Ardbert's Party vs the Scions Analysis

[Rulakir]

I'm definitely in the camp of enjoyed everything else about FFXIV, but considered EW to be so bad it sapped all my desire to play.
Now I have serious concerns about the story direction when I didn't up until this point. I'm hoping to see something positive in 6.2.

[Carin-Eri]

I mean, I'm gonna be real here and say I don't think I'd trust that just killing them off and starting over would actually be well handled and compelling enough for me to be on board with it, and that's not just because I actually like most of the Scions. I've dropped shows and books for doing such a major cast change because at that point it's almost like picking up an entirely new show or book.

Frankly I think SE has kind of shot themselves in the foot in a few days, mostly by just... Not developing many of the side characters we do have. Like, there are a bunch of Scions that kind of just vibe around the Waking Sands that imo are fun characters in their own right, but a huge chunk of their personality and presence only exists if you go out of your way to talk to them in between every MSQ quest. Like, the cast of characters we've interacted with is massive, and imo you kind of see the pros and cons of that in that big "everyone gather resources" cutscene in Endwalker. It was cool to see all the friends/allies/assorted acquaintances working together like that, and callback to past quests, but there were so many people that none of them got all that much time to do much of anything or stand out at all.

I'm of the opinion that they wouldn't anyway. I mean, the only actual Scion who died was Papalymo (and the cynic in me wonders if that wasn't due, in part, to the fact that Krile filled the same role).

And I can't see any scenario where they'd kill Y'shtola anyway - she's too popular.

[aveyond-dreams]

The story has always been "down the route of light-heartedness" amidst its gloomier moments.

You know what sticks out to me from Heavensward, amid the serious moments? The way the characters had little establishing moments. The looks Artoirel and Emmanellain give when Edmont says you'll be assisting them (disgusted and delighted, respectively). Estinien ready to strangle a moogle or two while Ysayle coos over their fluffiness. Quiet moments at the campfire.

Quiet moments at the campfire and other elements in the story that fit the setting of a more immersive fantasy world rather than one where McDonald's and Starbucks make an appearance. Those moments, while amidst a war, were nowhere near as out of place as the dorm scene with apocalypse on the verge of occurring. It didn't match the stakes.

I'm of the opinion that they wouldn't anyway. I mean, the only actual Scion who died was Papalymo (and the cynic in me wonders if that wasn't due, in part, to the fact that Krile filled the same role).

And I can't see any scenario where they'd kill Y'shtola anyway - she's too popular.

You do know that people would probably abandon her for a better designed poster girl if they introduced one to this game right?

[Iscah]

Again, people are allowed to see issues in games, books, movies, etc. and continue to play, read or watch them. I don't remember any requirement that you have to worship something and see no wrong with it to still engage in things related to said something.

I swear it's like people take it as a personal attack when someone else sees flaws with something they enjoy. That doesn't invalidate your own enjoyment and if it does, that's entirely a you problem.

Yes, people are still allowed to read and play things that they don't enjoy, but at the same time, one specific person not enjoying the thing does not mean that the solution ought to be rewriting the thing to cater to the person who doesn't like it.

I don't see it as a personal attack if someone doesn't like a thing that I like. But simply "not liking" a thing is not the same as demanding the thing should be changed to cater to an entirely different flavour of personal taste, at the expense of its appeal to the people who are currently enjoying it.

If you didn't like Harry Potter and persevered with it and it came good in the end, that's great for you (I say that without sarcasm). But you presumably didn't write to JK Rowling saying Book 4 was dreadful and she needs to change the direction of the story to save the series from oblivion. You (again presumably) just read Book 5 and liked it.

But what if you didn't? If you still didn't like Book 5 or 6 or 7, while a large number of other people remained fans, would you say that JK Rowling should have written it so it appeals to you better or just attribute it to your personal taste and move on to something else?

[Misplaced_Marbles]

This is just from observation, but I think there are two levels of cutscene, even though graphics-wise they both use the normal gameplay models: one is entirely in-game with the characters only doing standard emotes and the world looking however it looks in live gameplay, and the devs just have control over camera angles and music; and "real cutscenes" where the characters can be doing custom animations and dramatic things, and this may (I'm not certain) be the only type of cutscene where they can change weather or time of day.

