FFXIV did not win any awards at the 2023 Video Game Awards

[Jeeqbit]

Gender locked races

This was very reasonable because they said it was very difficult to add races. It not only involves a lot of work but it means extra work on a permanent basis, because they have to adjust all new gear to work with the new races as well and also add new hair styles and things like that, all of which can increase the time it takes to develop a patch.

They only wanted to add Hrothgar, because of the lack of beastly and non-human looking races, but they couldn't ignore that a lot of people had been wanting viera.

I think it was a perfect situation for it too, because Hrothgar being beastly was more aimed at males since, well, males are usually the most beastly, so making female Hrothgar didn't fully align with their goals. Meanwhile, the only reference material that existed for viera was female, so that made sense as well. This created a perfect situation where they could make 2 races for the price of 1.

Having them is surely better than not having them. With all the criticism it might have been easier for them to just not have added them at all though.

At this point though, they should just use AI to do everything, since it seems like it can trivialize game development now.

armor pieces not working with said races

That part is odd because of how players achieved it, but it's always been a similar problem with other areas of the game, where a player can make it work but somehow it's too difficult or too taxing on machines for the developers to do it.

Yes, and then they removed even more and lowered it down to 1 per patch instead of 2 every other. My statement stands and I'm not sure why you're claiming what I said wasn't correct.

Because you were saying that process started in Shadowbringers, but it was really just an extension of something that had begun to reduce in Stormblood, so saying that we started getting less in Shadowbringers is ignoring that we started getting less in Stormblood.

We objectively got less dungeons in ShB and I can't point to a single place they moved the resources to, tbh. It's not like we gained something else.

That's hard to really say. In Stormblood, we got 4 Eureka areas which was an awful lot, with the NMs and environments potentially being some of the reinvested resources.

In Shadowbringers, we had some other projects such as the ARR rework, Ocean Fishing areas, Ishgard Restoration and its new housing area and a more extensive area for the the pixie beast tribe area.

Meanwhile, in Endwalker we have had a lot of work on new Crystalline Conflict maps, complete redesigns of the bosses in all the old MSQ dungeons each patch along with NPC support being added, some trials and duties were completely redone (such as Castrum Meridianum and Praetorium) or made into duties (such as Steps of Faith and Cape Westwind) all of which involve battle design resources. Of course we have also had more Ocean Fishing, Island Sanctuary and 3 variant and 3 criterion dungeons.

While much of these may be resources taken from a Eureka or Bozja/Zadnor area, since they all involve environment or battle design, some of them could be what would normally be used for the extra dungeon.

Overall, a lot of people don't notice the reinvested resources because it's stuff that isn't relevant to them ie. MSQ rework, Ocean Fishing, The Firmament, Island Sanctuary, PvP maps, Criterion.

All this is stuff that someone who's main content is dungeons, alliance raids, extremes or 8-person savage probably wouldn't care about much but realistically the things I listed do involve development resources that could be used to create a dungeon so that is probably where those resources ended up.

[Atelier-Bagur]

There is so much negativity on these forums that people would actually say that about Shadowbringers and mean it.

Sorry but I think Stormblood was a lot more interesting than discount Shin Megami Tensei/Tales of Symphonia/Final Fantasy X...bringers.

Shadowbringers just gets too overhyped and when you actually take a step back and look at the narrative as a whole, its just another above average tale like the other expansion stories just with a cooler setting. The story was very easily formulaic and predicatble like 80% of the time and really the only big moment people get so googly eyed over is just that like 20% between Defeating Vauthry, Crystal Exarch getting exposed and Emet Selch popping a cap while inviting you to his crib thats off the hook down in the deep blue sea.

[Themarvin]

Game like Baldurs Gate 3 did though, it is a good way to show the world that actual good games still exist and that there is seriously good developers out there too.

[Iscah]

yeah shadowbringers was probably TEH BEST EVAR!!1 if you mained one of the jobs the developers care about lmao
so basically not scholar, astrologian, dark knight, bard, machinist etc

Or maybe just for those who associate "Shadowbringers" with (and liked) "the story told during patches 5.0 to 5.55" and not the details of job design during that era?

