After 8 blind let’s play livestreams of A Realm Reborn, I discuss Final Fantasy 14’s biggest hurdle in adopting the casual non-MMO Final Fantasy gamers, and how Naoki Yoshida, the game’s Producer/Director, (potentially) intends to change this in Final Fantasy 16.
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What is a casual FF fan? And why Yoshida should try to get then in ff14? Casual FF fan dont make the majority of FF players.
I never played a mmo before but i get FF 14 just cause its a FF and im enjoying it for 8 years. (Yes i purchase it at the time of ARR only and i love every part of it.)
My playtime in 14 now is 547 days, 17 hours and 27 minutes. I would not trade it for any game ever.
Here's some tips to anyone who is new to MMOs and are playing thru ARR!
1. Don't ever do any sidequests. Focus on Main Story and your Job Quests, and the occasional blue marked quest. The blue quests unlock features, and the job quests unlock abilities until lvl60. The side quests arent worth the xp, they are purely for additional world building. The main story already feeds a lot of world building so side quests are easily skippable.
2. Choose a realm with an xp boost active. You can progress between all the jobs on 1 character, so feel free to level 2-3 at a time.
3. The worst of the leveling experience is around lvl40, and again immediately after the credits roll for initial patch content. Feel free to skip through any text that you arent enthralled with. You could infer the world building from later quests. People love HW so much mainly because the pacing, drama, and voice acting gets 100% improved pretty much 'overnight' in the story experience.
There will be something beyond Endwalker. Endwalker will only end the story that has been going on since 1.0 while after it will be another story arc based on places we have heard of but not gone to or lore in the universe that they can expand on.
Many hardcore MMORPG Players don't consider those of us who started in WoW as true MMORPG players – no harsh death penalties, being able to level in the open world without a dedicated group etc. WoW was considered a super-casual MMORPG for super-casual MMORPG Players.
FFXIV is a lot like WoW and also my first Final Fantasy experience. Being able to level by following a story instead of having to scramble around and find quests to do or mobs to farm for XP was a nice change (actually WoW doesn't really do that anymore either – you tend to go to quest hubs and gather them up in bunches outside of the Classic games).
I was really hoping they would put in more voice acting (note: WoW has almost none) during the 5.3 revamp of ARR but they didn't.
A Realm Reborn is a game within itself.
Heavensward provides enough game content to be a game within itself.
Stormblood provides enough game content to be a game within itself.
Shadowbringers provides enough game content to be a game within itself.
In here I'm using the term "game" to encompass a 32-50 hour casual JRPG playthrough experience.
When A Realm Reborn was released, all the way up to it's final patch which is 2.55, it was beloved then as well. Back then, people really only complained about the fetch quests around the mid 20s and the constant rubber banding between far off places and, "… pray return to the Waking Sands." It's literally an in-community meme.
You, and those coming in after ARR release, are coming in with a predetermined mindset of so much more game being ahead of them, when back during ARR's release, that's all we had. It wasn't a "gatekeeper expansion". It was the game.
You should treat it as the game it is. The problem is you can't because it's an MMO that would require at least 3-8 other people to treat it as the game with you. By default you and those following ARR's release won't have the context of experiencing a release schedule with a community on a whole until you reach the current endgame.
The same incorrect assumptions are being applied to VII:R as well.
We don't know where VII:R part II is going to end, but people have their incorrect opinions, including myself, because they've played the original game and are projecting that level of pacing onto an entire series when developer interviews and the release of Intergrade and what it covers suggests a far more drawn out experience than what the community at large are expecting.
From a veteran's perspective. You're not even casually far along. You're taking ARR very slow. Slower than what I would consider normal. I can only surmise the reason you are going so slow is because you are also spending time to interact with your audience. The point at which you have arrived that is being highlighted in this video can literally be achieved in one day, even less. I know because I've done it across multiple characters, multiple times, and have recorded it all, including reading cutscene dialogue and I play games fairly slowly.
