The evolution of FFXIV

Pretty spot on if you ask me. I'm going to go cry in the corner now, thanks.

https://i.imgur.com/Lr3lps9.png

So far the defenders are missing the point, but that's not really surprising now is it lol

Amen to that, but whatever sells right? Including the devs selling their own creative souls for monetary gain

Then stop playing.

Actual slop. They couldnt even be bothered to make it a tomestone like the other emote.

You can thank the modern audience for that.

Oh please it's not like the FF series has melded worlds with apparent medieval societies and high tech/real-world aspects before (FFVII, VIII, XIII, X, XV... cough cough)

Besides, that bottom image, the 'modern clothing' is far older in reality than what you would believe (denim jeans after all originated as work attire in the 1800s, as did leather jackets, scarves are almost as old as fashion has existed, and even the much mocked 'smartphone' emote is really a lore-correct Allagan tomestone that literally says it is completely useless (it just has the 'smartphone' look for those who want such a thing).

The recent camera emote is a bit of a stretch though I admit, but just look on it as pointless product placement and ignore it (I mean, even FFXI had a camera item in game so there is even precedent with that).

And besides, even from the beginning Garlemald was hinted at being a lot more high tech than the mere steampunk magitek armour and airships it initially revealed, which the game much later confirmed. Technology that the Garlond Ironworks has been progressively implementing into Eorzea and elsewhere.

And then there was the Allag.... And now, we have Alexandria/Solution 9 which is is like if FFIX's Alexandria married into the Allag and went full on cyberpunk....

Reinforcing comment of cynical pessimism.

What "modern" audience?

Btw why is none of you "they ruined the game with smartphones" people crying about guns and technology in their middle age style game?

A literal high tech moon almost erased Eorzea at the end of 1.xx and Alexandria coming from another world could be used to explain these things now. Dunno why this is an issue when Final Fantasy has had many games that has a mix of the two tropes and in the case of this game, it has existed since 1.0. It's not like this game was medieval for several expansions and then suddenly came the high tech things.

Cue the bad faith "final fantasy always had technology, stop complaining!!" defences.

Oh wait, they're already here.

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Originally Posted by Underscore

Cue the bad faith "final fantasy always had technology, stop complaining!!" defences.

Oh wait, they're already here.

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Yep. And this post has nothing to do with tech. I mean, Dalamud, the highest tech thing we have seen before Alexandria, one even used as an example of tech being in the game, is literally in the first picture lol

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Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

Pretty spot on if you ask me. I'm going to go cry in the corner now, thanks.

https://i.imgur.com/Lr3lps9.png

So far the defenders are missing the point, but that's not really surprising now is it lol

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There is nothing eternal except change. This current FFXIV might not be the one you hope for when you start your journey. For good or bad this is how it is. As long as the game is not in huge decline, this trend might just continue. A break might be good and have a moment to revisit if FFXIV still something you would enjoy

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Originally Posted by Misutoraru

As long as the game is not in huge decline, this trend might just continue.

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It is in a huge decline though. That's an objective fact. I personally believe the mogslop store is getting more and more egregious to make up lost subscription revenues.

I feel so out of place as a paladin going through new zones & dungeons these days when people are walking up in casual glams taking selfies I feel goofy...

I wish it was less "tech based" they've gone too far in the tech direction while ignoring a lot of the core fantasy elements, ff14 feels more like a sci fi these days then a actual fantasy game.

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Originally Posted by Rithy255

I feel so out of place as a paladin going through new zones & dungeons these days when people are walking up in casual glams taking selfies I feel goofy...

I wish it was less "tech based" they've gone too far in the tech direction while ignoring a lot of the core fantasy elements, ff14 feels more like a sci fi these days then a actual fantasy game.

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It's not even a cohesive level of sci-fi. Allag and Garlemald both fit the idea of highly advanced civilizations still grounded in the context of the setting, and now Cosmic Exploration is a mix of Gundam and NASA. The Ninth's detritus isn't even coherent with itself, ranging from generic cyberpunk to Phantasy Star and plenty else.