I don't think that much about job design anyway, but when I do, it's more like a separate thread of game evolution that might have happened alongside Shdowbringers MSQ but that doesn't make it part of what Shadowbringers actually is, especially in the context of saying that Shadowbringers was a good expansion. I will assume they are talking about the story experience, not how jobs played at the time.

[Absurdity]

The story was very easily formulaic and predicatble like 80% of the time and really the only big moment people get so googly eyed over is just that like 20% between Defeating Vauthry, Crystal Exarch getting exposed and Emet Selch popping a cap while inviting you to his crib thats off the hook down in the deep blue sea.

Don't forget the first time you see Rapture...I mean Amaurot.

Or maybe just for those who associate "Shadowbringers" with (and liked) "the story told during patches 5.0 to 5.55" and not the details of job design during that era?

I don't think that much about job design anyway, but when I do, it's more like a separate thread of game evolution that might have happened alongside Shdowbringers MSQ but that doesn't make it part of what Shadowbringers actually is, especially in the context of saying that Shadowbringers was a good expansion. I will assume they are talking about the story experience, not how jobs played at the time.

It's kinda hard to disconnect the actual gameplay from the overall expansion quality when it's like 90% of what you do. The story takes up very little time spent with the game, unless that's literally all you do before unsubscribing.
The job design has a massive impact on most of the activities outside of watching cutscenes and reading dialogue.

It's why I do not understand why CBU3 puts so little focus on good gameplay. It's an MMORPG (even if people sometimes try to claim otherwise), so when I spend 95% of my time in the game running the same activities, because the game expects me to, and doing so is not particularly engaging then the experience suffers heavily overall, doesn't matter how good the 5% of story are.

[Iscah]

Don't forget the first time you see Rapture...I mean Amaurot.



It's kinda hard to disconnect the actual gameplay from the overall expansion quality when it's like 90% of what you do. The story takes up very little time spent with the game, unless that's literally all you do before unsubscribing.
The job design has a massive impact on most of the activities outside of watching cutscenes and reading dialogue.

Firstly, there's a difference between how much time a person might spend playing the story versus how much time they might spend thinking about the story. I'm a lore nerd, I'm discussing the story constantly and replaying it occasionally.

Secondly, regular gameplay has more to it than just the jobs themselves being played in a void. If I'm running a dungeon or trial then my focus is on the environment and the boss mechanics, and the buttons I have to press while doing those mechanics are a distant second that apply to the game as a whole and not just a single expansion.

Thirdly, following on from that previous thought, the state of battle system is ephemeral and not permanently linked to the gameplay of an expansion. If I replay Heavensward today, the battle system will not be the same as the one I played when I went through the story for the first time in 2017, but the things that are still there – the story, the dungeons, the music – are what makes it Heavensward.

[Absurdity]

Firstly, there's a difference between how much time a person might spend playing the story versus how much time they might spend thinking about the story. I'm a lore nerd, I'm discussing the story constantly and replaying it occasionally.

Not much to say here, happy for you if the story is taking up that much of your time engaging with the game.

Secondly, regular gameplay has more to it than just the jobs themselves being played in a void. If I'm running a dungeon or trial then my focus is on the environment and the boss mechanics, and the buttons I have to press while doing those mechanics are a distant second that apply to the game as a whole and not just a single expansion.

I may spend the first few times with my focus on the mechanics or environment, for dungeons probably less because they have little to offer besides pretty backgrounds, but even if the mechanics are less formulaic for once I won't have my eyes glued to the boss casting a donut aoe for the 10th time.

Thirdly, following on from that previous thought, the state of battle system is ephemeral and not permanently linked to the gameplay of an expansion. If I replay Heavensward today, the battle system will not be the same as the one I played when I went through the story for the first time in 2017, but the things that are still there – the story, the dungeons, the music – are what makes it Heavensward.

Yes the battle system is ephemeral...and it's gradual degradation has actually made old content worse. Simplified rotations, potency bloat, outright removal of lower level abilities and job mechanics have not only contributed to completely destroying the sense of danger from older boss fights but barely having to think about playing your job properly also exposes how basic most of the mechanics from back then (and often also now where dungeons are concerned) are...if you even still see most of them, which is unlikely.

If I play Heavensward today it is a worse experience than it was back in 3.0 or even 4.0

[GoatOfWar]

It didn't really deserve any awards tbh. I was surprised it was even a contender.