Final Fantasy XiV

[OgreBattle]

Been playing it a ton

A Realm Reborm- base game
- Clunky and cumbersome
- Frustrating story at times
- I hate the ending
- It's really boring to run the story dungeons from this part of the game, you just mob everything

Heavensward
- Builds off all my negative feelings from ARR into something wonderful
- Really likeable NPC's
- Dungeon design gets way better
- Dark Knight has a great storyline

Storm Blood
- Wooow magical undersea dragon palace fairy tales
- Really good turtle men spirituality, they believe the kami of old well crafted objects go into their eggs so they collect crafts from all over the world
- Adorable dragon-person-childrens playing underwater
- Kinda feels like One Piece
- Way more smooth gameplay and leveling

Just at Stormblood right now, enjoying the 5.0 Machinist. Ninja is very frustrating right now as it's juggling various abilities for a payoff that is beneath the much smoother Machinist.


I really like the Deep Dungeon content, it's more gripping for me than most dungeon content. 'Cause the enemies deal a lot more damage but have a lot less health so it's less about maintaing rotation and more reacting to the situation. A little more like Phantasy Star, Monster Hunter, Diablo.


Blue Mage, unlocked it but haven't really gone monster hunting, I'm pretty engrossed with the main story that I actually don't want to go off fighting monsters for the sake of monsters. I hope something more FFXI Blue Immortal defenders of Aht Urgan shows up in future content

[Avoraciopoctules]

I had a lot of fun with the free trial, but I stopped at the first raid. It's not that it looked hard or anything, I just didn't want to feel like I was letting the other players down splitting my attention with a podcast.

[Blicero]

Why does the dungeon design in Heavensward get better? Is it solely due to enemy placements, or is there interesting spatial design or better loot distributions or something?

[Count Arioch the 28th]

>heavensward
>Likeable NPCs

Pick one.

[Pariah Dog]

Started this on free trial a few months back. Picked up a legit copy last month and completed the UTTER SLOG that is post ARR content to start HW.

[OgreBattle]

Why does the dungeon design in Heavensward get better? Is it solely due to enemy placements, or is there interesting spatial design or better loot distributions or something?

ARR side leveling dungeons are alright but ARR story dungeon story are a slog

They’re made in a way where the enemies aren’t much of a threat as they want you to get story cutscenes... but it’s just demolishing a bunch of weak enemies over and over followed by boss fights where you watch a cool NPC for get steamrolled by 8 adventurers that completely cover their model with VFx, it’s not satisfying. You don’t use your job unique abilities really you just swamp em like a RTS swarm.

There’s also annoying things like picking up the keys to a magitek armor that can be missed if you assume only one party member needs to (which is how keys and unlooking doors works in 99% of content), but in this instance everyone needs their own keys... and you only find out after a long elevator ride (that people can also be left behind on so they have to wait)

Heavensward story battles involve shorter dungeons, less fights, but stronger enemies so you can go “oh cool temple knights wear a different uniform and can summon gargoyles!”. A lot of the content is solo so you have a nice duel testing your job mastery vs one really cool foe... and then after that solo battle is when you have party content unlocked for when the bad guy goes into their final forms.

ARR was rushed on a tight budget so I understand why these things happened, heavensward is when they had success $$’s and time

[Pariah Dog]

That sums up the two endgame story raids to ARR. Unskippable cutscenes of the bosses monologuing then they drop before I can get 3 rotations in.

[RelentlessImp]

In fairness, they haven't done the 8-player MSQ-required thing since 2.0. Castrum Meridium and Praetorium were THE end of 2.0 content, and the cutscenes are hella important for the story, and people were complaining that they didn't get to watch them - so they were made unskippable. Sony isn't completely stupid, though, so you get HUGE rewards for doing the MSQ roulette now due to the time investment. It is still kind of a bitch that Praetorium takes 40-45 minutes depending on the group, though, and about 30 of that is cutscene. (It was about 15 minutes when the cutscenes were skippable.)

