Final Fantasy XIV Hot Takes

[zcrash970]

1.23 had the best potential of XIV and every good it had was scrapped for no good reason.

I completely agree. There was a lot that can be done with the systems in place and the game was in a great place. Creatively and mechanically.
The biggest issue at that moment was the engine

Honestly, I think either Yoshi peaked around then and lost a lot of creative spirit or SE saw how profitable the game was becoming and drove him to do more of the same and not to take any creative risks.

Not really a hot take but the only thing FFXIV is good at is the MSQ and everything else is subpar and lacking

[SeverianLyonesse]

The Omega raids were just the worst in that regard. I've not played those games, so the whole thing just felt like a mish-mash of random unrelated concepts, stuffed into some nonsensical tournament arc.

They were fun in isolation, but I agree. As far as storytelling and integrating side content into XIV's mythos goes, I think the Omega raids are by far the worst across the alliance raids, normal raids, and trials, perhaps tied with Nier. At least things like the Warring Triad, Weapons, Eden, and Dalmasca were given room to develop into their own take on each game's mythos. Omega was just objectively not as cohesive and polished. I do not like that they crammed a chibi chocobo into the game either.

[aveyond-dreams]

It is 100% OK to pull the final boss of alliance raids early so long as the roulette rewards remain disproportionate to the time investment required to complete level 70 and 80 raids.

[kpxmanifesto]

The Hrothgar are what the Miqote should've been. The Hrothgar are a proper example of what a half animal/half human race should look like.

[Denji]

the ew equipment being mostly shb equipment/armour was not only lazy but absolutely offensive that they also cannot be dyed AND most the hats STILL DON'T WORK WITH BUNNIES AND HROTHS.

normally i roll my eyes at the player base being annoying as heck with their entitlement but what the heck is this nonsense. especially since people who - against the TOS and not at all condoned by the devs - found ways to use third-party tools and quickly fix these issues themselves in a matter of days and in some instances, hours. if it takes that little time and effort for illegal modders to make those things work then why does square get a free pass? smh.

[Saraide]

the ew equipment being mostly shb equipment/armour was not only lazy but absolutely offensive that they also cannot be dyed AND most the hats STILL DON'T WORK WITH BUNNIES AND HROTHS.

normally i roll my eyes at the player base being annoying as heck with their entitlement but what the heck is this nonsense. especially since people who - against the TOS and not at all condoned by the devs - found ways to use third-party tools and quickly fix these issues themselves in a matter of days and in some instances, hours. if it takes that little time and effort for illegal modders to make those things work then why does square get a free pass? smh.

I feel like a lot of people would rather just have clipping viera ears than not use most hats at all.

Edit: to be clear I mean that as in viera ears clipping through helmets, not helmets removing viera ears.

[Shibi]

I feel like a lot of people would rather just have clipping viera ears than not use most hats at all.

If a hat clips my Miqo'te alt's ears off, it goes straight into the bin, or glamoured to have something with holes.

Vierra and Hroth needs hats though, that's a given, to the point that SE need to spend some of their 45 million USD of extra FFXIV profit from last year (Small indie company with the #1 property being quite cheap) and hire some USD$80,000 a year artists.

[Denji]

hire some USD$80,000 a year artists.

they don't even need to do that. japan is well-known for paying interns significantly less and giving them jobs nobody wants. if a self-taught modder who has no formal training in 3D or utilizing/modifying FFXIV's engine is able to figure this out then i don't see why square can't just make it some intern's job to, once a month, fix one single piece of headgear for viera and hroths. it doesn't even need to be rushed, just... like. just make an effort. the tiniest effort. the littlest, most minuscule modicum of work.

[Saraide]

If a hat clips my Miqo'te alt's ears off, it goes straight into the bin, or glamoured to have something with holes.

Vierra and Hroth needs hats though, that's a given, to the point that SE need to spend some of their 45 million USD of extra FFXIV profit from last year (Small indie company with the #1 property being quite cheap) and hire some USD$80,000 a year artists.

I didnt word that very well, I meant that as in viera ears clipping through head pieces.

[Shibi]

they don't even need to do that. japan is well-known for paying interns significantly less and giving them jobs nobody wants. if a self-taught modder who has no formal training in 3D or utilizing/modifying FFXIV's engine is able to figure this out then i don't see why square can't just make it some intern's job to, once a month, fix one single piece of headgear for viera and hroths. it doesn't even need to be rushed, just... like. just make an effort. the tiniest effort. the littlest, most minuscule modicum of work.

I'd really just like to see a little of this money reinvested in the art part of the game at this point (this include backfilling all vierra/hroth hats, making all visors lift, and backfilling all sage/reaper/gnb/dancer glowy weapons.

It's super lovely we are getting more servers in EU, NA, and JP, plus I am incredibly grateful we have the wonderful OCE datacentre now which is where I am most - but there is a lot more money earnt from this one property that can still be invested on the engine, on the art side, and on the battle design side - all back into this property to increase it's profitability even more.

Yes, Interns are cheap, and there are skilled hobbiest modders who would likely sign over their rights for free just for a name in the credits, but some skilled top class artists are needed to supervise too. What you end up when you have interns doing the work from home without supervision and proper direction is (well, think of) stuff worse than Radz-at-hahn with it's crooked unsymmetrical models, offset textures, and lack care (in some glaring areas) for of art quality.

US$45,000,000 extra profit in a single year is a lot for this small indie company. Time to loosen those purse strings a little.