FFXIV is one of the shittiest games ever made.

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GothGirlSupremacy
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FFXIV is one of the shittiest games ever made.

Post by GothGirlSupremacy »

Let me tell you why this game sucks.

1) As an MMORPG, it sucks.

Now you may be thinking, "but MMORPGs already suck" but this one takes suckitude to a whole new nadir. I would say FFXIV barely qualifies as a game in some cases. Yeah yeah, you have your standard overworld that you will never die in, your dungeons that will have tanks that take twenty minutes to walk from one end of the hallway to the other, trials or raids that take place in the same room with a new background, but dig it even deeper and you see the flaws. The gameplay is clunky and feels jank. It has this absolutely autistic global cooldown enforced that is a genuine 2 second delay with few abilities off the GCD depending on your JOB. When you select your JOB you'll see all these really cool and impressive looking bars and such on your screen eye-fucking you and think "wow, this is gaming" but I'll spoil it: just about every single class and role follows the same looping pattern. You hit this ability, then this ability, then this ability, then finish with this ability. In case you ever forget, Square-Enix is kind enough to make your next ability glow like a firework so you can engage in this riveting game of Simon Says. Also there's an invisible barrier on the overworld that reminds you to stay on the main track. Garbage.

2) There's no customization, talents, skills, feats, what-have-you among the JOBS.

Part of what makes an MMORPG fun when it comes to the gameplay, at least in the decent ones, is the aspect of player expression. Differentiating your class from someone else's in ways that sees you both under the same umbrella but with different approaches. This shit doesn't exist in FFXIV. The "stats" you get are so minor and stupidly passive that you could probably ignore them entirely. Like it was mentioned above, every class having the same general gameplay loop gets compounded further when it hits you that every single class will be playing the exact same way in the end. There's one set rotation with the only "choice" really being whether you need AOE or single target. It's soulless. I do enjoy when reading people that play this game seriously talk about the classes and roles like any of it actually matters. One day when they graduate to a real game they're going to be in for the time of their life. There's no better way to describe FFXIV than: "a game so fundamentally basic that even girls can enjoy it." And that makes me angry.

3) "It gets better after 200 hours, trust me."

This is my favorite defense of this slop. The belief that after 200 hours of following this inane, aggressively retarded storyline you'll get this Eureka moment and start to love it. You won't. A ton of these characters you meet in the near universally-agreed bad base game story are present throughout the various expansions. A new player that is advised to blitz through the cutscenes and text to get to "the good expansion" will thus have zero fucking clue what's going on or why they should care. Ask yourself if when reading a book series if you start with the second or third book and how well that works out. It's dumb. It's also a huge trap because the storyline itself, which I took it upon myself to spoil, is pretty mediocre. I've no clue why this game's story gets the praise it does. I'm guessing most people don't even know themselves, they naturally assume with the millions of cutscenes you're forced to endure something decent must have been hit by now. Also be sure to set aside time because some of these cutscenes approach Kojima lengths of absurd. We're talking 40-50 minutes straight. I'd rather be tortured by a serial killer or be forced into a conversation with one of these dour German fucks.

4) The community is full of weirdos.

Usually I don't give a shit about communities in MMORPGs but FFXIV is one special case here that it has to be mentioned. When you go around main cities and hubs you'll notice this disturbing trend: a lot of people don't really play this game as a game. They're sitting around, in these really fag looking costumes and shit, dancing or talking like teenagers at their homecoming event or probably ERPing in private messages. If anyone here as a yung buck ever endured things like Habbo Hotel or IMVU you'll know exactly what to expect. All the races look goofy too. I don't tend to mind JRPG oddness but the graphical style sincerely repulses me here. Also when you begin this game your character has this really annoying green sprout next to their name and because the community in this game feels like you've invaded some online sect of the Stepford Wives you'll get random messages by what I can only assume are queers larping as catgirls offering you help. Eventually I started to reply to these messages with a stiff, "no fuck off." I got reported for toxic behavior and sent warnings. Fuck 'em.

And that's why this game is trash. I gave it a good and honest shot about 2 years ago hoping to find something to enjoy in it but was consistently letdown and very rarely does it hit me but this is one of those times I do feel like I wasted hours of my life that will never ever return. MMORPGs generally love to waste your time but this game not only wastes your time but has the audacity to call it "content" while it does so. And the gameplay doesn't make up for it, the classes are boring, the main sell of the storyline is infantile and the community will one day be busted as a human trafficking ring.

People that actually play or enjoy this game are great because you can tell they've never played anything else so they truly have no frame of reference or taste of quality otherwise. When I read someone loves FFXIV I like to give a little arrogant chuckle and then pray to Santa Muerte that their entire family is executed on film for their insolence.

