Final Fantasy XIV Hot Takes

The game brings back characters to often because they were popular for an expansion.

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Originally Posted by Remish

I know right? He didn't invite me to his birthday party!

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YOU MONSTER, FRISBEE!

Modders care more about Viera, Hrothgar, Highlander and Roegadyn than the devs do, and probably ever will - it seems if your race is taller than 5'4 you simply don't matter.

There, I said it

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Originally Posted by VerdeLuck

It's frustrating that people never die in this story. Villains who die come back from the dead with some conflicted emotions and become good. Supporting characters who die in emotional scenes are immediately brought back.
It feels like there's a lot of cheap emotional moments at the cost of killing characters only for them to just come back. G'raha Tia has died 3 times so far. Y'shtola has died 3 times and had a close call in Stormblood, each of the scions has died once, Gaius died, Zenos died twice, Gosetsu died and then came back after sacrificing himself, and so on.
I don't think anyone significant has stayed dead since Haurchefaunt and Moenbyrda, despite there being death scenes for supporting characters in every single expansion since.

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Papalymo? Ysayle? Minfilia?

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Originally Posted by Berteaux_Braumegain

Papalymo? Ysayle? Minfilia?

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Papalymo, Ysayle, and Minfilia all tend to be forgotten about by folks complaining about a lack of character deaths. Conversely, their deaths tend to be bemoaned by people who believe they were carelessly thrown in the trash during Heavensward, or in Minfilia's case Heavensward and Shadowbringers.

Maybe it's the carelessness of their deaths that makes them not register for both folks, but in opposite ways? Dunno.

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Originally Posted by Rosenstrauch

Papalymo, Ysayle, and Minfilia all tend to be forgotten about by folks complaining about a lack of character deaths. Conversely, their deaths tend to be bemoaned by people who believe they were carelessly thrown in the trash during Heavensward, or in Minfilia's case Heavensward and Shadowbringers.

Maybe it's the carelessness of their deaths that makes them not register for both folks, but in opposite ways? Dunno.

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Ysayle's death was not careless or bad writing at all. The reason they stopped killing off main characters after Heavensward is because everyone kept getting mad at the writers for it, at a certain point they decided their mental health is more important than receiving hate mail from some some neckbeard who's custom body pillow character got killed off in game.

The guitar was the worst thing to add to FFXIV.
Just because a crowd is somewhere doesn't mean we want an obnoxious bard playing.

Being bad at the game's combat is a state that one has to choose to move past from, including ceasing to blame others for their mistakes.

Venat was right.

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Originally Posted by LittleChickenNugget

The guitar was the worst thing to add to FFXIV.
Just because a crowd is somewhere doesn't mean we want an obnoxious bard playing.

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I am glad to not be the only one lol, especially when they hit the same notes over and over again parked near the market board. I like guitars but only at a distance.

People are using the same glamour over and over. Quite frankly it doesn't look good.
In fact if you want to look unique and visually congruent, just wear artefact armors or new allagan stone-clothes, because nobody uses it (and its a shame).

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Originally Posted by kpxmanifesto

YOU MONSTER, FRISBEE!

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I heard the cake was delicious! hmhm

Heres a hot take:
Dog girls/boys should have been added instead of hrothgar.
Ive always been a dog person so naturally i was disappointed to see a second catlike race

Hot take: Endwalker's story is fine.

It's not perfect. Even leaving aside debates over whether this or that character is really good or evil or whatever else, there's pacing problems (Garlemald, in particular, felt like it really needed another zone's worth of content to flesh it out and let the story breath). It kinda felt like two expansions' worth of story forced together because they didn't think that just ending the whole war with Garlemald was enough of a pull after years of dragging it out. And our brief stopover on the First felt like it didn't serve much purpose other than to remind us that those characters exist too.

But overall, I still thought it was pretty good.

[opinion that all of reddit/twitter/rest of social media agrees with but might make my forum nemesis fistclench at]

I'm sizzling and spicy here.

