I am in the same boat as OP. I have many friends who are now super into Nier, and have been dragged into watching the stage plays with them. My saltiness over missing out on FFXIV story for an entire alliance raid tier has colored any interest I could have had in the title. The Monster Hunter crossover was fun and fine, and I even tried the game proper for it! However, following up the Ivalice raids with something so detached from the FF title just made me very grumpy.