I get why people dont like long games but (and i may be in the minority) i always liked longer stories especially when they are good, it means i get to enjoy it longer.

IMO the main issue is that actual gameplay is downright awful on most jobs until the 60’s or 70’s. And I’m saying this as someone who adores 14. On most jobs through ARR and the early half of HW here’s 14’s gameplay loop: talk to NPC, go somewhere, talk to another NPC, run into purple circle, kill three mobs that pose no threat (by pressing two or three buttons that hardly interact with each other), return to NPC, watch cutscene. That’s 14’s gameplay for hundreds of hours. I’ve been playing since 2016 and have tried to get dozens of friends into the game. The only one who stuck around started in mid stormblood and was going through a breakup so he needed some escapism.

I get where Mike is coming from, but I think looking at the advertising campaign for the xbox port is instructive here: they are not attempting to sell this game on endgame content. The ads for the xbox version don't focus on raids, or dungeons, or housing. They focus on story, It's the selling point-- the story content is what differentiates the game from other options on the market. I also can't help but feel that so many people that desire a 'new entry point' would also absolutely revolt if new players were thrown into current/endgame content. People can blue-sky about new starting zones or advanced halls of the novice as much as they want; but there's no tutorial system that's going to overcome FFXIVs learning-curve in the space of a single expansion (especially when the game is so heavily marketed toward those with no MMO experience). The community in FFXIV is widely lauded (and rightly so), but that community is only a very small part of why the 'sprout' system in ffxiv works so well. Sprouts are more or less completely silo'd away from the community in group content to what amounts to the 'shallow end' of the swimming pool, and veteran players are most likely to interact with sprouts within that context-- within old content where the expectation is new players may struggle to keep their heads above water, let alone swim. How on earth do you design an expansion to teach new players everything they need to know within the space of that expansion, while at the same time not frustrating existing players? You either tune MSQ content down *even further*, or you.. don't. Either way, existing/established players will wail and gnash their teeth-- either the game will even be more easy than it already is, or there's a significantly higher chance that even more people in endgame/current content will not really have a grasp on playing. This just isn't the silver bullet people think it is.

The thing with FF14 is that going into it I thought I knew what I wanted from it but I was proven wrong over and over again. If I had skipped I would not have discovered my love for the story.

If no story skip then at least more voice acting, it helps a lot in story enjoyement

They've already addressed this for new players I think. With the free trial new players can go through something like 200+ hours worth of the story and game's content for free, and seeing as the story is the focus new players can get a good feel for the world and overall structure of the game without needing to pay a cent. Is the MSQ for ARR and Heavensward the best the game has to offer? No. But does it set up the foundation and allow folks to either get hooked or decide it's not for them? Yes. Beyond the story, the free trial can allow players to get a taste of just about everything there is for non-endgame content. Free trials can do trials and instances, get a feel for combat (or at least the basics of it), golden saucer, chocobo riding and flying, the ability to level up every job/trade/class up to 60, etc. If the free trial didn't exist then having a skip mechanic would make a lot of sense, but with the free trial in place it seems a better way of hooking in players who are going to be long-term players instead of gaining and losing players who skip it all then leave.

Here's what I think is needed for FF14 to grow: 1. Spread job mechanics out to lower levels to infuse more gameplay decisions to lower levels. 2. Heavily prune the more mundane quests throughout the full MSQ, if something needs mentioning, add it to cutscenes/dialogue. 3. Rework earlier MSQ, especially ARR with modern questing mechanics and more voice work, keep VO's consistent across ARR and HW, allow small groups into solo instances. 4. Redesign ARR zone layouts so that they are consistent with the design of the rest of the game. 5. Redesign the UI to be more cohesive and less reliant on dropdown menus and tacked on buttons. (eg: Quests, Unending Codex, Achievements should be tabs in one singular journal.) Bonus Points: 6. Introduce the unending codex early in ARR and have it update as you progress the MSQ. 7. Retroactively add gemstones to earlier fates to infuse lower level zones with more replayability and more active players. 8. Rework the glamour system, they can't just keep adding storage slots forever. 9. Kill classes, start as the jobs. Keep quests and story for low levels, but the difference between conjurer and white mage is often confusing to new players. On that note also remove abilities from class/job quests, it's another point of confusion to new players.

