Im so happy somebody else besides me finally said it about the entirety of FFXIV's story. It has always been so jarring to me how high of a standard they hold the whole msq when its just above average at best compared to many jrpgs. Its indeed very cool and immersive to have your own avatar be integrated into the main story and have somewhat setup relationships with various characters that you can get yourself attached but thats prolly its biggest strength for why the story worked so well with many people. But to me it never was because of they handled the pacing and narrative, it was just all a feel good story in an MMO.

Single player rpgs still hold the stronger stories just due to how the game and narrative flows better in those experiences compared to an MMO. And I will forever stand behind this being the case.