[Megathread] Final Fantasy XIV

[Eleccybubb]

To be honest if 4.4 shows nothing of interest I'll probably take a break. And resub to at least claim my demolished house reimbursement.

[Graeham]

I don't doubt that 4.4 will be interesting. It's just a matter of whether or not it'll have content that lasts.

As far as the new raid is concerned whether I do it more than once a week is entirely dependent on what the gear rewarded from it looks like. I haven't farmed the regular raid stuff since the days of Alexander's second tier. I really wanted the MCH set back then and still use it as my MCH glamour to this day.

If I don't like the look of the glamour for any of the jobs I play, though...then I only do the raid for the weapon token. After that, I only touch it if it happens to show up in a roulette. My prediction is that we'll be getting a new Rival Wings map and a Rival Wings roulette. That'll be staggered by a month and the third Eureka map will be staggered by two months.

I do miss the days where everything in a content patch went live on day one.

[Kazgrel]

4.4 should prove to be okay, since it’ll wrap up Omega and further lead us in the direction of the next xpac (story wise).

Fanfest and the inevitable 5.0/xpac 3 announcement will determine whether I stick around for the remainder of 4.4 (at that point) and beyond. If it’s little more than a really spruced up patch, I’ll likely be out for some time, even if it means I lose my house. While I love the house, I can just opt for using our FC’s house.

They’re going to need to show us they can at least bend the mold a bit with 5.0.

[Eleccybubb]

4.4 should prove to be okay, since it’ll wrap up Omega and further lead us in the direction of the next xpac (story wise).

Fanfest and the inevitable 5.0/xpac 3 announcement will determine whether I stick around for the remainder of 4.4 (at that point) and beyond. If it’s little more than a really spruced up patch, I’ll likely be out for some time, even if it means I lose my house. While I love the house, I can just opt for using our FC’s house.

They’re going to need to show us they can at least bend the mold a bit with 5.0.

If they keep Eureka style systems going into 5.0 I won't be pleased. Simple as that.

[lawow74]

If they keep Eureka style systems going into 5.0 I won't be pleased. Simple as that.

Agreed. I don't mind the Aether system for the Deep Dungeon (especially given how it was streamlined to be generated much more quickly in HoH), but shit like elemental level can go die in a fire. If you want a large-scale instance for FATE grinds just go back to fucking Diadem's method. There are reasons why players want matchmaking and clear goals, and obtuse shit like shouting LFG and having to puzzle out how things work have gone extinct. Put succinctly, they suck. :3

[Kazgrel]

The Deep Dungeon concept is sound and actually enjoyable, with HoH at least; slogging through 100 faceroll floors in PotD to get to the tough stuff sucks and I’m glad it’s nowhere is bad in HoH. If each xpac has its own rendition of Deep Dungeon, I’m cool with that.

Diareka can either die in a fire...or the could take the few good bits of each and combine it all together to form something not as awful. I’d rather them just steer clear of such content for the foreseeable future. Question then becomes “then what?”. It’s on SE to decide and develop that. The next xpac being a glorified patch won’t work.

[Graeham]

All signs are pointing towards 5.0 following the same build as 4.0 and 3.0. Personally I'm fine with that - so long as we don't see the story stuff split between two completely different regions. I didn't care much about Ala Mhigo and having three zones devoted to it rubbed me the wrong way when it came at the cost of Othard only having three zones as well.

I also think FFXIV is, unfortunately, not highly valued by Square Enix. They seem to be using it to make money and then funneling that into other projects rather than investing it back into the game itself. FFXV likely would have collapsed upon itself if not for FFXIV's profits supporting it.

[Kazgrel]

The story being split into two regions didn’t bother me, but what did bug the shit out of me is the wasted potential, specifically with Gyr Abania. MSQ barely touched half the Lochs; the entire catacomb area served as little more than a maze to navigate to reach an aether current. That cave in the north part of Azim is another. Same could be said of areas in Heavensward, too.

Lot of the (justifiable) salt about Pagos has been seeping into me as of late...

[Katchii]

I won't be subbing to FFXIV long term ever again unless something changes in the end game. I have no interest in long term Eureka type content. I did it once in Anemos, fully upgrading my RDM gear set, but realized that once I hit cap that the only thing keeping me going was the actual leveling part. I unsubbed a few weeks ago and haven't missed it at all. I lost a house I bought because I hadn't logged in for so long and I was more pissed about having to find a place to put all my shit from the house than actually losing the house...

I'll come back during the big patches where they progress the story and stuff and I'll grind where I need to to get the gear I need to progress, but that's it. FFXIV has lost a lot of it's charm over the last year, IMO. I still love it, just as I still love SW:ToR, but there's just not enough stuff I care to do to make a sub worth it right now.

That interview didn't help on that front either, with very little if any hint at the paradigm shifting or changing, we'll be getting more of the same. We'll see how this pans out, I guess.

