Action condensing options

[BrokentoothMarch]

Is it, though? It's an additional layer of execution, that while simple, has been a fundamental part of the 'feel' of this game for a long time. You could argue most mechanics in games are arbitrary.

An additional layer of execution being condensed to little more than "press next number" is hardly some intense thought.

An actual layer of execution would require more reactive responses. An enemy is casting X, however, if they are casting something else, Y is the better option. I must keep Z up now before the next phase, as I will not be able to reapply Z come that moment. There are extremely few, if any, moments like that in this game. It's pretty much avoid the scary orange bits or memorize the difference between a regular attack or a lateral attack while consistently pressing 1-2-3. The combat in GW2 for example, is extremely impactful if at the price of extremely little button variety. The compensation comes from the enemy designs. However, XIV suffers from having the penalty of such little buttons as GW2 while claiming button bloat as complexity while, well, we do little else than damage go up.

Naturally it wasn't always this way even in XIV. The game back then had far more emphasis on DoTs and status effects, with even some of the earlier heal quests putting an emphasis on your ability to use Sleep to deaggro, to say nothing of the reactive nature, as I mentioned just now, of things like Cleric Stance. Was Cleric Stance perfect? Furthest thing from, but it was on the right path, I believe. However, the devs have continuously shown that instead of refinement or expansion, they'd rather cut the whole thing off for the sake of more streamlining. They claim it as accessibility, but I doubt even that excuse. I truly think that we're seeing more and more days where the game gets reduced developer attention. By homogenizing and making many a button less impactful, it makes streamlining balancing far easier due to the condensing of the buttons and their effects.

This is why I often say this game is complex in name only. Aside from many a button, there's not much behind it. And, again, there are some buttons that simply have no business not being collapsible. I once again bring up Ikushoten and Ogi Namikiri, which are buttons that are intrinsically tied (You literally cannot cast Namikiri without Ikushoten) yet are two different buttons. This is hardly complex, but instead just tedium pretending to be complexity.

Insipidness 1

Insipidness 2

Both of you can cope about how it's more complex to press a button with the label 2 over it rather than 1 all you want, but it doesn't make things any more deep. If you truly are going to tell me that complexity is something we were all taught in pre-school, then what a pathetic bar to pass and I have no need to discuss with either of you. Cute callback to my comment on brain capacity, Leon, but it falls short when your point is "haha 123 hard 111 no hard haha".

Also, Kol, that mask looks like garbage. You look better without it. Though I suppose about as much an improvement as 1-2-3 is over 1-1-1.