Speculatively I can't say what XVI will ultimately bring. I can confidently say that upon release it will have a beginning middle and end.
What I cannot say, and neither can you, is how much DLC or external future content will be added to the world of Valisthea in the form of expansions, sequels, or external media.
So, release day XVI will (likely) feel like a complete experience (unless they screw the pooch like XV).
Five years from now? Honestly, that's up in the air, but that doesn't change that on release day it will have felt like a complete experience if they did their job correctly.
The same critical eye should be applied here. IMO, as far are you're concerned, Heavensward doesn't exist and ARR is a 50ish hour casual experience form beginning to end. You have been mislead when you're told that ".. it doesn't get good until Heavensward." and due to this misleading by the game's veteran community, you are being setup for disappointment with the great game and experience you have in front of you. ARR is good. If it wasn't good then we sure as hell wouldn't have seen a Heavensward let alone a Shadowbringers, especially considering the financial state that SE was in at the time.
There's so much awe that you're unable to experience because you're not there as it's released live due to the game's MMO nature.
You're not going to have the privilege of experiencing the Binding Coil of Bahamut at the difficulty it was intended when it was "relevant".
The story beats in the patches leading up to Heavensward aren't going to hit as hard because they're not going to have enough time to breathe.
There's just so much that you're unable to experience just due to context alone, and it's not your fault, but it's also not the developers fault either.
The developers made the content for the time it was created. It still applies for that time and that context and them even cutting the twenty quests is arguably a controversial move from a pacing perspective. The 20 quests that were trimmed were actually a part of ARR's main story quest, not sidequests. They didn't cut any sidequests as you're not really required to do any sidequests in order to advance the main story, well, not until much further into the game.
All in all, we live in a post MMO internet era and speculations on even single player games would best be served taking that into account.
There's nothing keeping ARR from being a complete experience.
There's nothing stopping VII:R from having multiple follow up games and sidestories expanding over a decade.
There's no telling how XVI is going to measure up five years after its release.
It all depends on how successful those individual IPs become.
Action games have been incorporating RPG elements into their design for the last two decades. RPGs, especially those at SE, are incorporating action elements into their design as of late. There's no reason for us not to assume that the single player games aren't going to start incorporating MMO like expansion releases and mechanics when they have proven to not only be critically successful but financially lucrative to say the least.
Get prepped.
Maybe I'm insane or something… but due to different circumstances I DID end up playing through ARR like 3 or 4 times xD
I feel ya, ye this was them stitching what they were given back together, heavensward is where the team starts going wild with their own ideas. just do msq you will also notice the voice acting gets better they are basically just reading lines in arr.
Unfortunately, what you are playing is really now just an empty husk of what once existed. You said you are new to MMO's, it's unfortunate then that your introduction to the genre wii miss so much of what it was… I'll try to explain.
The world that existed in that MMO (and mmo's in general), can only really exist in that time and place and is extremely fleeting. Yes, it's a story, but above everything else, it's a WORLD with other players. Back then the world was jam-packed, leveling took a long time, your skillset was carefully planned out, every new skill felt cool and exciting. Players were absolutely everywhere on every map, grinding out fates. The world bosses were intense and a brilliant new experience, seeing 20+ people get 1 shot by a world boss was… I dunno, it felt magical lol. Each new dungeon was an experience, some people would wipe over and over, people talked to each other, world chats and area chats were quite active. There was a limited amount of gear choices, new items felt well earned and again, exciting. So while the quests were even then very grindy, they were accompanied by so, so much more that fleshed out the experience and made it feel like an epic experience in a thriving world.