[Eleccybubb]

Tbh I don't mind if the game does what it usually does. But without Eureka.

I mean I loved doing my Zeta weapon even though it was in Heavensward and I loved doing my Anima.

This however has just killed any desire for me to do it past Anemos.

If they are intent on continuing with this style of content with the whole "carrot on the stick" rubbish then they can forget it. It's not fun mindlessly FATE grinding when they said Eureka would be new and fresh.

And I bet Logos or w/e it's called even with this "class system" will be more or less the same thing.

[Florena]

I want to keep up with the relic this time but I just hate Eureka so much. Mindless grinding mobs is not fun, and neither is chasing NMs that I'm under leveled for and getting killed over and over my monsters trying to even get to them.

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The story being split into two regions didn’t bother me, but what did bug the shit out of me is the wasted potential, specifically with Gyr Abania. MSQ barely touched half the Lochs; the entire catacomb area served as little more than a maze to navigate to reach an aether current. That cave in the north part of Azim is another. Same could be said of areas in Heavensward, too.

Lot of the (justifiable) salt about Pagos has been seeping into me as of late...

I get thematically that doing both 'rebel against the empire' stories together makes sense. But ultimately it feels to me like it cut both stories short. Made both victories feel too easy, too fast. And it also means we don't get a proper city for ala mhigo which really irks me. I don't get why they made Kugane the main city. It has nothing to do with ala mhigo OR doma.

Even putting the region split aside I feel like the story in general just took a big step back. Revolutions made it seem like maybe we'd explore some moral ambiguity, but nope. Good guys are good guys. Bad guys are bad, except for the one that seems to be coming over to our side now. Yotsuyu could have been interesting but her character was too poorly handled to be engaging and was just relieved rather than happy or sad to see her die and out of the plot along with her stupid brother. Zenos is a 1 dimensional anime villain who exists only to be a strong thing to fight. I really hope 4.4 is more interesting story wise, and it may well be if they go somewhere interesting with TotallyNotGaius and the empire plot.

[lawow74]

I'm wondering if Logos will basically be them saying 'okay, now instead of leveling up an elemental level you level up an offspec level' so you can swap between tank, heal and DPS roles in there'. Potentially interesting if so, but more likely it'll be that on top of yet. more. elemental. level. grind. and instead let you swap around your role some in the field.

I'm alright with the overall story, I feel that Zenos is a piss-poor villain and Hien is a little too perfect as a character. Yotsuyu's arc was a little flat, I'd hoped they'd not fall into the cliche of 'I remember I am evil so I am evil again' but so be it, crackpipe rabbit bitch FTW. There's still hope with Fordola, though. Likewise I don't mind the overall content model, I just hate the pointless level wall of Eureka.

I also doubt they'll be adding new tank or heal jobs in 5.0, I'm betting it'll be more DPS roles. I'm betting we get another ranged physical DPS to pair with MCH and BRD, and perhaps someone to pair with NIN on their gear. So Gunblade and Dancer, perhaps. I just hope they go through with the combo button squish for PvE alongside it. That's my biggest holdout for the xpac, TBH. That and the hope they'll stop with this silly raid-drop-required nonsense to getting a Tomestone weapon.

[Kazgrel]

The Anima weapons, despite the bit of salt they generated at times (namely with the unidentified step and umbrite) were infinitely better as a casual grind/progression. You didn’t have to run ARF until you barfed; I didn’t and had 8 of them done before SB. I don’t see me finishing more than 2 right now unless the light farm in Pagos is nerfed into the ground.

[lawow74]

I agree it's obnoxious they funneled you into only one activity to get relic progression, having more choices would have been better. I don't look for them to nerf the Light grind in Pagos until at least the next Eureka phase is added, if not until after the last relic steps are available. I think that's going to be the point they turtle on, forcing that grind to be as long as possible to keep the diehards churning away and justify their shitty design decisions with 'see? people are doing it, you were all wrong, it's good content because people do it!'

[Eleccybubb]

I agree it's obnoxious they funneled you into only one activity to get relic progression, having more choices would have been better. I don't look for them to nerf the Light grind in Pagos until at least the next Eureka phase is added, if not until after the last relic steps are available. I think that's going to be the point they turtle on, forcing that grind to be as long as possible to keep the diehards churning away and justify their shitty design decisions with 'see? people are doing it, you were all wrong, it's good content because people do it!'

Reminds me of Rift when the devs released shitty content or put BiS stuff behind Conquest and said "YEAH IT'S POPULAR/GOOD CONTENT CUZ PPL DOIN IT"

Uh no.... It's popular because you put the best shit behind it. Not because people like it.

[Florena]

That's what bugged me about it and made it feel - to me - like nothing really happened.

The lead up was so awesome. End of Heavensward was actually pretty thrilling to me. Loved how they handled Griffin being you know who because it was a twist that made sense and if you thought about it you'd probably guess before seeing it. Loved the whole false flag operation, the feeling that shit was hitting the fan thanks to it all, and finally that it was just too much for us to handle alone, and so on.

