What's the point with that quite lackluster story in Endwalker?

[CrownySuccubus]

I think they would rather write a scenario that has us going to Wendy's on the 13th than have us return to Ilsabard. The Garlemald role quest and the underwhelming way in which the provinces were handled has done nothing to further my confidence in any future settings. This, paired with a community that is all too eager to repeat "not everything has to be so serious!" whenever challenged on the continuous encroach of slice of life and attempts at comedy

The story still has a lot of problems, but this argument is still hyperbolic. As I've mentioned before, in that seven minute cutscene, G'raha eats a burger for about 15 seconds of it, while the rest is recounting the events of the plot. The comparisons to slice of life and "Persona" and whatnot just don't work. Comedy in FFXIV has never been something that's "landed" for me, but compared to the problems with the themes of "suffering" and whatnot that fell forth in the expansion, "slice of life" is at the bottom of what they need to work on fixing, IMO.

[aveyond-dreams]

You're right in that the comparisons to Persona are inaccurate in this regard because at least Persona games have stakes and the characters actually grow up over the course of the game without going backwards like Alphinaud does each expansion. If you want a story that handles "end of the world" sort of vibes, I would recommend someone go play Persona instead of FFXIV.

I cannot wait for what sort of new themes they try to impart on us in the Void, who knows maybe they'll even go further than they did with them in Endwalker, assuming that's even possible. Imagine if they actually focused on entertaining first and moralizing second. Then perhaps we'd have a story that imparts its messages more naturally instead of the forced manner that Endwalker did.

[BRVV]

The story still has a lot of problems, but this argument is still hyperbolic. As I've mentioned before, in that seven minute cutscene, G'raha eats a burger for about 15 seconds of it, while the rest is recounting the events of the plot. *snip*

I guess it annoyed so many because of the weird pacing of EW and the forced goofy times during a universe wide threat. The eating is actually not that long. You are right on that.

[Theodric]

Sadly, I wouldn't hold your breath friend. They seem to have absolutely no interest in continuing that after Matsuno either left or got pushed out. Those plot threads were explained away in the post-Bozja field reports. Incredibly disappointing. Maybe we'll get to go there some day, but for some reason I find myself doubting.

I think it's far too late to salvage it now, unfortunately - though the game itself is simply a stepping stone to me until something better comes along. I've mostly been playing other games in my backlog and keeping an eye on some of the upcoming titles. They're thankfully being designed in such a way as to not really appeal to the 'Second Life' and 'Twitter Enthusiasts' that this game has unfortunately come to attract in droves. Generally speaking, they're the same crowd who turn everything into black and white morality, strip away nuance and make bizarre insinuations about anyone who can actually separate reality from fiction.

Matsuno being invited to work on FFXIV was a dream come true for me and it's bitterly disappointing that he wasn't given the opportunity to complete his work here. I feel for Ishikawa, too, since it seems like she was forced to suddenly change course as well.

We'll see how 6.2 fares, I suppose. Maybe it'll renew my interest, maybe it won't - but either way I at least intend to continue posting my thoughts about what I'd like to see until that point.

[CrownySuccubus]

You're right in that the comparisons to Persona are inaccurate in this regard because at least Persona games have stakes and the characters actually grow up over the course of the game without going backwards like Alphinaud does each expansion. If you want a story that handles "end of the world" sort of vibes, I would recommend someone go play Persona instead of FFXIV.

It's possible to play both, dude. And really, the Persona games (especially 4 and 5) have their own hangups and repetitive tropes that hinder writing. Especially when it comes to making the female leads different varieties of "waifu bait".

Every game has its positives and negatives. And even if someone feels one game is better than another, that doesn't mean they can't play and enjoy both on different merits.

Personally, I'd rather FFXIV keep doing its own thing in terms of tone and worry more about contradicting itself less in its main plot and themes.

