8.0 story wish

[Kozh]

I'm starting to think SE is consciously directing the FF14 so that it more appeals to teenagers.

The Disneyfication of DT is perhaps the clearest sign in overall style, but the presence of teens is also notable. We've always had the twins, of course, who I think start the story at 16, but equally they've both graduated college and seen some stuff the last few years. Ryne and Gaia are both sulky teens finding themselves. Two of the three Sphene's exhibited squeaky teenage simpering and petulance. That irritating brat in the Jeuno fight is apparently 35 and thus more of a female Peter Pan, since she presents as a child. Gulool Ja is a kid. Calyx is the classic teenage boy great with tech.

The dominant fight design philosophy also seems mostly aimed at teenagers.

Meanwhile, instead of escorting courtesans, current society quests have us as an intern at a bloody travel agency.

Maybe the plan is to pull in the kiddies now, so that when FFXXIV releases in 15 years and acts as a call-back to FFXIV and other assorted intervening titles, there'll be a ready-made consumer base.

I'd say that wuk is also very teenager in mannerism.

Idk if it's intentional, but I agree with you. DT does feel like aimed towards younger audience.

[Kandraxx]

Maybe they could take a book out of FFX's writing and write better characters while they're at it.

Hard to write a compelling story nowadays when it needs to be tailored around your typical 2025 woke base filters.

[Gwenkatsu]

Hard to write a compelling story nowadays when it needs to be tailored around your typical 2025 woke base filters.

Agreed. The amount of strong female characters in leading roles they freshly introduced with DT is aggravating. I also miss the old days where our WoL could just mindlessly kill any opposition - that we now have to TALK about everything to find a PEACEFUL solution is a horrible change. Also the multitude of non-binary characters, and all the other woke stuff. /s

Please take your political agenda and stuff it into... well, you already know where it belongs, no?

[CNitsah]

I'm sorry, but what's happening with people wanting them to reference other game. HW doesn't reference any game specifically, it's some touch here and there. Same with SB and ShB. They use some names, some design, but they do their own stories. The warring triad, the weapons, eden : all of those use some known bosses or elements to craft their own story. It's only since EW that the referencing has become less inspired with the whole FFIV thing and now the FFIX. Why do you guy WANT more of that?

[Mawlzy]

Hard to write a compelling story nowadays when it needs to be tailored around your typical 2025 woke base filters.

People keep saying this and I'm struggling to understand what is exactly "woke" about the absolute monarchies of Tural and Alexandria that dominate DT. They're barely post-feudal, both incorporating domestic military police under the command of their respective monarchs.

It's like claiming Elizabeth I was "woke" simply by virtue of her gender.

[Xelanar]

I just hope they will do something original again.
And hopefully they decide to build up story and characters next time, without rushing. I don't want another rushed "from zero to hero" Wuk Lamat solving interesting problems 2 seconds after they come up. I'd rather have another Alphinaud, who actually made mistakes and payed a heavy price for them, and had to struggle a lot, slowly growing as a character. Or another Zero, who had to learn the limitations of her capabilities the hard way.
You know... characters with actual weaknesses and flaws to overcome.

Garlemald was awesome. Stuck around over the course of multiple expansions. The same with Ascians. They were more than ideas pulled out of a magic hat only to be discarded right after their introduction.

Am I the only one who lost interest in villains after Endwalker MSQ because of how little buildup they get? It's been "oh look there is this new threat you have never heard of before - go fight it. Uh well done, but there is yet another threat you've never heard anything about now - go fight that too" ever since Endsinger was no more. Golbez - came and went. Zoral Ja / SPEEEEENE - came and went. Random Science Guy - came (and will probably leave). It's not interesting to me. They don't take the time to introduce new threats properly anymore. They don't take the time to make me care.
They suddenly pull them out of thin air, have stuff happen without explanation, leaving nothing but confusion, and care only to explain stuff AFTER it already happened (or not at all)... which is the exact opposite of building something up.


If I had to wish for something for 8.0 It's definitely a return to ARR -> Endwalker storytelling roots. Because if they do I'll be excited for the MSQ again, no matter where the WoL is traveling next.

[Gunz_Zbestest]

Hard to write a compelling story nowadays when it needs to be tailored around your typical 2025 woke base filters.

DEI hire - anyone that's not a straight white male.

[Hallarem]

snip

Thats a problem with Japanese media in general. Or well anime.

Every main char is a teen. And every supporting character mentor is 25 and everyone over 20 is "Old man" status. If youre over 30 in a japanese story you might as well have grey hair, a stubble and smoking cigarettes.

Thats why the twins will never age and the Dawntrail MSQ was rather teeny writing yeah.

[Tatiana]

I just want to go back to being more fantasy, less sci-fi and story wise I really want them to build up to an epic saga again. Maybe Dawntrail has been part of that, I don't know, but so much of this expansions story has felt very rushed. They have such a great opportunity with Sphene who I believe is a character with a decent amount of potential and yet I feel like where she's ended up by the end of this update should have been something longer-term that took multiple updates to get to, though to give credit where it's due I did enjoy this updates story. Again, maybe they have a longer term plan for these characters and this story leading into the next xpack and beyond but as of right now the overall pacing has been terrible.

As for setting, I would definitely love an Ivalice based expansion as I think that FF12 & Tactics has one of the most interesting worlds. I also want to return to Garlemald and see it rebuilt at some point. I also really want them to actually do a time jump even though Yoshi-P doesn't want to bother with it I can't stand that narratively everything that has occurred in the game has occurred in the span of a year, the twins never grow up, etc. It's not something we need to constantly do but the story could definitely use at least one.

[Mawlzy]

Thats a problem with Japanese media in general. Or well anime.

Every main char is a teen. And every supporting character mentor is 25 and everyone over 20 is "Old man" status. If youre over 30 in a japanese story you might as well have grey hair, a stubble and smoking cigarettes.

Thats why the twins will never age and the Dawntrail MSQ was rather teeny writing yeah.

I liked Powerpuff Girls as much as the next insomniac, but there's a time and a place.