Final Fantasy XIV Hot Takes

[TheMightyMollusk]

Reaper wouldn't fill the need for a tank for Trusts, though. That was kinda the sticking point. All of the other Archons (and the twins, for that matter) are primary casters, Thancred's the only physical fighter, so he came the closest to making sense as a tank and got stuck with it. I guess we could've just picked up someone else to do it on the First, but the main cast was a bit bloated already.

[Carin-Eri]

Reaper wouldn't fill the need for a tank for Trusts, though. That was kinda the sticking point. All of the other Archons (and the twins, for that matter) are primary casters, Thancred's the only physical fighter, so he came the closest to making sense as a tank and got stuck with it. I guess we could've just picked up someone else to do it on the First, but the main cast was a bit bloated already.

Well, I guess Estinien does cover the DPS role for the Scions.

Oddly, they could really have given Gra'ha a DPS role too but I guess wanted to maintain some link to his past as the Exarch and made him a hybrid instead.

[RukoBoshi]

Reaper wouldn't fill the need for a tank for Trusts, though. That was kinda the sticking point. All of the other Archons (and the twins, for that matter) are primary casters, Thancred's the only physical fighter, so he came the closest to making sense as a tank and got stuck with it. I guess we could've just picked up someone else to do it on the First, but the main cast was a bit bloated already.

Yeah that's fair, it's just sad that his characterization suffered from it. Felt so weird to have him switch from sneaky mcstabby to probably the loudest tank in the game.

[TheMightyMollusk]

G'raha was given the All-Rounder role because we didn't have a tank for Holminster Switch, but locking him out as an option for tanks would be kind of a dick move.

I'd like to see move of the Trusts get multiple roles in the future. Gives more flexibility for not having to have the entire group around at all times. Y'shtola picking up healer as an option in Troia is a good start.

[SylvAlternate]

Duty Support should be removed from the first 3 dungeons (or Sastasha at the very least).

a lot of new players will be anxious about the first dungeon, Sastasha, when they get to it and this will prompt a large number of them to use Duty Support.

I was the same when I began playing the game and looked around for a way to do the dungeon Solo or with a group of NPCs, Duty Support didn't exist yet so I just had to suck it up and do the dungeon with Duty Finder and it was then that, after wiping due to a Dark Knight wearing a chicken costume pulling too many mobs for themselves and the healer to handle, I realized how much fun doing content with others was.

I am 100% sure if I was allowed to do Sastasha with a group of NPCs I would have, and then I would continue to do that for the rest of the game and would have never came to that realization.
I'm also sure that's the case with at least some of the new players who ended up playing with Duty Supports, the only way to remedy that is to force people to play a small bit of the game with other players so they can compare that to Duty Supports and choose which one they prefer

[Travel]

I feel like most of the jobs in game are just a bit to "extra" with their animations and such. It's not like having a job that's extremely animated is a bad thing, but there's some points where it just looks a bit ridiculous.

Relatedly, it feels like almost every job seems to require a constant stream of button presses to do well; I'm not exactly complaining about it, but as someone who has a ton of latency and drifting issues on my end - it's not exactly uncommon for combos to simply not register, or for attacks to simply not go off - it makes me a bit hesitant to play some of the more button-heavy jobs such as Monk or Ninja in higher-end play.

Also, I personally enjoyed Endwalker's story. It's not perfect, very far from it in fact, but I found myself having a ton of fun with it overall. It's actually my personal favorite expansion, so far.

Conversely, I found Shadowbringers to be a bit overhyped. Not a bad story, far from it actually, but the constant hype from the community as a whole makes some of the plot's issues - Ran'jiit's character, some pacing issues, some plot twists being too obvious, etc. - stand out all the more. It's similar to Undertale's community, really; good story, but the hype can draw some very unrealistic expectations.

[vanaii]

I feel like most of the jobs in game are just a bit to "extra" with their animations and such. It's not like having a job that's extremely animated is a bad thing, but there's some points where it just looks a bit ridiculous.

Relatedly, it feels like almost every job seems to require a constant stream of button presses to do well; I'm not exactly complaining about it, but as someone who has a ton of latency and drifting issues on my end - it's not exactly uncommon for combos to simply not register, or for attacks to simply not go off - it makes me a bit hesitant to play some of the more button-heavy jobs such as Monk or Ninja in higher-end play.