[OgreBattle]

Praetorium gives me time to browse tgdmb
Castrum I like less because you still have to walk from point A to B to C to B

money wise, it does make sense to keep old content as is, not spend on it, and also count on people buying story skips if they really care... but I do wonder if revising ARR to be a better game experience like HW onward is, would help with gaining new players

[OgreBattle]

Concluded the Doma war arc

I really enjoyed the Azim steppes and undersea Au'Ra town and palace, the 'virtual tourism' aspect of Stormblood is great.

Ruby Sea could've been a larger area, I kinda wish Storm Blood was focused entirely on Othard/Doma/Yanxia/bit of Nag Xia. Back in Allahmigo and it feels kind of like an afterthought compared to the experience of the Ruby Sea, Azim.

Doma's a cool Fantasy East Asia that's not too specifically a real world culture (though I wish there were more armored characters, all the samurai are robed and even the Doman armor you can get, nobody wears it in Doma), like how Eorzea's city states not specifically 'Germany' or something. I love how Hien's story plays out like the wuxia novel Legend of Condor Heroes (evil empire conquers China, hero's parents escape to the steppes, hero gathers an army in the steppes to liberate his people), but with a happier conclusion.

-----

I've gotten the hang of the Global Cooldown and Off Global Cooldown based combat, don't love it but what XiV has done with the idea is cool. Too late to drastically change it too. Wish they had the confidence/time/resources to have done a more 'FF original' combat system than what started off as a WoW clone. Something like the FFXIII-Lightning Returns combat system is a good mix of real time action without being Devil May Cry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCAbwgtYYMs

Your animation playing out as you ice skate around also feels funky. Especially in PvP. It also sucks that this beautifully detailed and animated game is best played zoomed way out and looking at glowing names.

Passing through enemies, the way you tank by having only the boss face the tank while everyone else stands behind the boss feels bad. It makes sense gameplay wise, but I'd rather have game mechanics that make the battles feel 'cool' where the mages stand behind the paladin. That's just a complaint about this sort of MMORPG in general

So going off on 'if I did it: FFXiV'....

Universal gameplay mechanic, Active Time Battle meter like in FFVI. It fills up over time, some conditions slow or speed up how it fills.
Not super granular like a Monster Hunter stamina meter, but you get distinct chunks, start off with 2 and max out at 4 or 5.

Like Monster Hunter, your basic attacks don't use stamina, but your distinct 'job' abilities do, as does a defensive action like blocking a strong attack, dodging an attack. A lot of my ideas are basically "slowed down Monster Hunter, or if Guild Wars 2 didn't use cooldowns but the dodge-stamina meter for your abilities too"

So the Warrior hits things as a basic attack, does a big sweeping axe attack that halts enemies as an ATB consuming tanking action. The Black Mage behind the warrior (because the Warrior can halt enemy movement) then spends ATB to cast spells of various sizes. Both of them have a dashing button that consumes ATB to dash out of the way of the giant glowing pie plate being dropped on them.

Have the 'stagger'/'guard break' system of Sekiro & FFXIII, certain attacks fill up the stun meter/reduce the guard meter and then you unleash the high damage attacks. Dissidia has the Brave meter for something similar. So fight tempo changes organically based on condition of the enemy instead of "the ninja applied Trick Attack debuff, everyone nuke now".

All the Jobs then have their unique job mechanics on top of ATB. Mages spend ATB to charge up an MP meter (like Dragon's Crown, Dragon Ball fighting games), the Berserker/Warrior builds up a super meter by taking and dishing damage, Machinists have their battery and heat and whatnot.

[Ignimortis]

Oh boy, FFXIV. Basically the game that has taken over my videogame time since 2017, and I can only wish that I had started earlier.

You're pretty much on point as far as I'm concerned, though I loved ARR's ending (if we're talking 2.5 content, not the Ultima Weapon stuff), since it actually paid off most of its' setups and was a really nice blindside-that-was-kinda-anticipated-but-not-in-that-way.

They're also gonna revise ARR content in 5.3 (so half a year from now), we don't know the details yet, but it might include turning Castrum/Prae into solo duties or something like that.

