A Storyteller’s Point of View on Final Fantasy XIV

[kindar1]

I do have to ask, have you played any other mmo? I mean no offense, but mmo's of all stripes are not going to allow you the license to "pick your own destiny". even your stories will not allow the reader to have any agency as to the final outcome. no matter how much you scream at the main character in your stories, they will still walk into that ambush, or situation, despite you knowing it could have been done better or another way or avoided all together.

The last MMO I played was DCUO, a decade ago, possibly longer. I reached the ending, and abandoned the game when I replayed it as a villain to see what writers working with storytellers of DC's caliber would do to make the villain angle interesting, and it turned out to be the exact same quests, only instead of going to rescues or retrieve something, you are kidnapping and stealing. I never looked at that game again even though I have a lifetime account with it.

though since you are a published writer, and even though the books dont fall into genres I generally read, I may have to read some of them to see if you manage to avoid the very situations you are critiquing. do they have open endings where the main character ending can be changed by the reader. are there situations you create where if I put the story down for several hours.. the story continues on without me.

according to your critiques you should manage to avoid all these pitfalls and the stories should be an exciting read, since very rarely have I been so immersed in a book I feel I have any license to change an outcome, and am not just along for the ride so to speak. but we will see. but keep up your journey and the critique. the viewpoint is interesting all the same

as an author of a novel, my job is to convince you that when a character makes a decision, they are the one who makes it, not me dictating that they do it. of course, you know I'm who's calling the shots. but if I do my job well, you'll be willing to let slide that I'm actually the one in charge. if I do my job extremely well, you'll forget I exist. (I'm nowhere near that good)

I'm not asking that the people behind FF14 give me ultimate freedom. I'm not even asking to the illusion of freedom. I'd be more than happy with a story that is crafted well enough I'm willing to let slide that they're the ones in charge.