#even though jp-written stories that include redemption arcs for imperiaIists are like

[deductivisms]

it might just be personal taste at the end of the day but sometimes i think about how hard it was for my brain to really engage with xiv setting and part of it was bc i felt like there was so much but also not very much at all

meanwhile w/ mh setting i feel like there's not as much but also a lot?? i'm not making sense if i put it that way and leave it at that but i feel like it took a lot longer for me to "settle" into xiv's setting bc of the sheer volume of Stuff that's There and not a lot of direct engagement with certain aspects of the setting until they're plot-relevant

vs mh where, yeah, you don't even know the name of the continent you're on, but you can easily build a character because the information you are given, while limited, tells you enough to grasp how different occupations and lifestyles slot into the setting making it easier to apply that information into your own character

this isn't to praise one game by knocking the other it's just my own personal difficulties having tried and failed multiple times to be truly 'hooked' by a game setting that i feel isn't presented very well

and obviously i know that they're two very different games, and therefore can / can't do certain things in how they present their worldbuilding - it's truly a medium thing i think..-