Echoes of Vana'diel FFXI Alliance Raid

[Veritas-Ancora]

I'm disappointed how blink and you'll miss it Ronfaure and Qufim were. Heck, it barely felt like Ronfaure to me with how it was set up with the verticality and cliffs.

Okay it wasn't just me, because Ronfaure was notoriously F-L-A-T. Like Ohio flat. It was just a quasi-foresty area with lots and lots of flat land that was terribly annoying to traverse because it was so long. Going up that hill didn't feel like anything in FFXI.

[Veritas-Ancora]

Gods? Altana and who?.

If Shantotto isn't the final FFXI boss I'm gonna break my keyboard.




(For those who don't know who Shantotto is)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9mhLi5OxeM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mYLg9iEuVg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sTJ2irHVJg

[Ephremjlm]

Overall a good time, but it felt a little short and like there was a little less effort in the aesthetics this time around.

The Positives - Fights were fun, maybe a bit too easy, but it's a chill run which is fine if you are spamming them for the items. I did actually really appreciate some of the varied combat, like how all tanks can literally get yeeted from the second to last fight, and having to jump from different airships was kinda cool too.

The negatives - We got cucked SO HARD on the zones. All of those screenshot teasers were basically the entirety of the zones. In the end when we fight in the sea arena all I could think of was how sick would it have been to run through a sea area like we did with sky. It looked so pretty too. Quifum is barley even a hallway, and though I guess I appreciate the reimagining of it, they should have had us actually running into Delkfuts Tower or something with proper landmarks using the spire roots as the hallway markers because it looks nothing like the zone. Same honestly goes with Ronfaure. Woulda been cool to maybe see the outpost or the NPC that walked through the woods, or idk something a little bit more. It all felt so small in comparison to the last one. And with Sandy, it makes no sense to block the grass. The area is so small, and if you look at the exit they didn't even add the auction house. Couple that with the updated design and in a weird way it kinda doesn't look like Sandy, minus the hallway to the moghouse, and the consulate offices.

Also, was Kirin undertuned? We beat him before he was even able to use his Seiryu move.

[MicahZerrshia]

All this raid really does is make me want an update to the graphics for FFXI, which currently is leaps and bounds a better game. As lore rich as FFXI is, they are really doing it no justice at all. color me shocked

[Enkidoh]

If Shantotto isn't the final FFXI boss I'm gonna break my keyboard.




(For those who don't know who Shantotto is)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9mhLi5OxeM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mYLg9iEuVg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sTJ2irHVJg

Shantotto has already appeared in the game back in 2013 for the very first FFXI crossoever event though (and all we got to do was beat up a giant golem of her in a FATE in Gridania). I doubt she'll appear in this, frankly. I'd be surprised if Iroha didn't show back up though, given she technically is still stuck in Hydaelyn though (at least, that's how the second FFXI event ended)....

[Fawkes]

I wish they had done Ronfaure like that one pre-Dawntrail instance with Wuk Lamat that was like a big open field with invisible walls. The geometry was all wrong and it feels small.

I wouldn't mind if they made the trash sections bigger in general. Or broke up the formula more. It feels like they're trying to squeeze a bunch into a rigid size requirement or something.

[CidHeiral]

I mean, have you heard the music that plays at Bastok? Unsophisticated percussion and not a single bagpipe.

Mmmm yes, how very droll, but what else can you expect from uncouth ruffians living in a dirt hovel?


(man the snooty Elvaan always cracked me up back in the day lol)

[SeriousPan]

The geometry was all wrong and it feels small.

That hill section for Ronfaure should have been Gustaberg which had all kinds of cliff faces that are JUST LIKE that. Instead they made Ronfaure look weirdly hilly when it never had stuff like that. Qufim was so saddingly short too. Nier raids had huge sections of running but the FFXI raids aren't allowed it? Sky had it in First Walk and that was amazing but we can't do that in this raid.

[Vyrerus]

It was a pretty good raid, though the visuals for Ronfaure, Qufim Island, and Stellar Fulcrum were FFXIV originals that didn't look anything like they do in XI.

Airship section was amazing to me. I loved it. Easily best part of the raid.

Final fight phase 2 turned into Al'Taieu, but it's Al'Taieu that's been dimensionally locked 10,000 years in Lumoria, and Ealdnarche hasn't been there since before The Meltdown, so shouldn't haven't been able to make it look like that. Memberberries be damned.

And yes, Fawkes is right about the way the XIV localization team is just having Prishe do anachronisms using XIV jargon like she's a XIV character.

[Gaddes]

Prishe doesn't worship Promathia.

If you can find me an example of anyone in FFXI saying "Gods" in that way then I'll concede but until then I think it's a localization error.

lol exactly, Prishe actually beat down Promathia with her bare hands alongside the Adventurer, she sure didn't worship Promathia. Granted it's been a long time, but I remember NPCs in Vana'diel usually specifically mentioning Altana by name, like "By Altana!" or something when they'd do an "Oh God" kind of phrase


For as much as I'm happy that the Ronfaure theme made it into the raid (so I can get the orchestrion scroll), the "Ronfaure section" didn't remind me of Ronfaure at all with its odd hill and it was such a tiny space, it felt like a waste of a reference.
I liked how we could at least run through a bit more of an area in the first tier of the raid... this one feels like we just ran 30 feet in and already hit the end of the zone. Boyhada Tree with the hidden adventurers was cute, running through a section of Sky was freaking awesome. But the tiny spaces of Qufim (which kinda looked more like Beaucedine Glacier to me) and Ronfaure were so underwhelming.