[Megathread] Final Fantasy XIV

[Aurimas]

Well... day late and a dollar short since you already re-installed windows, but...

On PC you can back up all your settings. It's in [My Documents]/My Games/[Something FFXIV sounding]
And in wow you could have done that too. Everyone reading this should make a backup right now!

The launcher also has a backup feature... but the wording makes it sound like it's only for the UI. I have not used it, so I'm unsure,

It's also really useful for copying settings if you make an alt. Problem is that each character is in its own very cryptic sounding folder. You need to do a bit of hacking to figure out which folder to transfer the settings out of. I open the logs in notepad to read the text to try and guess which character it is.

Your UI, your macros, your hotbars, everything is in different files. You can copy the files you need to the other character... or just back up the whole FFXIV folder if you just need a backup.

The cryptic string of letters and numbers that represents your character folder (seems like it) is your forever. When you re-install the random folder will be the same for each charecter... so it's just a matter of copying your backup right back to where it was... and poof: all your settings are restored.

If you are savvy with the operating system, you can move it from your MyGames folder into your DropBox (or whatever) folder. Then you make a hard-link (junction) back into your MyGames folder. This way it all backs up automaticly whenever you make a change. That's what I do. FFXIV thinks it's writing to your MyGames folder, but since you made a hard-link it's actually writing to your DropBox folder.

I almost think someone should clean up my wording, figure out the exact paths, and make this a sticky or something. I've pointed it out in this thread a half dozen times, and in my FC chat about as often. Always once it's too late. There's obviously a need for this information. OK, it's probabaly not worth a sticky, but I feel bad for people whenever I hear this and wish more people knew it.

Bleh gotta reinstall this since my system decided to either get malware or fuck up and I had to basically reinstall Windows. Gonna be fun doing the HUD layout again. -,-

While I'm not privy to your HUD configuration/layout, I much prefer dealing with that over having to the dozen or so mods I had to have in order to play WoW properly...

[Berethos08]

If Squeenix are insistant on keeping the story line intact, then they should consider abridging the quest line to just the key points and cut it down to maybe 15-20 or so quests. In it's current form, it feels like Fetch Questing hell.

I'm cringing at how bad the pacing would be if they did something like this - imagine your favorite TV show, but it's just the climactic moments of each episode in a season slammed together into one episode. That's basically what you're advocating, and it's simply put a terrible idea. I see this a lot from those that don't carry about the story, but you've grossly underestimated how much of the 2.x series is important to both events that go on then and future events (hell, the refugee/Ul'dah/Omega stuff that was part of those events is a critical aspect of the upcoming expansion). There's maybe 15 quests that are legit filler, as in "go and do stuff with one of the cast while we 'wait' for this other thing to develop/finish researching this stuff/wait to hear back from dude in that other place" type stuff that doesn't directly move the story forward. Things like fetching tea or hanging out with Tataru as she tries out different jobs/professions. Those are very much the minority of quests.

While there might be a more ideal solution in uncoupling being able to do dungeons and raids and enter zones from unlocking them via the story (so you can do Sastasha at 15 or Haukke Manor at 28 or whatever at whatever level when you reach it, but the story quests themselves can only be done in order), removing story content for the sake of those that don't care about the story content doesn't even come close to making any sense.

Not to mention the development time it would take to rewrite in multiple languages, test for issues with quests being flagged...and then be expected to go back and do it again for the Heavensward 3.x series, and the Stormblood 4.x series...

I'd rather they not waste development time on removing things for those that don't care about them in the first place.

[Eleccybubb]

Well... day late and a dollar short since you already re-installed windows, but...

On PC you can back up all your settings. It's in [My Documents]/My Games/[Something FFXIV sounding]
And in wow you could have done that too. Everyone reading this should make a backup right now!

It's also really useful for copying settings if you make an alt. Problem is that each character is in its own very cryptic sounding folder. You need to do a bit of hacking to figure out which folder to transfer the settings out of. I open the logs in notepad to read the text to try and guess which character it is.

Your UI, your macros, your hotbars, everything is in different files. You can copy the files you need to the other character... or just back up the whole FFXIV folder if you just need a backup.

The cryptic string of letters and numbers that represents your character folder (seems like it) is your forever. When you re-install the random folder will be the same for each charecter... so it's just a matter of copying your backup right back to where it was... and poof: all your settings are restored.