[Aglaica]

the only thing i didnt care for was the returning of people after they sacrifice themselves. I was happy to get rid of certain people...then they were back. *attempts to shove the annoying scion into a freezer*

[Raoabolic]

I think it's far too late to salvage it now, unfortunately - though the game itself is simply a stepping stone to me until something better comes along. I've mostly been playing other games in my backlog and keeping an eye on some of the upcoming titles. They're thankfully being designed in such a way as to not really appeal to the 'Second Life' and 'Twitter Enthusiasts' that this game has unfortunately come to attract in droves. Generally speaking, they're the same crowd who turn everything into black and white morality, strip away nuance and make bizarre insinuations about anyone who can actually separate reality from fiction.

History has shown us that when the rot has become this bad then there is very little chance of the devs to fix it, doubly so if the income is still there. In hindsight I feel like I got bamboozled by buying the two encyclopedia eoreza books since the lore seems to change from expansion to expansion. At this point it feels like i'm playing WoW again and seeing everyone go "No, cata's story is actually pretty good!" while those that point out how cata is stretching the lore at best and flat out breaking it at worst are just "haters". XVI looks pretty good but it is a SE product so I do worry that half of the story will be broken up and sold as dlc and I do worry about what "online features" the game will come with, and let's not forget SE's ethics department. The worrying part is that I am playing less and less of XIV and more of my backlog but that backlog is starting to dry up. I need to expand my horizons, lol.

[Midareyukki]

I guess it annoyed so many because of the weird pacing of EW and the forced goofy times during a universe wide threat. The eating is actually not that long. You are right on that.

The eating on that scene is honestly not that big a deal. They had the budget for new animations, why not make use of it? I don't even think it came at the detriment of the script itself. You can still have a game with amazing animations and a game with the world's worst animations and on both have a script that either works or doesn't. They'd still eat during the calamity, and likely need to use the toilet during the calamity. I don't suppose your body stops all its functions just because the world's going to hell around you. It being animated was just a quirky thing to add, what's really important is the script and the dialogue.

For me, what bothered me is less the impact these things have on the plot, but rather the impact they'd have in other stuff related to visuals and gameplay. Because ah yes, I clearly needed to see G'raha and Krile eating in the 7th Heaven with animated sugar cubes after being told my hairstyles would not have any ears because it was "too hard™". Like, you can knock yourself right out with that excuse.

I totally needed to know they could animate sugar cubes when Housing blew up on Day 1 and Data Center Travel wasn't prepared for the very obvious influx of players they'd have. I'd rather them pouring the money they gave Miqo'te NPC animations into stuff players would actually make use of.

[Theodric]

It wouldn't ordinarily be a big deal if it wasn't for the fact that we were missing not only an entire expansion but were getting the conclusion to two major decade long story points within the base batch of MSQ's. Every second of screen time was precious as a result and so much of it was arguably wasted on things that really could have been showcased in side quests...which they are doing in addition to the increasing amount of 'fluff' in the MSQ's.

Let's not forget that the game didn't even show the Sundering in an authentic manner. It simply created a misleading cutscene that was entirely based around non-existent strawmen Ancients and a stylised, biased retelling that neglected to show exactly how messed up an act Venat's genocidal rampage actually was. It's rather baffling, given that they were prepared to show a baby almost drown, a kid get stamped on and victims of a chemical weapon.

So, yeah - I completely understand where people are coming from.

[Striker44]

History has shown us that when the rot has become this bad then there is very little chance of the devs to fix it, doubly so if the income is still there

This is where the disconnect lies, I feel. The income is still there because there isn't this "rot" or need to "fix" things that you claim. The overwhelming majority of the playerbase has had a very positive reception to EW. It's perfectly fine for you to not feel that way - it becomes an issue when you declare your sliver minority of an opinion must be "right" and the other hundreds of thousands of people must somehow be "wrong" for thoroughly enjoying the game and the story. Have your disagreements, but ensconce them within the reality that they are far and away the anomalous response. Don't fix what isn't broken to most people.