How can an AAA title like FF 14 lack voice acting in 90% of the quests?

[Alleluia]

You pay for not only the initial cost which is $60 but you also have to pay a subscription fee which is $13. On top of that because the retainer spaces are so limited to fully play the game you actually also need to pay at least 2 retainers each month which is $4. So over six months, you're paying $102+$60, which is $182.

Now $182 is basically equal to three the Last of Us II. But TLoU 2 has voice acting everywhere and even the menu has voice acting. Sadly while the story of this game is entertaining I always have to lower my eyeballs to read the text and I can't look at the characters' facial expressions and follow the dialogue at the same time which ruins my immersion. Has Square Enix considered investing more into voice acting? A story game should have voice acting. This isn't 1990.

To be fair, a single expansion has WAY more content in it than Last of Us 2. FF14 as a whole is about 4 or 5 games' worth of stuff.

And they do have hardware overhead to worry about, as well as be continually paying a dev team that brings us new patches. I'd love for there to be more voice acting, but I feel like we'd end up with less quests overall.

Also, you do not *have* to buy additional retainers. I've been on since launch and never felt the need to get 1 till a few months ago. And that's just my hoarding finally getting the better of me.