Can we get choices that really matter and have a effect?

[tdb]

The law of development resources says no. Especially to big earthshattering choices like joining your adversary instead of defeating them. If you joined Zenos back in Stormblood, Shadowbringers would either have not happened at all, or would have played very differently since you'd have been surrounded by Garleans instead of Scions. If you decided Emet-Selch was right and wanted to help him, it would invalidate everything that happened in the story afterwards. Et cetera. The developers would have to write several different storylines, perhaps even create several parallel expansions to accommodate this kind of choices.

More reasonable is to have fixed consequences but let character choices affect how or why things get done. Do you raise money to buy the exorbitantly expensive medicine or steal it instead? Do you go in weapons drawn or try to sneak in without anyone noticing? Star Wars: The Old Republic does this sort of thing and it works really well to give the player control of their character's personality. However, FFXIV is already on its third expansion and hasn't done this, so it would be somewhat weird to start now.

[LolitaBansheeMeru]

The law of development resources says no. Especially to big earthshattering choices like joining your adversary instead of defeating them. If you joined Zenos back in Stormblood, Shadowbringers would either have not happened at all, or would have played very differently since you'd have been surrounded by Garleans instead of Scions. If you decided Emet-Selch was right and wanted to help him, it would invalidate everything that happened in the story afterwards. Et cetera. The developers would have to write several different storylines, perhaps even create several parallel expansions to accommodate this kind of choices.

More reasonable is to have fixed consequences but let character choices affect how or why things get done. Do you raise money to buy the exorbitantly expensive medicine or steal it instead? Do you go in weapons drawn or try to sneak in without anyone noticing? Star Wars: The Old Republic does this sort of thing and it works really well to give the player control of their character's personality. However, FFXIV is already on its third expansion and hasn't done this, so it would be somewhat weird to start now.

Honestly it wouldn't be weird to start now we learned the truth from an ascian that the light crystal is a bad super primal that destoryed millions of lifes so we could realistic get a choice to kneel to zodiak now... not even counting we are warriors of darkness/light so we could get a meaningfull choice which we want to stay on now... so in all honesty now is a perfect time for it. Not even counting our friendship with 3 primals currently of lower standing ramuh,shiva, and bismark so realistic primals are not bad overall.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Honestly it wouldn't be weird to start now we learned the truth from an ascian that the light crystal is a bad super primal that destoryed millions of lifes so we could realistic get a choice to kneel to zodiak now... not even counting we are warriors of darkness/light so we could get a meaningfull choice which we want to stay on now... so in all honesty now is a perfect time for it.

That's only if you believe his side of the story. Clearly enough people didn't believe they should continue sacrificing their own kind to zokiark, and summoned hydaelyn to stop it.

[LolitaBansheeMeru]

That's only if you believe his side of the story. Clearly enough people didn't believe they should continue sacrificing their own kind to zokiark, and summoned hydaelyn to stop it.

Well that right there is a real choice you just gave that could have real effect rather you choice to believe him or believe the lies all others characters have told you up to this point and let that lead you down a path of being a warrior of either darkness/light permently wouldn't have to even split storys just change the object based on what your character believes.

[Razard]

Well that right there is a real choice you just gave that could have real effect rather you choice to believe him or believe the lies all others characters have told you up to this point and let that lead you down a path of being a warrior of either darkness/light permently wouldn't have to even split storys just change the object based on what your character believes.

Hard to call things people tell us "lies" when literally no one else was alive during the sundering. And our only surviving "source" on the matter is questionable at best, lying by omission at worst, because he and his compatriots outright tell you they where tempered by Zodiark.

It doesn't help their case that, despite all of Elidibus' talk of "You'd be on our side if only you knew the truth(paraphrasing)" he spouted back in 2.1, all of our interactions with the Ascians have been met with vague words, death threats and murder attempts. Lots of murder attempts. Emet himself got the closest to trying to come to an understanding before he shot one of our friends in the back and pretty much left us to die by the light to meet his own ends.

Doesn't really endear you to a faction really does it?

[LolitaBansheeMeru]

Hard to call things people tell us "lies" when literally no one else was alive during the sundering. And our only surviving "source" on the matter is questionable at best, lying by omission at worst, because he and his compatriots outright tell you they where tempered by Zodiark.

