[Megathread] Final Fantasy XIV

[Graeham]

I thought it was another lukewarm patch. Very flashy and fun from a mechanical and visual basis but...a lot of it is just eroding away more of the 'grit' and consequences to the point where I roll my eyes whenever yet another fake death occurs. It doesn't help that the major antagonists have no real depth or nuance. I'd have liked to learn more about Garlemald's past and Amaurot.

Sadly, there's nothing on the market that appeals to me as a viable alternative. I do hope the quality of the writing steps up, though. I'm getting weary of 'feels' as a plot device.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Sadly, there's nothing on the market that appeals to me as a viable alternative. I do hope the quality of the writing steps up, though. I'm getting weary of 'feels' as a plot device.

At the risk of coming across as really annoying for constantly bringing up Trails every 5 minutes... well, I'd recommend the Trails series. It's the only other long running JRPG storyline that is sort of like FFXIV. And is good.

Not sure how much it will appeal to you. Going by your preference for the political intrigue of Ul'dah in ARR and Garlemald and FFXII and Suikoden, I think you will probably really like the plots of Trails in the Sky FC and the first two Cold Steel games. I'm guessing you probably won't like SC and CS3+4 as much, as their stories go in the same direction that latter FFXIV did, focusing more on the stereotypically JRPG/supernatural plot and "feels", with a diminished focus on the political plots. Also depends on your tolerance for "anime tropes".

Erm, sorry for bringing it up again. It's really the only other thing I can point you towards. I assume you've already played as much Suikoden and Matsuno games as you want, so it's pretty much the only thing left.

[Graeham]

At the risk of coming across as really annoying for constantly bringing up Trails every 5 minutes... well, I'd recommend the Trails series. It's the only other long running JRPG storyline that is sort of like FFXIV. And is good.

Not sure how much it will appeal to you. Going by your preference for the political intrigue of Ul'dah in ARR and Garlemald and FFXII and Suikoden, I think you will probably really like the plots of Trails in the Sky FC and the first two Cold Steel games. I'm guessing you probably won't like SC and CS3+4 as much, as their stories go in the same direction that latter FFXIV did, focusing more on the stereotypically JRPG/supernatural plot and "feels", with a diminished focus on the political plots. Also depends on your tolerance for "anime tropes".

Erm, sorry for bringing it up again. It's really the only other thing I can point you towards. I assume you've already played as much Suikoden and Matsuno games as you want, so it's pretty much the only thing left.

Nah, it's fine. I appreciate it! I actually don't mind the 'feels' stuff when I know it's what I'm being served up. I just feel a bit let down by the 'genre shift', I suppose. A lot of the plot points I expected to see payoff from in ARR and HW that hooked me and drew me into the game world just led nowhere satisfying. I also think the game is getting a bit too gratuitous with comically evil characters. I don't think we needed an extensive torture scene and it feels stupid to have so much focus on 'bad Garleans' when the likes of Regula were underutilised and basically forgotten about altogether.

[KrayZ33]

I think the new primal is one of the more fun fights I had in this game and the music is just the best.

God damn. I really love that P2 theme.

[Tome]

The story was pretty decent. In terms of story and lore for an MMO I think FFXIV is the top one out there.

Though you could tell the whole story-part of this patch was build-up after build-up, to setup the next expansion and future story-threads. Which is fine, but it was a constant "climax" with no calm parts.

I can't say I'm a fan of Fandaniel, but I guess I can accept him as a villain, for now. I'm fine with the "suicide bombing" goal of his, it's just that his persona and act makes it a bit too much. Hopefully next expansion will be able to build on him a bit more. I didn't think much of Ascians and Garleans way back when I played through ARR and HW, but grew to like and feel intrigued by them by the last half of Stormblood, so I hope my dislike or overall uninterest of both Fandaniel and Zenos as a villain pair will change.

As for Eden, I was a bit surprised by its story, and I thought it was pretty good in general. Also made me understand a bit more of what Ascians are capable of, what they are, and that some can even accept a mortal life, even if they know what they once were.

Boss fights were pretty hectic and fun.

Music is godlike as always.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Cleared Emerald Weapon Extreme. Yay!

- - - Updated - - -

I think that overall 5.3 is my favorite trial mechanically (also has the best song). I also like how the order of the mechanics in the second half of the fight is randomized, so it keeps you on your toes.