If this convinced you to never pick this piece of shit up then I have done my earthly duty as a human-being full of compassion.
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Hando
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Post by Hando »

I tried out FF11 back in the day. Can say with confidence that it was one of the worst gaming experiences I've ever endured. I imagine this is a similar affair with improved graffix.
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rusty_shackleford
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Post by rusty_shackleford »

The only class that feels unique is blue mage, and it's restricted from being used in most content. Classes are used for neither archetype nor niche protection, they might as well just be cosmetic with how much they actually matter due to how similar they are.
Agreed, shit game, one of the worst MMOs I've played with very few redeeming qualities.
somerandomdude
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Post by somerandomdude »

Gays, troons, and 40 year old lonely cat ladies love it, so it has a market. Decline game marketed to decline people.
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Post by J1M »

It's a degeneracy containment zone that became too big and started influencing things outside its walled garden.
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Post by Kalarion »

Hando wrote: February 27th, 2023, 00:16
I tried out FF11 back in the day. Can say with confidence that it was one of the worst gaming experiences I've ever endured. I imagine this is a similar affair with improved graffix.
You have lost your fucking mind.
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Nanafuse
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Post by Nanafuse »

I think the base game's story is fine. It's even better if you never play with real people.
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Post by Derringer »

MMO's either rely on gatcha or sandbox elements to carry their 'content' and 'updates', the only ones I ever especially cared for were the Diablo clones but that's just because they feel more involving in the end, not that they're especially good or fun.
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GothGirlSupremacy
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Post by GothGirlSupremacy »

Well there's a whole rant to be made on how MMORPGs and their modernized ways are all trash and time wasting to keep you on a long leash/subscribed as long as possible when they should've been a spiritual successor to MUDs and try their best to replicate a tabletop experience. Vertical gear treadmills always suck.
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Post by rusty_shackleford »

Dungeon & Dragon Online's reincarnation feature is probably one of the better forms of 'progression' in any MMO. Beats out any sort of 'vertical' or 'horizontal' progression IMO.
You just start over with a minor bonus based on your previous life. The game isn't centered around rushing to X level and repeatedly doing content, but doing content at all levels.
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GhostCow
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Post by GhostCow »

Everquest was literally the only good MMO. Shadowbane was almost good though.
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Klerik
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Post by Klerik »

Final Fantasy 7-10x2 are what im most familiar with and they are my favorites. They are where the genre shined its most positive aspects brightly. Those being, experiencing an alternate reality with comfy game mechanics using late 90s technology.

I didn't get a chance to play FF11 on ps2 back in the day and im sad I missed the oppurtunity because it seemed like it might have been alot of fun. I did get to experience World of Warcraft during it's peak however.
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Post by KnightoftheWind »

MMOs are largely successful because of their world building, and the sensation of playing with friends and hundreds of internet strangers on one server. The gameplay itself is nothing special, below average even. The modern age is all about "escapism", and MMOs offer that fix and allow you to live vicariously through your digital avatar. An idealized version of yourself that you control every aspect of.

FF XIV in particular, being that it's made in Japan, depicts a more idyllic version of our world. Where globohomo and demographic change isn't an issue, where beauty and objective truth haven't been stamped out by irony and by soyentists and bugmen, and where beautiful women and Herculean men live side-by-side and quest for glory and honor. Haven't played FF XIV myself, but I gather at least some of that is accurate. People want from FF XIV what they can no longer get from modern life, even the trannies and degenerates create idealized versions of themselves that are more HECKIN VALID' than their real world crossdressing. The MMO ultimately becomes their reality, and they wish to impose their fictional avatar onto the real-world.
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Post by GhostCow »

KnightoftheWind wrote: March 12th, 2023, 05:22
FF XIV in particular, being that it's made in Japan, depicts a more idyllic version of our world. Where globohomo and demographic change isn't an issue, where beauty and objective truth haven't been stamped out by irony and by soyentists and bugmen, and where beautiful women and Herculean men live side-by-side and quest for glory and honor.
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KnightoftheWind
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Post by KnightoftheWind »

See that's where my comment about trannies comes in. But it seems you can in fact play as a beefed-up chad character if you wanted to.
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Post by GhostCow »

KnightoftheWind wrote: March 12th, 2023, 06:04
See that's where my comment about trannies comes in. But it seems you can in fact play as a beefed-up chad character if you wanted to.
I have played the game and there's not really any way to make a male who's not a bishonen
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Post by Klerik »

Koreans and Japs are really cookoo for femboys so it doesn't surprise me.
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Post by KnightoftheWind »

Most anime feature teenage characters, it's rare to see a man over the age of say 26 that's bearded and has a family. Those are usually reserved for "hotheaded warrior" or "leader of bandits" type characters. Adversaries that are usually thwarted by the protagonist, often with great ease.

