Newbie in 2021 - questions about the story

[ZankaiPowaa]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm new to the game, and have been messing around in the free trial a bit. I've heard the story is great, especially when you get to the DLC. Getting there is quite the time investment though, and I was wondering how people here feel about the story in general and two specific things:

 

1. I've heard people say the story in FF XII is great also, but I ended up really disliking that story. It just seemed very nonsensical to me with unrelatable characters. I also really despise the 'fancy' old English way some characters speak. Does this game keep that same vibe XII had?
2. Is the main story told mostly in cutscenes, or is it very speech bubble heavy?

Edited July 28, 2021 by ZankaiPowaa

[Kotetsu42x]

1. Yes and no. XII is much more political with a pretty static cast, while over time XIV's cast expands and changes with long, ongoing character arcs. Even if you potentially don't find the current cast of XIV relatable, you may down the line. I would also say the general plot is much more straightforward, aiming for a more classic Warrior of Light FF story than XII's politics and chasing magic rocks. Also what you've heard is true, the expansions' stories are MUCH better than the base game.

2. Again, yes and no, but mostly yes. You engage in single player duties that have story events told through gameplay with speech bubbles, and some key duties that you do with other players, but overall the key story bits come through cutscenes, some voiced and some not. Once you get to expansions, more are voiced than where you currently are.

[ZankaiPowaa]

On 28/07/2021 at 2:29 PM, Kotetsu42x said:

1. Yes and no. XII is much more political with a pretty static cast, while over time XIV's cast expands and changes with long, ongoing character arcs. Even if you potentially don't find the current cast of XIV relatable, you may down the line. I would also say the general plot is much more straightforward, aiming for a more classic Warrior of Light FF story than XII's politics and chasing magic rocks. Also what you've heard is true, the expansions' stories are MUCH better than the base game.

2. Again, yes and no, but mostly yes. You engage in single player duties that have story events told through gameplay with speech bubbles, and some key duties that you do with other players, but overall the key story bits come through cutscenes, some voiced and some not. Once you get to expansions, more are voiced than where you currently are.

 

Thanks for the response! :-)

 

Good to hear FFXIV's story is more character focused!

[ccase137]

I played the base and Heavensward expansion last year, 90 hours and no regrets even though I am generally not a fan of multiplayer games.

 

Base game story is a slog (even after the streamlining) until the final dungeon which was epic. The long chain of patch quests until Heavensward was also boring until the final cutscene which was unexpected and amazing. Heavensward from start to finish was great. Overall, if you can survive the initial 50 hour slog, the payoff to me was well worth it. It's one of my favorite FF stories and game stories in general.

[winter_bird_22]

Sorry for necroposting, but I can't log into the official forums and I wanted to put a rant here:

 

Get a competent healer. I did a Level 73 dungeon in leveling roulette and the healer refused to heal us on the second boss so it murdered us. I immediately abandoned the duty after that with salt in my lungs. Seriously, I may just have to level cap Astrologian so I can control the heals because playing as a Monk isn't giving me any favors.