But that's, long, long gone. Leveling is much quicker now (but still slow), everything is nerfed into the ground, your skillset only starts to come together at max levels, so much of it was trimmed away to reduce end game bloat, so start and mid-game…. it's really quite boring, (honestly, it's nearly unbearable to me…. those mindlessly easy dungeons with those tool kits, it's just awful). There's very few people on the maps now, and they just steam roll the fates. Same with dungeons. Everyone that you join a dungeon with, has probably done that dungeon 50+ times, and just want to get it over with asap. Everything has been nerfed into the ground. Everyone you see is likely just drudging along, jaded, and trying to speed run to end game . All the items that were rare then are meaningless now, in total abundance. Everything is as easy as possible and items in such excess. With everything being so differnt to what it was, you just completely miss that "experience" that tied everything together. Now it just feels like grinding out quests in a graveyard of a once-thriving world, everything else has had its significance stripped.
Unfortunately, that's just the way of MMO's and how they progress. You can never go back to that time and place. I recently wanted to level a machinist, and for nostalgia's sake, I leveled it through the old path that I originally leveled to 50. It actually felt kinda surreal, totally devoid of the life that was once there.. everything in abundance, everything beyond easy. The epic world bosses that would 1 shot 20 people? I'm solo'ing them with my Chocobo.. etc
You still get that experience in the latest expansion, however, as that's where everyone is and the content is fresh and still being experienced as originally intended. It's not quite the same, but it's much, much more "alive" than what you are experiencing right now.
You can pay to skip ARR but you miss out on a lot of content. They almost need an option where you skip to level 40 and get to the good parts of ARR. it’s definitely a grind and an investment but it will have a big pay out later on if you enjoy good story.
Playing with a friend really helps, so I strongly encourage people to play and interact with people along the way if u start out alone.
maybe blizzard will see what square is doing and finally make warcraft 4
As someone who loves Final Fantasy but doesn't care for MMOs (or multiplayer games of any kind really), I feel like I can relate to your experience so far. I've had an on/off again relationship with Final Fantasy 14 ever since it was released on the PS3. I really wanted to like it but struggled to get past level 30 or so before growing tired of it.
That all changed last fall following the unveiling of Final Fantasy 16. The promise of FF16 (from what we know and have seen so far) was so compelling to me that I knew I had to learn everything I could about Yoshi P and his capabilities as a producer. By this time, FF14 had also become somewhat acclaimed for its Shadowbringers expansion (and to a lesser extent, Heavensward). Combined with a [desperate] need to pass the time until FF16's release, I was finally suitably motivated to take another run at FF14.
I'm now 200+ hours in–part way through the Shadowbringers expansion–so I'm making a lot better progress this time around. Here's what I think so far…
I agree with all of the criticisms of ARR. It's clear to me that the intention driving the gameplay and narrative design at the time was to drag out the experience and keep people subscribed for longer. I also realize that the team was in a difficult position with tight deadlines and perhaps a limited budget, so I get it. But regardless, the result was a very sub-par experience as far as when you compare the game to most single player RPGs. The story is not that interesting, the pacing is bad, and the characters are pretty one dimensional. To its credit though, I felt like what they were able to accomplish given the constraints was exceptionally well polished, and that made it a lot easier for me to deal with the less interesting bits of the experience.
The game does indeed improve with Heavensward. There is far more voice acting, the narrative is more tightly paced, and the setting and locales are beautiful in most cases and far more interesting. Also, and perhaps more importantly, the characterization of key NPCs and your main "party" is far better than in ARR. I felt like I was finally getting to know who all these people were: their hopes, fears, flaws, motivations, etc. They were finally becoming interesting. Also, the story/narrative as a whole is quite a bit more cohesive and well delivered. All that said, is it as game-changing as some in the community make it out to be? I don't think so; it’s still FF14. However, it's a big improvement over ARR.
I'm enjoying Stormblood more than I was expecting. From what I had read online, everyone seemed to love Heavensward and Shadowbringers, however there appeared to be a bit less love for the middle child, Stormblood. People liked it, but weren't quite as effusive in their praise. In my experience however, and without going into spoilers or too many details, Stormblood feels like we've finally stepped off the floating island in Final Fantasy 3 (or the Great Plateau in Breath of the Wild) and have entered a whole new world. The story has become more political and the villains more interesting. Overall, I feel more hooked on the game now than I have at any point previously.
