Dark Ages of the game - My opinion on the state of the game

[ChrysOCE]

Hi guys, since FF14 is going through its lowest point (i call the Dark Ages) in terms of new content, stale jobs, story etc. there has been many who are sharing their thoughts on the game and I wanted to provide my honest opinion about the state of the game pre patch 7.3.

Story -
Regarding story, the arcadion series was really good, alliance raid story has yet to be explored in details however the introduction was pretty good although I am not a fan of fighting hologram enemies.

The MSQ story was initially fun and exciting pre-Heritage Found arc, ever since the train scene and Smile OST it went to bad real fast and felt all over the place and rushed. I dont like it when they use random robots fighting people in the source, and Koana throwing his life for a cow, felt watever. The story could have been more fleshed out and done properly, the reason why I think a lot of ppl found it boring and bad. Wuk Lamat isn't that bad of a character personality when compared with Lyse. Post 7.2 the msq is somewhat good, and I think going 7.3 onwards it might pick up again with the Azem chalice mysteries.

My personal take on story is, its decent and good enough for the plot to continue although very low effort, I know the community as a whole is on outrage calling it a bad story but it has some highs when u look deeper into it, I hope the devs stick with the same writers it might turn out good eventually. I also dont think Sphene belongs in the WoL's team, she makes a great NPC and should stay like that, as an occasional guest appearance. WoL badly needs a rival of equal strength like Zenos, and more powerful mysterious villains. Heck maybe even turn Wuk Lamat into a villain at this point, the MSQ still has great potential. (I dont get it why ppl hate on Wuk Lamat so much, she really isn't that bad of a personality, there has been worse personalities in the game and our WoL has been taking the spotlight since ARR its good they are trying new things with the story)

Genuinely curious. What highs do you feel are in the MSQ? What was fun and exciting, pre-Heritage Found?

As for Wuk, what I don't get is how people compare her to Lyse. I don't recall, when going through the Stb MSQ "Talk to Lyse", "Talk to Lyse again", "Talk to Lyse yet gain", "Talk to Lyse yet again", multiple quests in a row...

[Jeeqbit]

Genuinely curious. What highs do you feel are in the MSQ? What was fun and exciting, pre-Heritage Found?

Finding the city of gold, it was really cool how they did it with it in the background creeping towards you in Skydeep Cenote.

Learning all about the giants and being on top of the mountain like that.

Fighting Valigarmanda.

Learning about the battle and Wuk's father in Yak T'el.

Pretty much anything and everything that involved Gulool Ja Ja.

If nothing else, Bakool Ja Ja was a fun and comical villain... until he wasn't.

Finally meeting the legendary Ketenramm, long assumed dead and a historical figure.

Although a sudden theme change, I can dig a zone stereotyping westerns.

As for Wuk, what I don't get is how people compare her to Lyse.

Mainly in that Stormblood was Lyse's story with her as narrator and the idea seemed like she would eventually lead Ala Mhigo, a similar overall premise, but there was another more qualified person for that job and SE couldn't ignore it - Raubahn. And the fact the story was split between two unrelated sections of the map like Dawntrail.

[ChrysOCE]

Finding the city of gold, it was really cool how they did it with it in the background creeping towards you in Skydeep Cenote.

Learning all about the giants and being on top of the mountain like that.

Fighting Valigarmanda.

Learning about the battle and Wuk's father in Yak T'el.

Pretty much anything and everything that involved Gulool Ja Ja.

If nothing else, Bakool Ja Ja was a fun and comical villain... until he wasn't.

Finally meeting the legendary Ketenramm, long assumed dead and a historical figure.

Although a sudden theme change, I can dig a zone stereotyping westerns.

Mainly in that Stormblood was Lyse's story with her as narrator and the idea seemed like she would eventually lead Ala Mhigo, a similar overall premise, but there was another more qualified person for that job and SE couldn't ignore it - Raubahn. And the fact the story was split between two unrelated sections of the map like Dawntrail.

