I canceled my sub after 9 years to play cozier games

[Komoritane]

After 3270 days of being subscribed to FFXIV, I'm sadly ending my sub to participate in a cozy mmo beta test in the upcoming weeks with my friends.

The discord for that cozy mmo has 135k members compared to 473k in The Balance FFXIV discord. So, it seems to me that my perspective is likely relevant, since I believe that FFXIV is the coziest mmo currently available and I'm sure there are others like me who will have to make these tough decisions in the future as more cozy mmos are in development.

I greatly appreciate the FFXIV developers putting in so much effort to add Island Sanctuary to the game in order to include more relaxing content. At the same time, I personally found the robot sweatshop, gigantic buildings, mass deforestation, and grass pen for animals without any food, water, or shelter disturbing. I know that some people are able to say "it's just a game" and ignore those things, but to me it feels exploitative and excessively lavish rather than a cozy space that I was hoping it would be.

I also greatly appreciate that crafting/gathering is such a big part of FFXIV, and I was so happy to see the detailed care put into the absolutely incredible Omicron and Lopporit tribal quest stories. However, I have friends who do not want to have to do combat to try out FFXIV, and currently there's no way to avoid it. I have tried to explain that the main scenario story is amazing, but I think it's too difficult to change the perspective of someone who exclusively plays combat-free games. If there was an option to talk to the guild leader and start crafter/gatherer/fisher from level 1, then I think it would not be so difficult.

The furniture and glamour systems are a huge strength of FFXIV, but I have personally found that it's difficult to explain fantasias and house demolition to someone. People from outside the community tend to ask, well if I can play a game that's not going to charge me money to change my eye color or demolish my home, why wouldn't I play that instead?

My last remaining cozy friends in FFXIV are from Eureka, which I enjoyed due to the community aspect of everyone helping each other. So, it was disappointing that I would not have the opportunity to hang out with my friends due to how the current relic quest is structured, although I understand the dev team resources probably were just allocated elsewhere this time.

I've tried all of the content that FFXIV has to offer, including clearing the first two ultimates back in Stormblood. I will absolutely return each expansion for the amazing story. However, the older I get, the more I wish to align myself with peaceful activities and the more I question why combat is such a fundamental aspect of so many games. Unfortunately, I feel like the only logical choice for me personally is to join my friends in upcoming cozier mmos. I think that I must not be the only person in this situation, so I wanted to share my thoughts on it.

[Renalt]

But is it cozy?

[EZGIL]

But is it cozy?

[Ath192]

The games gotten boring alright but if anything I'd want more things to kill rather than less. I do wish for some more exploration/travel activities and things of that ilk but not at the expense of sidelining combat. Either way it's an interesting perspective. And you're right about not being the only person prospecting for a new main MMO after the huge slowdown in this game with everything being so quickly done.

I wouldn't be opposed to the world being open and people choosing not to fight, just explore the world as a true carpenter or whatever. I would even prefer it. This game always makes the players feel confined when it should strive to be open. Good luck and if you find a great MMO make to sure to advertise it.

[AlexiaD]

There is literally no other game "cozier" than FFXIV, this is an MMORPG, what your friend want is a sandbox so obviously it wont work for them

even I love to trash talk the game for the multitude of issues there are especially in EW, but there is literally nothing cozier than this game, you can literally sit in Limsa and not be behind in anything content wise

[True-to-Caesar]

There is literally no other game "cozier" than FFXIV, this is an MMORPG, what your friend want is a sandbox so obviously it wont work for them

even I love to trash talk the game for the multitude of issues there are especially in EW, but there is literally nothing cozier than this game

Talk about being close minded.

The MMO op is talking about is Palia.
It’s basically a game with no combat, healthbar, focuses on housing, hunting, exploring and improving your relationship with villagers (you can romance many of them who have their own backstories and personalities).

Think of it like a mix of Sims, Breath of the Wild and Animal crossing.

Even FF is not that chill.
That game has also no sub fee and no artificial lack of housing availability. Just a cash shop for cosmetics (like some clothes or housing furnitures).

