[History&Lore FeedBack] Stop killing your light!

[Mitzahel]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to complain about the hard work you writers and devs have been doing. I understand that sometimes life can be dark for many people. Difficult situations are part of our journey to evolve as human beings and as eternal souls in search of the Creator source. But, I honestly don't see any real reason to beat and hurt the light of wonderful characters so much, and even kill them during the plots.
Is it really necessary to bring in destructive moments, where there is no hope for the players, or simply to destroy the legacy of a creation, possessed of light, for the simple desire of evil or for the relevance of the story?
Even though it's a fantasy game, even though absolutely everything is fictional, even though none of them can truly breathe and live in a physical world, every creation has life and energy. So stop killing your lights for the distorted feelings of causing suffering to the players for something as small as relevance at the moment for the history.
Remembering that, everywhere in this world, it is not necessary to die or sacrifice oneself in order to correct the mistakes of the past, or to save other people.
Knowing this, bring more of this into the game's story, bring more light, keep the light.
Thank you. Peace and Love.

[Cleretic]

Is it really necessary to bring in destructive moments,

Yes.

In a game largely focused around conflict and combat, where are we going to find any form of drama unless something bleeds once in a while? This is not Animal Crossing.

[Burmecia]

something something notallsineaters

[LilimoLimomo]

FF14 is a game about many things, but a primary focus has always been war. When wars are fought, good people die. To present a war where the "good guys" don't suffer deaths and loss renders it alien, disingenuous, and unbelievable.

Personally, I actually think that even the version of war that FF14 presents is too fluffy, with named characters generally having plot armor unless their death will progress someone else's story or lead to what the writers think will be a compelling story beat.

And I won't complain about that too much, it's fine; they're trying to efficiently tell a story, and a constant backdrop of random deaths and their corresponding trauma isn't going to be conducive to every story. It's fine.

I love fantastical elements such as magic and monsters and gods, but in the midst of that I want FF14 to tell me relatable human stories. And it can't do that if it presents war in a way that never results in loss for characters that we've become attached to.

[kaynide]

Actions without consequences are largely meaningless. Winning without cost or struggle is not dramatic or fun.

It's why FF7 is/was such a big deal when compared to (arguably) the better plots of its peers.

Having the stones to completely off a major character permanently and dealing with "how we pick up the pieces and move on" is good drama.

[Cleretic]

It's why FF7 is/was such a big deal when compared to (arguably) the better plots of its peers.

Having the stones to completely off a major character permanently and dealing with "how we pick up the pieces and move on" is good drama.

How dare you devalue FFV like this?

Also probably IV more strongly in theory, but that game didn't exactly know where to put its dramatic stakes, so none of the party deaths/grievous injuries felt like they did much.

[kaynide]

How dare you devalue FFV like this?

Also probably IV more strongly in theory, but that game didn't exactly know where to put its dramatic stakes, so none of the party deaths/grievous injuries felt like they did much.

I mean, I said “arguably better plots of its peers”, as in the peers are/were (arguably) better.




Though let’s be real, early 8/16 bit FFs… as much as I loved them, were and are nerd games. Lotta people who love FF likely never even touched those games. 7 or 10 being big entry points for people in their 30s/40s now.

FF7 was a first when RPGs were “cool” for the average joe gamer, and the plot helped. Unlike 8 which was a lotta wtf,omg,bbq.

[Vyrerus]

Lotta people who love FF likely never even touched those games.

This is hilarious, because gaming really didn't hit the mainstream until about 2006/7. FF7 and the entries on PS1 were still "nerd" games by far. They just reached outside of the target demographic due to the sheer scale of their marketing (mainly 7's worldwide marketing, a first for the series).

Also, you're a nerd on an MMO forum. Nerdiness went mainstream around the same time gaming did, maybe a little later, and it's because of the reach of the internet.

Gaming itself is a nerd hobby started by nerds, originally for nerds. Society viewed gaming as for nerds and children, largely, until again... the mid 00s. And you still see a lot of people in more conservative or old folks circles express that.

What you're actually perceiving is the first big schism in the Final Fantasy series' fanbase where VII brought in a lot of people to the series(again because of the way it was marketed), and that new fanbase running rampant over and against the older one. Because it's an ongoing series that has no end in sight there's a different entry point for everyone that opts into it, it has one of these schisms since VII every 3~4 entries now.

There are people in their 20s now who started with FFXIII, for instance, and you can find them droning on about how awesome Lightning actually is, and pulling stuff from XIII-3's story trying to pedestal her as the strongest person in all of Final Fantasy lore etc.

Similarly there are people in their 30s who started with X, and have not played anything in the series before that.

This doesn't make them not nerds, it just means there wasn't something that drew them into the series before they found the entry that they started with, and in these cases, this would be their parents or older siblings introducing those games to them as children.

People in their mid 30s and older really did get to start with the beginnings of the series, and their lifelong fan status means something to a lot of them. The newer or younger fans resent that.

When they hear the older fans talk about the older games, they get defensive. No one wants to hear that they aren't a real fan of a series, even if they aren't, and so you see all of the clashes. It's hilariously all varying flavors of nerd rage. It's just Nu Nerds vs. the old guard at this point.

And that's to say nothing of the Final Fantasy fans who reject the MMOs.

"Average Joe Gamer" is out playing some other series, likely first person shooters or Candy Crush.

[DreadCrow]

This is hilarious, because gaming really didn't hit the mainstream until about 2006/7. FF7 and the entries on PS1 were still "nerd" games by far. They just reached outside of the target demographic due to the sheer scale of their marketing (mainly 7's worldwide marketing, a first for the series).

Kind of, sort of, but not really. The reason gaming became "mainstream" is it became clear that the people who grew up playing games from the 8-bit and 16-bit eras weren't going to leave the hobby. But like, Final Fantasy VII still 'big' for it's time period. To relate it to music the music of the era... It wasn't Green Day levels but it was absolutely Rancid levels.

[SnowVix]

How dare you devalue FFV like this?

Also probably IV more strongly in theory, but that game didn't exactly know where to put its dramatic stakes, so none of the party deaths/grievous injuries felt like they did much.

Did FF 5 mechanically change when that happened though? Because giving you Relm with Galuf's exact job levels and everything kind of mechanically disconnected that death.