Alexander Appreciation Thread

[Jynx]

The goblin concept could have been cool but once they went and made them all dunces for no apparent reason any possible good story they could get out of Alexander went out the window. Hell even the non-goblin NPCs just feel like someone was out of there element.

Would it be a reach to assume the guys who write the story for the Hildy quests got assigned to Alexander because everyone else was busy writing story for the expansion?

[Colorful]

snip

They've already shown what he's going to look like when entirely out of the water, Alexander still doesn't look threatening and pales to the concept art shown above.



It's a real shame, they've managed to capture the essence of their art so many times before, to the point that the world is almost a living painting, but it fell flat here.

[Nep_Nep]

I really like the concept art.

The contrast between him being a machine and yet having angel wings is kind of like....poetry.

Like a Machine God or a God in a Machine. I always love those kinds of things. x3
Mechanical deities are always cool to me.

[Nalien]

Going to have to go with a big no. The steampunk wanna-be abomination is a terrible adaption.

This is Alexander:

I cannot mash like enough... How does anyone like XIVs version of Alexander? He pops out of no where and just lazily crawls out of a river at the slowest pace imaginable... I'm sure he'll look fairly imposing come 3.4, but that doesn't change the fact that he will have spent the better part of a year crawling out of a river... That is not, in any possible sense of the word, epic.

Obvious spoilers for IX, but this is how you introduce Alexander. I don't even know what is going on with XIVs version, I call him Alexanderp... Anything he does is going to be mired by him spending a year doing nothing, he doesn't even feel like a threat, it feels like he fell off the short bus and we're reluctantly putting him down... At least Bahamut had an excuse for needing to pull himself together over 2.0~2.4, or rather at least Bahamut had a show of power before hand, and much of the main scenario emphasizing what a threat he was... Alexanderp? Shows up, just another Primal to put down, has done absolutely nothing. Couldn't they have stuck a Castrum off on a distant mountain, and come the end of 3.0, have Alexander summoned and Holy Judgment'd it to show off his power? IDK, anythings better than whatever the hell we just got in 3.0...

[DragonSlayer45]

His in-game appearance is nowhere near as bad as his FFXIII look, but still nowhere near how threatening and ominous his concept art looks. I agree his FF9 adaption is probably the best incarnation of Alexander we've gotten.

As for the actual aesthetic, I could honestly have a field day with this one. I will just say I wish they gave Alexander to a less comic relief race, and maybe make it feel like we are exploring the interior of a primal. Alexander looks absolutely gigantic from the outside, like a castle. However, once you step inside, you are greeted with claustrophobic corridors and the standard circle boss fight arena. Its all just kind of... eh.

[Alahra]

It's a real shame, they've managed to capture the essence of their art so many times before, to the point that the world is almost a living painting, but it fell flat here.

Oh, yeah that's...that's just...I don't even care. They're already doing an awful job of conveying how much of a threat he's supposed to be in the narrative, and that doesn't look any more threatening than he does now.

[Nuinn]

And let's not forget he's been trivialized to absurdity by making him an option for relic grind.

[Nalien]

Alexander looks absolutely gigantic from the outside, like a castle. However, once you step inside, you are greeted with claustrophobic corridors and the standard circle boss fight arena. Its all just kind of... eh.

They actually get a small thumbs up from me there, because of the vent in A4. I mean, that's a faction of what they needed to do to make it feel like I was inside a Primal and fighting with him while dealing with whatever boss there was, but it's also the best encounter, at least from a map standpoint, that they've created since they decided Rivenroad was too good for us... Well, T9 probably still beats it just for the sheer spectacle of that encounter, but T9 was still just a boring circle in the end, made somewhat disappointing by the fact that it started out as Rivenroad minus the stairs... That vent got me so bloody excited the first time, shame they wasted it on dealing with some pos add...

[Caitlyn]

The appearance of Alexander itself isnt the major problem. Its the raid itself which make this primal even more boring and unimpressive. Any primal, no matter if Ifrit or Bahamut are nicely designed and very interesting because of their mechanics and presentation. Remember the beautifull lightning-effects when Ramuh appears? Or the stunning rock-theme from Shiva? Or the Landslide/Bomb/Add-Phase in Titan Ex?

What do we have for Alexander?
Alexander just move a bit out of his lake and thats it. There is no threat at all, because he dont move any further. He just sit there and think: "What a wonderfull day! Hey... those small ants are looking interesting. Maybe its a good idea to let them in.". You fight a primal? No! You fight goblins, toothpaste and Faust. Alexander itself seems not to care about anything.

Binding Coil of Bahamut. Bahamut was trapped, sealed away, broke free, destroyed Eorzea and vanished. But you learned, that you have stop Bahamut to rise again. Otherwise, Eorzea is doomed. Damn, you will even fight against Bahamut itself and that was awesome! Hell, T12 and T13 were my personal highlights! Beautifull designed and extremely fun to play.


Alexander Gordias is boring and uninspired.

[Alahra]

I remember when they first told us we'd be exploring inside of Alexander for the next raid, I imagined a giant, Gothic castle—perhaps something like Ishgard, as someone else mentioned, with moving chambers and golems, clockworks, and other "arcana" for defenses.

Instead, we got a comic relief villain made even sillier by the bizarre decision to localize them as the Illuminati—at least the Order of the Blue Hand or whatever it is doesn't pull it's name from what amounts to a pop culture reference, even if it's not particularly threatening.

*sigh* There's just so much wasted potential here.