I find it completely sad. (Questing)

[BlatantPyre]

One thing I'd like to point out (since pretty much everything else that has been whined about in the OP has been proven false quite well in this thread) is that preconceived expectations may be a huge barrier for anyone who doesn't enjoy something, in any game, in any medium.

Take the notion that there isn't very much differentiation between the races: most games, both lore and gameplay wise, that do have distinct variation between them are specifically designed that way. Take WOW, for example: based on an RTS, where races define playstyles and mechanics, turned into an MMO. The races therefore change how each class functions per character choice, due to the ingrained nature of the world, and therefore affects the gameplay. The lore had been established long before WOW was made; it was static in functionality.

Think of the in-world societies and biology of those races in WOW. Can they crossbreed? Mostly, no. Did their societies form in completely different situations and have vastly different histories, having both time and distance dividing them for much of those time periods? Yes. Are there massive rifts in mentality and morals due to much of this division? Absolutely. Do note that the races in that game, in the whole grand scheme of the story, are still relatively new to each other, having only met somewhat recently in regards to their societies clashing. Much of this can be said about GW as well, by the way, and Everquest, which OP has stated he enjoyed the lore of quite well; all of these games have race playstyle differences.

Now also look at SWTOR, which OP also has mentioned as having deep lore (I'm sure it being a Star Wars game didn't help at all...). Does it have a different interactive storytelling style than FFXIV? Sure and definitely. I would imagine OP enjoyed it's specific style of story telling; however, compare the lore and gameplay of that game to the others I've mentioned...

Can different species in SW breed? Yes. Do they have separate societies that have only somewhat recently discovered each other? No, in fact most "races" have been aware of each other for most of their respective histories, and have even melded societies (it's even in the title - The Old Republic...that's one government over an entire galaxy.) Are there massive philosophical, societal, and moral differences based on race? For the most part in the canon, not really, but in-game? Nope, not at all. It's light-side versus dark-side, and that's not race based... Oh, and one last thing - are there gameplay differences between the different possible PC chosen races? NOT. AT. ALL.

My point here is, you can take any aspect of any given game and isolate it as to what you expect for all games, and by doing so you are essentially crippling your ability to enjoy a different kind of gameplay that in actuality has nothing wrong with it. The OP has complained about FFXIV having certain gaps in the lore, but then tried to reason it away by comparing it to games that are supposed to be different. The reason I used the example of race differentiation (which he said was "missing" in FFXIV) in MMOs is that in FFXIV it wouldn't make sense if there was huge variation in the races; it just doesn't fit the world they've built, let alone the gameplay style they want us to enjoy. The races have been enmeshed culturally for quite some time, they have always been genetically compatible (yes, this has been stated both in-game and out) for breeding, and their societies are no longer race based (I would like to point out though that there is in-game lore about some of the customs of each race before they met the others, just gotta pay attention). Lore affects gameplay, and vice-versa. Many people don't see it, but game dev's are in truth story tellers, and they build games as they see fit while balancing the game experience for the player to enjoy.

The OP is expecting this game to be games he's enjoyed in the past, and because this game has a very distinct identity compared to any other MMO, all he sees are problems where there are none. I won't say FFXIV is perfect, but I enjoy this game, it's depth, and its many, many aspects, including the vast lore. You need to let games be what they are, without adding your own expectations. If you can't, stop playing them.

[Pence]

I kinda see your point....but at the same time I agree with everything everyone else has said.

Isn't there suppose to be a Roe homeland or colony, (or something) around Ishgard area somewhere? It'd have been nice to have been able to see it and give it a distinct feel and fleshed out their culture.

[Cherry_Phox]

All this talk about lore only reminds me of the saddest tale of them all. Edda's Story. Even to this day, she lies in Gridania.

[Torunya]

All this talk about lore only reminds me of the saddest tale of them all. Edda's Story. Even to this day, she lies in Gridania.

Oh stahp. My heart can't take it.

[Twilite]

I use my imagination for all the dungeons, except the story-based ones obviously.

[BlatantPyre]

From Nektulos' recent responses, I have come to one conclusion: he knows the lore in this game is deep, and made this thread simply to annoy and get more attention. Which "I find completely sad".