Most of the clunkiness in gameplay is pretty much due to major reworks of classes each expansion. You have maybe 50% of your abilities at level 50, and most classes are really incomplete at that point, some are lacking as far as 72 or so, some get their basic stuff complete at 50, some at 60...

Stormblood's story is eh. It does suffer from not focusing on one thing like HW and ShB do, and it's less personal and more political, and you're less a hero and more an elite guy/gal who solves problems for other people to achieve their goals which don't necessarily align with yours completely. It gets better in 4.3 or so.

Dark Knight has the best storyline in the game aside from MSQ. 30-50 and 60-70 are worth experiencing. Really adds some character to the PC.

But damn, you're in for a treat. If Heavensward is 8-9 out of 10, then Shadowbringers is 10/10, all stars, no contest. I was trembling IRL at the end, it was epic and emotional and absolutely fucking cool at the same time.

[OgreBattle]

I really love the underwater dragon fantasy and pirate federation and steppes of Stormblood. Cirina, Sadu, Magnai were really fun to run about with. Hien was very likeable

Namai and outside of Doma... like the scenes with Yugiri and 'twas emotional when the villagers go to fight alongside you..

but the scale felt really off. Like the son of the emperor and viceroy are just walking on foot through some ruined town. The battle content of Doma was great fun but we only see like 12 villagers, (the ninjas probably doing stuff somewhere off screen, but there's only a few of 'em) one pirate boat show up for the land portion of that battle. Now watching Sadu and Magnai tear through the Garlean air forces was cool.

The Doma battle's ending was... meant to be emotional but it felt off. Hien didn't do anything cool (unlike Aymeric when you fight alongside him, even when you step in to help you see him give his shot) and then he cuts down a beat up lady who... he didn't successfully cut down and it leads to Goesetsu... It felt like watching an anime where suddenly the budget and writers change. Well the story does go back to Allahmigo so I see how it's just a side thing.

If I did it...
- Have Hien face off against Magnai as Warrior of Light takes on Sadu's summons, so we see Hien is a strong warrior
- Have Hien face off against some magitek armor as we fight the hypertuned
- Have the hypertuned with his last breath be the one that takes down Goesetsu as we confront Yotsuyu

The expansion could've just had things settled in Alahmigo first, then Doma... like write the story where Doma's rebellion just began because they saw Shinryu as a sign, so that's why you can strike the afghanistan base now. could've been the 4.X concluding the expansion

[Ignimortis]

I really love the underwater dragon fantasy and pirate federation and steppes of Stormblood. Cirina, Sadu, Magnai were really fun to run about with. Hien was very likeable

Namai and outside of Doma... like the scenes with Yugiri and 'twas emotional when the villagers go to fight alongside you..

but the scale felt really off. Like the son of the emperor and viceroy are just walking on foot through some ruined town. The battle content of Doma was great fun but we only see like 12 villagers, (the ninjas probably doing stuff somewhere off screen, but there's only a few of 'em) one pirate boat show up for the land portion of that battle. Now watching Sadu and Magnai tear through the Garlean air forces was cool.

The Doma battle's ending was... meant to be emotional but it felt off. Hien didn't do anything cool (unlike Aymeric when you fight alongside him, even when you step in to help you see him give his shot) and then he cuts down a beat up lady who... he didn't successfully cut down and it leads to Goesetsu... It felt like watching an anime where suddenly the budget and writers change. Well the story does go back to Allahmigo so I see how it's just a side thing.

If I did it...
- Have Hien face off against Magnai as Warrior of Light takes on Sadu's summons, so we see Hien is a strong warrior
- Have Hien face off against some magitek armor as we fight the hypertuned
- Have the hypertuned with his last breath be the one that takes down Goesetsu as we confront Yotsuyu

The expansion could've just had things settled in Alahmigo first, then Doma... like write the story where Doma's rebellion just began because they saw Shinryu as a sign, so that's why you can strike the afghanistan base now. could've been the 4.X concluding the expansion

Hien will have some more chances to shine in post-4.0 content. Let's just say that your "if I did it" aren't too far off...Oh, and you haven't finished 4.0 proper, right? Basically, my advice at this point is just "keep playing, it gets better". Which is, actually, my usual advice to everyone who gets into FFXIV, regardless of where they are, because it does get better each time.

