The Problem with Yoshi-P | An Honest Critique by Ember's Arcade

[Kaliesto]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSNaMfdmFCc


This is exactly the problem I have with the game, but I could not find the words to put together to describe it.

The main main MAIN problem that hurt FFXIV overall -

Lack of player agency


Final Fantasy XVI also suffered this by the same studio.


I don't have much else to say at this point as its been beaten to death, but this is the conclusion and now the question is anyone at CBU3 even aware or just don't care? Are we even playing the same game?

[ovIm]

6 Minutes in and I already want to give that youtuber a medal.

"these accessories" (that make FFXVI easier) "are optional, of course but they are emblematic of Creative Studio 3's fear, that a player may be unable to overcome a gameplay challenge and as a result to experience the next cutscene. Thus they build their games to be nearly impossible to fail, smoothing out the rough textures that make playing video games interesting, and then they hide and semblance of challenge as far out of view as possible, out of fear that you might be scared of. All in service of storytelling."

FFXIV MSQ in a nutshell, yep. Doesn't help of course that whenever CS3 does ask the player for something, some players are up in arms against it.

[Collin_Sky]

6 Minutes in and I already want to give that youtuber a medal.

"these accessories" (that make FFXVI easier) "are optional, of course but they are emblematic of Creative Studio 3's fear, that a player may be unable to overcome a gameplay challenge and as a result to experience the next cutscene. Thus they build their games to be nearly impossible to fail, smoothing out the rough textures that make playing video games interesting, and then they hide and semblance of challenge as far out of view as possible, out of fear that you might be scared of. All in service of storytelling."

FFXIV MSQ in a nutshell, yep. Doesn't help of course that whenever CS3 does ask the player for something, some players are up in arms against it.

This, but also FF16 felt very... MMO time waste-y.
Why were the multiple instances of locked gates that I needed to run around talking to random townspeople to get past? Why are you wasting my time with this in a single player game in lieu of something more exciting?

[Heavenchild]

I have to agree with the points said in this video.

[CuteBucket]

Just discovered this video and came to see if anyone was talking about it here, as it reminded me a lot of the problems I've been seeing people talk about here on the forums. This style of frictionless MSQ gameplay with all of the harder elements locked away to only the "hardcore" players also really exacerbates the problem we've been seeing with the rift between the so-called "casual" and "hardcore" crowd. And as someone who got into this game because of the story but stuck around because I discovered I really like the harder battles and raids too, I feel almost...extra alienated? Job design keeps getting sanded down and homogenized. Dungeons and MSQ quests ask absolutely nothing of me beyond the barest minimum and so they don't feel fun or rewarding.

I think I've been under FFXIV's spell for a long time, and it's both jarring and sad to have the illusion broken. I'd known that FFXIV's map design and quest system had flaws from when I began playing, but like the video said, I mostly excused it as an older game and went in expecting a little clunkiness, so it didn't bother me all that much...for a time. Truth is, I really was sucked in by just how much I loved the world and story. People give ARR crap, and there were some bad moments, but honestly? By level 30 and the attack on the Waking Sands, I was pretty intrigued and willing to subscribe to see more, and I only got more invested and more connected to the world from there. I could forgive some boring quest designs and bland combat for a long time, because the story was honestly compelling enough that getting more quest dialogue and more cutscenes was a reward for me. I ate up every single lore crumb! I loved learning every little detail I could! The characters and their stories and world mattered to me and it was such a joy every moment I got to learn more about it! Even as boring as I found the Endwalker patch stories, I thought "well, it's kind of a filler episode, right? We'll get back on track soon, they haven't really disappointed me yet."

And then Dawntrail came out.

