A Storyteller’s Point of View on Final Fantasy XIV

[kindar1]

A couple of weeks ago, a friend and viewer on my gaming stream ask if I’d be okay with him gifting me Final Fantasy XIV. (I have a thing on my stream where if I’m gifted a game, I will play it for 12 hours in the gifter’s presence. It’s so I will give the game a fair chance and so they can watch me react to my first time playing it. It’s when I tend to be at my most entertaining.)

I’ve never played a Final Fantasy game, but I had heard of XIV

“That’s the MMO, right?” I asked.

There are 2 reasons I don’t play MMOs. 1) I am a firm believer in paying for a game once. 2) I despise being forced to play with other people to do the interesting stuff a MMO offers. I am not a social person in real-life, and I am not one in virtual-life either.

He explained FFXIV lets me play for free up to level 60, although I would lose access to most of the social aspect of the game unless I paid for the subscription. So there are 2 things in the MMO’s favor right there. And he added FFXIV allowed dungeons to be run with NPCs instead of players.

So… yeah. With those 3 things going for it, I was willing to give it a try.

Oh boy, was I entertaining during those 12 hours. And man, did I complain. To hear me talk, you’d think I couldn’t wait for those 12 hours to be done.

Thing is, I kept playing past those. Over 2 weeks, I played something like 36 hours. And a few days ago, I found myself thinking back on that start and the only thing I remembered clearly was being overwhelmed.

And I wondered. Is that why I disliked the start so much? Was there so much of the mechanic of the game I needed to understand that I didn’t notice the good parts? Shouldn’t I give the start of the game a new look?

So, here I am. About to embark on a new play-through to the dismay of the friend who gifted me the game. And I decided to document my thoughts on what I experience.

My Credentials.

Here I am, calling this the Storyteller’s thing, and I haven’t even shown if I’m qualified.

Over the last 10 years, I have published 15 novel. I have 3 more scheduled to be published over the next 6 months. I’m a full-time novelist and I stream my daily writing sessions on Twitch.

I by no means consider myself an ‘expert’, but I am experienced.

A Caveat.

As a Canadian, I am approaching the storytelling from a western way of telling stories. I understand that may be highly different from how the storyteller(s) behind FFXIV approached it. This is not meant as an attack on their skills, but simply my reactions and opinions on what I experience.

So, here we go.

I am playing an Archer and I will go through the MSQ from Gridania. Unlike my first start, where I scattered myself all over the place, the MSQ will be the driving force behind everything I do. One of the aspect I want to study is how/if the MSQ guides me to join crafts or even the archer’s guild, since I have no memory of HOW I ended up starting on the Archer’s progression quest.

see you soon

[Jeeqbit]

1) I am a firm believer in paying for a game once.

Although there is a subscription, at this point, when you buy the game you are paying for 5 games worth of story or more, so even a 5 month subscription would be nothing compared to what I've paid for the individual expansions over the years, which are each a whole game's worth of content in Square Enix's view.

2) I despise being forced to play with other people to do the interesting stuff a MMO offers. I am not a social person in real-life, and I am not one in virtual-life either.

Yet you stream on twitch, a platform that allows you to be social with others. A lot of people are shy about being social and MMOs aim to help pull them out of that slowly, starting with solo play.

And he added FFXIV allowed dungeons to be run with NPCs instead of players.

This is true up until level 59 and they are working on making the rest able to be done with NPCs. It may take 2 or 3 patches more for the remainder to support NPCs. Starting at level 50, there are some 8-person trials that require players, but it will match them with you, they won't talk to you and they'll just complete the trial with you usually. They don't really care about mistakes or deaths because it's designed to be easy for the story and in the unlikely event everyone dies, they will just do it again and probably be alright.

I am playing an Archer and I will go through the MSQ from Gridania. Unlike my first start, where I scattered myself all over the place, the MSQ will be the driving force behind everything I do. One of the aspect I want to study is how/if the MSQ guides me to join crafts or even the archer’s guild, since I have no memory of HOW I ended up starting on the Archer’s progression quest.

The MSQ will guide you to the Archer's guild if you chose an Archer at the start. The rest of the Archer story is in your hands. It's a blue sidequest chain that will continue every 5 levels (it says in the chatbox when you level up when a new one is available). It doesn't make you do crafting at all, that's optional, but there are good side stories for all of the battle and crafting classes, and there are a lot of classes.

Aside from being fetchquests, the sidequests do add to the experience of the story by getting to know the residents and their problems in each area, but there are too many expansion's worth of story for most people to bother with them anymore.