I know of no quest in FFXIV that is a "do-this-fetch-quest/kill-this#-mobs" that doesn't also have a story involved, let alone broaden our grasp of the world. And yes, I make it a point to play every quest, talk to every NPC, read all the dialogue. It seems OP wants every quest to have world-shattering information in order to consider it information, which again has to do with limited expectations.

By the way Nektulos, AskaRay's comparison to SMT was meant to call out your broken logic in saying that the quests have no information. He knows the quests in SMT are explained, just like he knows they are in FFXIV. His statement was akin to what you have said about FFXIV quests, except his was sarcastic and intentionally false. Savvy? Boy, do I hope you do...

I will predict that OP will now completely ignore everything we said, make more false statements based on nothing, whine, whine, whine, and possibly call someone stupid...that ignore feature is starting to look pretty darn tempting...

This is my last post on this thread. I would recommend we begin to ignore this, any point we make will either be fuel for OP's troll-fire, or completely ignored/misunderstood by OP. I recommend we use our time on threads that actually have a purpose...

[Jynx]

I know of no quest in FFXIV that is a "do-this-fetch-quest/kill-this#-mobs" that doesn't also have a story involved.

Really i remember a quest chain in the shroud that has you killing increasingly difficult fauna near hawthorn hut pretty much just because the guy is a little off his rocker when it comes to pest control.

[BlatantPyre]

Heheh, I thought that was a cool twist on the old formula too, kind of a satirical nod. Also an example of a small characterization piece that doesn't need to be tied in to the grand arc of the story to be entertaining. It wasn't really about "go kill a # of mobs", it was about the loon who's telling you to "go kill a # of mobs"...it made me laugh the first time, and chuckle the second...yes, I replay stuff with alts... <.<

...AH, fudge nuggets...you got me to post again...

[RyuRoots]

Funny how its a valid complaint. Most of the "quests" are about as informative as the randomly generated missions in SWG.

If you honestly have gotten no information about how the people of the 4 main city-states live, the politics of them, or any of the races out of doing a combination of MSQ and sidequests, the problem is you, not the game. You have to actively work to not pay attention to not take in the problems and virtues of every city on a personal level, and since you mention the race you play as, moogle mail and the archer's guild both have some good Keeper of the Moon material, and there's quite a bit of dialogue with the U tribe for Seekers. Quality of writing is subjective, and you're free to not like it. Though if you're trying to say there's none OF it for those topics then I seriously don't even know what to say to you.

[Nektulos-Tuor]

If you honestly have gotten no information about how the people of the 4 main city-states live, the politics of them, or any of the races out of doing a combination of MSQ and sidequests, the problem is you, not the game. You have to actively work to not pay attention to not take in the problems and virtues of every city on a personal level, and since you mention the race you play as, moogle mail and the archer's guild both have some good Keeper of the Moon material, and there's quite a bit of dialogue with the U tribe for Seekers. Quality of writing is subjective, and you're free to not like it. Though if you're trying to say there's none OF it for those topics then I seriously don't even know what to say to you.

I never said there was none of it. Also, a lot of quests are a total joke and don't say much of anything, they just have problems you have to solve, like "Find My Ball.", "Kill 10 poachers.", "Mine me 3 stones.", "Kneel and then use emotes on me!". Not very informative quests. Then there are people in towns that actually tell you about them, but they usually point out very obvious things, like so obvious there is no reason for them to be there in the first place.

However, I can't say there isn't anything. I said there was a great lack of things. You barely even see any children in the game, you don't really see how they live, the NPCs are very uninteractive and don't really move around or do anything.

I've made the mistake of rushing through quests my first go around and not reading. Everyone else was raving about the story. So I made a second (and now third and fourth) character to re-experience the story making certain to READ all of it. Even now I rewatch the cutscenes because some of the story in this game is just too damn amazing

You didn't really miss much, the main story is mostly how incompetent, stupid, and arrogant some of the characters are, and how they really cause their own problems. You are mostly trying to "prove yourself" through 75% of the entire story, and at some parts the "story" takes control of your character making him look like a total and utter complete moron, even though you have literally killed gods.

For a JRPG, its 'ok'. However, as far as MMOs go its one of the better stories, but as a story overall compared to a lot of games its not very good. Like compared to SWTORs for example, one of the stories out of the many of them are better quality. Just as an example of the same genre of game. The quests also show you how the areas and story and world are.

Overall, its alright... ? Probably the best and most immersive story of the MSQ was the ... whatever that Dragon Bridge was, I already forgot.