Quote Originally Posted by Ameela View Post
That's exactly the point.
Just to make it clear: I agree with the notion of making players work for their reward. As someone who grew up with FFVI, I did clear God Kefka despite not enjoying the fight from a tank point of view, just because I enjoy the challenge of beating that divine clown again - now in HD. The question however remains of why wasn't the winged Alexander Prime locked behind savage, considering how much of a badass he is in FFIX? Why was the final boss of FFIII a 24-man raid boss in ARR, rather than a higher tier of challenge just like the Coils were back then? Yiazmat is a well-known FFXII super boss that takes like 1 hour to defeat, but you can readily face him in the Ridorana Lighthouse.

That's what puzzles me: the choice of content for the more nostalgic aspects of the franchise. Should it all be present in easier content or should they make it gated in some way to encourage players to improve?

Besides, Normal Exdeath was rather challenging for many DF groups on the first week after release. I feel we can say that to an extent fights like normal Shinryu, Nidhogg and Tsukuyomi are enough to be both challenging while also accessible to most of the playerbase. More middle of the road fights is what I feel this game needs to reduce the skill-gap discrepancy. Not everything needs to be extremes: it doesn't have to be either Nael or Lakshmi.

Quote Originally Posted by FeliAiko View Post
points made
There is a clear difference in accessibility regarding savage and 24-man/normal trials and there are numbers to corroborate that.

My point regarding Normal Kefka was never about the story and the narrative, but rather the fight design. In FFVI you get to fight the statue, climbing towards the heavens as the music gets more and more ominous (just like in the Normal fight) until you reach the climax, with God Kefka descending from the skies and the chaotic final theme starting. The normal mode keeps the exactly same momentum, only to end without the climax and the bombastic theme that the fight is known for. Naturally this isn't much of an issue if the player never played FFVI. Exdeath in comparison was a lot more concise as a fight of it's own, but that might be a problem with Kefka itself as you mentioned.