And then we get to Ala Mhigo and it's like the writers said, "Ah, fuck it, you know you're gonna win. Whatever, just get on with it. You know what, just sail all the damn way around the world mid-operation and casually free Doma while you're at it too, whatever. The imperials all went on an extended lunch, Zenos is just a cardboard cutout and - ah, you know what, fuck it - that Shinryu thing that was just too damn strong and required so much work and sacrifice just to slow down? Yeah, just 1v1 that, too. Whatever."

(Also the dumbest "twist reveal" ever, although I guess it was technically at the end of HW, not in SB proper. "Haha I'm not actually Bob. Bob is dead. You never even knew Bob, actually. I'm someone else entirely. Ok, moving on.")

I know we're supposed to be basically a demi-god and whatnot, but I felt like SB just kinda played on that too much. (Although, please note that I'm comparing SB with the quality of story that I got used to in XIV. It's still better than anything else in the genre.)

Yeah. Shinryu should have had some kind of explanation for why we could fight it and beat it beyond 'oh you're 10 levels higher now.' Same with Zenos himseslf, we don't stand a chance the first two times but then suddenly we can fight him in Ala Mhigo? We needed a plot coupon to beat Fordola but not him?

We went to Doma to start a revolution in order to divide the empire's attention, but somehow went from that to liberating doma in one fell swoop. Nobody ever questioned whether using the Xaela's ceremonial battle thing to drag them into Doma's war was ethical or not. Yotsuyu was literally not qualified for her job and only had it because Zenos wanted her to mess with the domans.

The attack on Rhalgr's reach felt so poorly written. At first it shows that Zenos is a badass, okay that's fine. But then...the empire leaves? They lave the Resistance with enough forces to still occupy the Reach? Why? What the hell? Being driven out and retaking it when we return to Gyr Abania later might have worked, but in this version Zenos just decides he's bored I guess and retreats? There's no reason they shouldn't have driven the resistance out then and there.

The only other moment that felt like a setback was when Fordola fired on on both the resistance and her own men, but even that didn't actually slow us down much and was just an excuse to get rid of the rest of the skulls rather than doing something interesting with them. Then half of the Lochs is unused. Maybe they have plans in 4.4 or 4.5 but I'm not confident about that.

The lyrics to Revolutions made me think there would be some moral ambiguity, some questioning of the true price of this war and if it was worth it, if the occupation might have had some benefits, but we don't really get anything. Zenos lacks any depth and is an evil cardboard cutout and there's no ambituity at all. Empire bad Scions and Friends good.

[Graeham]

I suspect the moral ambiguity will become more obvious as of 4.4 when we finally start seeing things from Garlemald's point of view. Ishgard wasn't shown in a very flattering light at first, yet that changed once we were able to explore the city for ourselves and come to understand their circumstances better.

I suspect that the developers didn't necessarily want to explore Ala Mhigo to any great extent and thus rushed through it as quickly as possible. It's not a particularly pleasant place and its people have consistently been shown to be violent and selfish. An expansion purely focused on Othard and Hingashi would have gone down much better, I suspect.

[lawow74]

They only flirted a little with moral ambiguity in the backstory of Yotsuyu and the ugliness of her life helping mold her into the monster she was, and with Fordola's early life experiences and how her parents were treated for collaborating with the Garleans. Zenos was just 'grunt grunt I are strong and bored make me not bored grunt grunt'. I suppose they have a chance to do more with him now, but I have a feeling it'll just be 'grunt grunt I am revenge grunt grunt'. And we'll kill him. Again.

[Rogalicus]

I hated how they handled Yotsuyu. She was kind and innocent and seemed to care greatly for Gosetsu...and then she gets her memory back and is just like, "Oh, time to go back to being evil I guess."

I think she just snapped after hearing how her relatives wanted to sell her to brothel for the second time the moment they see her again and after killing them realised that there can be no peaceful life for her.

[Graeham]

I liked what they did with Yotsuyu. She had good reason to hate Doma and all it stood for - so the idea of her remaining childlike and submissive never sat well with me given that she was a victim of physical, emotional and sexual abuse. She went out on her own terms as herself with the bonus of being able to get rid of the three people who tormented her the most. There was an element of tragedy to it all and it was highly unlikely that she'd ever be able to live a normal life. She'd either be mentally stunted or living with the traumatic memories of the past. In either case, she would have been a prisoner.

Yotsuyu wasn't evil so much as she was a product of Doma's sins. As it stands, I'm not convinced that much has been done to prevent another Yotsuyu from emerging...especially since the Domans were all too swift to avoid addressing the 'why' behind her actions. If not for Yotsuyu's speech at the end of Doma Castle - and her survival - it's likely that the entire thing would have been brushed under the rug by the Domans.