I hope the Nier raids aren't a sign of the future

[Absurdity]

Why do you feel bad about FF XIV having NieR raids? Besides, NieR Replicant and Automata are some of the best JRPG ever made. I literally see no reason for you to be angry about it. You could just go and play those games instead of being angry about the raids... If you don't want to, that's fine but still no reason to be angry.

It's not really a feeling of anger and more of slight disappointment. Don't get me wrong, the NieR raids are well designed and I like the outfits but it neither fits into the XIV world, be it the Source or the First, nor does it expand XIV's universe in any way. The NieR raids simply exist, a bit of fan-service that is mostly disconnected from everything else.


Take the Crystal Tower raids for example, the whole thing is basically taken from Final Fantasy III, including Xande, Doga and Unei, but altered heavily to not only fit into XIV but actually become an integral part of it.
Same with the Ivalice raids which take more than just inspiration from FFXII and FF Tactics but again have been reworked to fit into and expand the universe. The same can't be said for the NieR raids.

[Stepjam]

Personally, I'm digging the Nier raids so far. They've come up with some bosses that shake things up pretty well. Aesthetically it might not quite mesh with everything else, but A:we've kinda hit that point already with the variety of modern styled crafted glamour gear and mogstation items and B:its in the First, so I'm okay with them going a bit wild.

The story is pretty scarce so far too, but somehow it isn't bothering me too much, though I accept that others might feel stiffed. I'm hoping they are saving the big reveals for part 3.

[Maeka]

The NieR Raids are cool, though I do have some minor beefs with them:

1). The boss fights take waaaaaaaaaaaaay too long. I think they could have been sped up a little, to be quite honest. I like the content, but sometimes I cringe when I Q up for Nier because it's going to be quite a long dungeon, and by the end of it, I'm just glad to be done with it so I can log off.

2). Some of the mechanics' margin of error is way too small and sometimes the server and network latency means you get hit with crap you should have rightfully dodged.

3). Some of the mechanics are too obtuse, there's not enough clues as to what you are ACTUALLY supposed to do, especially the thing in the Command Room and all of those TVs on the wall and you're supposed to somehow magically know which one won't kill you in one hit, and if the rest of the raid has a bunch of newbies in it, you can't just use the "follow the others" rule when you got 3 groups going to 3 different places... yeah that doesn't exactly work.

4). Hit Detection on the pink energy balls is all kinds of jank. I've stood nearly ontop of one before, perfectly fine. Other times, I'm 10 feet away from one, and POOF, +Vulnerability and cue an eyeroll as there's no way in frick that should have hit me. And to exacerbate the problem, they love throwing whole rows of the stupid things where you're supposed to squeeze between them, in gaps far smaller than the margin of error and... yeah, sometimes you're just gonna get hit even though you shouldn't, and you were perfectly in the middle between two of them (which is the only place you coulda been, esp that stupid hallway of death). Other times you can just sprint through and not care and you never get hit. It lacks consistency something terrible.

[Frizze]

3). Some of the mechanics are too obtuse, there's not enough clues as to what you are ACTUALLY supposed to do, especially the thing in the Command Room and all of those TVs on the wall and you're supposed to somehow magically know which one won't kill you in one hit, and if the rest of the raid has a bunch of newbies in it, you can't just use the "follow the others" rule when you got 3 groups going to 3 different places... yeah that doesn't exactly work.

The mechanic(im assuming youre refering to the pods, as i dont remember any of the other mechanics using the TVs) is shown and easy enough to follow, but the tell is in a place people arent used to looking. When the boss gets to the pod phase, he randomly does one of two attacks(the lines or the circles) then follows it up by doing the other one. In both cases, the dodge is to get to the middle of the space inbetween the pods where theres some sort of safe zone. The key to the mechanic though is to notice the screens. The pods that do the line are called R10s, the ones that do the circles are R30s(both also show a timer so you can see exactly how long you have to get to the safe spot). For the first round, it doesnt matter. The lines/circles are all properly spaced to leave a safe spot. You can even tell which version of the attack is coming based on how spread out the pods are - the lines are narrower attacks so there are more of them spread in a way that they end up closer to each other. The third and fourth time he summons pods(ive never had the fight go long enough to know if theres a 5th and beyond in his mechanic rotation), he summons a mix of both types. These pods are all spread out in the closer formation, so you need to check the screens to find 2 R10s next to each other for their attacks to leave a safe zone - any R30 will overlap with the neighboring pod regardless of its type. Then the fourth time is the same, but the pods shift to one side or the other - so find a pair of R10s and follow the shift lines to be in the actual safe spot that will form(admittedly, THIS one took me a few weeks to figure out - i thought the shift meant they were firing their lasers at an angle instead of straight and i couldnt wrap my head around where the safe spot should be).

