I don't get why people like the Arcadion's story (Spoilers)

[CVXIV]

and also... since we havent seen the presidents face im kinda wondering if we know him already.

Part of me suspects it'll be the announcer personally
I know he says he had to play along with the heel angle with Brute Bomber but it still seems a bit odd to me
and it wouldn't surprise me if he got punched for show

[DreadCrow]

You're looking at it like it's a serious storyline. That's your problem. It's supposed to be a professional wrestling storyline and being written as one. And that's why I love it so damn much.

Professional wrestling, as a medium, isn't about trying to telling stories with deep theme. It's about having larger-than-life people engage in absurd melodrama while beating the crap out of each other and that's exactly what the story is trying to do. People do stupid things for the sole purpose that it makes for drama. I swear that sometimes, this fanbase doesn't seem to realize there's forms of entertainment outside of Final Fantasy and anime.

I've been enjoying the questline overall, but I think Retsarra was unintentionally written as really unsympathetic. He allows his best friend to die because he doesn't want to quit a job that's literally killing him, all because he thinks other jobs are too boring. I feel like that fact got moved on from too quickly.

I feel this is sort of metacommentary on the fact that the "babyface" (i.e.: good guy in professional wrestling) isn't always a good person in real life. Like, when he was in WWE, Hulk Hogan was presented as someone who represented truth, justice, and the American way. Behind the scenes, he was a racist prick who likely got another wrestler who was trying to unionize fired for snitching to Vince McMahan.

[Iscah]

It was a huge shock that the President didn't care that we wanted to release all the souls or all the other things. In fact, his goals align perfectly with ours, to the point that kidnapping people has no actual purpose.

You would think the President would want to run future tournaments after this one. But no. He only cares about finishing this one, like the WoL does. So our goals align and there's not really an overarching villain after all.

As others have said, I think you're oversimplifying this.

We thought we were secretly going under the President's nose to do something he wouldn't want us to do (i.e. release all the feral souls he requires for his show to function).

Instead, suddenly, he has flipped the table entirely on us. Not only is he aware of what we're doing, he's just kidnapped two people to force us to continue doing what we were doing.

That's not a sign that our goals align; it's a sign that what we thought was our goal is something that an unpredictable enemy is okay with, and we don't know why he is okay with it or whether it's still something we should want to be pursuing, at least without further knowledge of the situation.

[Nero-Voidstails]

honestly the normal raids story feel more complete then the msq but also like someone said they all are teens some that never have a chance in life. All were trouble kids saved in a way or a other and personally I feel like you can well relate to those feeling well for me that is. I can't wait to see how it finish not gonna lie I never liked Brute bomber but I feel bad for what happen to him and when I did Brute abominator something fuck I felt bad I am more attached to those fighter then I have been from anyone in the msq I kinda wish arcadion would have been the msq haha

[Rithy255]

Think partly because we don't have scions plastered on it like walking puppets who don't actually add anything to the story plus no wuk lamat is always a bonus.

I don't think it was the greatest story so far but it's 10x better then anything we've had so far.

[hydralus]

I just vibe with the wrestling theme. The story can be whatever, just the fact we've got a heel punching their lalafell manager before a match is peak. I don't enjoy most of the serious stuff the game tries to do so things like fighting Slurm the party worm and challenging the champion on Honey B's stream is better'n, I dunno, all of life in the universe dying because some guy didn't want to go to therapy.

[Mawlzy]

Don't like wrestling, don't like this story.

But most of Solution 9 seems like a massive wasted opportunity.

I was hoping for cyberpunk, Tron, Neuromancer.

Instead we get a 90s skate part with extra neon, populated by drips in drawstring sweatpants who have forgotten half of what they knew, and are scared of the half they remember.

Cartoon for teenagers.

[Gwenkatsu]

It's supposed to be a professional wrestling storyline and being written as one... It's about having larger-than-life people engage in absurd melodrama while beating the crap out of each other and that's exactly what the story is trying to do.

Thanks for the summary. I had ignored the Arcadion story line so far (as I really dislike this misplaced mega city with its neon ads and starbucks). And while a wrestling story with absurd melodrama sounds like it befits said city, I don't think I would enjoy any of it.

[TemporalFruitsAndVeggies]

* A bunch of people, Brute Bomber included, refuse to believe they have a disease that is killing them when they are obviously presented with debilitating symptoms. Howling Blade, when presented with the fact that this thing is killing his friends and lover, decides that he wants to push forward anyway? Explaining that the President gave him purpose in life doesn't handwave away all the other relationships the story has been trying to build. It only makes his motives feel cheap.

You know that cigarettes exist, right? And that people pay money for them? They literally tell you on the box that they will give you cancer, but people keep happily buying them day after day. I was one of them for awhile. We don't always make rational decisions about our health.

It all just seems.. sloppy. Juvenile.

Man, it's a game about a little potato-man (replace with your preferred WoL race) killing god-like beings with a sword (replace with your preferred WoL class). What do you want? Tackling deep philosophical topics isn't exactly this game's forte.

I've been saying this to FFXIV players for years, but I'll say it one more time: they invented these things called "books" awhile back, and the first time you read ("reading" is what you do with a book) a good one of those, it's gonna absolutely blow your mind when you realize how amazing a narrative can be in relation to literally anything that's ever been written in FFXIV. FFXIV as a whole is like a cartoon for toddlers compared to a really good book. You seem to not want anything childish, so might I recommend you start with the timeless The Brothers Karamazov, by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky?

So please. Explain it to me. Explain why this arc is great.

It's a low-stakes, high-emotion side-story doing a light satire of pro wrestling. It's fun, which Dawntrail really wasn't. It isn't bloated with hours of unnecessary cutscenes, so it doesn't overstay its welcome. Yeah, you're right, the solution to the condition just materializes suddenly in a kid's brain, and they probably could've done better there. But it's also exactly the kind of silliness that permeates the entire pro wrestling space, so maybe it was intentional. Again, it's not Dostoevksy; it's just good enough to be a good time.

[Kennar]

I thought the story started out fine (certainly better than DT as a whole), but a little predictable. This second chapter didn't grab me, though. For a character-driven drama, the characters are all pretty weak and don't have much depth, and it's still predictable. I know it's hard to convey a rich, complex storyline within the confines of sidequests, but I think it could have been better. Some of the music choices didn't help.

You're looking at it like it's a serious storyline. That's your problem. It's supposed to be a professional wrestling storyline and being written as one.

No, the writers made it a serious story, with real life-and-death stakes. I've said it before, but they missed a golden opportunity to really lean into the professional wrestling aspects. Ditch all the psychonecrosis stuff, and focus instead on the WoL's rise to stardom. The drama happens with the friends and enemies made behind the scenes. I wanted my character to be introduced as a heel ("I am The Foriegner! I do things differently than you!" and the crowd jeers wildly). I want to do promos with Mean Gene. I want a fun, simple, stand-alone story that doesn't have wider implications for the rest of the world.