[Megathread] Final Fantasy XIV

[Granyala]

Your milage may vary, but I would consider a Job that only functions close to properly on the most difficult content to be one that is fundamentally flawed. In my opinion, Jobs should function properly and be fun to play at any level of content. Astrologians work correctly in groups of all sizes in all forms of content. So do Warriors, and Samurai and Bards. The Scholar on the other hand... Eeeh, not so much.

I don't know man, I don't need as much mana regen or even my new Lv80 / old Lv70 skill in dungeons. Not enough happening.

To be frank: classes should not be designed around low end content.
I don't care much for the fairy gauge either. Takes WAY too long to build.

- - - Updated - - -

This is the first FFXIV movie and takes places long before Shadowbringers so I don't think it's a spoiler. But still, it's very intriguing in hindsight.
0:25 Ardbert is at Eulmore getting guildleves from the guy who's now the bartender at the Crystarium that starts you on the four role quests.
0:49 Map of Norvrandt
1:30 The "echo" gives Ardbert a vision of The Source.
6:05 I'm not sure what the echo is trying to show him here, but it seems pretty significant. "Sharding" perhaps?

WoW.. considering that the First has never seen this kind of technological development, this must have been pretty terrifying to see for Ardbert.
At 6:03 you see Iftit and Titan, so he gets shown the primals.

[dope_danny]

This is the first FFXIV movie and takes places long before Shadowbringers so I don't think it's a spoiler. But still, it's very intriguing in hindsight.



0:25 Ardbert is at Eulmore getting guildleves from the guy who's now the bartender at the Crystarium that starts you on the four role quests.

0:49 Map of Norvrandt

1:30 The "echo" gives Ardbert a vision of The Source.

6:05 I'm not sure what the echo is trying to show him here, but it seems pretty significant. "Sharding" perhaps?

It was probably just warning him of a calamity happening as that means a world and one of the warrior of lights shards winking out. Doesn't necessarily in retrospect have to have been the source, just a world where the garleans have an equivalent.

[Granyala]

It was probably just warning him of a calamity happening as that means a world and one of the warrior of lights shards winking out. Doesn't necessarily in retrospect have to have been the source, just a world where the garleans have an equivalent.

It has to be the source because the highest developed civilization in the First were the Ronkans that are long since extinct and seemed to be quite far off tech like Garlean magitec.
Makes sense because we inherit a lot of knowledge from the Allagans and the Garleans (mainly through Cid Garlonds Ironworks), both societies having been influenced and taught(?) by Emet-Selch. It doesn't look like there was a civilization that had the same "luck" of getting Ascian knowledge in the first.

[Lex Icon]

is there some way to not play background music on a loop? i've enjoyed most of it but now i'm in some place called Kugane. and the music is pretty great but when it's on repeat it kind of just get's painful for some reason.

[Merie]

It has to be the source because the highest developed civilization in the First were the Ronkans that are long since extinct and seemed to be quite far off tech like Garlean magitec.
Makes sense because we inherit a lot of knowledge from the Allagans and the Garleans (mainly through Cid Garlonds Ironworks), both societies having been influenced and taught(?) by Emet-Selch. It doesn't look like there was a civilization that had the same "luck" of getting Ascian knowledge in the first.

It's actually the battle where Midgarsomr brought down the Garlean flagship. It happened on The Source before Realm Reborn.

[dope_danny]

Got DNC to 80 and while its pretty damn good in pvp in pve it feels like it needs some buffs, ironically not to their damage but to their buffs. I want it to be a bit more of a support than it is and i feel like it would be in a good spot. As it is i like it but as a RDM main i feel like i do way more damage and with a battle res i'm way more useful.

Plus honestly En Avant isn't as nice as corps-a-corps/displacement. It can lag and rubberband you something fierce.

[Kaelwryn]

The 1.0 Trailer is not related to the first *at all*. The midlander is derplander, aka us. You can see this in the shadowbringers trailer because he's an archer first which is a call back to this trailer. Ardbert and his group being the same races as those in the 2.0 are an intentional callback but none of the trailers are them. Derplander is 100% us and all of the trailers are in regards to us, the player character. Anyone on the first that uses the same character look is a callback/easter egg/etc.

[StrawberryZebra]

To be frank: classes should not be designed around low end content.

I'm not trying to argue Jobs should be balanced or designed around any content difficulty. I'm arguing that Jobs should be Functional and Complete for all levels of content. We're not talking about not using a situational skill here, we're talking about two of the Jobs mechanics that are going almost completely ignored. It would be like Astrologians not using their cards or Ninjas not using their Mudra - They're a core part of the job that absolutely should be utilised. You don't have to stop using your cards because its only a normal Trial, and if you do you're playing badly.

They've taken a lot from the Scholar this expansion. Most of the DPS options are gone. Micromanaging your Fairy has all but gone. Not replacing them with anything else has really exposed just how badly cracked the Jobs foundations are. The fault lies with Aetherflow and the Fairy Gauge. Both are based around generating resources, not on how you spend them, where they should be based on rewarding your spending of resources. There's currently no release valve for these resources so they just keep building and building and eventually get wasted. And that just feels awful as a player experience.

[blackblade]

For SCH there really needs to be more aetherflow dumps and let us cast it out of combat. Personally would like Energy Drain (even without MP drain) and Shadow Flare to be back. Shadow Flare's 5% slow, while little, is still a damage reduction to put in between bubbles. Sitting with charges of aetherflow and aetherflow being off CD and not having anything to use it to quickly dump and recharge it is very odd and eh... I understand wanting to curb SCH's DPS but they went pretty overkill with it as we literally only have 3 buttons. Currently best DPS is WHM > SCH > AST. AST just got the short end of the stick hard. Lower cast time doesn't mean much for AST if the CD is still 2.5s. Doesn't help too much on mobility if you still have to plant your foot, and SCH gets to move like a retard and cast for 200 potency vs 240 for AST's main filler.

Personal prefer for SCH is to put back Miasma, Energy Drain, and Shadowflare. Adjust damage of Miasma to 100+300 (100 + 30 over 30s) and bio lowered to 550 (55 over 30s). WHM 2 GCDs should achieve 1020 potency on first application of DoT as a comparison. Main reason for 950 as opposed to a higher number would be compensate for movement. Energy drain remove the MP regen. Shadowflare would probably be the same since it's only 250 potency total, 60s CD (granted looking at it on single target).

Healing is fine, I get to actually use more of my tool kit, by that I really just mean I use my bubble more often cause the thing now regens health along with damage reduction, 15s long and 30s CD so basically 50% uptime, which is really powerful. On a dungeon boss it's super common to just only rely on my pet, and bubble to heal everyone provided people don't sit in all the things of course.

Wall to wall trash pull with my friend as tank I don't really have any issues healing and I spam my AOE button more than I do healing still. I use adlo every once in a while to compensate for spikes but otherwise staggering bubble, pet regen+heal buff / damage reduction, excog(? eng), and along with fairy's channeling is usually enough as all I do is execute them off GCD. Seraphim is a decent oh shit button but I'm still busy pushing my AOE button.
Wall to wall with a bad tank is a bit more annoying but not too bad honestly.

