7.3 is my favorite patch since Shadowbringers

I just want the team to know that I *really* like the direction taken with this patch.
It is not perfect, but I can say it is the most fun I've had since Shadowbringers.

I was going to come yesterday after completing the Second Walk, but I wanted to wait for the excitement to come down a little. I was a tiny bit hyper, I was out of a voice from laughing so much at all the chaos going on in the raid. People from all alliances were chatting and making funny remarks, and they seemed to be enjoying it as much as me so it was truly a blast. I honestly do not care for FFXI, but the music is so iconic I found myself really, really enjoying the Second Walk. It was just what I needed to rekindle my relationship with this game.

The MSQ was not copy paste content, there were no characters being shoved on my face. The music was good, although the trial music could've been upped a bit. The pacing was a little wonky with the writing at the beginning but it ended with a bang.

The normal raids have been on point since the beginning, and they did not disappoint.

Now I know there's a lot to be done, but I just wanted to express that to me it is a nudge in the right direction. So truly, thank you for your hard work!

I am so amazed by the incorporation of the WoL into cutscenes actually doing stuff. The animation details were really terrific, as was the lighting and the use of the depth of field, the camera work was absolutely peak. The story also felt believable and interesting, and made me even cry for a random Viera NPC after they got their memories back. And, even though the big bad of 7.3 didn't have much build up, they managed to make him a good villain in the end,

Also, I really appreciate us not having to run from place to place after a cutscene of "hey, let's go here urgently," and instead teleported us. Even Wuk Lmao was pretty damn good this patch, though I've never been one that hated her with a passion--just thought 7.0 was way too "Disney," and like a kids' game at times.

The battle content was pretty good, too. Some interesting stuff in the trial and dungeon, like the 2nd boss, and the whole 'Staircase-to-heaven' thing in the trial. I feel like the alliance raid I don't really have the appreciation for, because I haven't played the other FF franchises, so it was kinda meh to me, but the mechanics after the first boss (the first boss kinda sucked, but the area was really cool) were pretty fun and somewhat challenging. I missed alliance raids having some challenge.

There were a lot of things that were better (and obviously they should be given all the criticisms they've got over it).

But for me personally, it was not only more of the same, it was more problematic than Dawntrail itself for me.

See, in Dawntrail itself, Wuk Lamat was probably even one of my favorite characters. But where it went wrong was when she insisted on coming along in Heritage Found. Nevertheless, they had spent so long on refining the MSQ and made such good environments, trials and dungeons that it wasn't too bad. I could even understand her maybe wanting to explore Zoraal Ja's old research facility in the patches. But in 7.3, it felt like there was more of the "my happiness is your happiness" and "I promised I would protect her people", the very parts everyone disliked because they feel like they come out of nowhere. In order for them not to come out of nowhere, you would have to feel those things too since you were present for all of it. I would have just preferred to kill the boss without all that.

There was an excessive amount of nodding and praising and thanking, and they didn't start Smile from the beginning of the track which would prevent it just blasting out of the speakers suddenly. They had the instrumental version playing before it, but that's not the same.

Although the story was otherwise better, I just don't care for Electrope FF9 and of all the things they could have done to excite me, I'm just apathetic at more Ascians. While going backwards could help backtrack to a time when the story was better received, we also moved beyond them so it feels like I could just play ARR for more Ascians. I hope they can turn it into something better.

Not exaggerating, wife n me actually clapped after watching the final cutscene.

I'm really confused where the hate is coming from ...

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Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

Although the story was otherwise better, I just don't care for Electrope FF9 and of all the things they could have done to excite me, I'm just apathetic at more Ascians. While going backwards could help backtrack to a time when the story was better received, we also moved beyond them so it feels like I could just play ARR for more Ascians. I hope they can turn it into something better.

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I totally understand. I will say I was rather apathetic at the beginning. I was like nope, I'm not falling for another Haurchefant trap, but then came the enthralling scene and I was... OK, I'm biting, give me what you've got!
Let's hope it works for the best, but I'm glad people are voicing their opinions instead of sugar coating or just plain p***ing at the game.

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Originally Posted by FudoMyoo

Not exaggerating, wife n me actually clapped after watching the final cutscene.

I'm really confused where the hate is coming from ...

