A Storyteller’s Point of View on Final Fantasy XIV

[Kes13a]

Exactly. I've said it a few times a lot of his posts come off as someone who isn't reading everything in a quest or doing a poor skim job. As many of the things he complains about not understanding are explained by the quests he's done. He then as others have said feels as though he expects the story to tell him the things he states the story doesn't need to provide it all at once. Then doesn't pick up on the foreshadowing or is dismissive of it due to disliking of characters.

The funny thing is he's actually met the self/author insert. Just that character(s) hasn't had much screen time or interaction in the story yet. That many would agree fit said description better than any of the four mysterious helpers that appear in each of the three city state's intros.

poor skim job indeed if he somehow managed to miss, and not comment on, the rather large crystal mother in the room...

yeah, the actual author insert would be maybe too obvious... since virtually gives his name lol. I mean, if you missed the crystal....

[Jojoya]

Your confusion is stemming from a few things.

First, know that the Producer/Director of the game is a fan of mystery novels and movies. He wants information to be scattered and seemingly unconnected at the beginning. The intent is for the player to gather up the pieces then start connecting them as the story continues without the story being an outright mystery itself. As much as some of the other posters seem to be unhappy that you're not picking up on things that are foreshadowing, at this point you really shouldn't be able to recognize those things as such. It's only later on that you should be going "I remember this event happened earlier. Now it makes more sense". And that's going to be much later in the MSQ. You've barely scratched the surface at this point and haven't been told what the stakes are yet.

The game is effectively a sequel to the original FFXIV that failed badly and forced Square Enix to bring in a new leadership team to rebuild it. Characters that are currently confusing to you had their roles in the original game and would be well known to those who had played it. For those who hadn't played the original like you and I, a more solid introduction to those character will be forthcoming shortly as you continue the MSQ. For now, their "in and out" appearances serves to demonstrate the somewhat secretive nature of the organization they belong to (again, you'll get more information about it soon).

It is extremely common for MMORPGs to not give the player character a specific identity. It would make no sense in a game where we're frequently in contact with other player characters to give them all the exact same backstory even if that contact mostly exists outside of the main story. I've given this character a rough backstory (she wants to forget and put an unhappy past behind her) while another of my characters has a very detailed backstory that draws on game lore explained in later expansions. It's also not unusual for the character to be awakening in a state of mild confusion or from some sort of partial amnesia as a MMORPG (or even a single player RPG) begins to give you the room needed to create the backstory. Make of the situation as you will as a story teller. The game is not interested in deciding how your character lived before "waking up" on the carriage other than to say at some point you decided to become an adventurer.

You came into the game with a specific purpose in mind but my recommendation is to put it aside for now. Instead just follow the story as someone playing the game instead of trying to pick it apart as a story writing professional. Save the latter for when you've finally gathered all those pieces together. Yes, you're going to find some flaws in it as you go along but the goal of the game isn't to be a critical masterpiece. It's to entertain. Most popular entertainment has it's moments when we must suspend disbelief and overlook the small mistakes just for the sake of enjoying what we're watching (and also doing in this case).

Be warned that the MSQ story arc that begins in ARR and finishes at the end of the Endwalker initial release content is about 300 hours long if you watch all the cutscenes and read the dialogue in full. At this point, you're only about 5 hours into that 300 hours (though it's no doubt taken you longer because you're stopping to analyze everything). I don't know long your novels are but do you really give your readers a full background on every character and location in the first 1-2% your story or do you save the more important information for later?

[Jeeqbit]

The MSQ is the plot of FF14. There may be other plots around it, sub and otherwise, but since nothing can be unlocked without going through the MSQ, that makes it the plot. What this means to me is that any quest that has information that is important to the plot needs to be connected to the MSQ and any that doesn’t should be turned into a side quest. Anytime a viewer has to tell me, “oh, you need to go there and go through that quest to understand what’s happening here” I consider it a failure of FF14’s storytelling.

You might not have considered something here. The MSQ gives you all of the information you need to understand the plot. What some sidequests do is provide extra context to the plot and allow you to see aspects of the plot from a different point of view, but you will enjoy it completely fine being ignorant of this. For example, you met a character. You don't need to know a lot about this person, just enough to know if they are a friend or an enemy, but the story often does tell you a lot about them. But a sidequest might tell you even more about them, such as about their friends and family. There are a lot of cases where information from sidequests then make its way into the MSQ if it becomes relevant again, but it doesn't always become relevant again.

Usually the sidequests that provide this level of extra information are normal raid quests, alliance raid quests, trial series quests, class/job quests, role quests, collectable quests (crafter/gatherer) and I don't think beast tribe quests are very significant but they tell you more about those tribes so you don't see them as, well, beasts.

A story should include all the information I need to understand what’s happening. That information doesn’t need to come all at once. Actually, it should be sprinkled throughout the story, but it must come in time for me to make sense of those two strangers who barged in on my adventure, make comments, and just leave. Especially if they add nothing to what happened.

