Playing an expansion as current content has been a lacklustre MMO experience

[Atelier-Bagur]

Not they should not.

If they were separate threads, you wouldn't have a sequential story that flows from event A to B to C. You'd have to find it all jumbled out of order and piece it back together, and try to keep track of what state the world is according to this story fragment. Is Ala Mhigo supposed to be a free state here? Is Garlemald still intact? Have we met XYZ before or is this earlier in the story for them?

There are stories that could take place as individual threads, but the segments of the existing MSQ cannot be converted into such a state without losing the flow of the narrative that is enjoyed by current fans of the game.

If that puts off other people from playing.... so what? No game caters to everyone. The people who like this format will play it, and the people who don't will find something else.

Wanna know the worst example of this? Current FFXI. Good luck trying to follow a cohesive focused narrative where a bunch of seperate story threads you randomly stumble on and get instantly lost.

[R041]

Its not force feeding if story is part of the game. Like every little thing, every quest, every piece of content all have a narrative with cutscenes and dialogue and part of its major appeal is seeing how this content is giving more meaning and context because you learn and engage more with the characters, world and lore.

You say that, yet things like Hildibrand, Postmoogle, Variant, Tataru.. Are all separated and are still a part of the world lore. It can be done, I'm just advocating for more of it instead of pushing it all directly into linear MSQ. How is this idea so difficult to comprehend? It's absolutely insane to me that this is something people would actually turn down. lol

Also no, I'm going to straight up disagree - 'every little thing' isn't required in a linear space to understand the nuances of people's emotion and interaction in the world. Do you as a human need to see absolutely everything around you to understand the nuances of your environment?

Because I gave you the example, that if you put me in a spot that force feeds me story when I'm not actively wanting to be engaged in it, it turns me off and I just won't like it. Instead, they can be pushed to the side for a later time.
So an example like the Loporrits, if it wasn't completely shoved in my face and I just met with them but had the chance to go back at a later time outside of MSQ to do that whole section, I'd be more receptive.

[R041]

Not they should not.

If they were separate threads, you wouldn't have a sequential story that flows from event A to B to C. You'd have to find it all jumbled out of order and piece it back together, and try to keep track of what state the world is according to this story fragment. Is Ala Mhigo supposed to be a free state here? Is Garlemald still intact? Have we met XYZ before or is this earlier in the story for them?

There are stories that could take place as individual threads, but the segments of the existing MSQ cannot be converted into such a state without losing the flow of the narrative that is enjoyed by current fans of the game.

If that puts off other people from playing.... so what? No game caters to everyone. The people who like this format will play it, and the people who don't will find something else.

Again, you're putting this in the context of the story AS IT'S WRITTEN CURRENTLY. Please have a little imagination and understand what I'm actually talking about here. I've given examples, and no you don't need all 200-300 hours of text to understand the nuances of the story and it's world conflicts. No it's not necessary to be in perfect A B C order, considering we have thousands of years of MEDIA to understand that it's not necessary. People can still enjoy the story without going through Eureka, Bozja, raids.

I bet you've accidentally skipped some dialog/story and you're not hemorrhaging from the brain are you?

[LittleImp]

Unfortunately, most people that play FFXIV seemingly cannot handle a story that isn't told with all the subtlety of a WWE wrestler holding them by the collar and screaming directly into their face.

Thus, we end up in a situation where the medium through which this story is told is left largely underutilized. Quite a few times I've found myself asking 'Why is this even a video game?' while reading an unrelenting stream of stilted, exposition-heavy textboxes from Alphinaud.

[Raoabolic]

You say that, yet things like Hildibrand, Postmoogle, Variant, Tataru.. Are all separated and are still a part of the world lore. It can be done, I'm just advocating for more of it instead of pushing it all directly into linear MSQ. How is this idea so difficult to comprehend? It's absolutely insane to me that this is something people would actually turn down. lol

Also no, I'm going to straight up disagree - 'every little thing' isn't required in a linear space to understand the nuances of people's emotion and interaction in the world. Do you as a human need to see absolutely everything around you to understand the nuances of your environment?