Fair enough. Personally, I found nothing about those zones or the MSQ exciting.
City of Gold was actually probably the only part that was a highlight, granted. The travel into Mamook and the literal travel to the Gold City. It's such a pity the actual MSQ part was so rubbish...

Ketenramm had no meaning to me. He might have been a historical figure in the story but, really, was a nobody to me. When was Ketenramm first even mentioned, in MSQ?

Personally, I hated Shaaloani. Absolutely boring to me, with it's western setting and overall MSQ plot. The whole western vibe seemed like such a strange thing. Just because there is some South/Central America themes, some Native American - well, better have Cowboys and Indians. Maybe there are other places, in FFXIV like that, and I just haven't noticed them. But that zone, in particular, just felt like lazy design.


But Lyse wasn't a overpowering figure, present in practically all quests, requiring you to speak to her and accompany her throughout the MSQ, from start to finish. It is not really a similar comparison to their presence within the MSQ.

[Hallarem]

Fair enough. Personally, I found nothing about those zones or the MSQ exciting.
City of Gold was actually probably the only part that was a highlight, granted. The travel into Mamook and the literal travel to the Gold City. It's such a pity the actual MSQ part was so rubbish...

Ketenramm had no meaning to me. He might have been a historical figure in the story but, really, was a nobody to me. When was Ketenramm first even mentioned, in MSQ?

Personally, I hated Shaaloani. Absolutely boring to me, with it's western setting and overall MSQ plot. The whole western vibe seemed like such a strange thing. Just because there is some South/Central America themes, some Native American - well, better have Cowboys and Indians. Maybe there are other places, in FFXIV like that, and I just haven't noticed them. But that zone, in particular, just felt like lazy design.


But Lyse wasn't a overpowering figure, present in practically all quests, requiring you to speak to her and accompany her throughout the MSQ, from start to finish. It is not really a similar comparison to their presence within the MSQ.

Worst part is that the whole Ceruleum / progress vs the natives plotline belonged to the Whalaqee, one of the only things we knew about the New World before we entered. Whalaqee were reduced to a crafting sidequest in this expansion, and we didn't get to see their ceruleum rich home turf. And what was the reason? A 100% because they were too scared to tackle a natives vs progress storyline, stealing natural resources from a tribes holy land. Because people on twitter would have started to screech. Look at how they are already doing it because of armor someone is wearing (The conquistador saga). Instead we got soft cowboys who shoot soft rubber bullets to solve their disagreements, and chill natives whose problems with traintracks are solved with 5 minute trainwhistle tech. The MSQ has become soft, it used to tell nuanced stories from multiple angles, now we get this.
If you don't want to tell "sad stories" anymore, like Yoshi P said after 16, then pass the baton to someone else, because you can't earn happiness in stories without setback. You can't respect the intelligence of your audience if you tell soft non-stakes stories with horrible pacing.

[Mawlzy]

Worst part is that the whole Ceruleum / progress vs the natives plotline belonged to the Whalaqee, one of the only things we knew about the New World before we entered. Whalaqee were reduced to a crafting sidequest in this expansion, and we didn't get to see their ceruleum rich home turf. And what was the reason? A 100% because they were too scared to tackle a natives vs progress storyline, stealing natural resources from a tribes holy land. Because people on twitter would have started to screech. Look at how they are already doing it because of armor someone is wearing (The conquistador saga). Instead we got soft cowboys who shoot soft rubber bullets to solve their disagreements, and chill natives whose problems with traintracks are solved with 5 minute trainwhistle tech. The MSQ has become soft, it used to tell nuanced stories from multiple angles, now we get this.
If you don't want to tell "sad stories" anymore, like Yoshi P said after 16, then pass the baton to someone else, because you can't earn happiness in stories without setback. You can't respect the intelligence of your audience if you tell soft non-stakes stories with horrible pacing.

Having done the Blue Mage questline I was expecting the tensions introduced there to appear in DT. It really did feel like cowardice by the writers that they were completely ignored. It also added to the sense of dislocation mentioned in other threads that the MSQ barely acknowledged its own lore.