If you are savvy with the operating system, you can move it from your MyGames folder into your DropBox (or whatever) folder. Then you make a hard-link (junction) back into your MyGames folder. This way it all backs up automaticly whenever you make a change. That's what I do. FFXIV thinks it's writing to your MyGames folder, but since you made a hard-link it's actually writing to your DropBox folder.

I almost think someone should clean up my wording, figure out the exact paths, and make this a sticky or something. I've pointed it out in this thread a half dozen times, and in my FC chat about as often. Always once it's too late. There's obviously a need for this information. OK, it's probabaly not worth a sticky, but I feel bad for people whenever I hear this and wish more people knew it.

Meh I figured I'd do a clean install anyway.

[StrawberryZebra]

I personally enjoy the story, as cliche and rote as it is, I become invested in it, follow it, and my character becomes a part of it lending weight to the actions I take.
-snip-
I like story and enjoy it as a valuable part of the game.

On the one hand you have context for your actions, which is good and well. But then saying that the context you perform those actions in is more important than the actions themselves diminishes Games as a medium. The player has agency within the game world, thats what makes games unique. By handcuffing players to a strict story, developers remove a vast portion of that agency and all of what makes gaming special.

Let's suppose that you have a quest to, I don't know.. Pick 10 apples to make a pie. Would you only do it within the context of the quest alone, or would you pick apples and make pies anyway because you loved doing it? Would you do it to find out more about the old Lady who's the quest giver? Is the game better or worse for having this old lady give you explanatory text and a series of simple quests to perform various pie-making related tasks? Which would you enjoy more, finding out about the quest giver, or doing the quests to make that pie?

For me, the fact that I can pick my own apples and make a pie out of them is story enough. I like being able to decide my own narative within the game world, being chained to a series of story quests.

How do you feel about those times where the games story conflicts with the games mechanics? Final Fantasy is notorious for them. Like when Tellah/Galuf/Cid/Aeris etc etc dies and you can't just use a Phoenix down on them and bring them back to life. I find them to be totally obnoxious, since the game's story is overriding what I've understood the rules of the game to be.

Let's look at a couple of other examples. Have you ever played Super Mario? I'm going to assume the answer is yes, because well... Who hasn't? The context for the entirity of your actions are that you're on a journey to rescue the Princess. Do you need a detailed reason for why there are Ice worlds, giant worlds, ridable dinousaurs within the game universe too?

What about the Legend of Zelda, have you played and of those? If not you should, they're fantastic games for the most part. I bring them up too because the context for the players actions in them are exactly the same as they are in Mario - You're on a journey to rescue the princess. If you enjoyed the story of Mario, would you also enjoy a practically identical story delivered in a different genre?

I'm not trying to be confrontational here, not at all. I realise that it may come off that way but that's not my intention. I'm simply trying to understand your point of view.

I became old and I need the story to make me MMO. And I like this way.

Thanks for your input. It was very insightful .

I'm cringing at how bad the pacing would be if they did something like this - imagine your favorite TV show, but it's just the climactic moments of each episode in a season slammed together into one episode. That's basically what you're advocating, and it's simply put a terrible idea.

I thought those quest chains already totally killed the pace of the game anyway. The story proceded at a decent enough pace until level 50, beyond which it would probably be overtaken by passing snails. Despite that, the climax of the chain where you get accused of regicide is still rushed and comes complete with wafer thin reasons for everyone to be split up and a complete deus ex machina escape.

What makes things even more jarring for me is that by this point in the story it is well established that you can use Linkpearls to communicate with other people. Do I need to bother going all that way to visit Alphinaud in Ul'dah when I can just phone him? Does Raubahn really not have the Warrior of Light on speed dial?

Rather than it being one episode with all the best moments of the show in, I would prefer it to be something more like DBZ Kai - Where they keep the story intact, but remove all those filler episodes where Goku and Frieza are just screaming at each other while recapping the story up until that point. They could cut out all the busy-work filler quests, cut out the recaps and just tell it in a much shorter and better paced quest line.

Moenbryda NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

/crys in corner

Shame he couldn't kill Minfilia and/or Tataru instead. He has to go and kill the only character involved with the story who has more than one personality trait, the bastard. It's a testament to how bad Squeenix do their characters that even Hoary Boulder and Coultent have more identifiable personalities than the main cast of Scions. It's a sad day when the supporting cast overshadow the main characters in the story. Yes, I get it, Thancred is a womaniser. Stop beating me over the head with it!

