- To an extent, the emphasis on Brave Exvius original units goes back and forth. Some players appreciate them from a mechanical stand point and like the designs of many, such as the Global Exclusive Ling from the Lunar New Year event, and in general appreciate that BE is trying to have its own identity outside of the crossover characters. Other players are somewhat annoyed that these units take up a significant portion of the banners and Gacha pool, sometimes at the expense of the pre-established units that said players are nostalgic for, especially when some games like IX had to wait 18 months from the game's debut to see a proper event. There was a span of time where the Global game went almost a month without a "regular" Final Fantasy game event, and this could be extended to 2 months for those unattached to Type-0, which is much bigger in Japan than with most of the Global playerbase. And then among that there is a minority who are not fond of the Brave Exvius units in JP easily competing with, if not straight outperforming, the established units, such as Ayaka or Lotus Mage Fina being the best healer by a mile in 2017, or Dark Veritas and Aileen being the same-if-not-better than Cidolfus Orlandeau for many fights - though the fans then rebut with the units being good being the point, and so on, and so forth.
- Even more polarizing are the lower base rarity of certain main characters in the franchise (like Vaan and Bartz, who do not even reach 6 stars). Some are unhappy that their favorite characters (like Lightning and Tidus) are locked behind 5-star bases, but are satisfied with how strong they are as units. Those who like 3-star characters are happy that they have an abundance of their favorite character, but are unhappy with their strength and later ditch them for better ones. However, with the release of units like Trance Terra and Livid Shantotto, fans of weaker 3-star bases are starting to feel some sort of hope that their favorite units will get released. Alim has promised CG versions of each main character of the mainline games, starting with Radiant Lightning, and other 5-stars have gotten releases.
- There is also a debate on how collaboration units are treated. While units like Elly and 2B have been considered to be at the peak of their power, they rarely get enhancements, let alone latent abilities or kit reworks. In Japan, these units get periodical random re-issues and random enhancement. In Global, Gumi only releases their enhancements during event reruns, and even then they're inadequatenote . Some would rather see their pet units that they spent money on become more useful, while others are happy not to chase limited-time colab units. While there are limited-time Global Original holiday units, they are periodically re-issued beyond their events, available for free in some cases, and more often relevant for a relatively long time than collaboration units are. The arguably biggest gripe veterans had about collab unit, however, is Rico Rodriguez not getting his 7* form for two years despite Gumi promising players he'd get one when the collab was first issued. They tried to redeem their stance with reissuing some of them all at once, giving some of the units good enhancements (Rena becomes a meta healer/support while Elly gains some decent utility as an LB magic finisher in Dark Visions) while also finally giving Rico his long overdue 7* version. While some are pleased, some others feel that only enhancing four from a dozen of reissued old units available makes it unfair for the rest that don't get the same treatment, while also bringing up that Dragon Quest XI units haven't received their promised buffs.
- The differences between Global and Japan (and whether they are considered two different games) were originally seen as controversial. While the debate originally started over exclusive content coming to Japan, it mostly comes in the question of whether the Global version and Japanese version are different games. The producers often use "Global and Japanese versions are two different games" to explain why the Global community doesn't get certain benefits and rewards that Japanese players get. One side believes that the content Global gets is adequate enough to make a difference. For example, Power Creep is much more accelerated due to units like Esther, Sylvie, and Zeno of the Beta Star being released, and some believe that the accelerated curve of DPS units makes it a different game. Others believe that the Global-exclusive event types are mostly reskins of other events, the lack of Global-exclusive trials, and the most substantial difference is that the Global version is less generous. For example, the Global version of the first Valkyrie Profile collaboration's banner was severely nerfed, with lower drop rates for the individual units' step-ups, no banners featuring individual units, and off-banners added. Also, units previously advertised as Global-exclusive (like Reberta and Ling) were offered in the Japanese version. Those who believe the two versions are the same game point out that Gumi now uses "Global Original" instead of "Global Exclusive", leaving a possibility of including their content in the Japanese version. The changes to the Summon Fest, which have largely been positive, have solved this question. Most accept that FFBE Global is not only different from FFBE Japan, but better.
