Live letters have lost their magic - Zepla

[Kazuke_Miso]

https://youtu.be/UnY7PMsV8QI?si=9MCrmXa-iwJ4Is-9

I just felt real tired and it showed... and I wished I didn't feel this way. I don't care about the story anymore, I don't expect it to be good....

Who else is old enough to remember we got an exploration zone and a deep dungeon in the same patch?

Hearing Zepla talk about the live letter, it really reminds a lot of us just how much wonder and magic has evaporated from the live letters. We still rely on community translators to understand the live letter to this day. The live letters are such a sick joke at this point, and their stale format is a good representation of the staleness of the entire game.

[Kaurhz]

They had magic when we didn't really know what to expect, when the wanderlust still existed.

But now it's just BAU (Business as Usual) type stuff, where we know what we're getting without really being told what we're getting.

Coupled with the downhill story, it's difficult to even be enthusiastic about trailers and the story.


If I am honest between the population of EU/NA, it more than warrants in-house translation. But honestly, like most things now my response is I honestly don't even care until I'm genuinely taken by surprise again.

[Kazuke_Miso]

If I am honest between the population of EU/NA, it more than warrants in-house translation. But honestly, like most things now my response is I honestly don't even care until I'm genuinely taken by surprise again.

It's actually just sad that we've all just accepted that this is the way things are when it would be totally unacceptable if it was EA or Ubisoft doing this lmao

[Kaurhz]

It's actually just sad that we've all just accepted that this is the way things are when it would be totally unacceptable if it was EA or Ubisoft doing this lmao

It is. and this will be part of the problem.. Is that a lot of it is just getting lost to sheer apathy... At that point there is no second redemption arc lol

Like, how can I care when it all operates like clockwork anyway.

[Auro_Seldaris]

It's actually just sad that we've all just accepted that this is the way things are when it would be totally unacceptable if it was EA or Ubisoft doing this lmao

Yup. Ubisoft, EA, Blizzard, Epic, Mihoyo... if these companies did what SE/CSIII was doing, they would be absolutely crucified by their players. My brother used to play Escape from Tarkov, and if you white knights of the forums think a little mild and valid criticism of Yoshida (and the game) is toxic and evil, you should see the way Nikita (lead dev of Tarkov) was treated. Being harassed in-game, being harassed on Twitter/X, getting his fancy sporst car keyed, having shoes thrown at him during a live event and being screamed at to "FIX YOUR SHIT GAME, NIKITA!" You might recoil in horror from that treatment, but guess what?

It worked. He fixed his shit. Turns out, anger works. Complaining works, when it isn't silenced and smothered in "goody good-good feels".

And guess what ? I used to be a big white knight for this game myself. I used to get into heated debates about this game with my brother, I thought Yoshida was a rockstar, that he could do no wrong. I've just become so worn-out by this game and these devs that I can't find it within me to praise them for mediocrity anymore.

As long as the White Knights of the Square Enix Creative Studio III Defense Force silence all valid criticism, Yoshida will never fix his shit.

[Amariel34]

Yup. Ubisoft, EA, Blizzard, Epic, Mihoyo... if these companies did what SE/CSIII was doing, they would be absolutely crucified by their players. My brother used to play Escape from Tarkov, and if you white knights of the forums think a little mild and valid criticism of Yoshida (and the game) is toxic and evil, you should see the way Nikita (lead dev of Tarkov) was treated. Being harassed in-game, being harassed on Twitter/X, getting his fancy sporst car keyed, having shoes thrown at him during a live event and being screamed at to "FIX YOUR SHIT GAME, NIKITA!" You might recoil in horror from that treatment, but guess what?

It worked. He fixed his shit. Turns out, anger works. Complaining works, when it isn't silenced and smothered in "goody good-good feels".

And guess what ? I used to be a big white knight for this game myself. I used to get into heated debates about this game with my brother, I thought Yoshida was a rockstar, that he could do no wrong. I've just become so worn-out by this game and these devs that I can't find it within me to praise them for mediocrity anymore.

As long as the White Knights of the Square Enix Creative Studio III Defense Force silence all valid criticism, Yoshida will never fix his shit.

Forgive me if I'm misunderstanding, but it seems like you are saying that constant harassment, vandalism, and (possible) assault are what players should be doing if they want to see change. I would rather the game stay in its current state than see anyone from the dev team be put through this. It's just not right. I don't care how angry people are.

