Final Fantasy 14's Story and the Option to Skip
Final Fantasy 14‘s story is so good that the game’s director and producer, Naoki Yoshida, has revealed plans for a second starting point for new players. In an interview with Famitsu, Yoshida explains that a skip would be possible through in-game features that provide lore and background information up until patch 6.0, with the actual starting point being patch 6.1. However, he recommends starting from the beginning, as the earlier expansions have been improved and updated.
PC Gamer reports that the skip might not be implemented in the game’s 7.0 update, as the team is still undecided. Skipping to patch 6.1, the update following Dawntrail, would mean missing out on one of the best tales in the Final Fantasy series and the RPG genre as a whole. Final Fantasy 14 currently requires hundreds of hours to complete, and even skipping cutscenes would take a long time to catch up with friends. Including a second entry point now, with the release of Dawntrail, would be fitting since it wraps up a 10-year story arc and starts a new adventure.
However, the story is a significant part of the game’s appeal, and skipping it means missing out on what makes the game special. Design considerations would also need to be made to ensure that new players can handle the difficulty of Endwalker’s dungeons, which have not been adjusted for new players.
Having a skip option has been a long time coming, especially for players who want to create alternate characters. However, including one now, with the release of Dawntrail, means that new players can jump right into the most recent expansion.
PC Gamer – “Final Fantasy 14’s next expansion lets you skip the story, but you shouldn’t use the feature, says dev”
Final Fantasy 14’s story is so good that there’s a plan to let players skip it, even with the new expansion, Dawntrail, on the way.
