A bit of devil's advocate here: it was alright. No doubt better than what we've gotten so far, but I maintain the stance that the MSQ is still by far the weakest part of the game.
My biggest issue with the MSQ and cutscenes in general is... the horrid cinematography.  It seems an awful, gripe-y complaint, I know, but every time a cutscene flicks on I immediately feel a massive disconnect from whatever is happening. Yes, I know its an MMO with whatever restraints, but its almost painful to watch (and hear) this after literally anything else. Scenes unfold far too slowly, everyone looks like a robot, and for some reason, SE insists on cutting to WoL for 5 seconds just to watch her fire off an emote. Why? Stahp, SE. Please hire someone.
On the upside, some of the lore drops were pretty juicy. I thought the whole Ala Mhigan refugee bit was excellent, especially because it was literally spot on for a running theme of one of my characters. On the other hand, some were... not so great; SE was good with continuity until now, but I can't see the Azure Dragoon thing as anything more than a massive handwaving of the DRG questline. I don't see how the heck they'll cater to both DRGs and nonDRGs without some retconning or some such.
The deaths (or implied deaths) were cool. Its nice to see that the main cadre aren't bulletproof, but the whole staggered self-sacrifices bit was just a bit much. I've seen and played that far too many times :/ Minfy hasn't redeemed herself as a worthwhile character yet, so she probably isn't dead and will likely do something cool in Heavensward. Tiny effeminate Elezen boy is necessary as the 'good side' playmaker, since no one else has a brain. Fortunately, he's slowly growing on me now that he has to face his imperfections and failures of possibly ruining everything.
For now, I'm stuck wondering when LimLo and Grid will get their time to shine, now that Ishgard is pretty much queued up for the forseeable future. Ul'dah is an excellent setting, but at this point it may as well be the capitol of Eorzea. Let's get more of the Shroud being utterly terrifying like it was in 1.0. Or hell, do anything in Limsa that isn't pirates and Primals.
My biggest issue with the MSQ and cutscenes in general is... the horrid cinematography.  It seems an awful, gripe-y complaint, I know, but every time a cutscene flicks on I immediately feel a massive disconnect from whatever is happening. Yes, I know its an MMO with whatever restraints, but its almost painful to watch (and hear) this after literally anything else. Scenes unfold far too slowly, everyone looks like a robot, and for some reason, SE insists on cutting to WoL for 5 seconds just to watch her fire off an emote. Why? Stahp, SE. Please hire someone.
On the upside, some of the lore drops were pretty juicy. I thought the whole Ala Mhigan refugee bit was excellent, especially because it was literally spot on for a running theme of one of my characters. On the other hand, some were... not so great; SE was good with continuity until now, but I can't see the Azure Dragoon thing as anything more than a massive handwaving of the DRG questline. I don't see how the heck they'll cater to both DRGs and nonDRGs without some retconning or some such.
The deaths (or implied deaths) were cool. Its nice to see that the main cadre aren't bulletproof, but the whole staggered self-sacrifices bit was just a bit much. I've seen and played that far too many times :/ Minfy hasn't redeemed herself as a worthwhile character yet, so she probably isn't dead and will likely do something cool in Heavensward. Tiny effeminate Elezen boy is necessary as the 'good side' playmaker, since no one else has a brain. Fortunately, he's slowly growing on me now that he has to face his imperfections and failures of possibly ruining everything.
For now, I'm stuck wondering when LimLo and Grid will get their time to shine, now that Ishgard is pretty much queued up for the forseeable future. Ul'dah is an excellent setting, but at this point it may as well be the capitol of Eorzea. Let's get more of the Shroud being utterly terrifying like it was in 1.0. Or hell, do anything in Limsa that isn't pirates and Primals.
