Happy Alternatives

Right now in addition to FFXIV I'm also playing FFXII, just started Command & Conquer: Red Alert, and doing various player-made mod campaigns for Freespace 2.

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Originally Posted by Serilyn

For IWD there is actually a mod that adds chatty party members that can add a little to the experience. And NWN2 I found the original campaign okay, not great but not terrible, loved the expansion Mask of the Betrayer though. I'd probably look into whether there are any mods to improve some of the NWN2 models these days as some haven't aged well.

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Yea I've heard Mask of the Betrayer is great, but I do want to play through the original campaign first... The biggest hurdle is just that low level D&D is quite frankly fucking boring.

of these games which have controller support + on steam? i'll need a replacement mmo in 4 days when my sub expires.

Me, I've been playing Valheim with my friend and my hubby. Stardew Valley when I'm alone and burnt out from FFXIV. Sometimes I play GW2 as well. Oh and ESO sometimes, but I'm still newbie to that game.
Other than that, I tend to play older games, got lots to catch up on from my old 2000s PC game catalogue.

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Originally Posted by 1313

of these games which have controller support + on steam? i'll need a replacement mmo in 4 days when my sub expires.

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Most MMOs don't support controller. You can try GW2 on steam but that requires a lengthy session trying to bind everything to controller since it's not natively supported. I heard in WoW you can also have controller but don't quote me on that. ESO has controller support if you're interested. I know Throne and Liberty will have native controller support.

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Originally Posted by Rehayem

Me, I've been playing Valheim with my friend and my hubby. Stardew Valley when I'm alone and burnt out from FFXIV. Sometimes I play GW2 as well. Oh and ESO sometimes, but I'm still newbie to that game.
Other than that, I tend to play older games, got lots to catch up on from my old 2000s PC game catalogue.



Most MMOs don't support controller. You can try GW2 on steam but that requires a lengthy session trying to bind everything to controller since it's not natively supported. I heard in WoW you can also have controller but don't quote me on that. ESO has controller support if you're interested. I know Throne and Liberty will have native controller support.

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Yeah, I played eso on playstation a long time ago, makes sense that pc would have controller support. It's just not really ideal for me to play kb/m due to how i have my setup, changing it would be a lot of work. I'll probably just plop back into eso, which is sad because i've always been a lifer in this game. never felt the need to have another game.

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Originally Posted by Midare

I gave them money for 12 years and I stopped 3 years ago.

I'm not going back to retcon limbo.

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You know what ? I miss the time when retcon was the main issue with wow story writing, nowadays it has the same taste as Dawntrail : sanitized, bland, a lot of poorly written characters, power of love and comprehension will prevail bullshit and potentially interesting themes presented with lamest approach imaginable.

I wish Squeenix would hire a fucked up main writer like Yoko Taro in his early years , at least it will be interesting to witness what he has to say through the story he wrote.

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Originally Posted by Syln

You know what ? I miss the time when retcon was the main issue with wow story writing, nowadays it has the same taste as Dawntrail : sanitized, bland, a lot of poorly written characters, power of love and comprehension will prevail bullshit and potentially interesting themes presented with lamest approach imaginable.

I wish Squeenix would hire a fucked up main writer like Yoko Taro in his early years , at least it will be interesting to witness what he has to say through the story he wrote.

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We got the Nier raids. Supposedly Yoshi-P put him on a short leash.

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Originally Posted by lolnotacat

We got the Nier raids. Supposedly Yoshi-P put him on a short leash.

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And thank god for that.
Yoko Taro’s stories border on unplayable sometimes because the whole narrative is convoluted and full of meta pseudo philosophical stuff.
The nier raid to this day doesn’t really make much sense or fits into the FF14 universe.
I find it funny though that the WoL just sends the big bad of Nier/Drakengard packing.

FF14 was always straightforward with its story and that’s good.
I don’t want it to change just want it to get back to the “not talking to me like a child” standard it had before DT.
They can get inspiration from similar fantasy games like Genshin’s Lore use (not storytelling that is bad) or Nasu’s knack for worldbuilding with the FGO Lostbelts if they have to.

I am pretty sure they can actually do it themself though.

To not derail the Thread and stay on topic:

I was always kinda interested in Guild Wars.
Is there a way to play it with controller?