The story length is a barrier to new players, but its also a filter. If ARR doesn't grab you enough to get you to stick around to The Parting Glass, you may very well not like the later story arcs. Cus to like them, you have to give a damn about the world introduced in ARR. And you have to have played both ARR and HW to have a chance of enjoying SB, etc. It compounds. If the story isn't clicking with you, then maybe the game isn't your thing. If you experience this and still want to skip to endgame, the mog station skip is there for you.

FFXIV is more of a single-player MMORPG than just an MMORPG. You can play the majority of the main story completely solo using NPC party members, and there is really no downside to not engaging in high-level end game content. That kind of pressure comes from other players, not the game itself. I see FFXIV as being almost no different from any other single-player FF game with multiple expansions. Of course the journey's going to take a while, but that's the whole point of single-player RPGs. Players don't play single player RPGs thinking "I can't wait to hit end game". The journey to the end is what's really important.

I think they should rework the starting experience but also how jobs play at each milestone level (50 60 70 80 90), so that content of these levels can still have depth and be enjoyable

The issue is the game is so intrinsiquely linked to the Zodiark Hydaelyn story... Who we are as the WoL connection to Azem etc. In order for their to be a skip you'd sort of need a lore reason for those new players. I do think it is a problem for people who want to be able to move freely and do what they want - I'm not adverse to the idea. I just don't know how to do that and make a new player experience.

I'm not the biggest fan of longer games but i finished EW MSQ last night and put about 300 hours in it in around 5 weeks. I've loved every single second. it's not for Hardcore MP guys but for anyone who is interested in any sort of narrative is gonna love it.

I feel the problem is that the players, specially the mmo-players got educated into that endgame is the only thing that is important, we have been educated toward goal oriented players where anything that isnt related to reach that goal is a waste of time, instead of players that play because of the experience of playing the game. Something similar happened with SWTOR, where people came from WoW, skipped everything and reached cap level and said the game had no content...when there was like 8 games worth of main story (1 per class per faction).

Personally I think the issue is that, even with a skip, FF14 just isn't the type of game that is designed to be enjoyed by someone who wants to dive into the deep end quickly and have fun. If you're not finding the fun in ARR, that's not going to magically change if you skip to endgame. I'd rather people be "put off" and feel like they don't have enough time to play the game because frankly, they can always come back later when they do.

Trying to make a game for everyone makes a game for no one.

As far as the early game experience, I think it's tough to balance in that a big part of XIV's success has been that it appeals to non-MMO people. I was one of them; I came to XIV from single-player JRPGs. And I really appreciated things like combat starting very slow, because I wasn't ONLY learning combat - I was learning every other aspect of MMO gameplay, too. Making sure every job has an AOE by X level is one thing, but I think it's also possible to swing too far, ramp it up too much, and start driving off new casual players.

FF14 is like the Dune books. It's great. Lots of people love it. Won tons of awards. ...But if you're not willing to sit down for 100 hours to read them, reread some parts, or just don't like reading or Sci-Fi in general then you aren't going to have a good time.

imo the people who complain that there's too much story, need to remember that THEY'RE PLAYING A FINAL FANTASY GAME. there's gonna be a shit tonne of story. it doesn't matter that it's an mmo, that's secondary. Yoshi-P and Squeenix leaned very heavily into the RPG part of MMORPG. They could honestly make it a single player game and it wouldn't change anything at all. Edit: The only time I condone a story skip is if you've already done it. if you've played all of the story until current and then make an alt and don't want to go through that again, go ahead and get the skip. you've already experienced the story, so you're not missing anything.

Knew the skip didn't make sense. Nothing in 6.1 is sprout friendly, and a lot of the energy in Endwalker's patch cycle was QoL changes for MSQ and Dungeons (and some raids) from ARR to Stormblood.

Story skip bad. Not because people should be forced to do something they don't want to do, but because it's inorganic growth. It's alright if a game doesn't appeal to everyone, because that's how you develop strengths. I do think they should redub ARR and retroactively change quests. Like the 1-50 job quests could be streamlined and given voice acting. That would enhance the game's strengths.

i always played with friends who wanted to skip everything so i played for years but thought to myself i was gonna make a new character and do all the story. The game has a total new outlook and it is amazing how they made the story tie together.

