When can we expect a new story?

[Jinrya-Geki]

This is my opinion, I truly hate almost everything about the main scenario and all the quests that follow it. The story, and characters are so boring I almost can't handle. I hope a new main scenario is planned sometime soon so it can wash the horrible taste from my mouth I get when I read the dialogue.

The only character from the Main Scenario I enjoy is Cid, Biggs, and Wedge.

Everyone else, if I never saw again, would even get a second thought in my mind.

While the end of the main scenario has an extremely small part that was somewhat enjoyable, it was all ruined by having the people I didn't believe in show up at the end and do what they did.

My hope is developers in an expansion make a new Grand Company-like leader who is extremely powerful in combat, not afraid to fight alongside their men or work with them. They do not wait on a hill and do nothing. Who never talks of retreat. Also has the completely utter respect of their troops.

This is why the Grand Company leaders fail to me. They aren't respected by all their troops. Their prowess is marked only by fighting weaklings and acting cool. (Yes Merlwyb shot a dudes lower parts off, oooohhh real cool. But then she shoots a robot that it doesn't effect several times and then runs like a coward. And she was the first one who wanted to retreat from Cataenu, and the first one who want to surrender to Gauis. So she is not cool at all)

Also, please no more useless running around for dumb items to gain someone's trust. Make it worth something to actually do that makes it relevant to the upcoming fight or story.

Example: If we need to gain access to Ishgard, we need to show we can be trust worthy. Do not make it another gather cheese and wine quest. It should be something related like killing an NM Dragon that is not a fate!

Lastly is to make the story better. It's like the writing style of J.K Rowling. Making all the insignificant parts really dull and long, yet the part people want to see only two seconds long.

When did this game come out. 3 years ago or alittle more? And we still know next to NOTHING about the Garleans. Yet the developers sure put a lot of effort into making Minfilia tea, or finding that wine. (Yes, it's always gonna come back to mostly this). We received quests like this instead of finding out backstory to our enemy. Making the story even more dumb.

Tl;dr Developers, make the next story better.

[Gwaeron]

"Only you can defeat the evil Legatus and save Eorzea! The grand companies are causing diversions at the other Castrums. BUT FIRST YOU MUST COOK STEW."

Yep. Signed.

[Wyvernheart]

The story isn't as good as big bro ffxi.

[Gwaeron]

It's nowhere near the original main story or the Sixth Astral Era story either. Every quest was interesting, well-crafted and rewarding. All quest battles were awesome, and the cutscenes were too. The suspense was built up when Ascians and Primals were introduced. Major mindblows were had all the time.

ARR has tried to answer most of the questions that remained in a hasty, uninspired fashion so that we can just put it all behind us and start on a new era, which is a waste of very good story material.

[Altimis]

Its boring because its too easy

That's it

[Fleurette]

I don't think it's a new story we need, per se, I think we just need better fleshing out of characters we already have before we get a bunch of new ones into the mix--and they already seem to be planning new ones according to some dialogue at the end of 2.1's story, which worries me a little...The reason a lot of new players think the GC leaders and a lot of the Garlean characters are so forgettable is because they're barely seen in the 2.0 story, which I found a little disappointing compared to the amount of involvement we got from the GC leaders from the 1.0 GC/Alliance storylines, where the leaders were involved in nearly every quest.

The reason people like Cid a lot is because we get a glimpse of his past and some of the story behind it, and they get interested in knowing more about his past, or his relationship with his father. We get NOTHING like this with any of the other characters in 2.0 or 2.1, and I agree, it's very disheartening to know that all of these characters are around and able to be used in the scenario, yet instead we're fetching ingredients for Tataru's tea. I want to see really detailed backstories for the GC leaders--so they can become the leaders you're describing--the Scions, Alphinaud, etc. There are so many questions that are still left unanswered.

-What are the GC leaders' stories? Raubahn's promise from 1.0 to Nanamo? Merlwyb's past/maybe living up to her father's legacy from the League of Lost Bastards? Kan-E's childhood/growing up as a prodigy? How did they all deal with the Calamity? Are any of them close, or do they just see each other as allies?

-The Scions have plenty of questions, too: For example, how did they all meet? What was it/is it like in Sharlayan? How did Yda and Papalymo become a team? How did the Circle of Knowing come together? What happened to Minfilia from the end of 1.0's Ul'dah story to before the Calamity? (This last one though I expect they'll answer from what we've gotten.) How close were Alphinaud and Alisae to Louisoix before he left for Eorzea?

