So I just finished the Ivalice content... (No Spoilers)

[Theodric]

No one was dissing the Ivalice games... It's one thing for XIV to be inspired by and be worked on by the same crew from those games. But that means nothing to crossover content implementation... which was objectively poorly done. When you have multiple reddit threads all along the same lines of "someone please explain the Ivalice story to me" and many comments on said threads saying "yeah I have no idea either, here's my stab at it," I have to disagree that the story wasn't difficult to understand. It should feel self-contained within 14 for those without any prior knowledge of the other games to understand while having the references to cater to those who do have that knowledge, and it just doesn't. It's absolutely fine if you enjoyed it, and I'm happy that OP did, too. Just don't discount the multiple people who found the story hard to follow just because you personally liked it.

Well, we'll have to agree to disagree on that I suppose.

There's plenty of people in this community who struggle to grasp even the most basic of plot elements, or lose themselves to head-canon (such as the infamous attempt to shift the narrative from willing to unwilling sacrifices where Zodiark and Hydaelyn are concerned) amongst many other story points.

If you go through the MSQ's, to get the full context you need to speak to NPC's in between each quest stage. Return to Ivalice is very much the same way.

Some people like it, others don't. That goes for pretty much any content in the game.

Personally? I want to see more of Matsuno's influence in FFXIV. He's a great storyteller when it comes to adding some much needed nuance.

[Saefinn]

Well, we'll have to agree to disagree on that I suppose.

There's plenty of people in this community who struggle to grasp even the most basic of plot elements, or lose themselves to head-canon (such as the infamous attempt to shift the narrative from willing to unwilling sacrifices where Zodiark and Hydaelyn are concerned) amongst many other story points.

If you go through the MSQ's, to get the full context you need to speak to NPC's in between each quest stage. Return to Ivalice is very much the same way.

Some people like it, others don't. That goes for pretty much any content in the game.

Personally? I want to see more of Matsuno's influence in FFXIV. He's a great storyteller when it comes to adding some much needed nuance.

I dunno, I loved FFXII, I didn't like it when it came out, but changed my mind when I replayed it when I was older (I guess I picked up more of that nuance as an adult), and it was a great game and had a good story. I also loved Tactics Advance, though I should really play Tactic too...so I don't disagree with you on his ability as a writer.

Yet...FFXIV's Ivalice plot just failed to hook me, I found it uninteresting. So if we get more of that, then I'd probably prefer it in a self contained plotline like it is now, because I think, especially for MSQ stuff they've got the right team for it. And there were parts of the Bozja writing that bothered me, but I don't know how much of that is Matsuno.

That said, maybe I should replay the Ivalice plot, maybe I'll have a different opinion second time around like I did with FFXII and I'd lack the pressure of wanting to unlock the raid to spent my time with it and maybe the fact it doesn't feel like it fits properly in the FFXIV universe didn't help either. But the Nier raids have since said "hold my beer" on that one.