I guess part of the point of DT was to create a clean break with the previous arc, but in that case the writers need to add future mystery and a compelling reason to care about what happens next.

The fact the Arcadion series is mentioned by many as a story highlight is pretty telling when it was a weak knock-off of WWE.

[Jeeqbit]

Fair enough. Personally, I found nothing about those zones or the MSQ exciting.

I do all the sidequests too, so I got some extra context on the giants outside of the MSQ as well. But there was a lot that was part of it as well. I fought Valigarmanda with Duty Support and it likely takes away from it if you don't do it with the characters present.

Ketenramm had no meaning to me. He might have been a historical figure in the story but, really, was a nobody to me. When was Ketenramm first even mentioned, in MSQ?

I forget where specifically but I remember it was mentioned in the lore over time as him being the person who found the new world and brought items home, but any quest or lore piece about him just implied how he must have perished by now. So I was really happy, that just for once, something in this game was present-tense. To me it was like seeing things about the allagans and then the twist is they are still around actually.

Maybe there are other places, in FFXIV like that, and I just haven't noticed them.

There are. Ishgard is a stereotype of the UK. Kugane is a stereotype of Japan and its apparent "ninjas and samurai". They absolutely take every opportunity to add the common tourist destinations to the game that are popular purely due to stereotypes, and their own country isn't immune to that as Kugane proved.

But Lyse wasn't a overpowering figure, present in practically all quests, requiring you to speak to her and accompany her throughout the MSQ, from start to finish. It is not really a similar comparison to their presence within the MSQ.

Right so I think what most people must be drawing comparions to is the other aspects which I mentioned.

[Rizlee]

Genuinely curious. What highs do you feel are in the MSQ? What was fun and exciting, pre-Heritage Found?

As for Wuk, what I don't get is how people compare her to Lyse. I don't recall, when going through the Stb MSQ "Talk to Lyse", "Talk to Lyse again", "Talk to Lyse yet gain", "Talk to Lyse yet again", multiple quests in a row...

Dont forget in Stmblood we went to save the ppl in Doma and fight in Gyr Abania on our own accord, however in DT it was Wuk Lamat who personally came to recruit a champion who will assist her in claiming the throne, so in DT it makes sense that the story revolves around Wuk Lamat and WoL interacts a lot with her since it was WoL's choice to journey alongside her. The initial adventure itself in Tulliyolal was very fun and exciting, it was like exploring a brand new place meeting ppl and doing the story there (one of the high points). The moment when Gulool Ja Ja personally requested WoL for a fight was badass, and there are several moments like Zoraal Ja and Bakool Ja Ja who made the journey fun.

[ChrysOCE]

Dont forget in Stmblood we went to save the ppl in Doma and fight in Gyr Abania on our own accord, however in DT it was Wuk Lamat who personally came to recruit a champion who will assist her in claiming the throne, so in DT it makes sense that the story revolves around Wuk Lamat and WoL interacts a lot with her since it was WoL's choice to journey alongside her. The initial adventure itself in Tulliyolal was very fun and exciting, it was like exploring a brand new place meeting ppl and doing the story there (one of the high points). The moment when Gulool Ja Ja personally requested WoL for a fight was badass, and there are several moments like Zoraal Ja and Bakool Ja Ja who made the journey fun.

Yes, I distinctly remember being asked by Graha what I thought about being recruited by Wuk. In fact, here's the text from that post-EW dialogue with the option I chose:
> I'd rather not get involved in politics.
G'raha Tia: If only others had the same good sense.
G'raha Tia: If the prospect troubles you so, why not consider what you stand to gain instead? That is, an exciting journey to a faraway continent.
G'raha Tia: In the course of seeing new lands and meeting new people, you might find yourself moved to help Wuk Lamat after all. And if not, well...you quietly take your leave.
G'raha Tia: A brazen plan, perhaps, but one that befits a veteran adventurer, you must agree!


Yea.....