Discussion : How to boost Alexander attractiveness ?

[seekified]

Lots of good points

Agreed. With Bahamut, we went from this:


... To this:



Whereas with Alexander, we kinda went from this:



... To this:



And it just sort of happened with no more drama than Cid clamouring in the background and goblins going #yolo #cheesemake.

Other than that, the fights just don't feel epic. Granted, Coil T2 wasn't that fancy either but all turns had a looming sense of extreme danger about them. We definitely haven't seen all that Alexander has to offer yet so there's a lot of room for fun stuff, but the build-up was non-existent.

[Februs]

[QUOTE=seekified;3367626] Good photo evidence.[/IMG]

I totally agree. Even now, looking at the picture makes me be like, "ALEXANDER!!!" And I want to go right into the raid... and then I remember what the raid turned into, and the stupid cheese-mongering lack luster steam punk rooms and I just get deflated.

T2 was good because it gave you a sense of a maze-like environment when you first went into it. I remember being like, "okay... so this is a place that I can easily get lost and die within... lovely..." Alexander is more contained and seems tiny by comparison. It should give me a sense of claustrophobia, but I'm too busy facerolling over enemies to feel any sense of threat, especially because all of the threats come from the goblins. Alexander just sits there while the termites play around with his insides.

A1's design showed promise. The hallway and room leading up to Faust made me feel confined and trapped, and the steam pipes made me think that Alexander might get up and move, or have some sort of internal defense system. But, by the time you get to the final boss it's just goblins throwing tinker toys at you and all sense of danger is eliminated. Suddenly I'm not dealing with an Elder Primal, I'm dealing with a bunch of chumps who think they're hard. After A1, there's no real sense of danger given off by Alexander himself, so you never keep that feeling of threat. By A4 I almost forgot that the raid had anything to do with Alexander. That's just poor design.

[randysquirrel]

We went from fighting on the hand of a god to, as far as I can make out, fighting in someone's basement

I know it's unpopular, but ONE of the best thing about coil imo was after hours of struggling to kill the next turn, being rewarded with the story cutscene of what epic thing would happen next, what was the next twist in the story etc. I liked that. But it had to go, because casuals wont settle for watching the CSes on youtube. So now we get the whole story upfront, and it's about cheese

[Februs]

I know it's unpopular, but ONE of the best thing about coil imo was after hours of struggling to kill the next turn, being rewarded with the story cutscene of what epic thing would happen next, what was the next twist in the story etc.

That's another good point and touches on the extremely nerfed difficulty of Alexander.

The most rewarding part about the Coils for a lot of players was the fact that you had to really work for it. I understand that, for a lot of people, the rewards didn't measure up to the effort it took to clear some of the turns, but that was part of the appeal. The fact that the Coil encouraged players to come back over and over and over again, to try and fail numerous times before finally getting the hard earned victory, was why that content was so enriching. Each cutscene was a reward in itself because I had to bust my balls just to see it. The snazzy gear was just a bonus.

Alexander is missing that, because the story is all up front and kinda dull. Even savage Alexander lacks appeal, because there isn't enough challenge and reward. It's all about Dps output. That just means better gear. So, making a Pre-made and going in over and over to try and clear A3/4 seems less compelling, because we all know we can just wait for the next gear patch and clear it easily with a PUG when they open the dungeons to DF.

[ruskie]

We went from fighting on the hand of a god to, as far as I can make out, fighting in someone's basement

I know it's unpopular, but ONE of the best thing about coil imo was after hours of struggling to kill the next turn, being rewarded with the story cutscene of what epic thing would happen next, what was the next twist in the story etc. I liked that. But it had to go, because casuals wont settle for watching the CSes on youtube. So now we get the whole story upfront, and it's about cheese

This soooooo much. That was the main pull of coil for me. Why I keep improving my gameplay, why I was willing to spent countless hours wipping to something just to in the end have that reward. Alex is just there... it doesn't invoke anything resembling that push to do it. I do it because my friends want to do it and I enjoy the challenge but it's not pulling me in like coil did.

[RaizeGraymalkin]

We went from fighting on the hand of a god to, as far as I can make out, fighting in someone's basement

I know it's unpopular, but ONE of the best thing about coil imo was after hours of struggling to kill the next turn, being rewarded with the story cutscene of what epic thing would happen next, what was the next twist in the story etc. I liked that. But it had to go, because casuals wont settle for watching the CSes on youtube. So now we get the whole story upfront, and it's about cheese

They shouldn't have to watch it on Youtube. Some attitudes on things never change I see.

[Malevicton]

They shouldn't have to watch it on Youtube. Some attitudes on things never change I see.

Why not?

Can't beat the boss, can't see what happens when you beat the boss. That's how pretty much every game in history has worked. I get people being kind of annoyed, that's fine; but why in this game specifically is it treated like some unspeakable human rights violation?

[Dererk]

Why not?

Can't beat the boss, can't see what happens when you beat the boss. That's how pretty much every game in history has worked. I get people being kind of annoyed, that's fine; but why in this game specifically is it treated like some unspeakable human rights violation?

T_T I pay a sub T_T I should be able to see everything. This is what happened this is why we have this crap right now.

[Februs]

T_T I pay a sub T_T I should be able to see everything. This is what happened this is why we have this crap right now.

That's not how a game works. That's how a movie or a book works. In a game, what you're paying for is the opportunity to win. It's not guaranteed. It doesn't matter how much money you paid for that opportunity. If you're not good enough, you're not good enough. It's that simple. You don't go to a carnival, for example, pay for a throw at a ball toss game, and then get given the JUMBO sized plushy just because you paid. You have to earn it. You're just paying for the opportunity to use the ball. The same thing applies here. You are not entitled to an instant or automatic victory because you paid the entry fee. That's like expecting to get laid because you bought a girl a drink. Silliness. You paid for an opportunity, not a fixed result.

[Fevelle]

Why not?

Can't beat the boss, can't see what happens when you beat the boss. That's how pretty much every game in history has worked. I get people being kind of annoyed, that's fine; but why in this game specifically is it treated like some unspeakable human rights violation?

Because putting content (I said content, not equipments/rewards) beyond a big difficulty wall is bad game design. Plus, this is a Final Fantasy game and most players play it for the story, so skill capping it seems even more dumb.

Also, this is NOT a game of chance, so you don't play for the opportunity, you pay for the experience/content.

I really don't know why people are so much enraged because of Alexander normal. This all sounds like jelousy to me, because the Savage player don't get exclusivity anymore.