A worry/rant about storylines till now (very very minor spoiler warning)

[Vydos]

This doesn't really contain spoilers but what I might say might be a bit of a spoiler for those who don't wish to know that the current storyline ends up in yet another cliffhanger. Otherwise this topic won't be containing spoilers.

But I have to vent an annoyance and a big worry now. But let us first get something clear before people misunderstand me. I still enjoyed the patch 2.55 storyline, even though admittedly there's room for improvement. Hopefully to be improved with the next expansion or expansions(plural).

Now onto the reason that I made this topic....
I am getting very, VERY annoyed with having these storylines that don't end at all. And I'm hoping that this method of storytelling and setting things up for the next big story will end with the Heavensward expansion. To further make things more clear and elaborate to what I mean.

FFXIV 1.0(or rather 1.2): Nael van Darnus & Meteor project
- We defeat Nael and have this huge celebration (yay! good end) but oh wait, meteor is still dropping and we can't do anything about it and almost fail at properly stopping it at the cost of many peoples lives.(oh shit, not so good ending but no worries - to be continued in 2.0)
This one however I'll ignore, because they needed to do those this to create ARR

FFXIV 2.0: Gaius von Balsar and project Ultima (aka seventh umbral era)
- We defeat Gaius and have this huge celebration (yay! again good end) but oh wait, sudden dragon roar. And what's this? Ascians aren't death and they're multiplying! Cliffhanger into next storyline.

FFXIV 2.x: Rebuilding the scions, doma, ascians, dravanian and ishgard,...(aka seventh astral era)
- Here we are again, kicking everyone sorry arses, helping people, playing errand boys. All for the sake of peace and reuniting all the nations including Ishgard. Kill off an immortal Ascian, big battle on the bridge and first steps to entering Ishgard. (Yay! again good ending!...fooled you!) But wait, here comes yet another bad ending cliffhanger story that leads to the next storyline. Oh joy!

As it is very noticeable by now. This method is created for the sake of opening the next storyline. Which I frankly hate, I have yet to feel the satisfaction of a full closure from any of the storylines. Besides Crystal Tower and Binding coil of bahamut which are more side storylines. And as much as I hate using a past example. I'm hoping that things will eventually be more like FFXI. Where each story had a closure. And felt like a seperate story. Mind you, Vanilla ffxi, rotz and CoP were somewhat connected. But not in a fashion where we were always left hanging like now. They were more side branches, like we have now with CT and BCoB.

I just hope this is not a marketing ploy that will be applied forever, for the sake of forcing us to keep buying the next expansion after expansion. If we want to know what is going on or in the hopes of finally getting that "ending" feeling.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Iunno, I like it this way, it sets up whats to come, adds hype for the new expansion with regards to story, and makes it seem like what happened in the past still matters in the future.

[Kosmos992k]

Um...look, cliffhangers are one of the oldest and most often used story telling devices known to man. Cliff hangers are used in novels, TV shows, movies, comics, almost any episodic type of story telling uses a cliff hanger so that the person receiving the story wants to know what happens next. Perhaps you should read more, or observe more in general before you jump to the conclusion that cliffhangers are anything but a normal part of telling an ongoing story. Episodes may end, and different story arcs will complete, but the overall story continues to the next arc.

It's not a cynical marketing ply or anything like that, it's simply good use of a story telling technique that ensures people come back for more.

[Cynthis]

It's not a cynical marketing ply or anything like that, it's simply good use of a story telling technique that ensures people come back for more.

...or as I like to think of it, a cheap and lazy gimmick.

[Koenignovi]

...or as I like to think of it, a cheap and lazy gimmick.

You can think of it as cheap and lazy, but the cliffhanger has been used for centuries. It's how story telling and business has had people like us keep coming back.

And for the OP, even FFxi had cliff hangers at times. I think you mentioned RotZ and CoP, the two I was thinking of specifically. Though they had some closures to a few of their stories, I wasn't always keen on how they ended them either. I would actually debate it would have been better for some of the stories to have been left open ended.

In the end though, it is really SE's path on how they want to approach presenting the story to us. Honestly, I enjoy it so far. Some of it melodramatic and kind of short in some places but overall I would say solid enough to hold water. The cliffhangers they give are not without prior closure to the main focus though, so I don't mind them.

[Yukiko]

I wish for a smart way to tell stories: interaction!
Lets say you have a basic frame, once you beaten all it is closed, but if you redo it or go back into an older dungeon something changed and you will get deeper information or details...
So while the frame is closed you still did not get the whole story.

Lets take FFXII as example -> to prevent spoilers i just ask one thing: When do you finally see who the real enemy is?
In FFXIV we have the echo, but do we really use it? Lets compare with Chrono Trigger and timetravel system there -> you remember to plant the tree?

Edit: I did not mean simply to get deeper information, but maybe completly new monsters and story - lets say you cleared up the mess in present, but then echo hits you and you are acting in the past which causes the mess and so on... while the present timeline is finished you experience new timelines and troubles. SE always have his story strings open untill the last and final chapter, i like it in singleplayer games, but the problem here is the time we are playing - i do not like to "know" the end 10 or 20 or 100 years after i had bought the game! So if i quit inbetween all are just clifhangers... Somehow i like Coil "ending" but to be honest, its not a true ending, there are still many open questions because its connected to other story strings outside of coil... Lets have a look at WoW, they are trying to write a new book with every big patch, you have the same world but the story is not the same - in FFXIV we have the same story over and over again... (more or less)

[Genz]

cliffhangers are one of the oldest and most often used story telling devices known to man.

It doesn't mean cliffhangers are automatically good.

[kyuven]

It doesn't mean cliffhangers are automatically good.

Also doesn't mean they're going anywhere.

If you inject finality into a story, then your audience is less motivated to come back.
The key is wrapping up storylines and starting new ones. XIV just integrates new stories with the current ones so it's harder to see.
Also, Japanese writers suck at endings. It's more in their culture to focus on the beginning and middle, than the ending.

[Nuinn]

/rant

I hate it too.... I mean, I understand why they use cliffhangers and all but the most satisfaction I've felt from this particular last patch is....

Super mega spoilers (don't open and then cry >.>):

Death. I enjoyeeeeed death in this one and I hope they're dead for good (though almost 100% most likely not). I would have killed all of the main story, underdeveloped and annoying NPCs myself if I could! Sick of them all and their bs and being their fetch bitch.... May they all rot in Hell! >:/ No tears! Angry that Alphinaud made it through. Oh, and that sister of his no one cares about and her bs deus ex machina lolwutsuddencarriage moment....

With all that said, I did enjoy the story of this patch cause it made me feel "something".... even if anger and sick delight.

/rant over

[lololink]

What I really think they should change is the super obvious plot twists, seriously starting with Nero barely disguising himself in the CT story there was a lot of other things that were so obvious it was almost stupid.