I wanted a game and all I got were cutscenes

[OccamX]

Diehard FF fan here. I love cool stories and fighting epic battles. I've been running a raid team in WoW, and regretted not having time to reach endgame in FFXIV. So I quit WoW hoping to finally make that happen.

I dusted off my character who last burnt out at the end of the 40-50 storyline. I spent three weeks trying to grind through the 2.1-2.55 story.

- The first 10 hours of dialog were tolerable. (Can I play the game now?)

- The next 10 hours of dialog I wanted to shoot myself. But I forced my way through it.

- The last 10 hours, I still wanted to shoot myself.

With 8 quests left of 2.55 I decided to look at the quest list HW held in store. 95 quests already - the same number I just suffered through.

Screw that, I'm done. I love story, but not THIS much story. I need some gameplay to break it up, for gods' sake! I wanted to see XIV's endgame, but no game is worth that grind.

Sorry, Square-Enix. It breaks my heart but I can't play this game.

[Elazu]

This better be a troll thread.

[SovereignAegis]

There is literally "gameplay"* throughout it.


*Gameplay being used in this context refers to: battles, interacting with npcs, running around, smashing monsters, etc.

[Geryth]

Click through chat boxes and escape through cut scenes. I would love to sit through the story but I just don't have time. The game is a great MMO even without following the main story.

[ElHeggunte]

Plays a Final Fantasy game, complains there's too much story. Okay then.

[Fyce]

Diehard FF fan here.

So, you're a big fan of the Final Fantasy franchise, which is full of story driven games including cutscenes and all that stuff, but you are tired of this cutscenes and story driven Final Fantasy game.
I... I don't even... What.

[OccamX]

Plays a Final Fantasy game, complains there's too much story. Okay then.

You have to remember that returning players don't get to break up the story into 5-hour-chunks-every-3-months. You have to catch up on ALL of the story you've missed before reaching relevant/worthwhile gameplay options.

I spent the last 3 weeks grinding cutscenes. About 5% of my playtime was actual gameplay. The rest was dialog.

Even skipping cutscenes, it's still "wow I have 95 quests left to run around skipping before I can do what I feel like doing in this game right now."

[OccamX]

There is literally "gameplay"* throughout it.
*Gameplay being used in this context refers to: battles, interacting with npcs, running around, smashing monsters, etc.

A single dungeon after every 3 hours of cutscenes isn't doing it for me.

[Sterre]

You can always skip the story and cutscenes if it's a problem for you. I have many friends who don't care about the story and got through the MSQ very fast. I really don't see the problem here.

[Gyson]

You have to remember that returning players don't get to break up the story into 5-hour-chunks-every-3-months. You have to catch up on ALL of the story you've missed before reaching relevant/worthwhile gameplay options.

I spent the last 3 weeks grinding cutscenes. About 5% of my playtime was actual gameplay. The rest was dialog.

Even skipping cutscenes, it's still "wow I have 95 quests left to run around skipping before I can do what I feel like doing in this game right now."

Ok, but you have to remember that active players can go weeks/months between updates without any story, where all they've been doing is grinding combat. And if it comes down to designing a game for active players versus possible returning players, I'm going to have to side in favor of the former.

Also, nowhere does it say you had to spend the last three weeks grinding cutscenes. Why can't you just play the game normally (i.e. a little mainstory questing mixed in with a plethora of other activities that are available).. you know, pace yourself rather than trying to race to the end as fast as possible. That's on you, not anyone else.