- The changes to the NieR: Automata banner are especially very polarizing. Some people are glad that A2 (5-star) and Eve (4-star), two other NieR characters, were added to the gacha and pullable, and the expansion of two new characters added to their hype. Others are angry that two new units were added to the pool. A2 looked like a very competent chainer, so nobody minded the rate split there, but people were angry about Eve's inclusion in the normal gacha, calling his inclusion a scheme to nerf the rate for Game-Breaker 9S (who was arguably the most hyped unit in the history of FFBE, along with Orlandeau and Warrior of Light's 6-star upgrade). The anger is compounded by people who haven't played NieR targeting the banner specifically for 9S, who has a game-breaking TMR and was the best debuffer in the game for the next four months. He was only surpassed by a Global Original 5-star base, and the only one in Japan who surpassed him was released long after 9S). Happier people are happy there's more NieR content and that A2 is a Game-Breaker in her own right.
- The 7-star upgrade system has been hotly debated since the Japanese version announced it in October of 2017. Some criticized the 7-star system as a transition to a pay-to-win model, as you need a dupe of a certain unit to upgrade them to 7-star. Others praised it: while some duplicate units were still good for chaining, other dupes (like Marie and Lightning) were useless in combat. The 7-star system gave these dupes a use besides Trust Mastery Reward fodder, and gave an opportunity for older units to shine again. In addition, Japanese players noted the rainbow rate buff: despite the off-banner chance being raised from 50% to 66%, this resulted in a greater chance for smaller spenders to gain dupes for 7-star units. It also helps that the developers give out Select Tickets on various occasions, guaranteeing a copy of a certain unit after some amount of time, and offer prisms for limited-time units in the shop. The debate re-ignited in Japan due to the Summon Fest removing the UoC system, but Global has managed to avoid it due to the largely positive changes made.
- Exvius Points, specifically in the Japanese version. These are special rewards for spending real money on the game. These rewards include special summoning tickets, leveling materials, and a guaranteed 5-star ticket. Some people see this as a positive, with whales being rewarded for supporting the game's bottom line. Others see this as a negative, especially in JP, where Loren, Karlette, and Mediena are gated behind $500. Nowadays the EX system is seen as useless and almost an insult to whales, who would rather just spend on Licenses for the premium banners, and even Loren's NVA and EX Ability didn't do much to garner attention as this now meant players needed to spend double at the very least to get Loren at full power. When Loren first came in JP, many in Global were afraid that she would remain locked behind a paywall, but she wound up displacing Roy on his banner, averting most of the worries, and her NVA ended up coming with Neo Gabranth's raid.
- The nerfs to the Sephiroth banner step-up led to a lot of debate among the community. Originally, Japan had increased rainbow rates as part of the step-up. Instead, the step-up was nerfed to a version of Squall's step-up in Japan. The rainbow rate increases were removed, a guaranteed Shylt was bumped back from Step 4 to Step 2, and Step 4 was changed into a 10% rainbow ticket. Some saw the nerf as in poor taste, while others decided that it wasn't that substantial (and even a necessity due to being generous enough to not warrant big chases). Some users even braced themselves for the nerf beforehand.
- The emphasis on Global Original units has become a hot-button topic, especially starting with the release of Esther, Sylvie, and Zeno of the Beta Star. Some of these units are a period or two ahead of Power Creep compared to Japanese units at the time. For example, despite being released four months before Warrior of Light Bartz (who represented the next level of power creep after Akstar in Japan), Zeno is on the same level as Bartz before his Japanese release. The detractors believe these units shouldn't have as much prominence, as they effectively kill the hype around every unit in their class for months (specifically pointing to Esther and Zeno killing the hype for Akstar and Regina). On the other hand, some see their strength and the deviation from the Japanese version as a positive for the game, adding value instead of subtracting it.
