Another interview question about Ultimate

[MrThinker]

Did we have one for Stormblood? I honestly can't remember. I mean I know I did it if we did. But... I can't remember. Maybe I'm getting old.

Yup we did. It honestly wasn't that memorable imo, but we got that "scatter gold" emote from it.

[MrThinker]

We did. I think it was mostly in Kugane and involved some crime boss in Kugane or something? I think the guy who was paying Yojimbo in the Kugane Castle dungeon? My memory's a bit hazy on it. I think we got some kind of emote for throwing gil around.

Bridgekeeper Ananta group head to Kugane for hot spring vacation. Ananta rep gets kidnapped by Moonkeeper catboi for Kugane merchant prince/crime lord. Queue zany hijinks pulling in Blue Kojin and Namazu.

[Kaurhz]

On the topic of content cuts, and whilst it's evident, I don't think it is too significant, barring that of Deep Dungeon, as there was no real substitution, and if Shared FATEs and Trusts were effectively part of the reason for that cut then I do think it was quite the mistake, even setting aside and highlighting how useful they were, but then they always underestimated the value that people saw in it. The rewards for Shared FATEs were very lackluster. Sure, you get riding maps, but that's irrelevant as the game gives very little incentive to even go out in the open world aside from gathering and hunts. Sure, you get resources for crafting, but those very quickly become irrelevant when maps plummet the price. It'd have been nice to see more substantial rewards behind it that weren't just 1-time purchases; Triple Triad cards, Orchestrion Rolls, Riding maps. It'd have been nice to see old map materials, mounts, and minions too.

I'd have liked to see a little more quality in the dungeons seeing as they cut one. Story aside, I didn't really see much in the way of additional exploration. But these only ever end up being a means to an end, irrespective of what they decide to incorporate into dungeons. They already had optional routes with potentially good loot dating as far back as getting Manor Varnish from Haukke Manor which could; if dropped net you around 40-120K Gil at the time. Was the same with Haukke Manor (Hard) for the other Varnish/Wax.

We did also get Ocean Fishing, however, Ishgard Restoration too. I don't really see the content cuts as much of an issue as they've clearly poured those resources elsewhere. The glaring issue I find though is we had some substitutions in areas that previously had some good replayability value.. So it's a shame. Had they given Ocean Fishing more replay value, and incorporated something similar to the Bunny FATEs of Eureka in Bozja then it'd have been a lot less glaringly obvious. Not to mention they did make a serious blunder in that progressing relics outside of Bozja was too efficient, so to that degree, Bozja didn't really have much replay value comparative to Eureka which was relic exclusive. So Bozja for a lot of folks just got rank 15, enjoy the story, do the duels then bailout. Despite the fact, Bozja is a lot better than Eureka.

A lot of things they've included in this expansion have been.. Great on paper, but poor execution.. Shared FATEs could've been better. Trusts should've never existed, as it gave a good method for leveling right out of the gate of the expansion launch. Bozja should've been more efficient for relics through and through. I won't slate them though because we've still seen some interesting things come out of it.. Just a shame they weren't executed very well, at all.

Besides, I can't really complain. Had they incorporated Hildbibrand, and to some degree a deep dungeon then.. The former is potentially monotonous.. It already got annoying in Heavensward. Deep Dungeon is a little weirder. On one hand, it would've given great replay value. But then on the other hand it'd have just been largely copying and paste.. Lovely square rooms with perhaps a few extra pomanders. I'd like to see stuff like deep dungeon more refined and innovative before they incorporate it for the sake of incorporating it, or out of what would've felt.. Obligatory for them to do so. With lack of care for trying to deviate from a stale routine. New expansion; here's your obligatory deep dungeon and 2 dungeons per patch, have fun. I feel had they kept with the content they were doing then people in the end would only complain about the risk or lack thereof that they take in the development of content.

[Maltothoris]

One last thing that I can hope for is that they should do the expansion is that the Ultimates should stay to the X.1 and X.3. An ultimate being at x.55 where they intended to release DSWU puts it too much in conflict with the upcoming expansion that follows since you also have to do job changes in order to accommodate classes that might be lacking in certain aspects of it.