Healing wise, seems like SCH > WHM > AST in terms of pure throughput and versatility/mobility.
Honestly speaking AST got screwed real hard as their card system just became... well, dumb, and the cooldown is way too long.

Even just letting us cast AF out of combat would be a huge help. starting each dungeon with a tank who's pulling wall-to-wall with only two stacks (because you spent the first on excog) and a 1m cd is shitty and feels bad. Being able to cast it inside the starting circle again would be huge. Lowering/Removing the CD on excog so you could have multiple running across the group would work great for burning excess aetherflow.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Finished the ARR, about to jump into HW. Thoughts.

Spoiler: 

ARR 2.0

Spoiler: 

The most memorable stories I've experienced in FFXIV so far (before I reached Mor Dhona) were the 1-15 Gridania quests, and the 1-30 Lancer Guild quests.

The 1-15 Gridnnia arc grabbed me with its contemplative opening. My wanderer, Dunesfolk Lalafell woke up on a carriage bound for a job opportunity depressed in life, sitting opposite of a jolly old man asking me questions to which my character did not have the heart to answer. Moogles drinking beer. My character looks over the side of the carriage to see the danger in the woods and men fighting for their lives battling against the Ixal. I met Mouther Miounne, who felt like a true acquaintance. That was when I started getting old school JRPG vibes, being a lowkey adventurer joining an adventurer guild, meeting the locals and performing humble jobs like dancing for a girl to cheer her up. There was a cute moogle guardian protecting a Chocobo farm in secret. Ywain was an intriguing mentor and probably my favorite character in the game thus far, and I loved how he was able to flip the tables on Foulques when he stormed into the building. The Lancer's Guild story was captivating for beginning to end, and I haven't found a job questline as engaging since (except maybe the Gladiator's Guild questline, which even then suffers from vague antagonists and unclear stakes). There was plot slowly building in the background about a supsect traveling around on foot and stirring up trouble that felt very reminiscent of Trails in the Sky FC. I even got to work with freaking Robin Hood! The Carteneau flashback piqued my interest and I looked forward to the memorial, but afterwards the story lost steam and became very uninteresting, save for a few moments. After Gridania, there isn't really a lowkey mystery building up in the background to think about or pay attention to like the suspect who kept making campfires out in the middle of nowhere; the story just rotates through bombastic bad guys that leave no room for speculation. Pursuing the trail of the mystery man in the forest was engaging because both the protagonist and the anatagonist were active; he knew we were on to him and tried to evade us while stirring up trouble while I was closing in on him. There was a back and forth between Foulques and Ywain, with surprises from both. In the MSQ after Gridania, the protagonists are reactionary, being called out to shut down primals or being attacked by villains. Furthermore, I haven't found any of the characters to be endearing like Mouther Miounne, Lewin, Beatin, Foulques, or Ywain.

MSQ after 15 also suffers from a lot of padding. Now, the 1-15 Gridania story was arguably just as padded as well, but I felt that each quest added to the story as a whole. Given the episodic nature of the MSQ quests though, it feels like the quests in between each cutscene are meaningless (for example: the dozen or so quests you have to do in Little Solace before you can move on with the story). The MSQ has interesting MOMENTS, but isn't interesting in of itself.

Just a thought: the Elementals are said to be incredibly strict as to what can and cannot be done in the Twelveswood, having struck down people who show them "disrespect". Gridania has a very strong conservation policy. Yet, here I am running around the Twelveswood slaying hundreds of wild animals and felling Treants left and right, and no one says anything.



Noteworthy moments:

The fiance of a dead adventurer being left behind by her friends; it lent more credibility to the setting as a world where adventuring is a common profession. Meeting her again in Ul'dah was also heartwarming, and was a grounded way of showing the impact an adventurer could have on the world without going into "YOU SAVED THE WORLD AND BECAME THE HERO OF ALL TIME".

The encounter with Ungst outside The Sands:

Tracking down the kidnapped people at Camp Drybone.

Any quest at the Church of Saint Adama Landama

What do you mean "sneak away from these Amal'jaa" to bring reinforcements? By the time I got back it'd have been too late.

Am I canonically fighting Ifrit by myself? Because besides Minfillia, I'm the only other character in the story with the Echo, which means that I could have been the only one present in control to fight Ifrit. In the story of WoW, I'm the only champion of my class or hero who has been aiding Khadgar, but the raid bosses were indeed brought down by full parties of adventurers.

I was somewhat upset/horrified by the reveal that the Flames straight up killed the people who were tempered. This is a fantasy world with two dozen different varities of magic and supernatural artifacts being dug up on daily basis, and yet you think absolutely no way to save the tempered people? You could just put them in a quarantined holding cell and keep testing different magics or devices on them to try to reverse or dampen the process, but to just write them off felt ignorant and callous. Reminds me of Black Butler.

The memorial services were quite underwhelming, both the speeches themselves and the reactions to the events. Doesn't help that the snobby Alphinaud shows up to exposit lore that I would've preferred to have inferred on my own.

Two hours of questing in Little Solace just to earn their respect was the epitome of padding. Doesn't help that the area around the questgiver is packed dense with mobs that take upwards of thirty seconds to kill each, so just getting to and talking to the NPCs is a pain the ass.

I was disappointed by The Waking Sands; the NPC dialogue only updated twice, so I never got to know anyone there before it was sacked. It's rather hard to feel sorrow when the regular Thanalan town music is playing and the quest plays like another "press F to pay respects" ordeal.

I have to reiterate: I really liked the quests at the Church, learning about the plight of a gravekeeper with little funding in an era where people are dropping like flies. It felt solemn, it felt good to do what little to help out. Screw Alphinaud and his "Company of Buffoons" line. He's a completely unlikeable character, and not in the good kind of "love-to-hate" way. No amount of "but he develops later on" will redeem this for me. He just needs to exit the story ASAP.


Missing airship/Garuda plot

Given that the rosaries were found in parcels belonging to each House, it looks like there is a conspiracy to frame the houses outside of Ishgard as traitors in an attempt to get the Holy See to cut off their people outside the main city itself entirely.

Francel, Haucherfaunt, and Hourlinet are more interesting characters than any MSQ character since I left Gridannia at level 15, and they've had barely three minutes of total screentime and no voice acting.

Wow, that is heartwarming: Laurence deserted an army known for its ruthlessness just to save his fiance. Hope he isn't exercuted!

So far, this is the only questhub where I was invested enough in the setting and the story to do all of the sidequests. Looks like Laurence got out of jail! It is unfortunate that the NPCs don't update after you do their quests or after the story advances.

If I had to guess, the inquisition is trying to keep us away because they have the Enterprise in custody and don't want to give up one of the few airships in Eorzea, not to mention one of the most advanced airships.

Lemme guess; our "inquisitor" is actually a Dravanian servant who flew in on the back of a dragon. The dragon was spotted by a legit inquisitor, and both were felled. Our Dravanian servant then impersonated the real inqusitor.

Another round of sidequests? I'll do it in the morning.

I hope we see Laurence again!

I like how the environment artists modeled a few tiles sticking up out of the floor and walls in Stone Vigil; it adds so much more visual depth to the place.