It's pretty easy to notice when it happens since it never simply jumps to the action. There's always the fade-out when it moves to and back from "real cutscene" mode.

[Doc_Seraph]

kupo <3 maybe I just need some roast beef but I read this at a glance "Arbys Party" ..now I need some melted cheddah on beef kupo <3 lol jk

[Alleo]

I swear it's like people take it as a personal attack when someone else sees flaws with something they enjoy. That doesn't invalidate your own enjoyment and if it does, that's entirely a you problem.

Complaints are fair. I have complained a lot on this forums over the years too. And if something releases that I dont like I will complain again. That of course does not mean someone has to stop playing the game. But if someone only complains for years, sees doom and gloom everywhere, discusses mostly in bad faith and throws personal insults on everyone that disagrees with them, then its imo time to move on.

Especially if every new expansion is their new breaking point and yet they will continue to not only stay subbed but also give SE even more money through cash shop and other stuff.

They can complain all they want. Create thread after thread. But at least stop insulting others that just have a different view. Maybe then it would be fun again to discuss things here on the forum...

[aveyond-dreams]

I've praised this game when it's deserved it. I'm voicing my opinion about the current state of it because I see many areas where it could improve. This story is not constructed as well as more recent single player titles, and if they want to regard FFXIV as one then they need to do better than what we're seeing now with this party.

[Rulakir]

But you presumably didn't write to JK Rowling saying Book 4 was dreadful and she needs to change the direction of the story to save the series from oblivion.

There were a lot of cooks in the kitchen with EW, so I'm not convinced Ishikawa had the creative freedom or time to tell the story she wanted. Unfortunately, it seems like since the LL Q&A they're loathe to talk about it. If I recall correctly, Yoshi-P even said that she was so overburdened he had to be more involved in the writing process this time as well. We also know that she was comfortable going to 7.0 if not 8.0 before being told to cram the conclusion into 6.0 (no patches) and that she was doing rewrites almost up until the deadline.

I'd love to know if this was always her intention because, frankly, that'd probably be an instant unsub for me due to the issues I had with it. I've been giving her a lot of benefit of the doubt especially because, IMO, EW didn't feel like the spiritual successor to ShB. I would've assumed the MSQ had been handed over to another writer to go in a different direction if I didn't know better. Plus, covid seemed to have wrecked the writing process as well.

I'm usually all for authors staying true to their visions and not being swayed by outside influences, but that's in cases of there being one author telling the story they had always intended to tell and, like I said, I don't know that we got that with EW.

[Striker44]

I swear it's like people take it as a personal attack when someone else sees flaws with something they enjoy. That doesn't invalidate your own enjoyment and if it does, that's entirely a you problem.

As a few others have mentioned, it's all in the presentation. For example, in my opinion I think the glamour system could be improved. I would like to see things like the little check mark that shows up when you already have a minion or orchestrion roll that drops be expanded to include gear that you already have in your glamour dresser, along with increasing the size of the dresser itself as much as possible (when I tidied it up recently, I found some items I had put in there 2 or 3 times).

See how I phrased that? I'm noting it's only my opinion, and mentioning something I would like to see happen.

Compare that to certain other posters on here, who act as if they're the ultimate arbiters of anything right or wrong, and then demand that the dev team change things to suit them or else they must be horrible writers. That's not productive (or mature for that matter). Case in point posted shortly after your comment: "This story is not constructed as well as more recent single player titles, and if they want to regard FFXIV as one then they need to do better than what we're seeing now with this party." That's trolling at best and uselessly toxic at worst.

There's also this sense among some people that you can only enjoy something if it fits exactly the story you personally want. Case in point, I watched Season 4 of Stranger Things recently. After Season 3, there were a few things I wanted to see happen in Season 4. None of them did, in fact quite the opposite happened. Does that mean I hated Season 4 or felt the writers have somehow "lost their touch" or should be replaced? Nope! I still actually really enjoyed it, because I'm mature enough to put my own "wants" aside and appreciate the story for itself.