No one would even care about any if this if the gameplay was good. Expert is gonna suck in either glam.

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Originally Posted by Rithy255

I feel so out of place as a paladin going through new zones & dungeons these days when people are walking up in casual glams taking selfies I feel goofy...

I wish it was less "tech based" they've gone too far in the tech direction while ignoring a lot of the core fantasy elements, ff14 feels more like a sci fi these days then a actual fantasy game.

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While i do love the sci fi stuff, it still leaves a bitter taste as we went partially from chocobos and horses and mailbirds to... close to star trek lol

It feels weird with more then half the world living like 1980 and some places are 2200...

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Originally Posted by Rithy255

I feel so out of place as a paladin going through new zones & dungeons these days when people are walking up in casual glams taking selfies I feel goofy...

I wish it was less "tech based" they've gone too far in the tech direction while ignoring a lot of the core fantasy elements, ff14 feels more like a sci fi these days then a actual fantasy game.

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I think you can get away with tech-based if it's done well. Like we've had magitek and Allagan weapons and gear for ages.

The problem with the gear from the last couple of years is it looks like a dated Abercrombie & Fitch catalog.

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Originally Posted by Daralii

It's not even a cohesive level of sci-fi. Allag and Garlemald both fit the idea of highly advanced civilizations still grounded in the context of the setting, and now Cosmic Exploration is a mix of Gundam and NASA. The Ninth's detritus isn't even coherent with itself, ranging from generic cyberpunk to Phantasy Star and plenty else.

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YES! This sums it up perfectly. Even Amaurot with its towering skyscrapers was grounded with their use of creation magic and crystals.
As for the little lops they also use Amaurot designs and themes with a rabbit twist. Even the Robots they made have a style that doesn't sync up with the Cosmic Exploration tec.
Plus, when the Loporrits do break away from Amaurot designs they choose fun and colorful designs. So why are they making things NASA style? They are not even putting rabbit ears on the new mount or little robot minion.
The only Loporrit thing I've seen so far is the Parasol.

I am still going off screenshots because I don't want to do the cosmic exploration story until after I help a friend with an NPC wedding. So, who knows maybe someone is collaring the Loporrits playful design style.

???: No! You will be NASA! Nothing else! But you can design a parasol and nothing more. Remember you are NASA now not magic moon rabbits. Be Thankful you not being swept under the rug and forgotten now that Endwalker is over.
Apathyway: Ok no fun colors or ears. Can we at least make a pocket for our friend's tails in the space suits?
???: No cut the tails off. But just to confuse them do custom helmets for the ears.

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Originally Posted by TKMXIV

YES! This sums it up perfectly. Even Amaurot with its towering skyscrapers was grounded with their use of creation magic and crystals.
As for the little lops they also use Amaurot designs and themes with a rabbit twist. Even the Robots they made have a style that doesn't sync up with the Cosmic Exploration tec.
Plus, when the Loporrits do break away from Amaurot designs they choose fun and colorful designs. So why are they making things NASA style? They are not even putting rabbit ears on the new mount or little robot minion.
The only Loporrit thing I've seen so far is the Parasol.

I am still going off screenshots because I don't want to do the cosmic exploration story until after I help a friend with an NPC wedding. So, who knows maybe someone is collaring the Loporrits playful design style.

???: No! You will be NASA! Nothing else! But you can design a parasol and nothing more. Remember you are NASA now not magic moon rabbits. Be Thankful you not being swept under the rug and forgotten now that Endwalker is over.
Apathyway: Ok no fun colors or ears. Can we at least make a pocket for our friend's tails in the space suits?
???: No cut the tails off. But just to confuse them do custom helmets for the ears.

