Why do the bosses/raids in this game feel so lifeless?

[Vahlnir]

Imo, instances such as Ridorana Lighthouse, and more recently Alphascape and the new dungeons show that they CAN make bosses (in dungeons, as well as the dungeons themselves) and raids very, very full of life. I just got back after a long break, and this is the first time I genuinely feel like they've hit it out of the park as far as instanced content goes.

[Vidu]

This is why I think some of the boss fights feel so lifeless. Many times in a dungeon in FFXIV, I'm constantly asking "why am I fighting this thing?" from a story perspective.
Also fun fact: carnivorous plants don't gain energy from eating things, only nutrients.

I havent played FFXIII, so I cant say anything about that - but it also kinda doesnt matter, since this isnt about FFXIII but rather FFXIV.

And in regards to the bossfights, I can only offer you my approach, which is to ask "Why am I here in this place?" and then look how the enemies, including the bosses fit into it - there are dungeons like Tam Tara HM or Hullbreaker HM where the fights have clearly been set up for you specifically.
But most of the time we're entering dungeons or caves or simply areas that no "human" has entered in a long time, so wildlife took over - and as long as the wildlife fits the general area you're fighting it because its in your way. Or you're in its living room. If you're asking yourself "Why am I fighting this Gobbue in WP?", you might aswell ask why you fought the group of those weird fish before entering the bossroom. I dont know, maybe you're doing that! Personally I'm fine with some bosses not having a whole bunch of lore or "story reason" beside "This creature lives here, its there home and all it wants is for you to be gone". Thats making them less "exiting" than bosses with a story attached - at least to me - but they dont feel out of place. After all, I fought a pelican outside of Brayflox Longstop so it would stop attacking me - why wouldnt there be a pelican in that area, 50 meters away?

...in regards to the plants: I phrased that badly, because yes, real carnivorous plants dont gain energy from their prey - btu who says that the ones in Eorzea dont? Real carnivorous plants also dont move around on 4 little legs that much - or at least not that I know off.

[Edax]

I havent played FFXIII, so I cant say anything about that - but it also kinda doesnt matter, since this isnt about FFXIII but rather FFXIV.

And in regards to the bossfights, I can only offer you my approach, which is to ask "Why am I here in this place?" and then look how the enemies, including the bosses fit into it - there are dungeons like Tam Tara HM or Hullbreaker HM where the fights have clearly been set up for you specifically.
But most of the time we're entering dungeons or caves or simply areas that no "human" has entered in a long time, so wildlife took over - and as long as the wildlife fits the general area you're fighting it because its in your way. Or you're in its living room. If you're asking yourself "Why am I fighting this Gobbue in WP?", you might aswell ask why you fought the group of those weird fish before entering the bossroom. I dont know, maybe you're doing that! Personally I'm fine with some bosses not having a whole bunch of lore or "story reason" beside "This creature lives here, its there home and all it wants is for you to be gone". Thats making them less "exiting" than bosses with a story attached - at least to me - but they dont feel out of place. After all, I fought a pelican outside of Brayflox Longstop so it would stop attacking me - why wouldnt there be a pelican in that area, 50 meters away?

...in regards to the plants: I phrased that badly, because yes, real carnivorous plants dont gain energy from their prey - btu who says that the ones in Eorzea dont? Real carnivorous plants also dont move around on 4 little legs that much - or at least not that I know off.

To put it succinctly, fighting the environment is the lowest level of player engagement. To use the opposite example, The Vault has some very memorable bosses because they actually are involved with the HW story, you understand their motivations, their faction and their cause, and their powers are actively talked about in the MSQ as a key plotpoint. Not only that, but the Vault is inside a landmark that can be seen from multiple zones, so it feels like your in a real place that actually sees regular use, rather than an instance that feels like it only exists in hammerspace.

[Vidu]

To put it succinctly, fighting the environment is the lowest level of player engagement. To use the opposite example, The Vault has some very memorable bosses because they actually are involved with the HW story, you understand their motivations, their faction and their cause, and their powers are actively talked about in the MSQ as a key plotpoint. Not only that, but the Vault is inside a landmark that can be seen from multiple zones, so it feels like your in a real place that actually sees regular use, rather than an instance that feels like it only exists in hammerspace.

While some bossfights and dungeons are clearly more memorable, I dont see why fighting the enviroment on occassion is a bad thing or doesnt belong in the story.

Since you brought up Heavensward and the Vault: an important part of that story was us being out in the wild, looking for Ysayle first and some dragon to help us later. Our way through Sohm Al is embeded in the story and it makes perfect sense to me that its just wildlife in there - because thats all there is and thats what the whole journey leading up to it was about: Normally, no one is allowed to walk that path.

Sure, just fighting the wildlife is a bit more boring and not very creative, in terms of writing - but it also makes perfect that sense that we, as adventurers, encounter not only enemies that have been waiting for us, but also fight the occassional animal or plant on our way through the world.

