Eden Normal Personal Review (Hopefully no Spoilers)

[Driavna]

For me this has to be the best raid story ending I've played. I love how it tied into main story and gave answers to some questions I had. It was also, even though it used some plot points from the game, a better story than the entirety of FF8, though that probably isn't hard.

So I just want to say thanks and good job to the person or persons that wrote the Eden story. I really enjoyed it. Hope the next raid story is just as good and also ties into the main story some how.

You are not alone. I ended the whole thing with a smile on my face. I also liked all normal mode fights.

[Unease_Lemming]

I was very disappointed with the final battle. For a raid-finishing battle, it felt almost boring. I'm not talking about difficulty, I understand and am fine with this being easy.
This battle, however, was building up to some big payoff which simply never happened.

The "memory" phase was neat, and I fully expected some big form/music change after passing it... only for the battle to continue as it was before, same song, form, nothing changed. Very underwhelming.

To add insult to injury, now seeing first Savage parties reaching the extra phase, it could not be more obvious: The normal version was butchered in favor of the savage version.

The things, forms and music happening there are simply way too important to not feature in the story version. It's a far cry from other extra phases of other savage-only bosses, this is crucial to the story and also the exact thing that made the normal mode so boring: an actual payoff for all the buildup.
The way the music changes, the phase transition to this extra phase, everything just comes together in what makes FF XIV's battles so good.

I know it's way too late to change this now but, please SE. I understand you want to give savage raiders something cool extra, but this? You completely gutted the normal mode so raiders could have this.

[Ultimatecalibur]

The "memory" phase was neat, and I fully expected some big form/music change after passing it... only for the battle to continue as it was before, same song, form, nothing changed. Very underwhelming.

They likely saved that for the Savage version. The Omega and Eden raids all added new phases to the final fights of each tier. Golden Justice, Neo-Exdeath, God Kefka, Final Omega, Colossal Titan and Hresvelgr Shiva were all phases added exclusively to their Savage versions. Eden's Promise likely has its own special phase after the memories.

[Nighthawky2010]

I liked the story a lot, mostly because it was a continuation to the main story, and not some easy FF8 fan service.
I didn't like the last boss design though. So ugly compared to e8.
Fights were easy but fun.
Healer top is fabulous.
And the finale transition during the last cutscene is just magical.

Overall, it has been my favorite raid story by far, and I'll miss Ryne and Gaia a lot.

I really enjoy this raid tier & the story. I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought this raid tier was EASY. I think i died 2 on E9, 1 time on E10 , & 0 times on E11 & E12.

[Novae]

To add insult to injury, now seeing first Savage parties reaching the extra phase, it could not be more plain: The normal version was butchered in favor of the savage version.

The things, forms and music happening there are simply way too important to not feature in the story version. It's a far cry from other extra phases of other savage-only bosses, this is crucial to the story and also the exact thing that made the normal mode so boring: an actual payoff for all the buildup.
The way the music changes, the phase transition to this extra phase, everything just comes together in what makes FF XIV's battles so good.

I know it's way to late to change this now but, please SE. I understand you want to give savage raiders something cool extra, but this? You completely gutted the normal mode so raiders could have this.

I just watched it, and that's a shame really. I was expecting to fight Gaia at some point in the story, and was really disappointed by the ugly door boss in e12n. The ending and the transition to the finale area made me forgot about it but now, seeing this makes me really sad. It would have added so much to the story.
So far, 5.4 has been a huge disappointment outside of eden, and it gets even worse now that I know this :/

[TyrTry]

They likely saved that for the Savage version. The Omega and Eden raids all added new phases to the final fights of each tier. Golden Justice, Neo-Exdeath, God Kefka, Final Omega, Colossal Titan and Hresvelgr Shiva were all phases added exclusively to their Savage versions. Eden's Promise likely has its own special phase after the memories.

It does, but hot damn does this new transition feel relevant to the overall narrative; not just another new form that makes me go "neat."

