Final fantasy XIV any good?

[Trithne]

completely failing to understand that it's about consistency.

did you not make it out of ARR or something

this game has been going full retard with sci fi since coils of bahamut, at the very least. consistently.

Coils fit in. All the Allagan stuff fits in. It has that feel of magical technology, that they were advanced but they were advanced within the constraints the universe presented.

Garlemald did this too, up until EW where the ruins imply that they had standard modern day cars. Garlean tech got less fantastical as the game went on.

Sharlayan too, clearly understands science, but looks in place.

Solution 9, as presented, is just a cyberpunk city airdropped onto the map. Like many of the recent gear sets, it's just pandering to people who don't understand internal consistency.

Compare Ironworks or Scaevan gear to the Tactical sets from the Wolves' Den. The former look like they belong in the world as it was established already. The latter do not.

Just because there's always been sci-fi elements doesn't inherently justify adding completely out of place sci-fi elements, but that's what people seem to think. It is, of course, their game to do with as they please, but the argument that all sci-fi is the same regardless of context peeves me.

 

[Delterius]

within the constraints the universe presented.

Edit: I don't really think we disagree. What I believe is that there are very important concerns with the setting's aesthetic. Which a lot of people here and there are formulating in terms of genre, which is fraught with failure because FFXIV is insanely eclectic. Moreover, unlike what you believe the game has only grown more dissonant over time, not less. Sharlayan is an advanced 'crystal civilization' with the aesthetics and governance of a modern Oxbridge country. Garlemald is a 'high dieselpunk' civilization with WW1-2 aesthetics, but it also has gundam robots in it. And their technology has only more and more complex since ARR, not less.

Seriously, there are no constraints in FFXIV as a genre. The game features gene-editting, space exploration, and programming languages inside of literal computers. If Allag feels like 'high magic' as opposed to sci-fi to you, that was just cope. On both our parts. But Allag hasn't been just the Crystal Tower for a very long time. There's a major distinction between a magic solar power plant, and the stuff we learn in Azys Lla, the Summoner quests, and so on.

Think about Alexander and Omega for a moment. Alexander can be construed as a highly advanced golem brought about by magic. Sure, if I rememnber shit right Alexander wasn't just conjured he was actually designed by people who exist in the world today. But Omega is a far cry from even that. It's a space robot. A conscious and intelligent being that explicitly doesn't have a soul. It's a computer and every advanced technology in the world is downstream from Omega.

Mind you I don't really like the sci-fi stuff most of the time either. And I agree that the setting is as its best when grounded on a fantasy aesthetic. But that's the key point. It hasn't been for a very, very long time. The implication is never that Allag's magic is industrialized and very advanced, which is the case with Sharlayan. Rather that Allagan technology and science is something mostly incomprehensible to us 'Crystal Age' mouthbreathers. At that point, I don't really see much of a difference between what Allag and Solution 9 do to the setting. Except in the realm of aesthetics.

You hit the nail on the head when you said that Solution 9 only looks like cyberpunk lifted into the setting. It's not a genre problem. It's not a fitting into the setting problem. It's an aesthetic problem. You go to Azys Lla and you are greeted with electronic guitars and keyboards. Everything is hyper advanced. The technology and the actual knowledge involved is Star Trek tier. But the aesthetic of the place feels outlandish. It's like our planet took advanced tech from space and digested it into a fantasy culture. Solution 9 is Seoul with more laser signs.

Lastly, one bigger issue that nobody seems to bring up is that Solution 9 might be an actual existing hyper civilization. So far we've only interacted with the ruins of Allag. The fact that Solution 9 exists bring up some questions that might end up being answered in the laziest way possible. Ie, they are another group of xenophobic isolationists. And that's assuming they aren't invaders from outer space, which would be an echo from FFIX.

 

[Tyrr]

I hear the (english) VA for the new female furry character is a tranny?
How bad is it?

 

[Late Bloomer]

I hear the (english) VA for the new female furry character is a tranny?
How bad is it?

Furries are vile people that hide behind the name furry as a cover for what they really are, zoophiliacs. Anyone that plays one is either a zoophiliac or zoocurious. This isn't some pixel game where you spend half an hour playing. This is a game you dedicate many hours to your character(s). Also, it is a 3rd person game, meaning you spend an inordinate amount of time staring at your character.

I will assume this is the person you are interested in hearing. Timestamped 4:58 of video.

 

[El Presidente]

Well I played a Charr revenant in GW2 he was badass.

In FFXIV I've seen a few serious Hrothgar glamours that were really awesome, though those are fairly rare. Most just dress as horny gay pole dancers or whatever. Still, since I have pretty much 0 knowledge of the furry world, never met one and never interacted with one even online, I can still look at these races in these games simply as "the monster races", which I find to be cool. Leave my innocence intact please.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

If only Hrothgar were half as awesome as Charr.

