Hot Take: The MSQ grind is too long and its harmful to expanding friend groups.

[Kuroka]

I say all this as somebody who didn't skip a single dialogue or cut-scene in all 7.5 years of playing the game and loved every second of this journey. I also know people who don't particularly care for the story and enjoy the game in their own way, but for none of them "3/4 of the journey" sucked, and as for those for whom it did... they actually left because it wasn't their cup of a tea. If you go as far as to say that major part of the game sucks for you - it's clearly just not your type of the game, which is okay.

Well said, ive always hated these "i hate the story and just skip every cutscene ever" and "oh i hate the games music so i always turn it off" and ofc the "i hate how the game looks so i mod it till its a whole other game" ppl...

If you dont like this game at all and only like, 5% of it - deal with that and leave or accept it as it is.

Im not gettin FIFA because i like grass but want the whole soccer stuff removed and more focus on grass keeping lol

[LianaThorne]

Well said, ive always hated these "i hate the story and just skip every cutscene ever" and "oh i hate the games music so i always turn it off" and ofc the "i hate how the game looks so i mod it till its a whole other game" ppl...

If you dont like this game at all and only like, 5% of it - deal with that and leave or accept it as it is.

Im not gettin FIFA because i like grass but want the whole soccer stuff removed and more focus on grass keeping lol

Same logic could be applied to people's opinions on this topic:

If you don't like that someone enjoys the game differently than you do, deal with that and leave or accept it as it is.

Personally the latter seems the better option instead of seething that someone skips cutscenes, mods the game, etc. or seething that someone treats the MSQ like it's the greatest story ever written in the history of storytelling.

Just let people play how they want to lol, jeez. Unless it somehow prevents you from playing the game, it shouldn't matter what some random on the internet does with their sub. If someone's opinion does affect you to the point you want to quit the game, and I mean this with peace and love, you should probably consider becoming more secure in your hobbies and opinions so that others don't affect yours. Doesn't make much sense to me to let someone who is irrelevant to your life decide whether or not the way you play a game (within reason of course) is good or bad. It just really shouldn't matter lol.

[Kuroka]

Sure but if you dislike 80-90% of the game, you dont like different parts, you dislike most the game and should look for something else...

Its fine if you keep it to yourself but many demand changes, go "game sucks" "too much story" etc... thats what rubs many ppl the wrong way.

[Ardeth]

I don't think it would hurt to make a 10 minute brief summary of the story up until now and sell the expansion with a 90 boost and a story skip and let the audience decide what they want to do. If they want to skip to the new stuff or go back and do it the correct way. I don't think catering to both is a bad thing. Either way, that new stuff player and that old stuff player are both going to be turned off by the same things. So why force a singular way of doing things. And as we know, the beginning is much weaker than where we are.

I don't know to me that it seems like the smarter play. It would definitely sell more copies than it wouldn't.

[kaynide]

I don't think it would hurt to make a 10 minute brief summary of the story up until now and sell the expansion with a 90 boost and a story skip and let the audience decide what they want to do. If they want to skip to the new stuff or go back and do it the correct way. I don't think catering to both is a bad thing. Either way, that new stuff player and that old stuff player are both going to be turned off by the same things. So why force a singular way of doing things. And as we know, the beginning is much weaker than where we are.

I don't know to me that it seems like the smarter play. It would definitely sell more copies than it wouldn't.

I would love a generic TL;dr video cutscene at the inn for each expansion. Give me like a 5-10ish overview of what was important from the expansion.

I haven’t played through Heavansward since it was new. I forget details that may or may not be important in future expansions…would be nice to refresh myself without watching every cutscene in the inn. I was trying to remember what Ascians were killed etc and completely forgot about Ascian Prime, for example.

Worst case just copy paste a wiki article into the game that I can read.

(I am aware I could literally just read an actual wiki, but I’d prefer it to be in game and/or in cutscene form)

[PyurBlue]

Sure but if you dislike 80-90% of the game, you dont like different parts, you dislike most the game and should look for something else

FF14 is sort of supposed to work that way. You can do what you like and ignore the parts you don't. What even constitutes 80-90% of the game is debatable anyway. If you only do things once, the story could be the bulk of the game. If you raid or farm, instances could easily outweigh the story. It's not that easy to even constitute how much of the game is what because it will vary with player interest.

Its fine if you keep it to yourself but many demand changes, go "game sucks" "too much story" etc... thats what rubs many ppl the wrong way.

Asking to take away things that people enjoy is never good. Asking for more freedom in approaching the game isn't that though. If the entire MSQ were optional, that wouldn't impact anyone with a desire to experience the MSQ.

[Ardeth]

It goes back to the point of labeling any given mmo a theme park. Well, I don't remember any theme park forcing me to do anything outside of paying admission. It can go hand in hand with hardcore pursuits as well. When was the last time you were denied a ride on the roller-coaster because you didn't watch the video, or you don't do enough dps?

I agree that more options don't equal bad. You can totally play this game and ignore the story. Why not? Who are you to gatekeep someone else's enjoyment?

[W4rm0nger5]

Did people really need to necro a thread from August 2021 to carry on having the exact same argument that's already been done to death in the preceding 8 pages??

[MistakeNot]

So basically you want a single player story focused RPG

I like those too, but no. I like MMOs, and I like playing MMOs together with friends.
What I do not like is grinding dungeons (and raids, etc.) over and over and over just to get a little bit better gear.

The so-called endgame in most MMOs is mostly just boring filler content designed to keep players busy while they wait for the next expansion. It is of little interest to me.
Luckily there are many MMOs (including FFXIV) where the road to the endgame (i.e. the leveling part) is interesting in its own right.

[Ardeth]

I like those too, but no. I like MMOs, and I like playing MMOs together with friends.
What I do not like is grinding dungeons (and raids, etc.) over and over and over just to get a little bit better gear.

The so-called endgame in most MMOs is mostly just boring filler content designed to keep players busy while they wait for the next expansion. It is of little interest to me.
Luckily there are many MMOs (including FFXIV) where the road to the endgame (i.e. the leveling part) is interesting in its own right.

Also, any progress you make towards gearing is invalidated the next tier. Hell, when the new expansion comes out, those weeks of grinding become days of poetic dumping. Gearing in this game is an absolute joke.