Spend 20 minutes in queue for Garuda trial for MSQ
queue pops
gets into trial
Everyone in party chat whines and leaves
Here goes another 20 minutes in queue!

Damn, I feel sorry for those beastmen who were sacrificed.


Biggs and Wedge are fun!

It is incredibly dissonant to slaughter two hundred faceless Imperial soldiers across Mor Dhona and the MSQ, only to then get a quest where you walk up to five of them characterized as actual human beings, only for that characterization to be lost after you talk to them and go back to slaughtering another two hundred faceless Imperials without batting an eye. Would've been cool if we had a mini questline where we masqueraded as an Imperial soldier and got a glimpse into their lives: marching with them, covering each other in battle, seeing what Imperial military culture is like, etc. Missed opportunity.

Would be cool if the Magitek Armor became a recurring character beyond this MSQ.

The reunion at the prison
The reunion with the four captured scions fell flat on its face for me; Minfillia had all over... three minutes of screentime, and it was spent espousing exposition and issuing quests. Papalymo spent his two minutes of screentime espousing exposition. Urianger has spent a grand total of thirty seconds in the entire game spewing cryptic prophecy bullshit. The only character I was vaguely happy to see was Tataru, as she was a sweet little pumpkin pie. Overall, completely fell flat for me, compared to reunions in the say the 'Trails series. Even the Ji-Aysa reunion in WoW was impactful even though they only had a total of ten minutes of screentime in the entire game, as writers made us care. We saw their hopes, their dreams, their shortcomings, their struggles, and their love for each other.

This is supposed to be an intense situation: we're in the middle of an Imperial Fortress that is being occupied by the elite XIVth Imperial Legion, spearheaded by fearsome commanders, who have state-of-the-art technology at their disposal, and they're all determined to take us dead or alive... and here we are, everyone casually standing around on a cliff trading jokes like it's a Saturday morning cartoon. Let me be clear: I enjoy JRPGs and anime for the wide variety of different genres and tones a story can take, but many times the comedy is misplaced, as it was here.

The Lahabrea reveal also fell completely flat on it's face; the Lahabrea plot wasn't built up throughout the story; he only showed up for thirty seconds in the 1-15 experience, which was the only time I was interested in the character, another thirty seconds at the end of a dungeon, and then here. There was no mystery around the character. Thancred was utterly neglected during the story, didn't care about him. Villainous reveal "muhahaha it was me all along muhahaha" too. *Sigh*

The scene of the city-state leaders meeting in the Sultana's chamber was overall very good, despite the oddly paced dialogue and off-putting voice acting. It really feels like this is a high stakes situation where the fate of entire nations are at stake. It has weight. It is unfortunate that the voice work leaves a lot to be desired: Rahubahn once again sounds to hammy and it sticks out like a sore thumb given the situation, while Kan-E-Seena sounds too dull in her delivery. Didn't really hear enough of Nanamo but she didn't stick out like the former two, so I'm neutral towards her. Jean Gilpin's Merlwyb has a presence in the room the other three do not, always great to hear her. The scene would've been more impactful if we had seen the consequences for failure, by seeing what happened to an army annilhated by the Ultima Weapon or what rule under the Empire is like, and if I had become acquainted with the regular people of Aldenard/Eorzea (Aldenard is the continent, so Eorzea is... a subregion on the continent of Aldenard? The wiki doesn't differentiate the two either) so we had people we cared about who were at stake.

The scene at the Waking Sands where the Scions review the operation is great: it really feels like this is going to be huge operation, and builds up the (underwhelming) event.

Rhitahtyn talks about how the Empire saved his homeland, but once again it feels like another instance of "tell, don't show", where the writers are half-heartedly trying to humanize the Empire in what feels like throwaway lines but we never see the Empire as anything else besides your acceptably evil and dehumanized video game nazi villains.

The actual operation itself is disappointing. We don't get cut aways to one or two minute scenes of the GCs attacking the Imperial outposts across Eorzea. The Tribunes were just as wasted as the Judges of FFXII, and amounted to nothing in the end but named mooks who appeared as spear carriers with cool designs in three minutes of cutscenes across the 2.0 MSQ and then are unceremoniously killed off. I would've had the Tribunes fight the GC forcers and perhaps their leaders offscreen, with the player only seeing glimpses of the battles in the cut away scenes, much like the amazing Zechs vs Aurellia fight and Craig vs Wallace "fights" in Cold Steel 2. They'd retain the mystique they had before, and could've been developed throughout the FFXIV story. That way, when they are eventually fought, it would be climatic.

Castrum Meridianum itself is quite disappointing; we don't get an overhead shot of what the fortress looks like. I was on a road, walked up to a gate I couldn't see over, and then queued for the duty... and then ran through an industrial complex I couldn't quite make out.

he Allagans weren't really established before this point and there was no setup to Ultima Weapon, so the whole super mode eye feels weightless. Gaius' shock doesn't feel impactful either, as I wasn't quite sure what he was surprised about.

I don't feel like I deserve to be talked about as this legendary savior of Eorzea just yet; the dialogue feels more appropriate for a Meteor Survivor, rather than some adventurer who up until a couple weeks ago (the timeline of events feels unclear) who helped stop a beast tribe attack, stopped another beast tribe from kidnapping people to sacrifice to their god, stopped yet another beast tribe (that was defending it's own territory no less!), became one of the few surviving Scions not by being skilled, but because I simply wasn't there when the Scions were attacked, tracked down a guy, ran around looking for a very specific radioactive crystal, stopped yet ANOTHER beast tribe, saved two fugitive engineers from being killed, infiltrated a prison to free the other Scions, and then took out the Ultima Weapon. The game doesn't really convey the significance of the events: we never see people in the cities fearing the beast tribes, or fighters being in awe of Primal Slayers (outside of those five Titan slayers, and that was it), or see how the common folk's lives were affected by the triumph over the Primals. I feel like my only significant achievement was destroying the Ultima Weapon and killing the Legate, and given how many people were involved in the operation and had a more significant role than I did (the GC leaders for one), I feel all of this talk of me being as great as I am is undeserved.

Very good music

You introduced the twins at the very beginning of the game, and then Alisae does... absolutely nothing.

The English voice acting isn't horrible; I've heard these VAs perform excellently before, but the result here is unnatural. I'll chalk that up to the voice direction. Merlwyb sound great!

Very bad, a few great moments sprinkled throughout an otherwise slog. Still better than vanilla GW2's absolutely abysmal personal story.

ARR 2.1

Spoiler: 

ARR 2.1

Looking forward to this, as it builds up to Heavensward. The ending is bonkers, so I'm interested to see the build up, as Ul'Dah characters get focus here. Now that the Japanese Fanfest is over, I know I need to do the Crystal Tower content for Shadowbringers.

It's nice to see Shamani again.

I am enjoying the story of the post ARR quests, but the "go and get an item from a 30 minute long dungeon you already during the 1-50 ARR questing" schtick is annoying.

I really like the uniforms worn by the employees of Cid Ironworks. The blue body with blue arms and white trim is simple, yet iconic.