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Originally Posted by Rosenstrauch

Papalymo, Ysayle, and Minfilia all tend to be forgotten about by folks complaining about a lack of character deaths. Conversely, their deaths tend to be bemoaned by people who believe they were carelessly thrown in the trash during Heavensward, or in Minfilia's case Heavensward and Shadowbringers.

Maybe it's the carelessness of their deaths that makes them not register for both folks, but in opposite ways? Dunno.

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Not really forgotten. For all intents and purposes Minfilia died in ARR. We havent had a prominent character death since HW. Papalymo was HW patches so still HW.

They should replace lalafells with the Loporrits.

Story could use some more black and white and less grey.

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Originally Posted by TheMightyMollusk

Hot take: Endwalker's story is fine.

It's not perfect. Even leaving aside debates over whether this or that character is really good or evil or whatever else, there's pacing problems (Garlemald, in particular, felt like it really needed another zone's worth of content to flesh it out and let the story breath). It kinda felt like two expansions' worth of story forced together because they didn't think that just ending the whole war with Garlemald was enough of a pull after years of dragging it out. And our brief stopover on the First felt like it didn't serve much purpose other than to remind us that those characters exist too.

But overall, I still thought it was pretty good.

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Agreed. I like it less than Shadowbringers (5.0), but I'd say it's a reasonable second place.

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Originally Posted by KizuyaKatogami

Not really forgotten. For all intents and purposes Minfilia died in ARR. We havent had a prominent character death since HW. Papalymo was HW patches so still HW.

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Good. I don't want to see any more characters sacrificing themselves for the Warrior of Light.

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Originally Posted by Kakurady

Good. I don't want to see any more characters sacrificing themselves for the Warrior of Light.

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Yes, just as Alisae made us promise in SB, no heroic sacrifices!

Honestly main character deaths is a very delicate technique to attempt. You absolutely shouldn't just hamfist in someone dying because teh epic storiez, no. It has to be handled very carefully or else the whole thing ends up a colossal waste.

If not properly handled, a death can be severely cheapened by either being obvious said character was going to die (EW would have suffered this as there were main character death red flags everywhere, which is probably why some people were disappointed it never happened), or it ends up being distasteful because it came out of left field, worst case scenario it feels disingenuous because it was a character death purely for the sake of character death, a cheap and unwarranted grab at emotional impact.

Of course, fakeout deaths are often no better, especially when there's so many of them. But at least they don't have permanence. A character actually dying in a poorly conceived way is not just bad storytelling, it's also a colossal waste of that characters potential, because if they are subsequently brought back to try to fix that mistake, that then also cheapens *all* deaths in general.

I'm not gonna say there should never be main character deaths, but one should not *expect* them to happen. They need to be used sparingly and appropriately. Unless a character death is going to be a slam dunk, I'd rather they not try at all.

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Originally Posted by iheartlove42

Ysayle's death was not careless or bad writing at all. The reason they stopped killing off main characters after Heavensward is because everyone kept getting mad at the writers for it, at a certain point they decided their mental health is more important than receiving hate mail from some some neckbeard who's custom body pillow character got killed off in game.

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And there it is.

Shitty writing is actually the players fault. You heard it here first folks.

EDIT: And frankly I don't believe there were any credible threats anyway. Certain people always claim they were threatened with all manner of nasty things on the internet but never go to the police nor do they produce any even slightly credible evidence of it. It's just a convenient way to deflect criticism.

The current state of ARR is little more than a visual novel now that all battle content has little to no difficulty, and new players deserve a completely revamped and improved starter experience.

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Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams

The current state of ARR is little more than a visual novel now that all battle content has little to no difficulty, and new players deserve a completely revamped and improved starter experience.

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Most new players aren't looking a for a "hard" experience no matter how often the "content should be hard" contingent repeats it.

If people want hard content, it's there...even in ARR.

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Originally Posted by Conundrum

Most new players aren't looking a for a "hard" experience no matter how often the "content should be hard" contingent repeats it.

If people want hard content, it's there...even in ARR.

