What happened to SB (story)?

[Quite]

::Spoiler Warning - Spoilers Everywhere::

I'm really not sure if there's another thread like this, but I kind of want to rant/leave a statement; here's the context:

Today my attention was brought to an article where someone who owned stock in Square Enix left a message on twitter saying:

"First thing in the morning tomorrow, I intend to instruct those who manage my precious Square Enix stock (however little it may be) to arrange to sell all of it. To Square, thank you for the enjoyment of your products up until now, with the exception of this last one. Goodbye."

Apparently he was referring to 1.0, and that stock turned out to be worth 26 million (or so the article says). This got me thinking: Why would anyone's faith in a functioning company shatter so completely that they would sell it all? And then I remember how much I complained about the Stormblood (SB) story, the NA server move, and the DDOS attacks, and... well... I think I understand why someone might be that upset, though probably in a different way.

I have over 2000 hours into this game and hundreds of dollars invested into my subscription... and I stretched my finances to do it (all worth it). I loved both A Realm Reborn (ARR) and Heavensward (HW): it was all so grand and fun, and the end game was challenging too. But then SB comes out and I was pumped that this was going to be the next epic chapter... except it wasn't. In fact, I often ranted in the FC chat about it (sorry everyone, you all deserved better than that).

So what happened? Why do I feel so melancholy about it? And why do I feel so disconnected from my favorite game of all time? I barely want to play it anymore, I mostly log on just to keep my grind going in case I find that spark again. My FC is on discord so if I want to communicate with them I don't even need to log into the game.

Well, I think it ultimately boils down to this: The story just sucked this time. I'm not saying there weren't good or great moments, but for the most part I've read fan fiction far above the SB story in terms of quality and content. In fact, the fact that I regularly read fan fiction is probably the reason I'm still playing this game. I've built a thick skin for poor quality content. But that's free, I pay money for FFXIV, so I just don't understand.

My annoyances can best be summed up like this: ARR was an amazing hero origin story with plenty of that "I came here to adventure" feel. The writing was stellar and you genuinely felt like you were this regular person who got caught up in things and discovered you were more than that. Working hard to do the right thing and exploring the continent as you went from place to place. The feeling was that and more, and it felt genuine. HW had you interact with a nation engaged in a massive war going on for over a thousand years and that war felt just as massive as it was told in the story. Everything felt huge and you felt like an experienced adventurer who just started to get a hang of the weight behind their fame and capabilities. You worked hard and made a big difference; and it felt like you made the difference as only a hero could. The epic war felt epic.

Then comes SB... and a large-scale war spanning the world being fought on two fronts somehow feels tiny. By the end of it I felt like I helped two small tribes and interacted with a third small tribe that was divided. What happened?

The first thing to rage about was being asked by Alphinaud what you thought on the Ala Mhigan rebellion. I was given three VAGUE options. I picked the one I thought was most in character with how I had answered questions in HW and ARR. And guess what? I get a 'sorry you feel that way' response. Not only did the response not fit any of the answers, I had now chosen a response that felt like I was playing Fallout 4. I didn't mean to say anything that implied what that response implied I said. The other times you choose words to say would mostly follow in that Fallout 4 'But I didn't want to say that!' feeling.

Then facing Xenos for the first time. He takes you down without effort and one of the characters states how useless everything you went through before is. Your esteemed allies and practiced soldiers just lose to everyone, even the foot soldiers of Garlemald. Seriously, what's the deal? You're trying to reset the novice feel? Why? Why on earth would ANYONE do that in that way, after building us up that much, now we're nothing but helpless to ONE PERSON who is HUMAN and equipped in armor that isn't that different form people we've already defeated? That was the moment where I felt further from this game than I ever have. And quite frankly, it broke my suspension of disbelief. Everything that happened afterward failed to connect with me because I was constantly thinking, "The devs want it this way, it's gonna happen this way."

