Quote Originally Posted by Taika View Post
Personally, I hugely dislike the talk about "modern day MMOs" with "dynamic worlds" which are "accessible". I feel like they're taking the magic out of the MMOs. They're not worlds you can explore at your own pace, slowly progressing to face the bigger adventures. They're just lobbies that teleport you from one content to another, one group to another, taking you by the hand and spoon feeding you rewards. People say this is the future and "old schoolers" will just have to live with it, but we're seeing one clone failing after another and it has to mean something. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind there being casual games that don't require any commitment or any "work" from the player, but why do all MMORPGs have to be identical?

Here's an interesting article recently published about the issue, I warmly recommend it if you're interested in this subject.
Yep. It takes storyline to immerse the player. You have to feel you are advancing... achieving something. I agree it can't be spoon fed. If it is too easy, it isn't immersive. You have to have clues that are meaningful, not directions to go to the next x on the map. The player needs to figure things out. This does not mean Ifrit Extreme. Hard battles are not all that interesting... just something to rack up... like a bear carcass nailed over the fireplace. Hard battles are not fun. Challenging battles are fun. Like trying to figure out the best way to assassinate the princess in Skyrim without going to jail. It isn't easy ... but when you successfully pull off some wild assassination, you feel immersed and happy. Doing it your own way is fun. Having to redo something that everyone else has already done with no originality, no choices, no challenges, or having to do Ifrit with 7 people who have done it 100 times before and are just helping you because you can't do it alone .... that isn't fun. Doing a quest that just says "go here" "go there" isn't fun. What made all the FF games fun was figuring out how to whup all the big bosses effortlessly so you were the top dog. Making complicated crystal weapons that cost 10,000,000 gil was not the fun part. Killing the same water beast 10000 times was not the fun part. The fun part is figuring stuff out, putting on cool armor and weapons, being the top dog, and collecting complete sets of really cool stuff. Doing the Easter Egg quest is the closest thing in the game so far that has a complete story line with a real conclusion. All the other quests feel up in the air, incomplete. The relic weapon thing doesn't seem to have any theme to pull it together into a coherent story. The prophecies thing is not developing into an extended story. At this moment, there should be some coordinated story tying together the invasion, the satellite, and impending doom... instead we are told on destroying the transmitter that that has just condemned us to destruction. Where is the response to this? We should be scavanging the land for relics to take to central headquarters where scientists pour over every artifact we find. There should be a chalkboard in this center that outlines what they are doing to delay disaster. There should be impossible machines being assembled day by day. There should be activity in the world. The feel of desperation should be obvious. We need story...