7.3 is my favorite patch since Shadowbringers

[PharisHanasaki]

I just want the team to know that I *really* like the direction taken with this patch.
It is not perfect, but I can say it is the most fun I've had since Shadowbringers.

I was going to come yesterday after completing the Second Walk, but I wanted to wait for the excitement to come down a little. I was a tiny bit hyper, I was out of a voice from laughing so much at all the chaos going on in the raid. People from all alliances were chatting and making funny remarks, and they seemed to be enjoying it as much as me so it was truly a blast. I honestly do not care for FFXI, but the music is so iconic I found myself really, really enjoying the Second Walk. It was just what I needed to rekindle my relationship with this game.

The MSQ was not copy paste content, there were no characters being shoved on my face. The music was good, although the trial music could've been upped a bit. The pacing was a little wonky with the writing at the beginning but it ended with a bang.

The normal raids have been on point since the beginning, and they did not disappoint.

Now I know there's a lot to be done, but I just wanted to express that to me it is a nudge in the right direction. So truly, thank you for your hard work!

[Miradelle]

I am so amazed by the incorporation of the WoL into cutscenes actually doing stuff. The animation details were really terrific, as was the lighting and the use of the depth of field, the camera work was absolutely peak. The story also felt believable and interesting, and made me even cry for a random Viera NPC after they got their memories back. And, even though the big bad of 7.3 didn't have much build up, they managed to make him a good villain in the end,

Also, I really appreciate us not having to run from place to place after a cutscene of "hey, let's go here urgently," and instead teleported us. Even Wuk Lmao was pretty damn good this patch, though I've never been one that hated her with a passion--just thought 7.0 was way too "Disney," and like a kids' game at times.

The battle content was pretty good, too. Some interesting stuff in the trial and dungeon, like the 2nd boss, and the whole 'Staircase-to-heaven' thing in the trial. I feel like the alliance raid I don't really have the appreciation for, because I haven't played the other FF franchises, so it was kinda meh to me, but the mechanics after the first boss (the first boss kinda sucked, but the area was really cool) were pretty fun and somewhat challenging. I missed alliance raids having some challenge.

[UNDEAD10000]

Main story quest of patch 7.3 is by far best part in entire Dawntrail expansion.

Difficulty of San d'Oria: The Second Walk allaince raid is fine but i really hate the amount of visual clutter caused by both visual effects of bosses attacks and the visuals of boss arena that simply makes seeing the safe spot quite hard (NOTE: San d'Oria: The Second Walk allaince raid is only content i have hard time seeing the save spots.)

Patch 7.3 newest dungeon is ok but there is only few things i really don't like are the first boss attacks having this god awful bright neon green visuals that cause my eyes feel very uncomfortable, second boss is mostly fine but i really hate being forced fighting the boss on extremely small area and final boss is fine but i have hard time seeing few of it's mechanics due to the very similar color tone both the mechanic marks and ground it self uses but good thing is that in those mechanics there is other visual cues on mechanic marks that helps me seeing them and i able to avoid them easly.

In my opinion of patch 7.3 is currently best part of Dawntrail expansion, even there is still lots of things to improve.

[Jeeqbit]

There were a lot of things that were better (and obviously they should be given all the criticisms they've got over it).

But for me personally, it was not only more of the same, it was more problematic than Dawntrail itself for me.

See, in Dawntrail itself, Wuk Lamat was probably even one of my favorite characters. But where it went wrong was when she insisted on coming along in Heritage Found. Nevertheless, they had spent so long on refining the MSQ and made such good environments, trials and dungeons that it wasn't too bad. I could even understand her maybe wanting to explore Zoraal Ja's old research facility in the patches. But in 7.3, it felt like there was more of the "my happiness is your happiness" and "I promised I would protect her people", the very parts everyone disliked because they feel like they come out of nowhere. In order for them not to come out of nowhere, you would have to feel those things too since you were present for all of it. I would have just preferred to kill the boss without all that.

There was an excessive amount of nodding and praising and thanking, and they didn't start Smile from the beginning of the track which would prevent it just blasting out of the speakers suddenly. They had the instrumental version playing before it, but that's not the same.

Although the story was otherwise better, I just don't care for Electrope FF9 and of all the things they could have done to excite me, I'm just apathetic at more Ascians. While going backwards could help backtrack to a time when the story was better received, we also moved beyond them so it feels like I could just play ARR for more Ascians. I hope they can turn it into something better.

[FudoMyoo]

Not exaggerating, wife n me actually clapped after watching the final cutscene.

I'm really confused where the hate is coming from ...

[PharisHanasaki]

Although the story was otherwise better, I just don't care for Electrope FF9 and of all the things they could have done to excite me, I'm just apathetic at more Ascians. While going backwards could help backtrack to a time when the story was better received, we also moved beyond them so it feels like I could just play ARR for more Ascians. I hope they can turn it into something better.

I totally understand. I will say I was rather apathetic at the beginning. I was like nope, I'm not falling for another Haurchefant trap, but then came the enthralling scene and I was... OK, I'm biting, give me what you've got!
Let's hope it works for the best, but I'm glad people are voicing their opinions instead of sugar coating or just plain p***ing at the game.

Not exaggerating, wife n me actually clapped after watching the final cutscene.

I'm really confused where the hate is coming from ...

That is the lie they want you to believe. The % of players that come to the forums is not representative of the player population.
Most of us who play the game, rarely come here if at all.
They seem to have the ability to type at 130 wpm but cannot dodge or do a 1,2,3 rotation to save their lives.

I encourage everyone to come voice their opinions. Hopefully we can keep toxicity to a minimum, whether positive or negative.
Praise what needs praise and give criticism were needed. No need to sugarcoat.

[Keumjo]

7.3 was the best of Dawntrail, but I don't enjoy how this new team writes story. There is no point in me elaborating, plenty of other people have covered this topic.
The cutscenes having more life and the addition of puzzles was welcomed, so I am thankful for that and I hope to see more care and attention towards character involvement and cutscene direction going forward.

[Exmo]

7.3 was the worst patch since Stormblood and retroactively sours patches 7.1 and 7.2.

[Raraka]

7.3 was the best of Dawntrail, but I don't enjoy how this new team writes story. There is no point in me elaborating, plenty of other people have covered this topic.
The cutscenes having more life and the addition of puzzles was welcomed, so I am thankful for that and I hope to see more care and attention towards character involvement and cutscene direction going forward.

I agree with you, the gameplay part was the best the game has been in years!, I particularly loved the second dungeon boss having a role-check mechanic to some extent and the trial was super fun even in normal mode

Where the patch fell however, was in the Geodude segments. The set up and pay-off of the character was WAAAAY too short, if we had his exposure in 7.1, then join us in adventures and now the same payoff, it would have felt much harder. Instead it felt too fast to care, wich raises some eyebrows about the current writers

Regardless, again, I want to reiterate that the playable part of the patch felt superb, I loved it and I hope the gameplay team stays on track, my only nitpick is that the puzzles could have used a hard version, for those who dont mind getting stuck solving a escape room for an hour or harder tile puzzles, etc, it felt slightly railroaded to the solutions, but still, very happy and pleased that it was in the patch to begin with, loved it

[ryouma17]

its past time these forums get a thumbs down button