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That is the lie they want you to believe. The % of players that come to the forums is not representative of the player population.
Most of us who play the game, rarely come here if at all.
They seem to have the ability to type at 130 wpm but cannot dodge or do a 1,2,3 rotation to save their lives.

I encourage everyone to come voice their opinions. Hopefully we can keep toxicity to a minimum, whether positive or negative.
Praise what needs praise and give criticism were needed. No need to sugarcoat.

7.3 was the best of Dawntrail, but I don't enjoy how this new team writes story. There is no point in me elaborating, plenty of other people have covered this topic.
The cutscenes having more life and the addition of puzzles was welcomed, so I am thankful for that and I hope to see more care and attention towards character involvement and cutscene direction going forward.

7.3 was the worst patch since Stormblood and retroactively sours patches 7.1 and 7.2.

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Originally Posted by Keumjo

7.3 was the best of Dawntrail, but I don't enjoy how this new team writes story. There is no point in me elaborating, plenty of other people have covered this topic.
The cutscenes having more life and the addition of puzzles was welcomed, so I am thankful for that and I hope to see more care and attention towards character involvement and cutscene direction going forward.

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I agree with you, the gameplay part was the best the game has been in years!, I particularly loved the second dungeon boss having a role-check mechanic to some extent and the trial was super fun even in normal mode

Where the patch fell however, was in the Geodude segments. The set up and pay-off of the character was WAAAAY too short, if we had his exposure in 7.1, then join us in adventures and now the same payoff, it would have felt much harder. Instead it felt too fast to care, wich raises some eyebrows about the current writers

Regardless, again, I want to reiterate that the playable part of the patch felt superb, I loved it and I hope the gameplay team stays on track, my only nitpick is that the puzzles could have used a hard version, for those who dont mind getting stuck solving a escape room for an hour or harder tile puzzles, etc, it felt slightly railroaded to the solutions, but still, very happy and pleased that it was in the patch to begin with, loved it

its past time these forums get a thumbs down button

I really enjoyed the mood, vibe and gameplay during the whole first part and the investigation. It was well done.

I continued hating in disbelief the amount of rubbish and cheesy shounen lines and actions the writing continued serving us afterward. And the epilogue, I just wanted it to end. Were they trying to outdo Tolkien, but without the skill to pull it off or what?

I'll say I've heard a lot of positivity from the most recent patch which I do like seeing, since things have been so negative recently, but I would put one point of criticism and give my reasoning for it. I would have loved to see the deep dungeon introduced earlier in the patch. I raid so I don't know if I'll have the time to complete the deep dungeon and clear the ultimate version of the fight before the next savage tier, and after the savage tier there's an ultimate in 7.5 so I'll want to clear that at launch. I'm hoping I don't need to grind out aetherpool to 99 before running the fight because if I do, there's no chance of me clearing before 7.4. It's not the biggest issue in the world if I can't run it, but it is a point of frustration for me since I'm excited for it.

7.3 MSQ was really strong, and I feel a step back in the right direction.

I found most of 7.0 and 7.1 to be utter garbage, with 7.2 being a tad better - but this was really enjoyable to me.

Well, we sadly can't all have great standards.

The MSQ gameplay felt much better than the usual fetch quests and talking to NPCs. I just hope they keep this going forward, rather than being an isolated case.

The pacing was much better. In my opinion the patch feels a lot higher in quality because the bar was set so low.

Calyx is still a boring and annoying villain, he has a lot to do to get on Elidibus level. Golbez was the best antagonist during patches.
I muted him while doing EX farming and Dungeons as his annoying voice made me want to grab and violently shake the closest thing to me.
Dungeons AND Trial, he just yaps too much just to be pointlessly annoying.

DT's writing remains on a Narutoesque foundation, Wuk Lamat remains a shonen protagonist and I feel they absolutely missed the mark and failed to redeem her. Or maybe the core of her writing was so flawed it couldn't be possibly fixed.
Literally Geode and Shale felt more interesting.

Talking about the side character, I'm deeply annoyed they put so much work into those but in duties the Scions pops from nowhere like raid teammates when it's time for weeklies.
Use the NPCs, we know they're not meant to be as strong as the scions but they'll be infinetly more interesting and fitting than them.

It's a step in the right direction but we need to hope they won't stop here.
CBU3 has a tendency of taking those kinds of good steps then never finishing them.