"Highwind Skyways"? Sounds like a passenger airship company. Given how convinently I was teleporting around, I forgot passenger airships even existed. They've been pretty much a non-presence thus far. Could've been cool if the story had explored the concept of passenger airship companies trying to grow their business now that the Garleans have been pushed out of Eorzea, and how they try to avoid sky pirates, Jagds, Ixal contraptions, and so on.

I thought that with the simultaneous assault on all of the castrums during the operation to destroy the Ultima Weapon, the Garleans had been driven out of Eorzea?

If the Wood Wailers suspect that the supply carriage had been waylaid by Ixal, why aren't they sending any men then? I know as a player that I am going to wipe them out, but in universe I'm only one man. It's literally a two minute walk from their garrison. There is literally a watchtower right outside the stronghold! How did these Wood Wailers miss an IXali raiding party carrying the stolen goods and the kidnapped merchants? Why didn't they do anything?

Job organizations aside, I'm canonically apart of at least three organizations as of this time: the adventurers guild I signed up for at the beginning of the game, then a member of the Scions trying to bring order to Eorzea, and then one of the three Grand Companies. Yet, I'm only being issued orders from the Scios. Yes, the adventurer's guild is a drop in/drop out organization, but you'd think given my accomplishments and skills, they'd be calling me in for hard jobs. The Grand Companies even more so, since I am technically a soldier.

Inspiring other adventurers is a cool idea. Too bad we didn't see it!

Tataru: "Everyone has become depressed while packing up for the move, go to Corethas and get tea leaves so I can make a tonic to make them feel better." Ah, so this is the padding people were talking about.

If he's called "Good King Moogle Mog XII" (note the "Good"), then what is there to fear?

I like meeting my job guild leader, E-Sumi-Yan again in the MSQ. I wish the job questline characters were more involved in the MSQ and not just relegated to the job questlines.

Oh hey it's "This is Halloween" from Nightmare Before Chritmas.

That was fun; wasn't just a simple tank and spank, but you instead had seven mini bosses that had to be managed as well. Total chaos. Was difficult to heal trying to dance around the AoEs and trying to cover as many people as possible with Cure III and Medica.

Yda and Paplymo did literally nothing during the King Moogle Mog arc.

Awww, mom left.

So Ascian's aren't regular people imbued with power by Zodiark, but entirely different beings that serve or are aligned with Zodiark.

If he walked out of the Waking Sands in such conspicuous clothing, then he is trying to get me to follow him so he can info dump me. Guess I'll meet him right outside of town.

5.0 spoilers Already knowing about the shards and the Hydalen/Zodiark were once the same primal being, I find it reassuring that this was planted here, to know that had their story outlined beforehand aren't just whipping whatever sounds cool out of their ass as they go along and trying to pass it off as "it was planned beforehand!" like WoW.

The interior of the Rising Stones is more inviting than the Waking Sands. If I could change one thing, I'd add bigger windows and have light shining through them.

Oh, mom didn't leave! She's just the bartender now.

ARR 2.2

Spoiler: 

ARR 2.2

Would've been nice to have actually SEEN the stopped carriage.

Gideon Emery is a great VA, but gosh are the lines for Urianger hard to listen to. Very unnatural dialogue.

So Yugiri appears, but she landed at Vesper Bay, which is a part of Ul'Dah. While Nanamo is the ruler she's looking for, Yugiri landed closer to Limsa Lominsa. She shouldn't she be directed to Merlwyb?

So Loroitto is the leader of the Monetarist faction? No one else spoke up at the meeting, just allowed him to talk and then left with him.

Now that I thought about it, why is it that these people from the setting's counterpart to China can speak our language? Bah, gameplay necessities.

Ofcourse Yugiri is great at hide and seek; she has those sensory perception horns!

I love the questions! I hope I see Yozan and Koharu again come Stormblood.

Glad to see F'lhaminn introducing the Domans to Shamani's wine!



I really like how the NPC dialogue inside the Rising Stones is updating so often.

Why hasn't the narrative touched upon the idea of making peace with the beast tribes and calming them so that they won't resort to summoning their primals to take revenge or out of fear?

On the Sahagin side of the wall, why are there coral formations growing several dozen feet above see level?

Awkward line delivery.

The evening, nighttime, and morning skyboxes and atmosphere is beautiful!

Oh yes, this fake Company of Heroes guy in the leotard...

ARR 2.3

Spoiler: 

The only other beast tribe in the Twelveswood are the Sylphs, and they've already summoned Ramuh long ago and he's not hostile. I guess the Ixali could've summoned Garuda again but they're more up north. Who could it be?

YES! Ala Mhigan refugees taking notice of the treatment the Domans had and following suit? I'm glad the game is tackling questions like this, whereas most other games would just try to forget it.

This is a great plot, and one of the most engaging arcs I've played in the game thus far. A predicament has been created and there are multiple parties with different motivations and abilities trying to resolve and take advantage of it, and the logical line of events that follows from it. It is unfortunate that we didn't get to see most of the impact of these events. Imagine if throughout the entire story up until now, there had been scenes showing the condition of the refugees and tensions rising in Ul'Dah. I distinctly recalling a scene near the beginning of the 2.0 MSQ where two Ul'Dah citizens were walking through the Gate of Nald and lamented the refugees. That was a good start but we didn't get anything like that again.

The answer is obvious Minfillia; send me to investigate. I'm guessing it's going to be Loritto, trying to incriminate the refugees so he can justifiably kick them out.

"May have summoned Ramuh"? What, are we ignorning the fact that he was definitely summoned during the 2.0 ARR storyline that tooks place in the Bramble Patch?

It would indeed be really cool if Coultenent got to do something with us.

"Thancred, what do you think of F'lhaminn?" Haha, perfect!

Oh please, how is proving myself capable of slaying a primal indicative of the will of the Gridanians?

The info on aetherial mechanics is presented very well.

5.0 Shadowbringers speculation So the Ascians live in the space between realms. The WoL must travel through this space to reach the First. A Crystal of Darkness opens a gateway from our shard to the space between realms. Is this how we reach the First without dying? Using a Crystal of Darkness to open a portal to the space between realms, hoping into it, and then swimming/wishing our way to the First?

Do the Ascians plan on making the WoL into the key to release Zodiark, by making him into the WoD?

Yay, Ele had a happy ending.



Thancred gets F'lhaminn and I get Higiri? Sounds fine to me!

New adventurers in Mor'Dhona fighting level 50 monsters. I know levels aren't supposed to be representative of in universe power levels, but it still feels off.

Wait, Tataru has been welcoming any adventurers who want to become a Scion? First of all, why didn't the Rising Stones become populated with more NPCs? Second, why are people joining the Scions specifically? The Adventurer's guild is the lucrative trade. We're a NGO. Fourth, why is Tataru just letting in anyone in without vetting them for spies?

Goodness Tataru!



You betrayed me Thancred! I trusted you!

Riol from the Company of Heroes? Oh yeah!

Laurentius, wasn't he the guy who was selling info to the Garleans? And we're going to trust him to repel Garleans? Hm... I don't know...

I actually don't remember Alianne.

IT'S THE BUTLER! Oh, please let him join! It'd be his chance at redemption!

Noooooo

Oh, please let Ywain join! He's AWESOME!

Awwww it wasn't Ywain.

I'm going to laugh if Landebert says yes.