[Boblawblah]

how long before it turns into a you know what thread I wonder.

either way, welcome OP Hope you love the game.

[kindar1]

Our story begins in a void and with a voice. We are shown a scene of us, fighting a ‘big bad’.

Then we wake up in the back of a cart, and we see creatures no one else seems to see. One of them tells us we are special. A passenger gives us basic information regarding the town we are heading for. Joining a crafting guild is mentioned. Then, we’re stopped by a guard/soldier, told we can’t proceed further because there is fighting ahead. When the fighting reaches us, we’re told to hurry and hope we make it. We make it.

We get a narrator telling us about the region, as well as how we might play a part in the world’s future. We get the title screen, then we are greeted by a guard, and gameplay starts.

The sequence in the void is certainly cinematic and better for being simple. We’re shown there is some ‘big bad’, that we will play a part in fighting it, and given a few cryptic words, before the ‘dream’ end.

What I take away from this is a promise of being one of the principal actors in a conflict to come. The scene in the cart is more flavor than anything more, other than establishing outside of the dreams that we are special. Which is then reiterated by the narrator. The sequence where we’re stopped by the militia feels a little off since we’re told the fighting is taking place ahead, and yet, when it reaches us, it clearly comes from the woods to the side. I understand the purpose of the scene is to set up some of the antagonist beings, but the ‘blocking’ of the action could have been better handled.

Coming to Gridania (https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/w...ng_to_Gridania)

The first quest falls under the ‘providing information’ quest.

Some issues the land has suffered since the calamity. That it took place five years ago. That no one remembers precisely what happened, or who stopped it. An interesting detail that is slipped in here, is that somehow, we are from a place that never heard of the calamity happening. That feels odd, as the prelude movie shows this as a celestial body sort of falling to the world. It should be kind of hard to miss. One thing we are told, that makes a scene in the opening animation feel superfluous is that the Ixal are causing trouble. One of them could be removed and the whole wouldn’t be affected. We are exposed to some intolerance, here based on the fact we are an adventurer. We are told that it’s because suspicious characters have been seen. And that mistrust is a thing.

We are told to sign a registry and handed… nothing to do it with.

That is an oddity I noticed with the cut scenes. They never hold an item when they hand it to us, or we having it when we are shown taking it from them.

[Wissp]

I would be curious to see how long you keep this thread up. The story varies in quality as you go through each of the expansions with some being better than others.

As you are a published writer, it would be interesting to hear your thoughts and views of the storyline if you make it far into the game; IE: the critique of a professional.

Also, when you create a FF14 account you get access to the Lodestone, where you can post blogs for each character you create. So if you wanted to, you could post a daily or weekly blog of your adventures in the FF14 world.

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/

[SannaR]

Sadly the item hand over thing will continue to happen. Partly due to how its hard to draw/animate hands let alone showing them holding something. Anyway I'm excited to see your journey.

[Jojoya]

So far I'm a bit puzzled by your actual intent.

Are you trying to give us your opinion of the story, or give us a very detailed synopsis of what happens in the game? If you're trying to give us your opinion of the story, it would make a lot more sense to complete a major chapter of the story first then share your experience. If you continue on as you did, you're going to end up boring readers who already know exactly what happens. The draw here is supposed to be your opinion, after all.

You also left one thing out of your credentials - your previous MMO/RPG video game experience. Stories in games can't be handled in the same way they are in books due to the need to weave story with game play. Game play can be restricted not just by industry technology but also by the age of the technology the average player will have for their console/FC. As SannaR said, you're going to encounter some weird things happening due to those restrictions.

I hope you enjoy your journey through FFXIV. It's not without flaws but overall it's a solid game experience for those who enjoy MMORPGs.

[Ralphe2449]

A lot of people are shy about being social and MMOs aim to help pull them out of that slowly, starting with solo play.

Thankfully Yoshi and the devs realize that MMOs are not about forcing grouping on everyone's throat like many other western devs love to do.

Many people enjoy mmos in a solo fashion, other players existing enhances the feeling of the world, that doesnt mean I want to chat or socialize, they are there to improve my experience, not for socialization.

[PirateRyanG]

I can't wait to hear a self-published author critique a story from seasoned writers.

[hagare]

Over the last 10 years, I have published 15 novel. I have 3 more scheduled to be published over the next 6 months. I’m a full-time novelist and I stream my daily writing sessions on Twitch.

Anything I've ever read?