The lore in this game is just bad.

[Xystic]

Hmph, I stopped playing WoW and following its lore after we sacked the lich king and produced another lich king. Feels like how we sacked the amani empire in vanilla and then sacked them once again in the expansions.

[saber_alter]

Stop necrobumping a troll thread. kthx.

^^ /ten chars.

[tymora]

WoW also "borrowed" a lot ...as in A LOT... of elements from Warhammer.

[SolusekRo]

I have to agree. While there is lore within the game, some stolen right from actual non fiction history( hauk manor) crazy Rick women bathin I. Her maidens blood to prolong youth but over its a bit empty. I played everquest 2 before this for seven years and even though it was a continuation it still felt like a new beginning. Vast and vast amount of lore to the point it quite literally can fill multiple books. Even the dungeons had quest within it to explain further even having to go back to them even when at higher levels. Each race had a certain language they spoke and unless you learned it or was of that race you could not talk to those npcs . Where here everyone speeks the same common languege and with the same accent most if the time(few car people actually do have accents) but over all its blah! Nothing to delve deeper into it.

[Toranja]

I'm just going to say that gobby speak is the best. Tongueflaps reach midlander ears?

[Klutz64]

Honestly I love the lore, but there was one part that made me cringe.

The ending. After a 5-6 year Umbral Era we're just going to -declare- it a new Astral Era? Is this really how this has worked in the past? Sorry, 5-6 years isn't really an "Era." An event, perhaps, but not an Era.

[Toranja]

I was a bit surprised by that too, but... When or how exactly did you expected to end then?

[jomoru]

Honestly I love the lore, but there was one part that made me cringe.

The ending. After a 5-6 year Umbral Era we're just going to -declare- it a new Astral Era? Is this really how this has worked in the past? Sorry, 5-6 years isn't really an "Era." An event, perhaps, but not an Era.

That's exactly the feel good sort of politican thing those people would say. Like when GWB declared mission accomplished.

[ChakiDH]

While yes, there is lore about many things, one could argue about the quality and - more important - presentation of the lore.
No, this is not about "not wanting to read because people are lazy". Games are here to engage us and entertain.

A good game has the ability to convey the meaning of what's going without interrupting gameplay. WoW does a good job of it, most of the time. You get a good idea of why you are doing a quest or what its implications are and how the different quests connect (case in point: the whole Stonetalon Mountain Horde questline). That was without journal reading. I didn't have the feeling that something lacks, because the game showed me. Show, don't tell.

FF lacks this accessability. While one might argue about the "quality" of the lore (which is entirely subjective, this thread serves as a good showcase), i think the problems some people (like the OP) have with the lore aren't about the quality or quantity, but simply about how its presented.

[ChakiDH]

Cutscenes, entrys on strange websites, forumtranslations from japanese stuff, a bluray (pardon me but wtf?), and NPC Smalltalk, which only pops up when you walk next to a specific NPC.
These all take the control of you away and lessen investment into the actions that happen on screen. There's a reason Heavy Rain works, because it simulates control while basically playing a cutscene. The aforementioned stuff is all very inaccessable, forces me to stop playing the game.
Brayflox is actually a good example. I still have no clue on why i should get cheese or the other stuff. Nor do i care afterwards.

I played the story, hoping for a Big Bang of Awesome to come (as prophesized by my guildmates). Credits rolled in the end and the only big bang was when our MTs computer shorted out.