In my case, I got this game on my radar but currently playing ESO. Gonna let my current FF sub run out, the delay between patches and what’s offered in terms of content is just not worth it. I’d rather lose my medium house in the mists and sub for month at the end of an expansion to catch up on the story. The rest is sadly not worth my time and boring.

you can literally sit in Limsa and not be behind in anything content wise

No wonder since there is nothing meaningful and fun to do.
How can someone defend this ?
“Hey you can spam emotes all day and ERP too ! Game is worth the sub, even if we get no new zones with major patches!”

[Koros]

The MMO op is talking about is Palia.
It’s basically a game with no combat, healthbar, focuses on housing, hunting, exploring and improving your relationship with villagers (you can romance many of them who have their own backstories and personalities).

Think of it like a mix of Sims, Breath of the Wild and Animal crossing.

Even FF is not that chill.
That game has also no sub fee and no artificial lack of housing availability. Just a cash shop for cosmetics (like some clothes or housing furnitures).

In my case, I got this game on my radar but currently playing ESO. Gonna let my current FF sub run out, the delay between patches and what’s offered in terms of content is just not worth it. I’d rather lose my medium house in the mists and sub for month at the end of an expansion to catch up on the story. The rest is sadly not worth my time and boring.



No wonder since there is nothing meaningful and fun to do.
How can someone defend this ?
“Hey you can spam emotes all day and ERP too ! Game is worth the sub, even if we get no new zones with major patches!”

sorry, i just watched the palia trailer and fell asleep can you repeat that

are people this depressed in real life that they need some virtual farm to feel """cozy""" LMAO

hopefully palia will capture all the second life animal crossing girls so ff14 can get back to hardcore raids and fun midcore content

[SturmChurro]

I don't really know about any of this being much against FFXIV. If players don't like combat in general, then a game like FFXIV literally just isn't for them, and I don't really see that as criticism against FFXIV. I don't play a lot of genres of games. I suppose they could have bought boosts to skip a lot of it, and go straight into crafting/gathering, and stay for the social aspect, but beyond that, combat is an integral part of FFXIV.

are people this depressed in real life that they need some virtual farm to feel """cozy""" LMAO

hopefully palia will capture all the second life animal crossing girls so ff14 can get back to hardcore raids and fun midcore content

Cozy games are and can be fun too though! Even more so when you can customize and make outfits for your characters (for me)!

I am sure that game will probably be pretty fun. Regardless, we should get more battle content for ffxiv. I'd really like to be able to use my max level characters or skills more (actually having to heal at times would be nice).

[ZephyrMenodora]

sorry, i just watched the palia trailer and fell asleep can you repeat that

are people this depressed in real life that they need some virtual farm to feel """cozy""" LMAO

hopefully palia will capture all the second life animal crossing girls so ff14 can get back to hardcore raids and fun midcore content

Looks like a child’s game so maybe not. Then again after the past few weeks..maybe it might lol.

[LilimoLimomo]

the more I question why combat is such a fundamental aspect of so many games.

There are plenty of reasons, but one of the most core is that simulating physical challenges is one of the things computers have always been able to do easily. Moving objects in space, detecting whether they're colliding in certain ways and having them react accordingly, it's really easy to do that with a computer. It plays to their strengths. It takes a lot more work to do something like simulate an organic conversation.

And you can do other stuff with physical simulations, but combat provides a very simple problem to solve. And even things some might see as "non-violent" like sports games are about people competing to overcome each other. Depending on your perspective, that can be violent. Farming games, which often require exploiting nature's resources and engaging in capitalism, can be seen as inherently violent. It depends a lot on how you choose to frame interactions in the fiction you're engaging in.

I will say this though: I don't think violence in games is necessarily violent. I don't think it's as simple as saying games aren't violent, but I also don't think it's as simple as saying they are. It's nuanced. For me personally, I'm at a stage in my life where I'm an adult who dislikes real violence, and I can play video games that depict artificial representations of violence without feeling like I'm engaging in violence. When I'm role-playing as my character, I do treat it as violence, and try to be considerate about it, especially if that violence is part of the plot. But if I'm detached from my character and just enjoying the challenge the game designers created for me, then I'm capable of understanding that I'm not harming anyone. And that's good, because the only reason I care about violence in the first place is that I don't want anyone to be harmed. So when nobody is being harmed, I can breathe a sigh of relief that things are fine.

Regardless, I hope you enjoy exploring the kinds of experiences that bring you joy!