- Quite a few Japanese players don't take well to Global units making their way back into JP. Part of this is Global players complaining that what made their side of the game special is not unique to them anymore, part of this is caused by how these units were treated by Alim over time, often being far inferior to their Global counterpartsA resume of these units . There are players who are perfectly fine with this, however, but most of those are also Global players.
- The inclusion of Kaito and his focus on damage over time (DoT) brings up a debate on how to view usability of a unit and character moveset designs. Some argue that Kaito is a bad unit due to his damage that only reach Akstar's level because DoTs from dupes don't stack and passives and TMR that don't match his nichenote . Meanwhile, some others argue that it's a fresh deviation from the usual damage dealers since he can deal said amount of damage by himself which consequently gives more flexibility on team composition. They also say it's a sign of Gumi's willingness in trying to implement new mechanics in the game since Alim's units have been less variative with physical chaining and especially magic chaining. Another group take the middle ground by saying that he is an example of a unit with good concept but poor execution.
- Global's 5th Anniversary and a month into that is yet another proof that Global Original units have better longevity and/or depth than JP's despite their kits having Clash of Wills thought into their design. Ling and Louise are both amazing support that can be used outside Clash of Wills, with Louise being an excellent support for (magic) fire teams with her 135% fire imperil and 90% SPR break and Ling being a support that can do a LOT of things as explained in the Game Breaker section. Skye, despite having her biggest damage potential locked behind Clash of Wills' morale-scaling modifier in her brave shift LB, has a passable damage support and jump mechanic that actually manages to not force a dragoon into TDW equipmentsnote . Bulwark and the Melodic Mascots manages to be almost useful, if not as useful as, Ling with several skills that differs them from her. Cressnik has an autocast buff mechanics that makes him more interesting as a healer, a feat that has to be praised after the game's direction pretty much makes healers obsolete. This compared with the release of FFVIIR's banner that borders on predatory boasting big damage without much depth gradually put people into "saving for GLEX units" mentality.
- The Global version's 3rd Anniversary celebration is yet another example of fanbase debate. On one hand, some people appreciate the announcement of more Global-exclusive content like a new CG unit
◊, segueing into a Global Original story based around the Precursors, and inclusion of the Eggsterminator, the Easter Boss, into a new vortex dungeon called the Chamber of the Vengeful. Unlike other chambers, this has missions for completing it with up to 25 different units, keeping the game from being too predictable and stale. Meanwhile, some others are disappointed with how Gumi handled the reward system, which was initially geared more toward bringing new and former players back into the game rather than keeping veterans satisfied. At first glance, they seemingly tried not to give away rank and login-based free anniversary tickets like the Japanese version did. When the debated anniversary ticket was announced, it came in the form of a different Anniversary Follow-Up ticket. Unit of Choice tickets were replaced with Super Trust Moogle tickets, but most people bemoaned the replacements of esper ores, supercites, and regular stat pots with weaker versions of them (Mini Stat Pots, Megacites, and regular magicites) and the addition of Minituars and Gil Snappers. Some people in the community thought the nerfs went too far, especially after it became almost impossible to pull Prism Moogles and the 5-star EX ticket drop rates were slashed to the bone. On the other hand, some people consider the removed rewards as little issue since players already got to summon them in the actual anniversary tickets and the limitation as Gumi trying to find a balance between being too generous with rewards (something that became a catalyst to the Summon Festival in JP) and being too stingy. - Relatively underwhelming enhancements on DPS units compared with supports Global playerbase has been getting since Easter 2020 is yet another debate on people's expectation on unit longevity. Those who don't mind with DPS not getting as much love argues that people will chase after the strongest damage dealers and making old damage dealers on par with if not stronger thannote the newest ones negate the purpose of selling new units. Those who doesn't like the change points out that the damage bump they receive is lower than free units and units enhanced 1-2 months priornote , plus the fact that people will pull for the new units anyways, since Ability Awakening Crysts and Lapis are not a shared resource. There are, however, people in the middle who ignore the damage comparison and choose to use the units they want until they can't clear another trial with said units anymore.
