The evolution of FFXIV

[Arzalis]

Personally, it's how much they've leaned into it. Final Fantasy has always had sci-fi elements in the medieval fantasy games, but it's still usually pretty cohesive.

FFXIV has completely jumped the shark to the point the game world has just kind of stopped making any real sense. There's basically no focus on how things fit in the overall world, just how it fits within its singular expansion.

Nothing will ever meaningfully affect anything outside of the expansion it released with because that would force them address the strange discrepancies they've created with haphazard storytelling.

[BunnyBrat]

Let people enjoy things. It's really not doing anything to you because someone chooses to wear modern looking clothing. And considering we've had events where people visited from other worlds(IPs) it wouldn't be a stretch that someone thought it would be cool to replicate the modern clothing they saw. On top of that the world doesn't have a time period that it fits neatly into. It's a fantasy world. Our world would look much different today if magic were real.

[Gwenkatsu]

Just imagine Eorzea had this technology 15 years ago - I'm pretty sure the WoL's selfie in front of the falling Dalamud had been an absolute bummer! Now I really hope they add some sort of Instagram or TikTok integration, so we can post our selfies online. WoW did this years ago with a selfie camera and Twitter integration, and this patch is still famous in the WoW community! /s

(And I absolutely agree with OP - the amount of sci fi and real world BS they're adding this expansion is disheartening).

[Exmo]

OP posting the most disingenuous crybaby thing on the forums all week.

[Ephremjlm]

I know it's been said a million times in the past but I don't think there are any problems with having "cutesy" things in the game, I think its more an issue that over the years the game has shifted its focus more toward aesthetic than substance, and that cutesy has replaced the real reason MMO players play MMO's, which is to explore the world, get loot, and fight enemies. That said, this has happened long enough now to where the audience for FFXIV is probably more largely non endemic MMO gamers vs endemic MMO gamers, so for them they get the best of both worlds by roping in endemic MMO audiences with marketing for MMO content, but when they get to the end game they realize the substance is gone and all thats left is hollow aesthetics which is more akin to a habbo hotel chat room.

HOWEVER, I think like we've all mostly agreed, we are waiting to see what happens in 1) the new exploratory zone, and 2) 8.0. So far the Arcadian story and (albeit hub city queue instanced) battle content has been a fun blend of both worlds. The FFXI raids imo are at least a fun time and I like that they acknowledge in deep ways their other MMO in ways that tells me people had to have played it, however it still falls short as its just a giant hallway. The exploratory zone and even the content they have planned for the new limited job, and how it interacts with Blue Mage and the rest of the game is going to be a big indicator of where the teams mind is. And lastly, if 8.0 is just more of the same, then idk for sure but its possible that many people myself included could check out and only resub for like a month or two out of the year. And I guess my question to the executive team is, is that really sustainable? And idk maybe it is and nothing we say matters because they have been banking on the mobile experience to rake them in the real dough.

[Daralii]

I know it's been said a million times in the past but I don't think there are any problems with having "cutesy" things in the game, I think its more an issue that over the years the game has shifted its focus more toward aesthetic than substance, and that cutesy has replaced the real reason MMO players play MMO's, which is to explore the world, get loot, and fight enemies. That said, this has happened long enough now to where the audience for FFXIV is probably more largely non endemic MMO gamers vs endemic MMO gamers, so for them they get the best of both worlds by roping in endemic MMO audiences with marketing for MMO content, but when they get to the end game they realize the substance is gone and all thats left is hollow aesthetics which is more akin to a habbo hotel chat room.

HOWEVER, I think like we've all mostly agreed, we are waiting to see what happens in 1) the new exploratory zone, and 2) 8.0. So far the Arcadian story and (albeit hub city queue instanced) battle content has been a fun blend of both worlds. The FFXI raids imo are at least a fun time and I like that they acknowledge in deep ways their other MMO in ways that tells me people had to have played it, however it still falls short as its just a giant hallway. The exploratory zone and even the content they have planned for the new limited job, and how it interacts with Blue Mage and the rest of the game is going to be a big indicator of where the teams mind is. And lastly, if 8.0 is just more of the same, then idk for sure but its possible that many people myself included could check out and only resub for like a month or two out of the year. And I guess my question to the executive team is, is that really sustainable? And idk maybe it is and nothing we say matters because they have been banking on the mobile experience to rake them in the real dough.

I wouldn't be surprised if they're banking on the mobile game being a huge success, but they'd still be sharing a cut with Lightspeed/Tencent. Regardless, despite phantom jobs sounding promising in the LL, CE being what it is has made me pretty pessimistic about Shades Triangle.