Is the game shifting into fast visual puzzles?

[Jinglypockets]

Agree. I hate the visual puzzle mechanics.

With all of them, there's always a "trick" I have to figure out to be able to solve them quickly, so it ends up just being another memorization mechanic but with more stress (and not the fun kind).

[Arohk]

With all of them, there's always a "trick" I have to figure out to be able to solve them quickly.

not really, there is hardly any puzzle mechanic in the game where the solution is not instantly clear, you just need to memorize the pattern and know where to go immediately without thinking about it.

[Jinglypockets]

not really, there is hardly any puzzle mechanic in the game where the solution is not instantly clear, you just need to memorize the pattern and know where to go immediately without thinking about it.

Not really, I just have to memorize the patterns and immediately go to the right spot instead of "solving" the puzzle.

Now we've found three ways to say the exact same thing while pretending to disagree!

[Arohk]

Not really, I just have to memorize the patterns and immediately go to the right spot instead of "solving" the puzzle.

Now we've found three ways to say the exact same thing while pretending to disagree!

okay, then what is the problem exactly? its not like you must solve a puzzle every time, just got to position X when pattern Y spawns, there is little to no RNG involved

[Jinglypockets]

okay, then what is the problem exactly? its not like you must solve a puzzle every time, just got to position X when pattern Y spawns, there is little to no RNG involved

My problem isn't RNG, that the puzzles are too hard, or that they aren't solvable. I handle them just fine. I just don't think these kinds of mechanics are enjoyable gameplay.

The ones I dislike the most are the ones that are effectively unsolvable in real time -- the squares in P6S come to mind. There are way too many checks for anyone to be able to figure it all out at once, so you just resort to memorization; if the X is here, go here, and if the X is here, go over here instead. There's something deeply unsatisfying about solving a complicated puzzle that way, but it's so ridiculously over the top that there's really no other way to do it. Related: Not a puzzle mechanic, but the Harvests on P7S where you need a map and a protractor to figure out all the safe spots give me the same vibe. The wheel on Rubicante Extreme is solvable in real time, but the faster, more reliable way to handle it is to learn the "tells" on each spin. You're not solving the puzzle -- you're just reading 1-2 keys to figure out which of the potential safe spots is safe.

It feels less like I'm getting better at executing something difficult and more like I'm just memorizing a script.

I'm glad the positions can be memorized, mind you, because I'd enjoy them even less if we actually did have to solve them in real time.

To be clear, I've cleared all of the fights I mentioned; my complaint isn't that they're too difficult. I just don't think they're fun.

[Enjuden]

I'll be honest, even with ultimate experience, things like the teacups always get me for a while. Eventually I just stop caring and either follow other people or take the hit until I must learn it like in Criterion (?) Dungeons.

The 99 trial I have decided to just stand with the tank since the boss doesn't cleave anyway, and it is significantly easier to see where the fire/wind sword will be. The other swords are frankly irrelevant even in EX so long as you do the right mechanic on the fire/wind one anyway. The lines I do not bother with the ones that have yellow circles since they more often than not get me killed. I only follow the line with the donuts since it tends to be not only safer but let me concentrate on the mechanics coming up.

As for if things will remain the same or change, it really depends on the whims of the team who makes the fights. There are times where they are heavily skewed toward pattern recognition like in every criterion, and other times where you just need to know the puzzles solution and solve it properly. From my experience they usually go back and forth between the two on each patch, and only really deviated from this in Shadowbringers where they stuck with one set of things consistently.