Mao has question for everyones about DDR-style boss fights.

[Valence]

Mao said "randomy". As in feels little bits like random things whats players interact with other than just has to be in specific spot at right time. Is not actually random though. At least Mao pretty sure is not random. Mao uses final fight in Aurum Vale (Mao likes Aurum Vale) as example. Is fairly complex (at least in Mao opinion) fight where is importants to cleanse debuff. This means choosing when to eat fruit and where to be to gets it. Fruits seem to spawn in random spots but Mao thinkings if actually watch where fruits spawn, is not actually random. What IS random though is how each player decides to interact with this. Some might try go for fruits early on. Some might try wait for little bits. Is little bits more complex than just simple dance. For Healers this makes fights feel randomy because thems always has to be on guard in case is player whats wait too long. This why Mao likes old fights more. Mao would like see actual random elements added to new fights to make fights more interestings and has replay value. Is not need to make fights completely random. Just add little bits.

There is something that actually played no small role in randomness back before Stormblood, and that is only found on a smaller scale currently on Ultimates due to phase transitions: the mechanical script of bosses used to be HP based and not fully time based only. This meant that if your party reached a specific HP threshold, the boss would start a new series of mechanics earlier. It introduced some issues like totally skipping a mechanic halfway through but this was mostly notable in complete overgear or unsync scenari, which don't really matter in terms of full fight experience anyway. Still, SE decided to do away with it because 1) it served their agenda of now allowing players agency whatsoever and limiting skill play and 2) fixed the aforementioned unsync issues.

Combined with the pseudo random phases that we sometimes get in fights like Guardian (the most complex up to date with this), or P8S doorboss, this can truly shake things up and make runs feel more different from each other. SE also does have the tech to let mechanics run their course before switching to something tied to a HP threshold, as shown in the recent M4 Arcadion fight, where the boss below 15-20% HP or something starts to cast the soft enrage cannon shot that never ends: if the boss is still in the middle of a wide mechanic, it doesn't stop it but goes to its end before switching to the threshold mechanic (soft enrage), which allows for a smoother and more natural transition.

[ovIm]

There is something that actually played no small role in randomness back before Stormblood, and that is only found on a smaller scale currently on Ultimates due to phase transitions: the mechanical script of bosses used to be HP based and not fully time based only.

That is the big thing that, imho, that makes the current encounters boring and tedious and samey compared to older ones - no matter how players act/perform, the boss will always stick to its script, without deviation. It makes encounters incredible static, and stiffles player agency imho. Possible strategies like holding a burst to make a different phase pass more quickly, or punishments like having to adjust and possibly do a mechanic one additional time because someone died which causes raid DPS to take a little bit of a tumble are completely out of the question with the current design paradigm. Look at Coil T2 and how different groups chose different paths because of party composition and player skill. The game had room for that. The game would still have room for that, were CS3 not chosing to completely ignore lessons of the past.

This game has become very much on rails in every possible way - gear, boss fight strategies, class rotations. Moments where a player can actually make a meaningful decision (no matter how small), like what Mao said about eating a morbol fruit when it suits your own timeline/rotation instead of when the fight exactly mandates it, are removed more and more. Also, mechanics were less strict because class gameplay was a bit more in depth. Just look at how often CS3 has removed some bit of class gameplay without any replacement.


So no, the game has not always been like it is now, don't let people gaslight you into thinking otherwise - if you were around back during ARR / Heavensward, you'd know that.

[Kazuke_Miso]

There is something that actually played no small role in randomness back before Stormblood, and that is only found on a smaller scale currently on Ultimates due to phase transitions: the mechanical script of bosses used to be HP based and not fully time based only. This meant that if your party reached a specific HP threshold, the boss would start a new series of mechanics earlier. It introduced some issues like totally skipping a mechanic halfway through but this was mostly notable in complete overgear or unsync scenari, which don't really matter in terms of full fight experience anyway. Still, SE decided to do away with it because 1) it served their agenda of now allowing players agency whatsoever and limiting skill play and 2) fixed the aforementioned unsync issues.

Combined with the pseudo random phases that we sometimes get in fights like Guardian (the most complex up to date with this), or P8S doorboss, this can truly shake things up and make runs feel more different from each other. SE also does have the tech to let mechanics run their course before switching to something tied to a HP threshold, as shown in the recent M4 Arcadion fight, where the boss below 15-20% HP or something starts to cast the soft enrage cannon shot that never ends: if the boss is still in the middle of a wide mechanic, it doesn't stop it but goes to its end before switching to the threshold mechanic (soft enrage), which allows for a smoother and more natural transition.

I can never fathom why they just funnel themselves down one path (I mean I could, it's because ultra-scripted DDR fights are very cheap to produce on the programming level). It's like these fight designers don't care about being creative and going the extra mile to squeeze every ingenious idea they can out of the, frankly, horrible engine. They seemed to have tried to do that in HW and SB.

Ultimately it probably just boils down to CBU3 having too many artists and too few programmers. No offense to the artists, but this is still a video game at the end of the day, and you need people scripting those mechanics. SE as a whole seems to have, for a long time now, focused on style over substance, ever since FF10.

[ovIm]

I can never fathom why they just funnel themselves down one path (I mean I could, it's because ultra-scripted DDR fights are very cheap to produce on the programming level). It's like these fight designers don't care about being creative and going the extra mile to squeeze every ingenious idea they can out of the, frankly, horrible engine. They seemed to have tried to do that in HW and SB.

Just look at the complains given over the years by players, and how often it was proven that CS3 game designers are unable to properly understand their own game. Of course, players are stupid and have no idea about game design (and I am counting myself right in there, I only see the things now that they have unfolded), so of course the complaints were awful. But I'd argue that a proper game designer would have understood the complaints, and would have adjusted the issues differently.

What was said: "we hate how synching debuffs is difficult"
What was meant: "due to multiplicative damage calculation, trick attack is a black hole that sucks in every other cooldown, since it is not optimal to not use CD's under TA"
What CS3 did: "lets put every damage cooldown on the same timer"

What was said: "keeping uptime is hard"
What was meant: "with how strict we have to adhere to our resource generation due to damage CD timers, any loss in uptime makes our burst worse"
What CS3 did: "lets make enemy hitboxes massive so players can always hit the enemy"

[Kazuke_Miso]

Just look at the complains given over the years by players, and how often it was proven that CS3 game designers are unable to properly understand their own game. Of course, players are stupid and have no idea about game design (and I am counting myself right in there, I only see the things now that they have unfolded), so of course the complaints were awful. But I'd argue that a proper game designer would have understood the complaints, and would have adjusted the issues differently.

What was said: "we hate how synching debuffs is difficult"
What was meant: "due to multiplicative damage calculation, trick attack is a black hole that sucks in every other cooldown, since it is not optimal to not use CD's under TA"
What CS3 did: "lets put every damage cooldown on the same timer"

What was said: "keeping uptime is hard"
What was meant: "with how strict we have to adhere to our resource generation due to damage CD timers, any loss in uptime makes our burst worse"
What CS3 did: "lets make enemy hitboxes massive so players can always hit the enemy"

Well, it's hard to not kneejerk react to feedback when you don't have a vision, after all.