It's almost amazing how omnibus STILL didn't manage to make EP1 any less... bad and filled with random crap that seems totally unconnected unless you watched specific cut scenes in a specific order really quickly.
MMOs have begun to take its story a lot more seriously now so its unfair to say that MMOs are a dead end for decent story. FFXIV, Warframe, Guild Wars 2, Elder Scrolls Online, Star Wars The Old Republic, Destiny 2, etc. are examples of MMOs that are doing a decent job with its story content.
Even fighting games, a genre that is a constant source of snark when it comes to story, have begun to take its story more seriously at least on a technical level.
As someone who plays both Warframe and now FFXIV, I'm confused and don't know what you're talking about.
FFXIV was always a game of great pedigree, being part of the FF series and a subscription based game. However, it has been doing the same thing that it has ever since its re-release in 2013 - it hasn't 'taken its story a lot more seriously now'. What has changed is the streamlining of how players experience the story, but mostly the gameplay related content. Story itself is par for the course for an MMO (has a number of flaws like a 100-quest-long filler arc, and arcs being rushed to closure), and with the two expansions overall, I'd put it at about the same level as PSO2's, enjoyment wise.
Warframe's story is a complete mess, despite the praise it gets for its cinematic quests (there are only two of these at the moment). The timeline is broken because big portions of story content were from limited time events that are no longer present in the game. The only way to piece them all together is to watch a Youtube video that explains the entire thing, and if you don't do that, you won't know what is going on when certain characters show up in the first Cinematic Quest.
I know you want to justify having a high standard for online game stories, but online games really shouldn't be the first place where a person looks for a good, or even decent story experience. For the ones that are actually good, you have to pay the price, and they are more exceptions than the rule.
Last edited by blkbox11; Jan 1, 2018 at 05:18 AM.
Good story most times means that the player needs to stay afk to watch the cinematic parts. Just consider how many offline singleplayer games which are considered to have a good story actually play. They have barebones gameplay and they are filled with QTEs.
At the same time, a good story means that the player/viewer must experience it in a relative small timeframe because parts near the start of the story must have a connection to the last parts. You can't do that in a medium that puts out chapters once per 2 months. You would have to fill the last parts with many flashbacks, and that can break the pacing of the story.
And finally, how can you have a coherent and nonsensical story in a medium where the player is expected to be either the protagonist or the deuteragonist of the story, while at the same time having hundreds and thousands of players online at the same time? And if the player is demoted to be a no-one, just a cog in the grand scheme without being able to define the outcome of the story, how is the player expected to like it?
An ongoing internal conflict would have kept the player's power level in story in check tbh. But Luther existence's as the highest in command and then get his ass whooped quite easily makes an internal conflict sorta impossible.(not sure whatever happened in ES because you guys barely talk about it lmao) ARKS is now just pure good guys with no desire but to just keep PD at bay. The 2 year time skip and no major changes after all that time is like the universe cannot move forward its own story without the main protagonist being involved.
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This was the whole intention of Episode 2, the point was finally letting ARKS "Be the organization it was meant to be", as Xion put it.
And in essence, it was the reason ARKS exists at all, since it was created in response to PD, it was Luther who hijacked it all.
I've enjoyed Episode 5 thus far since I can get the feeling the intention is to finally do what Ep3 left off with, in saving Persona. I also do enjoy the call backs to classic Phantasy Star with Alisa, the Dragon, Lutz, etc. The aesthetic of Ep5 has been very nostalgic and I'm glad they went this route for the 30th Anniversary.
The first Dragon EQ was on the day of the 30th Anniversary too, that was really fun.
Phantasy Star Lore Whore/ARKS Layer Discord Mod
カレン (Zysets)- PSO2JP
Karen - Clementine
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