Final Fantasy XIV

Yeah, that's my plan too. Or rather, my hope. I doubt it'll work because Squeenix seems to enjoy completely invalidating previous gear tiers and being very stingy with upgrades, though. (I still distinctly remember leveling enough off the 55 FSH quest that the fishing rod and one piece of gear it gave me were useless because I then needed to buy 57 gear in order to be able to progress - and that's a fairly common cycle for DOL, I feel like.)

If I have to drop half a million in gil to be able to level my gatherers come Shadowbringers either way, I guess I'd rather pay one of my FC members for overmelds than buy vendor or marketboard 71+ gear, but it's still galling.

Edited by RedSavant on Mar 5th 2019 at 2:43:23 PM

We were told this happened in the main story prior to seeing it via the Echo anyway but being reminded by it also reminds me that I never quite got Fordola's logic with regards to being so loyal to the Garlean Empire.

Yeah, Ala Mhigans stoned her dad to death, but the Garlean soldiers nearby also refused to do anything to help and had right up to her being captured consistently disrespected and looked down on her even as Zenos came to appreciate her as a weapon. Why double down on a government you openly acknowledge won't ever look favorably upon you or your people?

Sunk cost falacy?

Because fighting back causes even more suffering. The idea is that hope only causes pain, both to yourself and to others around you, so suffering stoically is the more noble approach.

That and she wanted to prove herself worthy to the Garleans.

I forget how old Fordola is, but Ala Mhigo has been under occupation for 20 years. The Wolves are probably almost all local kids who grew up not knowing anything but Empire rule, and knowing that if absolutely nothing else, it puts bread in your hand and boots on your feet when the alternative is rock farming in Ala Gannha. It's like the villagers said to Lyse - when no help is coming, all the spirit of rebellion gets you is a boot to the throat.

As an aside because I was thinking about it, was anyone else unsatisfied by how abrupt and anticlimactic the "ending" of the Crystal Braves remnant bit ended? Laurentius and Yuyuhase were just kinda picked up as an aside and then absolutely nothing's happened to them.

i like to imagine they're locked up somewhere and are getting constantly kicked in the dick

Raubhan tells you that they were both arrested after the main plot of Stormblood, he even asks you what should be done with them before their trial.

Edited by Memers on Mar 9th 2019 at 5:30:47 AM

All of the plot stuff at the end of ARR was abruptly concluded, honestly.

"Oh no, Nanamo's dead, the Scions are in shambles, and Raubahn's been captured." "Hi, I'm Lolorito. Allow me to undo literally all of that."

And that's why I don't treat character death seriously

I think the worst part is that he was responsible for all of it in the first place.

It was more Teledjii than Lolorito, but he had some hand in it, yes.

lolorito basically played teledji like a fiddle so teledji would be killed

Remember, Fordola zoined during Gaius's reign. And Gaius would've been promoting people from conquered lands (like he did with Rhitalyn). But then Praetorium happened, Zenos came in, and turned the whole thing into a tool for subjugation.

BTW, in SB, while the changes did make it harder to craft Ironworks gear at 60, the gear was still good to go straight to 70 with (especially because the leves were much easier). Getting new gear at 65/66 is nice, but not important. And that's before ManipII+Prudent almost completely kicked out RNG (the only thing to watch now is a Macro'd Byregot falling on Poor).

Edited by arahman56 on Mar 9th 2019 at 12:43:16 PM

I think this game's story is normally really solid and well written.

But the Ivalice Raid's storyline is terrible. The characters suck, it takes a plot that once had nuance and depth and reduces it to a stupid fairy tale with a rosy happy ending, and meanders on forever. And it's so deep into fan service that it adds next to nothing to XIV despite being canonical.

it had fran and therefore was 100% amazing

Fran is fan service incarnate so that's approriate

"I KNOW WHAT THAT IS"

The raid

Edited by Hashil on Mar 13th 2019 at 5:14:56 AM

XIV kinda needed this just to showcase how much Ivalice history is different in XIV. From Ashley to Ramzas events happening in the distant past, and how XII that would predate it happens later.

I had the same complaint about both the Ivalice raids and the Omega plot-line, that they just felt like a long string of "Hey kids, remember this?" fights based around FF games I'd never played.

However in both cases the last installment helped turn that sentiment around for me, by linking things back to Eorzea's history. I still think that parts 1 and 2 of both Omega and Ivalice are kinda weak, but the decent part 3s have left me with a more generally favorable impression of both stories.

Edited by LittleMako on Mar 13th 2019 at 5:37:19 AM

But ff14 is fan service, the game though.

There is a lot. Far too much for its own good. But for the most part it does have a core of original storytelling and lore it routinely builds on that's really enjoyable. It can't help but nostalgia wank every 30 minutes because that's just how Square Enix operates now, but when it does it's usually done organically and in a way that builds on XIV's world. Krile is the granddaughter of Galuf in name only, Alexander resembles his IX incarnation in a quick nudge but otherwise is an ancient automaton grounded in the world's backstory, etc.

This just felt like all the fan service with next to no tying it back into the world. Fran shows up to tease Viera, there's a bit of world building with regards to how Garleans consume things like entertainment, and there's hints at our going to go help Rabanastre out eventually (but apparently not soon, since everyone's resources are tied up/Rabanastre's resistance is too bratty), but the overwhelming majority is just a watered down FF Tactics nostalgia trip.

I just shrug and move on. The game is what it is.

Having not played most of the other FF games (as in, none of them), I can tell when something is a callback mostly due to cultural osmosis, but for things like Alexander, I wasn't like 'oh my god, it's a giant nostalgia trip for FF 9!', I was just intrigued by the giant robot. Besides, FF always reimagines things from other games, like the Primals.

It does get a little clunky when they try to justify it in-game; like, I'm sure the Twelve Braves are from another game, so the way characters input little pauses for winks and 'hey, remember when you were those heroes~?' got a little annoying after a while, but otherwise it is what it is. It's not like stuff like Doma are all like HEY REMEMBER FINAL FANTASY 6 WE HOPE YOU PLAYED IT TO UNDERSTAND THE MSQ FOR THIS EXPANSION, anyway. So maybe it's actually better to be a series newcomer, so even the things that are callbacks can just be accepted at face value.

Edited by RedSavant on Mar 13th 2019 at 10:22:45 AM

Hell, The CT raid series and all of Omega were all "HEY THIS WAS A THING!" Yes, the Ivalice raids are that too, but rather than just have the story be a 1:1 version of everything Ivalice, they flip many things on their head like with Ba'gamnan's backstory and what happened to Delita towards the end of his backstory.