[Auro_Seldaris]

Forgive me if I'm misunderstanding, but it seems like you are saying that constant harassment, vandalism, and (possible) assault are what players should be doing if they want to see change. I would rather the game stay in its current state than see anyone from the dev team be put through this. It's just not right. I don't care how angry people are.

Shooter communities are toxic by default. I'm using that as an example of how even us people who disagree with Yoshida on the direction of this game treat him with far more respect and politeness than other people in other game dev situations would do, even though we're accused of "being mean" and "Angy" and "toxic". I'm just saying he's got it easy compared to some other game devs. Many other playerbases would treat him far worse. We still have a modicum of respect for him. I'm not directly advocating that, but it's hard to disagree that the players got what they wanted in that situation.

What I'm saying is that negativity in and of itself is not actually bad. Anger is a valid emotion, it's ridiculous of society to try and pretend it doesn't exist and stifle it except for when it's politically expedient. Anger and confrontation do effect change.

And even if you do disagree with someone, that doesn't give you a right to shut down their opinion with "NO NEGATIVITY IN THE DOJO! YOU'RE JUST A HATER!"

Especially when it's being presented in a well-thought out manner.

And also... Yoshida? He's not my friend. Parasocial relationships with devs are toxic and harmful as any negativity.

[NanaWiloh]

Yup. Ubisoft, EA, Blizzard, Epic, Mihoyo... if these companies did what SE/CSIII was doing, they would be absolutely crucified by their players. My brother used to play Escape from Tarkov, and if you white knights of the forums think a little mild and valid criticism of Yoshida (and the game) is toxic and evil, you should see the way Nikita (lead dev of Tarkov) was treated. Being harassed in-game, being harassed on Twitter/X, getting his fancy sporst car keyed, having shoes thrown at him during a live event and being screamed at to "FIX YOUR SHIT GAME, NIKITA!" You might recoil in horror from that treatment, but guess what?

It worked. He fixed his shit. Turns out, anger works. Complaining works, when it isn't silenced and smothered in "goody good-good feels".

And guess what ? I used to be a big white knight for this game myself. I used to get into heated debates about this game with my brother, I thought Yoshida was a rockstar, that he could do no wrong. I've just become so worn-out by this game and these devs that I can't find it within me to praise them for mediocrity anymore.

As long as the White Knights of the Square Enix Creative Studio III Defense Force silence all valid criticism, Yoshida will never fix his shit.

Ubisoft is currently getting crucified but for different reasons.

[Basteala]

They had magic when we didn't really know what to expect, when the wanderlust still existed.

But now it's just BAU (Business as Usual) type stuff, where we know what we're getting without really being told what we're getting.

Coupled with the downhill story, it's difficult to even be enthusiastic about trailers and the story.


If I am honest between the population of EU/NA, it more than warrants in-house translation. But honestly, like most things now my response is I honestly don't even care until I'm genuinely taken by surprise again.

It doesn't help that there's less of it either.

Zepla just makes the videos because she's fallen off and just semi-remembered as a once darling FFXIV content creator, knowing she can only cling to the hate train to try get any sort of views.

I am highly critical of SE, I think SE is a company that has no idea of how to run a MMORPG they just throw stuff at it and see what sticks, if it doesn't stick, they don't alter it they just throw something new at it down the line, at the same time I'll give credit where credits due. So my dislike of her approach has nothing to do with being defensive of the company, she literally wants to dislike everything about the game and thats her target audience.

I'm going to be honest. I'm not quite sure why people come to this conclusion. The impression I always got was that FF14 *itself* fell off. Hype petered out. It happened to other creators to disastrous ends.

Also why is a streamer criticizing FF14 something perceived as bad? People had no problem seeing WoW take its well deserved lumps. 14's in a similar state now, like it or not.

[NaoSen]

Also why is a streamer criticizing FF14 something perceived as bad?

It's not but take a look at Xenosys or Arthar's when they criticize among others. They still enjoy the game, still play the game, are open to new things in the game and will be constructive. Zepla just whines, in her dawntrail playthrough you could tell she wasnt even willing to give the story a chance, she'd made up her mind and WAY overplayed her dislike of every single scene. It was pathetic acting.

Criticizing when you genuinely want to like the game vs when you have already decided it's no longer for you and will not like it no matter what happens come across way different.