Korea is worse than Japan, with most popular men in their media wearing as much makeup as their female counterparts. It's a perverse obsession with the feminine.
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Klerik
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Post by Klerik »

Women make-shit-up while men paint their face.
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Post by KnightoftheWind »

Klerik wrote: March 12th, 2023, 06:44
Women make-shit-up while men paint their face.
"It's not makeup, it's paint!"

Image

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Klerik
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Post by Klerik »

KnightoftheWind wrote: March 12th, 2023, 06:50
Klerik wrote: March 12th, 2023, 06:44
Women make-shit-up while men paint their face.
"It's not makeup, it's paint!"

Image

Image
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Val the Moofia Boss
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Post by Val the Moofia Boss »

Your analysis of the gameplay is spot on. Personally I really dislike the button bloat. You have two dozen buttons but they all do the same thing: deal damage. That really needs to get condensed down into like 3 or 5. And then you have 2 or 3 buttons that do something other than damage, like charging forward or a heal. Contrast that with WoW where each class has several non-damage abilities such as being able to place down a demonic gateway, or summoning players, or lockpicking, taming beasts, or being able to mind control a target and jump them off of a cliff, or being able to incapactitate a target for 60 seconds, etc.

Another issue with FFXIV is the fight design. The only challenging fights in the game are instanced boss battles. The battles are very static. You don't get cool stuff like in WoW or GW2 where you click an object to control a mob, or hopping into a vehicle or a turret to blast a target, or dynamic battlefields like collapsing floors or dodging incoming trains. As for raiding, the raids are designed all 8 players performing every mechanic perfectly. If you botch a mechanic, chances are you and at least one other person will die, and if you survive you get hit with a massive damage debuff for a minute. The raids are tightly tuned DPS checks, so standard operating procedure is for the raid to just wipe the attempt the moment someone messes up. It's not like WoW fights where it's okay if people mess up a mechanic. No single mechanic is that damning. Rather, it's about managing your resources across the whole battle.

As for the story, I liked the grounded geopolitical conflict of nation vs nation of the first 200 hours. It was building up to a big world war. Then the story swerves and becomes about Light vs Dark and ancient superbeings, and the world war that was being built up is thrown out. It's a massive bait and switch. Furthermore, after Stormblood it's hard to care because there is no tension anymore. There is nothing at stake. You know the heroes will survive and none of the protagonist kingdoms will be wiped out or conquered. And that's when you start noticing how formulaic the dialogue and scene pacing is.

GothGirlSupremacy wrote: February 27th, 2023, 00:07
I've no clue why this game's story gets the praise it does.
Baby's first epic JRPG I'd wager. We've had an entire generation of people grow up having never been exposed to a JRPG before. Games journalists tried to bury JRPGs during the 2000s, and it didn't help that many studios did not survive the leap to HD. Square Enix stopped pumping out a game every year and their projects entered into development hell. Smaller JRPG series such as Atelier and Trails have not gained exposure or accessibility in the West until very recently.

GothGirlSupremacy wrote: February 27th, 2023, 00:07
All the races look goofy too.
Another issue. Every race is just a human with different proportions. They added a Hrothgar race a couple years back but it's just a human wearing a rubber animal mask. You don't have any races that really feel non-human like in WoW or GW2.

GothGirlSupremacy wrote: February 27th, 2023, 00:07
because the community in this game feels like you've invaded some online sect of the Stepford Wives you'll get random messages by what I can only assume are queers larping as catgirls offering you help. Eventually I started to reply to these messages with a stiff, "no fuck off." I got reported for toxic behavior and sent warnings.
Yes, the ingame chat policies are very draconian, which hurts because you will have people who are clueless or are playing improperly, but you can't coach them because then you will get reported. Or they just quietly quit. The draconian chat policies don't stop toxicity, they just transform it into passive aggressiveness.

Hando wrote: February 27th, 2023, 00:16
I tried out FF11 back in the day. Can say with confidence that it was one of the worst gaming experiences I've ever endured. I imagine this is a similar affair with improved graffix.
FF11 and FF14 play completely differently. FF11 is an oldschool MMO, and actual MMO. After level 10, the mobs are too difficult to solo and will kill you, so you are forced to find other players to group up and level with. You have to do almost everything in that game with other people. You cannot AFK in town and queue for dungeons and then get automatically grouped with other people and teleported to the dungeon. That game also has actual character customization. You can make your own builds, like a Dragoon/Red Mage who can use his pet wyvern's breath to heal people. You can obtain level 30 gear that you will still be using for endgame builds, ie a sword that inflicts status effects like blind and paralyze, and use that for builds that give you a high hit rate so you are pumping out status effects.