It frustrates me sometimes that they have all these characters and don't delve into who they really are...I can only hope they have plans to answer these questions in the future, because I don't want to be speculating about it all forever while they add newer, more shallow characters to overshadow the old.

[Jinrya-Geki]

I don't think it's a new story we need, per se, I think we just need better fleshing out of characters we already have

Honestly to me. If they added background information for any of the 1.0 -2.0 characters I wouldn't go looking for it now. It would be a waste of time to add it now.


I just don't want to see these characters anymore, I have seen then since 1.0 and they haven't done much. I just want it to be over with and something new show up. Granted Alpinaud and his sister are from 2.0, they aren't interesting enough like Cid. The sister was at the start of the story but disappeared for the rest, with absolutely no reference to her at all? Then she magically shows back up wanting our help for Bahamut's coil?

Obviously it's for the suspense, but when an uninteresting story tries to do this. It makes me want to just walk away.

It needs a new story. They need to drop the Ascians, the primals, grand companies, and the seventh dawn. They had their chance to shine and it flopped. It's too black and white, I am not 6 years old. Thancred should have been evil with some backstory to why he did it, not just mind controlled.

[NoloeTazier]

As I've stated in other threads I really felt this storyline was rushed and the downfall of Gaius van Baelsar was pathetic. He was way more of a MAN in 1.0 than he was now. A man who would have never sided with Ascians, just true Garlean firepower and grit. He didn't want to destroy Eorzea, merely subjugate it so sure Ultima Weapon was his ultimate subjugation piece, it made sense for him to have this. But I don't know why he'd need Ascian help with it, Cid and his father didn't need Ascian help to create the Magitek weaponry or Cid's father when he caused the Bozja Citadel incident trying to bring down Dalamud/"Meteor Project." Or maybe this is just me as a person and so into Lore that I'm putting Gaius van Baelsar on a pedestal...but even then he took such a major backseat to the new Ascian threat. He went from being the main guy in charge, he brought in 3 Tribuni, he built major strongholds/footholds right under the GC Leaders noses', he brings in Ultima Weapon and has Nero working on even more Weapon Prototypes...to just this guy who is left kicking and screaming at the end as a blinding white light (not Holy sorry White Mages) as Ultima Weapon is defeated by Adventurers with primitive weaponry (swords, axes, bows, etc). He became a pawn, the Black Wolf lost all his bite and barely had any bark. Ultima Weapon gains the power of Ifrit, Titan, and Garuda...we're on an Airship easily exposed to this new weapon. Could have been easily defeated there or he could have flown to Ul'dah and smashed it...that would cause a true subjugation. Instead they go to a Dungeon to wait at the end of it for us. Huge let down.

Then we have the GC Leaders who literally gave the same speech from 1.0...ignoring the new Warriors of Light, why weren't people at these meetings confused. And even more so it showed the emotion that these 3-characters have exhibited, yes the speech was annoying since I had already heard it but it brought back the Nostalgia of "finally we have leaders who want to fight the Garleans and work together to better Eorzea with or without Ishgard." 3 major players from 1.0 (I say 1.0 in general as it was what 1.18+?) that have been watered down to nothing. Raubhan is the only one who supports the Sultana in Ul'dah, the Syndicate wants to kill her...where is the more in-depth story? Merlwyb was one of those characters that even players from Flames and Adders respected, she was a pirate in charge and dual-wielded pistols, and then there's Kan-E-Senna wise beyond her years as she was the first to notice the Garlean threat. Then in 2.0 they (like Gaius) just played a backseat to the Scions. Near the end of the storyline I was so ready for this major plan that the Eorzean Alliance had planned. We were going to hit the Garleans on all fronts...but in the world we never felt it. We used Duty Finder to enter into a battle with Rihtahtyn sas Arvina. I'd have loved for more backstory for this guy. A Roegadyn in the Garlean ranks, that's a high honor an honor he earned for being extremely strong...yet he went down so easy. Back to the GC Leaders, they didn't even shine in this battle, they came up with the plan and the end. Cid did more for us than any of the 3.

Speaking of Cid, I did enjoy what they did with him. His background has been fleshed out more and we see that despite being Garlean he's "human." The depression he had with all the deaths, not entirely caused by his experiments and time in Garlemald, but that he cared about people and even when he was with the Garleans he probably wanted betterment for everyone. But I think overall why he was enjoyable was because he was so involved with us. We saw various cutscenes with him and heck he was there with us inside Castrum Meridianum and The Praetorium. We should have more storyline like this, cutscenes with main storyline characters and more involvement...I'd rather do 1 quest that rewards 150k xp than 50 fetch quests that reward 3k xp.