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Another aspect is that all the potentially spaceworthy technology they could have seen after going to Etheirys would have roots in Amaurot or Allag. Even if you expand that to Jammingway's experiences in Ultima Thule, you still get nothing that looks like what's being made.

I have to admit as a 1.0 player and enjoyer I could not believe this awful emote it is everything I hate in the outside world and I play FFXIV to escape this shit haha. I know some who will love it but not for me and I understand times change and trends but nah.

The game has lots of high fantasy and I understand bits and bobs of modern mix but it is everywhere in the game now it has become saturated by the real world. It looks so bad like something a 14 year old would do, give me a time machine so I can go back and when they ask what should they do rebuild the game or switch it off I will say turn it off it is doomed lmao. In fact give us another Dalamud so I can watch it burn.

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Originally Posted by Daralii

It's not even a cohesive level of sci-fi. Allag and Garlemald both fit the idea of highly advanced civilizations still grounded in the context of the setting, and now Cosmic Exploration is a mix of Gundam and NASA. The Ninth's detritus isn't even coherent with itself, ranging from generic cyberpunk to Phantasy Star and plenty else.

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This is the main issue that the "But FFXIV always had scifi" - defenders always conveniently shut their ears and eyes from.

Scifi isn't bad, it's not about not having a full "fantasy" FFXIV. It's about do the inserts MAKE SENSE or follow the worldbuilding and cohesive point of view. We went from magical unattainable allagan tech that fiddled with magic and science, to scrappy magitek that wasn't even near levels of the allagan tech but derived from it.
To suddenly modern day scifi references, the devs favorite gundam references, and a full blown cyberpunk reference (copy), and now star trek combined with all that. Not to mention the ludicrous fact that Electrope just can do anything the writers want it to do.

Endwalker ruined the worldbuilding, and it's been marching to the grave ever since.

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Originally Posted by Daralii

It's not even a cohesive level of sci-fi. Allag and Garlemald both fit the idea of highly advanced civilizations still grounded in the context of the setting, and now Cosmic Exploration is a mix of Gundam and NASA. The Ninth's detritus isn't even coherent with itself, ranging from generic cyberpunk to Phantasy Star and plenty else.

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The "punk" part of cyberpunk doesn't even make sense within the setting of Alexandria. That kind of aesthetic and cultural attitude doesn't come out of nowhere just because the technology is advanced enough.

This isn't a futuristic capitalist dystopia, it's an idyllic kingdom ruled by a universally beloved queen where everyone lives equally in luxury apartments with all their needs met, never having to worry about death from unnatural causes. It's like the devs wanted the surface level aesthetics of cyberpunk but didn't understand the point behind it.

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Originally Posted by Shialan

What "modern" audience?

Btw why is none of you "they ruined the game with smartphones" people crying about guns and technology in their middle age style game?

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My problem with that emote isnt the technology, but that it its another sign of this game becoming more and more of a dress up game where people are fine just standing around as long as they can make their character look cute/do cute things.

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Originally Posted by Daralii

Another aspect is that all the potentially spaceworthy technology they could have seen after going to Etheirys would have roots in Amaurot or Allag. Even if you expand that to Jammingway's experiences in Ultima Thule, you still get nothing that looks like what's being made.

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The only thing close to it would be the biggest shark jump the spaceship Ragnarok. But Ragnarok's design looks more advanced than the Cosmic stuff.
The Ragnarok looks so out of place next to everything else Sharlayan has made that I try and forget about it as much as possible.

And to touch on solution 9. It is from another kind of reality? So, I can believe in the fantasy of it a fair bit. It's mostly just with how Dawntrail MSQ was done poorly I'm a bit lost.
Ok so they have medieval kingdoms. They find magic lightning rocks and maybe the Ascians pushed them a little so that is why Living Memory has a touch of Amaurot like buildings hidden under the glam.
However, they somehow managed to become the most advanced thing despite their world ending. Even the Omicrons are outdated next to them. Wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff can only do so much to dismiss logical progression of events.

