New(ish) player, first thoughts

[Titania40]

So, I'm baaack! I bought this a while back (when Skyward Sword was the latest expansion) on PS4, but didn't have the money for a monthly subscription at the time. So I only played for a couple months. But it was fun, and unlike FFXI you can easily figure out what the frell you were doing if you take a break. Seriously, I stopped playing FFXI because I'd forgotten where I'm suppose to go next for the main storyline due to it taking a few months to train the Dancer class up to become my new main class (I run a dancer/monk).

Once I get to 60 I plan to learn the Dancer class, it's always been my favorite class in any Final Fantasy game that includes it.

My thoughts on the game so far.

• Combat feels active and is rather engaging. I can't just let my mind shut off for a while while repeating the same rotation endlessly. That is a Good Thing.
  
• Adventure quests are fun, varied, well written, and quite often rather amusing. It'd be nice if there was more voice acting or you could decide what your character is saying, but it's clear you aren't a Silent Protagonist. We just don't get to see/hear what our character says.
  
• Gathering professions like mining and botany are a bit boring, but no where near as mindless as most games make them. Fishing is also boring as hell, but then again fishing in any video game is boring as hell. But hey, it's better then in FFXI due to not having to rediscover how the 'struggle' mechanic works every time you take a break.
  
• Crafting is a mixed bag. When making a large batch of ingots or lumber (for example) it's boring as hell. When making individual items and trying for a High Quality result it's engaging and makes you think at least a little. Far more accessible and fun then crafting was in FFXI.
  
• If you do decide to craft, it can end up dominating a lot of time due to all the various Way of the Hand disciplines being interdependent upon each other, thus you end up joining every guild (except maybe alchemist, haven't joined them yet) and grinding crafting levels in those trade skills just so you can get materials for another trade skill cheaper.
  
• Holy mackerel, did I really just spend 9 hours last night sitting in one guild hall or another crafting items I can't use and never will use?!

So far I'm enjoying it. However it would be nice if there was built in voice chat, especially if you're on a console. Having to hook a keyboard up to my console just to use the chat interface easier is annoying. Especially since my PS4 doesn't exactly have an extra USB slot due to having an external hard drive and PSVR. I keep wanting to engage with the community, but doing so via the on-screen keyboard is clunky at best.

[Elissar]

So far I'm enjoying it. However it would be nice if there was built in voice chat, especially if you're on a console

Emotes can be useful...the problem with voice chat is that you can find more trolls, people can mute it, you'll have one more system to watch (for devs that add a different layer of complexity) or even worse: it won't work properly.
It was an alternative when you didn't had a decent channel on Team Speak or free and effective software to communicate like Discord. Right now they just gave up and let you use 3rd party software.

[Titania40]

But, PS4 doesn't really have an alternative. Well, I suppose I could pay for PS+ membership and use the voice chat in that... but only with other PS4/5 players.

[DragoAskani]

lol skyward sword

nice.

[Gabadabs]

But, PS4 doesn't really have an alternative. Well, I suppose I could pay for PS+ membership and use the voice chat in that... but only with other PS4/5 players.

The simplest solution you'll have is to just use w/e voice chat you use on another device while you play the game on the PS4. A mobile device, for example.

[Sotaris]

If we can't get parser in-game, we will not get a voice chat support. Halo 2 on XB360 anyone? lol

[Seraphor]

But, PS4 doesn't really have an alternative. Well, I suppose I could pay for PS+ membership and use the voice chat in that... but only with other PS4/5 players.

PS is getting Discord in 2022.

[Gabadabs]

PS is getting Discord in 2022.

But will it allow voice chat? I remember once trying to use Discord on Xbox, and all it really was was integration so people could see what you are playing - with no access to chat at all.

[Vahlnir]

Legend of Zelda MMO when?

But yeah, crafting in this game is pretty in depth. It can be considered its own game in a sense. There are players that only craft and enjoy it.

[Titania40]

In my defense, I had been playing a Zelda game on my switch while trying to remember the expansion's name. And I thought I'd typed "heavenward sword", which now that I think about it is probably wrong too. That was a legitimate brain fart. As for the PS5 and using Discord on it option... I would love to have a PS5. I had actually tried to buy one multiple times now. Except scalpers are running bots and scripts that will literally strip them out of someone else's cart. No, seriously. I was on the checkout page, I had just finished typing out my payment info and had clicked Submit Order. And Walmart's suddenly the PS5 that was in my cart had vanished between the "enter shipping address" page and the "enter payment method" page. Thank you scalpers, because of you the launch of PS5 and Xbox Series X has been ruined for most people. Sorry, still pissed about that.

Side note, wow... This is the first time I've ever seen an MMO forum limit you to 5 to 10 posts per 24 hour period unless you've got a character at the original level cap.