It feels like NPCs in side quests are too nice and reasonable

[Equitable_Remedy]

I think that it's ok for sidequests in the game to be roughly the opposite of the doomerism that is ubiquitous across all forms of social media.

A little escapism to optimism is, I think, ok for FF14.

[Boa-Noah]

I mean it's the driving force of FFXIV's entire motivation for the last 10 years, NPCs are both way too nice and at the same time incredibly greedy and unhelpful, I know it's for gameplay reasons but it's so ridiculous to me that we have to buy things still, like, we literally saved the planet from an intergalactic threat that was wiping out life from the universe and when we get home we still have to pay for new boots? We have to pony up for chunks of meteorites to get a new weapon? We literally saved EVERYONE from even the afterlife being destroyed and Tataru isn't paying my damn Aetheryte fees?

It's wild.

[Sjol]

If you think the NPCs are nice, you should do the Zodiac relic quests, especially the wherefore art thou zodiac step, you'll find a new hatred for NPCs let me tell you.

Oh, I have. I've got six ARR relics because, "[I'm] a sadist". I appreciated some of the personal conflict and that everyone wasn't overly nice. Sometimes it's okay for people to co-exist and be productive without liking each other. Yanno, like in the real world.

I understand that a lot of it is influenced by Japanese culture and that's okay. It does mean coming from a non-Japanese context it feels almost toxically nice. This idea that with enough niceness everything with be smoothed out and nothing bad will happen. I've worked for Japanese companies, though, and they have the same work issues as everywhere -- they just look a little different.

I didn't start this to say that there aren't any jerks in the game or that there aren't at least some problems that end up unsolvable. And Gerolt has a habit of being one of the better rough characters and I think it works for that character. And while his roughness can be cliche at times, it's better than someone who is always positive and nice. There's a certain amount of tension that's necessary for dramatic storytelling and people not getting along is part of it. And, sometimes, there just aren't good answers. I'm reminded of the plot point out of the MCU (not necessarily the best writing out there), but they had to deal with the idea that you suddenly have a population come back wanting to regain the property they lost like houses, but the world had moved on.

I guess I'm looking for more "no right answer" side quests. We do get those in the MSQ, though less and less often, it feels. It doesn't have to be every one, but it would be nice if it was more often.

[Sjol]

I think that it's ok for sidequests in the game to be roughly the opposite of the doomerism that is ubiquitous across all forms of social media.

A little escapism to optimism is, I think, ok for FF14.

I'm not saying everything needs to be doom and gloom. There's a spectrum between okay outcomes and good ones. And sometimes positivity is the thing some of us would like to escape, though I understand that it might not be a common sentiment. I've certainly met my share of toxically positive environments where all problems are swept under the rug. For me, escapism is seeing us succeed in something hard where people aren't getting along and don't want to admit to there being a problem. The escapism becomes the success.

[stemi]

I am using an automatic translation tool. Sorry if there are any mistakes.
I agree with this thread.
Sometimes when I play the FFXIV story, I think, "The world where everyone is right and kind is too bright and hard for me. I want to escape to a dimly lit cave".
In that cave, there are "people who are not right", "people with a bit of a heart problem", "people who have sinned in the past". (including the usual me, who is not a WoL).
They have to put up with each other, but they are not condemned to death by the righteous.

*Additional Information
The quality of the scripts varies... In terms of light and darkness, the unresolved barbarian issue and the story of the people of The Garlean Empire, for example, were close to my taste.

[Burmecia]

IMO too often games fall into the exact opposite end of this spectrum.

This is my experience too.
I think grimdark for the sake of grimdark is banal af.
No point, no meaning, wow!
But each for their own. If this is your or anyone's favourite way to catharsis - now that angle I can actually undertstand, even get behind sometimes.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[fulminating]

I liked the grumpy monk historian purely because he didn't immediately start fawning over the player character.

[Aidorouge]

Considering how depressing and rife with betrayal the MSQ can be, it's nice to have *some* kind of win in other quests where not everyone wants to stab you in the back (or front, some of those MSQ NPCs aren't picky on where the dagger goes, lol).

[Sjol]

This is my experience too.
I think grimdark for the sake of grimdark is banal af.
No point, no meaning, wow!
But each for their own. If this is your or anyone's favourite way to catharsis - now that angle I can actually undertstand, even get behind sometimes.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I think my and, by the accounts of a few others on here, issue is that the game introduces grimdark material, but then NPCs don't behave in a way that's even remotely realistic. Half my town is dead, my husband is dead, our neighbors are dead, but "everything is going to be okay". If the game is going to have such high stakes and injuries to the populace at large, shouldn't the people we meet be more messed up?

[DiaDeem]

Did you ever do that quest where some dude has a harem of poachers and basically holds that girl's older sister hostage and there's literally nothing you can do?