Last thing I'll rant on a little is AAC M8. It screams Phantasy Star so much I would believe it if someone said it was a crossover fight like the Rathalos. Nothing about it says Solution 9.
It is pure Phantasy Star from the way the boss looks the music the battlefield. It all captures that space fantasy Phantasy Star is known for. Kind of like the Ragnarok.
For the theme of Solution 9's culture it just comes off as so out of place. Don't get me wrong I love the fight the setting and the music. But that is because I like Phantasy Star.

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Originally Posted by Underscore

The "punk" part of cyberpunk doesn't even make sense within the setting of Alexandria. That kind of aesthetic and cultural attitude doesn't come out of nowhere just because the technology is advanced enough.

This isn't a futuristic capitalist dystopia, it's an idyllic kingdom ruled by a universally beloved queen where everyone lives equally in luxury apartments with all their needs met, never having to worry about death from unnatural causes. It's like the devs wanted the surface level aesthetics of cyberpunk but didn't understand the point behind it.

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Completely agree with this. When we first got to S9 I was excited because I figured we were going down a cyberpunk path. But instead of William Gibson we got Jane Carruth.

Personally, it's how much they've leaned into it. Final Fantasy has always had sci-fi elements in the medieval fantasy games, but it's still usually pretty cohesive.

FFXIV has completely jumped the shark to the point the game world has just kind of stopped making any real sense. There's basically no focus on how things fit in the overall world, just how it fits within its singular expansion.

Nothing will ever meaningfully affect anything outside of the expansion it released with because that would force them address the strange discrepancies they've created with haphazard storytelling.

Let people enjoy things. It's really not doing anything to you because someone chooses to wear modern looking clothing. And considering we've had events where people visited from other worlds(IPs) it wouldn't be a stretch that someone thought it would be cool to replicate the modern clothing they saw. On top of that the world doesn't have a time period that it fits neatly into. It's a fantasy world. Our world would look much different today if magic were real.

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Originally Posted by Hallarem

We went from magical unattainable allagan tech that fiddled with magic and science, to scrappy magitek that wasn't even near levels of the allagan tech but derived from it.
To suddenly modern day scifi references, the devs favorite gundam references, and a full blown cyberpunk reference (copy), and now star trek combined with all that.

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Really does feel like I'm being forced to participate in some dev's anime hyperfixation of the season with items released/story updates.

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Originally Posted by Mecia

Actual slop. They couldnt even be bothered to make it a tomestone like the other emote.

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To be fair, it's not supposed to be a tomestone. It's supposed to be the tablet you use in Cosmic Exploration. (Though, I wish they would've made it larger and more square in the emote, to be more consistent with the appearance suggested by the tablet menu.)

That said, I'm not the biggest fan of either emote. I like the sci-fi element of XIV, but fantasy-smartphones feel somewhat out of place.

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Originally Posted by Underscore

The "punk" part of cyberpunk doesn't even make sense within the setting of Alexandria. That kind of aesthetic and cultural attitude doesn't come out of nowhere just because the technology is advanced enough.

This isn't a futuristic capitalist dystopia, it's an idyllic kingdom ruled by a universally beloved queen where everyone lives equally in luxury apartments with all their needs met, never having to worry about death from unnatural causes. It's like the devs wanted the surface level aesthetics of cyberpunk but didn't understand the point behind it.

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As someone who's actually into the punk scene...

The vast majority of cyberpunk (and pretty much all the other something-punk genres) isn't actually "punk", in ethos. I mean, Ghost in the Shell is one of the most iconic pieces of the genre... And well, it follows cops. Who are presented as good. That's pretty much the most unpunk thing I can think of.

