A Storyteller’s Point of View on Final Fantasy XIV

[SannaR]

Everything has an aetheric signature btw so I'm sure someone would know if the mask was different. I know that doesn't tend to get talked about a lot in the game. What enemies are you expecting to somehow slip into town? There's only two that I can think of that would be capable and only one of those is active at this point in the game. No one is going to mistake a Quirirn or an Ixal as a friendly. Heck the one race that loves to use illusion magic hasn't been introduced yet and has no real reason to go into Gridania propper. I still disagree on Yda, Papalymo and the other two you'd of been introduced to if you had chosen a starter job that started in the other two cities. Kan-E Senna might look as though she's only in her teens, but she is fully capable of defending herself.

[AmpelioB]

you almost hit the nail on the head here. when a book pulls off the sense of urgency properly, the reader finds themselves wanting to continue reading intil that urgency is resolved. they aren't morally obligated, but a well-written sense of urgency will make it hard for them to pull away from the book.

Not always, something that is urgent to the characters in a Novel are or are meant to be urgent to the reader. to me, it just means its the priority for the character.

To me, the author insert is a character(s) whose sole purpose seems to be to remind the main character they aren’t that important. That there are better people out there doing better work. In fan fiction, those will be called Marie Sues.
(...)
While I expect most here will disagree with how I feel, that is how Yda and Papalymo come across to me most of the time they show up

I'm sorry to tell you but they are neither of those two things and just because they haven't been explored doesn't mean they are Mary Sues, they're more of doing this to pick your curiosity. probably what you are looking for to express them might be Plot Armor, rather than Mary Sue or Author/Self-insert.

[VelKallor]

Kan-E Senna might look as though she's only in her teens, but she is fully capable of defending herself.

Agreed.

I dont think our OP knows what Kan-E-Senna is or how old she is either. The part about Yda and Papalymo made me laugh.

I'm not saying the game has to do that. I simply think that it is weak storytelling to simply tell me 'care' when a handful of quests could have shown me why the mask is so precious.

Timbermaster Beatin already told you why in one line of text, rather than a handful of quests. Im going to ask again, do you read quest text or just skip it?

Re the mask, you will notice that when you wake up, its gone, the one you keep is a replica, a copy..the game doesnt say that other than in a tacit manner.

The mask you were given has a specific ( as was pointed out ) aetheric signature, the copy does not.

OP for the record, I have done MSQ start to finish 4 or 5 times, pre AND post changes, so I am familiar with all of it. I am not sure why you think Yda and Papalymo are "inserts", where you are right now is the introductory phase and little else.

[Iscah]

Any quests "showing us why the mask is so precious" would have had to replace quests showing us what we did to earn the right to wear it at the ceremony.

Half your complaints are basic RPG quest structure issues, not FFXIV story issues. A shop that resells quest items (in a game you can't quit and reset) is one of them. The average townsperson isn't going to be able to buy the sacred mask from them; you can't either until you own it for real, and even then, the average player isn't going to check that shop inventory between quests. If you have to repurchase the mask, you've already gone outside the bounds of the story by losing it in the first place – you canonically would not have lost it, just like you wouldn't be able to buy a replica with its sacred enchantments intact.

And in broader terms, no an author insert (character directly representing the author) is not the same thing as a Mary Sue (character written to be awesome at everything). The two things can overlap but the terms are not interchangeable.

[OgruMogru]

I knew exactly what to expect from the thread title but I still read it all and withered and aged 1000 years. Listing the events of a sidequest isn't literary analysis, it's 13 pages of secondhand EFAP.

[Atelier-Bagur]

Ok pause. Why would you want or anybody else want to pad acquiring the ceremony item when it's not supposed to be this hard sought out key item thing? The mask is literally a formality thing.

This game already has enough padding bits, there's no need to do such for every single quest.

[OgruMogru]

I just realized they said "Marie-Sue" lmao

[kindar1]

(https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/w...ridanian_Envoy)

We are tasked with delivering a missive to 2 allies.

My main issue with the story here is the same as the previous one. They all treat me as if I did great things when I didn’t.

While I am in flight, we get a cut scene about the imperials, and… well, other than I’m not sure how Dantie knows any of that, it’s fine.

I’m not a fan of ‘omniscient narrator’ in stories. To me, narration should remain relevant to what is happening in the moment; and now is not when Dantie is dealing with the empire.

Once in Limsa Lominsa, we are spoken to by Admiral Merlwyb Blowdyswyn and given backstory.

We then fly to Ul’dah, and thankfully there is no in-flight movie this time.

We deliver our missive, get more back story, and we are done.

This feels like it is the conclusion of part 1 of whatever the story is.

As for the back story information we get. While I am certain it is something that will come into play at some point, I have no idea if I’ll remember any of that by the time I get there. Not only will time pass as I play the game, but I can only play a certain amount of time each day, so that will put this cut scene ever further. I think the story would be better served by providing the information closer to the related events. The character’s vision power would be a convenient way to provide it.

Or, quests could be constructed, where, as part of completing them, we would learn more and more about the troubles the empire has caused and hinting at what is to come.

[MilkieTea]

Like I said, 2012 AO3 subpar author with 2000 kudos on their weirdly long PwP that turns into plot.

[PirateRyanG]

Marie Sues.

I guess nobody is taking this 'professional' writer seriously after this, right? One of many, many spelling mistakes or errors.