A Storyteller’s Point of View on Final Fantasy XIV

[SannaR]

...again, this is a different Medium of Story-telling.
I get what you mean in a sense, but thats just not how story telling works on an MMO Game Vs Reading a Book.
Maybe Im different or Im weird, but I never think of the author when I play a game, or I read a Book, Im focused on the world and its characters. A story is written to be told as its written from Beginning, Middle, and End. And for me as a reader, I consider the world and its cast to be in charge. Not the author....even though He/She wrote it to play out the way that it does.

I feel like if I ever think of the author...then Im not immersed in the story or the world.

You are weird though. Course so am I anyway to the OP stealing a Chocobo egg would be like stealing a baby panda from a zoo that has them on loan from China. Gridania is being given a privilege to be the only other place to raise chocobos. Would it have been nice to have been able to figure out which exact four Quirins? Yes, but it also teaches you what kind of world you're in.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

You are weird though.

[Rannie]

Search your feelings you know it to be true.

[kindar1]

I checked out the channel, and to date it was about six hours of him doing botany and carpentry, and not saying a word. Admittedly, I was skipping, because who wants to watch six hours of silent gathering and crafting, but I'm not sure if he did any MSQ at all in the posted videos. If he did, it wasn't much.

I don't say anything while crafting because 1) it's pure game mechanic and I'm not qualified to talk about that, and 2) you are correct, I do enjoy doing crafting a long with the gathering needed for it.

[TofuPenguin]

Interested to see how this thread continues, so please do so.
The game is enjoyable, imo, but it has problems abound. And not just gameplay wise, but story wise, too. I'm sure you'll have a field day with all of the surprises they have in store for you.

[Lunalepsy]

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

So... are you certified? are you a professional writer? We never figured it out.

[PirateRyanG]

So... are you certified? are you a professional writer? We never figured it out.

He is a self published author. If you get paid for something it does make you a pro, but (and I say this as an actual pro writer), the writing in hiss books is abysmal and it is evident it is self published using either no editor or a cheap one.

He is dressing himself up to be a bigger deal than he is here. He writes gay furry porn.

[Raoabolic]

He is a self published author. If you get paid for something it does make you a pro, but (and I say this as an actual pro writer), the writing in hiss books is abysmal and it is evident it is self published using either no editor or a cheap one.

He is dressing himself up to be a bigger deal than he is here. He writes gay furry porn.

Are you really going to shame a furry... on XIV... when Limsa exists... The writing is shaky. No amount of deflection will fix that. It's okay though, Sentai writing is shaky depending on the series but it's usually a fun time either way.

[PirateRyanG]

Are you really going to shame a furry... on XIV... when Limsa exists... The writing is shaky. No amount of deflection will fix that. It's okay though, Sentai writing is shaky depending on the series but it's usually a fun time either way.

No. I am saying his opinion isn't the be all and end all as some people here like to think. He is a self-published writer, not selling much in the way of copies. He isn't a storyteller, and his opinion on this subject is no more exceptional than ours. He is dressing up the idea (likely for advertising purposes) that he is a crazy good writer, when in reality his books seem to be full of mistakes, poor structure, and lack of editing. I don't really think he is in a position to highlight story telling tropes and say "yeah, this is where FF went wrong" when he isn't a game writer. He is a self-published Kindle writer (with POD books)

[Raoabolic]

No. I am saying his opinion isn't the be all and end all as some people here like to think. He is a self-published writer, not selling much in the way of copies. He isn't a storyteller, and his opinion on this subject is no more exceptional than ours.

Careful, your bias is showing, lol. Instead of attacking credentials or history (Gee, I wonder who else uses this "tactic") how about attack them on what they are saying about the story itself. Big fan of the story he's criticizing? Show up with some counterpoints. Can't be that hard, right?