"Overhaul" please stop.

[Vidu]

You seem to be constantly upset about things that most would consider to be of little concern... and in such a fashion that looks like you're mostly upset about it in this game - for whatever reason.

Just reading this post here made me seriously wonder if you just want to rant about your frustration about FFXIV (maybe because its different from FFXI?) not really give constructive cristism... I'd like to go over your examples here, specially with you claiming that those make FFXIV "the worst Final Fantasy".

NPC's who laugh/emote/turn/clap whatever, at the exact same time like robots. This is lazy development.

In pretty much any other FF NPCs just repeat one phrase whenever you talk to them. They also just stand in one place all the time, sometimes locked in a "walking animation". Pretty much every game has NPCs locked in more or less "stupid" idle animations, this is nothing that would be exclusive to FFXIV, not even in the Final Fantasy series. So, if thats lazy development, its lazy development across the board.

FFXIV 2.0 was slapped together while FFXIV 1.0 was still running. All of the side quests in 2.0 are all the exact same type. There is no variety in the entirety of FFXIV 2.0

Yes, and if they didnt slap it together like they did, FFXIV would simply not exist anymore - if you prefer that, you can pretend it doesnt exist.
Its also not like they're not aware of this - or else they wouldnt spent ressources on reworking ARR right now. We can wait with our judgement til we see how they're re-working this, but telling the current development team "Your work from 2014 was bad, so the whole game is bad now" without taking into account that they learned with time and grew just as the game grew just seems unfair to me.

Judging FFXIV by what 2.0 is and ignoring 3 whole expansions is just shortsighted and unfair (and seems a bit like constantly reminding a child about this one bad grade they once got in second grade and how stupid they are because of that while that child is now going to university...)

In Final Fantasy, the original you had multiple modes of movement. Walking, Canoe, Boat, and Airship. (chocobo's were introduced in FFII.) So that alone puts FFI as a greater video game than FFXIV. As FFXIV has no variety in its entire main story. Its just quests, walking, chocobo/mounts. From level 1 to level 50. The mini games like the sniper things with the Pixie beast tribes dont come until much later.

...okay, how did those movements actually differe from each other or change your gameplay experience? All the canoe did was to give you access to move across rivers. All the boat did was allow you to travel across the sea.

Having those different types of movements served one major purpose: To block your road til such a time that the game wanted you to be able to access other areas. The ferry to Kugane works in a similar fashion in FFXIV, for example. Maybe getting a canoe was a bit more exiting - specially when you played that game 30 (or something) years ago and it was the first time you got a canoe, but other than that it didnt really make a difference.

And in regards to FFXIV being the worst FF: In terms of movement you have a game like FF10, where your only type of travel are walking and chocobo (with the airship serving as a kind of teleport), FF12 is pretty much just walking (at least I only recall walking)...

You also forget to mention that in FFXIV you have flying, swimming and diving as methods of movement. (if they added a canoe-mount, would that make FFXIV better?)

...and as a last point: I dont understand why "Movement methods" and "variety in the story" are linked - except that in pretty much all FFs movement options may lock parts of the world. FFI did that and FFXIV is doing that, too.

The cutscenes for riding the elevator in the drowning wench was already created, but canned for 2.0. So other similar quality things such as that are gone as well.

...this does seem to extremly nitpicky, I agree with your assessment that you're being nitpicky.
I'd also like to remind you that there are elevator rides in some dungeons that do work - I dont know why that one was cut, though I would assume it was one of those ways to mask loading screens?

So a lack of attention to detail, even with having FFXIV 1.0 as a guideline, is thrown out the window.

I would argue that there still is a lot of attention to detail in the game - just at other places like it was in 1.0. I'm thinking for example about all the flavour texts for levequests and FATEs (to my knowledge levequests didnt had proper texts in 1.0, right?)
Other things that come to mind right now are Namazu sitting in their little pots or the large FATE-chains in various places, specially the one in the steps. Just because an elevator-ride is gone, doesnt mean they dont care about the game anymore or that there are less details...

On top of the lack of quality, there is also a lack of quantity. FFXI has an array of things to do, the maps are much much larger in FFXI, the world is also engaging, in the sense, that there are actual notorious monsters, enemies that can actually kill you, danger, and interactive open world devices, such as levers, or gates. FFXIV is empty, easy, and a huge... or rather "small" not huge, push over. You can literally run from Mor Dhona, as a level 1.....

Well, FFXI and FFXIV are different games with different design philosophies - FFXIV isnt meant to be an open world game, sorry.

That doesnt mean that there arent many things to do, they're just not all that much connected to the open world.
Maybe one can claim that its cheap to say that one should look for another game if they want an open world experience, but thats simply was this is: Expecting FFXIV to be open world is expecting FFXIV to be something that it doesnt want to be (anymore? Maybe 1.0 wanted to be open world, but its been years now and its pretty clear that this isnt the goal for this game - so... if thats what you want, seek a game that aims to deliver on that front and dont ask a steak to be a cake...?)