Emerald Weapon has really cool aesthetics, though. There's just something really cool about fighting inside the Garlean base, and then he hits oversoul and becomes his father, and then you're in a vision of the conquest of Terncliff, and the scene is tinged with brilliant gold contrasted by houses burning with blue cereluem fire in the background, and you're fighting against old Gaius and the ghosts of his armies. It's very strong imagery. Reminds me of the visions from the Garrosh fight at the end of 5.4

My one pet peeve is that there is a part towards the end of the second phase where you have to hit a knockback, but there is little warning and every time I hit my knockback nullifier, I still got knockbacked into the wall and died anyway.

[dope_danny]

So is anyone expecting the next expansion to not start in Terncliff leading up the continent to Garlemald at this point?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

They'd have to make the Weapon storyline mandatory for it to start in Terncliff.

It also doesn't make sense to enter Garlemald from Terncliff.

If the Alliance is going to invade into Garlemald, then aren't they going to go through the Ghimlyt Dark? IIRC the city of Werlyt is on the other side of the Ghimlyt Dark, so it would make more sense to go through there.

On the other hand, if it's just the Scions going into Garlemald, then they could go by the route Estinien took: taking a ship from Limsa to Radz-at-Han in Thavnair. Or they could travel by airship and go straight to the capital.

[Swnem]

So is anyone expecting the next expansion to not start in Terncliff leading up the continent to Garlemald at this point?

They kind of like to bait and come from left field, so i wouldn't bet on it. But, it looks possible.

[Graeham]

Well, I got banned from the official forum.

For responding to a post from a cat girl who said that male characters shouldn't get any new customisation options. All I did was quote her and say that cat girls already get plenty of attention and maybe the development team could stand to put them at the back of the queue for once.

No offensive language. No personal attacks. Though banned for 'suppressing opinions'.

?????????

Of course, there's no appeal system in place so I have to wait ten days for it to be over.

I used to love the game but I've become so disillusioned with how they're handling things lately.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

banned for 'suppressing opinions'.

Wow

It seems that the mods used to be laissez faire with the English forums, so sure you got necros and trolls posts but everybody was fine.

But if the mods are getting involved then we should be able to talk to them, ask them questions and find out what they'd consider unacceptable and so forth.

If this is going to be the way of things from now on... that's unfortunate. The official forums had indepth discussions and a wide array of opinions, unlike echochamber that is the subreddit (and possibly its discord).

[Granyala]

Well, I got banned from the official forum.

For responding to a post from a cat girl who said that male characters shouldn't get any new customisation options. All I did was quote her and say that cat girls already get plenty of attention and maybe the development team could stand to put them at the back of the queue for once.

No offensive language. No personal attacks. Though banned for 'suppressing opinions'.

?????????

Of course, there's no appeal system in place so I have to wait ten days for it to be over.

I used to love the game but I've become so disillusioned with how they're handling things lately.

Care to link the thread?
Honestly, Mods can theoretically ban you for sth like that but I have never encountered it personally.

[Merie]

Well, I got banned from the official forum.

For responding to a post from a cat girl who said that male characters shouldn't get any new customisation options. All I did was quote her and say that cat girls already get plenty of attention and maybe the development team could stand to put them at the back of the queue for once.

No offensive language. No personal attacks. Though banned for 'suppressing opinions'.

?????????

Of course, there's no appeal system in place so I have to wait ten days for it to be over.

I used to love the game but I've become so disillusioned with how they're handling things lately.

Cat lives matter.

[Graeham]

Alright, so the thread was removed but here's a screenshot of the e-mail I received:



I disagree that it's 'offensive' and 'discriminatory', though there's no appeal system as far as I know. I suppose it's a good time to stop posting there altogether, though. They only seem to care about feedback on Twitter/Reddit these days anyway.

[La]

The official forums will ban you for the absolute smallest of reasons which is why people don't go there. They've been like that forever, and they're probably even worse these days, after they updated their TOS.

[Granyala]

Alright, so the thread was removed but here's a screenshot of the e-mail I received:

I disagree that it's 'offensive' and 'discriminatory', though there's no appeal system as far as I know. I suppose it's a good time to stop posting there altogether, though. They only seem to care about feedback on Twitter/Reddit these days anyway.