 

[El Presidente]

I think I'm done for good with MMOs, the only one I still have some interest in is ESO since I haven't played it yet and Late Bloomer told me just what I wanted to hear, that the game is in fact even better if you simply treat it as a single player TES title, which is precisely what I'd do. I haven't logged back in FFXIV or GW2 for months, and in WoW's case, years. I dunno, maybe the magic is finally completely gone to me. It was always all about that persistent progress, exploring some cool world and inhabiting it with other players, doing challenging content with them, but now I feel next to no pleasure anymore interacting with others in these games. Not to mention, I feel trapped between disliking the way these so called theme park MMOs are structured and, on the other hand, I definitely can't bring myself to a return to UO/Tibia/whatever other sandbox MMO I used to play eons ago, especially since the right moment isn't there anymore, the novelty isn't there anymore, the sandbox MMO zeitgeist, if you will. Too many conveniences and it becomes a bit stale and soulless and the interactions are too meaningless. Too few conveniences and I don't have the necessary patience and interest anymore.


Anyways, Dawntrail's trailer looks underwhelming as hell and fucking "Pictomancer" or whatever definitely won't lure me back in. Also yeah XIV always leaned heavily on sci-fi but it felt better balanced in the past since you'd interact with the garleans or whatever in low tech villages, forests and so on. The game wouldn't outright throw you in a cyberpunk city like it does now.

 

[SmilingGorion]

Is this game more deeper and compelling than Project Quarm?

The game is pretty nice. Plays mostly like a Jrpg excellent writing and a lot of gameplay gimmics. The world is overall interesting. Has ton of content too. The graphic is a bit outdated but this will change a bit with the 7.0. Music is just perfection.

What do you mean, it plays mostly like a JRPG? Like Dragon Quest? Rance?

The game is a 400+ hour long visual novel. The visual novel is mandatory to go through because all content in the game is unlocked by story progression. It's not like WoW where the story is meh but unobtrusive and you can skip past it and jump straight into the endgame. 200+ hours watching canned cutscenes, another 100 hours is reading NPC dialogue boxes, another 50 hours is travelling to the next NPC to talk to or picking flowers or two shotting a couple quest mobs out in the field, and then another 50 hours is running through boring corridor dungeons and solo instances.

ARR is boring (even after the rework) but still has the most interesting setting. The story is somewhat engaging up through Stormblood, when it was about localized geopolitical turmoil and conflict between nations and the protagonist hadn't become superman yet. After Stormblood, the writing goes off the rails and becomes about mastrubating to the player as much as possible at the expense of the setting, the country vs country conflict is pushed to the background and then eventually forgotten altogether as everyone holds hands and sings kumbaya, every country you visit turns into a boring democracy, and you have to put up with the obnoxious Scions who are now in the foreground. And then you had the incredibly hypocritical Endwalker storyline. Fuck that was awful.

Once you finally beat the story, there is nothing to do except do the same current raid over and over again (and FFXIV raids have design issues that make them unenjoyable compared to WoW's or even GW2's), or do the farmville island. This was the first expansion without an endgame grind zone to progress through like Eureka or Bozja, which kept players occupied after they had beaten the story. There is no talents or character customization. Every job plays the same. Almost every boss fight is against a single boss on a flat circular or square platform is about moving out of AoEs or you die. The engine is unresponsive which makes the PvP feel awful.

Totally correct. Also, you forgot to mention that the game claims to be an MMO, but at what point do you actually play with friends or other people? Story dungeons once or end-game raids, maybe. But you don't need friends to do them. There is zero rewarding or meaningful overworld content, no incentive, it's all just set dressing for the main story to unfold in.

 

[Mebrilia the Viera Queen]

Is this game more deeper and compelling than Project Quarm?

The game is pretty nice. Plays mostly like a Jrpg excellent writing and a lot of gameplay gimmics. The world is overall interesting. Has ton of content too. The graphic is a bit outdated but this will change a bit with the 7.0. Music is just perfection.

What do you mean, it plays mostly like a JRPG? Like Dragon Quest? Rance?

The game is a 400+ hour long visual novel. The visual novel is mandatory to go through because all content in the game is unlocked by story progression. It's not like WoW where the story is meh but unobtrusive and you can skip past it and jump straight into the endgame. 200+ hours watching canned cutscenes, another 100 hours is reading NPC dialogue boxes, another 50 hours is travelling to the next NPC to talk to or picking flowers or two shotting a couple quest mobs out in the field, and then another 50 hours is running through boring corridor dungeons and solo instances.

ARR is boring (even after the rework) but still has the most interesting setting. The story is somewhat engaging up through Stormblood, when it was about localized geopolitical turmoil and conflict between nations and the protagonist hadn't become superman yet. After Stormblood, the writing goes off the rails and becomes about mastrubating to the player as much as possible at the expense of the setting, the country vs country conflict is pushed to the background and then eventually forgotten altogether as everyone holds hands and sings kumbaya, every country you visit turns into a boring democracy, and you have to put up with the obnoxious Scions who are now in the foreground. And then you had the incredibly hypocritical Endwalker storyline. Fuck that was awful.

Once you finally beat the story, there is nothing to do except do the same current raid over and over again (and FFXIV raids have design issues that make them unenjoyable compared to WoW's or even GW2's), or do the farmville island. This was the first expansion without an endgame grind zone to progress through like Eureka or Bozja, which kept players occupied after they had beaten the story. There is no talents or character customization. Every job plays the same. Almost every boss fight is against a single boss on a flat circular or square platform is about moving out of AoEs or you die. The engine is unresponsive which makes the PvP feel awful.