[Pariah Dog]

Just beat the HW and am starting on post HW content now (also sidetracked by the "HERE DO THESE 100000000 dungeons!"

[Ignimortis]

Just beat the HW and am starting on post HW content now (also sidetracked by the "HERE DO THESE 100000000 dungeons!"

Here's my advice for those - just unlock them and queue for 50/60/70 roulette every day. You get Poetics for best gear you can get before current content, you don't burn out as much, and the quest completion usually isn't that important.

[Pariah Dog]

I'm DPS so I just do other stuff while waiting my 10+ minutes to for my queue to pop.

[OgreBattle]

Yeah a lot of jobs should just have their unique resources come online lvl 30, no later than 50.

I'm DPS so I just do other stuff while waiting my 10+ minutes to for my queue to pop.

I really enjoy the high damage of Deep Dungeons, I actually have to pay attention. Was a BLM with two other BLM's and a SCH, lots of explosions

I wonder if regular dungeon content could be pushed more towards everyone occasionally taking hits, instead of tank wall to wall pull AoE's

Was a BLM with two other BLM's and a SCH, lots of explosions

Been getting more into PvP but it feels like the bigger focused mob attack wins

I wonder what the October patch will do with Ninja

[Pariah Dog]

I'm a monk so my rotation completely changed at 50 which takes some getting used to if I end up in older fates/roulettes. But HW looks like it gave me tools to try and maintain Greased Lightning during the downtime phases assuming I remember to.

[Ignimortis]

Yeah a lot of jobs should just have their unique resources come online lvl 30, no later than 50.

I really enjoy the high damage of Deep Dungeons, I actually have to pay attention. Was a BLM with two other BLM's and a SCH, lots of explosions

I wonder if regular dungeon content could be pushed more towards everyone occasionally taking hits, instead of tank wall to wall pull AoE's

Was a BLM with two other BLM's and a SCH, lots of explosions

Been getting more into PvP but it feels like the bigger focused mob attack wins

I wonder what the October patch will do with Ninja

IMO, Deep Dungeons feel like a slog even when the mobs get interesting and the party is suboptimal. I've done them for the story, but getting through 101-200 PotD and 31-100 HoH would be too much.

PvP is basically two questions:
1) Do you have a healer on your group? If yes, maybe you even have TWO healers? If yes, you win the game, good job.
2) If you do not have a healer, can you coordinate enough to dump 5 GCDs into the enemy healer at once? If yes, you still have a chance. If not, well, at least you get some marks and exp for losing.

NIN changes are a hot topic right now, since they do the least personal DPS even behind Dancer and White Mage (the latter being A HEALER), IIRC. IMO, SE should just bump the potencies up, and make Trick Attack a 180s cooldown instead of 60s. Or delete it outright, because synergies suck when they're too good.

[OgreBattle]

IMO, Deep Dungeons feel like a slog even when the mobs get interesting and the party is suboptimal. I've done them for the story, but getting through 101-200 PotD and 31-100 HoH would be too much.

Yeah it did get repetitive when I'm running to level up the same job, rather than running to level a new job with new mechanics or a new floor with new enemies.



I really like the Dancer's dash, I feel like that should be a core mechanic for most jobs in glowy orange attacks and then the Dancer's thing is they chain 3 of them together. NInja's Shukuchi is awkward to use in a reactive manner.


Patch notes:
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodeston ... c6162503b9

NIN and SAM got potency buffs, Summoner's Ruin damage no longer dependent on DoT's

[OgreBattle]

Finished Stormblood, had a great Onepiece adventure feel

Finished 1st arc of Shadowbringers, Shadowbringers. Felt like the tearful parts of Onepiece.

Pacing an MMORPG like a decade+ running adventure manga makes sense