Normal Raids aren't exactly Raids, are they?

[ReiganCross]

Okay, so, he's a spicy hot take that nobody ever thought up before. But by the time that Omega came about, Normal Raids stopped being about raiding a place, didn't they?

When Binding Coil came about, we were raiding this gigantic Allagan complex from pieces of Dalamud to Containment facilities to bits I loved so hard that I won't spoil to this day even when asked to. Cutscenes were intruding the whole thing so it definitely needed to be kicked out of Normal Raid roulettes, but it was still an awesome story, with a cool and visually distinct place, with interesting architechture and design.

Then Alexander came about and we were raiding this gigantic robot castle, you would get some entrance bits, some scenery and we had some snaps of dungeon play before we fought a cool boss. The cutscenes were much better paced, taking place entirely outside of gameplay so you can repeat them comfortably. The place looked much bigger on the inside, but that's entirely okay. It had its boss-fight rooms like Manipulator, Brute Justice and Alexander but those were at the end of raids and still looked like inside Alexander.

Then Omega came about. And the whole story is about getting inside this hole filled to the brim with aether juice? And soon the place got all warpy and weird, and we get to explore this weird dimension filled with floating platforms and when we finally get to open Alphascapes it... Becomes a tournament arc? We get tossed into a boss room, get to find something entirely random and get promptly spit out to fight the next boss fight in the tier. By the time Deltascape comes around we don't even get that much. Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE the story for Omega, Alpha will live rent-free in my heart. And we also get to see Cid being awesome and some couple of twists that I still won't spoil, same as Binding Coils.

But that's not a Raid anymore at this point, right?

By the time Eden came up and it started doing the same thing I finally noticed: We stopped raiding stuff! Hell, we didn't even get more than a single ROOM inside of Eden! We just kept being tossed into disjointed boss rooms, one after the other. Hell, we were even fighting Primals, the thing that Trials stopped being about in by the Four Lords in Stormblood and the entirety of Shadowbringers! And again, the story is lovely, I will miss Ryne and Gaia terribly if they're just left in the First and we never return, I want more of them almost as much as I want more G-Warrior. But this wasn't a Raid! Hell, even the PLACE the Raid was taking place in is completely disjointed from the entirety of Norvrant!

Normal Raids now feel like Trials with extra steps. And they're not even different from the extra Trials, because the Weapons storyline is ALSO amazing and lovely crafted and, like I said, I could get an entire Masked Carnivale's worth of G-Warrior content and only then I MIGHT have enough of it. But it's essentially the same!

[cheolsu]

you can raid a refrigerator. you're in there getting loot. it's a raid. but i get what you mean. the exploration has been missing

[ItMe]

They removed the trash pulls because no one liked them.

[SirCadogan]

New to FF but in any other game, clearing trash was just another time sink. Raid starts at 8pm, I expect to be doing bosses at 8 not (depending on the game, raid, etc…) 10-40 minutes just to get to the first boss.

Spend 15 min getting to a 5 min fight only to spend 15 min getting to a 7 min boss fight and so on. What’s the point?

[Commander_Justitia]

They removed the trash pulls because no one liked them.

I like them, they give the area more depth and detail because the zones are usually larger. They create more atmosphere. I think that is a big weakness compared to Raids in WoW for example. My favorite "atmosphere" raids are Coils and Baldesion Arsenal.

[RokkuEkkusu]

They removed the trash pulls because no one liked them.

At this point, we might as call the "Raids" as they truly are: "Trials".

[ReiganCross]

At this point, we might as call the "Raids" as they truly are: "Trials".

Yeah, that is entirely my point. The rewards are different, yeah, but I finish a Raid the exact same way I finish a Trial. The game play is the same, you just get into an arena and kill a boss... Hell, I think the Trials got more consistent with their arenas this time because it's not like you're conjuring the whole thing from the top of your head... Or fighting on top of Eden, yet again.

[SquigglesMajor]

They removed the trash pulls because no one liked them.

I did...

[Canadane]

They removed the trash pulls because no one liked them.

I liked them. Added flavour and scale.

[ReiganCross]

They removed the trash pulls because no one liked them.

So, Instead of mentioning how I don't mind the trash pulls because maybe they're an issue in Savage or something. I'll just say that I still miss the exploration of an actual place in a Normal Raid. I feel like the fights are just disjointed and if the history of Pandemonium just turns into a tournament arc versus Ascians then I'd be very disapointed, but not surprised.