We just want shadowbringers writer to return I really like how shadowbringers was so dramatic and sad..

This story state will kill FFXIV for me if it continues

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Originally Posted by Sivante

Gonna try bringing the positive junk out again

Yoshida has commented about playing other games, and encourages players to step away from FFXIV and return later as necessary. We also know Yoshi tried Elden Ring, WoW, EQ, and others. I've seen it said on these forums, often in fact, 'go play something else then.' It's a popular dismissal. I've seen people say that for the quality of content received at the pace we get it we 'might as well' play Genshin Impact, which has no sub by comparison but provides comparable (apparently?) experience and enjoyment.

So what is it you play in your down-time, or when FFXIV isn't making you happy? I'll list some of the alternatives I've seen mentioned below: Is yours missing? Why do you love the one(s) you play? What's special about them to you? Gush a little, convince me to give it a try! I'm curious to see what everyone's passionate about, and what brings them some joy when it can't be found here.

I'll add some of my own with asterisks, to out myself sufficiently.

Ze List

· World of Warcraft
· Monster Hunter
· Guild Wars 2
· Warframe
· Genshin Impact
· Honkai Starrail
· Baldur's Gate
· Death Must Die*
· Rimworld*
· Elden Ring*
· Lies of P*




Please, as always, try to be civil: this isn't an invitation to start flaming other games out of FFXIV pride or vice versa. We have enough friction in the other threads to fuel a fusion reactor as it is.

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Imagining the elden ring playthrough of an average ffxiv player is a fun exercise.

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Originally Posted by lolnotacat

We got the Nier raids. Supposedly Yoshi-P put him on a short leash.

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Unironically, I love the Nier raid story because it just makes no sense. The final scene is supposed to be dramatic but it falls so flat that you end up laughing. Incredible stuff, real The Room levels of what.

His writing style is a lot more suited to an expansion than to a patch story, but I also think that FFXIV as a game just doesn't have enough to it for him to play with, ludonarratively. Best you can do is some dialogue options that branch in no meaningful ways, and some fights you're guaranteed to clear blindfolded. He's best doing his own games.

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Originally Posted by OliviaLugria

Imagining the elden ring playthrough of an average ffxiv player is a fun exercise.

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[Kills tutorial mob]

Phew, that was stressful. Gonna log off and watch paint dry for a bit to calm down.

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Originally Posted by koko-on-da-forumz

Unironically, I love the Nier raid story because it just makes no sense. The final scene is supposed to be dramatic but it falls so flat that you end up laughing. Incredible stuff, real The Room levels of what.

His writing style is a lot more suited to an expansion than to a patch story, but I also think that FFXIV as a game just doesn't have enough to it for him to play with, ludonarratively. Best you can do is some dialogue options that branch in no meaningful ways, and some fights you're guaranteed to clear blindfolded. He's best doing his own games.



[Kills tutorial mob]

Phew, that was stressful. Gonna log off and watch paint dry for a bit to calm down.

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It makes me giggle that you specified "mob" and not "boss", because that's even more accurate.

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Originally Posted by Astrus

When the Grim Dawn expansion releases that will likely see me step away from FF for a while, too.

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Wait there's a Grim Dawn expansion coming up??

I genuinely don't get a lot of free time for gaming and devoted that time to FFXIV to be honest. But I occasionally revisit the game I played for twelve years before a combination of burnout and disdain of it's business model led me to listen to my best friend's suggestions (backed up with screenshots) to try FFXIV.

That previous game was STO (Star Trek Online). I still log in very occasionally - mostly to see what Stipend I've amassed (since I purchased a lifetime subscription shortly after I started playing). However - the rest of what I say here is entirely personal opinion based on my own experience of the game: the game lost all appeal to me as the frequency of the new content decreased and they turned their attention VERY much to lootboxes and stupidly expensive "bundles" (often to the value of £300) of in-game items.
It also became catastrophically easy. The problem with having a hyper-focus on selling stuff is that what you're selling has to be better than what came before it. STO did absolutely nothing to keep the powercreep in check; a piece of raid-type content that, a few years ago, took 25 minutes to complete took all of 12 seconds the last time I played it.
And that Stipend? Healthy amount of in-game currency..... but I have no interest in buying anything; both because nothing in the game interests me and I abhor the idea of basically encouraging their business model.