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Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

https://i.imgur.com/Lr3lps9.png

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Just imagine Eorzea had this technology 15 years ago - I'm pretty sure the WoL's selfie in front of the falling Dalamud had been an absolute bummer! Now I really hope they add some sort of Instagram or TikTok integration, so we can post our selfies online. WoW did this years ago with a selfie camera and Twitter integration, and this patch is still famous in the WoW community! /s

(And I absolutely agree with OP - the amount of sci fi and real world BS they're adding this expansion is disheartening).

OP posting the most disingenuous crybaby thing on the forums all week.

I know it's been said a million times in the past but I don't think there are any problems with having "cutesy" things in the game, I think its more an issue that over the years the game has shifted its focus more toward aesthetic than substance, and that cutesy has replaced the real reason MMO players play MMO's, which is to explore the world, get loot, and fight enemies. That said, this has happened long enough now to where the audience for FFXIV is probably more largely non endemic MMO gamers vs endemic MMO gamers, so for them they get the best of both worlds by roping in endemic MMO audiences with marketing for MMO content, but when they get to the end game they realize the substance is gone and all thats left is hollow aesthetics which is more akin to a habbo hotel chat room.

HOWEVER, I think like we've all mostly agreed, we are waiting to see what happens in 1) the new exploratory zone, and 2) 8.0. So far the Arcadian story and (albeit hub city queue instanced) battle content has been a fun blend of both worlds. The FFXI raids imo are at least a fun time and I like that they acknowledge in deep ways their other MMO in ways that tells me people had to have played it, however it still falls short as its just a giant hallway. The exploratory zone and even the content they have planned for the new limited job, and how it interacts with Blue Mage and the rest of the game is going to be a big indicator of where the teams mind is. And lastly, if 8.0 is just more of the same, then idk for sure but its possible that many people myself included could check out and only resub for like a month or two out of the year. And I guess my question to the executive team is, is that really sustainable? And idk maybe it is and nothing we say matters because they have been banking on the mobile experience to rake them in the real dough.

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Originally Posted by Ephremjlm

I know it's been said a million times in the past but I don't think there are any problems with having "cutesy" things in the game, I think its more an issue that over the years the game has shifted its focus more toward aesthetic than substance, and that cutesy has replaced the real reason MMO players play MMO's, which is to explore the world, get loot, and fight enemies. That said, this has happened long enough now to where the audience for FFXIV is probably more largely non endemic MMO gamers vs endemic MMO gamers, so for them they get the best of both worlds by roping in endemic MMO audiences with marketing for MMO content, but when they get to the end game they realize the substance is gone and all thats left is hollow aesthetics which is more akin to a habbo hotel chat room.

HOWEVER, I think like we've all mostly agreed, we are waiting to see what happens in 1) the new exploratory zone, and 2) 8.0. So far the Arcadian story and (albeit hub city queue instanced) battle content has been a fun blend of both worlds. The FFXI raids imo are at least a fun time and I like that they acknowledge in deep ways their other MMO in ways that tells me people had to have played it, however it still falls short as its just a giant hallway. The exploratory zone and even the content they have planned for the new limited job, and how it interacts with Blue Mage and the rest of the game is going to be a big indicator of where the teams mind is. And lastly, if 8.0 is just more of the same, then idk for sure but its possible that many people myself included could check out and only resub for like a month or two out of the year. And I guess my question to the executive team is, is that really sustainable? And idk maybe it is and nothing we say matters because they have been banking on the mobile experience to rake them in the real dough.

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I wouldn't be surprised if they're banking on the mobile game being a huge success, but they'd still be sharing a cut with Lightspeed/Tencent. Regardless, despite phantom jobs sounding promising in the LL, CE being what it is has made me pretty pessimistic about Shades Triangle.

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Originally Posted by Anonemoose

It is in a huge decline though. That's an objective fact. I personally believe the mogslop store is getting more and more egregious to make up lost subscription revenues.

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7.3 Has 5 mogslop outfits 1 30 dollar mount and a broken alliance raid that needed emergency maintenance, please look forward to it! also they messed up the amount of totems you get for clearing the extreme xddtree