Now to the Scions...I'm so disappointed with the Archons now. They were so strong in 1.0 even without the need of Louisoix. In comes 2.0 and they're following Minfilia...for a reason I still don't get. Sure she has the Echo and leads a group of Adventurers' who also have the Echo. But why Minfilia? Just seemed like a poor reasoning to combine the groups so we could visit one place on the map to get quests. Urianger was Louisoix's right hand man and seemed like he knew things that Louisoix knew and that the other Archons did not. He helped keep the Garleans confused with his random appearances at camps and his prophecy spouting. He seemed to me to be the next in charge...where was he during the "praying" for Cartaneau. He was the only Archon missing or not shown. Where are the rest of the Archons still, assuming there's originally 12 Archons for each of the Twelve. Louixois (K.I.A.), Thancred, Yda, Papylamo, Y'Shtola, Urianger, Ahldbhar, and now the new one G'raha Tia (it's obvious with the tattoos). Another confusing thing is will we ever see G'raha meet the other Archons? Will Ahldbhar ever make his appearance? Ok so Thancred was depressed with losing Louisoix and was easily taken over by Lahabrea, very nice plot twist and one no one really saw coming. But it definitely had that "shock" value we expect from a Final Fantasy storyline. So I'll give props to that but new players are still gonna question what's the big deal with these Scions...1.0 their names and characters just had more weight behind it. They had knowledge no other Eorzean had. They had access to history and prophecies and general knowledge of the world. I just don't feel that anymore, they're merely normal NPCs that give quests now.

Now the Ascians, ok so they're the true bad guys. Awesome. They aren't the Grim Reapers from 1.0, they target weak minded people and possess them for their goals. And now we know the Paragons that taught the Beastmen how to summon the Primals were indeed Ascians as well. But from a grind and story standpoint I'm not sure how many times we can just fight Ifrit, Titan, and Garuda over and over because of a "new" summoning ritual. It gets stale fast. The Ascians became the real villain in the storyline fast while in 1.0 it was the Garleans. While, as I stated before, Gaius took a major backseat to Lahabrea and the ultimate plan of using the Heart of Sabik from Ultima Weapon. The Ascian storyline continues on...I agree with Jinrya that it does need to end soon. We still have to win back Ala Mhigo and fight Nidhogg and Bahamut and finally rid Aldenard and Vylbrand of the Garleans. A major problem I see with the Ascians are, if they can just be defeated and come back to take over another body...then they will never be truly beaten. It's like trying to fight the wind. We're already looking at 3 different storylines now. (1)Crystal Tower and Cid and Nero. (2)Binding Coil of Bahamut and Alisaie and what happened at the Battle of Cartaneau Flats. (3)Then there's the Ascian storyline. Now I have no problem understanding and differentiating 3 storylines that are going on at the same time and are important on the whole, but I'd bet it's confusing to a large base out there. Players who are already confused by the storyline..probably a lot of confusion coming from spamming through the quests for the rush to endgame.

More depth, less minions and less mounts. More bridging of the 1.0 storyline to 2.0. Important pieces to storyline should never be tied into fetch quests, people will end up spamming through these and missing out.

Anyways just my 2 gil. I love the Lore and expect much from what we've got. After all the CG Midlander thread showed our passion for the storyline of this game. Still waiting on bridging those Ul'dah storyline gaps~

[Magis]

TBH I prefer the Imperials as the main bad guys rather than the ascians. The ascians seem like a generic fantasy game monster. It would be more interesting if they kept to the shadows to keep us on our toes.

[Erana]

I can see a three-way conflict developing between the Grand Companies, Ascians and Imperials.
Also some new enemies to face would be, the Lambs of Dalamud are one possibility. If there was a cultist leader, I'd like to see them as a cunning type of villain and have them mess with the Ascians instead of being a puppet like Baelsar turned out to be. :P

We've also got other areas of Eorzea to explore that I want to visit immediately. Dravania, Abalethea's Spine, the beastmen homelands and the islands surrounding Eorzea.

But yeah, I do feel like the first "Chapter" of ARR was a bit rushed, though not aweful. Now that that's over, I hope they can take a bit more time and bring out some quality storylines. They proved they could with the Dalamud storyline imo.