Speaking of ARR, I can pinpoint the level and the part of the story where it clearly kicks up a notch and that's right after the horrendous series of quests around level 30 to 34 that have you running about for no particularly good reason across a long map, which everyone hates. I should probably do a playthrough on an alt just to see how long it would take me to reach this point. Before this, the story is setting up the main cast and the conflicts Eozea is facing, which is why if you're looking to be thrown into action it will be slow. The latter half of ARR is honestly great and the job questlines have good stories as well, some featuring characters that will be prominent later.
When ARR first launched a lot of people were singing the story's praises not unlike today. So as far as story is concerned ARR isn't a horrible slog. It's the quest structure that's the culprit. The dev team learned from that and subsequent expansions have considerably less quests to get through and more cutscenes (and CG prerendered sequences).
That being said. You need to be able to push the fear of missing out mentality away and enjoy the game for what it is, not for what eventually comes. Yeah the thread title is hyperbolic, but that's me being a big dumb fan of the thing. I love the game because when I started playing I already enjoyed the presentation of the cutscenes and dialogue, and the cast grew on me. If you're playing to rush towards the expansions then you deny the game any level of investment in the cast and narrative that they all stem from. Basically if you dislike reading, dislike the prose of the characters, or dislike that cutscenes aren't always fully animated and voiced and demand that kind of presentation from your gaming experience, then you will have a hard time enjoying XIV's story and cast. And if you completely despise the combat system, then you will also have a hard time enjoying the game.
And on the topic of combat- it isn't push the right buttons in the right order over and over. It's push the right buttons in the right order in the best situation while dodging a huge area of effect zone attack while setting up your resources for the next attack phase while breaking the tether the boss just put on you and another person that would kill you both if you don't break it soon enough. Or it's keeping your tanks healed and proactively guarding them from the attack the boss is telegraphing, or keeping them alive through a huge pull of monsters that would chew through them if you aren't prepared. Or it's keeping enemies off your party and shielding them with a skill when the boss fight isn't going so well and it shoots off an attack that might otherwise wipe the party. There's a lot of situational skills and playstyles supported by different jobs and wringing it down to pushing buttons in sequence is disingenuous. Combat at lower levels is simplistic compared to higher level combat, but that seems like RPG 101 if anything.
ARR is a good game. It wouldn't have succeeded if it weren't. There are parts of it that are annoying to get through, and I believe this is because of the quest structure and number, which are slated to be addressed at some point in the next year or so with a revamp of the base game content. The story is very good. The cast are good. If you absolutely hate the combat, or the presentation of the cutscenes, or hate having to read, then yeah, this game probably isn't for you. That's not going to stop me from yelling about it being the best FF, because it is. Yes it's hyperbolic, but I'm not even downplaying or attacking the other FF titles. It really is just that good, and it's because it has taken the time to set up the world and characters that are in it, and has grown and challenged them many times already before this expansion. Shadowbringers is payoff for all of that in massive, massive spades.
