I haven’t had the best schedule for leveling lately, but I was able to put in some decent time working on my FFXIV MSQ’s (main story quests) a bit.
The overwhelming consensus seems to be that the original content in A Realm Reborn was full if filler quests for a few reasons:
- They needed filler content in quests to buy time and delay until the expansion
- They really din’t know what they wanted to do with the story
I totally believe it.
I had a quest last night where I was helping prep a caravan of refugees for travel. An entire quest involved one of the caravaners not liking the smell of chocobos. So I had to go get perfume, come back and apply it to the chocobos. Then I had to sniff the chocobo. Then I’m pretty sure I had to get some kind of scarf to cover his face because he still couldn’t stand the smell of chocobos. I kid you not, this is a main story quest.
Another quest was right before fighting a big primal named Leviathan. I had just witnessed an awesome cutscene, and the city of Limsa Lominsa was preparing for war. Everyone had their responsibilities… including me. A report came in that someone in a nearby town had previously fought Leviathan. That could have only been someone who was part of the original group of hero people or something, so they sent me to check it out. Turns out it was a local hillbilly who lied. I get that it’s a little funny, but really that was a main story quest to send me all the way there? Right before fighting Leviathan? Whew…
There are definitely moment when the story is better. Pretty much anything that’s voiced over feels legit and interesting. The back-and-forth ‘talk to this guy’ stuff is definitely not.
Many of you have said that the game really picks up around 2.4/2.5. I guess that’s when they start to decide what they’re doing with Heavensword?
I’m making decent progress, I think. I just beat Leviathan. I remember from a few years ago that the Primals were always my favorite part. Anyone know about how much longer I have until I reach the content that really takes off? No major spoilers, though, please!
The thing about that hillbilly NPC that lied. This is actually a throwback to the Titan questline (somewhere in the early level 30s) where you had to seek out the EXACT SAME NPC, and he lied about being a hero back then, too! Basically, you’ve already done this and the outcome was exactly the same.
So, what makes it funny is if you remembered who he was from the first time you met him. It’s almost as if S/E is poking fun at itself for sending you way out of the way to talk to nonsense NPCs. But it doesn’t make a lot of sense if you didn’t remember him from earlier.
FFXIV actually does this a lot — brings little one-shot NPCs from quests back for larger roles later. I’ve learned to pay attention to side characters a lot more because sometimes, they don’t go away. (…even some of the random NPC characters that die come back in the Palace of the Dead) 🙂
Okay that’s definitely more funny now that I know that. I guess I blocked out the quest from the 30s. 😉
This is a good point, for instance you meet a guy in Quarrymill in the 20s, and he comes back in a major role in Stormblood! Pay attention to apparently “random” side guys.
To add to the above, I think A LOT of FFXIV is referential, either to the game itself, or to other FF games. If you miss most of that, I can see how a lot of the stuff might seem randomly pointless or silly.
Also I felt the story picked up right around the original level cap, when you finish up the original enemies and start dealing with the aftermath.