[Katchii]

I'm not trying to be confrontational here, not at all. I realise that it may come off that way but that's not my intention. I'm simply trying to understand your point of view.

To put it as plainly as I can, I just enjoy story and having a game be somewhat on rails as a result of being drawn into and pushed through that story with my actions being directly linked to the progression of the story. Even mediocre and badly written stories can be enjoyable to me simply because I'm experiencing a story and I want to see where it ends (though most are predictable). There are some that are so cringeworthy and bad I can't finish, but FFXIV is far from that level of bad.

I do not like sandbox games, I like theme park type games. Sandbox games provide too much freedom IMO and leave me with so much to think about and do and choices that I get overwhelmed and ultimately choose to do nothing. In many of them, because of all the freedom you have to do whatever you want, the way they're designed to allow everyone to be mostly successful at whatever it is they want to do, it makes me feel that nothing truly impacts my character's progression so it feels like I'm accomplishing nothing or very little if/ when I play them.

Your examples of Mario and Zelda are vastly different IMO. Mario is a VERY loose game that just has you rescuing a princess with no other story elements for the most part. In Zelda, you're directed to certain areas and into every major dungeon as a result of the overarching story. There's lots of ancillary stuff to do when you get to some areas, and at a certain point you have every item and have access to every area of the game so you have access to more of those ancillary things, but ultimately the game is story driven...with a bunch of side stuff to keep you occupied.

You and I just seem to have vastly different opinions on what we find entertaining, and therefore have difficulty wrapping our heads around WHY you find entertainment in some areas. Such is the beauty of individuality. I like FFXIV the way it is.

[Berethos08]

I thought those quest chains already totally killed the pace of the game anyway. The story proceded at a decent enough pace until level 50, beyond which it would probably be overtaken by passing snails. Despite that, the climax of the chain where you get accused of regicide is still rushed and comes complete with wafer thin reasons for everyone to be split up and a complete deus ex machina escape.

What makes things even more jarring for me is that by this point in the story it is well established that you can use Linkpearls to communicate with other people. Do I need to bother going all that way to visit Alphinaud in Ul'dah when I can just phone him? Does Raubahn really not have the Warrior of Light on speed dial?

Rather than it being one episode with all the best moments of the show in, I would prefer it to be something more like DBZ Kai - Where they keep the story intact, but remove all those filler episodes where Goku and Frieza are just screaming at each other while recapping the story up until that point. They could cut out all the busy-work filler quests, cut out the recaps and just tell it in a much shorter and better paced quest line.

The chain that climaxes with you being accused of regicide got it's start back in the mid-20s when you first worked with Little Ala Mhigo (it serves as a sort of prologue) and then begins in earnest with the creation of the Crystal Braves in like patch 2.1 or 2.2. They do a lot of building toward that climax in the 2.x series alone.

You also apparently missed the several mentions about how Linkpearls can be messed with or how they aren't a completely secure line of communication, and while it's not always the case when you're called back it's typically to discuss/plan/talk about more sensitive matters or the group's next move - not really the kind of thing to be carried out over the fantasy equivalent of a cell phone.

As for what you would prefer...you haven't answered my earlier question.

Why should the developers waste development time to cut out content they created for your sake, a person who has admitted they don't really care for the story?

[DeltrusDisc]

Personally, I'd just go derp around in Palace of the Dead as a way to kind of speed-level your bar back up from the start and play around with the class abilities.

While it's been a very long time since I've played, is Palace of the Dead a new place? I made it to max level but don't really remember that name of a place...

[Berethos08]

Yes, I get it, Thancred is a womaniser. Stop beating me over the head with it!

Funny, I also got the sense that he hides a much more caring side behind that womanizing facet of his personality and is deeply committed to helping his friends, sometimes pushing himself too hard.

I could continue with him, or list the multiple identifiable personality traits of the other Scions.

Amazing the things you notice when you pay attention to the story instead of griping that it's not the length of a Run, Jane, Run children's book.

- - - Updated - - -

While it's been a very long time since I've played, is Palace of the Dead a new place? I made it to max level but don't really remember that name of a place...

It was added shortly after patch 3.3 - mechanically it's an alternative to leveling with some light rogue-like features that lets you try out higher levels of a class/job much quicker and is group content generally without the restrictions of needing a tank+healer+2 damage dealers.

Story wise it picks up the Edda arc that originally began just before Sastasha and originally ended with Tam-Tara Hard Mode.

[lawow74]

While it's been a very long time since I've played, is Palace of the Dead a new place? I made it to max level but don't really remember that name of a place...

