Final Fantasy XIV - Kiwi Free Company

Just got the last trial left, need to level another job for that, but halfway into zone 5 I started to skip cutscenes, it was the only way I was ever going to actually finish it. If WL plays a big role in the patch content and it looks like she'll be sticking around next expansion I might just quit the game, sunk cost fallacy be damned.
 
With some proper direction, I feel that she could be better. She's written serviceably but they would need to do some serious progression on their part. The VA also needs some work, it's not Chills bad but man it wouldn't kill to have more emotion where it counts.
Or better yet, just fire the VA so we get a real woman. Hell, doesn’t even have to be the best actress.

I mean, he will 41% in a few years anyway. Wuk Lamat recasting is inevitable.
 
Literally just got to the final zone and a bunch of fucking retards are talking about major shit that happens in said zone right in shout.

I'm finally enjoying the MSQ and faggots have to spoil shit. Why the shit do I have shout up jfc me.
 
Or better yet, just fire the VA so we get a real woman. Hell, doesn’t even have to be the best actress.

I mean, he will 41% in a few years anyway. Wuk Lamat recasting is inevitable.
I think the recast is inevitable, I agree. They probably have a contract, so it may be awhile.
 
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Just got the last trial left, need to level another job for that, but halfway into zone 5 I started to skip cutscenes, it was the only way I was ever going to actually finish it. If WL plays a big role in the patch content and it looks like she'll be sticking around next expansion I might just quit the game, sunk cost fallacy be damned.
Agreed, except I had to tap out in the fourth zone and asked to hear spoilers from a friend to see if it got any better at the last second. It didn't, and I'm going to skip the rest whenever I pick the game back up. At least the fun dungeons, trials and side content can basically carry the whole thing, unless they really screwed the pooch with the side content.

See, I'm one of those autists that watches every cutscene and reads the bulk of the dialogue for fun. I don't even mind the unskippable Castrum and Praet scenes, but that's on me liking Gaius and his squad. Even if the plot isn't very interesting (see Automata raid series or Alexander not being the most engaging), I just like how the English localization reads. It's a far cry from the Japanese script, but outside of making shit vaguer at times and crappy errors like Y'shtola's aether vision not actually being fatal, I think it gets the same ideas across with flowerier wording. I enjoy the whole game, but the writing is one of my favorite parts of it.

The bulk of DT's writing-- ignoring the plot being what it is, the actual questing being boring as shit and Wuk Lamat being the writer's pet-- was noticeably simplified and turned retarded.

Preexisting characters don't sound like themselves, they're robots that exist to praise or reassure Wuk Lamat when they aren't reiterating something about "CULTURE". Urianger sounds as Shakespearean as a kid that had to take a course in it for a college credit, Krile and Alphinaud read as unusually informal considering their Sharlayan alumni status. Alisaie has one line I can think of that actually reads like her in the jungle zone, when she talks about how you better not push her into the water or she'll be quite cross. I've seen fanwork with no actual plot that has a better idea of the characters' voices than the writer for this did, and the bar isn't high there.

Since I brought up CULTURE, there isn't any effort put into genuinely differentiating or exploring Turali cultures, only Mamool Ja get anything distinctive. There's no level 1 glams or food you can buy in Tuliyolal or anywhere in Tural that's from there. You can't interact with the worldbuilding or make anything off of it. Guess it was too much effort even though the devteam did it well before, so the best you get is hamfisted mention of tacos and diversity. Actually depicting cultures beyond caricatures and "muh food everyone knows about" is racist, I guess? Even Ala Mhigo has more effort put in than an area with its own dedicated expansion.

If you need further proof of how little effort was put in with adding any conflict or weight, a schism between two races that lasted centuries gets resolved in three days over sharing each others' food. Most conflict in this is resolved by either Gulool or Lamaty'i saying "just be nice", really, and it works every time without fail. This happens in the same setting where an empire subjugated several countries for decades and its crown prince performed human experiments out of curiosity, by the way. I doubt you forgot, but the hack behind the writing for this sure did! Or maybe he was wrangled into writing bland gruel by the "cultural consultants" they hired for this expansion. You now know why the Whalaqee were offhandedly mentioned and then never shown.

And that's just going into the more glaring issues I had, if I talked about how the new characters were handled I'd be a broken record. All I'll say is, Zoraal Ja deserved better and they wasted that Daisuke Ono casting.

All this shit annoyed me so much I've put it down and started playing other games in the heat of the hype. If diehard lorefags that did every yellow quest in bumfuck nowhere to find out more about the place would rather kill themselves than play an expansion introducing a whole new part of the world, you really screwed up.