Oh look, ANOTHER evil JRPG church. Zzzzzz

ARR 2.4

Spoiler: 

Nice to see Illbred and Raubahn's reunion.

Looks like the fan favorite GC leader is about to be introduced. I'm guessing Ishgard wants me to solve their dragon problem.

How have the Garleans bases across Eorzean not fallen in the wake of operation Archon? Their leaders are dead, the central fortresses of Castrum Meridianum and Castrum Praetorium have fallen, and all Garlean bases in Eorzea were simultaneously attacked by the Grand Companies. They're not farming food, and they couldn't even if they wanted to; their fortresses are too small and built on rocky crags. Even if they somehow repeled the assault, their forces wouldn't be able to maintain air superiority and subsequently wouldn't be able to maintain their supply lines. Then the succession war broke out. Someone would've called for what remained of the XIVth Legion to return to the capital to regroup.

Stormblood spoiler knowing that Solus apparently has resurrective immortality, I wonder how he was resurrected. Did he find a way to have himself resurrected after he died and wants to become the puppet master in the shadows? Or did the Ascians revive him for their plan? How? So far, there has been no actual resurrection in the series. At most, you get zombies like in Thanalan (they were apparently intelligent enough to communicate with Hildibrand but that doesn't seem to be canon, as they are played up for laughs) or the mindless zombies in Tama-Tara Deepcroft on Hard, where they're just animated bones.

LOL Urianger, stiff as a stick caught a lady's eye

"You are a bloody fool", "Mine is the righteous cause", "you fight as a pawn of liars and schemers" WELL GIRL, how about you actually EXPLAIN what's up so we can work this out rather than playing the pronoun game?

We wiped out Castrum Meridianum! How can there be forces there to receive Roaille?

(Heavensward spoilers) Was the Isle of Val sent to another Shard? The Isle couldn't have been destroyed by a rejoining; there hasn't been a calamity in five years, and as far as I know a rejoining doesn't merge the geometry of the two worlds together, it only liquidates the shard into aether and adds that to the pool of aether on the Source.

Roaille may have been able to help the Castrums near Ul'dah by providing them timetables and troop movements, but she wouldn't have been able to help the rest. It still doesn't make sense why the Garlean fortresses in Eorzea are still standing after Operation Archon.

Would've been more interesting if we had interacted with Roaille - knew her as a recurring character - for several arcs before 2.4.

Nanamo abdicating isn't going to solve anything. Even as a democratic republic, the people are simply going to the people with the money to make things happen. It'd be a fullblown syndicate takeover, without the Flames to at least try to help people. So far, the syndicate has been characterized as pretty much greedy despots. There may be other "good" syndicate members like Godwin but they have had no presence in the MSQ, which once again leads us back to the Syndicate being depicted as evil bastards who would turn Ul'dah into a fullblown slave town once Nanamo was gone.

ARR 2.5

Spoiler: 

Where do the Scions and the Crystal Braves sleep? Is the Seventh Heaven Inn canonically larger than depicted in game, with more rooms for us to sleep in?



So it seems like an Ascian can be created on any world; they don't all just come from the space between worlds.

ARR 2.55

Spoiler: 

Realistically, if the Eorzean Alliance isn't going to help out Ishgard (and the Garleans know how stretched thin the GCs are), then this would be a prime opportunity for Garlemald to lend their aid to Ishgard and garner the support of the Ishgardians. The Garleans would be able to present themselves as kind benefactors and would probably be allowed access into Ishgard whereas the Eorzean Alliance couldn't. Garelmald would then be able to slowly take over Ishgard through trade and culture, rather than an overt military take over. Garelamald would be able to raise the standard of living and everyone else is going to say "geez, aren't they great? We should make agreements with them to rid our backyards of these beast tribes and be able to trade with Ishgard for magitek televisions and stuff!". Fact of the matter is, if it comes down to subjugation or annihlation, 9 times out of 10 people are going to pick the former. It is unfortunate that the Empire is depicted as cartoonishly evil and without competent leadership.

I don't believe I've mentioned this before, but I really like how it feels like the other characters and factions are doing stuff offscreen. In most games, it's really only the protagonist who is doing something, but here you meet up with a character and they go off and do something, and you hear glimpses of them doing stuff in the background, and then their plot comes back to the forefront again and you check up on what has happened. The protagonists aren't the only people doing things; you have smart folks like Riol snooping around. Bonus points for him taking a que from Wilred's disappearance and informing me just in case he disappears too.

Hope she isn't disappointed when Ishgard turns to the Garleans for help (if the Empire was written competently).

Darn, we lost two braves.

Tataru, we need warriors but absolutely cannot go on without someone to manage the logistics and do the tedious busywork. You don't need to become a fighter. You'd be hindering our capacity to function if you became one.

The weapons cache was in Northern Thanalan, near the entrance to the Southern Shroud. I'm guessing Wilred stumbled upon the real cache or followed the traders to the actual site somewhere in the South Shroud, was found out, killed, and his body was dumped into the river.

They should've required the Tataru quest "Unexpected Ambition" to have been done first before the quest to escort the scholar, "The Least Among Us". I did the escort quest first, thinking it'd be busywork before the real meat that was the Tataru quest, but then the escort quest suddenly ties back into the main plot and becomes very serious with finding Wilred's body, but then I have to go from that somber note straight into Tataru's becoming an Arcanist comedy territory.

Jeez Tataru, you gave up not half an hour into your first practice! Also, aren't Carbuncles just magic formulas, not living creatures with wills of their own? Why would it run off on it's own?

Lalas look cuter in sundresses, not bikinis.

Even the next story quest after "Unexpected Ambition" and "The Least Among Us" starts off with the somber tone that "The Least Among Us" ended on.

There are only two possible traitors within the Braves I can think of: Laurentius, the guy who sold Wood Wailer info to the Garleans, and maybe Yuyuhase, the lala who inserts some phrase about making money in ever other line.

Yup, Laurentius. How disappointing.

Yuyuhase too.

Once again, abdication is not going to make things any better.

He was standing outside the door with a squad of his hired soldiers. How convinent!

WTH Illbred? You were cool man!



Great sound effects, lighting, and posing for Raubauhn.



LMAO. Remember when Illbred said "I sold my sword. You sold your comrades.". Yeah, me neither.

The first actual great fight scene thus far.

Is this Pipin?

Oh hey, it's Bremondt. Haven't seen him since the Waking Sands were first wiped out.

Why is it that sometimes the Ascians meet in a dark prison and other times they meet in this hellish plane with a purple horizon, 13 seats and a macabre statue?

Lianne side quest (Tam Tara Deepcroft Hard)

Spoiler: 

It's difficult trying to read these books when you guys keep rushing ahead into battle without your healer!





Don't play the happy victory music, she just died!

Noooo don't end it like that! There's a continuation with an eventual definitive ending, right?

Crystal tower

Spoiler: 

Crystal Tower

Is that Gaius? Or Nero?

Always brings a smile to my face when I see Cid!

I briefly thought that Biggs had been sent to pick up the sand for the Crystal Tower op and the money I brought was the remaining sum, then realized that I wouldn't have been sent in the first place if I biggs was already on his way.

