Thank you for returning to "original stories" for Raids in Endwalker

[Mansion]

I think Omega feels ok partially because of where we are now.

I remember hating how much blatant fanservice was in it as it was releasing, but they pulled it back a tad at the end while Ivalice went a bit off the deep-end, and then in ShB they just straight up dropped Nier into the game with (so far) no explanation.

Omega raids looking like well integrated XIV lore in retrospect.

Exactly my opinion too.
As a fan of Final Fantasy games, I was okay with boss fights from preivous games because it wasn't the first time in FFXIV, and frome a gameplay perspective they were unique and fun. To this day, O3S, O7S and O9S are still among my favourite fights. Froma lore perspective, Omega could pull out these FF foes from different shards, or it being an alien, from other planets actually. It didn't seem off to me, and the overarching Cid/Nero/Alpha story was doing its job. Not as good as Bahamut or Alexander, but great. Eden is so shallow in comparison in my opinion (although its big elements could have been made much more important).

I like Nier games, and I love Automata's gameplay but its plot was a bit too cringy for me. Dropping it in FFXIV is unsettling, and while we stil have one raid, I'm not invested into that storyline at all.
I thought Ivalice worked better in FFXIV, but I thought the story itself was pointlessly long.


So while I'm not sure Endwalker will keep me fully subscribed, I'm genuinely curiousa bout "original" 24man raid and Pandaemonium !

[Shyron]

Exactly my opinion too.
As a fan of Final Fantasy games, I was okay with boss fights from preivous games because it wasn't the first time in FFXIV, and frome a gameplay perspective they were unique and fun. To this day, O3S, O7S and O9S are still among my favourite fights. Froma lore perspective, Omega could pull out these FF foes from different shards, or it being an alien, from other planets actually. It didn't seem off to me, and the overarching Cid/Nero/Alpha story was doing its job. Not as good as Bahamut or Alexander, but great. Eden is so shallow in comparison in my opinion (although its big elements could have been made much more important).

I like Nier games, and I love Automata's gameplay but its plot was a bit too cringy for me. Dropping it in FFXIV is unsettling, and while we stil have one raid, I'm not invested into that storyline at all.
I thought Ivalice worked better in FFXIV, but I thought the story itself was pointlessly long.


So while I'm not sure Endwalker will keep me fully subscribed, I'm genuinely curiousa bout "original" 24man raid and Pandaemonium !

Omega itself is also a big part of 14's setting, with it tying into Midgardsormr and Silvertear Lake, the Allagans discovering and copying Omega technology, and the time travel for Shadowbringers. The fights don't necessarily tell a story, but I'd contend that none of the 8-person raids have really done that besides Eden. The Ivalice raids, though... yikes.

[TheMightyMollusk]

The fights don't necessarily tell a story, but I'd contend that none of the 8-person raids have really done that besides Eden.

Coils had us venturing down into the Binding Coils in search of Louisoix and Bahamut. Alexander had us fighting through the Illuminati's defense forces and warmachina to stop a time-warping primal. It's really just Omega where most of the fights were pure fanservice in between bits of story.

[Vyrerus]

Coils had us venturing down into the Binding Coils in search of Louisoix and Bahamut. Alexander had us fighting through the Illuminati's defense forces and warmachina to stop a time-warping primal. It's really just Omega where most of the fights were pure fanservice in between bits of story.

The fights in Omega were integrated with the conflict against Omega itself on a psychological level though. Not every fight, mind, but the Ironworks got to view what we'd be up against, find any backstory on it they could, and developed tools each tier for at least one of the fights. They also delivered in fight commentary, which wasn't done as far as I remember it, save by the bosses themselves, in Alexander.

There was also fan service and old FF references in Coil and Alexander.

ADS is the Global 99 CPU from FFIV. Caduceus is Marilith from FF12. Turn 3 uses alterations on regular overworld enemies. Turn 4 is FF13 enemies. Turn 5, despite being a seemingly original dragon takes its name from Twintania from FF5, a large demonic dragon at the end of the Interdimensional Rift(It's the zone boss fate in The Tempest).

In Second Coil, Raskovnik is based on a Notorious Monster from FFXI. Melusine is literally the Medusa model from FFXI. Uncle Toucher is... I actually don't know, but I assume The Avatar is based on something recent? If not, bravo, it's the first totally original FFXIV raid boss with no ties to prior FF history. Nael deus Darnus in T9 is new, at the time, at least in that form. Ties stuff back into 1.0 though.