They should've just given this expansion's script to the Werlyt writer instead of cucking him out of MSQ duty for side content, but at least the near universal dislike of the story is funny. I'm more pessimistic on them course-correcting though, they've gotten too comfortable with the people that forever give them asspats like whoever told them VPR was too complicated.
 
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The amount of cope and excuses coming from fanboys is hilarious and Dawntrail’s defenders are Stormblood defenders 2.0. I’ve seen the following takes on social media:
“You think the pacing is too slow and the stakes too low? I’m sorry not everything is supposed to be about world ending threats! Stop demanding every EP be like SHB and EW!”
“You dislike Wuk Lamat? You’re a sexist transphobe! This is Lyse hate all over again! You probably wouldn’t have a problem with her if she were a male character like your precious Graha or Emet!”
“You think Wuk takes up too much screen time and you dislike how you’re role in the story is reduced because of it? Not everything is supposed to revolve around your character! You’re just mad because you aren’t the center of attention like in ShB or EW! Go back to jerking off to the Ascians!”
Also you’ll get accused of racism for disliking the ep just like how SB fans used to accuse people who disliked the Ala Mhigo parts of SB of hating brown people.

The hateboner DT defenders have for SHB and EW is hilarious because nobody even brings up those two expansion packs when they criticize the writing and characters of DT. The fanboys invent these imaginary people in their heads to get angry at.
 
The amount of cope and excuses coming from fanboys is hilarious and Dawntrail’s defenders are Stormblood defenders 2.0. I’ve seen the following takes on social media:
“You think the pacing is too slow and the stakes too low? I’m sorry not everything is supposed to be about world ending threats! Stop demanding every EP be like SHB and EW!”
Worse than Stormblood defenders, but I can see the DNA. At least there's parts of Stormblood that are pretty damn good, IMO. It's miles and miles ahead of DT by a longshot even at its lowest, and that's saying something.
Fitting to that shit take, Stormblood actually had things like conflict and stakes even though it went with more comedy and a bit less drama. At least compared to how Heavensward and Shadowbringers did things. Heavensward, speaking of which, was a largely self-contained story and had decently high stakes without the whole universe being at stake like it still ends up being in Dawntrail, so the "not everything is about world ending threats!" isn't even true. Great "summer vacation" expac, guys.
“You dislike Wuk Lamat? You’re a sexist transphobe! This is Lyse hate all over again! You probably wouldn’t have a problem with her if she were a male character like your precious Graha or Emet!”
“You think Wuk takes up too much screen time and you dislike how you’re role in the story is reduced because of it? Not everything is supposed to revolve around your character! You’re just mad because you aren’t the center of attention like in ShB or EW! Go back to jerking off to the Ascians!”
Wuk Lamat diehards are hilarious. Talk about disliking her or the whole expansion in a composed way and they'll throw misogyny accusations right at you, but I wouldn't expect less from a batch of players that also tends to think female characters being killed off is inherently misogynistic.

The idea that XIV players all can't stand being side characters is also retarded, knowing that ARR's worldbuilding is mostly delivered via you being a side character in other people's stories until you're important enough to be a big shot. The whole of the Thaumaturge questline is watching family drama play out, and it's a lot of people's favorite early job quest. You aren't even a side character in DT-- you might as well be an uncredited extra with how little you do or actually impact the plot, beyond being the camera for "Several cutscenes will play in sequence."
The hateboner DT defenders have for SHB and EW is hilarious because nobody even brings up those two expansion packs when they criticize the writing and characters of DT. The fanboys invent these imaginary people in their heads to get angry at.
Even funnier is that ShB and EW were both mainly written by a woman, who's gotten at least one standing ovation for her work. Dawntrail, with everyone's favorite retarded lion princess, was written by Daichi Hiroi, a man-- which doesn't mean anything by itself, but it's very funny that the staunchest "hating Lamaty'i is misogyny" takes are so adamant on devaluing the work of a talented woman to defend one that's fictional.
 
Just made it to the PSO lobby city, and the MSQ is already on level 99, so much be closing in on level 100... and I haven't even unlocked the sixth zone. Just how much is there to do in that final zone?
 
Just made it to the PSO lobby city, and the MSQ is already on level 99, so much be closing in on level 100... and I haven't even unlocked the sixth zone. Just how much is there to do in that final zone?
Not a whole lot and a whole lot, paradoxically.

Lots of bullshit that amounts to nothing, but is huge fanservice if you're a FF9 fan.
 