"I insist you take this token of my appreciation" what ego, I love it!

"Freedom through democracy", a pretty bland motto if you ask me.

They're really hammering in the "don't use technology to enslave or destroy people" schtick...

I guess it's Nero.

So Sharlayan Hyur have red eyes?

Is G'raha Tia half Hyur? Or were the Allagans made up of multiple races of which all shared the Allagan Eye trait?

So the decendants of Allag can operate Allagan technology. Can't Unei and Doga just tell the guards to shut down and allow us in?

Oh, royals only, and I bet he's going to tell us that they're evil and that's why they won't tell the guards to stand down.

The pixelation on their armor is ugly.

I like how Cid catches up with Nero in the background, makes it fee like more is going on than who our character is talking to in the cutscene.

After the build up of Amon and Xande in the quest, it's disappointing to see that they're treated as forgettable raid bosses with virtually no story in the raid. Amon just falls over and dies without fanfare, and Xande gets a one minute flashback cutscene after he drops. You'd think that Dogma and Unei would've met their creator, or Xande would've been more of a character.

If Xande had made a deal with the darkness, why hadn't he moved out of the castle and had immediately begun conquering once the Crystal Tower had popped up out of the ground over five years ago?

Can we even survive in the void world?

Interesting parallel between the Warriors who took up arms against Allag and the Warriors of Light, who were beacons of hope who fought against Empires that are being driven to increasingly desperate measures that result in calamities.

One of my favorite things about the 'Trails series and Final Fantasy XII is their treatment of the Empire. From the outside perspective, they obviously look like an evil Empire hellbent on conquering everything, but when you finally get there... they're made up of just normal people like you and I. They don't feel guilty about "conquests" because from their view, it is YOU who are the aggressors. They are terrified of YOU, the invincible hero who overcomes all odds and has gone on a rampage slaughtering their soldiers left and right. They think "how can he be stopped? If he isn't, what's going to happen to us?" and begin relying on their conquering leaders more and more for protection. The point of 'Trails and FFXII wasn't to bring down "the evil empire" but to save it. Their people mattered just as much as the people in the "good kingdom". The Garleans need an inspirational hero to look up to who would stretch out his hand to make peace with the other nations, whilist being strong enough to defend Garlemald from those nations should they still continue on their path of revenge. The Warrior of Light can't be that hero; he has slaughtered thousands of Garleans without even as much as making an attempt at peace. He will always be an outside monster. The Garleans need their own hero, which is what I hope a supposed Garlean expansion would be about. Seeing the rise of a Garlean hero we can work with (and not someone who is just given that role like Lyse).

Realistically, Empires the size of Garlemald are far too strong to be taken down by outside forces. Empires the size of Garlemald fall from the inside. When the Empire finally does collapse, it's ravaged by the nations it had antagonized, who usually commit horrible atrocities against it as an act of revenge. The people of Limsa Lominsa, Gridania, and Ul'Dah curse Garlemald, and that's not even getting to the Ala Mhigans and the Domans who'd go out of their way to get revenge on Garlemald. Even if Garlemald were to change and to offer peace, I think Eorzea would be more inclined to balk at it and continue trying to tear down the Empire, Ishgard being the only country not taking part in it as they have not suffered the Empire and have just learned the importance of dropping pointless wars.

Why are there Allgan structures inside the void? Why does the void have a nighttime sky and clouds? I thought it just would've been an inhospitable world with nothing but corrupted aether energy.

Does this same Crystal Tower exist on multiple worlds? Is it a transdimmensional locations? It doesn't make sense for it to have teleported to the First and then for all that infrastructure like the Crystarium to have been built up around it only a matter of months. I'm guessing he dons a hooded robe when interacting with the people on the First to hide his Mi'qote features (Either the Mi'qote aren't the fat cats or they are one and the same but they're despised because of the fat cat despots in Eulmore), his red allagan eyes, and the crystalization. If he's also crstalizing, why can't he shed it off like Nero did right before he jumped through the portal? Nero was also crystalized because of the void, so when we enter the Crystal Tower, are we entering the void?

Binding Coil of Bahamut

Spoiler: 

I unlocked the Binding Coil of Bahamut but didn't do the questlines or the raids. I already knew about [spoiler]Phoenix being summoned by the collective will of Eorzea and being far and away the most powerful Primal. What I'm most interested in is whether or not the Garleans - wishing for a hero to push back the encroaching Eorzean Alliance and to defeat their invincible Warrior of Light - could unknowingly summon an Eikon in the form of a legendary hero or their dead Emperor. (Stormblood spoilers) it'd be really interesting if they summoned their interpretation of Solus, a good hearted legendary warrior, and he met the actual Solus. That'd be a really interesting character dynamic.

Dragoon job questline (30-50)

Spoiler: 

Love the shot composition with Alberic, the player, and Estinen facing each other on top of two bright red outcroppings over a chasm.



Ooo, I like the idea that Alberic relinquished the Eye's power so he could maim Nidhogg at the decisive moment, but couldn't prevent the rest of the devestation. Adds a layer of temptation to being Azure Dragoon.

"You sacrificed your power trying to save my village, so now I hate you." Come on Estinen, what kind of logic is that?

I love the animation for Nidhogg's eye.

Gunbreaker (first two quests)

Spoiler: 

Wait, if only the gunblades made by Radovan's clan can use magic, then was Gaius' gunblade of Radovan make?

Ondine... a fellow harpsichordist who is eclipsed by Editha, and she has dark lipstick. I'm guessing she's the culprit, trying to eliminate her competition. Has she no pride?

That overly elaborate bow before leaving...

I can understand Editha not freaking out when the guards attack, but why are her fans staying calm? Why are they volunteering to help against hired mercenaries when they can't do anything?

What were the town guards doing while we were fighting thirty guys in the middle of Gridania's streets for ten minutes?

Radovan, you just saw Ondine wear this outfit not thirty minutes ago, why are you shocked that it turned out to be her when she took off the mask?

Interesting, so Sylphs photosyntheize. They are literally plants.

I don't understand; Gridania is one good terms with the Sylphs. Why would Editha being revealed to be a Sylph prevent her from playing music in Gridania?

Might have to play around with it some more later, but the class isn't very fun. More specifically, it's not being able to build up combo points at will (the powder charges) but the finisher that uses the powder charges is on a 30 second cooldown. Samurai feels fun because you can use your finisher immediately once you've built up the combo points.

ARR final thoughts

Spoiler: 

FFXIV ARR suffers from two major problems: pacing, and presentation.

Up until around patch 2.3, the story is pretty atrociously paced. For most of the game, you are running around on fetch quests with nebulous stakes ("People are going to die?" What people? What towns? "The Garleans are going to take over the world!" zzzzz). The only really memorable storyline was the Coerthas arc in 2.0, which managed to 1. introduce characters and make you care about them (Baron Francel, Haucherfaunt, Count Drillemont), and 2. setup a definitive enemy to fight against (the unjust inquisition), and an intriguing plot (someone is trying to frame Fortemps and their allies and there is corruption somewhere). If only the rest of the story had been that good. After that, the game slinks back to nebulous stakes with uninteresting characters. I can't help but groan whenever Minfilla says "A Primal has been detected!"; they really are speedbumps that prevent me from getting to the actually interesting stories like Ul'Dah or the refugees. Starting with 2.3, the story began to pick up stride and it became more enjoyable. It seems like Coerthas gets the consistently good storylines.