Speaking as someone who has been at endgame for a few years now, I WISH I had 350+ hours of msq ahead of me still. I never really minded the ARR story (post ARR did get plenty clunky, especially when I was forced to do Crystal Tower) but its definitely a part of the game that could use more polish

PSO2 NGS does story skipping really well. You have to see the story the 1st time on your account. If you want to make another character after that you actually get the option if you wanna just skip the story and it's even free of charge

True so True FF drop the ball here. Things that have change since ARR 1. All jobs are the same 2. War can heal now what is the point of healers? 3. All the zone are a flat plain with nothing nothing to do but fates. 4. Salvage content is for the 1% of payers. 5. Relics are nothing but a skin once the next expansion is out. 6. Without the story there almost nothing to do in FF14. After 10 years I know what is coming so no ty I move on to other games

Look, I love the story too but can we stop reducing this MMORPG to just its story? The best time to be a FFXIV gamer is generally agreed to be Stormblood and it happens to be the expansion that had the worst story. Meanwhile Endwalker had a pretty good story and... well, you know. 🤣 What makes this game good is the same as any other MMORPG: group content, the gameplay, the community, and the quality of the live service, not the story. I'm not sold on the idea of a 6.1 skip that just flashes the character story before you, but I agree they need some way to get people up to date faster so they can play with their friends.

"not maintaining day to day players" these past couple months has had a huge INFLUX of players new, old, returning like you log on during a weekday before primetime and the even SYLPHLANDS is full

40:00 i mean, aren't there a tv show in works for the story of ff14? i remember it being discussed just before endwalker release edit: sadly though, it appears that as of january 2024, the show got scraped due to the sheer scope of things needed to bring it to light

I've tried to get a few people into the game most people don't even get to the first dungeon a lot of people like the opening cutscene but then it ends and the silence of the chocobo carage makes them lose interest and hit the skip button. Redoing the voice acting of the early game might help maybe just having a few more voiced scenes at the start because most people expect a modern game to have voice acting.

It’s a double edged sword. The story is absolutely fantastic, but getting new players into the game when there’s literally 100s of hours to get to the actual MMO part is a pretty big ask.

As far as an interview with Yoshi P, I assume there will be a content creator media tour before dawntrail, as there has been before past expansions. I would think you should have a good chance at getting in on that.

i think realistically now wouldnt be a good time as it would only be the one exspansion story you would be skipping to as a new player. On top of that the scions still are looking to play a massive role instead of a mostly new crew. To me if they had story arcs going forward to last an expac or 2, after they get to 3-4 different arcs I think it would be reasonable to add a skip in a sense that would let you play the arc you wanted to then get you to the starting level of the new expac

Story skip is also terrible because the people who do skip have no damn clue what mechanics are and how to play their dang class. Personally I feel that they should also remove all the current skips as well. I understand it makes them money in the short run but in the long run probably would've been more profitable. This includes class level skips. No skips..ever...

The whole point of the game, is the story. Its in everything. Even the raids, dungeons, crafting, and gathering.

everytime I hear people talking about the ff story, i get the feeling the people have not read a single book

Unpopular opinion here, but I think it's OK to play the game without giving an Fuuuuck about the story. I've played since beta, and I skipped every single cutscene and dialog box. I only play for PVE content, and my friends are the same.

I haven't been paying for ffxiv but its been on the backburner for a minute now. I have so much to do in it still, I'm sure I could lock in thousands easily lol. I've just been letting it cook, waiting for the best time to get ready for dawntrail

I do feel that if at some point the barrier that is the amount of story starts to cause to new players to bounce off faster than retiring players can be replaced, it could be something to be considered then. You could have some sort of acknowledgement that you are agreeing to not have the full picture. They could have some sort of lore explanation that you are a spirit being pulled from the aetherial sea by some sort of NPC to take over the vessel of the WoL, but you won't have their memories. You get a tutorial of whatever job you chose and a bunch of the FFXIV basics. You could return to the NPC to start a quest to "regain the WoLs lost memories" where you play through the MSQ from the beginning out of sync whenever you want. Could potentially be good content for downtime in whatever the latest expansion is.