Even if there is no real motivation to understand with Raskovnik (first boss of Sohm Al, another carnivorous plant), I understand why I'm in that place as part of my general journey. Wilderness and fighting the wildlife is part of this journey. Entering caves and dungeons that no one entered for years is part of some stories and journies within this game aswell, so to me nothing of this feels out of place.
Is fighting a giant plant less engaging than fighting a knight in shine armour? Maybe. But it still adds to the world and fits in pretty well to me.
And the longer I think about it, the more I realise that the "only enviroment"-dungeons are actually kinda the minority, specially with HW and SB, when they stepped up their storytelling a game a bit - and when we get a wildlife-dungeon in one of those expansions, its because we have a reason to be in that place right now. Even without a boss thats engaging from a story-perspective, its still part of the story that you're climbing this dangerous mountain or that you're fighting your way through this ship yard, to get out of it.

To a degree I can see your point about dungeons feeling less connected to the world, because we basically access them from anywhere, rather than getting a real feeling for how they're connected to the world - seeing how thats a convenciene of life feature that I really wouldnt want to be taken away (imagine having to walk to the entrance of a dungeon each time!), I dont see that as a huge problem.

[JackHatchet]

I loved the vault. I loved that every npc and boss felt like it belonged there.

I didn't really notice it as an issue until recently, but it's annoying/confusing when bosses are really random. For example in Lighthouse. The creature you fight on top with the little arms. What species is he? How did he come to exist? Was he just some concept sketch someone drew, and was like 'yeah, fighting this will be fun!"

It doesn't matter what game. I just hate 'cool sketch, let's fight it' bosses. I like bosses that come from known species, and have a logical reason to be wherever they are. At least if story is important. I know that Deltascape was specifically to be a 'let's fight 'cool sketch bosses,' but it's annoying anywhere else.

I don't even know what species exdeath or chaos are, or how the ghost train is haunted. How are ghosts in this game anyways? I'm sure there's some lore with how undeath works.

[Vidu]

I don't even know what species exdeath or chaos are, or how the ghost train is haunted. How are ghosts in this game anyways? I'm sure there's some lore with how undeath works.

As you probably know, non of the creatures we fight in the Omega-raid series belong to this world - they're pure fanservice and modelded after "fairytales" and "legends" Omega found in other worlds. They're only a simulation, not "real ghosts".

I can understand that Omega can feel out of place for people who have no relation to the previous games - for those of us who do it were really nice refrences though. And given the 30 year history of the franchise, I feel its fair enough to throw longterm fans such bones on occassion

[Awful]

It's because it's the same old song and dance, grab quest > unlock area > go to circle arena > rinse and repeat, I miss playing vanilla WoW or even Burning Crusade where everything you did contributed to the end goal.

Need that rep for a heroic key? You asked your guild and the world and run out and summon people to it. Doing a long ass questline to get an item to summon a boss? Again world and your guild, same as going out in the world and getting things for raids like food and flasks was even more social then sitting in Limsa or Rhalgars crafting and no one says a word.

I know this is mainly about dungeons and raids but in old WoW you had to do dungeons to do the raids in FFXIV you just unlock it through a quick quest and poof you que, say good bye and never do it again, I know todays MMOs are a lot like that but I feel the way FFXIV handles their content in such an anti social manner.

[Vrankyl]

I loved the vault. I loved that every npc and boss felt like it belonged there.

I didn't really notice it as an issue until recently, but it's annoying/confusing when bosses are really random. For example in Lighthouse. The creature you fight on top with the little arms. What species is he? How did he come to exist? Was he just some concept sketch someone drew, and was like 'yeah, fighting this will be fun!"
.

This was actually explained via the story quests leading into Ridorana, so it is not just there for funsies. The actual lore behind it is that Yiazmat is a called a Lucavi created by the desires from someone holding one of the auracites. Most of everything outside of the fan service that was Deltascape and Sigmascape is explained fairly well through story, even if it does leaves something to be desired at times.

[TheMightyMollusk]

Omega feels flat because it's fanwank in the form of, essentially, a tournament arc. Alphascape gets it worse because we get three more fights after the tournament. And the last one is pretty much a case of "That wasn't even my final form!" I was starting to wonder if we were still on Namek for a bit.

Ivalice combines fanwank with all the "fun" of an alliance raid, plus mechanics that require people to actually pay attention. This is not something PUGs are known for. And, personally, I don't find any of the characters all that engaging. I feel no anticipation for part three, because I just don't care about these guys.

[Ameela]

The only thing I think makes bosses feel "lifeless" in this game is the fact that they don't react to your attacks at all, even though I understand it'd have been unreasonable to expect that in a game like this it'd be cool if they had animations for when you hit them super hard at least