LogFAQs > #962444351

I finished the Crystal Tower last night, and what the fuck, I love Nero now? He's self-serving yet somehow also heroic, and it was a bit inspiring to see him escape just in time with the help of Cid through the portal...Also, that brief cutscene where he was dashing around swinging his sword to dispatch the clones reminded me of how badass the Garlean heavy hitters are.

Good shit, good shit, I love this shit. This is the kind of stuff WoW didn't have enough of in the later years--characters enduring, growing, becoming likeable over a long period of exposure and action.

The writing in this game is so much better than it has been in WoW since at least WotLK, and every time I enjoy something I'm kind of made giddy with the anticipation of the "good stuff" promised to come. This is legitimately, already, one of the best gaming experiences I've had in my life. It even avoids the pitfalls of Final Fantasy XV (the first and only FF I've ever beaten all the way through) by spending a lot of time, and I mean a lot, building up (most) characters, establishing threats, making the world feel more and more like a powder keg of intertwining story threads ready to pop all at once.

It's so fucking cool. Soooo fucking cool. This is the only MMO I've ever played where the story grips me as if it's single player. I complained back in the day about WoW making me the "chosen one lord commander champion of Azeroth," but now I think I realize that my issue isn't with the concept of being the "Chosen One" in an MMO...but it's how it was all presented. As if in WoW, my character became the Champion due to coincidence or random circumstance and never earned any of the praise given.

In FFXIV so far, I have been part of a slowly rising list of accomplishments that have incrementally and organically been noticed by the major players in the world who are starting to know who I am and what I've done. It feels earned. I think a big part of it is that the MSQ is one continuous, unskippable (without a paid skip that is) plot line that doesn't jump around or lose track of itself like WoW's quests do.

I tried SWTOR once, but the story did nothing for me in the early hours, so I never continued. This game, meanwhile, just...mmph, it hits me in a place I haven't been hit since Metal Gear Solid 1-4. I'm so gosh darn invested in this story and these characters. I don't know if I can gush about it enough to really convey how it makes me feel.

And once more, I have to circle back to how the game treats me. I'm one of the gang. My involvement is never assumed. Minfilia, Alphinaud, Cid, everybody who ever wants me to help them is always so friendly and respectful about it. FFXIV doesn't have the feeling WoW had of "Champion go do this, champion go do that, champion go do this."

It's always "We are asking so much of you, we are ever in your debt." or "You are my pillar of strength, I don't know where I would be if not for you" and whereas WoW would have lines like that, they never felt, idk...real. Something about the writing and the pace of this game makes me feel like all the characters I deal with are sincere and earnest and just all-around good people who care about my wellbeing and think of me as a dear friend more than just "ThE CHamPIon"

I'm slowly climbing out of a dark cave into something bright and beautiful. My eyes are taking time to adjust, but everything I see is making me happy. The cave was WoW, and the brightness is FFXIV, just so the metaphor is clear.