FFXIV: A Classic Experience

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

If it's 1.0, then by all means!

You think you do. You may think that. You don't.

[Packetdancer]

You think you do. You may think that. You don't.

This x1000.

I know a lot of people look back at FFXIV 1.x and see things like the surprisingly good animations (both in-game and in cutscenes), and that there was all this story leading up to Carteneau which is still referenced in the modern game, and think "Gosh, I wish we could play that."

But you don't. You really, really don't. Those animations were lovely and characters felt like they had weight, but it made actually moving during combat infuriating (because you couldn't just stop, or turn quickly). There were so many things that just felt like "Who even thought this was a good idea?" Imagine the housing system we have now... but applied to how you sold goods to other players. That was the 1.x market ward system, which I have described before as "That was sure a thing which existed. And now does not. Which is Very Good."

1.x was a buggy mass of technical jank and poor design choices. It's just a buggy mass of technical jank and poor design choices we can be nostalgic for now. You know, from a safe distance.

[TheMightyMollusk]

This thread just reminded me of this video: FFXIV 1.0 in a Nutshell.

[Jojoya]

It's a waste of time.

Recreating a "Classic" experience can never replicate the original. A lot of the magic comes from something being totally new not just to you but to every player around you. You're trying to figure out things together. You're learning where the story goes together. It's a moment in a game's history that can't be repeated once the game is "solved".

Classic worked out sort of okay for WoW because the original WoW ceased to exist in 2010 when Cataclysm was released. It effectively was a new game for all those players who began playing WoW after that date. But even its magic died out very quickly because there were so many players also present who had already completed the game before and they ended up spoiling things for those who hadn't.

Classic would be a disaster for FFXIV because the original game was just that bad in so many ways. There would be a tiny percentage of players who would stick with it more than a couple of weeks, not enough to be worth the financial investment for SE.

[TaleraRistain]

No thanks. I'm happy to leave Cleric Stance and how clunky it was and the Int/Mnd swap for damage/healing firmly in the past.

[Erendis]

Classic experience? Not really. But I'd like my Stoneskin and Aero III, also Flaming arrow and Wide Volley. I even miss mp song when healers die a lot...

[Ranaku]

Funfact, unlike WoW we all agree that 1.0 was really bad and clunky and was just bad designed which they tried to fix but yeah. WoW players liked Classic cause it had something WoW nowdays hasn't. But XIV is better than 1.0 and continues to get better as they add stuff players actually want.

Sure from the lore perspective it's a bit sad that all the past lore is lost for the new players but much was put into ARR etc. like Nael and all that. 1.0 was never that fletched out and overall good written that it would deserve a remake which let us be honest would be something that 1.0 would need if they would give us that nowdays. Not to mention that it runs on a whole different engine...curse you crystal tools.

[Vyrerus]

As far as a classic experience goes, it'd have to be 1.0, but that wouldn't sit well with most of today's modern MMO playerbase.

While we could technically do 2.0 classic and go back to cross class and old versions of jobs, it's been brought up already that there was actually a lot of bad stuff that came with all of that. But more importantly, the game hasn't changed very much conceptually, if at all, nor has the gameplay, really. So we'd literally just be rolling back to experience the old ways, and while a lot of that could be enjoyable, the honeymoon wouldn't last for a lot of people who are too accustomed to the streamlined homogenization that we have today.

Basically it was just change what was required for minmaxing raids, and might have some big implications on most effective comps, particularly if we exclude new jobs in their entirety instead of just giving them their oldest kits at the older level caps. It really wouldn't be something that would interest the majority of players.

[van_arn]

The greatest compliment I can offer this game (and Square) is I never want to play an earlier version of it again.

[Packetdancer]

I feel like you could combine your statement and mine to make a dictionary definition.

crystal tools

a buggy mass of technical jank and poor design choices