ARR: new player perspective

[MistakeNot]

I can't drag my fiance through it kicking and screaming - like she simply doesn't like the story.

I'm sorry. I know ARR has its fans... but it's a garbage narrative, particularly when compared to HW and ShB. Honestly, I wonder how many people don't ever really get into the game because of the monotony of the MSQ for those first 50 levels.

If people dislike the MSQ for the first 50 levels that much, they won't like the rest either.
Sure, the storytelling is a bit more focused in HW, but it is not all that different.

[TeraRamis]

If people dislike the MSQ for the first 50 levels that much, they won't like the rest either.
Sure, the storytelling is a bit more focused in HW, but it is not all that different.

Actually, I detested the MSQ of ARR so much that I quit the game for 2 years shortly after finishing it the first time - despairing of the game ever being more than this wooden vehicle for bad storytelling. It's only because I'm a bored MMORPGer who occasionally revisits stuff that I came back.

HW and ShB might be slower than some stories, but they at least have the same level of depth and character development that you see in other Final Fantasy RPGs, replete with some really interesting plot twists and turns. ARR is almost devoid of any of these things - the only time the story really pays off is the banquet sequence, and I imagine that most people who were unmoved by the narrative (or not at least stubborn enough to finish in spite of it) didn't get even half that far.

[MistakeNot]

Actually, I detested the MSQ of ARR so much that I quit the game for 2 years shortly after finishing it the first time - despairing of the game ever being more than this wooden vehicle for bad storytelling. It's only because I'm a bored MMORPGer who occasionally revisits stuff that I came back.

HW and ShB might be slower than some stories, but they at least have the same level of depth and character development that you see in other Final Fantasy RPGs, replete with some really interesting plot twists and turns. ARR is almost devoid of any of these things - the only time the story really pays off is the banquet sequence, and I imagine that most people who were unmoved by the narrative (or not at least stubborn enough to finish in spite of it) didn't get even half that far.

Well, that is your opinion, and I disagree with it. The storytelling in ARR is not bad, and the number of fetch quests is no worse than in most other MMOs.
The story is a bit unfocused because it is "our" story - the story of how we go from unknown adventurer to famous Warrior of Light. It also has to do a lot of worldbuilding and introducing characters and events that will become important later on. A few too many "pray return to the Waking Sands", but even that does not actually happen all that often.

[Refth]

I'm recently in the same boat, and completely agree.

But you're not done with ARR yet (the worst is still to come, apparently!) - there's another 100 Seventh Astral Era Quests (post-Ultima content) to go through until the first expansion.

I was fully prepared for this and am now committed to the game (having bought the full release) but yeah, I won't be rolling any alts in a hurry.

[Saefinn]

We should be getting a rework of ARR, there are parts that are a clear learning curve for the developers. A friend new to the game found it was a slog and we juat reassured that it gets a lot better for it in HW.

Nowt wrong with the plot itself, it could better streamlined to clear some of the filler, which I believe is what they are trying to do.

[Raltar]

AAR is fine, it is the 2.X stuff that sucks and I hope that is the part that they spent the majority of their time fixing. Because the entire questline sucks so bad until the very end.

[Xatsh]

I expect the revamp to remove alot of quest that involve run here and talk to this person, then run all the way back to the waking sands... 100 times.

I do not expect them to change the dungeons/detailed quest with cutscenes/quest involving character intros at all. And the story obviously will not change since it is tied into all the expansions after it. Dungeons/Primal fights will more then likely not change at all.

The fetch quest and running back and forth were bad in ARR outside that it was in my opinion no worse then any other mmo I played. WoW, Aion, EQII, Archeage, ect all had the same design of quest.

ARR story is by far the weakest in ffxiv as they obviously had to develop it fast with the complete game overhaul between 1.0 and 2.0. but I do not see lvl 1 to 50 as bad though. No worse then any other mmo, a good bit below what you would expect from a final fantasy offline though in terms of storytelling. Now post 50 but pre HW that is horrible way way way too drawn out. HW is a big step up in story telling, SB is ok but alittle weaker then HW in the story department still good though, ShB is arguably the best story in any mmo to date rivaling the better offline ff titles.

If anyone absolutely hates the story in ARR though (the actual story not the fetch quest part), ffxiv might not be for you. While the telling of it improves drastically all the stories are tied together and future expansion expand on the existing story and explain what is "Really" happening.

[wereotter]

I just finished the ARR story again last night and gotta say there's a LOT of setup on those quests for things you'll see in future expansions as well as important characters are getting set up (though there could be an argument that the developers only used those threats in later stories because the characters already exist)

I'll agree with you on the section in Coerthas. I felt like it was both too vague and too long. My original play through I felt like I didn't understand what they were talking about enough for it to prepare me for the story when that became relevant, so maybe a rewrite on that dialogue would help. There is also a LOT of fluff in that part of the story with no one in Coerthas being willing to talk to you at all until you get new letters of introduction that you have to get by doing other people's chores for them (if you hate that, then I have bad news for you about the Moogles)

But the worst parts to me were things like constantly being pulled back to Vesper Bay, yet the town didn't have an aetheryte, so it was just a waste of time to go to Horizon to get to the Waking Sands. They also could cut a little of the fluff before fighting Titan, and as they already said they're going to fix, there's that spot near the end where they have you at level 46 quests then jump you to level 49 the very next one, and if you weren't over-leveled, you have to go grind out three more levels on your job.

[Elladie]

But the worst parts to me were things like constantly being pulled back to Vesper Bay, yet the town didn't have an aetheryte, so it was just a waste of time to go to Horizon to get to the Waking Sands. They also could cut a little of the fluff before fighting Titan, and as they already said they're going to fix, there's that spot near the end where they have you at level 46 quests then jump you to level 49 the very next one, and if you weren't over-leveled, you have to go grind out three more levels on your job.

Just a heads up, if you're going to Vesper Bay, don't go via Horizon. Port to Limsa, use the aetheryte shard to go to Arcanist Guild, hop on ferry to Vesper Bay. MUCH faster

[Barraind]

ARR's msq steps being unbearable, especially after 3 sets of ability prune, is a pretty common theme.

I heartily recommend story and level skips to anyone I know from other MMO's that want to play, at this point. The first 55 levels are an extended, drawn-out tutorial now, and in an inverse of every other game in the genre, are more than half the time spent leveling to 80 if you just want to hit 80 (and its significantly less painful to do on an alt on a preferred server with a set of +xp equipment at a later date)

Fun fact also: I managed to unlock the Gunbreaker before the Machinist... (and that looks like a slap in your face)

SB and ShB classes just require the appropriate level + 2.0 completion.

You could unlock Red Mage and Samurai before you were close to the end of the ARR story if they didnt require completing Praetorium. (and if you only played when you had rested xp, you could possibly squeak out Gunbreaker and Dancer with enough +xp sources)

HW classes require you to be in Ishgard, which is anywhere from 6 to 15 levels worth of XP away from the end of praetorium.