FFXIV has dungeons, raids, trials, PvP, crafting, gathering, maps, hunts... tones of little thing you can strife to achieve. Maybe the themepark-MMO approach isnt for everybody, but that doesnt make it objectivly bad.

While on that subject, you can run to Mor Dhona as a level 1... if you started in Ul'dah or Gridania. You CANNOT if you started in Limsa. Yoshida said he wanted people to be able to explore, but if you start in Limsa you're locked on the island. this was not the case in 1.0. This decision is completely inconsistent.

All it needs are 15 levels and then the whole world is open to you, so this is a pretty weak argument at best. In addition to that: If you start in Ul'dah or Gridania you cant reach Limsa as a level 1 character. That whole island is locked to you!

Also: Didnt you argue that FFI was a better game because certain areas were locked behing getting a canoe, boat etc.? I might missunderstood you there, but... how about being consistent?

Speaking of Inconsistent, FFXIV is the pinnacle of inconsistency. From Belts needing twines to be upgraded in 2.0, to needing coats to be upgraded in 5.0.

So, they should rather stick to "bad" decisions than changing them later to enhance our experience?
Upgrading belts with twines seemed like asking to much, considering that belts are more like accessories than "body armor", so they decided that should be reflected here.
I dont see adjusting things in favour of the player as bad?


I think with that I've covered all your examples - and non convince me that FFXIV is objectively speaking "the worst Final Fantasy" - it might be for you, but you should try to make that more clear instead of stating it like its a true fact and not only your opinion.

A lot of the things you bring up (not only here but in other threads aswell) also seems like extremly minor annoyances (like "robot NPCs" that you'll find in pretty much every game) or things born from your wish to have an open world MMO, not a themepark one.
But just because this game isnt what you want it to be (or rather: wants to be something you dont want it to be - seeing how FFXIV isnt trying to be open world in the first place), means its a bad game.

And yes, one FF has to be the worst - and if thats FFXIV for you, thats fair. But maybe it would be worth it to make it clear that you still think its a pretty good game (if you indeed think that, at least part of your comment seemed to imply that for me) instead of coming across like someone whos hating this game because an NPC waved at him a bit to often.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Like, that's just your opinion, man.

In my opinion xi is the worst final fantasy. You couldn't get beyond like, lvl 15 solo, and finding groups as a noob was a crap shoot. The game may have been great for people playing with friends, but for me, it was basically the worst game ever. I moved to the Korean grind mmo lineage 2 after trying XI and had a better experience, and that game had a lot of the things XI did, it just let me also level up solo.

[SamSmoot]

When I notice 90% of the crafters in over-melded facet gear don't have their own signature on their gear, it makes me wonder how many players actually enjoy crafting and gathering.

I leveled my gathering and crafting simply because I refuse to pay MB prices for crafted stuff. I made all my HQ facet gear, and have only sold the few items I made from excess gathered materials after I completed my piece.

Crafting itself is a chore to me, Hours gathering all the materials, looking up the rotations, testing them on a simulator, then hoping it comes up HQ.. The only thing I've crafted in month is a pair of neo-ishgardian gloves and the supporting materials.

[Mindiori]

In your extrapolation of sentiments into ideas, you self answered yourself. At least to a point.

The majority of people (most, as you implied yourself) aren't remotely interested in any sort of challenge or effort. Whilst it is their opinion against yours and you are more than entitled; as soon as you blend financial pursuit with later years and 'accessibility' to keep revenue up - you always get a dumbing down. Few things in MMO's have ever been challenging relative to the maximal capacity of what the '1%' of the best are capable of. But ofcourse, people are wont to their exaggerations on both sides aren't they?

In honesty I find this game about as mentally stimulating on the challenge front as watching paint dry. The so called pruning and simplification is horrendous. As a casual experience, a social sim, or just a drop in/drop out however? It will command a vast crowd of those players you yourself point out as the majority. They are going to make SE far more money than you ever will. So whilst I understand and sympathize with your plight entirely - it is a pure question of math and a bottom end.

Yoshi P never wanted the game to be a snooze either. But crunch crunch goes the budget.

[Colt47]

I have no idea what the OP is going on about, but the only thing they did this expansion was try and encourage more people to craft since they spent so much damn time developing crafting. It's one of the aspects of the game that the developers sunk untold hours into building and only a small percentage of the player base ever really got into. Now that we have more people crafting, that means more goods are going to hit the market and therefore more competition on the market.

