Possible level/story jumps....really?

[magdahmhara]

If they took out all the unnecessary MS quests it would cut the time down quite a bit. All those fetch this/ run here stuff that really doesn't affect the story. They could make those side quests if people still wanted to do them.


I can't understand why anyone would play a Final Fantasy game and want to skip the story line. O.o

[Khalithar]

I can't understand why anyone would play a Final Fantasy game and want to skip the story line. O.o

One of my FC mates does, she's an amazing healer and really good overall, but she doesn't care even remotely about the story, she's only interested in doing new dungeons and new content. She skips *every* cutscene and skips through NPC dialogue as fast as possible.

[Voltyblast]

I can't understand why anyone would play a Final Fantasy game and want to skip the story line. O.o

1) Maybe they don't like the story. Shocking I know.
2) This game is an MMORPG, which means that gameplay has a major importance for some people.
3) The story in this game can be only done solo (Aka, you cannot group quest it, ruining the experience of a MMORPG)
4) If the story locks major points of a game, it can cause nuisance. In MMORPGs this is unacceptable for some (many) people. In RPGs it's common, but there is always some degree of freedom however.

I can think of other reasons, but once again just because it's a "Final Fantasy" game, it doesn't mean people should follow its story, ESPECIALLY if this game is an MMORPG.
I personally don't like it so I skip everything, so do many others, so while we play the "Final Fantasy" game, it's not our fault if the story just doesn't please us, slows us down and, eventually, want to skip it. I do that also on normal RPGs when the story is bad or doesn't interest me and just play the game. I remember hating the story in all Star Ocean games but the gameplay was a ton of fun, so I just played for that instead.

It almost looks like that people forget that these are GAMES, not VISUAL NOVELS!

I mean don't get me wrong, we can get both stories AND gameplay in RPGs and it's one of the main reasons why I love the genre, but don't forget that they are still games in the core.

[Yasuhiro]

snip

But the "it's a final fantasy game" argument does have some weight to it though. This game decided it's going to be the next entry into the mainline series and as such it follows main game tradition of having a story with a supporting cast. This game is also an MMORPG if people don't want to level up or do RPG things in a Final Fantasy game or spend the effort doing as such then there's plenty of other games out there like LoL or various other F2P MMO's


I came into the XIVth entry of Final Fantasy expecting Final Fantasy and I got just that. Yes, this game is designed to be an entry level MMO for newcomers but I'd argue that this game is more aimed at Final Fantasy fans with the massive amounts of shout outs and fanservice. If people want to come over to this game and play it as their first Final Fantasy game that's really fine. What I don't want is people trying to change what I and many others who are long time fans like about this series and grew up with just because they for some reason never did any research jumping into the 14th entry of series and complain about something that's been a staple since Final Fantasy IV and arguably Final Fantasy II.

I don't like XIV's story either I think it's not very memorable and I think it's really bad especially with the stock emotes and the "PRAY MAKETH SUCCOR" speak added for flavor but I wouldn't want to take it away from people just because I don't like it.

tl;dr a mainline Final Fantasy game shouldn't change because of a few WoWtransfers

[ADVSS]

Cant agree more to that statement, i will only mention how old content goes down the road dumpster and queueing might have been a problem cept for levelling and mentor roullettes, they need another one for story trials maybe for more bonuses

[Voltyblast]

tl;dr a mainline Final Fantasy game shouldn't change because of a few WoWtransfers

Except, it is already changing: have you noticed the lack of 8 men scenario dungeons? Have you noticed the lack of trial requirements from Hildibrand? Have you noticed how they simplified raid locks (Let's face it, Coil's silly lock out was stupid)?
The story is still there for now, but they're slowly making it less and less mandatory: 4.0 is supposed to be open without the MSQ completed, which is already a big change. Not a bad one considering that, whoever wants to jump into the expansion they'll be able to without interruption. The game is changing, but mostly to be more accessible to new players and that can't be a bad thing: you want more players to access the game. And if they like the story, that's a plus for them. But locking an entire expansion behind a story (that wasn't even advertised on the game cover)? That's bad as business decision and, yes, Square Enix is a company. They need dosh from us, and if a lot of players can't get into the game because of a limitation, they won't. It's not 2000 anymore where we had only 2-3 choices of mmorpgs: we have severals now.

Yes this is a Final Fantasy game, but if Wildstar taught us something is that being niche for a small demographic doesn't pay anymore (as wildstar paid tribute and listened to the old vanilla hardcore raiders).

