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

[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.