I could carry on but that isn't what this thread is about. Again, I still log in from time-to-time but nine times out of ten just feel nostalgic for what the game once was and log out again.

Everyone who really likes video games should play Baldurs Gate 3, it is really a good game that you easy enough can lose 3-500 hours in.

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Originally Posted by OliviaLugria

Imagining the elden ring playthrough of an average ffxiv player is a fun exercise.

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Annnnnnd that's my new game for the weekend. Imagining FFXIV players first playthroughs of Elden Ring is delightful and I'm a fool for not having thought of it. Thannnnk you vvery much.

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Originally Posted by Sivante

Annnnnnd that's my new game for the weekend. Imagining FFXIV players first playthroughs of Elden Ring is delightful and I'm a fool for not having thought of it. Thannnnk you vvery much.

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Honestly, I find so much joy in watching unskilled players play games. Gaming has been my main hobby for decades now so the conventions of games as well as the associated problem-solving comes incredibly naturally to me, and it can be easy to forget just how different that can be for people with different life experiences. Watching the way someone who lacks my skills and experience engages with the game really gets me out of my own head; it's both educational and grounding, and I get a genuine kick out of both of those things.

(Probably especially because I've worked as a game designer and have a passion for seeing how the design of games can either lead players towards or away from success in various contexts.)

I've been playing Darkest Dungeon II, Vintage Story and Rimworld. Gearing up to also play some No Man's Sky with my younger brothers.

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Originally Posted by koko-on-da-forumz

Unironically, I love the Nier raid story because it just makes no sense. The final scene is supposed to be dramatic but it falls so flat that you end up laughing. Incredible stuff, real The Room levels of what.

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It does...mostly... if you know the whole Nier story, which IMO is a failure since requiring that much homework to understand something which is mean to attract new people will only push them further away. I love Nier and the off-the-wall aspect of the story telling. In a lot of ways it feels like a Greek tragedy with how things develop, but Yoko Taro needed to be a little less Yoko Taro with the story.

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Originally Posted by LilimoLimomo

Honestly, I find so much joy in watching unskilled players play games. Gaming has been my main hobby for decades now so the conventions of games as well as the associated problem-solving comes incredibly naturally to me, and it can be easy to forget just how different that can be for people with different life experiences. Watching the way someone who lacks my skills and experience engages with the game really gets me out of my own head; it's both educational and grounding, and I get a genuine kick out of both of those things.

(Probably especially because I've worked as a game designer and have a passion for seeing how the design of games can either lead players towards or away from success in various contexts.)

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100%. I don't say it with any malice or judgement, but watching a less versed player go up against a boss I'm stuck on really opens my head up. That and it's just downright enjoyable watching them experiment and go through the cycle of suffering, into formulating a plan, into executing it.

My play: Ret, Ret, Ret, opening, exploit -> trigger grease wire, punish, push, lost momentum begin to ret, ret, repeat cycle for opening.
Boring, Sterile, clinical.

Their play: IS THAT GOD? AM I FIST FIGHTING GOD RIGHT NOW? ... ... I guess I'm gonna go punch god.
Exhilarating, fresh, excited.

Let alone, yeah, seeing how the games design directs them and seeing if they caught it, or if the design didn't quite capture their attention enough.

Baldur's Gate 3
Elden Ring
Total War: Warhammer 3
Team Fortress 2
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
Subnautica
Horizon Zero Dawn series
Civ VI
Fallout series
Portal
Bioshock series
Witcher 3
The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk
Cyberpunk
Half life 2
Black Mesa

Lost ark isn't bad either

Has anyone played ESO? How is it?

Thinking that or going back to GW2 for side MMO fun alongside WOW and FF

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Originally Posted by Tunda

Lost ark isn't bad either

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Firm disagree, there.

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Originally Posted by Rueby

Wait there's a Grim Dawn expansion coming up??

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Yes, they announced Fangs of Asterkarn quite a while ago. There's no firm release date yet, though and last I heard they were considering to push it to next year.

Picked up the remaster of Alan Wake. Never played the original, but Control made me curious.

Now that i think about it, there is Black myth wukong that is about to be release in 9 days and it does look pretty good.

Armored core 6 if you're into mecha game or want to try one even though the tutorial is kind of brutal.