Final Coil has two bosses I dare say are XIV original? But they're just new forms over old skeletons. An overclocked coeurl dragon and a robo hydra. Phoenix and Bahamut are staple summons in a lot of FFs though.

Alexander is mostly goblin nonsense, but Alexander originates from the Esper in FF6. The original concept art that gets transferred over for him comes from original art of the Giant of Bab-il from FFIV though. I'm not really a modern FF buff, so I'm unsure of references, but Living Liquid is very similar to Living Flame from FFV.

In Midas, the Moblin into Bugbear boss is rather reminiscent of Bionic Bug ENM from FFXI but definitely not really a reference. After that, we get a nice homage/reference to the Combaticons from Transformers. (Blast-off, Swindler, Onslaught, Brawl, and Vortex who merge to become Bruticus opposed to Blaster, Swindler, Onslaughter, Brawler, and Vortexer who merge to become Brute Justice). Technically this is the first raid in FFXIV that is cross promotional material.

In Creator it's original until Blassty, then ultimately fan service with Alexander itself.

[Iscah]

Coils had us venturing down into the Binding Coils in search of Louisoix and Bahamut. Alexander had us fighting through the Illuminati's defense forces and warmachina to stop a time-warping primal. It's really just Omega where most of the fights were pure fanservice in between bits of story.

I think the thing here is teasing apart whether it is the fights that tell a story or the overall raid.

With Omega, obviously a lot of the fights contribute nothing to the story itself. Except for the last few tiers of Alphascape, they are self-contained and don't contribute to the plot.

The arenas for Coils and Alexander are more integrated into the plot, being parts of an overarching setting, but the fights themselves are just as isolated. Most are just random monsters or robots with no significance, and the few characters we fight come out of nowhere with no prior story references, like the mad scientist and mercenary goblins. They're never seen in the story, they just exist for that one boss fight. There are only a few battles that actually contribute anything to the story, which is mostly told through the cutscenes between the fights.

[thegreatonemal]

I think the thing here is teasing apart whether it is the fights that tell a story or the overall raid.

With Omega, obviously a lot of the fights contribute nothing to the story itself. Except for the last few tiers of Alphascape, they are self-contained and don't contribute to the plot.

The arenas for Coils and Alexander are more integrated into the plot, being parts of an overarching setting, but the fights themselves are just as isolated. Most are just random monsters or robots with no significance, and the few characters we fight come out of nowhere with no prior story references, like the mad scientist and mercenary goblins. They're never seen in the story, they just exist for that one boss fight. There are only a few battles that actually contribute anything to the story, which is mostly told through the cutscenes between the fights.

The omega fights happen for a reason. It's trying to making a new opponent for itself and its testing it and our potential but have a tournament arc, the winner gets made in full and fights omega so it can evolve. The omega raids also introduce creation magic for the first time and one ups them by alpha growing a soul something the Acians and their entire society could never do with their creations.

[Iscah]

The omega fights happen for a reason. It's trying to making a new opponent for itself and its testing it and our potential but have a tournament arc, the winner gets made in full and fights omega so it can evolve. The omega raids also introduce creation magic for the first time and one ups them by alpha growing a soul something the Acians and their entire society could never do with their creations.

I'm not saying they don't happen for a reason, just that the actual content of the fight does not form part of the larger story. Each one is disconnected pocket universe and you could substitute anything you like, whereas the Coils and Alexander occur in real space and show you moving through a zone - although the architecture doesn't seem particularly logical and you could still switch or substitute bosses, just within a smaller thematic scope.

[thegreatonemal]

I'm not saying they don't happen for a reason, just that the actual content of the fight does not form part of the larger story. Each one is disconnected pocket universe and you could substitute anything you like, whereas the Coils and Alexander occur in real space and show you moving through a zone - although the architecture doesn't seem particularly logical and you could still switch or substitute bosses, just within a smaller thematic scope.

Other than the notion that you're traveling on or through pieces of bahumut that are being restored you could say the same thing about coil. Just a random assortment of Allegan things that happened to be up there with him.

[Iscah]

Other than the notion that you're traveling on or through pieces of bahumut that are being restored you could say the same thing about coil. Just a random assortment of Allegan things that happened to be up there with him.

That's exactly my point - in response to the statement that it's "only Omega" where the fights are disconnected from the story and only exist for their own sake while the story happens around them rather than in them.

[Veritas-Ancora]

OP only gets 11 Likes, and 40 comments.

Personally I prefer the old-school content. I haaaaaaaated Shadows of Mhach / Void Ark.

Doom Gaze and Ozma were the only good things for me in that series.

When Ivalice or CT pops, I get super giddy every - single - time.