I personally prefer when a game is long if it's good. I don't play games just to beat them, I want to play them so long as they are fun. That said, I agree it would be worth going back and redoing ARR almost entirely. For the sake of cutting out a lot of the filler and back to back fetch quest without fraying some plot points by simply pruning bits. Giving the game that 10+ year polish and adding more voice acting right from the start.

If you hardcore play you can get to and through Shadowbringers in about a month. That is playing every day like its a job (I wasn't working a whole lot at the time. Construction can be feast or famine). I did deviate a little here and there from the MSQ at times but most of my time was spent catching up to my friend so I could be ready for Endwalker when it released.

i always try to sell it to people by saying its more like 5 games in a row, helps them be more comfortable taking it in bit size chunks than just downing it in one.

I always love when the story is engaging ; a great story can make a great game go to the next level.

This is a real shame - I've friends who aren't MMO guys that I've streamed raids to who'd be very interested in trying raiding together in ff but have been filtered by ARR + post-ARR MSQ. Even cutscene skipping it's a complete slog and the game just starts out so slow with skills being introduced at a painfully slow rate. It's not worth the up-front investment of subbing and then also having to buy a job AND story skip to get *close* to the content that they want to try out (still tens of hours to catch up after story skip?). I get the perspective that a lot of people find themselves enjoying the story when they thought they wouldn't (I'm an avid MSQ enjoyer) but 6 expansions worth of story to catch up on to get to the good stuff is just far too much at this point. With the Hydaelyn/Zodiark saga ending this would be the perfect point for new players to be able to *start* on the new saga, and it's their choice if they want to start with a full level 90 job kit to wrap their head around. (which, most jobs in 14 are very easy and intuitive anyhow) I really feel like the lack of a story skip option is turning away a lot of players who would really enjoy what 14's end-game has to offer

The thing is, though, the selling point for almost all, if not just outright all, Final Fantasy games is the story. When I tell people about FFXIV I try and sell it on the story. Not so much the gameplay, really... I agree with what @RaddyC says in the comments is that for a lot of Jobs the gameplay is just horrible until you get to Stormblood and further; Black Mages weep in broken rotation until 90. Only with the last expansion did they even give pugilists/monks something to get used to the resources used for the job instead of just 'push butan for punch' over and over. However... I do not see the point in choosing to play a very heavy story-driven MMO and then wanting to be able to skip the story. The experience itself can be better, but they ARE retooling things to make it easier for people to get through it. Just think of all the trust duties you can do nowadays to get through it more quickly and even solo. But the story... No... If you choose to join a game like Final Fantasy, you choose a game that is built around its storytelling. And some parts of the story ARE objectively better and others are objectively worse. Even if all you want to do is endgame raiding or PvP, you're going to have to take the lumps of storytelling with it. You can just be Zenos... Hunt for that thrill while the humdrum of people around you just bores you.

I recently returned (for the 3rd or 4th time) and decided to just buy the ARR skip. I've done it before and I know it just won't hold me. Starting in Heavensward after watching a couple ARR summary videos has helped a lot in helping me get into the story.

The trolley part of this clip completely caught me off guard.

I think if they do put in a story skip they would need to find a way to catch up new players on all the various mechanics that have been introduced between Stormblood and Endwalker; going from ARR mechs to Endwalker mechs and beyond is a massive jump.

The movie is a good idea, but it would need to be multiple parts and need to be the length of lotr extended edition to be able to fit everything important in the main story and still be comprehensible.

I thought about the 'is it too long' question, and after reflecting a bit I don't think so. If I know there are types of characters, story elements, etc. that I enjoy in a story, then more length means 'oh good it'll last a while and I don't need to rush'. It guarantees I'll have something nice to look forward to exploring every day for a while, and by the time I get current there's even more to do. I play FFXIV kind of like a solo player where I tend to just float around and interact with strangers having zero expectation of meeting them again. I do my best to learn mechanics and def enjoy fights/challenges, but it's not high pressure for me.

