As all of you who saw my posts may know, I have not played this game for a very long period of time. In fact, I've only been here since the middle of Shadowbringers. In the eyes of the devs, I am the target demographic. Every change they have made over the course of the game was done in the name of people like me. The mechanics were easy to learn, and I never felt like I was lost or left in the dust. Despite this, my feelings toward this game teeter on the cusp between disappointment and frustration.

When I first entered Eorzea, I was filled with wonderment. A world where I as an adventurer could be anything and everything. To finally be able to immerse myself in the classic feel of Final Fantasy from learning about my first class to the utter excitement of earning my very first job stone was nothing short of euphoric. This, the music, the story, and the boss fights were everything I wanted from a Final Fantasy game, and I immediately thrust myself into learning everything I could about my job and role. My eyes lit up at every learned ability, and new techniques such as weaving, while they proved difficult at first, filled me with pride when I finally figured them out, and at one point on the hill of progress, when I hit level 80, I thought to myself: "This is where my skills will truly be put to the test!" And as I looked up to observe the rest of the knowledge I had yet to achieve...

...I realized I was already at the peak.

I stood there for a moment in disbelief. Surely this wasn't all there was to it? I am to only press one singular spell for all content? This can't be true!

Overtime I took to learning the other jobs. Just as a quickly climbed down that hill to explore another, I was at the peak again. Every stone, every blade of grass was in the same location, only this time in different colors. All the while, I found myself performing the same dance but with the most minute of variations depending upon both job and game mode. As I sat upon the peak of the fourth hill, I began to feel as though all my efforts led up to nothing more than an illusion of choice. I was effectively punished for improving. I went to consult with others to understand the meaning behind this only to be met with the desperate cries for change that fell on deaf ears. Was this what Yoshi P wanted for people like me? Did he assume we were too foolish to take any semblance of complexity? How could such an allegedly open developer act so dismissive towards his own players? The flavor of the jobs I loved so much throughout the franchise were mere husks of themselves. What was once a magical world peeled away to reveal a sterile room of four walls. No imagination, no challenge, only accessibility for the sake of it. I didn't feel welcomed, I felt betrayed.