I honestly thought it was great!

Enjoyed the overall story, the puzzle element was great and I really enjoyed the ending. I've watched the ending cutscene several times, not just because of the obvious

interest in seeing how it plays out whilst playing other jobs

but because I sincerely enjoyed the sequence.

I agree that the direction is a lot better now.

And the Alliance Raid was SO FUN! I had the same experience as OP, everyone was joking around. We compared the second boss with the void arc, a nice callback.
So much chaos, so much death, sometims wipes. Super fun, I loved it.

MSQ I'm still rather critical about, but I can see the effort. But yes, there is still a lot to be done to get it up to standard again.

Regardless, I also really enjoyed that little animation where my WoL was allowed to attack IN a cutscene. Really cool.

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Originally Posted by CKNovel

Calyx is still a boring and annoying villain, he has a lot to do to get on Elidibus level. Golbez was the best antagonist during patches.
I muted him while doing EX farming and Dungeons as his annoying voice made me want to grab and violently shake the closest thing to me.
Dungeons AND Trial, he just yaps too much just to be pointlessly annoying.

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So I was not the only one :) The super bored nerd kid trope is one of the worst anime stereotypes I could think of. Was so looking forward to never see this guy again after 7.3... ah well.

I don't care about a random nerd dude.

I don't really even care about Alexandria, though there've been some good moments with Sphene. (that don't feel earned)

Tural has succeeded in boring me, across the board. Not because of the idea, but rather how they've been explored. I walked into DT expecting some wild, un-tamed land, where I'd go on adventures with all of the locals and learn organically via in-depth world building - not baby sitting a furry Monkey D. Luffy with no redeeming qualities.

Oh, I also don't like being distracted by extremely mundane mini-games in the middle of the MSQ unless they're actually enjoyable and not just there for padding.

The content itself, in spite of neutered class design, is not the worst imaginable. It suffices.

But yes, on the whole, I agree. In the same way McDonalds occasionally remembers to put the lettuce on my burger, this was an upgrade. It's just a shame there's still no meat or cheese.

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Originally Posted by Haru304

I walked into DT expecting some wild, un-tamed land,

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Holy colonialist mentality, Batman!

I don't see much improvement in the writing personally. MSQ wise, I still have no reason to care about Calyx, I just barely started liking him when he finally showed emotions. Wuk falling over after smashing a shield is the most 'why tf is this happening' moment in DT for me. She smashed into the arena earlier to kill-steal sphene from me, no problems for her there, but apparently this shield is enough to make her bleed and need bedrest for a week.

Don't even get me started on the Geode mess. It's like they remembered he and Shale existed last mimute and decided to at least try and make players like them.

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Originally Posted by Exmo

Holy colonialist mentality, Batman!

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I prefer 'adventurer', actually.

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Originally Posted by Haru304

snip

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You post like my monday morning drives to work make me feel...


@topic
I agree.
It was a very good patch and 7.3 seems to be the patch where they finally start to take feedback into consideration instead of ignoring and dismissing everything.
I liked the story, I liked Sphene and I didn't even mind WL too much because she was mostly not on screen.

The dungeon was fun with the second boss, the A-raid is fun even though I don't know any of those characters (would have been nice if hear wasn't useless from there) and the summer event seems to have actual work put into it for a change.
Huge thumbs up for the puzzles in the MSQ, really fun.

If something is great I want to say it.
I actually give them kudos for making the best they could with the burning mess that base DT was.
Guess the huge negative feedback finally showed results.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Voidmage

You post like my monday morning drives to work make me feel...


@topic
I agree.
It was a very good patch and 7.3 seems to be the patch where they finally start to take feedback into consideration instead of ignoring and dismissing everything.
I liked the story, I liked Sphene and I didn't even mind WL too much because she was mostly not on screen.

The dungeon was fun with the second boss, the A-raid is fun even though I don't know any of those characters (would have been nice if hear wasn't useless from there) and the summer event seems to have actual work put into it for a change.
Huge thumbs up for the puzzles in the MSQ, really fun.

If something is great I want to say it.
I actually give them kudos for making the best they could with the burning mess that base DT was.
Guess the huge negative feedback finally showed results.

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I hear that a lot. I've been spoiled too much. <salute>