Rhalgar's Reach, after 20 years of not being spotted, magically gets attacked. There is no reason for this. None. There was specific interest in quelling these rebels yet none of Xenos' men had located it despite trying. So tell me, how did they know? And don't give me that 'Fordola knew where it was' excuse. If she was blind enough to support the empire then she would have outed them years ago with the zeal she has. This is a plot hole, and it's the ONLY REASON we decide to head for Doma.

The next disappointment is the Ruby Sea. Look, the underwater parts were amazing, but it felt smaller in scope than Sastasha. To be specific, the location of the entrance to the Ruby Toll was so close to Doma that an entire sea was shrunk down to the size of a river. It felt like a river. Not a sea, a river. I just don't understand. Why did the map have to include the shore to the mainland? It would have felt so much bigger if the Ruby Sea was treated like the various maps in the Sea of Clouds: One section of many others. A new second map wasn't needed, just the illusion that the part where map was was only a small section of a larger archipelago in the middle of the sea. Have an ocean view instead of the Doma shore.

Now, until this point, a lot of my complaints could be a result of the development process not being completely in sync. However, Yotsuyu is completely on the writers. She had a legitimate reason to betray Doma, it's how she - an abused and tossed away girl - could make money and scrape out a living that was more dignified than that of a whore. She also developed a sadistic side. But no, the entire focus of her story was how all Domans deserved death and she spoke to her subordinates like she knew we were listening. That's meta (acting upon knowledge the character shouldn't have) and a poor excuse for giving her an air of mystery. I actually thought that she was born in Garlemald for how distant she seemed from "her people".

And what about Yugiri tossing all her patience to move the plot forward? She has never been that excited about anything, not even finding her master. But suddenly throws all caution to the wind for the sake of plot when it comes to attacking Xenos. I can't help but feel that 'standing up to Xenos' scene could have been accomplished more effectively (and believably) by chasing that young kid in the orange attire after hearing that he is attempting an assassination of his own.

Then we free the nation of Doma... but it really doesn't feel like it. The map is still just as quiet as when we got there. Anyway, back to Eorzea.

Where I genuinely don't care for the story anymore and just want to get it over with. My suspension of disbelief is gone, I'm expecting a disappointing conclusion, and just want to get to the EX trials.

The conclusion was actually fantastic, except everything that led up to it was less than the outcome. I wasn't fighting Xenos in the end, I was fighting a primal. So all that build up and hype, and now the final villain needs a boost to keep up with us? When did we get so strong? I can't tell because we didn't actually fight a ton of big monsters beforehand. We fought enemies that everyone knew we were better than and only pushed our capabilities twice before that. 2+2 suddenly equaled 103 and I missed how we got there. When did we add 99 to that?

And now it goes back to my initial issue. Remember that dialogue choice I talked about? I gave the vague answer that most sounded like: "What about the ascians? I'll fight in this war while nothing else comes up but we really should be putting effort into finding them. This may be a good cause, but we ultimately have bigger issues." This game lost sight of the original plot and tacked on a conversation with one ascian at the end. What happened to all the primals they were summoning to make things hard for us all throughout ARR and HW? Why is the entire base story of an official expansion I paid extra for nothing more than a sub-plot? The ascians literally did NOTHING but wait for the Emperor's scheme to take place in a success via failure conclusion.

The DDOS attacks can't be helped, there are jerks out there who do that stuff. But the server move has screwed up my ability to raid. I've given up many nights of raiding because lag (that was never an issue before the move) was getting me killed over and over. When there's that much space between you and the AOE circle on the ground (3 character steps away), and you still get killed, that's lag.

Anyway, between lag and a story that felt so poorly executed and written, I just don't really care that much anymore. Once my 6 months runs out I won't stretch my income to make the next payment, so this is my "x weeks notice" in a sense. [Congratulations!] I no longer feel any connection to what was my favorite game of all time.

There, rant over. I can finally let this go.

The time I spent before 4.0 was wonderful and I stand behind every dollar I paid, however it's just not worth it for the next round. Goodbye FFXIV, it was amazing while it lasted. Who knows, maybe 5.0 will be better?