Because I gave you the example, that if you put me in a spot that force feeds me story when I'm not actively wanting to be engaged in it, it turns me off and I just won't like it. Instead, they can be pushed to the side for a later time.
So an example like the Loporrits, if it wasn't completely shoved in my face and I just met with them but had the chance to go back at a later time outside of MSQ to do that whole section, I'd be more receptive.

It still surprise me that they didn't just pull a XI. I would have loved if HW/StB wrapped up the story and every xpac past that was a self contained story similar to ToAU, WoTG, and SoA. They also had Rhapsodies to funnel you into the "correct" path but the game didn't really lock you out of one part of an expansion if you didn't complete another part of a different expansion. The only exception to that was getting far enough into the base game and RoZ for some prerequisites.

[R041]

It's like people think this is a Manga, and legitimately believe we're confined to the space of reading a book from cover to cover in a linear fashion. I'm just asking for smaller books that I can pick up at different times. I'm not even necessarily advocating for you being able to go visit Loporrits at level 1, come on use your brain and actually work with me a little bit. Why's everything gotta be a straight up fight.

[Raoabolic]

Why's everything gotta be a straight up fight.

Company worshipping is a hellava drug!

[Iscah]

You say that, yet things like Hildibrand, Postmoogle, Variant, Tataru.. Are all separated and are still a part of the world lore. It can be done, I'm just advocating for more of it instead of pushing it all directly into linear MSQ. How is this idea so difficult to comprehend?

You're not comprehending things either – specifically, the difference between a sidequest that affects nothing but its immediate environment and doesn't substantially alter the state of any participants who will appear in later plots, and an MSQ chapter that drives the larger story forward by altering people or politics, or possibly something that won't make sense after the plot changes something big later. The sidequest can be left by the wayside until you feel like doing it, and the main plot doesn't suffer for its absence, but some things just need to happen where they do.

I'm not fond of the Loporrits arc either – there seems to be some contractual requirement for "annoying tribe of cute tricksters who delay the protagonists around the level X3 mark" – but as written you can't just cut it out and make people come back to it later, because the whole point is that they were trying to delay you at that point in the story, and then it ultimately shifts the state of your trust in them, which affects the rest of their presence in the plot. Coming back to it later would make no sense.

Again, you're putting this in the context of the story AS IT'S WRITTEN CURRENTLY. Please have a little imagination and understand what I'm actually talking about here. I've given examples, and no you don't need all 200-300 hours of text to understand the nuances of the story and it's world conflicts. No it's not necessary to be in perfect A B C order, considering we have thousands of years of MEDIA to understand that it's not necessary. People can still enjoy the story without going through Eureka, Bozja, raids.

Yes I am talking about the story as written currently, because you're talking about taking that story and cutting it into chunks.

And I'm not sure why you've swung into Bozja while complaining about being forced to do the MSQ in linear sequence. That does sit outside of the A B C order, which is why it's fine that you're not forced to do it.

[R041]

Yes I am talking about the story as written currently, because you're talking about taking that story and cutting it into chunks.

And I'm not sure why you've swung into Bozja while complaining about being forced to do the MSQ in linear sequence. That does sit outside of the A B C order, which is why it's fine that you're not forced to do it.

How.. How do these not click? These were hypotheticals, and I was talking about how it's threaded and should have been threaded to begin with. The side-content were examples of story portions that are separated out and that they work, and it shows the writers are capable of doing it.

Even the Class Quests had great world and event lore, I want THAT - But just.. More of it? and less direct MSQ.

They have both done what I'm asking on a technical and storyboard level, but also continue to railroad hard for 30 hours each expac. I'm just asking to reduce the railroading and add more things like the side-stories they do, but keep them out of the FORCED MSQ.

We're incapable of complex thought here apparently. I can't even.

[Raoabolic]

we do not talk about this

Hey Petah, remember the time when game journalists were so bad at their job they had to write a two paragraph argument on why it was okay they took around 15 minutes to beat the tutorial on cuphead?