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Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood (PC/PS4, no PS3) announced, first info [Up: Trailer]
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
hosannainexcelsis
Member
You assume correctly; Niinou is credited as an assistant director in ARR but is out of the credits in HW.
Look at this plonker.
Hildibrand is a treasure.Truly.
Do you know who took over? Has the quest design improved since then? Lol.
I can check when I get home but yes. It improved a lot in Heavensward.
hosannainexcelsis
Member
Looks like the person who took over is Mitsutoshi Gondai. I have no idea who he is or what his previous work was on. But yes, the quest design in Heavensward is a noticeable improvement over A Realm Reborn. Filler quests are almost entirely excised from the main storyline and the complexity of quests and uniqueness of individual quest goals and instanced duties is increased.
Edit: OK, looks like Gondai was Lead Battle System Designer on ARR and moved up to Assistant Director after Niinou's departure on Heavensward.
Quest writing is definitely far improved (the story is light-years better than the boring ARR plot till level 43), but I highly disagree that the design itself has improved. It's still the same generic go here talk to X, click on X, kill X. It's not very good. If you boil all quests down they usually come out to that formula, but it's how you do it design wise that makes it stand out. There isn't a single quest in XIV that is like the Promyvions from XI or as thought out as a quest in Runescape.
As someone who has went through almost 90% of the available quests on HW in the last month I wholeheartedly concur.
All the main quests actually felt more meaningful to push the story along, unlike ARR where 1/2 of the quests were just padded filler to lengthen the quest line.
I wonder if the Assistant Director credit still means the same thing. I seem to recall when Niinou was working on it, he mentioned specifically that he was the head of the quest team. It's not surprising to hear people complain about how they are very generic time wasters, because that's just how Niinou approaches design. Even though I love his games, most of the quests are usually boring!
The Last Wizard
Member
Well, no one else can seem to do anything without your help so...
Have fun. Some of the best writing in FF, period.
Yep. I unsubbed for awhile (still might when I hit a brick wall of content) but I'll always be back. Truly a gem of an MMO. Probably the first MMO for me (besides RO) where I'll stick around for the entirety of the games lifespan. (Couldn't do it for FFXI or XIV 1.0 because I like soloing occasionally).
Riposte
Member
He lived through a meteor and three combat system revisions.
Yes. No (only if you're into endgame stuff, that is). Yes.
1) Yes. There are mandatory dungeons and boss fights that require you to party with other people, but the Duty Finder lets you run those pretty easily.
2) Only in the endgame or if you want to be a crafter/gatherer. Leveling has only been made easier over time.
3) Definitly!
1. Most story content is, although there are forced story dungeons and 8-man encounters. None of it is difficult, so don't worry about finding people for it.
2. There can be depending on what you're doing. Most of it is all endgame stuff.
3. Depends on who you ask.
Zomba13
Member
1. Yes but there are story Trials and Dungeons that need a party but you just queue for it in the Duty Finder and it mathmakes a party. So while there is group content needed to complete the game you don't need to stand around and make a group beforehand.
2. For crafters/gatherers yes, for the combat stuff not really unless you are trying to max out another combat job. A small amount of grind to get some cross class skills and your secondary class up to what it needs to be to unlock your job but that stuff goes by pretty quickly.
3. I think it is. 2.0 stuff definitely drags in some places and goes from boring to frustrating but the overall plot is pretty good and then from the 2.x patch stuff up to where it is now is pretty great. The 2.x patch quests (post 2.0 story, pre-Heavensward 3.0) do have some silly "go here, talk to her, get box, give to him" stuff but it sets up some interesting things and leads nicely into Heavensward and then from that point on it's pretty much all good except for a certain bit.
Glendemonium
Member
1.) Aside from dungeons and raids, I'd say half of it is. MSQ and class/job quests tend to have solo instances. Dungeons aren't bad, you'll have higher level players synced down and some of them are total facerolls. Fates you can do solo, leves for exp can be done solo, just about every side quest that doesn't unlock a dungeon can be done solo.
2.) Depends on how much you want to invest into this game, grind tomes for better gear (highest level one is on a weekly cap). Raids and dungeons also drop gear but RNG plays a role on which piece. Crafting and Gathering are grindy as well, but at least you can make a little money while doing those.
3.) If you love old school RPG tropes, Final Fantasy fanservice, the story really gets better after ARR with the patch MSQ.
SilverArrow20XX
Walks in the Light of the Crystal
He's protagonist man now.
He looks exactly the same except he got a haircut and facial hair.
