FFXIV Random Praise Thread: Time to melee RDM

[Elcura]

Spoiler: show

It's not that I don't understand why things happened, I just didn't feel it. Most of the results you gain throughout SB's story are due to characters acting like idiots, you having to clean up and things working out in the end. It's a common thing in FFXIV because apparently there can't be conflict without stupidity. Namai was just the peak of it, and while you were supposed to feel like you were on the back foot and reacting to Zenos' power, the Doma stuff was such a cut in the action/story that felt totally disconnected from the actual story. Their turn around was unconvincing because they show 0 backbone and then suddenly they're ready for action even though they had more convincing justifications for not fighting. I didn't feel like anything I did was special or inspiring it was just stuff happening until returning to Ala Mihgo. Story definitely got a little confused around this area.

Gaining trust by proxy is kinda lazy, the way things went Hien probably would've helped you if you did the exact same things without Yugiri/Gosetsu, since the only difference I saw was you didn't have to do a bunch of quests to please Hien, just everyone else around him. I also didn't buy Gosetsu's death for a second (aside from the Katanagatari method of dying for 10 minutes which is funnier than anything else), and compared to Hauchefant (I can't spell his name plz) it was nothing. Then the ending appears and him and that bitch still alive I couldn't roll my eyes any harder.

Also I'm just comparing HW's base expansion to SB's, HW's story kind of lost me after the initial run which I thought was a lot better.

I think in general more Zenos less everything else would have been better. I honestly thought the story was about figuring out his strength and how to beat him, not getting your ass kicked for 10 levels until you're finally at cap so naturally you can beat him. The first 2 fights showed some great progression and was genuinely tense and fun seeing my character's power progress through fighting Zenos, but after that it kinda fizzled out.

SB's plot devices were by the numbers sure. But the tale in the far east felt like a chapter ripped out of a Odyssean epic. Travelling to the far east, battling with a deity focused on revely. Rekindling the spirits of pirates. Stoking the passions of countrymen against an empire. Becoming the Kagahn. And eventually retaking Doma by sacrificing the castle itself.

Feels like it should've been its own story rather than smaller parts of a larger one. Neither of these stories were particularly well developed and you spend far too little time in each area before the next big thing happens. Trying to catch two rabbits leaves you with none, which is how I feel about SB's story. If the initial expansion was either JUST Ala Mihgo or Doma I probably would've been happier about both, putting more effort into Doma's scenery and vistas and giving the area more depth to it (Doma feels stupidly small compared to Ishgard when it should feel larger, right?)

[Seravi Edalborez]

Fordola (or $4 as I call her) was fun, but her enhancements boiled down to "hey it's Gaius again".

[Silenka]

Spoiler: show

I also didn't buy Gosetsu's death for a second (aside from the Katanagatari method of dying for 10 minutes which is funnier than anything else), and compared to Hauchefant (I can't spell his name plz) it was nothing. Then the ending appears and him and that bitch still alive I couldn't roll my eyes any harder.

Aahaha, god I felt this too. I was like "no, are you really doing this? Really. Welp." And +1 for Katanagatari, that shit was an island of stupid in what was otherwise a fantastic series.

[Alkar]

Yep, I had the same feeling there.

[AlastorTGN]

Am I overreacting or are the confederacy a complete bunch of bastards? Like, a level of 'why are we helping this group who are basically Yakuza'. There's a sidequest where two of them are threatening hostages and you don't do anything about it.

A

[octopus]

Fordola (or $4 as I call her)

Omg I can't see her name without thinking $4 anymore

[Silenka]

Am I overreacting or are the confederacy a complete bunch of bastards? Like, a level of 'why are we helping this group who are basically Yakuza'. There's a sidequest where two of them are threatening hostages and you don't do anything about it.

A

Most of them are okay but some of them suck, that's what you get when you take in anyone regardless of their background or credo.

[gattsuru]

Am I overreacting or are the confederacy a complete bunch of bastards? Like, a level of 'why are we helping this group who are basically Yakuza'. There's a sidequest where two of them are threatening hostages and you don't do anything about it.

A

It's probably better to think of the two less as "hostages" and more "suspected smugglers", given that as soon as they're confirmed to have not paid the tithe they're throw into the ocean with stones tied round their necks. The Confederacy are probably a reference to the fleet of Ching Shih, who blurred the line between stationary bandit, protection racket, and government even more than most pirate groups. This is a little dickish by modern standards, but not unusually so for the FFXIV setting, and as awkward alliances go it's not the worst we've gotten into.

Spoiler: show

There's a similar, if probably less intended, parallel in the work-up to Castrum Albania. Lyse's outrage about Fordola shelling a captured imperial outpost would be a lot more compelling had we not, just two levels before, flooded a Doman encampment we had reason to believe held a number of Doman conscripts.

Or, you know, the part where we allied with a Au Ra tribe that was responsible for slaughtering the majority of Mide's tribe.

[Modoru]

So gathering seems p. easy this time around, but regarding Crafters;
How good are leves? Are old leves buffed? I got a few jobs I never got to 60 that I'd like to catch up...

[Gokulo]

For catching up to 60 moogle daily quests are really good

[Yuri-G]

final trial is so badass. just the right amount of difficulty for a final boss without being overwhelming. finally took him down last night; felt SO proud. this will inevitably get a steps-style nerf, and I'm glad I got the chance to experience it before that happens.

[Yukari]

Grats, that fight was actually quite a lot of fun, except when you have to fight 7 additional adds (your dipshit DF party)

[Alkar]

final trial is so badass. just the right amount of difficulty for a final boss without being overwhelming. finally took him down last night; felt SO proud. this will inevitably get a steps-style nerf, and I'm glad I got the chance to experience it before that happens.

We're gonna get an Extreme version too so if this one is ever nerfed at least we get another, more difficult, one

[Yuri-G]

Looking forward to that. I haven't done ex primals this time around yet but I hear Susanex and Lakshmex are disappointingly simple.

[Nitsuki]

Looking forward to that. I haven't done ex primals this time around yet but I hear Susanex and Lakshmex are disappointingly simple.

Royal Menagerie is harder than both susano and lakshmi ex.

[Gokulo]

And yet I can't get Susano done for 2 days now, both pf or df. Reminds me of when we first got to titan hard. I already know the fight by heart but those goddamn scrubs...

[Destinye]

And yet I can't get Susano done for 2 days now, both pf or df. Reminds me of when we first got to titan hard. I already know the fight by heart but those goddamn scrubs...

It's like people shutdown when they see mechanics.

Susano main culprit, at least on NA DC: Thundermarks. Move the shit to the other side of the rift unless it's tethered (where you can't move.) So easy.
Lakshmi Main culprit on NA DC: Using Vril. It's not hard. When she uses chimichanga or w/e that aura buff is (black aura) you're using a vril for mechanics, especially as tanks and healers. Simple.

If anything Ex primals needs a buff.

[Dotsudoku]

Susano isn't hard, but it forces you to think on the fly about how two mechanics are about to intersect. That alone poses more of a challenge to most players than anything Shinryu or Lakshmi do

[gattsuru]

Shinryu touches on similar matters when Icicles and the Tail come up at the same time, or when Levinbolt or Hypernova and the center slam attack synchronize. Not necessarily fatal if you screw up, where Susano will usually one-shot. But with good DPS you might never see that, and even bad DPS usually will down before he brings up a second Splash.

[Dotsudoku]

Granted, but Shinryu's mixed mechanics punish the player. Susano's wipe the party