Id rather these mfers not play at all than include a skip by default

I think at the very least they can cut out the "run to 5 different sparklies on the floor" that don't actually progress your quest because they're not The One Special Sparkly that will.... There's a lot of that from ARR all the way up to current game.

I would love to see the New Game + feature provide Alt Jobs XP. So you could skip with a job to play with friends but then choose an Alt job or 2 to work through the story.

Speaking of people returning to WoW - I have actually met several new players to WoW that came originally from FFXIV. It's not only returning WoW players. That said - I think we might actually see a bit of a back and forth in the future depending on which game is about to release major content updates. A solution to the MSQ problem could be to tie it organically to the levelling.

I tried a skip when i started, just to 60 and i was overwhelmed and ultimately didnt even play that class and just did a different one. Cant even imagine what its like now to skip straight to 80 or 90. Thats just too much.

So.. unrestricted zone for each expansion with thier own level progression where anyone can join while they work through the MSQ? 🤔

I do agree with consideration for getting new players involved they need to do something with the story. If they were do to a story skip, I think a possible solution would be "several cut scenes" which give brief summary of the story so far. Like introduce all the scions, a run down of the major story points regarding the major story actors and basically get the new player to the End of 6.0. So they have an idea of what has happened, but leave the hook at the end that they can go back and live through the whole tale anytime with the new game + option. So a new player could get in and play with friends and enjoy the game right away but they can go back and get involved with the story at their own pace while still enjoying the game with friends. And I would include with this another revamp of the ARR section. Get it up to modern FF14 standards.

But... that ship sailed a long time ago (Sadly) there already has been for a while, does he mean it will be going away?

They could add a story skip in the same way WoW did the Death Knight area or how SWTOR did new characters in Knights of the Fallen Empire(Whatever they called that expansion after the shadows of Revan.). SWTOR had a choice when creating a new character you could pick the original story path or start at new expansion A different zone accelerating into the start of 7.0 with a person potentially starting on the MSQ at 6.55 being sent to the start of Dawntrail or start at 6.1 questlines. I know its potentially crazy but its possible. Its possible to have the 2.0 to 6.0 warrior of light dying at the end of 6.0 and being mentored by that WoL into taking over during that questline plugging in any potential plot holes. If that seems to much it could also have the new character end up skipping all of 2.0 up until when Alphi starts the crystal braves have that character be recruited as part of the Crystal braves catching up in that moment when you're being labeled as a criminal.

Genuinely think the best solution is to remake a realm reborn as a single player game like ff16, and just make it the important good stuff and then continue that with each expansion up to end walker. It’s simply the best way to preserve the content while making it better and more focused and less bloated.

No skips. No compromise. The story is what makes ffxiv what it is. It is the glue that keeps the community together and if it filters out the must go fast cant sit still for five minutes crowd, thats just another benefit.

I play and pay attention to the main Story and some of the raid series stories but I skip most of the sidequests text/cutscenes.

On the other hand, my first time through the game, I got through ARR, on two characters, through Stormblood on one of them, and was in position for starting Shadowbringers on launch on my main within... two months? But I was no-lifing it because I'm Disabled and had nothing else to do. I haven't let my sub lapse since then except for medical emergencies.

They will be updating the old content to match up to the newer. So playing through the og story will feel like new, especially playing though them with new classes or mechanics lol

watching this i am once again reminded of the excellent quote of the core difference with FF14 and the reason why (at least for me) the ARR stuff is not a bother and actually can be quite nice. it is the difference of MMORPG vs RPGMMO. i belive that going into FFXIV like "this is an mmo i expect an MMO" has big potential for enjoyment drops. When talking to other ppl about this game i always tell them: "If you look at it, dont look at it like an MMO, look at it like a FinalFantasy", and that actually makes it much more true to its (at least percieved by me) nature.

Blizzard is genius with WoW business model like Mike was saying because a single monthly sub pays for retail, classic, HC, and SoD. 4 different games technically for the same $15 a month so if one version is going through a slow period there’s probably new updates in a different version. And I totally agree with his point about mmo players desiring familiarity, going from retail to classic or vice versa is far more familiar than switching to a whole different game like 14 or GW2

I remember sodapoppin played the game, but he would only skip dialogue that wasn't voiced. He seemed to enjoy shadowbringers that way. A potential solution is to just add more VA and revoice ARR, to make it more tempting. I feel this when I have to do role quests. I find it so miserable to read sometimes.

