A suggestion about more dialog of our Hero.

[Kuksio]

I'd love to see what our hero has in mind. He barely speaks anything.
I know that it's made like that cuz "we" are our hero.

But truth be told, It's Final Fantasy, rpg first, mmo second if i recall, and every hero of FF had something to say.

And then comes the problem, since the story forces our decissions and most of the time i wonder what is the hero thinking, that he technically willingly does what 'important' npc asks without any questions.|

I cant relate too well, since i wouldnt do what he does, so at least id be glad to know what he thinks.

You could even make this option toggleable for any1 who wouldnt like it.

More questions asked and anwsered by us. These 'meaningful' choices :P (But i gotta admit, im post HW so i dont know if its better later or not ;P)

AND it could be a great to add npc dating options etc.
Like i bet that there would be some1 to try to date y'shtola

dating systeml like Trials of Cold Steel has
Nothing that changes the main story itself, but a nice addition.

[NegativeS]

I'd love to see what our hero has in mind. He barely speaks anything.
I know that it's made like that cuz "we" are our hero.

But truth be told, It's Final Fantasy, rpg first, mmo second if i recall, and every hero of FF had something to say.

Every other FF hero was also a fully-made character, and not an avatar that the player is meant to impose themselves on. That's the funny thing with MMOs, you have to be able to relate to your character, which is made very difficult when they say things you don't want them to say.

And then comes the problem, since the story forces our decissions and most of the time i wonder what is the hero thinking, that he technically willingly does what 'important' npc asks without any questions.|

I cant relate too well, since i wouldnt do what he does, so at least id be glad to know what he thinks.

Well, firstly it's a game with a story. You do have the choice to just... not do the things that people ask you to, but considering you're Hydaelyn's Chosen, the story would simply end without you, or divert too far off from what's possible for a team of writers to create to be feasible.

From what I've gathered from context and the wiki, the Warrior of Light in FFXIV is generally:

• Empathic
• Very appreciative of their friends/fellow Scions, to the point of going to the ends of the earth and putting themselves at grave risk to protect them
• Excellent at controlling their emotions

Which is probably the bare minimum needed for a player avatar to exist and be relevant in a story as complex and long as FFXIV's. Them also being:

• Leery of drinks offered to them by those they do not trust
• Extremely forgiving to those who ask for forgiveness
• Easily enraged by those who don't take responsibility for their own actions
• Tired of being used as an errand-person, or maybe just of having the world on their shoulders in general, but continues because they know they are likely the only person capable of doing some of the things they do

...are just natural responses to some of the things the WoL has to put up with in the story. It would be kind of weird if their demeanor didn't change at all from being, y'know, roofied.

AND it could be a great to add npc dating options etc.
Like i bet that there would be some1 to try to date y'shtola

Though I'll be the first to admit that I've had this cross my mind too many time to count, it's never gonna happen.

[van_arn]

I could see potential in this getting fleshed out if we ever meet ourself from a time before the start ARR, or perhaps see a conversation with previous us with another character.

[Sorimachi87]

Thing is, if they give the character an actual voice, it COULD feel like distant... like this isn't our character. I'd love to see van_arns suggestion though. That could be nice.
Yes, sometimes i want to know what my WoL is saying when she speaks and it isnt a multiple choice answer, but personally i feel like this is the better way.

[Shuuli]

I suggest for you to try out Detroit Become Human. You have all the choices you want and more. (I love that game by the way, but it is single player, I wish they had a co-op version, would blow my mind.)

But that kind of choices cannot be inserted here because it would be very difficult to do so. Unless they have a veeery clear mindset on when they plan to finish their game, what they would think could be the possible ending. But I highly doubt they want to end their (our WoL) story for a quite while. No clear endings with multiple choices will make things like WoW story telling happen. I do not want that...

We need to keep in mind on how many people are playing the game as WoLs. It is not easy to keep our character super talkative without making someone unrelated to it. That is why our WoL is not speaking most of the time.

[TheMightyMollusk]

AND it could be a great to add npc dating options etc.
Like i bet that there would be some1 to try to date y'shtola

I believe it was stated somewhere that they considered a romance system as part of the Trusts in Shadowbringers, but ultimately decided that it would be too complicated to write around and too important to ignore, so they had to shelve it. Doesn't stop plenty of NPCs from being pretty blatantly WoLsexual, though.

[Kuksio]

That's the thing with FF's focus.
Devs said its rpg FIRST, mmo second.
You do the quests you're FORCED to do, otherwise there is nothing to do.
The hero reacts on its own, doing faces, nodding etc, like he is talking, expressing his emotions, reacting
Where is "me" here?

That's why i dont buy that "out avatar" explanation for not having extended dialogs.

He already does and feels what he seems fit, which is forced upon us.

It just feels like a half made char.
I get why some might feel different about voice acting and dialogs, but considering that the hero has emotions of his own, reactions of his own, how in the hell can i relate to this? He just looks like unfinished character.

I don't have any way to flesh out what i want to say or do, everything is forced upon me, the point of view, basically whole char (Like every other FF character), so why stop there? Dialog and voice acting, or even some sounds when tragic cutscenes happen would flesh 'us' more than just nodding and silent talking to the air...

Btw, did any1 played the Witcher games?
Cuz i felt more "myself" playing Geralt than i do feel playing a speechless hero, since there are way more options to choose from in Witcher games.

That's why i just get a feeling that our avatar is simply unfinished. There is nothing to call your own if you only do MSQ. No choice with any significance. That's why it just feels empty, cuz there is no relation between me and my char when i do MSQ
That's why id rather have it fully fleshed out with dialog and VA.

[Ransu]

They have been adding more and more "dialogue" choices in each expansion.

[Avidria]

If it's entirely optional sure, but honestly I think I'd be kinda annoyed if they tried to prescribe even more of a specific personality or thought process than they already have. There are already things you can't avoid or can't dialog choice your way away from that annoy me - specifically the off handed comments a lot of NPCs seem to make about how oh, you're not interested in [insert technical ramble, political or historical facts, anything at all that you could be interested in beyond Stab Thing Real Hard] because clearly the WoL is just a dumb adventurer right? No, sorry, I don't buy that.

I love that they've been adding a bigger variety in the dialogue options we get, even if they don't change much other than a few lines of dialogue, because it means I can build on my own ideas for what I think the character I've been building is more likely to say. I already have a story and personality built up around the blocks they've given us to describe the type of person my WoL is, and adding more specific personality details on the game side would really just leave me with less freedom to play with than I've had for the last 7 odd years of playing this game.

[Hezzlocks]

(But i gotta admit, im post HW so i dont know if its better later or not ;P)

The good news is it does get better later. HW was their trial phase on the system, and as you get further into the story you'll get more opportunities to weigh in as time goes by.

Mind you, it NEVER has an impact on the story, but it does let you begin to work out the attitude and personality of your character, as you'll typically get different responses that are either eager, neutral, reluctant, often times even outright snarky or sarcastic. Sometimes even morbid. And sometimes its really fun hearing the NPCs responses to your statements.

The system obviously has its shortcomings, you obviously can't change the story and on occasion you just won't feel any of the choices are right for you, but for what it is, it can be very good