What island sanctuary doesn't get about games like Animal Crossing/Stardew Valley.

[Amh_Wilzuun]

I don't wanna hate on IS too much. I did quite like this content and it was a relaxing grind to fully max out my island. In fact I'm still working on getting all the rewards and getting all the rare animals. I will also commend this content for having really solid rewards in general with like 5 mounts, minions, good glam, etc.

However when this content was first announced people got excited because of the idea of an animal crossing/stardew valley type experience within FFXIV.

"Isn't that what island sanctuary basically is?" On the surface level yes, however what IS is missing is the endless repeatability that causes those games to rack up such long play times.

The content currently is this: max out your structures and then do the workshop every week. So the problem is that maxing out your island feels like "completing" the content, even before you get all the rewards which doesn't take too long either. Meanwhile sim games almost never feel "completed" eventually you just stop playing them. I think the workshop was what they were trying to have be that repeatable gameplay loop but I don't think it's a very good system sadly. Without using outside resources it's extremely obtuse and inefficient unless you have an economics degree so everyone just copy pastes their workshop plan from discord, essentially making it braindead content. At that point they might as well have just made it a turn-in system where you are given a list of requests from clients for the week on what island goods they want.

IS was never gonna have nearly the depth of a standalone game like AC or stardew, but with the content still being updated they can still fix this in the future. There's basically two routes to go with: the animal crossing or the stardew approach.

The animal crossing approach: the less likely of the two. AC is so addicting because of the endless pursuit of cosmetically upgrading your village/island and your player home. However they decided not to make IS a personal housing system so this can't really work at this point. This requires a lot of furniture and decoration assets to be made, which would take a lot of work for side content without bringing over the existing housing system that already has these assets and then you'd spend a lot time beautifying your island. However AC also has a major gameplay loop of collecting fish, bugs, and fossils. I think they somewhat achieved this with the rare animals system actually but maybe they could go farther. Maybe an island treasure system could be cool. You also have the gameplay loop of befriending and collecting villagers which I don't really see them doing but hey it's possible with NPCs.

[Amh_Wilzuun]

The stardew valley approach: This is closer to what they actually went for but it was flawed. In stardew the main gameplay loop is: buy seeds/livestock > cultivate > sell your crops > earn money to buy more crops and livestock > repeat forever until your farm is an industrial marvel with newer equipment that automates the process (stardew has a lot of stuff besides this but this is the main loop). Basically the farming is really emphasized here but in FFXIV the farming isn't as important so it doesn't end up being the farming game within a game people expected.

IS Farming is just how you get materials to make certain crafts for the main gameplay loop: the workshop. But as we already discussed, the workshop is braindead content so therefore the farming and livestock is braindead content as well. Currently I have turned off the feature for the mammets to watch over my crops and animals because I already have more than enough mats for the time being and it's just costing me currency per day. Imagine if in stardew valley you stopped watching over your farm and instead copied a list from discord every week. You'd quit the game. Most of your workshop crafts come from gathering anyway which never changes throughout the whole gameplay experiences except for occasionally unlocking new mats you can get with tools and flying

The gameplay loop should have emphasized farming more. You gather materials on the island for farming usage and also for crafting recipes that make farming and gathering easier that you still unlock as you rank up. In stardew for example you eventually learn how to craft a watering can that can water multiple plots at once instead of just one plant. Imagine if in XIV you could unlock a sprinkler islecraft that means you don't have to water a certain area any more? Maybe you could craft tools that make gathering more efficient, like harvesting multiple nearby nodes at once. They somewhat got this with unlocking the ability to have mammets gather and farm for you which could work here as well. And then the crops are what you sell to get currency and rewards which you earn more of each week as your farming/livestock management gets better. Tear down those discord workshops and replace them with more farming plots and farming buildings! You could even earn gil from this if they wanted a self contained player economy like the firmament has where you can gather and sell sky materials.

It might be too late at this point but I would love for this content to be more replayable and addictive like the games it took inspiration from rather a discord simulator!


EDIT AS OF 3/31 LL: looks like they are adding outdoor furnishings. This is a great future to go with the ability to visit your friend’s islands and this amount of customization will definitely make people want to fiddle with their island more. Maybe they are taking the “animal crossing” route here?