If anything, the only complaint I have with crafting is the adding of RNG to the end game with it. It's like we just went back into Heavensward again because they didn't want people doing macro crafts. Also, I think the cap on yellow scrips probably needs to be higher, or there needs to be some clarity given on what to spend the scrips on. You level up gatherers so fast right now that I had no idea on how anything at all works with custom deliveries, scrips in general for gatherers, and the legendary books needed for nodes.

I guess the gatherer experience can be summed up as "I went into a circus tent, was then immediately grabbed by clowns, stuffed into a cannon, and shot into a net. As I lay there wondering what the heck just happened, the mime comes over and then mimics my bewildered self in abject mockery as I then struggle to my feet, am given a free ticket at the all you can eat buffet outside, and just left wondering what the heck happened to me in the last 15 minutes!"

[RTX3080]

What does Kim Kardashian have to do with anything ? I mean WOW is still more popular than FF14 so FF14 is not mainstream yet...

[ChrisRedfield2]

FFXIV is no longer failing, so there is no need to constantly overhaul everything every few patches and expansions.

Crafting and Gathering, and its systems are the only reason I play this game instead of FFXI, aside from the price, FFXIV being 9.99/month for me as I am legacy, and the updated graphics.

If Crafting and Gathering becomes dumbed down to point and click like FFXI and every other MMO, I will no longer have any desire to play this game.

Everything being easy and accessible, also turns everything meaningless, unfulfilling, and absolutely un-engaging.

There is no journey, there is no experience, there is just you pressing buttons and getting meaningless things. Some people can be artificially sated by such nonsense, most people in fact, but I dont play Final Fantasy for that kind of satisfaction, I play it because normally it has depth, thought, quality, and richness. FFXIV is beginning to seriously lack those qualities in exchange for instant meaningless gratification.

While the story is still good, the fact that everything is so trivial, and the playerbase has become nigh unbearable at either spectrum, the story cannot float this boat for me.
FFXIV is effectively becoming the worst Final Fantasy game in the series. And sorry popularity does not mean quality. In fact, popularity normally means the exact opposite.


See:
Justin Bieber, Nikki MInaj, Kim Kardashian.

Good day.

Sadly they have to cater to the 40 IQ gamers somehow

[UltraPrimarch]

Sadly they have to cater to the 40 IQ gamers somehow

One must add mindless one-liners to them and pretend to actually care about the subject that's been dead for 2.5 years.

[MsMisato]

FFXIV is no longer failing, so there is no need to constantly overhaul everything every few patches and expansions.

Crafting and Gathering, and its systems are the only reason I play this game instead of FFXI, aside from the price, FFXIV being 9.99/month for me as I am legacy, and the updated graphics.

If Crafting and Gathering becomes dumbed down to point and click like FFXI and every other MMO, I will no longer have any desire to play this game.

I will say this about FFXI crafting. you could only master one craft and it was completely random when you got a +1 or even +2 on some equipment. But other than that, its too easy to craft now with no risk (not talking pentamelded for the latest and even that is easier than before)

[Raven2014]

Crafting and gathering is something I still greatly enjoy above everything else. However, I also don't craft and gather like everyone else; or rather, not for the same reasons most do. When I notice 90% of the crafters in over-melded facet gear don't have their own signature on their gear, it makes me wonder how many players actually enjoy crafting and gathering.

Uhm, it depend on what you define as enjoyment? It could be someone who goes all in "gathering is so fun and OMG I love crafting so much!!", and that someone ... is not me. I still craft thing, and my enjoyment is defined at the point "that I make a lot of saving making my own gears". I don't really sale stuff, and I tend not to be very active during the "catch up" patch cycle where the new gathering/crafting set are released. For example, in this patch cycle I only got back to crafting when 6.4 was close to release. I didn't feel like to farm my own mat and made my own set of crafting/gathering gears. I play on multiple chars, and I want to gear up each char with at least 2 jobs, sometime three, that means it would cost me A LOT if I buy all those gears of MB. So ... my enjoyment here comes from the fact I don't have to spend 20-30mil on gears. I don't "enjoy" gathering/crafting in the "yippie yippie" sense, but that's not a bad thing, it's just a mean to an end. From level, gather, to crafting and selling, to saving and making gil, that's just a process. And people can enjoy different part of that process.

I have found that the lowest common denominator seeks instant gratification, takes the easy and fast road, and don't care at all about the journey and aim straight for the destination.

The whole "it's about the journey not the destination" mindset is merely one option, and I don't find that option is any more superior than to the others, i.e the people who prefer to focus at the destination. As long as they don't complain about it themselves later. Say, your destination is a beach in another country. You may try to take a road trip there, enjoy the scenery and all that before reaching the beach, that's fine. But if other people prefer to just board a plane and fly straight there so they can spend more time enjoying the beach, I don't see anythign wrong or bad with that.