give the WoL some love

[Darko]

A voice for the Warrior of Light, at least during important cutscenes. You can have an MMO with a voiced protagonist, look at SWTOR and GW2. If we can't have a voice, then can we have written lines so we know what we're saying. I don't want the WoL completely silent anymore. It can be implemented with an option to turn voice audio off, just as you can turn off certain sounds, so you can play as before if you don't like the change.

Being voiceless is one of the reasons I feel increasingly disconnected from my character. Another is that we only serve to get things done for NPCs who actually make the decisions and drive the story forward. We don't initiate anything, we don't decide anything, we're hypercompetent sidekicks helping others bring about meaningful change but we’re never the catalyst, never more than a supporting protagonist. That was okay at the beginning of ARR when you're starting out as adventurer, but once you start saving nations, a continent, the world, reality as we know it, you should have the same agency as NPCs.

Third, players have varying views on hurting animals in video games, but regardless of how you feel, you have to do it in FFXIV or you can't advance the main story, nor a range of side-quests behind which class skills and relic weapons are locked. Even if the animals aren't aggressive, even if they are defenseless, you have to kill them. On top of that, my beloved Warrior of Light is okay with it and I am not okay with that. That cheerful /determined I saw today when asked

to kill an animal and cut out its *liver* for medicine,

that is not my WoL. We should have an alternative to choose from, so that we can gather firewood or go buy an ingredient - I don't care what it would cost me - rather have our WoL be the go-to person for hurting or killing animals.

Lastly, the WoL has been a Celibate Chaste Hero long enough (10 years for some of us). I've read Naoki Yoshida's comments about NPC dating. Quoting: "I consider the NPCs as living beings. All of these characters have their life that continues within the realm of Final Fantasy XIV. You never know what happens to them in their lives. And by having that sort of date event with the Warrior of Light, it might kind of narrow their possibilities, you know?" I get what he's saying, it's a valid concern. But as it stands now, it's the player character's possibilities that are narrowed. So, to quote Harrison Ford, "complicate the hell out of it".

Being forced to hurt animals has bothered me from the start, but not everyone takes issue with it, and it wasn't until the post-msq between Stormblood and Shadowbringers that I grew tired of playing second fiddle to NPCs in every department: voice, agency, love. So this game can go on another 10 years without any of the changes that I suggested, but they've worn me down too much to keep playing. I hope the dev team reads this and considers taking some of these changes into account. Thanks.

[Sindele]

Unfortunately unrealistic requests from a development standpoint, and certainly not 10 years into the game. Creating that kind of branching-alternatives structure is incredibly expensive in time and effort.

But also, I'm extremely over the experiment with voiced PCs in MMOs. It might drive your disconnect, but for me, my characters having a voice that I have no real input on (because no, they're not going to record dozens of different VAs doing the same dialogue) is immersion-shattering.

[LilimoLimomo]

With respect, the reason to not give the Warrior of Light a voice or explicit lines is already detailed within the post you wrote: you claim that killing an animal to harvest its body parts for medicine isn't how you see your WoL. I can guarantee that anything the devs make the WoL say would result in similar reactions from a great many players. The silence and pantomime allows players to fill in the blanks with their own vision of their WoL, whereas explicit lines — especially if voiced — would replace that with something else.

As an aside, I'm sorry that you have to hurt animals when you don't want to. The Warrior of Light is asked to do a great many things, and at many times I've not been in agreement with them. Do you remember how one of the first dungeons asks you to go kill a bunch of slaves that rose up against their abusive masters, with the final boss shouting "SLAVES NO MORE!" before you end his life so things can go back to business as usual? Yep, that's somehow still in the game. Unfortunately, sometimes you just have to accept that the writers did a write bad and hope the next bit will be better.

[Renalt]

Sadly they will never give the WoL a voice. It's too ingrained lore with that the WoL is a "Strong, silent type". Plus people would complain they can't self insert with their own voice. They need to give us more choices of dialog though. If the option let's me I stick with ". . ." Or anything with the fewest of words to really get into character.

[Surprised]

Even a fully voiced mmorpg like eso doesnot have character own voice acting .what makes u think ffxiv will have one ?

[RitsukoSonoda]

You are the Warrior of Light aka your character. Voice it yourself.

[TheMightyMollusk]

You are the Warrior of Light aka your character. Voice it yourself.

Then I can picture the Scions wondering where the WoL picked up a New England accent.

Yeah, gotta tell them Gahleans ta get dat magitek ahmah offah mah lawn.

[Renalt]

Then I can picture the Scions wondering where the WoL picked up a New England accent.

Yeah, gotta tell them Gahleans ta get dat magitek ahmah offah mah lawn.

I want a Southern Hick accent. Imma gunna git dem darn Ascians off mah lawn Gosh Darn Nabbit!

[RitsukoSonoda]

Then I can picture the Scions wondering where the WoL picked up a New England accent.

Yeah, gotta tell them Gahleans ta get dat magitek ahmah offah mah lawn.

Idk... but for some reason I'm actually picturing a cute petite Au Ra... voiced by George Takei XD

[Renalt]

Idk... but for some reason I'm actually picturing a cute petite Au Ra... voiced by George Takei XD

Oh my!

/10