- The introduction of Neo Visions (NV for short) and Neo Vision Awakenings (NVA for short) system in the middle of the game's fifth year creates a bit of controversy. Some people don't like how their enhancement system works since they require either a lot of dupesJust how many? , NV-base dupes are rarer to obtain due to their low summon rate, and the enhancement system feels like a big copy-paste of the system seen in War Of The Visions (a game many FFBE players hate) in both complexity and grind aspect. Some don't really mind the feature since NV units have Brave Shift mechanics that allows them to change their set of skills in the middle of battle, allowing for a very diverse strategy in theory (for example Monk of Kolts Sabin who gets tanking skills in his NVA and becomes a magic attacker in his Brave Shift form). While Alim is no stranger to controversial moves (especially with their celebration of the game's fifth anniversary dialing banners into a system that seems to highly disregard free players while unsuccessfully attempting to cater to whales for their dedication), Gumi's handling of the new rarity is viewed by many players as being arguably worse, both for what led to its arrival and for what they are doing with it. The added grind (which, unlike in JP, is not compensated by Gumi with a more generous distribution of NRG potions), coupled with Gumi's questionable decisions as the NV system arrived on Global How questionable, you ask? has put the majority of the playerbase into the detractors' side. While many of the missing features started to come to GL (such as the Shard Quest), at this point Gumi is just facing an uphill battle with players already dissatisfied with their version of the game.
- The release of NV units with Super Limit Burst (Or Limit Shift as the game started to refer to recently) draws another controversy. Some have no problem with it because Alim hasn't been really creative with designing roles and active skills for their units as of late (the biggest offender being Avalanche Tifa and Legendary Hero Sephiroth, who both innately only have four selectable moves including Limit Burst in battle, in both forms, like a Pokémon), a way to update NVA's LB since the majority of the NVA units' base form LB modifiers aren't tuned at all to fit the meta, and people get tired of seeing the form shifting animation, while others deride the new mechanic as a padding system for their kits that makes their usefulness far inferior to units with the standard Brave Shift (now called Role and Trance Shifts in JP), and many see it as a lazy way for Alim to both not spend extra resources for designing two unit animation and kit packs in one unit, and force players to whale for units as their actual potential and rotation is not achieved until said unit is at EX+3, making the new mechanic a sign of Alim not thinking the Neo Visions concept properly in the first place. While units with better SLBs and resources alternative to these (Rabanastre Youth Vaan is a good example) were released and reception to the mechanic mellowed down a bit, the mechanic is still seen in a negative light, especially when compared to Shift-based powerhouses like Rookie Guardian Tidus.
- Clash of Wills (CoW for short) is a Global Original type of event newly introduced during Global's 5th Anniversary. In short, it's a limited-time trial-like event with adjustable enemy difficulty from 1 to 99, a morale gauge which depends on allies and enemies' action and scoring system similar to DV that utilizes party's total EX levels to unlock challenge modifiernote . The event is a subject for hot debates to say the least.
- The event having similar vibes to Dark Visions already attracts differing opinions. Detractors say that having two competitive events back-to-back is draining and not F2P friendly, the scoring system that utilizes EX level is a blatant way to cater whales while limiting use of useful 7* units like Sylvie and Avalanche Jessie in order to achieve high rank, and the scoring criteria which includes number of chains and turn limit is a pain to an already difficult event. Meanwhile, others embraced the refreshing difficulty since DV has become a mind-numbingly easy DPS race, the trial-like difficulty makes use of nearly neglected roles like tanks and healers, and the rewards for completing the challenge up to the highest difficulty are relatively better, although Lapis prize in DV's ranked reward may put this into another debate.
- The morale gauge mechanics and units with morale-related skills. Some say this is classic "Creating problems and selling the solution" tactic (something the JP community also complains about when it comes to Dark Visions and the most recent trials) and locking units' full potential in one event type. Meanwhile, some others say that those units are still usable outside CoW and they are still more complex/variative than JP's Dark Vision units.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/BrokenBase/FinalFantasyBraveExvius
FollowingBroken Base / Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
Go To
