FFXIV 2.0 impression

[Deltara]

I feel like SE storywriters were given a rough job of it, since they were tasked to write a storyline on some abstract threat looming in the shadows, but let's not forget the FFXI storylines which were so good usually were pretty slow-to-start as well. One of the differences was that in FFXI, I really felt like I was a part of my starting nation, but in FFXIV I don't get that feeling at all.

I can't get attached to a world where I don't have a place I can call home. The threat is looming, big deal. Take a glimpse at the forums to see how much characters really care about the meteor headed our way. (most welcome it)

There is no rivalry and no sense of patriotism, save for those moments of joking around with your LS mates about where ground-zero should be for the meteor.

I believe there was a time when it was said that the world is too peaceful to be really engaging and they have added this and that along the way to help with this, but it's all a build-up to 2.0. I am optimistic about it. SE's storytelling abilities really shine when they have a specific threat to work with. (The two judge-looking imperials are pretty cool, but didn't really get enough facetime for me to even remember their names, and again "looming" is the byword, not really "imminent")

So in summary, I think they'll do great once disaster actually starts happening, assuming they can make us a little more emotionally invested in the city-states.

[Platinumstorm]

I feel like SE storywriters were given a rough job of it, since they were tasked to write a storyline on some abstract threat looming in the shadows, but let's not forget the FFXI storylines which were so good usually were pretty slow-to-start as well. One of the differences was that in FFXI, I really felt like I was a part of my starting nation, but in FFXIV I don't get that feeling at all.

I can't get attached to a world where I don't have a place I can call home. The threat is looming, big deal. Take a glimpse at the forums to see how much characters really care about the meteor headed our way. (most welcome it)
[Snip]

The lore development of the game, like everything else, was rushed. Look how long it took just to get Midgarsormr named; the centerpiece of the opening cinematic and what players wanted to know about.

To be fair, you're an adventurer and you don't have a homeland on Eorzea; that was part of the premise. I think the failure to develop the early storylines [particularly Gridania, and to a lesser extent, Ul'dah] was the reason why you never end up attatched to what your character is experiencing. I'm very attached to both the Ul'dahn music and Thanalan music, though.

There is a sense of patriotism in the game. When you do the quests you see that the Gridanians loathe the Ul'dahn's, but they feel they have no choice but to work with them to repel the foretold Garlean invasion. Some of the Ul'dahns try to kidnap two moogles and end up disturbing the Greenwrath; at the same time, a Garlean scout party attacks [you don't experience this though, which I think is a mistake]. Ishgardians and Ala Mhigans both have high levels of patriotism. Limsa is a state of pirates and conflict within its hierarchies. All three city states have no chance of attacking the Garleans, and that's why you've seen the introduction of the Ironworks crew: Cid et. al, who, I believe, we're part of Garlean research teams to begin with.

I do lament, however, the lack of being able to understand where Roegadyn's even come from. Some of them come from mountains and caves that you can't get to, while others come from islands that you can't get to. Then, on occasion, the quests or NPCs [newer] throw a bunch of names of places that I'm not familiar with, and then I get a bit overwhelmed and lost about what the conversation was talking about.

Some of this you might not have seen if you don't have the classes, which is a failure of lore-planning for nonquest NPC's, but I will go out and defend what they're doing now, because the 1.21 has given a lot of background information on Eorzea, added lore, and hinted at several future features, which I won't delve into here.

The writing is also at a relatively high level difficulty, which will be interesting to see how that will perform on a massive scale. There are many high difficulty words that exist in Eorzea, and tons of old writing styles that often look like grammatical errors. This could be off-putting to many, but frankly I enjoy the challenge [some of the words stump me], and it's also the only MMO I can remember that makes me laugh at the quests- not to mention remembering the names of the NPC and their dialogue [The Limsa Lominsa Inn Quest is hilarious, and I've seen someone quote it on here too for their signature].

Some of the writing, isn't that great though, particularly when the Grand Companies were introduced, because they had just sort of formulated what was going to happen, and like you admit, only has a foreboding tone, although it's a shame that the same dialogue was basically experienced three times per character. That writing direction is in the past, though, and we're getting into more meaningful dialogue that has more personality than in the past.

The characters you're referencing that "welcome" the upcoming destruction, on the forums, are people who want to see the game become something amazing, not characters. The NPC's in game act oblivious, which is pretty funny, admittedly, but there are many more important tasks at hand than rewriting the dialogue for every single one of them for a limited amount of time. That's just something we have to deal with for now.