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

[Evergrey]

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.

Vanilla WoW was good, indeed.
I do miss the "danger" when running around the game world.
It wasn't uncommon, in fact it was very normal that people died at least once or twice during the first 5 levels in the "tutorial zone".
Not that the enemies were that difficult.
But if they outnumbered you they could easily kill you.
The game was hard in a fair way imo.
Over extend and chances are high that you (and your group) will pay for it.

A system like this gave people options to tackle encounters.
If you wanted to you could take it nice and slow, pull a mob at a time.
Or you could go ham and pull multiple.
Ofc multi pulls got easier the higher level/better gear you had.
But this also gave players time to get comfortable with their class.
Learn the strengths and weaknesses they had at their own pace.

I was a bit thrilled back pre Heavensward when they talked about how they had increased the difficulty of the overworld mobs for HW.
But I honestly couldn't tell the difference which led to being a tad disappointed.

[Torashiki]

I literally dont care about MSQ duties difficulty. I dont really get why anyone would, if I wanted challenge I would go prog an ultimate or criterion savage. The compartmentalization of content is a good design, as a midcore savage raider.

In fact I absolutely love that I can take my time looking at dungeons' details instead of having to be too busy sweating through a MSQ dungeon. One of my favorite dungeons in XIV is The Aitiascope despite being rather easy. Which allows me to notice story and dialogue details that otherwise I never would have.

This weird nonsense about ''Yoshi-p hiding away difficulty'' seems to me to be some weird at attempt at finding something to complain for FFXIV not being something it never has been, more than anything.

Not everyone wants to play Elden Ring to ''earn'' a game's story, as someone that loves Elden Ring. I am not that person, but that doesnt mean I cant coexist with those people.

EDIT: also, as someone that played WoW for 12 years... the truth is that FFXIV was never going to be Vanilla WoW either. That kind of game cant exist without being massively frustrating in today's gaming scene. People would meta away the ''discovery/danger/etc'' within a week. There would be a speedrun to max level within 2 weeks. Not to mention that its rather silly to be fearing random dogs in the wilds after killing Gods for the 4th time a week.

But also FFXIV not being like Vanilla WoW is the entire point. FFXIV is not ''another WoW''. I thought we already went through this years ago when the late ShB WoW happened.

[Supersnow845]

On the other hand the complete lack of ability to put difficulty in anything also artificially constrains design

Remember how people lost their shit at in from the cold because it actually required you to do something? Even though it was literally by a country mile the best designed solo duty from a storytelling perspective

If the entire MSQ has to be like the mitten from SpongeBob then you are artificially restricting how gameplay and storytelling can interact like they do with something like in from the cold; which we can see where there is nothing of similar quality in DT’s very limited solo duties

[Oizen]

I just hope that after Dawntrail and XVI people stop worshiping the ground Yoshida walks on. He's just a businessman.
I do not believe he is passionate about game development, nor do I think he has a very solid vision for it.

[Torashiki]

On the other hand the complete lack of ability to put difficulty in anything also artificially constrains design

Remember how people lost their shit at in from the cold because it actually required you to do something? Even though it was literally by a country mile the best designed solo duty from a storytelling perspective

If the entire MSQ has to be like the mitten from SpongeBob then you are artificially restricting how gameplay and storytelling can interact like they do with something like in from the cold; which we can see where there is nothing of similar quality in DT’s very limited solo duties

I will agree that outright nerfing IFTC was a mistake instead of making it more obvious by having an actual minimap for the solo duty. But on the other hand they arent going to put anything again like that in DT when DT is supposed to be far less emotionally heavy than EW or even ShB. EW as a whole was supposed to be a emotional rollercoaster and a deconstruction and reconstruction of our entire journey.

I also think that difficulty isnt the only way that you can make gameplay and story/narrative integration like IFTC. The difficulty was a big part of that quest because it was part of the entire ''bodyswap into a rando garlean'' change of point of view narrative. But its not something that is necessary for every single solo duty, in fact I quite liked the Wuk Lamat vs Bakool Ja Ja solo duty where its implied that she learned to use dynamis as its the first time she uses a limit break.

[Torashiki]

I just hope that after Dawntrail and XVI people stop worshiping the ground Yoshida walks on. He's just a businessman.
I do not believe he is passionate about game development, nor do I think he has a very solid vision for it.

You dont know what you are talking about. There are things to criticize about him but basically nothing about what you said is true.

The entire reason he was able to fix FFXIV is that he was, in fact, passionate about MMORPGs for years. The entire reason why he was able to fix FFXIV is that he has an understanding of MMOs while the 1.0 team didnt - they understood single player RPGs. Yoshi-P was out there on Tokyo trying to find Ultima Online install CDs years before a lot of the FFXIV playerbase played their first videogame.