It does include all of the information, but don't expect it to necessarily be quick. Questions are left in your mind on purpose for a very long time (multiple expansions). They are not afraid to take their time because they are not pressured to tell the story in just 3 hours like a film is.

[VelKallor]

I just find it exceedingly difficult to think he isnt skipping because THAT encounter alone is where you find your first crystal, "meet" Hydaelyn, which he doesnt mention.. at all. given how much he comments on everything else, it is a very telling omission, and leans very heavily towards a "busted" moment

I had noticed that myself, and I confess was puzzled as to why it didnt even get a mention. If he IS skipping, then this entire exercise is a waste of time.

[MercuryD]

To put this in perspective, if ARR was a traditional novel, you're in chapter one (about halfway through!) of an at least 50 chapter book.

Please, do the narrative the justice it deserves and take your time, approach it like a game (the gameplay portions are at times just as, or more, important as the dialogue in cutscenes)

[Renalt]

If he IS skipping, then this entire exercise is a waste of time.

He is doing this to keep the thread relevant and on top while promoting his..."writing". So the only time wasted is ours.

[kindar1]

Now, how about I redesign the MSQ so that it does 2 things? It hits the major points of the MSQ and makes the player feel valuable going through it.

It’s possible what I’m envisioning is not possible. I’m also not saying the people behind the game must see this and be impressed. This is nothing more than me, exploring an idea.

What is the MSQ about? Considering the ‘climax’ is the battle at the Guardian Tree, I will link the main events in the MSQ to that.

The large change I make to support the direction is to play up the Ixal incursion and the shortage of people within the militia. Where there were two or three guards there is one; and they are exhausted. The one exception is the gates to Gridania itself. I cut the militia in the camps by half. And I show them resting, healing, and training.

Close to home
I leave this quest the same overall, it serves to orient the player. I have Mother Miounne talk a little more about the incursions, but nothing that hints at the urgency that city feels. The ending is where some of the urgency comes through. Something major has happened, and she would be immensely grateful if we can help.

To the Bannock.
I rename it to “Chasing Shadows” or something hinting at hunting someone down. This time, there is no “Passing muster”. Galfrid immediately tells us there is someone in the woods up to no good. The few men he could spare before the incursion increased in intensity couldn’t find anything, so we need to take over. The last time something was reported, it was at “not the Lifemend Stump.”

Instead of going directly there, this becomes a series of investigative stops. We talk to exhausted guards. That information leads us to a tavern where someone overheard a comment that sends us to another location. We surprise brigands who have just killed an Ixal, but instead of accepting our congratulation, they attack us. When it’s over, we find out the brigands had been helping the Ixal, but got greedy. On the Ixal, we find a map, and that leads us to the Lifemend Stump.

There, the change I make is that Yda and Papalymo show up either as we’re about to lose the fight and save us, or immediately after if we didn’t need saving. They are either impressed we lasted long enough for them to arrive or at our skills. I understand the crystal represents something the way the MSQ is currently setup, but I turn it into a purple one, that evaporates into a burst of smoke to link this to the other incidents.

The cut scene doesn’t need much adjustment, just the end, Yda turns to us and says.

“I know you can’t see that sword in the stump, but you’re going to want to carefully feel around until you find it and bring it to the militia.”

We can see the sword, in fact, until she said anything we didn’t know no one else saw it. We also learn that whatever lets us see the sword, those goggles let her see it.

[Boblawblah]

He is doing this to keep the thread relevant and on top while promoting his..."writing". So the only time wasted is ours.

Yep, you'll notice OP doesn't really respond to anyone, just keeps trucking along with their commentary. I'm impressed that people have tried to respond to specific issues the OP has mentioned when it's clear OP doesn't care.

[MilkieTea]

Yep, you'll notice OP doesn't really respond to anyone, just keeps trucking along with their commentary. I'm impressed that people have tried to respond to specific issues the OP has mentioned when it's clear OP doesn't care.

OP just wants to sell furry prawn. It's clear that this is basically just a way for them to funnel eyes to their site lmao.

[Jojoya]

snip.

You are still failing to grasp what we are trying to explain to you.

What you're doing is equivalent to picking up The Fellowship of the Ring, reading the first couple of pages to see they're making preparations for Bilbo's and Frodo's birthday party and deciding that all of The Lore of the Rings is about hobbit birthdays. You're choosing to ignore all the subtle references to darker things occurring outside the Shire and the troubling nature of Bilbo's ring.

You can keep picking apart the introductory chapter to your heart's content but it's not accomplishing anything. You're holding yourself back from the real story.

Yep, you'll notice OP doesn't really respond to anyone, just keeps trucking along with their commentary. I'm impressed that people have tried to respond to specific issues the OP has mentioned when it's clear OP doesn't care.

Because the idea of getting his opinion about the story once he completed seemed interesting at first. I enjoy seeing the reactions of other players.

All he's done is convince me that I never want to read whatever he's written because he lacks an engaging writing style. He's far too dry, stale and technical.

Maybe the forum trolls will keep him entertained. Could someone send FireMage in here to wave a parse in his face?