MSQ Needs Further Condensing

[Reyketi]

This game isn't like other MMOs. It's very story-focused which is not typical in MMOs. People playing this game shouldn't come into it expecting the typical MMO experience. I personally like that it's not like others. That's one reason I play it.

Story and level skips are there for those who just want to jump in and play with friends. We don't need anything else.

If the length of the MSQ were not an issue, Square Enix would not have condensed it. Skips regarded.

Best Wishes

-Reyketi

[TaleraRistain]

If the length of the MSQ were not an issue, Square Enix would not have condensed it. Skips regarded.

Best Wishes

-Reyketi

We used to have a quest drought at (I think it was) 47 and couldn't continue MSQ. Had to turn to FATEs back in the day. But then they streamlined how they were doing leveling in ARR. This made the fetch quest padding that we relied on for exp no longer needed, so they could toss it out. They really didn't remove much story stuff. The design of this game is around telling a story. That's why everyone has a main storyline they must follow and even have some optional content locked behind doing it. They want people to experience that.

[Tuska]

All they have to do is make the MSQ not mandatory like pretty much every other mmo.

People that want to read the story will. People that want to grind to end game are going to ignore the story anyway.

I have absolutely zero clue what's going on lore wise and don't care to know. So what good did forcing the story on me and players like me do?

[glitteringcosmos]

All they have to do is make the MSQ not mandatory like pretty much every other mmo.

People that want to read the story will. People that want to grind to end game are going to ignore the story anyway.

I have absolutely zero clue what's going on lore wise and don't care to know. So what good did forcing the story on me and players like me do?

Because it's a Final Fantasy game. Its main selling point is MSQ. If you aren't here for story go play one of those other mmos, simple as that LOL. The developers don't WANT to be like other mmos in this regard, and for good reason. Even if you're not into it, that's the whole selling point of the franchise. They offer the option of the skip for players like you if you REALLY don't want to play the story, but MSQ is their bread and butter.

[Tuska]

Because it's a Final Fantasy game. Its main selling point is MSQ.

Says who? Nothing on the box cover or anything official says "The main selling point is the MSQ" it only states that it's an MMO and MMOs by nature have a TON of main selling points depending on the player. Some people only play for raids, crafting, the social aspect etc.

However even if it's officially stated "the msq is the selling point" what does that have to do with making it required? It's not a single player it's a mmo and every mmo (with the exception of bdo) has lore, story, a reason for why you're killing x boss and why you're in x location, yet it's not forced.

The story can still be there but it can be optional for the people that want the mmo part since it is after all....a mmo.

The developers don't WANT to be like other mmos in this regard, and for good reason.

So then why do they have everything else other mmos have? They aren't even doing anything different remove the forced story and this is a more casual WoW clone. It operates no differently than any other themepark mmo.

If you aren't here for story go play one of those other mmos, simple as that LOL.

If you aren't here for the crafting go play another mmo.
If you aren't here for the raiding go play another mmo.
If you aren't here for the glamour go play another mmo.
If you aren't here for the erp go play another mmo.


Imagine playing a mmo and then boiling it down to ONE aspect of it...and the weakest aspect at that, the story, which is a one and done deal. You spend more time doing other things that aren't the story....

[Garnix]

Imagine playing a mmo and then boiling it down to ONE aspect of it...and the weakest aspect at that, the story, which is a one and done deal. You spend more time doing other things that aren't the story....

I agree with all the things you said except that one line. Because it is a one and done deal doesn't mean it is the weakest aspect...Some people would say that any form of grinding/repeatable content is the weakest aspect of the game. As you mentioned yourself, everybody plays differently, and a lot of players are enjoying the game mostly for its story.
Actually, being an MMO makes it possible for the story to be constantly evolving, which is not something you'd get from a traditional single player JRPG. This is also probably what makes XIV's story so good for many players : being with the same characters and seeing them evolve for many years creates some sort of "attachment". Getting some backstory for our own created character we spent hundreds and hundreds of hours playing as probably adds to that as well.


Anyways, options are always good to have.
I personally am enjoying every tiny little bits of story I can get, but I still think the game should be more 'welcoming' in the way it gates content behind the MSQ, and I'd also say that the story needs to be trimmed down every couple months/years.
I can appreciate having a few hours of story to go through every few months, but when I saw how lengthy 5.4 was...I personally appreciated it a lot, but I also thought about the new players who would have to go through this in a few years, after playing through the first 200h-ish of MSQ and knowing that there are still dozens of hours ahead...that's a massive time investment that a lot of players are not willing to go through.
New players can really easily get tired of the game before even reaching end game. That's what happened/happens with 2.X, and that could also easily happen with 5.X IMO.

I don't know....instead of making the whole story optional, they could just make it easier to go through : trim it down regularly, and maybe add a 'skip quest' option on top of 'skip cutscene'?...You'd still have to go to each quest NPC, but the amount of back and forth you'd have to do would be reduced by a lot if you plan to skip it all anyways, so it would be a lot more bearable for those who want to reach endgame...
MSQ is the best way to reach the level cap in this game anyways. Going through it is just free exp. So, keeping it mandatory and making it easier to go through sounds like a good deal to me.....

[Tuska]

Because it is a one and done deal doesn't mean it is the weakest aspect.

I wasn't implying that it's weak because it's one and done but because the story is really meh to me (the parts I did try to get into).


I agree it needs to be pruned more but they aren't going to want to keep doing it every so often because SE is a very small indie company, please understand. Also just realistically it doesn't make sense to do something that's going to require more work, just make it optional.

The story can still be what it is just make it optional. I actually like WoW's lore (find the game to be boring) and Archeage's lore to the point where I went looking for outside sources to get more of it. Forcing the story doesn't make it good or make the game more lore driven. (The last bit was just me speaking in general, not saying you're implying that)

New players can really easily get tired of the game before even reaching end game. That's what happened/happens with 2.X, and that could also easily happen with 5.X IMO.

This is what happened to every friend I brought here, even after the pruning they did. It probably wouldn't be as bad if you could atleast quest together but you can't, so many solo duties, everything is just so single player.

[MilkieTea]

A point I wanna make separate from my other point: The quests themselves need a bit more streamlining in ARR. Especially Post-ARR.

IE: In the quest Into the Heart of the Whorl, you speak to Merlwyb. Right next to her is Yugiri. After speaking to Merlwyb, you then have to click and speak to Yugiri. Both of these trigger a cutscene.

I like the story and I dont think it should be cut down. But the quests themselves need a bit of work.

[Masked-dingus]

If the length of the MSQ were not an issue, Square Enix would not have condensed it. Skips regarded.

Best Wishes

-Reyketi

well, story and level skips are mostly there because SE knows people are gonna pay for them, that's it

on the concern of lenght, there's sometimes things i don't understand with the way they chose to ell their story, like, i come to some NPC, talk to me, trigger a cutscene, in wich he tells me to talk to the NPC sitting NEXT TO HIM wich triggers another cutscene... Was it really too hard to make 1 single cutscene during wich both NPC are sying what they have to say ?

i don't know, just sometimes ( for me at least ) the way MSQ is presented feels long and tedious for the sake of being long and tedious