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The amount of cope and excuses coming from fanboys is hilarious and Dawntrail’s defenders are Stormblood defenders 2.0. I’ve seen the following takes on social media:
“You think the pacing is too slow and the stakes too low? I’m sorry not everything is supposed to be about world ending threats! Stop demanding every EP be like SHB and EW!”
“You dislike Wuk Lamat? You’re a sexist transphobe! This is Lyse hate all over again! You probably wouldn’t have a problem with her if she were a male character like your precious Graha or Emet!”
“You think Wuk takes up too much screen time and you dislike how you’re role in the story is reduced because of it? Not everything is supposed to revolve around your character! You’re just mad because you aren’t the center of attention like in ShB or EW! Go back to jerking off to the Ascians!”
Also you’ll get accused of racism for disliking the ep just like how SB fans used to accuse people who disliked the Ala Mhigo parts of SB of hating brown people.

The hateboner DT defenders have for SHB and EW is hilarious because nobody even brings up those two expansion packs when they criticize the writing and characters of DT. The fanboys invent these imaginary people in their heads to get angry at.
Say what you want about SB and Lyse, but at least she fucked off every once in a while and wasn't voiced by a mentally ill man in a dress.
Also Stormblood gave us Kugane, which is still my favorite city.

“You think Wuk takes up too much screen time and you dislike how you’re role in the story is reduced because of it? Not everything is supposed to revolve around your character! You’re just mad because you aren’t the center of attention like in ShB or EW! Go back to jerking off to the Ascians!”
I'm the fucking Warrior of Light, literally the most important person on the planet who saved said planet more often than not. So yes, the story should revolve around me (and maybe involve some of my non-furry pals).
 
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God coming back to this game is a fuckin trip. But it's as fun as I remember and I'm powering through the MSQ now. I am not far only lvl 50. I enjoy it enough so I can get through it but man I remember stopping because I was getting burnt out of the MSQ. I play solo so maybe thats a big reason as I had no reason to hang around to quest and level other jobs. But I have a tad more time and need something to play that's at least consistently fun. And I have some free steam bucks so maybe I'll get DT too. Even though it seems it's at best mid.
 
If Wuk Lamat is supposed to be a character going into future content, my question is: What is her character flaw? How does that character flaw make her fail, and how does she struggle to overcome that flaw?

Her biggest flaw that I see is she's inexperienced/naïve. That never really sets back the plot in any meaningful way, and is instead milked to force the player to learn about every culture with awful pacing.

The lack of a character flaw woven into the story's progression means she has no arc or growth. This is why she's boring and two-dimensional to me.

This is some very basic creative writing that Square is failing.
 
Her biggest flaw that I see is she's inexperienced/naïve. That never really sets back the plot in any meaningful way, and is instead milked to force the player to learn about every culture with awful pacing.
No, that's it. She's Vaan from FF12. The protagonist that's kinda slightly retarded and needs everything explained to them for the benefit of you, the player.

Nothing wrong with that archetype except for the glaring fact that there's no need for it in FF14. Since obviously your PC is in every cutscene and you don't know what's going on and they could explain stuff to you instead...
 
Even funnier is that ShB and EW were both mainly written by a woman, who's gotten at least one standing ovation for her work. Dawntrail, with everyone's favorite retarded lion princess, was written by Daichi Hiroi, a man-- which doesn't mean anything by itself, but it's very funny that the staunchest "hating Lamaty'i is misogyny" takes are so adamant on devaluing the work of a talented woman to defend one that's fictional.
Stormblood stans have a massive hateboner for Ishikawa as a whole too. I’ve seen them accuse her of being fascist, apologetic of imperialism, and even wild shit like having a rape and stalker fetish. Over a hundred pages back I posted about one of those clowns seething over her existence and going as far as to wish she would injure herself so she could lose her job. A lot of the haters are also Lyse/Yshtola shippers that had huge meltdowns over Runar from Shadowbringers having a crush on Yshtola. My personal favorite bad take from them was that Graha gave the WoL “magic cancer” in SHB so he could continue being a stalker or something. XIV fans will defend fictional female characters to the death while being hostile towards real life women. I don’t get why people just can’t simply say they dislike someone’s writing and move on anymore.
 
RIP BLM. I wonder if they even test the jobs, or just feed all the potencies into a script that tells them "lolok", because even on a dummy Autismancer does more damage than BLM, and that's not taking into account the amount of movement in the new fights. EX1 is basically Savage on a BLM, EX2 seems easier, but by that point I switched to PCT. Both are pretty good fights, though, with some neat mechanics (the TB tower is EX1 is pretty cool, EX2 has the moving line of death and some fun jumping around), which don't rely on the buff/debuff shit for timing/positioning.
 
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