I wonder if they should do another level squish and take that 1-50 experience down to 1-30 or maybe even lower.

As much as I do like the decision for no story skip, I will admit that early level gameplay must be changed. Maybe an option at the start of the game and given at certain early level thresholds, to go traditional or expedited gameplay. Expedited gameplay would be giving you skills much faster and earlier ending at the level 70 skills. So by like level 30 you would have every single skill up til level 70. Of course the potencies will be heavily adjusted. If you do transition from traditional or expedited and vice versa the game will adjust accordingly however the devs choose to do so. Also in expedited gameplay, job quests will no longer be required for obvious reasons. Story will be much more difficult to adjust. So far the changes they've made is in the right direction, but there's only so much they can do unless they basically remake the entirety of the ARR story throughout the patches with the current voice actors and adding more voice acted scenes.

7:30 i understand this sentiment, but wouldn't want the games to change so i could play them. Otherwise, for example in dota2, am i not just avoiding the investment required to enjoy something that much? Am i not just dulling down the experience to the point where it's not what I originally signed up for? I think it's just okay to miss out on some things to make sure you do the things you want most

I have never looked at a game and said to myself "Hmm I want less content" but then Im not a streamer.

I think we need an expansion or two after Dawntrail before a skip should be implemented if at it all. A jump to Dawntrail would work better later down the line rather than when Dawntrail is the current expansion imo.

I'm a new player. I've just got to Shadowbringer and I've loved the story. ARR was a slog, but I'm glad I did it because it lays so much ground work. I think if I had skipped ARR, I would be so lost right now.

An interesting slice of firsthand experience from me. I played this game with friends, and at one point, my friends wanted to do the omega raids with all of us being blind to the content. We were gonna do it minIL, with nobody having seen any of the story or bosses, or watching any guides, or anything. Sounds great, right? Wellll... the pressure was on around when I got to stormblood, but some stuff that happened in the story really killed my motivation (not to mention the general negative attitude re: stormblood). So, we tried to powerlevel me and see if I could start the omega raids at some point mid-stormblood. Turned out, no, I had to play a hundred+ hours of story to join my friends for a fun raid get-together. We came up with a solution that was outside the box and fun for me, where I speedran stormblood with the help of a small squad of players crafting me gear at a couple level thresholds, and joining me for instances like dungeons and trials to cut down on queue times. I skipped all the cutscenes (as was the plan, to cut down on the most major time cost), and was able to beat it in around 10 hours. Thus, we were able to actually get to the omega raids and actually play the game together, which is largely otherwise not really possible. There's so much in the game that is intensely story-gated, and it's a genuinely major obstacle for actually playing with friends. I wish you could just pick a storyline and start it if you're the appropriate level for it, like Guild Wars 2 allows for. I also think it's nonsense that yoshi P isn't planning on an unpaid story skip, but will probably include a paid story skip? At least judging by the quote. I'm not excited by that idea.

But let's say that they add a story skip...on what lvl the player would begin? They would begin from 1 or from 80? Because I can see problems with both... If they start at lvl 80, there will be the problem of getting too much information at once with the skill and how to play the class. If they start at lvl 1, how would they balance the dungeons/group contents? Because you can't compare the toolkit of a lvl 16 with the one of a lvl 80.

Tbh as somebody who has played since 1.0. I will be 100 with everyone I don't honestly understand why there is not a full skip option. So we have New game plus, the UJ and If push came to shove and you wanted the truest feel of experiencing the story as intended start a brand new character we have DC and world travel. It honestly baffles me how not giving an option to players who do not want to interact with story the option is honestly bad. Let them enjoy the gameplay if that is what they want. Just like I am a lore nut who sits in game and reads everything I can. You don't see them not providing options for me to enjoy the game. And bonus Square gets paid so maybe African players might get servers as well if enough people buy the service. That last part is a pipe dream but I can still pray for my fellow players. 😅

I played ARR on release and the way the game presented the story was a bit more akin to classic MMO's like FFXI. When you reached certain points in the story, you would be locked out from the next quest due to being too low level. So, you had to go out to a zone with level appropriate fates and grind fates for a few levels, usually 2-3 levels worth if I remember correctly (this was before roulettes, xp in dungeons, and challenge logs). Since I was in college and working full-time, these breaks in the story would sometimes last a week or two, so the story beats didn't feel like they dragged on as much. I can see how leveling the player through the story would affect the ARR story pacing, the gameplay and overall design of the game complimented the narrative style. Overall the original 2.0 gameplay was slower with longer classic MMO grinds and breaks in the narrative.