Hmm... weird. I see nothing ban worthy either.

[Wrecktangle]

The story was pretty decent. In terms of story and lore for an MMO I think FFXIV is the top one out there.

Though you could tell the whole story-part of this patch was build-up after build-up, to setup the next expansion and future story-threads. Which is fine, but it was a constant "climax" with no calm parts.

I can't say I'm a fan of Fandaniel, but I guess I can accept him as a villain, for now. I'm fine with the "suicide bombing" goal of his, it's just that his persona and act makes it a bit too much. Hopefully next expansion will be able to build on him a bit more. I didn't think much of Ascians and Garleans way back when I played through ARR and HW, but grew to like and feel intrigued by them by the last half of Stormblood, so I hope my dislike or overall uninterest of both Fandaniel and Zenos as a villain pair will change.

As for Eden, I was a bit surprised by its story, and I thought it was pretty good in general. Also made me understand a bit more of what Ascians are capable of, what they are, and that some can even accept a mortal life, even if they know what they once were.

Boss fights were pretty hectic and fun.

Music is godlike as always.

I personally am caring less about the story in the recent patches. I enjoyed the ShB story , but I'm tired of Ascians. I also feel like maybe they're going overboard. They're like wow everyone really liked Solus, so let's make every new antagonist zany and strange and it feels overplayed already.

Cleared Emerald Weapon Extreme. Yay!

- - - Updated - - -

I think that overall 5.3 is my favorite trial mechanically (also has the best song). I also like how the order of the mechanics in the second half of the fight is randomized, so it keeps you on your toes.

Emerald Weapon has really cool aesthetics, though. There's just something really cool about fighting inside the Garlean base, and then he hits oversoul and becomes his father, and then you're in a vision of the conquest of Terncliff, and the scene is tinged with brilliant gold contrasted by houses burning with blue cereluem fire in the background, and you're fighting against old Gaius and the ghosts of his armies. It's very strong imagery. Reminds me of the visions from the Garrosh fight at the end of 5.4

My one pet peeve is that there is a part towards the end of the second phase where you have to hit a knockback, but there is little warning and every time I hit my knockback nullifier, I still got knockbacked into the wall and died anyway.

I liked emerald weapon, but the second phase was very jarring for my expectations and I didn't enjoy it.

Well, I got banned from the official forum.

For responding to a post from a cat girl who said that male characters shouldn't get any new customisation options. All I did was quote her and say that cat girls already get plenty of attention and maybe the development team could stand to put them at the back of the queue for once.

No offensive language. No personal attacks. Though banned for 'suppressing opinions'.

?????????

Of course, there's no appeal system in place so I have to wait ten days for it to be over.

I used to love the game but I've become so disillusioned with how they're handling things lately.

Welcome to the club bud! I've been saying it for a while now. We may not all arrive at the same time, but we all get there eventually

[Hyral]

All I did was quote her and say that cat girls already get plenty of attention and maybe the development team could stand to put them at the back of the queue for once.

If I'm reading that right that's not really what you said. Rather:

You're playing a cat girl clad in some of the skimpiest glamour available. If we have to stomach that, at least let us have some fun with wings.

So he/she/it/etc probably complained about "slut shaming" or whatever other nonsense people like that like to claim to pretend to be victimized, it most likely was more than just the person you replied to really since people get really defensive about that stuff. I don't think this is ban worthy, but then I think you should be able to say nearly anything you want online. However I can see the angle they could use to at least give you warning since all corporate managed social media has slowly become over the years completely adverse to any negativity, or perceived negativity, that may affect the weakest links in their userbases. And as the email says "any prior record on the service account", I don't know how many other such posts may have led to meaningless warnings that eventually built up to a ban.

But yeah it's not worth engaging fragile people like that in an environment made to coddle them.

[Graeham]

I suppose it's just a sad reflection of 2020 in general and the rise in censorship to the point where even false reports are considered viable so long as someone claims to be offended. It's the lack of a working appeal system that bothers me the most. That's, like, basic consumer protection.

[mario710]

You can thank radical left-wing liberals for the overtly sensitive shit-hole this world has turned into.

Can't have a damn opinion without being cancelled or censored.

Just look at Youtube: If you say the word 'fraud' in your video, regardless of the context, your video becomes flagged and eligible for deletion.

/sigh