I don't think so. 1.0 was 5 years ago. The Warrior of Light was seeing events from 10 years before that via the echo. Then he was seemingly thrust through time by Louisoix, so it's doubtful he even experienced those 5 years.
He certainly looks like he's aged 15 years though.
1. Yes. I solo, only doing required mp.
2. No but I did have to grind around level 42 for a bit. My only grind in 100 plus hours.
3. I live it. Final Fantasy fan here who pretty much plays FFXIV for the story.
rayman1900
Member
If I would want to solo the game (and do the required team dungeons), but only stick on to the main story, how much play time until the end of Heavenswards so I would be up to date with this expansion?
Pretty stoked for this. The rate at which they're adding content has been a pretty pleasant surprise, honestly. Yay for discontinuing PS3 support, no more hamstrung development excuses!
Also, am I simply misremembering, or wasn't the end goal for the Squadron stuff to be able to bring them in to dungeons, e.g. two player characters and two Squadron members to do actual dungeon content at some point? Maybe I'm just projecting my hopes about it, but I was hoping that would be a thing for the next expansion, especially as me and my S.O. kind of just do our own thing as much as possible.
Also, am I simply misremembering, or wasn't the end goal for the Squadron stuff to be able to bring them in to dungeons, e.g. two player characters and two Squadron members to do actual dungeon content at some point? Maybe I'm just projecting my hopes about it, but I was hoping that would be a thing for the next expansion, especially as me and my S.O. kind of just do our own thing as much as possible.
And some of the best cutscenes in recent FF history:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=INzA1l4oV6A
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc14bFyjtwM (spoiler on final boss in Heavensward and one of my greatest WTF moment in my gaming history)
Weltall Zero
Member
I'd say your strong sense of solidarity would find better causes virtually anywhere else, but on the other hand, I honestly doubt this affects your decision either way and believe your posts are merely meant to let the world know how so much principled you are.
SilverArrow20XX
Walks in the Light of the Crystal
Comparable to the time it takes to complete 2 offline Final Fantasy games.
Chaos2Frozen
Member
I feel that the decision to make the end game story a mandatory raid killed my interest in the game back then.
Up till that point I was doing fine then I reached the final story raids and there's nobody around to run them.
Up till that point I was doing fine then I reached the final story raids and there's nobody around to run them.
It's not a matter of making things prettier or flashier (though that's part of it). A great many of the legitimate complaints (inventory size, lack of open world content) has been attributed to the PS3s limitations. When you have to design for the lowest common denominator you wind up having to recycle the same design over, and over, and over. There are only so many assets you can load into memory at any given time and once you start designing for more the people who can only see less are going to suffer.
You can only update so often when people are expecting the game to change and you can't meaningfully change anything due to a system that's severely handicapped.
It's far different from WoW where it is, oftentimes, just the graphical capabilities. Even with PC-only MMOs there's always the expectation of reasonable upgrades, though. They aren't going to design a game for a PC with 512mb of RAM. That's just stupid. You'll lose more "sense of community" by keeping legacy support intact--when that legacy support is ludicrously out-of-date--than you would ever gain. For a while there people were actively kicking out PS3 players (when/if they found out they were PS3 players) because people on PS3 were having issues keeping up with fights due to FPS issues that simply couldn't be resolved without lessening the experience for everyone else.
tl;dr: PS3 isn't a spec. It's a closed platform. You can only design for a specific closed platform for so long before you've reached capacity for it, and people on better hardware are always going to suffer.
ChackanKun
Member
First of all, I said I had 34 hours per work week free, but I mean 3/4 hours lol.
Second, I thought that I had to but the PS4 Disc\Digital to play the PS4 version of the game.
What you are saying is that I can buy the PS3 version disc and use the 30 free days on the PS4 version? Without having to buy the PS4 Disc\Digital?
Also, can anyone compare me this game with Guild Wars 2? I know it's a hard thing to ask for, prolly...!
I seem to remember something about avoid buying on steam? Hopefully heavensward will be on sale soon. I'm up for some single player or duo with my friend experience. I don't have a lot of time to play so I avoid MMOs these day but I have very fond memories of ffxi back when I did play MMOs.
Looking forward to more information and reveals later this year. I've been playing this game on/off since 2013 and it still manages to excite me with upcoming content. Although, I think I'm gonna take a break until 3.5 and then catch up a bit. Here's hoping for the jobs to be Samurai, Red Mage and Chemist. Maybe secret 4th job... Mathematician DPS 😉
Aceshighhhh
Member
So what are the real implications of removing PS3 support? Will there be graphical improvements?