I think the problem is alot of people see how much you have to get through to get caught up with their friends and just don't wanna do it so people trying to advocate for a story skip so their friends will play cause they don't wanna get through the story

An idea: What if along with the Unending Codex, they hire a narrator to tell parts of the story in chapters, akin to something like Audible? They'll narrate the parts that aren't in cutscenes or lead up to cutscenes so that it'll be slightly more engaging than just reading some summaries and then watching cutscenes. It might cost a little more money, but it'll also give someone a job and could go a long way for someone who maybe wants to understand the story but may not have the time to play through it or just sit through reading.

I think they should have a pseudo skip, it has you basically on an accelerated path of faster xp gain and such and it basically just moves you through the most important points in the story, (including the important side points that lead into the big moments) that way people can still experience the best parts of the story, but it would be maybe 100hrs instead 300+ (I know 100hrs would still be too much for some, but come on, it's an FF game, it has to have a good amount of story). In my opinion I think that would be a reasonable middle ground between the 2 extremes.

If they ever remake FF9, Mike has to voice Steiner - This is NON-NEGOTIABLE

I understand that people worry about others being able to skip and not experiencing the story but honestly I think having the option there would be great. Not everyone wants to sit through hundreds of hours of dull gameplay and not everyone will connect with the story. I have a friend who forced himself to play all the way up until the end of Shadowbringers and he quit. I know plenty of people who only play the game for the endgame and skip through the MSQ. If people become interested in the story later on and want to experience it they can always create an alt to go through the MSQ. While I personally do enjoy the story a lot, I'm not heavily invested and it's not the main draw of the game to me. I play the game to raid and hangout with friends. The story is a nice bonus and there's a lot of people who feel this way about the game.

Honestly, if your brining a friend into the game an you basically just leave them alone an they stop playing, thats on you. Might as well walk them through what they need to unlock an all of that stuff if they purchased the lvl70 skip, because fucking around an finding out will take forever an a day. Then they can take thier time to go back through the story. Also, it seems alot dont even know about the unending codex thats a novel to read through.

Story skip = key MSQ parts that give massive exp. Condense the story to voiced cutscene and solo duty roulettes and dungeon unlock. Cut out the walking and standing.

I think the points without voice acting definitely act as speed bumps to new player which build up into a barrier. As for a story skip I think it would be different if the main cast were killed off so new players weren't expected to have 500+ hours of emotional attachment to the npcs around them. In order to catch people on the story they would need to do a whole tv series or multiple movies to tell the story.

ARR is for sure one of the biggest barriers for newcomers, and that is after the ton of the trimming they had to do when it comes to the MSQ. This is mainly why I find it hard to recommend this game even though story wise, it definitely gets better later. 39:50 Apparently some people were trying to pitch FFXIV as a live action series but got rejected due to the size and scale being just too much for anyone to commit, even Amazon turned it down. Maybe an animated series might work? I wouldn't mind seeing the story of 1.0 were everything eventually ends in the reveal of ARR.

I think the problem is that XIV is so story focused. That's the allure of it, and that attracts a different type of player than the typical MMO player where the endgame is the focus.

As long as the stroy skip is in the store it seems very weird that they would make you skip the story. Now there is also the factor that maybe more people would play the game if it wasnt as jarring when you have to catchup to however many years of story there is now but I doubt that Squre Enix would want to give out free skips.

Not getting experience on the patch content is rough. It should be the period to catch up on your alternate jobs, but it feels like wasted time instead.