[Vahlnir]

Yeah. I think they definitely missed the mark when it came to recreating what made Stardew Valley/Harvest Moon/etc and Animal Crossing enjoyable. It's not the worst piece of content in the game, but I don't engage with it much nowadays, even after they added more animals and ranks. It's missing that special something.

[Amh_Wilzuun]

It just really needs that extra special something to keep you coming back if it's a replacement for previous content that was more replayable like bozja and eureka

[R041]

It's mostly just kinda telling that their Game Designers don't really know how to make any content that's actually rewarding and repeatable, even when they try to copy another game's formula. That's not a good thing when they're supposed to be in charge of an MMO.. Everything they do now just screams "We only know limited vertical progression". Everywhere.

Like how does an MMO have a weaker game-loop than most Single Player games? It's wild.

[GTK0HLK]

It was never a Replacement for Exploration Zones.., We just were never getting one this expansion.., <Repeated Reasons here>

But yes, the Islands could of had a part of it that was a nice Lil thing to do and repeat.., rather than what it is today..,
a Expect those much more informed or Tech Savvy to make a bot or board/graph for you to follow.., or quite literally Take the listing from someone else on reddit. <which isn't a bad thing, but it does take a bit of the fun of solving the situation yourself. but not everyone has the time for that. or the patience when other content provides them something more specific to their Moments interest.

[Greyhawk]

Why is it people are expecting so much out of I.S. when SquareEnix literally stated:



It's obvious they are going to add something like things you can buy from the vendors there. There's no reason to expect anything else. There's no reason to expect more out of it than what they said.

Some of you want the moon, and you were told you can't get anything more than a rock.
Now you are talking about "what they can save or fix" it.

No, blood still isn't coming out of the turnip.

[Alleo]

Is it really fair to compare it to games that soley exist for that one purpose while Island Sanctuary is bascially just one of the many side contents in this game?
Would I be against being able to customize your own island? Of course not. I do hope that we are able to decorate the island with outside housing items. Otherwise I am fine with the content as it is. Something that I visit a few times each week, spend some time there but otherwise go on with other content. If I had to go there every single day for months to get anywhere near some of the rewards it would feel like a chore. Right now its something relaxing to do when I want to do it (and all the other days my puppets keep it running)

Just give me a few more ways to decorate it (which there is a big chance that we will get that in the future) and I am perfectly fine with it. If I want to have the Animal Crossing experience I will start that game up again.

[Raven2014]

I don't think IS is meant to be something you gonna "keep coming back to" though. IS is like what? One out of a few dozens "pieces" of content in FF14, you do it in burst than move on to other thing, and normally would only come back when it get an update or you want something specific from it.

Don't get me wrong, I understand why people would compare it to Harvest moon or stardew, just like how people cite those game as the reason why Harvesta was a disappointment. But understanding the reason why people compare them doesn't mean I agree it's a fair comparison though. Before IS came out I already expect it would be something like Gold Saucer 2.0, and that's pretty much what it is.

Some of you want the moon, and you were told you can't get anything more than a rock.
Now you are talking about "what they can save or fix" it.

No, blood still isn't coming out of the turnip.

I few the reason some people set a high expectation not because they actually have faith and hope in the delivery, but for the sole purpose of giving themselves a reason to be disappointed later.

[Vahlnir]

I don't think IS is meant to be something you gonna "keep coming back to" though. IS is like what? One out of a few dozens "pieces" of content in FF14, you do it in burst than move on to other thing, and normally would only come back when it get an update or you want something specific from it.

Don't get me wrong, I understand why people would compare it to Harvest moon or stardew, just like how people cite those game as the reason why Harvesta was a disappointment. But understanding the reason why people compare them doesn't mean I agree it's a fair comparison though. Before IS came out I already expect it would be something like Gold Saucer 2.0, and that's pretty much what it is.

The game needs more side content that we can keep coming back to. Replay value is essential in an MMO setting. This should have been a slam dunk in that regard, and it wasn't. Just because they said "Yeah...don't expect much" doesn't mean we should settle for mediocrity. The player base settling for mediocrity is how we got here in the first place. Asking for improvements isn't unreasonable either.