Also, I personally enjoyed Endwalker's story. It's not perfect, very far from it in fact, but I found myself having a ton of fun with it overall. It's actually my personal favorite expansion, so far.

Conversely, I found Shadowbringers to be a bit overhyped. Not a bad story, far from it actually, but the constant hype from the community as a whole makes some of the plot's issues - Ran'jiit's character, some pacing issues, some plot twists being too obvious, etc. - stand out all the more. It's similar to Undertale's community, really; good story, but the hype can draw some very unrealistic expectations.

That's a whole series of hot takes, but I'm with you all the way through. Re: animations especially, we really should have non-self Limited animation filters on by default for party content. That's the sort of thing people need to turn on eventually, then forget it's not default when a new player complains that they can't see anything.

I'm thrilled Square had the guts to make an ending, rather than just tread water for infinity. Of course people are going to be furious it didn't end The Way They Wanted, and of course people are going to be upset when they look back over the decade and realize some threads were abandoned (even if they still might get picked back up.)

I'm not someone that believes in telling the creators what they can/can't do because "the lore says so" when the creators can make the lore say whatever they want (see also: LOTR's latest fracas) but I consider it a miracle Square was able to wrap this story in a way that was sensible and fun. Yeah, there's going to be improvements here and there-- but Endwalker just made me excited to see where we go from here. We're in uncharted territory, and that is probably the most exciting thing for me storywise in a very long time.

[fulminating]

(see also: LOTR's latest fracas).

Just about the worst example you could have picked given the creator has been dead near half a century.

[vanaii]

Just about the worst example you could have picked given the creator has been dead near half a century.

Not really; the canon is canon, but new stuff by new people doesn't have to be. I'd happily take a Muppets LOTR series if it's fun, even if it lampoons the canon written 50 years ago.

That said, it's certainly a bonus if it precisely falls in line with established lore. My issue is with telling someone far more qualified than I that something can't be done because of some triviality written long ago. Especially if that triviality is a throwaway line, a forgotten phrase in an appendix, or something the author withheld from publication during their lifetime. Saying something might be done better next time, saying I didn't quite buy something presented in the narrative in hopes we might get clarification, maybe daydreaming about "what if" certain scenarios come to pass-- all of that is fair game, though I say that with full knowledge whoever's making something could find something better on their own. It's a case of saying something "can" be done, rather than saying something that already exists "cannot" be done.

Sometimes that works out, sometimes it doesn't. I'm glad the Amazon series happened, because something happening is much more interesting than something remaining unplublished forever because it's not perfect.

[fulminating]

Not really; the canon is canon, but new stuff by new people doesn't have to be. I'd happily take a Muppets LOTR series if it's fun, even if it lampoons the canon written 50 years ago.

That said, it's certainly a bonus if it precisely falls in line with established lore. My issue is with telling someone far more qualified than I that something can't be done because of some triviality written long ago. Especially if that triviality is a throwaway line, a forgotten phrase in an appendix, or something the author withheld from publication during their lifetime. Saying something might be done better next time, saying I didn't quite buy something presented in the narrative in hopes we might get clarification, maybe daydreaming about "what if" certain scenarios come to pass-- all of that is fair game, though I say that with full knowledge whoever's making something could find something better on their own. It's a case of saying something "can" be done, rather than saying something that already exists "cannot" be done.

Sometimes that works out, sometimes it doesn't. I'm glad the Amazon series happened, because something happening is much more interesting than something remaining unplublished forever because it's not perfect.

There comes a point where it's abundantly clear that all that was wanted is the free publicity from an established name. I'm pretty sure the muppets would be more true to the source material while being entertaining given their track record with Treasure Island and A Christmas Carol. The fundamental lack of care shows, particularly when compared with prior adaptations, and with the degree of hype surrounding it something of higher quality should have been delivered. I don't think any of this applies to ff14, I don't like dynamis as a concept but it works within the setting, I am still bitter that the entire middle section of the ala mhigan expansion was a holiday in yanxia, but the concept was at least interesting. Certain fake-out deaths feel a bit eye-rolly at times, but if they're doing something interesting with the character then whatever - I'd not trade the werlyt questline for a confirmed kill. This is completely different to having two Durins alive at the same time, or forging the rings in the wrong order or whatever it was they were trying to do to Galadriel, presumably because SE works with their lore chief and by all accounts amazon fired theirs.