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I'm not even talking about hard, that isn't what I'm asking for. There is quite literally nothing to do in ARR fights except press 1 button and let the other players clear it for you. My starter experience had a learning curve and by the time I hit my first dungeon I had a lot more than just a basic 1-2-3 combo, if even that for some of todays jobs. You would not be able to sell me ARR nowadays-and I'm speaking as someone who started this game day 1 that it launched.

The game has a blacklist system from the 1980s.

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Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams

I'm not even talking about hard, that isn't what I'm asking for. There is quite literally nothing to do in ARR fights except press 1 button and let the other players clear it for you. My starter experience had a learning curve and by the time I hit my first dungeon I had a lot more than just a basic 1-2-3 combo, if even that for some of todays jobs. You would not be able to sell me ARR nowadays-and I'm speaking as someone who started this game day 1 that it launched.

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Yeah, this on itself may count as another hot take, but there's a big difference between "hard" and "you literally have to be afk or trolling to fail this" - XIV may be a story-driven game, but it's still a game, not a movie.

Stormblood has the best overall music tracks.

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Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams

I'm not even talking about hard, that isn't what I'm asking for. There is quite literally nothing to do in ARR fights except press 1 button and let the other players clear it for you. My starter experience had a learning curve and by the time I hit my first dungeon I had a lot more than just a basic 1-2-3 combo, if even that for some of todays jobs. You would not be able to sell me ARR nowadays-and I'm speaking as someone who started this game day 1 that it launched.

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You don't understand, there was button bloat. :^) /s

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Originally Posted by Rawr18

Stormblood has the best overall music tracks.

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Yeah, Revolutions is badass.

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Originally Posted by Caurcas

As the title suggests, please share your hot takes on XIV here. I'll go first. The music really isn't all that memorable outside a couple of tracks. I keep many other games' osts in rotation in my regular listening, but not XIV. Furthermore, often after I hear it once when content is new I'll flip the music off and just pull up something of Spotify or YouTube.

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This game is an instant gratification fest.

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Originally Posted by Hezzlocks

Yes, just as Alisae made us promise in SB, no heroic sacrifices!

Honestly main character deaths is a very delicate technique to attempt. You absolutely shouldn't just hamfist in someone dying because teh epic storiez, no. It has to be handled very carefully or else the whole thing ends up a colossal waste.

If not properly handled, a death can be severely cheapened by either being obvious said character was going to die (EW would have suffered this as there were main character death red flags everywhere, which is probably why some people were disappointed it never happened), or it ends up being distasteful because it came out of left field, worst case scenario it feels disingenuous because it was a character death purely for the sake of character death, a cheap and unwarranted grab at emotional impact.

Of course, fakeout deaths are often no better, especially when there's so many of them. But at least they don't have permanence. A character actually dying in a poorly conceived way is not just bad storytelling, it's also a colossal waste of that characters potential, because if they are subsequently brought back to try to fix that mistake, that then also cheapens *all* deaths in general.

I'm not gonna say there should never be main character deaths, but one should not *expect* them to happen. They need to be used sparingly and appropriately. Unless a character death is going to be a slam dunk, I'd rather they not try at all.

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They havent been used for 3 expansions now. I think resorting to major plot armor and plot holes to keep a character alive is just as bad as killing one off. I think there should be at the very least some consequences depending on the state of the story. For example we just had

a world ending apocalypse but somehow everyone is perfectly fine afterwards,

it really lessens the impact lol

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Originally Posted by KizuyaKatogami

For example we just had

a world ending apocalypse but somehow everyone is perfectly fine afterwards,

it really lessens the impact lol

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Funny. I remember a LOT of people dying in two zones in particular. Maybe not any main characters but to witness so much death and tragedy, along with the realisation that that's only what you can *see* and that sort of stuff was going on all over the region, and then say "everyone is perfectly fine" is a bit callous.