It doesn't help their case that, despite all of Elidibus' talk of "You'd be on our side if only you knew the truth(paraphrasing)" he spouted back in 2.1, all of our interactions with the Ascians have been met with vague words, death threats and murder attempts. Lots of murder attempts. Emet himself got the closest to trying to come to an understanding before he shot one of our friends in the back and pretty much left us to die by the light to meet his own ends.

Doesn't really endear you to a faction really does it?

As in his words Its not murder when they aren't really alive now is it? After all all those "murders" were just broken glass pieces so its not murder wen they don't really exist now is it? Beside if they are tampered by zodiark then the scions are highly tampered by the other and have free thought so the other would also be true and I mean it can be debated either way so it has the doors wide open for us to have a choice of who we believe and who we want to follow.

For One i believe the Ascians sometimes you have to docreate evil to bring great good and that means that the Ascians ends does justify their means for he reason is pure in nature.

But the end point is they opended the door to a highly debatedable subject that could create real character depth and game depth growth so they should use it to split players into 2 parts those who believe his words and those who think small glass pieces matter more than restoring everything.

[Razard]

As in his words Its not murder when they aren't really alive now is it? After all all those "murders" were just broken glass pieces so its not murder wen they don't really exist now is it? Beside if they are tampered by zodiark then the scions are highly tampered by the other and have free thought so the other would also be true and I mean it can be debated either way so it has the doors wide open for us to have a choice of who we believe and who we want to follow. For One i believe the Ascians sometimes you have to docreate evil to bring great good and that means that the Ascians ends does justify their means for he reason is pure in nature.

Doesn't make you any less wrong though. You have to provide some proof of the Scions, or us for that matter, being tempered though. Remember Her first words to us.

The whole point of this expansion was that while our lives do not matter to the Ascians. Our lives matter to us. To Alphinaud, Alisaie, Ryne, Y'shtola, Urianger, Thancred. To all the peoples of the Source, the First and all the shards that are left. That's not even going into that they may have made it impossible to make their world whole again thanks to their utter incompetence turning the 13th Shard into a literal demon dimension and nearly doing the same to the first. This tells me that they are just bumbling through not even giving a thought to what the heck they are doing or how many "Inferior" lives they snuff out. They're like psychopathic Mr. Magoo's at this point. It's not even like they are all that either. Gaius has killed, probably lesser, Ascians. And You are 2/3 on the Unsundered ones.

As much as I like Emet I have to admit his big speech in Amaurot falls flat on it's butt for 2 reasons
1) His point that the "Inferior races fight and War and really totally hate each other" falls flat because, unless he's forgotten, him and his are responsible for 90% of the conflicts on the source that we know of. And judging by the meddling on the first, the other shards too. Did he also forget that he himself was responsible for 2 of the most destructive, expansionist and warlike empires the source had ever known.

2) His talking about how "we wouldn't sacrifice half of ours to save the other" is outright BTFO'd by the Crystal Exarch even being there. He literally comes from a future whos people sacrificed themselves to give the people of another possible future a second chance.

It's also why his broken glass analogy doesn't even make sense. Have you tried to fix a broken mirror? It's nigh impossible.

Since you ended on a philosophical point I'll end it on one of my own. The Ends Don't Justify The Means.

[gman1311]

Why bother now? Maybe they’ll do it in the next mmo they make?

[LolitaBansheeMeru]

Why bother now? Maybe they’ll do it in the next mmo they make?

Because they opened the door with the story thats why

lol why do anything maybe they will do it a next mmo they make why add a new dungeon when the next mmo they make will have it why make a new character if the next mmo they make they might do it.
basicly what you said lol

When you open the door to questions that if two people were in a elevator and the question poped and it leads to them debating you need to add the choice to them which one they choice to follow other wise your basicly forcing your own false morality on them and thats just wrong.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Because they opened the door with the story thats why

lol why do anything maybe they will do it a next mmo they make why add a new dungeon when the next mmo they make will have it why make a new character if the next mmo they make they might do it.
basicly what you said lol

When you open the door to questions that if two people were in a elevator and the question poped and it leads to them debating you need to add the choice to them which one they choice to follow other wise your basicly forcing your own false morality on them and thats just wrong.

Its also not a choose your own adventure. The game follows a narrative. Its well hidden, and has to be, as you are playing your own character, but each set of the story, and especially the expansions, is written in a way that its presented from a specific persons viewpoint. Heavensward the story, is a memoir of the Count du Fortemps. Stormblood is the account of Lyse. Shadowbringers is the Exarch.

You aren't playing a story thats happening. You are going through a story that already happened.