Suddenly, the MSQ and the lore wasn't a "reward" for me anymore. If anything, it felt like the characters, world, and dialogue were actively wasting my time, or even worse, talking down to me and disrespecting the lore that came before. Hell, by the time I got to the last two zones, advancing the story started to feel more like a punishment, and I got myself to push through and finish it by telling myself I needed to do it to unlock the raids. I had stop and talk myself into doing it, like trying to start cleaning a load of dirty dishes, because the task was so unpleasant! Once the beautiful world and story were gone, the underlying flaws with the game became glaringly obvious to me in a way they never had to me previously or I had excused before. And while I'm still subbed for the friendship and community I've made in the game that I can't find anywhere else, yeah, I think I and all of us do deserve better for what we pay every month. I've been playing some other games in the meantime now, and I keep being struck by how much actual gameplay there is. It's almost embarrassing to admit, but I really had become accustomed to playing almost entirely FFXIV as my main video game and forgot what other games felt like to play. And now that I've branched out again...yikes, this game's problems become all the more highlighted when I log back in.

[Jeeqbit]

I don't disagree that this is an issue.

But I also think it's important to consider those players who may genuinely struggle to make it to the next quest and are in fact just playing to experience the story or pass the time, rather than for the challenge.

I believe all games should have an Easy mode and a Hard mode to solve this. Then you just choose which depending on the type of person you are.

The problem with FF14 for example is that the only difficulty for dungeons is the easy mode. The only difficulties for solo battles are "Normal" and "Very Easy". You aren't given a choice between an easy rotation and a challenging rotation.

[KiiNGKRUSH]

This video was well done and articulates a lot of the complaints people have have had for a very long time. I remember feeling this way with certain things all the way back when 2.0 launched and saw all the changes that were made to the game.

Now here we are in DT and the formula they used to re-launch the game is still identical today. It took a longtime, but people have awakened. The facade has been exposed for all to see.

[ReynTime]

I don't disagree that this is an issue.

But I also think it's important to consider those players who may genuinely struggle to make it to the next quest and are in fact just playing to experience the story or pass the time, rather than for the challenge.

I believe all games should have an Easy mode and a Hard mode to solve this. Then you just choose which depending on the type of person you are.

The problem with FF14 for example is that the only difficulty for dungeons is the easy mode. The only difficulties for solo battles are "Normal" and "Very Easy". You aren't given a choice between an easy rotation and a challenging rotation.

And even then a lot of the 'solo' battles are tuned so low on Normal if there are NPCs helping you can win without doing anything.

[Hallarem]

Think Endwalker was the first time the Yoshi-P "spell" was broken for me.

Making a game too hardcore (The lament of Wildstar that lost its playerbase because endgame was hilariously hard / hard to get into. Because it wanted to be more hardcore than WoW)

Or making a game too easy is not the right way to go.

Honestly, nothing will ever beat Vanilla WoW, it was hard enough, had satisfying gearing and build options, random rng drops, chasing gear, easy enough to get into with raiding, each class was unique, each class had their own quests. It all went to poop with The Burning Crusade. I sometimes dip into a private server to enjoy leveling a random toon, still rocks, I wish everyone could try it.

Theres no magic bullet for this, but we can only wait and see if they even TRY to solve this in 8.0.

[Hycinthus]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSNaMfdmFCc


This is exactly the problem I have with the game, but I could not find the words to put together to describe it.

The main main MAIN problem that hurt FFXIV overall -

Lack of player agency


Final Fantasy XVI also suffered this by the same studio.


I don't have much else to say at this point as its been beaten to death, but this is the conclusion and now the question is anyone at CBU3 even aware or just don't care? Are we even playing the same game?

One thing that the Youtuber didn't discuss was the following:

I believe Yoshi P's design philosophy can be traced back to when he first took over FFXIV after its initial failure in 1.0. At that time, 1.0 had a convoluted, unintuitive and outdated design.

To address this, reportedly Yoshi P encouraged his devs to play WoW to understand its accessibility, its success, and how seamlessly casual players could join and enjoy the experience. This focus on accessibility and intuitiveness became central to his design philosophy, and became central to the success of A Realm Reborn's launch.

Since then, I think Yoshi P maintained this mindset, prioritizing ease of access and casual-friendly gameplay as his design philosophy, and that 1.0 trauma still hasn't allowed him to move on.

Now, it just feels like this approach has been taken too far, and permeates not only FFXIV but also influencing the design of other games like FFXVI. So what was once a balanced and thoughtful philosophy now becomes overdone and just diminishes the depth and challenge that players nowadays expect.