In keeping with some gamers, Remaining Fantasy 14’s new Dawntrail growth has a narrative drawback. It’s boring, plot factors aren’t defined correctly, and it’s by and enormous unimportant, or so go the criticisms. After all, what these complaints don’t let you know is that plenty of the folks behind them are additionally skipping by giant swaths of the story. It’s not a brand new drawback to Remaining Fantasy 14, however it’s one which Dawntrail is bringing again to the forefront. Some Remaining Fantasy 14 gamers have an issue of their very own, and it’s a scarcity of willingness to interact with the sport’s methodical storytelling in its entirety.
The discourse over how Dawntrail, and Remaining Fantasy 14 at giant, tells its story heated again up due to a put up on X from a consumer complaining about story-critical data being put in non-voiced cutscenes through the newest growth. For non-Warriors of Mild, FF14 tells its story in three most important methods. The primary is voiced cutscenes, that are usually climactic story moments delivered to life by the sport’s great forged. Second are non-voiced cutscenes, which use textual content bubbles on the backside of the display for dialogue between characters. Lastly, probably the most low-stakes dialogue and story particulars are usually communicated exterior of cutscenes by textual content bubbles when choosing up quests. As demonstrated by the preliminary social media put up, many gamers have created a hierarchy of their heads of how story-critical every sort of cutscene is to find out if they will skip it or not.
It ought to shock nobody that skipping giant swathes of dialogue could make it laborious to grasp the story Sq. Enix is making an attempt to inform. As an MMO, FF14’s narrative threads generally play out over a complete growth, or a number of expansions. Within the case of Dawntrail, the MSQ (or most important story quest) consists of 100 particular person quests that can take most gamers roughly 50 hours to finish. A lot of the cutscenes all through won’t be voiced, which for a sure sort of participant signifies that a majority of the sport is skippable purely as a result of it requires studying. That’s a essentially flawed strategy to work together with the sport, because it assumes one among its main methods of speaking with the participant is meaningless.
To try to give credit score to the argument that voiceless cutscenes are skippable, I feel it’s honest to say that many of those can really feel like huge exposition and lore dumps. I get that working by such an extended story may be tedious, however this angle ignores the truth that you usually want some exposition and table-setting in a plot to achieve some extent the place a climax can occur. All the highest narrative moments of FF14 seen in expansions like Endwalker, Heavensward, and Shadowbringers depend on meticulous character and world-building that takes place in seemingly boring quests crammed with dialogue it’s a must to learn by.
Additionally, Remaining Fantasy 14 doesn’t drive you thru as a lot nonsense as some appear to suppose. The MSQ is labeled as such as a result of the devs have created a essential story path. If you wish to study concerning the nitty-gritty lore of a brand new location and the assorted teams residing and combating inside it, that’s what aspect quests and the sport’s Never-ending Codex are for. However the whole lot carried out within the MSQ is purposefully crafted to steer you alongside the story’s emotional highs and lows. Sure, that generally consists of dialogue it’s a must to learn. It’s already labeled as a part of the MSQ, I don’t know what extra some gamers want so as to perceive that it’s most likely necessary.
This failure to interact with Remaining Fantasy 14’s storytelling by itself phrases appears to be rooted in a must rush by the growth as quick as attainable, in addition to a scarcity of worth positioned on something with out voice performing. To do some math, Howlongtobeat.com has a mean playtime of fifty hours for the primary story of Endwalker. A YouTube compilation of all of the voiced cutscenes from that growth is just a little underneath 16 hours lengthy. Which means you’re spending roughly one third of your time in voiced cutscenes, whereas the opposite two thirds are principally spent actively questing on the planet. Dungeons, Trials, and even boring fetch quests make up a big a part of that remaining two-thirds, which means that voiceless cutscenes make up a comparatively small share of playtime. Credit score the place it’s due, that’s partly as a result of every growth has upped the quantity of voiced cutscenes. Shadowbringers, the growth instantly earlier than Endwalker, had roughly nine-and-a-half hours of voiced cutscenes. Whereas the revelation that voiceless cutscenes are comparatively few could make you suppose it wouldn’t be an enormous deal to skip them, I’d argue that it simply means they aren’t as a lot of a hurdle to the eye span as some recommend. Sure, the voiced cutscenes could also be the place probably the most iconic, action-packed, or emotionally resonant moments usually happen, however as I’ve mentioned, they solely work with the burden of all of the voiceless dialogue that helps to determine the conflicts enjoying out and the way a lot is at stake.
It’s not that Remaining Fantasy 14’s storytelling is ideal. I feel Endwalker suffers from unhealthy pacing, although it nonetheless manages to drag off its emotional finale. However the dialogue of un-voiced dialogue as one thing we must always have the ability to skip with none affect on our funding in and understanding of the general story isn’t in the identical ballpark as actual criticisms of the sport’s narrative. It’s a dissatisfaction with the automobile by which that story is instructed.
I feel Dawntrail is getting accused of most of the similar flaws that A Realm Reborn did, and there’s a purpose for that. Each ARR and Dawntrail are the beginnings of bigger tales. It took a decade and 4 expansions for each story thread whose groundwork was laid in ARR to repay. Due to that, ARR is an introductory arc that by itself could really feel unsatisfying, which is why it’s so derided regardless of being so important. Dawntrail is in the identical place now. It’s laying the groundwork for the following decade of FF14. That doesn’t imply it sucks, it simply means it’s a part of an as-of-yet incomplete tapestry.
The rushed mentality of so many gamers, that they have to skip by the perceived unimportant scenes to complete a painstakingly crafted growth in the midst of a weekend, is a component of a bigger situation with a scarcity of endurance within the grand storytelling the sport is consistently doing. Eorzea is a residing, respiration world of gamers and NPCs that’s meant to be the setting for a wondrous journey. Adventures like that want respiration room, which requires breaks and time, not simply to get by however to digest. It’s no surprise {that a} scarfed-down meal doesn’t agree with gamers, it’s not meant to be consumed that method. So simple as it sounds, what gamers want is endurance.
I’m positive Dawntrail has its points, and I wager the story isn’t excellent (based mostly on early impressions), however the one method you’ll be able to know that and actually interact with it’s for those who learn the fucking textual content.
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