Current State of End-Game Contents - A Blog Post from A Japanese Player

[zPanda]

Agree with a lot of points in this post - it was a good read. Also, I laugh whenever i hear people use the word "skill" to refer to this game. This game is not about "skill" - it's about memorization and repetition , let's be real. The "hardcore" pass content earlier because they have 8 people who can dedicate a set time for a static party - the vast majority of the population doesn't fall into this category. Whenever I was able to beat a turn in coil or a ex-primal , it never felt like I increased in "skill". It simply felt like I had repeated the content enough to finally remember all the mechanics. If I took a random group of 8 people considered "mainstream" with the correct distribution of jobs - told them they would not have to worry about work/school/family/etc. for 2 weeks - and for 2 weeks they would dedicate 10 hours a day to clearing ScoB and nothing else, they would clear it.

Compare this to some other gaming genres that actually require real skill. A few come to mind for me - Fighting, RTS, FPS, Rhythm/Music. What you'll notice in this other gaming genres is that someone who is already skillful at one specific game in the genre can quickly pick up on another game in that same category. People who are pros at Street Fighter can very quickly pick up on another game like MvC or BlazBlue/GG - the skills carry over. People who were pro at Warcraft could quickly pick up on Starcraft - the skills carry over. People who are pros at Counterstrike could quickly pick up on Battlefront - the skills carry over. People who are pros at Beatmania could quicly pick up on Pop-n-music/etc. - the skills carry over. The rules and "mechanics" to these games to these games are actually quite rudimentary - you can very quickly learn how to do all the moves for a character in a fighting game, for example. It doesn't in any way make you "skilled" however.

Another good comparison is sports. Take basketball for example - the rules are pretty simple. However, only people with real skill ever make it to the highest levels of college and pro. While it obviously takes practice, even practice and repetition doesn't guarantee someone has the actual skill to make it to the top levels. Someone could practice basketball daily from a young age - doesn't mean they'll make it to the NBA, you gotta be born with the skills.

Take music as another example - you could have practiced guitar vigorously daily from a young age - doesn't mean you're gonna be the next Clapton either. Some people are born with inherent musical talent/skills.

Now look at FFXIV. So you finally beat Titan-EX ... did you gain any "skills" from doing this that apply to any other game, or even to any other fight in FFXIV itself? No, you just repeated it until you memorized the order of the patterns. So you finally beat Turn 5 - you never die to divebomb/twisters anymore! - good job!... did you gain any "skills" from doing this that apply to any other game, or even to any other fight in FFXIV itself?

Also, how many people (including the so called "hard-core") - used an external app (e.g. Twintania tracker) to beat T5 for the first time? Again - this is "skill" ?