SE: Please tone it down a hair

[fusional]

Seriously, it seems like people are more in favor of dialog that goes like:

"I'm the bad guy, I'm going to drop Dalamund of Eorzea. Why? ...Cuz I'm the bad guy?"

Rather than him going into detail of his motivations..aka exposition because it would be "to the point."

sort of like how when people are asked to list their favorite FF villain, it's almost always kefka... even though, honestly, he's about as deep as a kiddie pool.

(sephiroth was pretty dumb, too. jussayin'. come at me, fanboys!)

[Kaizlu]

FFXII is another great example of how the writing can be good an not over complicated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLBGbUGryRE

Ivalice is such a great place.

[Rydin]

FFXII is another great example of how the writing can be good an not over complicated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLBGbUGryRE

Ivalice is such a great place.

Only thing I didn't like was the Narration of Marquis Ondore... I felt like Ben Stein was telling the story

[Majidah]

This thread is 24 pages long and has trended all week. It seems to be a subject so worthy of attention that it become evident the writing should definitively be addressed.

[Eagleheart]

This thread is 24 pages long and has trended all week. It seems to be a subject so worthy of attention that it become evident the writing should definitively be addressed.

Or, that it shouldn't.


o.o


Both conclusions can be inferred. That the thread has been trending all week is a remarkably vague premise on which to assert that anything 'needs to be addressed'.

Edit: Oddly enough, upon reading my post, I thought that perhaps some elaboration may be in order, to better explain precisely why I said what I said.

However, in the spirit of the thread, and for the sake of modern Spartan wit, I will refrain from any further elaboration on the point, how I arrived at the conclusion, why I think that way, how irrelevant the entire concept is, and why Nael von Darnus is such an awesome villain.

Representin'.

[Zaaku]

There seems to be a great deal of misinterpretation in this thread. (Or purposeful over exaggeration to swing favor but still) I suppose this could have been prevented with a more direct opening statement.

No one is suggested we downgrade writing style and lexicon to under achieving 7th grade level essay assignments. Only that they reel in the AMOUNT of text each NPC seems just so eager to spew forth any time someone happens to give them the least bit of attention.

Length =/= Quality

We can keep all the great (terrible) puns, the accents, and the unique FFXIV flavor that is ever present in the conversations with the soulless digital automations. We just don't need a 13 page sermon on why we should be doing something as mundane as collecting some coral from the beach.

[Colino]

(sephiroth was pretty dumb, too. jussayin'. come at me, fanboys!)

Sephiroth was as one-dimensional as a piece of cardboard... But lots of current players started with FF7 and thus rely on nostalgia goggles to dictate how good/bad the game was.

[Rydin]

Sephiroth was as one-dimensional as a piece of cardboard... But lots of current players started with FF7 and thus rely on nostalgia goggles to dictate how good/bad the game was.

It's not Sephiroth that makes sephiroth so important though... as a character, his dialogue was pretty subpar... It was the mystery around him... and the way everyone regarded him as such a hero.. so you had no idea if he was a villain or what

[ShinChuck]

Have you ever read Shakespeare?

There are reasons Shakespeare remains one of the most popular and enjoyed play-writes in history. Oh yeah, and there's pages upon pages of the same difficult English. But yet, people continue to enjoy it. A surprise! Those people must enjoy reading and/or stories and/or dramatic performances. Much like what the dialogue is aimed at in this game. People who enjoy reading and/or stories and/or dramatic performances. If you as a player do not fit into having the amount of patience required to read, then you may simply skip the stories and do well not to complain.

Shakespeare is interesting because every single sentence has a specific intent. I can't say the same for FFXIV, but I wish I could, maybe someday I will. In XIV right now you've got entirely useless sentences that could easily be condensed and still have the same effect. Talking just to talk is pointless, talking with meaning isn't.

BTW I read everything, I love stories, but even I can recognize there's more then a few times in XIV I want the NPC to get to the point already and quit boring me. If I was hanging on to every word I would not have this perception. Something about the writing can be improved. We are not talking about taking away anything but IMPROVING things.

Criticism of this nature is a good thing.

Cendres, you nailed it. It's interesting Rjain chose Shakespeare, because in Shakespeare's own words "Brevity is the soul of wit". He essentially trimmed the fat and removed the superfluous, which made for an overall superior story, and that's essential to why his works were so great and people still enjoy them.

As another wise man elaborated (Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw!),

"Shakespeare wrote that 'brevity is the soul of wit'. He did not then add 'unless you're writing a webcomic'. It applies to everything, and don't tell me you're arrogant enough to claim to know better than Shakespeare."

Neither did Shakespeare say "unless you're writing dialog for an MMO." Rjain could not have hurt their argument more by bringing up Shakespeare, as it's essentially the polar opposite of FFXIV's writing style and further illustrates the issue many people have with it.

[Volsung]

I can read it pretty easy /shrug