Both games are MMOs but approach things very differently design wise. I would suggest just playing the trial as it will do a better job of letting you know if you want to play it better than anyone can via text.
That's pretty much a given. They can finally makes some better looking textures since they have way more vram to play with.
What the heck? Why is the DVD version from Square store $30 for game + heavensward but the download version is $60?
https://store.na.square-enix.com/product/282160/final-fantasy-xiv-online-pc
https://store.na.square-enix.com/product/282822/final-fantasy-xiv-online-pc-download
edit: Anyone know what happens if you do the 14 day free trial then buy the retail version? Do you lose 14 days of the 30 or something?
https://store.na.square-enix.com/product/282160/final-fantasy-xiv-online-pc
https://store.na.square-enix.com/product/282822/final-fantasy-xiv-online-pc-download
edit: Anyone know what happens if you do the 14 day free trial then buy the retail version? Do you lose 14 days of the 30 or something?
You get the 14 days then once you add a key you'll get 30 more, but the 14 days is limited feature wise and level cap wise.
If you're on PC here's the bundle for the game @ $27
https://www.greenmangaming.com/games/final-fantasyxiv-online-en.aspx/
Ploid 3.0
Member
Just activate the retail version after the 14 are up, you shouldn't get 14 subtracted when you sub, it's supposed to be a free trial, not a loan. Hope someone confirm it, I wouldn't put anything past SE but that would be pretty strange.
Thanks guys! Going to check out the free trial. If i like it then green man gaming is perfect.
ChackanKun
Member
Ah, important question!
How is the Lore in FFXIV?
Will I be exploring the world and find amazing little lore details?
How is the Lore in FFXIV?
Will I be exploring the world and find amazing little lore details?
Yes. All the time. The dialogue and background are immense. There are a lot of details about the various countries in the game's continent, Eorzea, and there are hints of what unrevealed countries may be like in Eorzea and other continents.
ChackanKun
Member
Ok, well, took the plundge!
Bought the FFXIV Realm Reborn + Heavensward pack (in promo for 54% less).
Which world\server shall I choose? I'm in Europe, Portugal.
Is there a community thread here on GAF?
Bought the FFXIV Realm Reborn + Heavensward pack (in promo for 54% less).
Which world\server shall I choose? I'm in Europe, Portugal.
Is there a community thread here on GAF?
SolVanderlyn
Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
As a huge fan of almost every FF game, I find the story of ARR very boring and mundane. There are neat callbacks (a group of bandits by the name of The Corpse Brigade, a town named Costa del Sol) but overall the story is pretty underwhelming. It supposedly gets a lot better in the expansion.
ARR 2.0 story is pretty bare bones but it sets up the world and does the typical story beats of collecting the crystals and fighting off the evil empire with some clever writing throughout. 2.x quests can be tediously long but the escalating action leading up to Heavensward is great and 3.0-3.4 has been fantastic.
Reminder, this still an MMO. You will consume story at a slower pace than in a normal RPG and there will be month long gaps where you have to wait for newer parts to be added. But ultimately there is a ton of things to do in game to tide you over. Really an insane amount.
Reminder, this still an MMO. You will consume story at a slower pace than in a normal RPG and there will be month long gaps where you have to wait for newer parts to be added. But ultimately there is a ton of things to do in game to tide you over. Really an insane amount.
The lore, in terms of world and environmental details and history and whatnot, is fantastic.
The 2.0 plot is rather thin and cliché, but once ~2.3 hits the story gets much better.
LordKasual
Banned
No kidding? Probably the best Final Fantasy has ever had to offer. Think the Vagrant Story/Tactics/FFXII except dialed up in scale a bit.
The lore feels expansive and well developed, even when the main story quest is focused on a specific objective, the game continuously gives the feeling that events are happening in parallel all over the place, sometimes not even on the same continent. The way the Garleans (technological imperials) specifically are handled feel great to me because of this. You're technically at war with them, but you're basically just having skirmishes from time to time until they try something ballsy.
And I think every long-running series on earth needs to take a page from XIV's book on how to properly do fanservice. The lore is written in such a way and the cultures so diverse that I honestly feel like they could get away with shoehorning almost anything from any entry in the series and it will make sense...without making you roll your eyes. The game exists in that sweetspot between serious political things and nonsensical crap that's only there to make you chuckle, but everything just clicks.
brandonh83
Banned
Just got to Heavensward actually.
FFXIV has incredible lore, good story and characters. This is a game I'll be playing for a long time.
FFXIV has incredible lore, good story and characters. This is a game I'll be playing for a long time.
Murder. She Wrote
Member
Do we have details on what the revamped combat system entails?