A Storyteller’s Point of View on Final Fantasy XIV

[VelKallor]

But I would make it clearer if we do or don’t notice the masked mage.

..how can you NOT notice him? His presence has a specific purpose to the entire questline.

But again, I would time the arrival of Yda and Papalymo depending on how well we fare.

To what purpose? To achieve what end? They are not "author inserts" either.

I am seriously wondering what you are reading..or if you are actually paying any attention to quest text.

[Silvarer]

..how can you NOT notice him? His presence has a specific purpose to the entire questline.

I’m pretty sure he was talking about whether or not our characters saw him at that point, not if we the players did.

[kindar1]

Call of the Sea (https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/w..._Sea_(Gridania))

We are told that someone in Limsa Liminsa could use our help. We make it there, are told it’s dangerous and the quest is done.

Excuse me, while I appreciate the easy XP, how is this a quest? I fully expected this to lead into Baderon giving me the job and getting paid afterward.

It's Probably Pirates (https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/w...obably_Pirates)

Baderon informs us suspicious people have been seen around a Seagrot and he’d like me to look into it and see what it’s about. At that point, the chief of the guard drops by to hand me information that he picked from the reports he read through.

Here, I almost commented on why it is, again, that the guards are handing a sensitive job to a stranger, but we are provided with an acceptable reason. The guards are stretched thin already maintaining the defenses against an enemy. And the captain might actually be the one behind the request to send me here, instead of the barman.

We take the ferry to Aleport, where we have to go through training, because, of course, the captain would have recruited someone without the minimum qualifications to get the job done.

I get the 'need to make sure I know how to fight as part of a group, but is now, when according to the story I am the ‘qualified adventurer’ the captain of the guard requested be sent to assist? This should have been handled in Gridania, when I was still an unknown instead of someone officially sent to help.

Never mind. Because the quest didn’t automatically send me to the training, I decided to test if I could start the dungeon, and I can.

We return to report on what we found in the caves, and encounter a group of adventurers who had been hoping to get the job we were given. And their leader explains what their goals in life is.

I... didn't get this part. If there was such a thing in the game as a ‘goal mechanic’, part of what they would have worked for mee. But no such thing as far as I’m aware.

We give our report, Baderon ponders the presence of Fishbacks, and finally congratulates us on a job well done before suggesting we head to Gridania. Quest done.

And you know what? This felt like a good job. The setup works, and the challenge was something to justify others being impressed with what we did. I think that if there had been 1 such dungeon in Gridania, how I’m treated there would have felt justified.

[AmpelioB]

Baderon informs us suspicious people have been seen around a Seagrot and he’d like me to look into it and see what it’s about. At that point, the chief of the guard drops by to hand me information that he picked from the reports he read through.

Here, I almost commented on why it is, again, that the guards are handing a sensitive job to a stranger, but we are provided with an acceptable reason. The guards are stretched thin already maintaining the defenses against an enemy. And the captain might actually be the one behind the request to send me here, instead of the barman.

You literally just acted as an Envoy meet their leader, Admiral Merlwyb, and you think you are some kind of stranger?