[suggestion] Can we have impactful Dialogue Choices?

[Akonyl]

I don't recall them ever saying they would pretend players have done content that they hadn't done, and if they said it then they certainly aren't sticking to it, because we just recently got significant references to side content in MSQ (Void quests and Eden) only if you had done them in advance.

Or are you thinking of the fact that in Shadowbringers they initially referenced CT even if you hadn't done it? That's different (and quite neatly done) because

the time travel aspect gets around that. It doesn't matter whether you have been through CT or not – all that matters is that G'raha went through it from his perspective, whether that's a past or future event for you.

Likewise, the time machine relies on technology developed from Alexander and Omega because again it happened at some point before the other timeline's Eighth Calamity even if you haven't done it yet.

The whole Eden, SHB, CT headache is what informed the decision, they mentioned the decision in a liveletter/fanfest/interview or something afterwards (so, those decisions made at the start of SHB don't debunk it). Their reasoning was that there was a somewhat mixed reception to making CT mandatory, but that also they didn't want to feel limited in what plot threads they could pull, for fear of tacking on even more busywork to the MSQ (like "oh, we want to meaningfully tie in Eureka beyond a few throwaway lines... time to make everyone do Eureka for MSQ!"), and they didn't want side content to be necessarily doomed to side-content purgatory forever.

You don't have to believe me, but I aint gonna go through the effort of finding/dredging it up for a forum post, because "side content tie ins to MSQ yoship" doesn't have a lot of keywords to search well off of, so I doubt I'd be able to easily find it.

[Iscah]

You don't have to believe me, but I aint gonna go through the effort of finding/dredging it up for a forum post, because "side content tie ins to MSQ yoship" doesn't have a lot of keywords to search well off of, so I doubt I'd be able to easily find it.

If you "ain't gonna go through the effort" then I have absolutely no reason to believe it, when – as I said earlier – as recently as 6.5 they are not only continuing to vary dialogue according to your quest progress, but making those changes bigger, with characters appearing or not appearing or getting entire cutscenes dedicated to them only if you've done that optional content.

If you can't produce the actual quote then there is no sign of it being accurate.

Either they changed their mind or you misunderstood it or the variable approach in 6.5 is what Yoshida means by saying they won't keep the sidequest characters in sidequest purgatory.

[Akonyl]

For what it's worth, I found someone else in a discord I'm in also mention it back in late 2021, but no link.

But this topic is about impactful choices, and the statement was about MSQ being hindered due to requiring other side content to make sense. None of the little one-off tidbits you're referring to that they still do are things that actually impact the game beyond adding a few lines to cutscenes, so they're not relevant to the point yoshi was making.

[HeyMcFly]

As much as I'd like this- I'm also okay with just being able to choose my favorite NPC to talk to at crucial moments- Which I want more of, and they don't have to be exciting moments. It could have been inviting Thancred to my island, which I'm still bummed I wasn't able to do.
I would also like a flirt option with the NPC of our choice
I'm really curious on Thancreds dialogue if my WoL threw herself at him

[Fawkes]

The whole Eden, SHB, CT headache is what informed the decision, they mentioned the decision in a liveletter/fanfest/interview or something afterwards (so, those decisions made at the start of SHB don't debunk it). Their reasoning was that there was a somewhat mixed reception to making CT mandatory, but that also they didn't want to feel limited in what plot threads they could pull, for fear of tacking on even more busywork to the MSQ (like "oh, we want to meaningfully tie in Eureka beyond a few throwaway lines... time to make everyone do Eureka for MSQ!"), and they didn't want side content to be necessarily doomed to side-content purgatory forever.

You don't have to believe me, but I aint gonna go through the effort of finding/dredging it up for a forum post, because "side content tie ins to MSQ yoship" doesn't have a lot of keywords to search well off of, so I doubt I'd be able to easily find it.

He may have said something about not wanting to make things mandatory because then they'd just have to make everything mandatory. Or maybe he made a comment somewhere recommending doing Coil before Endwalker or something. Alisaie can be in side content purgatory in Coil even though she's also in the MSQ, so it's weird to do Coil any time after Stormblood. I can't think of anything specific, but maybe there is some Coil reference that happens either way because it no longer makes any sense to try and canonize playing Coil after Endwalker by leaving out a few lines of dialogue.

But even up to 6.5 he has said the usual line that you should do whatever raid first because there will be extra dialogue/understanding if you do, so I don't think there's been any change in their overall approach to it.

[ShadowNyx3]

I would just like the option to frown at certain characters I don't like. I really hate seeing my character smile like a goofball at every single person they interact with.

[Moonsprite]

Isn’t dawntrail supposed to have us choose between the scion factions? I think that’s probably as far as they will go choice wise. I like dialogue options but other games have done this meaningful choice and it doesn’t always work well. I wouldn’t want to create alts (or new game+) just to have access to different storylines. Part of why I like FFXIV is because I can do everything on one character (job quests) etc.

[Supersnow845]

Isn’t dawntrail supposed to have us choose between the scion factions? I think that’s probably as far as they will go choice wise. I like dialogue options but other games have done this meaningful choice and it doesn’t always work well. I wouldn’t want to create alts (or new game+) just to have access to different storylines. Part of why I like FFXIV is because I can do everything on one character (job quests) etc.

I think you mean the first two zones will be split in half we can pick one faction then the other faction

The other half of those two zones will be accessible around 97 or so

[Jeeqbit]

Isn’t dawntrail supposed to have us choose between the scion factions?

I doubt we will actually get to choose. SE will most likely choose for us.

Either way, there is going to be a much bigger plot going on that makes the petty rivalry irrelevant I suspect, considering all the FF9 references and theme of certain areas and dungeons.

[TaleraRistain]

If you then go back and do the quests later, the game treats it as if you stepped back in time to the point where the quest was always intended to take place, and your character's reality sort of realigns itself to now function as if they always did it at the first opportunity and not more recently.

Even on this they can deviate from time to time. The Endwalker role quests will reflect completion of EW story if you do them after you complete it. It's a rare example so not the norm. But I thought it was kind of a neat small deviation and still makes perfect sense post-story.