FF14 is half visual novel, half clone of retail WoW. To reach the latest raid tier in FFXIV, you have to first play through the 400+ hour long storyline, half of which is cutscenes. Another 100 hours is spent running to the next cutscene or talking to NPCs. Then of your actual gameplay time, a large chunk of it is spent in solo instances waiting on NPC RP to play out. Very rarely will you get to actually queue for a dungeon or a story boss fight. Once you beat the story, the gameplay is retail WoW where you just AFK in town or your house and queue for instances and do your daily chores to progress on the gear treadmill.

Cedric wrote: March 1st, 2023, 11:32
Good music though.
It was overall very good. Not the bestest thing ever. I think Nihon Falcom's composers had a higher hit rate (as in tracks I liked) than FFXIV's team (of whom only Masayoshi Soken gets credit). However, I do not like how pop sounding songs have been increasingly dominating the soundtrack over the last two expansions.

Klerik wrote: March 10th, 2023, 06:10
I didn't get a chance to play FF11 on ps2 back in the day and im sad I missed the oppurtunity because it seemed like it might have been alot of fun. I did get to experience World of Warcraft during it's peak however.
There was a FFXI classic private server that launched at the start of this year, called Horizon. You could play that for a couple days and get a feel for what it was like. Play with a grind party in Dunes or Buburimu Peninsula.

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However, I would not invest in it long term. You would have to spend several months (if not well over a year) of playing several hours each day to make it to the final boss before the private server inevitably dies. The management of that server does not inspire confidence.

KnightoftheWind wrote: March 12th, 2023, 05:22
MMOs are largely successful because of their world building, and the sensation of playing with friends and hundreds of internet strangers on one server. The gameplay itself is nothing special, below average even. The modern age is all about "escapism", and MMOs offer that fix and allow you to live vicariously through your digital avatar. An idealized version of yourself that you control every aspect of.

FF XIV in particular, being that it's made in Japan, depicts a more idyllic version of our world. Where globohomo and demographic change isn't an issue, where beauty and objective truth haven't been stamped out by irony and by soyentists and bugmen, and where beautiful women and Herculean men live side-by-side and quest for glory and honor. Haven't played FF XIV myself, but I gather at least some of that is accurate. People want from FF XIV what they can no longer get from modern life, even the trannies and degenerates create idealized versions of themselves that are more HECKIN VALID' than their real world crossdressing. The MMO ultimately becomes their reality, and they wish to impose their fictional avatar onto the real-world.
The globalist agenda begins to seep into the narrative during the Stormblood patches. Everyone must be on the same side, the Eorzean Alliance, and anyone not in it is bad and must either be shown the error of their ways and join, or be eliminated. There is a questline about going to an isolationist underwater (Japanese themed) kingdom and trying to force it to trade. The elder there tells you no because he is afraid that the wealth of his country will flow out and they will become effectively vassals, and the quest has you humilate him and force him to recant and open up his country. You go from country to country - Ishgard, Ala Mhigo, Eulmore, Bozja, Garlemald - overthrowing their monarchies or theocracies and replacing them with democracies. Etc. The setting of the game increasingly resembles our world as it goes on.
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Post by Kalarion »

If you want to really get into FF XI, Nasomi is an option. He's been around for a decade or so.

He left the fork that he was on several years ago to forge his own path though, and as a result some things are highly customized and not at all era-accurate. But you only really start to run into that at endgame. The 1-75 portion is pretty close to perfect, as far as I could tell when I was playing.
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Post by somerandomdude »

What I remember about Final Fantasy XI, and my memory is a little fuzzy, but I remember being on a full team just roaming around on a beach and we had to pull single enemies that were our level range, if you pulled 2, the team was ripped. And this is one of the things I do remember, because I was asshurt over losing a boatload of exp to "beach slugs". This was really early in the game's life, it may have changed a lot near the end. I also remember teams needing at least 2 people with taunt because 1 tank couldn't keep aggro the entire time even if they did everything they were supposed to do. Successful teams had 2 tanks who worked together to cycle their taunt cooldowns. I was a warrior/monk tank, and I tried to coordinate this with others, but not everyone wanted to listen. Retarded players made the game difficult for everyone who was teamed with them. And my experience with this game shaped my view that I'd rather solo, or not play at all than roll the dice with a team of random players.
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Post by Nanafuse »

Personally I prefer one-button MMOs where there is no customization and only raw DPS matters.
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