ARR needs two simple fixes until an actual revamp

[Lanadra]

I've no idea if changing the voice acting in ARR will change much, I suspect not. I did look back at some of the early cutscenes recently though having not seen them since I played through them at launch and some characters are..... challenging. I have finally convinced my Brother to try the game again after we both started playing at launch so I watched them to see, and hope they would pull him in. Compared to newer cutscenes the quality is very poor and some character are like nails down a chalk board. I hope he accepts my promise it gets better, but from a new player experience its not a great opening act.

Advise him, if he's at all open to the idea, to try the JP voice overs, it'll vastly improve the voiced experience at the very least in ARR.

[van_arn]

Advise him, if he's at all open to the idea, to try the JP voice overs, it'll vastly improve the voiced experience at the very least in ARR.

"The voices are great if you don't understand what they're saying" isn't exactly a ringing endorsement, you realize.

[Shurrikhan]

"The voices are great if you don't understand what they're saying" isn't exactly a ringing endorsement, you realize.

I understand both just fine (I play on the JPN client as often as not, and finish the MSQ once each in either version across this char and my main alt), and it's still a mixed bag. With some exceptions across ARR specifically, overall, some VAs seem to fit their alleged characters a bit more than others, or just have more attractive (or, less grating) voices outright, in either direction -- some better on the ENG version, some on the JPN version. For instance, I prefer JPN Cid (not as cocky-sounding as his words sometimes imply) and ENG Tataru (JPN being grating, for me). Most, though, they're just different, more so than one being "better" than the other.

(Though Shadowbringers ENG Gaius, Ardbert, and maybe even Ranjit, for instance... it amazes me how well they fit while also seeming to uniquely fit. Whereas many of the JPN voices felt like they could have been reslotted/recast any which way, something about the ENG voices there felt right and right for that character only.)

Tbh, one of the huge marks of quality for me is that the lines themselves are often so well adjusted to those different voices. At that point it just becomes a matter of which personality you prefer (e.g. ENG Alisae vs. JPN Alisae) and, honestly, even while different they tend to be equally good, imo.

[Lanadra]

"The voices are great if you don't understand what they're saying" isn't exactly a ringing endorsement, you realize.

I'd rather hear Japanese voices and get the gist of what's meant to be said through the English text than to subject myself to the cruel and unusual punishment that is English dubbing in this game.

[wereotter]

Advise him, if he's at all open to the idea, to try the JP voice overs, it'll vastly improve the voiced experience at the very least in ARR.

I mean that's a pretty subjective matter... to me a lot of Japanese voice acting, even without being able to understand the actual words said, sounds terrible. Over-acted and some with high nasally pitches that actually are physically painful to listen to.

[OranKells]

Bring back Vanilla ARR. add all the fetch quests back to the msq. all voice acting in Esperanto please.

[Steinar]

Voice acting is fine as is, and teleporting is a good thing. Sure beats having to walk/fly.

[PeekayTom]

The only further adjustments I think that ARR needs after very recently pushing four players through it is:

Adjust the 1-15 stories to be a bit more compelling. Not sure how, but the path to those dungeons just isn't quite enticing enough.

...

and that's it. The only other problem my players ran into? Toxic players who want to rush through everything and yell at new players for not having good enough gear/tanking to the wall in their first time/whatever excuse. It's to the point that they almost want to refuse to do content because of these players. The game isn't really the problem. The players are.

[Lanadra]

The only further adjustments I think that ARR needs after very recently pushing four players through it is:

Adjust the 1-15 stories to be a bit more compelling. Not sure how, but the path to those dungeons just isn't quite enticing enough.

...

and that's it. The only other problem my players ran into? Toxic players who want to rush through everything and yell at new players for not having good enough gear/tanking to the wall in their first time/whatever excuse. It's to the point that they almost want to refuse to do content because of these players. The game isn't really the problem. The players are.

The storytelling with those first few dungeons is a bit more environmental, your literal reason for going there aside anyway. Specifically about a bit of a rivalry between you, a party of adventurers including Avere and Edda(!!), Alianne and her grandpa and another party of adventurers led by Dolorous Bear.

In Sastasha you're able to accomplish what the others couldn't, in fact I'm pretty sure you blaze through it before the others can even attempt it, to the point where Dolorous Bear's party was still in Limsa to pick up the job. In Tam-Tara you learn that Alianne and her grandpa only just managed to get back out with their heads still attached, as well as learning after you're done and back in Gridania that Avere got decapitated in Tam-Tara, resulting in the break up of their party and Edda being left standing in the Adventurers Guild with Avere's decapitated head. Finally in Copperbell you learn that Dolorous Bear's party, determined not to be beaten by you again rushed in and got themselves killed at the hands of the giants in the mines.

The story is there, it just takes a bit more of an attentive approach as you actually have to take note of all of them outside of the dungeon as well as talk to them all. Alianne and her grandpa also appear again later, with Alianne joining the Crystal Braves in the post 2.0 story. The matter of Edda in turn becomes relevant again in Tam-Tara Hard and finally the Palace of the Dead.

Also fun fact, outside of Sastasha (Hard) is a party who is composed almost exactly the same as Edda's party (they even look the same), Hyur Gladiator and Conjurer, Lalafell THM and Elezen Archer, only in this party the Conjurer has a personality the opposite of Edda, standing her ground and not allowing herself to be blamed for the Gladiator's mistakes.

[PeekayTom]

The storytelling with those first few dungeons is a bit more environmental, your literal reason for going there aside anyway. Specifically about a bit of a rivalry between you, a party of adventurers including Avere and Edda(!!), Alianne and her grandpa and another party of adventurers led by Dolorous Bear.

In Sastasha you're able to accomplish what the others couldn't, in fact I'm pretty sure you blaze through it before the others can even attempt it, to the point where Dolorous Bear's party was still in Limsa to pick up the job. In Tam-Tara you learn that Alianne and her grandpa only just managed to get back out with their heads still attached, as well as learning after you're done and back in Gridania that Avere got decapitated in Tam-Tara, resulting in the break up of their party and Edda being left standing in the Adventurers Guild with Avere's decapitated head. Finally in Copperbell you learn that Dolorous Bear's party, determined not to be beaten by you again rushed in and got themselves killed at the hands of the giants in the mines.

The story is there, it just takes a bit more of an attentive approach as you actually have to take note of all of them outside of the dungeon as well as talk to them all. Alianne and her grandpa also appear again later, with Alianne joining the Crystal Braves in the post 2.0 story. The matter of Edda in turn becomes relevant again in Tam-Tara Hard and finally the Palace of the Dead.

Also fun fact, outside of Sastasha (Hard) is a party who is composed almost exactly the same as Edda's party (they even look the same), Hyur Gladiator and Conjurer, Lalafell THM and Elezen Archer, only in this party the Conjurer has a personality the opposite of Edda, standing her ground and not allowing herself to be blamed for the Gladiator's mistakes.

Ah, my apologies, but I meant everything before the dungeons. Your starting city-state's stories, and such.