It's the Deep Dungeon, a rogue-lite series of floors with randomized layouts, traps and spawns of given enemies per floor set. You can find the quest to unlock it in Gridania.

On that note, I just finished my last battle job to 60 in POTD.

[zito]

Just got to ishgard but...

Fuck everything

Fuck everything that fucking happened I think I'll just roll myself into a ball and sit in a corner cause Omfg that hour ass long cutscene Jesus Christ

As soon as I saw the wine I just knew this was going to be emotional

[Kaelwryn]

Just got to ishgard but...

Fuck everything

Fuck everything that fucking happened I think I'll just roll myself into a ball and sit in a corner cause Omfg that hour ass long cutscene Jesus Christ

As soon as I saw the wine I just knew this was going to be emotional

There, there. *Hands a cup of hot chocolate*

[Eleccybubb]

There, there. *Hands a cup of hot chocolate*

We need alcohol for this. Lots and lots of it. And unless @zito likes White Wine, Whiskey or a myriad of cocktails then I'm no use.

[Remilia]

There, there. *Hands a cup of hot chocolate*

Spike it, helps it along.

[DeltrusDisc]

Just got to ishgard but...

Fuck everything

Fuck everything that fucking happened I think I'll just roll myself into a ball and sit in a corner cause Omfg that hour ass long cutscene Jesus Christ

As soon as I saw the wine I just knew this was going to be emotional

One of the most amazing cutscenes I've ever seen in a game, if not THE most amazing...

[dope_danny]

Just got to ishgard but...

Fuck everything

Fuck everything that fucking happened I think I'll just roll myself into a ball and sit in a corner cause Omfg that hour ass long cutscene Jesus Christ

As soon as I saw the wine I just knew this was going to be emotional

and thats why people care about the story. Just remember, do it for her.

- - - Updated - - -

So being the Garo pvp event is on the way i figured it was time to finally jump back into pvp since i enjoyed it tons as NIN and wondered why i stopped.

Then i remembered why.

I'm in the immortal flames. Nobody in immortal flames does pvp.

The patch cannot come soon enough!

Seriously though i used to have this happen in WoW near the end of an expansion, knowing theres a set BiS for PVE and PVP as of next patch till june i feel okay with jumping into pvp without chasing the upkeep.
Question is do you just go in with your relic and alex gear or craft up some white quality 'wolf' gear, jump in at lvl.30 or lvl.50 and earn the marks for the low ilvl stuff and work up?

[Graeham]

One of the most amazing cutscenes I've ever seen in a game, if not THE most amazing...

It makes me wonder how they intend to top it when we get the pre-expansion scenes in March.

[DeltrusDisc]

It makes me wonder how they intend to top it when we get the pre-expansion scenes in March.

It's very possible they can't top it, but I'd love to see an admirable attempt! If it's even 80% as good, I'll still be blown away. After WoW: Legion, just about anything in FF is better. =S WoW Legion was good, but lacked a lot of good storytelling opportunities I think and the storytelling they DID do was cliched as can be!

Tangent achieved.

[zito]

I thought the initial story was pretty meh but these post release story missions are really good

and thats why people care about the story. Just remember, do it for her.

FUUUUUUCCCK UUUUUUU

- - - Updated - - -

It makes me wonder how they intend to top it when we get the pre-expansion scenes in March.

I don't think they can, that was extremely intense

- - - Updated - - -

is there like an old thread somehwere on the official forums that has everyones reaction to that cause omg I'm like 3 years late but damn

[dope_danny]

is there like an old thread somehwere on the official forums that has everyones reaction to that cause omg I'm like 3 years late but damn

I believe my reaction as those credits rolled was something akin to "Square did it. They finally made a Final Fantasy Story post IX where i actually care about the characters again. After the goddamn decade of lightning the end of A Realm Reborn was a return to the Final Fantasy i loved so much on the PS1 that never really showed up in the PS2/3 games. I honestly think if we didn't get moments like ARR's finale then maybe the 4 main characters in FFXV may have been a lot less emotional and just more generic jrpg post Advent Children emo kids. Yoshi didn't just save a failing mmo, he and his team arguably saved face for the Final Fantasy brand at a time when eve die hards like myself were considering it over the hill.

[Jun]

Cutscene leading to Heavensward was pretty great, but lemme tell ya something.

The feels train hasn't derailed just yet.

Brochefaunt.... ; _ ; 7