Totally correct. Also, you forgot to mention that the game claims to be an MMO, but at what point do you actually play with friends or other people? Story dungeons once or end-game raids, maybe. But you don't need friends to do them. There is zero rewarding or meaningful overworld content, no incentive, it's all just set dressing for the main story to unfold in.

Is less of MMORPG and more a RPGMMO

 

[Late Bloomer]

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Having finished Granblue Fantasy Relink last month, and with two more weeks to go until Eiyuden Chronicle releases, I've been doing the Gwiber mount farm in FFXIV while getting through my Youtube watchlist. I have 5 out of the 7 Gwibers, just got the Shadow Gwiber last night. I am at 87 Ruby Totems, so I need to kill Ruby Weapon 12 more times to get the Ruby Gwiber. Then I just need to farm Titania to get the Fae Gwiber, and then that will be all seven, then I will finally have the robodragon two-seater mount.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Got all seven gwibers, and now I have obtained the Landerwaffe!

 

[Vyvian]

Female Hrothars are suffering the same mistakes as Males. They have extremely limited hairstyles and they are apparently tied to their head choices again.
They admitted it was a mistake with the Males, took steps to fix the issue then just repeated it again. I really don't understand this fucking company at times.

The graphics update has also stolen a lot of "soul" from people's characters and customization options. As people comb through the benchmark and test out character creation and as the newness wears off there's a lot of issues people are noticing.

 

[Hirato]

My Moon Cat seems more or less normal, though her skin does seem a tinge warmer and more saturated.
That said, I'm not exactly in the habit of taking pictures of my character, so it's a bit hard to compare - partly because I'm not giving them any money until job design improves.

I think a lot of the angst might just be people overreacting to the eyes no longer having lights baked in.
That said, I have seem some people share their characters which have suddenly gained extremely visible and pronounced lips, and not in a good way.

IMO, best thing for square to do is to maybe consider bundling a single fantasia as a pre order bonus, if the quality is mixed.

 

[Vyvian]

Female Moon Cats appear to have lost their fangs in the transition. Nobody is sure if it's a bug, an oversight or intentional though.

 

[Late Bloomer]

Any example of the before and after?

 

[Hirato]

I can't really get one.
Might be worth looking at one of the various feedbacks threads.
This seems to be the generic English one, and this is the generic japanese one.

Just note that for some reason a lot of people are posting after vs before, rather than the more natural before vs after order.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Just tried out the benchmark. My character looks the same, just with better eye and hair textures. It's hard to notice the difference as it only becomes obvious on close up shots of the face, which are extremely rare in the actual ingame cutscenes. Most game cutscenes of my Lalafell don't get closer than a medium shot of the torso.

Current game:

Benchmark:

 

[Myobi]

Bro.... you're a fucking lala? What the fuck are you doing?

Edited: FIXED! FIXED!

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Bro.... your a fucking lala? What the fuck are you doing?

When I play fantasy games like WoW or Guild Wars or Wildstar or whatever, I typically avoid playing human if I can. I already am a human. I'd rather try out the stuff that makes that fantasy setting unique. Typically ferocious beastman races like Tauren, Charr, Chuua, etc. Unfortunately, when I joined FFXIV during Stormblood, pretty much all of the options were slightly reproportioned humans. Elves are just tall humans with a weird run animation. Au Ra are just tall, buffer humans with a weird run animation. Roegadyn are big square humans with weird faces. Miq'ote are bland catboys with a weird idle posture. That just left Lalafell, which were the most different in physique and felt the least like a lightly reproportioned human, and didn't have offputting animations. By the time Hrothgar released, I was already too invested in my character to change, and when I did briefly try out Hrothgar I wasn't satisfied with them. They didn't feel like inhuman beastmen who would rip your apart and eat you. They felt more like Disney cartoon furries.

Another thing about FF14 is that it is hard to make your character's silhoutte standout. In WoW you can customize your big, distinctive shoulderpads, but in FF14 those shoulderpads are pretty small. But Lalas have big helms, so you can make a more distinct silhouette.

 

[Reinhardt]

is it gud? i heard there is free trial or something?

 

[Myobi]

is it gud? i heard there is free trial or something?

Yeah, pretty good free trial too, you can do the base game and some expansions with the usual anti bot limitations.

 

[Reinhardt]

so what should i expect? how it plays? considering i will be trying free trial it means pretty much single player game - how it holds?

 

[Myobi]

so what should i expect? how it plays? considering i will be trying free trial it means pretty much single player game - how it holds?

If I remember correctly, the early game is boring as fuck, its gets much better later on, but you need to suck it up hard for a while...

 

[Rahdulan]

is it gud? i heard there is free trial or something?

Yeah, pretty good free trial too, you can do the base game and some expansions with the usual anti bot limitations.

Free Trial players should know they can join the Novice Network in case they want an outlet to chat with other people despite FT limitations.