I read somewhere that they cant revoice ARR due to legal reasons with the studio they had contracted for it? Someone can find the source for this

story skip should of only been made aviliable to those who have completed msq to and through where story skip is for on one char. As to not punish people who want alts, these are mainly the rp'ers, as there is really no other reason to have alts (unless you're rich and can afford max retainers on alts).

If they aren't willing to include an in game story skip, (which I can't judge because regardless of whether it is offered I know the way I enjoy stories and games a skip would never be for me, no matter how it was implemented) then something has to budge with lower level gameplay. Every level cap increase removing an outdated skill or two and adding new ones at high levels necessitates an eventual process of going back through the levelling skill progression to get it fun faster. But I think more importantly is making multiplayer content that endgame players engage in available at lower levels - not raids necessarily, but stuff like ishgard restoration requiring the patch 3.3 msq and letting level 10 DoH/L participate, or palace of the dead unlocking early. If there are enough endgame relevant different types of content that allow low level players in to run around with their high level friends without requiring high level players to babysit them through arr dungeons, then the need to reach endgame to play with others becomes less pressing so people can play msq at the pace they want.

Lady Bex on the ball with this!

It may have a good story in the end game / latest expansion but the new player experience is just awful. They need some way to get players to good parts sooner or at least add voice acting to cutscenes. And sound. IIRC the cutscenes dont even have any sound whatsoever. wtf. I remember it confused the shit it out of me and I thought my sound broke. But no, its just shit game.

I think the big part for me not wanting to play the older stuff is literally just because I don't want to read all the cutscenes. As soon as something isn't voice acted I hit skip so fast, now Im making a new character because I have two level 90's and my msq is only 85 still, makes me want to commit

I think one problem with a skip is there really isn’t a clean break. Like 6.1 immediately and significantly is based on events that directly came before it, so someone starting from there is going to have a truly confusing experience starting from there. Also, the most likely story thread in the future is shard hopping it was teased heavily in the 6.x arc. Also, after tural, there isn’t really much left in eorzea to go to besides Meracydia and a few tiny nations like Ilsabard, the rest of the far east and Dalmasca. That or something happening to the Myths of the Realm device that presumably keeps the shards from auto rejoining. Future expansions are incredibly tied to what came before, like you even have actual ascian gliphs in the raid concept art. Someone who does skip isn’t likely to stick around because of that, and ff14s biggest problem currently is endgame player retention, so it’s quite a difficult situation. On one hand the story is the main draw, and skipping any part of it is likely to make the story incomprehensible, but on the other it is very long and Arr is a massive brick wall. It’s complicated.

I really like the idea of a show in the style of "Arcane". You can open the pilot in a similar way to the LotR movies. Give the audience a generell idea about the world and show the Battle of Carteneau in all its glory, just like how the did it with ARR. And after that 15 min opening, we start the travel with Derplander in one of the starting cities. Arriving with a ship in Limsa for example and meeting the first scion.

I’m a huge fan of the story and would hate for people to miss out on it. I understand that when looking it at it as a new person it is extremely daunting. I’m all for people wanting to play the way they want to play and I would never say anyone is wrong for playing or skipping the story. It would be cool if they could implement some sort of story recap per each expansion. When you start a new expansion they add a video to the start page they gives you an option to watch a recap if you would so decide to do so. Kind of like when a new season of a television show starts. The option is there to watch it but you can also skip. I understand this would be a time and money commitment from SE and the Devs. With that said, I feel like that could give a huge boost to newer players to not feel pressured and can still enjoy the story and feel invested even if they start after Dawntrail.

I completely agree with your want to quit for 5 years and come back. I've been considering the same thing myself and I'm strongly considering not bothering with dawntrail at all. I've been a hardcore xiv fan boy since 1.0

It would be cool if 40%+ of the MSQ wasn't fetch quests that have nothing to do with any actual story point.

About level sync, i would like them to sync the stats but not the abilities.

Imho I think they should let you buy a skip and give you a completley different skipped story starting path, maybe something that takes 4-5 hours of tutorial play, showing you abit about the class, aswell as your friends, telling you about the previous expansions, adventures, while setting you up for what is to come. To be clear though I think this should only apply for Dawntrail content onwards as ARR to Endwalker is a completed saga so it'd be fine to do a "recap" episode filler as an alternative to the new intro.