Hildibrand for relic? Really?

[Midareyukki]

As a matter of taste, I would have to say ShB had the best weapon series because Matsuno was guest writer and they spent a lot of resources on that content. Had that cool Cid's memory Bozja Citadel solo instance, the Varis fight, a few raids and a couple of quite dull field ops instances, but the duels there were an interesting twist. Actually the CEs in those dull zones were very cool too if they popped, like Belias and Shemhazai. Matsuno's Ivalice stuff is some of my favorite stuff in the whole FF series.

As a die-hard Matsuno fan whose favourite FF game is 12, played through not only the Ivalice Alliance, but also Ogre Battle and Crimson Shroud, I can say that they spent a little too many resources. The tone and depth Matsuno goes for isn't the sort of thing 14 is used to. And there just was no balance between those aspects or the additions from FF12 and Tactics's stories.

Now don't get me wrong. It still takes self-restraint not to gush all about the Return to Ivalice plot to my friends, and Bozja overall reminded me of a really good version of FF12 (complete with all the brown! xD) mixed with Type-0. So much of it was well executed, and for fans of Matsuno it's an honest treat. But from a FF14 perspective, someone coming in not used to how he chooses to write and present his narratives is sure to feel iffy about it. He's dry, he's verbose and he's incredibly politically-heavy. That's not everyone's cup of tea.
14 did start out that way, trying to capture that essence, but they never really succeeded. And rarely are Matsuno's works whimsical. FF14 plays the whimsy every waking moment. Bozja is dense. You're constantly confronted with the geopolitical aspect of it all, the characters around you philosophize about how to proceed in ruling a country without going for the KH-esque "I will rule from the heart!!!" trope...

However. One thing I will point out is how these elements just did not blend well together. Probably because of circumstances, notably the pandemic. Yes, having the codex was a phenomenal way to give what people wanted: a FF12 Bestiary that expanded on the lore. But holy hell, the characters that were meant to be important to us on our journey got offed so unceremoniously. Then the lore just gets handwaved for drama yet again. And people ignore all the heinous realities around them just to focus on some chick with foresight. And all of their backstory and resolution gets shunted onto the codex.
...no. That's not how you do Matsuno content. You have the characters show their impact to the player and\or plot around them, you explore the stuff they have a connection to and you make their losses feel like they have either a meaning or a consequence past them. And while you can expand on your world through text entries, don't shove the resolution of your overarching plot on some paper!

All in all, it was a lot of investment for something that they just ended up shafting at the end. That was just not great, and definitely not a good send-off for Matsuno's involvement in the project.

[Almandaragal]

Hildibrand is..... a thing, yeah. But you know what the real sin is?

The new relics being an ARR-style grind. Once upon a time, the near entire community loathed this manner of relic acquisition process. Wonder what changed?

Oh, right. Endwalker happened and suddenly no matter what, Yoshi-P became an infallible god overnight and literally nothing ever went wrong with FFXIV ever again.

Nah, the real sin is saying/implying that we'd be able to do the ShB relics solo but then locking progress on it behind crap you can't duty find, because you had to be in an already instanced zone. So, if you played off-peak hours and didn't have dedicated groups to get non-sucky essences, you were basically screwed. I'd rather have a grind that gets boring at various points than one I legitimately can't complete because people aren't on when I am.

To this day the only relic I've completed is an Anima. Partially because I mostly want relics for my main (RDM) and Eureka was so garbage the various times I tried it the first year it was out that I haven't been back since, and partially because I can't progress in Bozja even if I could enjoy it because of when I get to play. Frankly I hope we never get another exploration zone if we're going to be forced to (not get to) complete our relic there.

That said, if they can actually balance an exploration zone to not suck for someone playing primarily alone, then bring it on. For now, I look forward to whatever they might do with this relic, but I won't hold my breath. ShB was fine too, until I started getting blocked by crap I couldn't get to pop/have enough people to complete.

[LianaThorne]

I love how people complained that Eureka/Bozja was an awful relic grind and they should do something else.

Now we're back to people complaining that it's an ARR/HW type grind.

I wanna ask, what EXACTLY is wanted from a relic grind because it seems like some dont actually know.

[KDSilver]

If collecting 1500 tomestone is "ARR relic grind", please, do the ARR relic first then come back so we can have a real talk (and you'll not even have the true experience from 9 years ago so...)

[SassyAssassin]

I love how people complained that Eureka/Bozja was an awful relic grind and they should do something else.

Now we're back to people complaining that it's an ARR/HW type grind.

I wanna ask, what EXACTLY is wanted from a relic grind because it seems like some dont actually know.

Speaking for myself, Im glad I don’t need to go through more unnecessary and tedious grinds. There’s a reason why I don’t have bozja weapons. Doing fates over and over to get a crystal isn’t what I call peak gaming either, so if I had to choose Id choose this over and over.

[Carin-Eri]

Speaking for myself, Im glad I don’t need to go through more unnecessary and tedious grinds. There’s a reason why I don’t have bozja weapons. Doing fates over and over to get a crystal isn’t what I call peak gaming either, so if I had to choose Id choose this over and over.

Agreed - I'll take variety in what content you play to obtain a predictable, guaranteed, currency over grinding FATES for Crystals, which are not guaranteed to drop anyway.

[Atelier-Bagur]

Agreed - I'll take variety in what content you play to obtain a predictable, guaranteed, currency over grinding FATES for Crystals, which are not guaranteed to drop anyway.

To be honest, I'm kinda expecting fate grinding will be back come next step or 2. Especially for SB and ShB zones maybe.

[Deceptus]

To be honest, I'm kinda expecting fate grinding will be back come next step or 2. Especially for SB and ShB zones maybe.

Oh it's going to be Stormblood Fates for sure. You know, so we can't grind bicolor gemstones as well.

[Darkstride]

I love how people complained that Eureka/Bozja was an awful relic grind and they should do something else.

Now we're back to people complaining that it's an ARR/HW type grind.

I wanna ask, what EXACTLY is wanted from a relic grind because it seems like some dont actually know.

I actually really liked Bozja because you could level, get tomes and grind for gear alongside the relic.

I also loved Eureka, but I understand why people don't want to grind a set of zones that is entirely separated from the rest of the game.

The only things I specifically didn't like with relics were running every single dungeon in order with the relic equipped and light farming.

[Mimilu]

I love how people complained that Eureka/Bozja was an awful relic grind and they should do something else.

Now we're back to people complaining that it's an ARR/HW type grind.

I wanna ask, what EXACTLY is wanted from a relic grind because it seems like some dont actually know.

Seems more like a case of "You can't please everyone" to me. （*´▽｀*）
Some people preferred the Eureka/Bozja approach, some preferred ARR/HW's, some don't like doing the relic quests at all, and most don't say anything at all so you can't tell what they want. (*≧▽≦)ﾉｼ))