I switch between genshin impact and ffxiv.

If i'm not playing games i am quite the asian drama addict.
Let me just info dump some good ones from my all time favorites:
Love between fairy and devil
Love like the galaxy
Legend of shen li, THE DOUBLE!
The k2, Mr sunshine,
Move to heaven (great drama about an autistic boy who starts a cleaning job...though not the kind of cleaning job you'd expect)
https://64.media.tumblr.com/04457610...b87629f5d.gifv

I'm going back to Monster Hunter. The trailers for Wilds and how excited everyone is made me realize that that series, not FF, is truly one of my ride or dies. I have never, not once been screwed over or lied to by the MH team, and even when they try new and kind of insane controversial things like in 3U or Rise or Generations or super late endgame Iceborne, they never forget their roots, and they never forget their fans.

We are just happy there. The people there are just willing to help, teach and discuss things, see cool plays, compliment each other. And I don't have to see the primary ways I play and enjoy the game (Switch Axe/Gunlance) ruined or dumbed down. Do things change game to game? Yes! But the core game has remained mostly intact for over twenty years and has GROWN with it's players in tandem. So much ambition, and there are no excuses, just a lot of love from the players and the developers alike. MH is like a reliable best friend who I've known and trusted my whole life, and XIV is like a long time relationship that has turned sour and toxic, but we have too much tied up together to split up.

Going back to Iceborne for a few weeks has really reinforced just how much I love being in the Monster Hunter community, and that I truly hate what has happened to Final Fantasy XIV. There is no joy here, only spite for the game, talking down to other people, hating other people, hating the developers/writers, and being hated in turn. The polarization is exhausting. Can't even go into a hunt train nowadays without some kind of argument or fight breaking out, can't even remember the last time I even talked to someone in XIV or about XIV and have it be a positive experience.

Every time I come back to Monster Hunter, that's where my friends are, that's where my passions feel respected, I feel like I'm coming home.

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Originally Posted by missTori

I switch between genshin impact and ffxiv.

If i'm not playing games i am quite the asian drama addict.
Let me just info dump some good ones from my all time favorites:
Love between fairy and devil
Love like the galaxy
Legend of shen li, THE DOUBLE!
The k2, Mr sunshine,
Move to heaven (great drama about an autistic boy who starts a cleaning job...though not the kind of cleaning job you'd expect)
https://64.media.tumblr.com/04457610...b87629f5d.gifv

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I have a friend that swears by some of those, particularly 'Love between fairy and devil.' But to be honest I opted to reply to you because of your quote. Colin Robinson alway needs highlighting.

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Originally Posted by Verathel

Has anyone played ESO? How is it?

Thinking that or going back to GW2 for side MMO fun alongside WOW and FF

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I really enjoyed my time with ESO. I go back now and then for a while. I just create alts and play through all the stories over and over again lol. It's fun :D

That said, right now I started a cyberpunk 2077 run. I'm doing a John Wick build, so pistols/shotguns/assault rifles and maybe a bit of knifing. Fun times

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Originally Posted by Verathel

Has anyone played ESO? How is it?

Thinking that or going back to GW2 for side MMO fun alongside WOW and FF

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If ppl think FFXIV combat is bad, they should really check out ESO combat. It feels so bad it's like they tried to make it as bad as they could on purpose lol. And due to level scaling, you are basically a god strutting around the overworld, and even most dungeon, content. The risks are few and far between to the point you almost have to try to fail to actually fail. So unless you like a no risk game that you can just run around it hitting things without worry, I would avoid. It also has one of the grossest cash shops in the genre.

GW2 or WoW is def a better choice. Unless you can snag ESO for free to try it out for yourself, I would not recommend.

For a big online game, I'll likely play War Within. Looks pretty good and Dawntrail scratched zero itches so I actually don't mind playing another MMO in rapid succession.

WoW is a little too sweaty even for me at times in recent years as I like pushing M+, but the wheelbarrow of proper content will be fun and and I greatly appreciate the full fat, inspired design on the healers. Will never get over how silly the phony healing role they're trying to pass off in XIV is.

I've played all past Monster Hunter games so I'm just waiting for Wilds in regards to it. Will continue to blast indie and smaller games out on Steam Deck, too.

I'm going through my backlog of visual novels. Need to finish World End Economica.

