to. Let's be honest those who only love the story and are only here for the stories are probably a minority. The game needs to have more than just the story. And the MSQ is only one of the many stories. Yes it's one of two stories that is mandatory to do, but you can go and explore any other story the game offers at your own pace.