Honest question about the dreaded sim

[LilimoLimomo]

I'm sure some of you have already heard of the *gasp* simulator. You know, the thing that apparently literally runs on your browser and allows a group of players to connect together, pick any mechanic of a savage fight or ultimate, turn damage on or off, and practice said mechanic again and again without having to go through the whole fight every wipe?

The horror, right? That's cheating!

I mean, it's subjective. In my experience growing up, looking at a written guide that explained how to beat a boss in a game was considered cheating. Fast-forward a few decades and a significant subset of the FF14 community expects players to have watched an instructional video before grouping up. Maybe some of those players see this as cheating and do it regardless, but presumably many don't.

For my own subjective experience, I think it's cheating if a player doesn't go into a fight blind and progress purely by iteratively learning from failure while not using any combat add-ons that aren't compensating for a disability. Others will think differently, and that's fine. And what do I think of people who cheat? Keep reading to find out.

- What does it say about the encounter design of this game? Or even the whole way fight progression is done, and sometimes heavily gated behind time (notably ultimates where you have to go over 10+ minutes of excruciating fight to have a new opportunity at wiping after 10s on your current prog point)? Is this respecting our time?

The question "is X respecting our time" can't be directly answered, because it's highly dependent upon what any given user wants. Having the patience and fortitude to continually overcome the earlier parts of a fight just to have the opportunity to see and learn the later parts of a fight is something some players want; this is a key design aspect of games like Sekiro and Dark Souls. But that's also something that some players hate; they'd rather have things like checkpoints at different phases so they don't have to repeat content they've already had their fill of and can instead focus solely on what's new. Two different types of players (among many others) who want different things, and clearly a single game experience isn't going to please them both. If I had to guess, I would say that the design of Ultimate content seems to be aimed towards a demographic that's closer to the Sekiro camp, and that's going to be better for some players and worse for others.

- Does it mean I'm a very bad person when I sometimes feel like I'd like to use that tool in order to directly skip to the parts of the game that I actually find fun? (aka: progging mechanics, not going over things past the group every time, which constitutes 95% of the time spent in prog) Does it mean I'm missing something fundamental about the game?

Whenever we talk about morality and ethics, the key question we should be asking is "who does this hurt?" So if you practice a fight using some side-program to circumvent the intended progression loop, who are you hurting? I invite you to come to your own subjective conclusion, but I would say that the answer is "nobody". At worst, you are theoretically "cheating yourself" by circumventing the opportunity to do it the intended way and thus achieve whatever satisfaction awaits at the end of that path. Maybe that would be satisfying for you! Or maybe it would be grueling and miserable, and when you finally reached the finish line you'd feel nothing beyond the end of your suffering. So think about which path you think would bring you the most joy, and take that path. There is no morally correct answer, there is only an answer that brings you more or less happiness. (And of course, probably best to make sure your teammates are on the same page as well.)

Does it mean I'm just... playing the wrong game?

The problem with finding a different game that suits you better is that you may never find one. It can be helpful to look because you might get lucky, but there simply isn't a perfect game for most people out there. Like so many things in life, most people have to settle for "good enough". So stay open to new possibilities, but at the same time don't discard what brings you some measure of joy simply because it isn't perfectly tailored to your every need. Being scrappy and finding ways to make what you have work (like this simulator) are invaluable skills to have when trying to find happiness in this complex world of ours.

Anyway, whether you agree or disagree, I hope all of this serves as some helpful food for thought.