FF14 has changed my mind a little bit on MMOs. Not significantly, and I have no interest in trying another one, but I will say that the FF14 team has done a great job in making the whole grouping side of things a lot more accessible. I've actually come to enjoy the dungeons in many cases, and even have to admit that there's a sense of excitement that comes from knowing that you're playing with other real people and that they are relying on you to play your part. On the other hand, sometimes I feel a bit anxious when playing grouped content, especially if I'm not familiar with the dungeon/trial yet, so it's not quite as relaxing as a single player game can be. What I dislike about grouped content is that it's very difficult to communicate (I play on PS5) during gameplay. Sure, I could get a keyboard or join some party where everyone uses headsets, but I'm not a typical MMO player and I'm just not that committed. I have no interest in talking to strangers when I'm relaxing, playing games. Maybe this is a self-inflicted wound, but none-the-less, that's how I want/don't want to play.
When it comes to boss encounters, I find many of the mechanics very difficult (if not impossible) to figure out without having someone tell me what to do, or having to read up on the mechanics beforehand. I really dislike this aspect of the game, and for me, it makes the dungeons far less enjoyable than they could be. I want to be able to learn a boss's mechanics naturally by observing and playing the battle. Reading up on encounters before you play them (especially big ones, like those in alliance raids) is a total buzz kill. Sure, I can just go into them blind, but then I feel like an idiot, running around not knowing what to do. I also play a tank (Paladin), and it often seems that many of the mechanics require that the tanks know what they're doing.
The game's overall presentation has always felt a bit stilted and has yet to improve significantly. For me, this is one of the main issues holding FF14 back from a next level experience more suitable to a casual audience. While the stories are becoming more interesting and the characters are coming into their own, the scene direction and constant interruption–purely for the sake of mechanically finishing one quest and picking up the next–breaks the immersion. The game is just never able to fully hide its technical architecture from the player. It's not horrible, but the game's underlying systems were clearly designed in a by-gone era and it shows.
The biggest problem I have with FF14 as a whole, however, is the gameplay and character progression. In most Final Fantasy games you get deep character customization that usually leads to interesting character/party builds and therefore interesting strategy when in combat. FF14 has almost none of that. While you do have different classes, no two characters of the same class play differently. There is essentially a right way and wrong way to play each class. You do get a bit of variety through boss battles, although even in that case what matters more is positioning and mechanical understanding of the encounter. Regardless of your party's make-up, the fight will (must) play out the same way every time. And this is what makes FF14 not very interesting to play sometimes. There's no opportunity to really mix things up or really make your character feel like your own. It would be so much more fun and interesting if there were multiple viable ways to play the same class. Dragon Quest 11 did this really well I think (by the way, I HIGHLY recommend you play DQ11, it's superb).
The music is fantastic. There are some truly stand out tracks throughout FF14 and I've yet to come across any pieces that were not at least good.
So overall, from the perspective of this single player RPG playing, Final Fantasy loving fan, the experience so far has been good, but not what I would call essential, especially when you factor in the vast amount of time required to play through the game in its entirety. Maybe that will change and I will fall madly in love with FF14 when I get to Shadowbringers, but I doubt it. I'm sure the narrative and characters will be really good, but [for me] it will never quite reach the heights of greatness that I want from a Final Fantasy game given the somewhat archaic presentation and gameplay systems.
All that said, I see a level of craftsmanship in FF14 that you rarely encounter in video games. And in an MMO no less. The fact that Yoshi P was able to create an MMO that has drawn me in enough to keep playing, despite the issues I raised above, suggests to me that FF16 is in very, very good hands. I'm also convinced that, if nothing else, FF16 will be an exceptionally well polished, well structured and complete experience. So until then, I'll continue my journey in FF14. In part because it has become a better game over time, but mostly because I need somewhere to direct all of my hype for FF16.