Story?

[Anonymoose]

I can only speak for myself, because the obvious answer is, "Maybe this just isn't the story for you...?" but...

If you're merely mashing through main scenario quests waiting for it to "get good', you're probably not experiencing what garners the story so many compliments: its depth, identity, consistency, etc. Think of the plot like a cruise - you can't always count on sitting in a lawn chair on the deck and wait for the view to "get nice". What kind of shops and services are on board? What performances are being offered? What ports are you stopping at? Get off the ship entirely when it docks, visit some towns, go scuba diving.

XIV's strength is mostly in that at almost any time, if you get curious and look closer at something, there's more to see. Everything has its own identity and its own history. Hidden bits of backstory and folklore are everywhere, even in many of the bored-to-tears fetch quests that mostly exist just to give you free EXP and gear and keep you chugging along to the next plateau. The more about the world and its people you know, the more hidden connections you can put together and the more the story means. The narrative events aren't quite as powerful as their context, sometimes, and the story's richness is what makes it for most people, I think.

For every person I know who thought the story was great the first time around, I know someone who wasn't terribly impressed until they made an alt character, with no pressure to get to the top quickly or accomplish anything, and played the story again just exploring, talking to everyone, doing all the sidequests at the point in the story you were supposed to be there, etc.

Orrr...maybe it's just not your style, lol.