Story Mission Re-design - Yay or Nay?

[Kazimir]

There's a reason they made the story missions easier: Because a lot of people in FFXI complained that they had to get parties to do the Missions and that they were way too difficult.

So what SE did was make the FFXIV missions so that they can be done solo.

I don't mind them making them soloable, but they should have other Mission-like content that requires a group (like the dungeons they're working on).

The problem is they went the utter extreme. Just because grouping was bad in XI doesn't mean it had to be in XIV. If the missions are always solo I will be rather unhappy.

[gifthorse]

Including non combat classes has absolutely nothing to do with difficulty. They have parley as an option (it's the whole reason why parley exists). They simply wanted to make the missions soloable, since people that don't have the time/will to build an efficent group shouldn't be excluded from the main feature of a final fantasy game (the story).

Remember that this game needs to have a successful PS3 launch to survive in any sizable fashion, and this means appealing to console-oriented Final Fantasy fans (IE a few millions of people very much used to play solo).

They are creating other group oriented content to appease the ones that enjoy that, even if as usual some will argue that *everything* in the game must be designed to fit their own playstyle (even if this means to see the game itself crashing and burning, mind you).

While they should make the content solo-friendly as much as possible, they must try harder not to make it incompatible with a multiplayer environment.

Also, even as a solo-experience, I find the quests quite unimpressive. I ended up playing all the quests solo (except for the Ifrit one) and the experience was anything but amazing.

Originally, the idea was to make the story mode an integral part of the game to attract non MMO final fantasy players, but that dream will never pan out, I'm afraid. Unless of course they intend to sacrifice their current MMO players. MMO players don't want to play a solo game. Single-player FF fans do. So trying to appease both will be difficult, and I think it would be more feasible by trying to please the current market while keeping in mind the potential one, rather than the other way around.

[Abriael]

Originally, the idea was to make the story mode an integral part of the game to attract non MMO final fantasy players, but that dream will never pan out, I'm afraid. Unless of course they intend to sacrifice their current MMO players. MMO players don't want to play a solo game. Single-player FF fans do. So trying to appease both will be difficult, and I think it would be more feasible by trying to please the current market while keeping in mind the potential one, rather than the other way around.

Considering that the potential market is several times bigger (and even more than that, it's currently *uncontested*) than the current one, I would say I disagree.

Single player FF fans mostly play for the story. That's why the story needs to appease primarily them. MMORPG players mostly play for other reasons (that's how they can stomach wow and it's story that i don't even dare describing, after all), and they can be appeased to with plenty other ways than the main storyline (group dungeons, raids, quests and tons of other kinds of content).

[AlexiaKidd]

Considering that the potential market is several times bigger (and even more than that, it's currently *uncontested*) than the current one, I would say I disagree.

Single player FF fans mostly play for the story. That's why the story needs to appease primarily them. MMORPG players mostly play for other reasons (that's how they can stomach wow and it's story that i don't even dare describing, after all), and they can be appeased to with plenty other ways than the main storyline (group dungeons, raids, quests and tons of other kinds of content).

I am sure I don't remember a single FF game having missions as easy as this??? It's ridiculous, they don't need to make it super difficult but at least make it somewhat challenging. Hell they could make it so if it's a R30 mission it's a challenge if you find it to difficult get a few more ranks and go back to it and one shot everything.

[gifthorse]

Considering that the potential market is several times bigger (and even more than that, it's currently *uncontested*) than the current one, I would say I disagree.

Single player FF fans mostly play for the story. That's why the story needs to appease primarily them. MMORPG players mostly play for other reasons (that's how they can stomach wow and it's story that i don't even dare describing, after all), and they can be appeased to with plenty other ways than the main storyline (group dungeons, raids, quests and tons of other kinds of content).

That's probably a fair point if it weren't for the fact that I consider myself a MMO player and yet would also like a story mode I can enjoy with other players... and I'm sure I am not the only one.