[Acelyn]

Wow, you guys actually do see my point.

Like many others have said imo the nier raids just feel very "placed" into the game, nothing feels natural about them in the world of this game. And I get that nier is highly regarded but I pay to play ff14 online cause I'm a massive final fantasy fan not nier online or any other wild crossover idea that square wants to toss into this game.

I get they want new players but that's the wrong way to do it, you can't really skip this content yknow because those raids are casual content, your weekly to do list, MH, yokai, Garo, those were all side things you could choose to do and if you weren't interested then easily pass it by, not so with nier and thats why I get nervous that they'll pull this again.

This game itself has so much lore just waiting to be tapped into so why use up that massive alliance raid spot with its 3 tiers and story on a completely different game?

I'm not against crossovers either and think the 2 raids so far are fine albeit a bit long and weird as all hell, but other games should be given small roles and not be placed into the main spotlight.

[Maeka]

I'm not against crossovers either and think the 2 raids so far are fine albeit a bit long and weird as all hell, but other games should be given small roles and not be placed into the main spotlight.

Some of the game's best content has been crossovers, like the Ivalice raids.

RE:Frizze: I don't think forcing players to look up on a fricken wall all around the arena is a good idea while you're trying to DPS a boss, especially when you can't really find a good camera angle that lets you see the ground and the wall both nicely because of the stupid asinine zoom out limits they place on you (which is the same beef I have against bosses like Famfrit that you NEED to see the top of, but it's hard to if you're up close so you don't get blasted with Tsunami because you couldn't fricken SEE which way he was turned because the upper half of his body is off-screen because the game won't let you zoom out far enough).

[Acelyn]

The ivalice raids are my favorite ones.

What I meant is that other game series shouldn't get that sort of spotlight, tactics is final fantasy so its fine, but nier isn't and thats what made me angry.

[icy_]

I'd very much rather fight organics then mechanicals, so that's the major gripe i have w/ it. Yes, there are mechs in FFXIV universe as well, with all its magitek wonders, and I equally dislike those too, don't worry ;D

The 2B outfit is amazing though; YorHA stuff in general is not bad.

[SerenaNyu]

The NieR Raids are cool, though I do have some minor beefs with them:

1). The boss fights take waaaaaaaaaaaaay too long. I think they could have been sped up a little, to be quite honest. I like the content, but sometimes I cringe when I Q up for Nier because it's going to be quite a long dungeon, and by the end of it, I'm just glad to be done with it so I can log off.

2). Some of the mechanics' margin of error is way too small and sometimes the server and network latency means you get hit with crap you should have rightfully dodged.

3). Some of the mechanics are too obtuse, there's not enough clues as to what you are ACTUALLY supposed to do, especially the thing in the Command Room and all of those TVs on the wall and you're supposed to somehow magically know which one won't kill you in one hit, and if the rest of the raid has a bunch of newbies in it, you can't just use the "follow the others" rule when you got 3 groups going to 3 different places... yeah that doesn't exactly work.

4). Hit Detection on the pink energy balls is all kinds of jank. I've stood nearly ontop of one before, perfectly fine. Other times, I'm 10 feet away from one, and POOF, +Vulnerability and cue an eyeroll as there's no way in frick that should have hit me. And to exacerbate the problem, they love throwing whole rows of the stupid things where you're supposed to squeeze between them, in gaps far smaller than the margin of error and... yeah, sometimes you're just gonna get hit even though you shouldn't, and you were perfectly in the middle between two of them (which is the only place you coulda been, esp that stupid hallway of death). Other times you can just sprint through and not care and you never get hit. It lacks consistency something terrible.

I 100% Agree With You Maeka! I Have Came Across Many Lag Spikes, When Dodging Those AOES! There Is So Much Happening At Once, You Feel Like Your Head Could Spin Constantly. I Have Had One Of My FC People Put A Sign, On Top Of Their Characters Head To Follow Them. No Matter How Many Times I Adjust That Freaking Camera, For My SMN To See And Attack, I Am Not Getting Anywhere With Dishing Out Much DPS, Just To Constantly Dance/AKA Dodge The Freaking AOES In My Opinion. I Feel Like A Ballerina Then Anything.

[SerenaNyu]

Also Some People Learn Slowly And Differently From Others! Some People Have To Play The Raid, Over And Over Again Until They Understand It! Some People Have To Look It Up To Learn How To Play The Whole Raid Itself! What I Mean Is, Please Be Patient With Those Who Learn Differently. If Not Then Do Not Join With Them In The Raid, Since It Will Only Stress You As A Person, Who Learns Quickly And Can Not Be Patient. Also If They Have Discord And You Can Chat With Them, Ask Them For It And Help Them While Playing The Raid. Raids Can Be Very Stressful Imo!