That his ideas and direction disagree with some people's ideas doesnt mean he ''is just a businessman'' or that he isnt passionate about game development. The man has to be kept down and made to rest because he overworks himself constantly.

[Shougun]

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.

Haven't watched the video yet so I'm not responding to that, but specifically the accessories comment here. Though I may tangentially be responding to the video.

I don't think its the impossible to fail fear that is the focus, it's the too smooth. WoW is pretty easy *outside of the /specifically/ hard content* and is far less smooth.

I really think it's NOT the difficulty slider as the key issue (though it can play part). It's everything is too damn smooth.

Can be easy and not smooth. Pick almost, almost, any legendary game and they're not that hard.. they just tend to be crunchy (and or get you into a zen state). I almost never die in games and I have loads of fun.


Sometimes I don't even pick the hard options lol, like death stranding in easy and I had fun.... And it's a walking simulator hehe. Unless we are taking about souls games. Then I did die all the time....(And had fun).

I don't think it's the specifically the difficulty or amount of deaths that are the problem. It's with or without deaths it is all smooth. People think if they die more it is less so, but I think that is really superficial texture and won't get to the actual issue. Still smooth, just challenging smooth lol.

[TemporalFruitsAndVeggies]

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.

I don't have issues with developers adding accessibility features, which is what those accessories are. It's a weird thing to take issue with, since, if you don't need or want them, you can simply ignore them, and it has no bearing whatsoever on your game experience. I think it's cool that they did it via gear and not by just flipping a switch in a menu somewhere.

[Hallarem]

I literally dont care about MSQ duties difficulty. I dont really get why anyone would, if I wanted challenge I would go prog an ultimate or criterion savage. The compartmentalization of content is a good design, as a midcore savage raider.

In fact I absolutely love that I can take my time looking at dungeons' details instead of having to be too busy sweating through a MSQ dungeon. One of my favorite dungeons in XIV is The Aitiascope despite being rather easy. Which allows me to notice story and dialogue details that otherwise I never would have.

This weird nonsense about ''Yoshi-p hiding away difficulty'' seems to me to be some weird at attempt at finding something to complain for FFXIV not being something it never has been, more than anything.

Not everyone wants to play Elden Ring to ''earn'' a game's story, as someone that loves Elden Ring. I am not that person, but that doesnt mean I cant coexist with those people.

EDIT: also, as someone that played WoW for 12 years... the truth is that FFXIV was never going to be Vanilla WoW either. That kind of game cant exist without being massively frustrating in today's gaming scene. People would meta away the ''discovery/danger/etc'' within a week. There would be a speedrun to max level within 2 weeks. Not to mention that its rather silly to be fearing random dogs in the wilds after killing Gods for the 4th time a week.

But also FFXIV not being like Vanilla WoW is the entire point. FFXIV is not ''another WoW''. I thought we already went through this years ago when the late ShB WoW happened.

Not everyone follows meta, some people play for discovery. Naturally some players flow to the easiest path and look up guides, but that doesn't mean you need to make every game easy just because "some people might just look up a guide". And what if they do speedrun? Its their choice, just like its anyones choice to discover the best path forward. I just feel like an "MMO" without a dangerous or at least somewhat challenging interactable open world is not an MMO at all. What is the point of the mobs in the open world aside from being windowdressing like the scenery and empty villages, not to mention the gazillion houses that should be OPEN and interactable like in any self-respecting RPG, let alone an MMO. Like I don't know... in any other Final fantasy game? The best excuse I heard was "Well, you wouldnt barge into a strangers house, would you?" "Uhm ,yes I would! Thats what you do in rpgs! Thats what makes the world feel alive and lived in. Its an MMO / RPG not a crime PSA"

The WoL gets morbol breath, deaf, blind, mute, gets eaten, dies. The monsters in the world are still dangerous, by that logic no random mobs in any MMO's should be a challenge because we killed raid bosses. Fighting is still needed, the WoL isn't superman/woman.

And I reaaaally hope Dynamis isnt mentioned ever again, its such a writers crutch for out of nowhere power ups for characters that haven't earned it.

[Mawlzy]

On the other hand the complete lack of ability to put difficulty in anything also artificially constrains design

Remember how people lost their shit at in from the cold because it actually required you to do something? Even though it was literally by a country mile the best designed solo duty from a storytelling perspective

If the entire MSQ has to be like the mitten from SpongeBob then you are artificially restricting how gameplay and storytelling can interact like they do with something like in from the cold; which we can see where there is nothing of similar quality in DT’s very limited solo duties

That's interesting. From a plot point of view I didn't think it made any sense at all, and seemed very much grafted in to the MSQ as an afterthought.