If the story missions are designed for single players, people will play them singularly. If they are designed for multiple players, as were many of the missions in FFXI, then people who cannot be bothered to form a party might feel disadvantaged and annoyed.

Ideally, there should be enough content, both solo and multiplayer that both types of players feel catered to. Currently, however, there is not enough content, and by the PS3 release, I doubt there still will be.

So I do not know which would be the correct balance to strike in order to gain the most players. If they focus too much on one playerbase, they risk losing the other. So for all the good a single-player story mode will do for the game (especially considering the potential market for it is tentative), it might only end up doing just as much bad.

[gifthorse]

I want to add that I like following the story but am loath to actually do the missions because I find them so unremarkable. My path companion only drops in sporadically, and is never at my side. And neither are other players. It's all rather dull.

[Abriael]

I want to add that I like following the story but am loath to actually do the missions because I find them so unremarkable. My path companion only drops in sporadically, and is never at my side. And neither are other players. It's all rather dull.

Not having other players there is a simple matter of direction. It's easier to create stunning cutscenes if you don't have to blindly predict how many additional people will be around, how they'll be equipped and so forth, The simpler, the better,especially when you have to include several NPCs. Overcrowded scenes are rarely effective.
That's the same reason why your group mates were not present in cutscenes in FFXI.

If you consider yourself an MMO players and you want story-related content to be enjoyed with others, you can hope that more is added. But I doubt you should feel entitled to exclude Final Fantasy's main customerbase from Final Fantasy's main feature (IE: the main storyline).

Further content can always be implemented, but a baseline that is accessible to everyone needs to be present.

[solracht]

In my opinion, the quality of both the missions and the cutscenes has been pretty dissapointing barring very few exceptions.

I'm not talking about anything related to difficulty either (personally I do not care if they're easy or hard). Many missions felt either unfinished or really unpolished.

Examples: half of the time, there's no continuity between what's going on in the cutscenes and what's happening in the instances you're thrown into. Sometimes, NPC models are even replaced between cutscenes (see: rank 46 mission). The way music is used is also weird: a theme will play for a couple seconds, and then it will be replaced by a new one.

I don't really know how to describe it, and it's been too long since I did them to think of more examples, but I couldn't help but feel a sense of awkwardness while doing most of these missions.

I'd have to vote for a re-design, or at least a re-evaluation of the flow of the storyline in the cutscenes, past rank 15. If FF players really play this for the story missions... I don't see how the current ones can cut it.

Don't even get me started on class quests. I felt embarrassment while doing the armorer ones, and I can think of two that I wouldn't completely remake out of the 15~ I've done. At least you can salvage the cutscenes with voice overs from the main story.

[solracht]

Not having other players there is a simple matter of direction. It's easier to create stunning cutscenes if you don't have to blindly predict how many additional people will be around, how they'll be equipped and so forth, The simpler, the better,especially when you have to include several NPCs. Overcrowded scenes are rarely effective.
That's the same reason why your group mates were not present in cutscenes in FFXI.

You're white knighting way too hard. Party members already show in cutscenes, assuming you're in the two missions that don't force you to disband.

The entire point of the Crystal Tools was rendering cutscenes with ingame graphics in real time, too. There's no predicting in the cutscene, there's taking the ingame models and using them during the cutscene. Although another thing the engine was supposed to do well was transitioning between gameplay and cutscenes, something that's obviously not happening either... so who knows.

[Abriael]

Also you're white knighting way too hard, for the love of god.

I'm stating my opinion, if you don't like it don't read it. Having a different opinion from yours don't make one a "white knight" as much as you seem to have a penchant for attacking the ones that disagree with you on a personal level.
If party members do show already, I stand corrected, but that's not really the matter at hand.

Incidentally, I found the class missions to be the most enjoyable, including the armorer ones. Mimidoa is a quite memorable and hilarious character.

It's called "opinions".

Might want to consider, though, the simple fact that this game needs *more* content, not less, and scrapping existing content just because it doesn't fit your personal taste isn't exactly conductive to the creation of more content.