6.1 MSQ showcases the narrative problems that continue to plague the game's story

[YukikoKurosawa]

While I very much enjoyed EW, there was a problem that seriously weighed it down and prevented it from being as good as it could be. That issue being pacing.

The problem is the writers don't seem to understand what is and isn't a useful scene. While this was a problem mostly in ARR and Stormblood to a lesser extent, the writers seem to have fallen back into this issue as of Endwalker. A significant portion of the 6.0 MSQ could've been cut and nothing of value would be lost. There is a LOT of meandering, a lot of time spent worldbuilding and focusing on side characters who I just don't care about. Not because I can't potentially care about them. A good writer can make you care about side characters in a story. The problem is Final Fantasy's writers consistently don't achieve this, and yet (primarily in post-MSQ storylines) seem intent to focus a large portion of screentime on these characters.

This is even worse when, like in post Heavensward, when they devote a large chunk of screentime to building up a character (who I don't care about) to get killed off...only to go "lol JK they're actually ok" making it a waste of time. I understand the writers want to show consequence of our actions in the world and the people that inhabit it. I understand that there are many, many characters the writers have established and don't just want to write out of the game. But at the same time, it has to be engaging. There are significantly better ways to do this.

The problem I'm seeing repeated with 6.1 is about 80% of the questline was worldbuilding and focusing on boring side characters, and 20% actual plot advancement. The writers are boldly assuming I genuinely care about these characters (of whom I've barely known) and are forcing me to listen to their life's struggles. When I was discussing bloody tax policies with Vrtra, I had almost lost my patience. You know why I liked Heavensward and Shadowbringers (not including the post-msqs of both)? Because they were focused. The plot never really stopped moving and virtually every scene felt important and either advanced the plot, or developed the main characters further in someway. It kept the pace going in both stories. That and of course the plot was actually interesting.

But with Endwalker, they've gone back to ARR style of filler, with scenes where the dialogue goes on so long the bloody background musics loops multiple times over before the scene even ends. The big meeting before going to garlemald and when everyone shows up in Sharlayan was just obnoxious. There was no reason for these scenes to be this long, even if you wanted to have all these characters (who I almost entirely don't care about) you could've had them be like "yo, gang's all here" rather than having them each go up and do a speech individually one by one. A 10 minute scene could've been 1 minute long. The lopporit tour of Labyrnthos was just outright padding and I refuse to believe otherwise.

(1/2)

[YukikoKurosawa]

I think the problem is in part the problem that many long-running fantasy stories face where they become TOO big so the story gets dragged down by the sheer vastness of the world and number of characters, and the writers want to give all these characters a good amount of screentime but there's too many of them so the plot never moves because we're too busy dealing with side character #40493050350's relationship issues. HW and ShB were heavily focused storylines featuring a very small cast of characters, and any side characters only existed to serve a narrative purpose and promptly exited the plot the moment they were no longer relevant. Which is how it should be.

So now here we are in 6.1 after saving the universe and I'm dealing with helping sort out Thavnair's poverty issues and coming up with bloody tax policies. Did G.R.R. Martin write this? I;m sorry, I just don't care about this. It's not interesting. It's not imporant. It's not relevant to my character's interests. It doen't advance the plot in any way, or deal with character I give a remote shit about. It's just boring.

The writers need to understand that a story needs to be engaging start to finish. If you have a scene that's boring and doesn't add anything, and worse grinds the plot to a halt, than you should remove it. Every single scene should either move the plot forward or develop the main cast of characters in some way. Otherwise it's worthless. I had thought they got over this issue after ARR but they've gone several steps back with Endwalker. Considering the person who wrote ShB wrote EW, I don't understand what happened here.

But what I really think is the issue is they don't fundamentally understand what is and isn't a useful scene. Or, if I'm being more jaded, they are deliberately injecting so much filler into the plot to draw it out to make the content last longer.

I love the story, but this these parts are very, very difficult to sit through and I really want the writers to sit down and start trimming the fat from their plots and telling much more focused narratives like HW and ShB. Stop trying to world build so much, stop focusing on countless side characters (which they keep introducing making the problem worse), and stop wasting screentime on dry, boring segments that don't add anything, don't involve characters that are even remotely interesting, and grind the plot to a halt.

At the end of the day, just tell a good, engaging story. Stop wasting my time with hours and hours of boring, useless filler. The story is suffering from very serious pacing issues right now and the writers might need an editor or sombody to come and reign the team in. They're getting way too lost in their own sauce, so to speak.

(2/2)

[Heavenchild]

Mmh I liked it the way it was. Nothing was for me like a filler or felt boring. But I think it's different for everyone. :3

[Neri]

I also like the way it flows right now, and feel it doesn't waste my time at all.

[Sclair0]

Other than the Loporrit tour, and some of the Loporrit moon stuff I thought the Endwalker stuff was paced super well. Im really enjoying the pace of the patch storyline, reminds me of a .4 patch

[Thoosa]

I liked the 6.1 story, miles better than the awful time travel stuff and the shoe-horned in Meteion (because they needed a big baddie after dispatching Zodiark “just like that” after 10 years of build up).

[MicahZerrshia]

I despise those "escort a scion" quests they added simply for the same of adding a few lines of dialog that could easily be placed anywhere else. Then they brought it back with a vengeance with Yshtola in 6.1 making you run all around Sharlayan for no real reason. There was even only 1 chat option the whole time. It makes me care even less for what I am doing and whatever little dialog they have to say. I would much rather use the mini aetheryte system, but oh no, gotta run across a map because...reasons. It breaks immersion for me out of sheer annoyance. At least let us still use the aetherytes if we are one of the many players who just don't care.

Escort quests are always the ones ppl groan about in games, why on earth they tried to make it a feature is beyond me.

[LaylaTsarra]

Lets see where they go with it. I'm hoping we'll get a cast of new characters we can begin to care about. I love the older ones but a new beginning should signal a new beginning that involves making new main character friends.

I despise those "escort a scion" quests.

I like them a lot actually. Feels like the other characters are really playing the story with you unlike the standard talking to them and then go meet them somewhere else. Sure as long as they are done in moderation but I think that's been the case so far.

[Heavenchild]

I liked the 6.1 story, miles better than the awful time travel stuff and the shoe-horned in Meteion (because they needed a big baddie after dispatching Zodiark “just like that” after 10 years of build up).

It is a good thing for stories not to go on like it would be easily expected, I think. :3

[Jason_Ashford]

I despise those "escort a scion" quests they added simply for the same of adding a few lines of dialog that could easily be placed anywhere else. Then they brought it back with a vengeance with Yshtola in 6.1 making you run all around Sharlayan for no real reason. There was even only 1 chat option the whole time. It makes me care even less for what I am doing and whatever little dialog they have to say. I would much rather use the mini aetheryte system, but oh no, gotta run across a map because...reasons. It breaks immersion for me out of sheer annoyance. At least let us still use the aetherytes if we are one of the many players who just don't care.

Escort quests are always the ones ppl groan about in games, why on earth they tried to make it a feature is beyond me.

you CAN use the aetherytes. that is one of the things they changed in 6.1

you can now use aetherytes and mounts (if in an area that allows them) without losing your escort as long as you stay in the same zone as you picked them up.