MSQ

[Vidu]

You’re arguing a point that I’m not arguing. I literally don’t care how FF games are.

Claim: FFXIV is a story based mmorpg
My point: EVERY MMORPG IS STORY BASED. Quests being optional in other mmos doesn’t mean there’s no lore. The quests just aren’t mandatory.

Counter point: Yeah well it’s a FF game!

That’s completely irrelevant to the fact that other mmorpgs are story based and story driven. I’ve played mmos with more lore than XIV.

It doesn’t matter if the lore is beyond raids. It doesn’t matter if the lore is in Easter eggs in game. It doesn’t matter if the lore is in books or on the forums.

My entire point is: ALL. MMORPGS. ARE. STORY. DRIVEN.


It’s in the name.

Well, I think thats the problem here - you dont care about how other FF games are and I dont care that much for other MMOs.

The thing is: People are coming to this game with two different bachgrounds and two different type of expectations (to generalise a little bit).
We have the people who played lots of MMOs before and want a new one - and expect this one to be like the other ones they've played. From what I gather at least some other MMOs have a less of "this game is going to tell you 50+ hour story thats required to unlock everything within it"-focus.
We also have people who come with more of a Final Fantasy background: They've played almost every game in the series and they know that playing a Final Fantasy game means that they're gonna get this 50-hour-long-story thats gonna unlock everything else the game has to offer along the way. They come here because they want to be told that 50-hour-long-story, its the main selling point for them so its no trouble that they have to do it, because its what they've signed up for!

Saying that you dont care that this is a Final Fantasy game doesnt mean it doesnt matter that its a Final Fantasy game - FFXIV is both. Its an MMO, but its also a game within a series that has an over 30 year long history of RPGs that heavly revolve around telling a story and that have the story as selling point.

You also seem to confuse lore and story - lore is the background and history of the world and it can be revealed in different ways. Story is the tale you're being told or part of while you play the game. You can have very little lore and still tell a long story. And you can have lots and lots of lore and tell almost no story.
The lore behind Coil isnt the same as the story we experience within it.

And no one is saying that other MMOs dont have a story or lore or a motivation for you to go down into those mines to retrive [item X]. The difference is simply in the amount thats being presented or "forced" on to you.

Personally, I respect the devs for saying "We want to make this a game that appeals to people who want to be told an FF-style story, so we'll put a lot of ressources into that and make sure we tell a long story thats tied closely to everything that happens in the world, lets the player take part in those events and makes them the hero."
I want a Final Fantasy game first, an MMO second.
And I have the feeling that a lot of the people who complain about "to much story" want an MMO first and maybe a Final Fantasy game second (if they even care about FF at all).

For me its obvious that this is a Final Fantasy game, with everything that comes with that - a WHM with white and red robes, Chocobos, Cid and yes, a heavy focus on the story.
That doesnt mean that other MMOs dont have story or lore, it just means that they focus less on telling those to the player.

I'm sorry if a Final Fantasy game isnt what someone wanted - but just because this is also an MMO doesnt mean its not Final Fantasy anymore. And just because this game says "Hey, we think out story is one of the most important parts!" doesnt mean that a game who might say "We think our raids and mechanics are more important!" doesnt has any story.
(And why is it so important to you to convince me that other MMOs have stories aswell when your original point was "Yeah, other games have stories but they dont force you to play through them!"? Why does it matter so much to you to make sure everyone knows that other games have lore and story aswell? No one here is saying that FFXIV is the only MMO that provied you with a story, we're just saying that FFXIV puts a lot of emphasis on this story - and you can like that or not, but its what you get from a Final Fantasy game...)