[bass9020]

Except, it is already changing: have you noticed the lack of 8 men scenario dungeons? Have you noticed the lack of trial requirements from Hildibrand? Have you noticed how they simplified raid locks (Let's face it, Coil's silly lock out was stupid)?
The story is still there for now, but they're slowly making it less and less mandatory: 4.0 is supposed to be open without the MSQ completed, which is already a big change. Not a bad one considering that, whoever wants to jump into the expansion they'll be able to without interruption. The game is changing, but mostly to be more accessible to new players and that can't be a bad thing: you want more players to access the game. And if they like the story, that's a plus for them. But locking an entire expansion behind a story (that wasn't even advertised on the game cover)? That's bad as business decision and, yes, Square Enix is a company. They need dosh from us, and if a lot of players can't get into the game because of a limitation, they won't. It's not 2000 anymore where we had only 2-3 choices of mmorpgs: we have severals now.

Yes this is a Final Fantasy game, but if Wildstar taught us something is that being niche for a small demographic doesn't pay anymore (as wildstar paid tribute and listened to the old vanilla hardcore raiders).

Yoshi said he still wants to have a continuous story through the expansion and hopes people can understand that. He said certain features will not require the MSQs like what happened in 3.0.

Hildibrand not having trials is because it was rushed out due to the demand for it because majority felt the Scholasticate wasnt living up to what Hildibrand was.

And you are correct its not 2000 anymore, games need to be different to survive with interesting features that set them apart. Why do they all need to be clones?

[Voltyblast]

Yoshi said he still wants to have a continuous story through the expansion and hopes people can understand that. He said certain features will not require the MSQs like what happened in 3.0.

Hildibrand not having trials is because it was rushed out due to the demand for it because majority felt the Scholasticate wasnt living up to what Hildibrand was.

And you are correct its not 2000 anymore, games need to be different to survive with interesting features that set them apart. Why do they all need to be clones?

Implying this game isn't a clone? Several features of the game are copied from other games as far as I know. Infact, they are copied from other games but not as polished as they should be: combat is slower than wow (same old tab targetting system present in every MMORPG of the last decade), FATEs are more boring than GW2 ones (to think I complained them, but they were at least varied), Aion's combo were easier and less scripted (can't remember totally, but it was much more intuitive and less stiff), the talents are non-existent (2 monks are absolutely the same), the stats aren't as interesting as any other mmorpg (Parry is worthless and basically there's just one meta) so far, and so on. Heck even the story is underwhelming: SWTOR does story telling much better (8 stories, one for each class, from 1 to 50, then a NON MANDATORY expansion story to follow) and actually give you much better immersion than FFXIV lack of choices and whatnot. Plus the Main Character talks and I honestly loved my Inquisitor with her act of badassery: it was truely enjoyable to follow.

Oh, and I hate Star Wars. Just putting it up there.

Sure, they aren't forced and shouldn't be clones of one game, but FFXIV is really not an exception. Infact I dare say, it's because it's HIGHLY similar to WoW that people like me (and maybe others?) like this game and it's not completely a bad thing: people feel more at home, people know better how skills work etc. But even then, there's so much polish...so much to improve.

But feel free to disagree: I just think that this game needs far more polish in many aspects, than to be bothered with a story: the potion is a bad idea and I don't support it, but thinking about the gameplay first (especially when a lot of the non-raiding content can be achieved on day 1) wouldn't be a totally bad idea, even if it means less story. If they ever make a MSQ skip for players, it would only benefit SE. Not you, not me, but them. But if it means more players - and sequentially more content, I'm all for it.

But again, this is just an opinion.

[bass9020]

Sure, they aren't forced and shouldn't be clones of one game, but FFXIV is really not an exception. Infact I dare say, it's because it's HIGHLY similar to WoW that people like me (and maybe others?) like this game and it's not completely a bad thing: people feel more at home, people know better how skills work etc. But even then, there's so much polish...so much to improve.

This is what I have an issue with. I understand they want to cater to as many people as possible but they are forgetting the core players the ones who enjoy this game because it is a main number game in the series. And when people come on here complaining that the game takes too long or there is too much story it starts to grind some gears a bit with people. Do things need to change? Absolutely! But people coming on here complaining about the core feature that is an FF game which is story and lore isn't right. As yo said people are familiar and comfortable with things but so are FF fans who expect some similarities and ideas from other FF games

I totally agree that things like stats need to be looked at because right now they are very bland and boring. Locking areas and jobs behind the story was not ideal. They should allow us to visit places but depending on where we are in the story have NPCs treat us differently.