This doesn't make me want to do Savage...

Just makes me think, "wow...that REALLY should have been in Normal." Feels way more complete than the transition we ended up with.

[Koroem]

They likely saved that for the Savage version. The Omega and Eden raids all added new phases to the final fights of each tier. Golden Justice, Neo-Exdeath, God Kefka, Final Omega, Colossal Titan and Hresvelgr Shiva were all phases added exclusively to their Savage versions. Eden's Promise likely has its own special phase after the memories.

He clearly understands that, and even mentioned it and that is entirely the point being made. Normal mode raids were a result of people feeling left out of the story/battles from the days of Coil. With normal mode we were supposed to be getting similar experiences, just one slightly harder than the other, with savage having the better loot options. SE is now increasingly going back to being exclusionary with these raid battles. This one stands out in particular because of how thematically linked it is to the rest of the fight, and the story of Eden. Its one thing to design the EX/Savage fight first then "dumb it down" for normal. Its entirely different to delete entire phases, with different models, animations, music, and events from fights and lock them to only the top 1-5% of players.



EX trials for a long time have mostly gotten this right. There is a clear difference in the mechanics and the flows of these fights compared to the normal ones, but they don't make the players feel like they have missed anything. This final Eden fight has taken it to another level and the concern is this is going to lead right back into a coil situation and the majority of players are going to be missing out on experiences in this game simply because they don't have the skill, time, or are lucky enough to have the support of friends/groups capable of completing savage content. Most (not all) top tier raid capable players are typically the type that only care about the difficulty, not the story, the cut scenes, the themes, or the spectacle. Why SE is catering to these players with exclusive themes is mind boggling. I get it, harder content should be rewarding, but not at the expense of treating "lesser players/casuals/normies" as undeserving of seeing the work put into entire phases of fights. Dumb them down, make them easier whatever you want to call it, don't delete it in front of everyone face.

[linayar]

I was very disappointed with the final battle. For a raid-finishing battle, it felt almost boring. I'm not talking about difficulty, I understand and am fine with this being easy.
This battle, however, was building up to some big payoff which simply never happened.

The "memory" phase was neat, and I fully expected some big form/music change after passing it... only for the battle to continue as it was before, same song, form, nothing changed. Very underwhelming.

To add insult to injury, now seeing first Savage parties reaching the extra phase, it could not be more obvious: The normal version was butchered in favor of the savage version.

The things, forms and music happening there are simply way too important to not feature in the story version. It's a far cry from other extra phases of other savage-only bosses, this is crucial to the story and also the exact thing that made the normal mode so boring: an actual payoff for all the buildup.
The way the music changes, the phase transition to this extra phase, everything just comes together in what makes FF XIV's battles so good.

I know it's way too late to change this now but, please SE. I understand you want to give savage raiders something cool extra, but this? You completely gutted the normal mode so raiders could have this.

I disagree. The Savage-only part fits the theme of a fake rendition of the actual fight where people's imagination of how an event should have transpired adds more to the event to make it more complete to them.

In reality, the fight is only about the union of the two, not the Savage-only form.

[Driavna]

I disagree for three reasons (and I'm not a savage raider):

- Normal mode is cannon, savage is not.

- That extra phase and ultimate are the only two things they get. Sound more like they are second-class citizens than us.

- Overtime, anyone will have the ability to out level and over-gear those fights, having access to said content and their rewards.

[tdb]

- Normal mode is canon, savage is not.

Just to elaborate on this, savage mode is explained in-universe as Eden's memories which are somewhat altered and embellished compared to what actually happened. When you enter a savage raid it's kinda like lucid dreaming. The events feel real for you but have no effect on the world. How you are able to get real loot from it I don't know.

IIRC the same explanation is used for revisiting most other duties after completing them for the story, only this time they're your own memories. And you have photographic memory so everything is exactly the same as the first time.