Poor FFXIV

[Bled]

I'd like to point out, again actually. That FF13 follows the Final Fantasy Formula pretty well. As it was established in FF2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. The only ones it deviates from are 1, 3, 10, 11, and 12.

1. Player is introduces to either the main character by themselves or a group of friends who the main character is a part of, all the other members get sidelined eventually by other main characters.

2. The player learns about the main character while going through a storyline that is very narrow, the game guides them along the way to a specific point and very little exploration is needed if at all possible. If there is a world map it isn't accessable yet, or it is and most of the rest of the world is blocked off or the monsters are too strong.

3. After advancing into the story, it splits and you take control of a different party for a short amount of time following an alternate event at the same time as an event you already witnessed.

4. Eventually all the parties come together and the ultimate Big Bad is revealed. The whole party engages the big bad and has a huge revelation that causes everyone to question what they are fighting for and who they are.

5a. Characters are now dumped into a world where the transportation is completely unlocked and for most purposes they can go anywhere in the game except storybased areas that have become locked down.

5b. The characters eventually get either Teleported to an alternate reality, end up on the moon/twin planet, or ceremoniously dumped onto open worldmap with the ability to explore the whole thing.

6. Once there they have to gather up a bunch of stuff, or are forced to experience things that make them change their minds about who they are once again. The Big Bad might come taunt them, or The groups possibly temporarily separate one last time and a party member might leave the game as being playable forever (Not just Aerith, Shadow can do it too, so do a lot of people from 2-4-5).

7. After the crisis in the party is over the party heads to the final dungeons, explores it and fights the big bad one last time. After defeating the big bad the party finds out more truths about what really has been happening, everything is attempted to be explained.

FF formula =/= just storyline
FF formula = Recurring elements such as plot themes, character names, and game mechanics

Edit: If your referring to just FF storyline formula you need to specify but i believe you got it right on the money in a general outline.

Storyline for the most part ends up being a group of people fighting a great evil, while exploring the characters inner struggles. Now just because a FF follows this theme still does not guarantee a good story, much like FF XII which attempted to follow this formula but followed it to the bare minimum thus inducing a snooze fest.