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

[RukoBoshi]

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.

Completely disagree on this one. Even single players FF fans agree to say it has one of the best story in the serie. Especially compared to entries in the last 10 years.

When some of these people say FFXIV have a great story, they definitely don't reference others MMO. At least I know i don't, because the only reason i play this MMO is because it's a Final Fantasy game, and for the story. Couldn't care less about other MMO.

[Oizen]

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.

I didn't say it was bad.

I just said it wasn't anything special.

[MoofiaBossVal]

So i just finished stormblood and personally im not enjoying the story currently. a lot of people say that Shadow Bringers is where it get really good but they said that with the other expansions as well. im just wondering if it does get any better or at least the pacing will be a little faster because im only now realizing how slow everything is going.

I am very thoroughly enjoying the gameplay though with the raids and dungeons and the sorts. doing that is really fun and is part of the game that makes me keep going.

Depends on whether or not you like Kingdom Heart's stories about light vs darkness and feel good fluffly wuffy stuff. If you do then you might enjoy Shadowbringers and Endwalker. If you don't then you won't enjoy the story going forward. Also if you liked the grounded geopolitical conflicts of the early FFXIV story, prepare to be disappointed because that era is over.

[Sigma5]

It never gets better, dungeons get harder trials more tedious and its a slog all the way through.

No other game I know has a story that's 600 ish hours long, Witcher 3 is considered long at 70 to 80 ish hours and has no queues to put it into perspective.

[RobynDaBank]

It never gets better, dungeons get harder trials more tedious and its a slog all the way through.

No other game I know has a story that's 600 ish hours long, Witcher 3 is considered long at 70 to 80 ish hours and has no queues to put it into perspective.

Comparing an MMO to a standalone SRPG is disingenuous.

[R041]

Comparing an MMO to a standalone SRPG is disingenuous.

Flippy-floppy wishy-washy.

XIV is a Single Player RPG when it suits us.
XIV is an MMO when it suits us

XIV's MSQ directly competes with Single Player RPGs, this is objectively true with how we play it and how we're getting Duty Support with everything. People often try and directly compare it to the Single Player franchise.

It's why everyone tries to call it an 'RPGMMO'.. lol

[Jeeqbit]

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.

Alright, but just so you know, over 27,731,859 characters have been made. Tens of millions of people have played this game at some point in the last 10 years.

In fact, it's not even the most played MMO.

MMO Population is a discredited website that automatically scrapes data from stupid places like reddit that most players are not registered on. SE does not release their population data and the most credible sources (Lucky Bancho and XIVCensus) are not used by them as far as I know.

[Vahlnir]

Flippy-floppy wishy-washy.

XIV is a Single Player RPG when it suits us.
XIV is an MMO when it suits us

XIV's MSQ directly competes with Single Player RPGs, this is objectively true with how we play it and how we're getting Duty Support with everything. People often try and directly compare it to the Single Player franchise.

It's why everyone tries to call it an 'RPGMMO'.. lol

FF XIV has solo aspects, but it is still an MMORPG since a lot of content is meant for group play. Comparing FF XIV to Witcher 3 (as someone did above) is like comparing apples to oranges. There is no MMO or multiplayer aspect to it. It is strictly a solo player game. An amazing game to be sure, but a solo game nonetheless. By your logic, WoW could also be considered a single player RPG, except it is not. As far as this game's story competing with solo RPGs....yeah, no. I don't think so. Not overall, at least.

[R041]

Alright, but just so you know, over 27,731,859 characters have been made. Tens of millions of people have played this game at some point in the last 10 years.

Until SE gets rid of the major bot problem, knowing they're banned and re-created every week - We shouldn't be flaunting the Character count. lol

[R041]

FF XIV has solo aspects, but it is still an MMORPG since a lot of content is meant for group play. Comparing FF XIV to Witcher 3 (as someone did above) is like comparing apples to oranges. There is no MMO or multiplayer aspect to it. It is strictly a solo player game. An amazing game to be sure, but a solo game nonetheless. By your logic, WoW could also be considered a single player RPG, except it is not. As far as this game's story competing with solo RPGs....yeah, no. I don't think so. Not overall, at least.

Sure, it has more MMO than Witcher 3. But it also has more Single Player than Witcher 3. lol

It is widely considered more of a Single Player RPG than an MMO by at least 2/3rds by this community. I'm not saying it's NOT an MMO. But the 'gameplay' is widely the MSQ - And repeating the MSQ dungeons for a tank achievement doesn't really equal content.