A Storyteller’s Point of View on Final Fantasy XIV

[Kes13a]

*snip*

while to some extent I agree, you have to be aware that the game has been around for 12 years.

they have changed the original arc to make it shorter for new players. this is going to cause issues with your attempt to critique the story, since its not the same as it was. in fact, they removed 13% of the ARR quests, lines of dialogue that used to be part of quests were removed to shorten the quest chains themselves. at this point, especially in ARR, you are being handed a book with entire paragraphs, pages and chapters that are simply removed to make the experience shorter because players complained it was too long.

while your attempt is interesting, I feel its conception is flawed from the start

[ReynTime]

while to some extent I agree, you have to be aware that the game has been around for 12 years.

they have changed the original arc to make it shorter for new players. this is going to cause issues with your attempt to critique the story, since its not the same as it was. in fact, they removed 13% of the ARR quests, lines of dialogue that used to be part of quests were removed to shorten the quest chains themselves. at this point, especially in ARR, you are being handed a book with entire paragraphs, pages and chapters that are simply removed to make the experience shorter because players complained it was too long.

while your attempt is interesting, I feel its conception is flawed from the start

That's not his problem. He's giving his perspective as an author who just started. Just leave him be, it's not like FFXIV will have whatever reputation you people think it has tarnished because someone dared critique past story arcs. If he feels it improves later, he will give his take accordingly.

And then some people here still have the gall to claim the fanbase is not overly defensive of any negative criticism...

[Boblawblah]

That's not his problem. He's giving his perspective as an author who just started. Just leave him be, it's not like FFXIV will have whatever reputation you people think it has tarnished because someone dared critique past story arcs. If he feels it improves later, he will give his take accordingly.

And then some people here still have the gall to claim the fanbase is not overly defensive of any negative criticism...

a single, calm response saying "I agree to some extent, but I do have some issues with your take" isn't being overly defensive of any negative criticism. The OP purposely made this thread to blog his critique of the story/game, are you honestly expecting no one to say "I disagree"?

[Kes13a]

That's not his problem. He's giving his perspective as an author who just started. Just leave him be, it's not like FFXIV will have whatever reputation you people think it has tarnished because someone dared critique past story arcs. If he feels it improves later, he will give his take accordingly.

And then some people here still have the gall to claim the fanbase is not overly defensive of any negative criticism...

"you people"?

funny. personally all I was doing was advising that the premise might be faulty because things have been removed. in no way do I defend their removal. but I forgot, to some, especially like "you people" anything that doesnt condemn the game vociferously must be fanatic defense.

he gave his perspective, and I just advised why that may be the case. people can critique all they want, heck, I even agreed with the OP to an extent. hardly being defensive or defending SE or FFxiv. just pointing out a FACT, that is easily verifiable. relax, your dislike and opinions are safe from assault.

[kindar1]

while to some extent I agree, you have to be aware that the game has been around for 12 years.

they have changed the original arc to make it shorter for new players. this is going to cause issues with your attempt to critique the story, since its not the same as it was. in fact, they removed 13% of the ARR quests, lines of dialogue that used to be part of quests were removed to shorten the quest chains themselves. at this point, especially in ARR, you are being handed a book with entire paragraphs, pages and chapters that are simply removed to make the experience shorter because players complained it was too long.

while your attempt is interesting, I feel its conception is flawed from the start

I understand that things will change over time in a game like this. the creators have to adapt to a changing user base if nothing else. But I am not entering this game knowing what those removed quests were, and how they contributed, or not, to the story being told.

it is a storyteller's job to make sure any changes that occur due to the edits to the story don't render that story intelligible, they must alter how the story progresses to cover the gaps the edit created. that might mean changing a quest line, or adding a comment here and there within other quests to provide whatever was removed so the story flows again.

I don't know what the original intent was, so I can't speak to what I might have done to maintain that story. all I can speak to, is what I experience as I go through the quest they left in, and how I might make those more 'story structured' if I can think of a way.