The other big problem that is holding FFXIV back is the presentation of the story.

The story you are told is very interesting: refugees from a kingdom conquered 25 years ago who are trying to survive in the desolate land of Thanalan and the overburdened city of Ul'dah. The new generation of Ala Mhigans have grown up without a home, disenfranchised from the previous generation who lived in Ala Mhigo, only hearing tales of past glories they have never witnessed, unable to fathom what life in Ala Mhigo was like. They flock to Ul'Dah because it's the only thing they can see. The new generation feels they can justly take from the Ul'dah citizens. The previous generation which did know of what life in Ala Mhigo was like feels like their culture is being lost, as the new generation cannot relate to them nor cares about their history. Ul'dah citizens and denizens of Thanalan who lost their homes and their livelihoods in the calamity, falling into the same boat as the Ala Mhigan refugees but coming into conflict with them due to the Ala Mhigan's tribalism and disdain of Ul'Dah, Food shortages throughout Ul'dah, where the wealthy citizens buy up the food first, leaving the scraps for those who cannot afford it. Tensions rising throughout the city, culminating in deadly riots and sacked shops. Predatory merchants using orphans as slave labor...

Except this is all presented poorly, if at all. We see a grand total of... six refugee tents outside the Gate of Nald, with maybe four NPCs, of which none you can talk to. Food shortages and riots are taking place, and yet when you go into the city nothing has changed.

Inspiring adventurers to give their all to build up Revenant Toll was an interesting idea. Too bad we didn't see it. You don't see other NPC adventurers taking jobs or check in every now and then with a B-team of adventurers, and Revenant's Toll doesn't change.

You are told about thousands of refugee Domans arriving in Thanalan and populating Revenant's Toll, and how they are going to till the land, but you never see any of this. At most, you see... one carriage with a family of five people, and those are the only Domans you see. You don't see new buildings around Revenant's Toll going up or farmland being cultivated. In fact, unless I was writing this down, I would've completely forgotten that it happened in lore, because it certainly isn't shown in game.

You are told about these massive military deployments like Operation Archon, in which the Three Grand Companies launched a simultaneous attack on every Castrum in Eorzea, except you never see this. The camera never cuts away to show us short, two minute scenes of say, the GC leaders fighting Gaius' lieutenants. During the Leviathan arc, the mightiest naval force in the setting deploys a grand total of... two marauders to guard Y'shtola, three scouts to spy Sahagin territory, and the Admiral herself. That's it. That's not even getting into the actual design of the world itself, where you have Wineport with a Castrum in plain view, a two minute walk down the road, or the stakes of Leviathan launching a tidal wave at La Noscea being... the loss of Ale Port and Limsa lominsa.

It is commonly said that the story gets better afte ARR, but I'm not sure if that includes the presentation of the story. The presentation problem might not be noticeable in Heavensward as you're not dealing with thousands of refugees and huge armies, but I have been told that (Stormblood spoilers) apparently a massive, decisive battle between the Eorzea Alliance and the Garlean Empire with an entire airship fleet taken out apparently takes place entirely offscreen, with you only appearing on the battlefield after the fact with only a few soldiers around. Apparently Kugane Castle and Ala Mhigo are only held by thirty soldiers or so.

While I like the story, I'm not fond how it skims over the morality of the nations or what we're doing. Merlwyb repeatedly violates treaties between Limsa Lominsa and the Sahagin/Kobolds to take their land and resources, and we ride in to kill their primals when the beast tribes rely on them to protect themselves, and yet the story barely addresses this. Y'shotla throws out a quip about it and that's the end of it. You're given quests to wipe out dozens of these people and have to slaughter your way through their territory. You're being made out to be a genocidal freak. The Garleans fare little better, and it's even more jarring: you just kill hundreds of Garlean scouting parties and wipe out entire bases, and the story never once tries to humanize them. They're all just mobs to kill. It feels jarring for the Gridanians, the people of Ul'Dah, the Ala Mhigans, the Domans, the Lominsans, the Ishgardians, and the Dragon Worshippers to be fleshed out as people and trying to bridge the gap between them (with the loss of lives being a tragedy), and then for the game to turn around and tell you to thoughtlessly slaughter beast tribes and Garleans. There's just this irreverence for life. As I said earlier

It is incredibly dissonant to slaughter two hundred faceless Imperial soldiers across Mor Dhona and the MSQ, only to then get a quest where you walk up to five of them characterized as actual human beings, only for that characterization to be lost after you talk to them and go back to slaughtering another two hundred faceless Imperials without batting an eye. Would've been cool if we had a mini questline where we masqueraded as an Imperial soldier and got a glimpse into their lives: marching with them, covering each other in battle, seeing what Imperial military culture is like, etc. Missed opportunity.

The voice acting was very "meh" at the beginning of ARR but by 2.3 it was fine. You could feel that the VAs were sliding into their roles. Raubahn was still pretty rough, and the immortal Sahagin priest was just bad. Best VAs were Merlwyb, Moenbryda, and Haucherfaunt. My favorite characters were the Garlond Ironworks crew and the Hildibrand characters; always brought a smile on my face to see them. After that, I liked the Coerthas characters and the Crystal Braves. I don't really like any of the Scions. I guess Minfilla, Alphinaud, and Tataru were the most likeable? Couldn't care less about the rest. Would've helped if the facial animation wasn't so wooden. Favorite NPCs were Shamani, Coultenent, Hoary Boulder, and the Doman family.

Lots of great music in ARR, my favorites being:

• The ARR login screen music (It's short and simple but feels grand and majestic.)

• Wailers and Waterwheels (Gridania day music. Makes me feel at home!)

• A New Hope (AMAZING!!! Really makes Ul'Dah feel grand)

• Sultana Dreaming (Ul'Dah night)

• Ruby Sunrise (Costa Del Sol)

• The Maelstorm's Theme (patriotic without feeling noisy like the other GC themes)

• When a Tree Falls (DoL leve music)

• Bliss (The comedic scene tune)

• Serenity (The Black Shround, I especially love the part that plays in Camp Tranquil

• The Chocobo Racing theme

• Smoulder (Brotherhood of Ash theme)

• A Fell Air Falleth (dungeon battle theme)

• Nemesis (AMAZING!!! Gives me Eliminate Crisis vibes from Trails of Cold Steel, really feels immense.

• Fealy (Coerthas theme)

• Another Round (Bar theme)

• Dreams Aloft

• The Seven Jesters (gives me Nightmare Before Christmas vibes. The vocal version is too noisy).

• Defender of the Realm

• Torn from the Heavens

• Intertwiner (Mor Dhona day theme, feels heavy)

• A World Apart (Felt great to hop out of the fire with this playing)

[Yoshingo]

Alisaie doesn't do a whole lot until midway through Heavensward. But she is intimately involved in the Coil questline, that's basically what she's been doing while 2.0 is happening.

