7.2 MSQ opinions (spoiler obviously)

[GrimGale]

Is it me or the Arcadion fights are a bit...Underwhelming? I feel like the 4th fight is a letdown compared to the 3rd one. I was more involved with the 3rd fight (both mechanically and plot-wise) than with the 4th fight wich is supposed to the closure/height of your progression through the Arcadion.

[CNitsah]

Is it me or the Arcadion fights are a bit...Underwhelming? I feel like the 4th fight is a letdown compared to the 3rd one. I was more involved with the 3rd fight (both mechanically and plot-wise) than with the 4th fight wich is supposed to the closure/height of your progression through the Arcadion.

I have not done those yet, that's why I made a post specifically about the MSQ, and not about the whole patch (plus there are already several thread about the raids - like this one or this one), so we could talk about it without getting spoiled. I would appreciate if you could ask that in one of those threads. Thank you.

[Gwenkatsu]

Real Sphene is a better character than any of the other DT characters. ... She is relatable, and I honestly felt like I wanted to help her. ... Everything feels... relevant.

My thoughts exactly.

I could not stand computer sphene, the very first time I saw her stupid smile it was obvious she'ld go full overcycled maniac later on ("yes it was my troops that attacked your city. Whew, now that that is out of the way, let's talk something important - agriculture. I love agriculture" - yukk).

So when they brought her back, I was like... omfg, not her again. And much to my surprise I found human Sphene to be a really compelling and likable character - something I did not expect in DT (no snark, just my expectations after playing through DT so far).

[Carin-Eri]

I enjoyed it too. I have to admit I thought the story flowed quite nicely, they dialled back on Wuk Lamat, the voice acting was good and well-balanced and the characters (particularly both Sphene's), were nicely expressionate and Calyx was sufficiently sinister that I wanted to kick his arse!

And have to say, as odd as it might sound, I thought that their strategy of attempting to take the Warrior of Light down from a distance was interesting - I don't recall such an attempt being made before and it actually makes sense for an enemy to try it considering their stated knowledge of how the WoL fights.

[ThaCa]

I think it was ok, parts were actually good and others bit mediocre. Probably the biggest annoyance character wise was how over the top the simulant Sphene acted like some moustache twirling villain. Overall a nice improvement over the past few patches, hope they keep improving and have satisfying ending for this little arc.

As for the raid story, it was pretty solid aside from the fact that the president knows about the stimulant and hasn't done anything with it.

[Hallarem]

I think it was ok, parts were actually good and others bit mediocre. Probably the biggest annoyance character wise was how over the top the simulant Sphene acted like some moustache twirling villain. Overall a nice improvement over the past few patches, hope they keep improving and have satisfying ending for this little arc.

As for the raid story, it was pretty solid aside from the fact that the president knows about the stimulant and hasn't done anything with it.

I think ever since Emett they have decided to add one theatre kid villain that does a lean smile or something whacky and insane. Its becoming a bit tropey.
I wish something like an actual nuanced villain like Gabranth from the Bozja storyline appeared where he was trying to build a nation free of racism, classism etc where some people genuinely followed him. Where you'd have to think with your noggin' a bit and it was a bit morally grey and not so "good vs bad" "black and white".

I'm not buying the whole "respect the culture that sucks souls and distributes them to escape death" sthtick. Never did and don't know why the main characters are even entertaining it.

[Briayi]

Personally I am disappointed that Square took the easy road out on the storyline, same story through every MMO, same talking, same issues, same problem yet they managed to kill the average player by making the MSQ have a trial with Ilevel that some are not at yet and those that need it are being gouged to high heaven on the marketboard for better gear. I am too the point in understanding Square is like Blizzard and making it all about the money instead of the player. Let's go with the generic storyline following the NPC's around, let's tell the story over and over till you are bored as hell with it while we do nothing to make it better. In the meantime the elites are well taken care of being they don't care about the storyline as long as they get extremes and savages to do while the rest of us are just lost to the game...sadly no MMO exists for the average player anymore to enjoy.

[HyperiusUltima]

In my opinion I think they hit the nail on the head without bending it in 7.2.

The thing that gave me pause was when we had previous Wuk being a problem by being a Black Hole Sue, to now she's taken on an entire shift in tone - she's not annoying anymore and isn't always wanting to come along with us. Sure, she is following us as her duty as a foreign leader to assist Gulool Ja(and even states this as "trying not to get involved with Alexandrian politics", which is astounding since politics wasn't involved to begin with).

The thing that made me feel better about Wuk was that she was not entirely off camera a lot, but contributed to the story rather than making it Wuk-centric while running a different character's story. As for Sphene, I think I can see parallels of where they're writing towards.

FFIX is still an inspiration, but we're not getting the overbearing nostalgia trip that was Post-Patch EW. We're actually getting something fleshed out well and that's digestible compared to having Dawntrail 7.0 and Rroneek shoved down our throats. The way they presented our villain helped some, though there's more to Preservation that still needs to be worked on that'll probably be given in Patch 7.3 when we finish Dawntrail's Story.

If anything, the Cliffhanger just leaves me wanting more of Calyx to be explained; I feel like he's a Garland(IX) Archetype with how he speaks in technicalities. Give Garland a look up and you'll even see where their inspiration comes from.

[Basteala]

I do agree with those point. The first one is linked to what I was saying about being in a weird place with WL. It feels like one scene they decide to shove her on the sideline, and the next scene, they want to put her in the spotlight. It really feels like they have those 2 options and can't chose, so they go with both and it feels weird.

I'm not a fan of the new bad guy either. He kinda lacks building. He feels more like a function in the story than a real character. Maybe next patch will make him meatier.

I think the first point is a step in the right direction, though. They couldn't just full on sideline Wuk Lamat--not just because it would piss off people that do like her for some reason, but also the fact that it would kind of muddle with the sort of continuity of the story and its characters as is. We're looking at FF14, not the Star Wars Sequels. Sphene--Endless Sphene, at least, and Wuk Lamat, had a good relationship (even if it felt a little contrived with the short timeline), so it makes sense that the real Sphene, who Endless Sphene's memories were borne from, would connect with her too. But we weren't completely marginalized and Sphene was allowed to get the detail needed for her story without Wuk Lamat upending it. So progress!

New bad guy...honestly I expected someone from Preservation to make an appearance, although no mention of the guy was kind of a miss. I put that blame more on the previous patch and on MSQ main in particular not the current patch.

AND WHY DO WE EVEN CARRY IT? Why not hide and guard it?

I asked myself that same question...but it should be noted that canonically, Azem can be kind of an idiot, sometimes, in terms of common sense like that.

It does kinda knock the writing down to HW/SHB tier rather than SHB tier, because of little details like that. And some people might say it's not even as good as HW/SHB, but I feel better that I think you could argue it's closer to that rather than weeeellll below ARR.

[Paintedtarget]

You summed up all of my views on the bad. Wuk is a damaged character that cannot be salvaged for me at this point. I hit space bar or skip cutscenes when she is in the game which is something I have not done since ARR started. I really hope we move on from that character or they drop her out of the MSQ as soon as possible.