Personally not enjoying the story currently but everyone keeps saying it gets better

[Erinellza]

Fun fact: everyone likes different things. I liked Stormblood and Endwalker more than Shadowbringers, lol.
If you don't like it, you don't like it. There are many other things to enjoy in XIV besides the story!

[MilkieTea]

If you've not enjoyed the story thus far, you might not enjoy ShB. It builds on previous knowledge, and while yes it has a new writer, it might not be for you because it builds on previous knowledge.

Honestly though, not everyone is going to enjoy the story and that's okay. Just uh, don't be that d-bag who goes around huehue-ing about how little they enjoyed the story and how much better that makes them than everyone else.

[Striker44]

When people say FFXIV has a good story, they mean in comparison to other MMOs, where the bar is so low you basically have to pick it up off the ground.

Compared to other games, or other mediums at all really, the story told in FFXIV is nothing special. Very anime trope-y, lots of padding/filler, ect.

Please don't claim to speak for other people, because then you go into the realm of just saying things that are flat-out false.

Take me. I've loved the FFXIV story. And that's not just "in comparison to other MMOs." That's compared to anything. I've thoroughly enjoyed the story, and I get confused when I see the whole "ARR is bad and it gets better in HW," because frankly I felt ARR was great. I've been invested in it from the beginning. Perhaps it's because I'm a long-time fan of the FF series in general (and particularly the earlier games). Maybe it's because FF6 is my favorites game of the series and I saw a huge connection between the Garlean Empire and Gestahl's Empire from FF6. I don't know - what I do know is that I've been hooked from the start.

The biggest thing is just being aware that we're all offering opinions, and nothing more. That I really enjoyed ARR doesn't make it objectively "good"; it just means it appealed to me personally. Likewise, if the next person to post here found ARR wasn't appealing - that's perfectly fine...it just doesn't mean that ARR was objectively "bad" - it's their own personal opinion, nothing more.

The issue is too many people - and on this forum, it's predominantly the naysayers - trying to masquerade their opinions as if they're facts. Which they're not. At all. Such as your own comment about the story being "nothing special." Why claim it as if it's a fact? It's not. It's your personal thought, and nothing more. You can go to one single YT video and find hundreds of people on that one video alone talking about how meaningful and special the FFXIV story was for them. That doesn't make it objectively "special", either - it's their own opinions, nothing more. The difference I've found is that the people who have enjoyed the story tend to be more willing in their commentary to express their thoughts as opinions, while the detractors have a greater tendency to act as if they are some sort of majestic arbiters of what is "good" or "bad." Just give your opinion. That's all we have.

[SassyAssassin]

I could have fallen asleep throughout Stormblood, Shadowbringers was a really really good surprise.

[Atelier-Bagur]

I could have fallen asleep throughout Stormblood, Shadowbringers was a really really good surprise.

Shadowbringers smells

[KeshLives]

Just remember that 'story' is subjective for everyone . If you like it, great. (I liked most of it.) If you don't, great. Just don't start thinking because you didn't like some part of it, that you're suddenly the voice of some 'majority'. I don't claim to be that, either.

I also see complaints about story from people who think every MMO should be a speedrun from start to endgame. If that's what you're looking for, you're probably playing the wrong MMO with FFXIV.

YMMV.

[Renalt]

I could have fallen asleep throughout Stormblood, Shadowbringers was a really really good surprise.

I'm a big fan of anyone who likes to solve things with punching it. So I really liked Lyse. I just hated what they did with her though.

[caffe_macchiato]

Please don't claim to speak for other people

No, actually I think I will. I'm going to speak out on behalf of the vast majority of gamers and the majority of MMO players who don't care to play this game. Here's some facts: Final Fantasy XIV is a video game. It's not among the most popular online video games. In fact, it's not even the most played MMO. It's not the most played JRPG. It's not the most well-received JRPG (Endwalker is #70). It's not the most-watched video game, JRPG, or MMO on YouTube. If we define "the best" as one which excels in any of these categories, then FFXIV is most definitely not it. Why not? Games with a good story have sold more. Games with better gameplay have sold more. World of Warcraft had far more enduring popularity than our game.

These aren't to say that FFXIV is a bad game. But I hope this can humble some of the FFXIV acolytes who come rushing to defend our game whenever something benign (like the post you quoted) is posted online.

[Tehmon]

No, actually I think I will. I'm going to speak out on behalf of the vast majority of gamers and the majority of MMO players who don't care to play this game. Here's some facts: Final Fantasy XIV is a video game. It's not among the most popular online video games. In fact, it's not even the most played MMO. It's not the most played JRPG. It's not the most well-received JRPG (Endwalker is #70). It's not the most-watched video game, JRPG, or MMO on YouTube. If we define "the best" as one which excels in any of these categories, then FFXIV is most definitely not it. Why not? Games with a good story have sold more. Games with better gameplay have sold more. World of Warcraft had far more enduring popularity than our game.

These aren't to say that FFXIV is a bad game. But I hope this can humble some of the FFXIV acolytes who come rushing to defend our game whenever something benign (like the post you quoted) is posted online.

What the user was replying to was a completely false, inaccurate statement made by another user who claimed '' when people say that the story is good, they meant only by MMO standards '' as if everyone has come to the agreement that FFXIV's story is shit if it's actually compared to REAL games or something dumb like that. That is why the user replied that it's an inaccurate statement and made a point on how people on these forum speak of their opinions as if they were true facts. They also make a completely rational statement that their good experience and feelings regarding the story and the game aren't factual either, merely opinions as well.

I'm not sure what exactly prompted you to make a comment like this to a pretty sensible commentary on another users way of posting their opinions.

EDIT: Also funny you posted Endwalker's metacritic score, where the game ranks up with some of the greatest RPGs of all time. Not only that but Endwalker isn't really at #70. There is one game in 98 MC, one game in 97 MC, 4 games at 96 MC, 6 games at 95 MC, 19 games at 94 MC, 21 games at 93MC and and 25 games at 92 MC, so really it is tied at 7th place. And when it comes userscore, a much more important metric, Endwalker, Shadowbringers and Heavensward are tied at 5th place.

So if you are posting metacritic scores to prove something, idk. Metacritic scores as well as twitch views and the like are only vague metrics of a game's popularity and quality in the end.

[AlexaAura]

It's all up to personal taste, I thought Shadowbringers story was really good. And I thought Endwalker after that had a horrible story.