[Coda]

Simply put, it's an MMO. It's structured like an MMO. It has a plot built for an MMO. It has character development like an MMO.

In more words: The game has to assume that the only character present at all times is a single player character, that character is representative of the player instead of simply being a character controlled by the player, and that character is going to be interacting with thousands of other player characters proceeding through the same game. This means that there's no band of heroes traveling together. The hero gets no defining character arcs. The hero gets no relationships with any other persistent characters. Because it is a simple fact of necessity that the role of player character MUST be utterly generic, able to be filled by ANYONE. You have no legacy. You have no destiny. You have no family. You have no backstory. You have no friends. You don't even have your own personal enemies; the enemies you fight are all SOMEONE ELSE'S enemies and you're just the one stepping up to do the fighting.

This is unlike every other main-series Final Fantasy game except for FF1 and FF3 -- and FF1 was a pioneer in the genre, so it has an excuse. And FF3 at least TRIES to do it with the generic nameless heroes; they at least have a nominal backstory and a hometown and get recognized on an individual basis by the NPCs.