I'd also say a lot of the problems or questions you have with most of these get resolved later on with more clarity. In fact, I'd say probably almost every single one of them is clarified or expanded upon. This ain't WoW where mystery box writing introduces ten million questions with no answers ever given. Most of what you're doing is tied directly into some storyline coming at some point. Shadowbringers, to my great surprise and happiness, moreso than maybe the first two expansions combined.

It was interesting to read somebody's thoughts about the story as they go along. Congratulations, you've arrived at the really amazing parts of the game now.

other times they meet in this hellish plane with a purple horizon, 13 seats and a macabre statue?

Oh shit, I didn't realize what this signified until the new expansion. I keep realizing more new (mostly small) things that they've clearly set up from early on that are paying off in Shadowbringers, even after finishing the MSQ.

apparently a massive, decisive battle between the Eorzea Alliance and the Garlean Empire with an entire airship fleet taken out apparently takes place entirely offscreen, with you only appearing on the battlefield after the fact with only a few soldiers around. Apparently Kugane Castle and Ala Mhigo are only held by thirty soldiers or so.

I'm not sure if this was referring to The Ghimlyt Dark or not but if it was, that's 100% not how its presented in the game. It's actually one of my favorite dungeons because of it being exactly the opposite. I dont ever remember thinking, "Really? This is it?" for either the Kugane or Ala Mhigo storylines in the way you're concerned about either. The final 4.0 dungeon is actually pretty dang good imo.

[Rogalicus]

Noooo don't end it like that! There's a continuation with an eventual definitive ending, right?

First 50 levels of Palace of the Dead are finishing this storyline.

[Deus Mortis]

Game is getting great reviews across the board.

[Granyala]

is there some way to not play background music on a loop? i've enjoyed most of it but now i'm in some place called Kugane. and the music is pretty great but when it's on repeat it kind of just get's painful for some reason.

Make a macro with /bgm

That way you can quickly mute/unmute the background music depending on your mood.

- - - Updated - - -

It's actually the battle where Midgarsomr brought down the Garlean flagship. It happened on The Source before Realm Reborn.

Yup, I gathered as much.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm not trying to argue Jobs should be balanced or designed around any content difficulty. I'm arguing that Jobs should be Functional and Complete for all levels of content. We're not talking about not using a situational skill here, we're talking about two of the Jobs mechanics that are going almost completely ignored.

Frankly put: you just have to be more aggressive with your stack heals and it won't be a problem. It's pretty much the same for me with my lilies. I don't need to use the emergency instant cast lilies in normal dungeons either, yet I have to if I want the purple one.

If you forego the Adlo spam and heal mainly with lustrate /Indom you will nuke your stacks in a timely manner.

[LD143]

(as already posted previously above...)

Just so you know, that's not Ardbert, it's the "generic adventurer" (aka - us, the player) and that's not a map of Norvandt, it's Eorzea … it even says Eorzea on the map itself at the bottom of it (plus, you know, the land masses are Eorzea as well).


I know it's fun to go back and connect the dots as it were, but this cinematic isn't one of them - not even close. It portrays the adventurer's (again, us) future and what's going on. It has nothing at all to do with The First, Ardbert or anything else. It's just Eorzea stuff. No more, no less.

[Edited for spelling errors]

[Strangebrew]

Got DNC to 80 and while its pretty damn good in pvp in pve it feels like it needs some buffs, ironically not to their damage but to their buffs. I want it to be a bit more of a support than it is and i feel like it would be in a good spot. As it is i like it but as a RDM main i feel like i do way more damage and with a battle res i'm way more useful.

Plus honestly En Avant isn't as nice as corps-a-corps/displacement. It can lag and rubberband you something fierce.

No just no, they should nerf their buffs and buff their personal dps if anything.

The amount of dps increase it currently does makes gigantic differences, there is entire world's differences between having a DNC or not, it's outright broken as it stands right now and every group is going to demand having one simply because of the insane buff it gives.
People are going to parse slave so hard with DNC that it's all around fucking awful for balancing in this game, it's worse than DRG and BRD in SB combined.

And i say this as a DNC main.
Who is there to say it have to be damage buffs in the first place? The 20% Crit/Dhit buff is so fucking retarded strong that it completely beats everything else in the game.
Why not make it different things? Skill/spell speed buffs for example would be much more balanced without completely breaking the balance between jobs, damage reduction or healing too, but damage and crit/dhit buffs? retarded as shit, i just hope they do some proper balance fixes on the upcoming patch.

This is such a gigantic step back after they removed DRG's piercing debuff and slashing debuffs.

[KrayZ33]

I don't think as highly of dancing partners as you do, and I'm a SAM who has basically no utility other than "dps is my utility".
Whether DNC are in my group or not doesn't make that much of a difference.
Considering their own dps is poor at best.

The top logs don't even have dancers in them most of the time.

You are severly overreacting and probably/most likely wrong too.

[Strangebrew]

I don't think as highly of dancing partners as you do, and I'm a SAM who has basically no utility other than "dps is my utility".
Whether DNC are in my group or not doesn't make that much of a difference.
Considering their own dps is poor at best.

The top logs don't even have dancers in them most of the time.

You are severly overreacting and probably/most likely wrong too.

I am not, i have experimented with my group and how much differences dancer buffs makes. you on the other hand doesn't seem to understand how this game works at higher levels and how retarded people are when it comes to the "meta"

Or have you not paid attention at all to the fact that people are already demanding no SAM's and BLM's(BLM's less than SAM's so because both RDM and SMN had their kits nerfed) and demands having a DNC in their comps already, weeks before savage is out?
Go and look at ERC, it takes you 5 minutes to go through it and see what is actually going on.


A constant 5% damage increase and 20% Crit/dhit buff ever 2 mins, and you're going to say that doesn't make a difference? I'd say you're the one who is fucking clueless here then.

inb4 you post speedrun comps as an argument, when they do shit like OoC generation in piss easy overtuned ex trials.

[KrayZ33]

I am not, i have experimented with my group and how much differences dancer buffs makes. you on the other hand doesn't seem to understand how this game works at higher levels and how retarded people are when it comes to the "meta"

Or have you not paid attention at all to the fact that people are already demanding no SAM's and BLM's(BLM's less than SAM's so because both RDM and SMN had their kits nerfed) and demands having a DNC in their comps already, weeks before savage is out?
Go and look at ERC, it takes you 5 minutes to go through it and see what is actually going on.


A constant 5% damage increase and 20% Crit/dhit buff ever 2 mins, and you're going to say that doesn't make a difference? I'd say you're the one who is fucking clueless here then.

inb4 you post speedrun comps as an argument, when they do shit like OoC generation in piss easy overtuned ex trials.

It doesn't because they do like 15-20% less damage on their own.
And who's demanding "dancers" in their group when trials are undertuned (not overtuned) anyways. What for? For lower dps? or for bigger Epeen due to personal dps (but less group dps).

I'd rather have 2 dragoons than a dancer and a dragoon when you are looking for DPS and Burst.

[Strangebrew]

It doesn't because they do like 15-20% less damage on their own.
And who's demanding "dancers" in their group when trials are undertuned (not overtuned) anyways.

They are 1k dps behind the highest jobs at worst, fuck off with your 15-20% bullshit.
They also do more dps than NIN's currently.