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Originally Posted by Hezzlocks

Funny. I remember a LOT of people dying in two zones in particular. Maybe not any main characters but to witness so much death and tragedy, along with the realisation that that's only what you can *see* and that sort of stuff was going on all over the region, and then say "everyone is perfectly fine" is a bit callous.

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"everyone who isn't a 1 dimensional character created sorely for shock value death"
That about cover it?

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Originally Posted by Aurikai

The game has a blacklist system from the 1980s.

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All those great online games from the 1980s.

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Originally Posted by Conundrum

And there it is.

Shitty writing is actually the players fault. You heard it here first folks.

EDIT: And frankly I don't believe there were any credible threats anyway. Certain people always claim they were threatened with all manner of nasty things on the internet but never go to the police nor do they produce any even slightly credible evidence of it. It's just a convenient way to deflect criticism.

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Nanamo's death and a lot of HW's plot involving it was rewritten because fans were upset that they killed Nanamo off. It is fairly apparent in the plot and the devs even talked about how they had changed it due to fan feedback.

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Originally Posted by IdowhatIwant

Nanamo's death and a lot of HW's plot involving it was rewritten because fans were upset that they killed Nanamo off. It is fairly apparent in the plot and the devs even talked about how they had changed it due to fan feedback.

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Character deaths aren't meant to be pleasant though. Making these things less impactful (or not impactful at all in this particular case) just ruins the story. This is one of those things where I think they would benefit more from not listening to the player base to any significant degree.

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Originally Posted by Vahlnir

Character deaths aren't meant to be pleasant though. Making these things less impactful (or not impactful at all in this particular case) just ruins the story.

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I'm of the idea that character deaths aren't needed for impact, and needless character death is shitty writing. However, I was expecting at least one death, and I'd been expecting it to be one of the major Archons. Not Alphinaud, as he's yet to fulfill his character growth arc (He's almost there, just not quite), AND he represents what the main character in a typical RPG would be. Not Y'shtola, because for all her fakeouts I think there's still a need for her (And she's the marketing face of the game, It'd be like killing Harry Potter and leaving him for dead). Not Thancred, because he still has responsibilities to take care of. Not G'raha, because he's yet to complete his 2nd growth arc. Not Estinien, because his growth has only just begun.

That left, in my mind, either Urianger or Alisaie, and my bets were on Urianger pulling some sort of big sacrifice so we could do something.

Seeing all of them "die" left me with this weird hole in my chest. It was sad, and I cried, because I knew that obviously while they were going to live, it had to have been a painful experience. But... The resulting happy ending felt unearned. Everything's fine, I guess? No one's dead, I guess? All the scions are gucci? Well.. okay... It's a happy ending and all but... it felt meh.

Hot take: Endwalker is a good expansion

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Originally Posted by MilkieTea

I'm of the idea that character deaths aren't needed for impact, and needless character death is shitty writing. However, I was expecting at least one death, and I'd been expecting it to be one of the major Archons. Not Alphinaud, as he's yet to fulfill his character growth arc (He's almost there, just not quite), AND he represents what the main character in a typical RPG would be. Not Y'shtola, because for all her fakeouts I think there's still a need for her (And she's the marketing face of the game, It'd be like killing Harry Potter and leaving him for dead). Not Thancred, because he still has responsibilities to take care of. Not G'raha, because he's yet to complete his 2nd growth arc. Not Estinien, because his growth has only just begun.

That left, in my mind, either Urianger or Alisaie, and my bets were on Urianger pulling some sort of big sacrifice so we could do something.

Seeing all of them "die" left me with this weird hole in my chest. It was sad, and I cried, because I knew that obviously while they were going to live, it had to have been a painful experience. But... The resulting happy ending felt unearned. Everything's fine, I guess? No one's dead, I guess? All the scions are gucci? Well.. okay... It's a happy ending and all but... it felt meh.

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Yeah. They aren't needed for impact, I just think that they need to actually be impactful when they do occur. This game's writers just seem to struggle with that, in my opinion. I felt the exact same way about that bit at the end of Endwalker, too. Just kind of...underwhelmed by that entire sequence when it was done.