Will play the new WoW expansion when it launches in a couple weeks.

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Originally Posted by Sivante

Gonna try bringing the positive junk out again

Yoshida has commented about playing other games, and encourages players to step away from FFXIV and return later as necessary. We also know Yoshi tried Elden Ring, WoW, EQ, and others. I've seen it said on these forums, often in fact, 'go play something else then.' It's a popular dismissal. I've seen people say that for the quality of content received at the pace we get it we 'might as well' play Genshin Impact, which has no sub by comparison but provides comparable (apparently?) experience and enjoyment.


Please, as always, try to be civil: this isn't an invitation to start flaming other games out of FFXIV pride or vice versa. We have enough friction in the other threads to fuel a fusion reactor as it is.

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I know you try to make it positive but, If the dev of the game, aka Yoshi-P, comes from the shadows, to say to his players: "if you don't like it, play other games." ................. it's not making it sound good, we all pay for a subscription, we all dedicated enough hours of our lives to the game to just... be given that as an answer of why the expansion is so bad. The best thing he can say is: "while we fix the problem we ourselves made, I can only ask for your patience and meanwhile I hope you can enjoy other games as much as I do when I am unhappy by the mistakes the devs from one of the games I'm paying every month and that I love dear are adknowledge and working on it, this time, listening"

Any way...

I enjoy playing many games, I went back to Genshin, yes, it's free and even with it's flaws, it's better than what we got in DT. Playing Wuwa and also Love and Deepspace.

Also played lately:

Trails into Reverie
Hades 2
Yakuza like a Dragon
Burnhouse Lane
Unicorn Overlord
Fear and Hunger

Been playing lots of Crusader Kings 3 lately. I even somehow found myself on an RP mod team as a writer.

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Originally Posted by AnimaAnimus

GW2 or WoW is def a better choice. Unless you can snag ESO for free to try it out for yourself, I would not recommend.

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GW2 has pretty fun gameplay but the story is bad. Like the entire thing is Dawntrail tier or worse aside from a few moments. *Salute to Demmi and Tybalt*

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Originally Posted by Aurumis

I know you try to make it positive but, If the dev of the game, aka Yoshi-P, comes from the shadows, to say to his players: "if you don't like it, play other games." ................. it's not making it sound good, we all pay for a subscription, we all dedicated enough hours of our lives to the game to just... be given that as an answer of why the expansion is so bad. The best thing he can say is: "while we fix the problem we ourselves made, I can only ask for your patience and meanwhile I hope you can enjoy other games as much as I do when I am unhappy by the mistakes the devs from one of the games I'm paying every month and that I love dear are adknowledge and working on it, this time, listening"

Any way...

I enjoy playing many games, I went back to Genshin, yes, it's free and even with it's flaws, it's better than what we got in DT. Playing Wuwa and also Love and Deepspace.

Also played lately:

Trails into Reverie
Hades 2
Yakuza like a Dragon
Burnhouse Lane
Unicorn Overlord
Fear and Hunger

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Yakuza (RGG Studio) and Trails love, I love to see it <3

Been wanting to reply ff10 a bit lately, but honestly at this point with how messed up the gaming industry is, I've had more fun just working out and going back to school irl to learn new things. Shareholders have made gaming so bad that it's actually made someone as lazy as me turn to self improvement instead.

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Originally Posted by Verathel

Has anyone played ESO? How is it?

Thinking that or going back to GW2 for side MMO fun alongside WOW and FF

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ESO is decent. Every line is voiced, unlike XIV where it goes in and out. That said, emotionally the stories are just not as strong as XIV, but there are gems here and there.

The combat is floaty and for solo content more braindead than XIV. There was an intro newbie quest where I went afk and the game actually just killed it for me without pressing anything.

I played a lot due to starting an RP guild when Covid first started. Without that group it's not a game I feel is very strong. But, there are worse to play.

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Originally Posted by lolnotacat

GW2 has pretty fun gameplay but the story is bad. Like the entire thing is Dawntrail tier or worse aside from a few moments. *Salute to Demmi and Tybalt*

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This is just blatantly wrong lol. GW2 writing and story telling isn't great, that I will give you. But comparing it to and saying its even worse than Dawntrail is hilarious and makes me think you are def looking at FFXIV through some sort of tinted lens.