Final Fantasy XIV - Kiwi Free Company

[Dopey Cunt]

I was never a fan of hyper futuristic settings inserted into what is essentially a medieval, fantasy esque world with magic and fantastical beasts and mythical elements. Feels out of place and jarring when you're running around with a big axe or a magical paintbrush or flying about in magicked wings over very traditional fantasy areas and you see some guy dressed up in a modern getup speed past you on his ultra glowy thunder monowheel whilst snapping selfies of himself with his non smartphone. Before I could have enough suspension of belief with the regalia and all that and it was kinda novel having a flying car in a medieval fantasy game. Now it's just everywhere I look, there are modern outfits everywhere, flying cars and motorcycles. Let's go fight against a giant white tiger furry who can summon thunder and gale force winds with my trusty compatriot who looks like he's stepped out of his goblin hut for the first time in 20 years after having a weed and alcohol binger.

Even more so that the majority of the current story is taking place there. Feels like I'm playing a completely different MMO at times and like Grave said earlier, they're using the existence of S9 to stuff as many modern stuff into the game as possible. If I wanted hyper futuristic cyberpunk aesthetic, I'd go play PSO.

And like, the idea of a super technologically advanced civilization or city co existing with a very primitive and or magical one or being in some kind relationship with one another, negative or positive, sounds pretty rad on paper. But in 14, it's like a separate world entirely where people outside of a literal bubble barely acknowledge that it's there and it just feels so disconnected from everything else that it causes me to feel disconnected with it's very existence itself. S9 looks cool and all, but I could not give any less of a rat's ass about it and apparently barely anyone else in the game besides the people who live there care about it either. Events take place there but there are a lot of moments where I'm thinking to myself "this isn't Final Fantasy 14 anymore"

 

[Well Intentioned]

Tangent aside, Solution 9 is such a garish blemish on the aesthetics on the world of Eorzea.

I actually don't mind this, even as much as I fucking hate the 'street wear' modern glams with a passion.

The series, since the very first installment, has played around with fantasy/sci-fi elements, and I do think that S9 works really well as a narrative device. I'm having a hard time articulating exactly what I mean by that, but I think the art direction was really good, just the actual fucking writing fumbles so badly.

E: The big problem, and this is indicative of Dawntrail in general, is that everything is too shiny. Part of why the Garlean Empire 'worked' is because it was lived in and dirty and grimy. There's no grime, or grit, or anything in S9. Which, again, I think is intentional, but there needed to be a counterbalance if they're going with a 'cyberpunk' or 'neon noir' aesthetic.

All of Dawntrail, and this goes back to what @Kane Lives is saying, is so fucking sanitized. The rubber bullets, the saccharine way everyone gets along, S9 being a sterile void. I'm not saying this needs to be an edgelord festival or whatever, but there needs to be something, lol.

The reason why so many people fixate on Troon Cat is because Wuk has such a huge fucking presence in the base MSQ. They're inextricably linked, for better or for worse.

 

[00R-Gundam]

Libitina is a story and level skipped character too so I don't know why they're crying so much about it.

I had a little look at Tari's profile last night and saw that Burning Fanatic outed them a few years ago as using the Farms' name for clout, intimidation or whatever they fuck they thought they were doing on Reddit. They're still at it (Archive).
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And remember that random tranny they posted about on the forums and got obsessed with? That was them too. It's even funnier because they post on tranny subreddits all the time themselves.
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Honestly, with a 2019 join date I'd expect better than this but somehow I'm also not surprised. Tari, KF is not your personal army.

To think this could all be avoided if he wasnt such a fucking sperg about the game, shame since he was actually knowledgeable but pulling all this gay shit is pretty Halal. So was he using us as some sort content for reddit updoots?

 

[Brandy [◉'']]

imo, The reason S9 and all the other modern shit feels out of place, and things like Allagan or Garlean tech doesn't is because effort went into the latter. A designer and a lore goblin probably sat together and thought about how, from the point of someone in a medieval fantasy setting, the future could look like. You get these big, baroque machines like Ultima weapon, technology that is at its core very biological with all the cloning and shit the Allagans have done. Garlean tech has been much of the same; How does a flying machine look like? Well it probably has flapping wings! So these weird stick shaped flying machines they used up until SB were a thing. There was genuine effort to merge the whole setting together, and keep it that way. It isn't even new, FFVI did it much the same with its steam punky vibes.

Solution 9 and all the other modern drivel XIV has introduced is just borrowing from our world and putting it without reflection into the game. I mean ffs, you have magic and electrope and all this shit and all you can do is introduce a slightly modern setting that has glowy bits all over? It is just boring and I hate it. It isn't even borrowing from games like FF VII or VIII, both had really strong art directions. Esthar is probably the closest FF has ever done to something like S9 and even then their space program is a giant revolver that shoots space capsuls up towards the moon that need to get caught by several energy nets.

What is their draw for cosmic? Weirdly NASA looking shit that has none of the Loporrit tech hallmarks. The current design team urgently needs more direction and less of a long leash, the is suffering immensely under it. And this doesn't even cover how weak the gear design has gotten. According to one of the may interviews Yoshida gave, the reason we have this as current PvP rewards is because Yoshida (and most of Japan) was really into the current season of baseball, and they thought it could be fun to add something like that to the game.

These kind of in-jokes are horrid for an MMO, especially new people who have no idea what kind of setting they should be, just like Dopey described.

 

[Dopey Cunt]

Part of why the Garlean Empire 'worked' is because it was lived in and dirty and grimy.

I never had a problem with Garlean tech because it actually felt like it belonged and had a place in the universe of the game. It was tech but fantasy tech and not totally modernized to mimic the real world. I play games to get away from reality, not have it thrown into my face some more in a game where it feels like it shouldn't be in. This is like if I'm playing Witcher and I walk through a door just to suddenly end up in downtown Los Angeles or something with my sword and magic looking at a group of douches sit on a bench sipping their lattes. It's like the plot of some redundant and trite isekai.

Also Garlean tech had actual ingenuity behind it's designs and functions. They used a fuel source and found unique ways to design contraptions like radios using very resourceful and genius ways. Hell, they had a superior train system and actual cars. They had to use their actual brains to make these designs work with the fuel source. S9? Lol, let's make a god material that can absorb any element of aether and convert it to a convenient power source and they make literally everything out of it whilst claiming that said material is in so short supply that wars were started over it. This material also being so strong and powerful that you can make fake people out of cubes made of the stuff. Fake people that can eat real food. No thought behind it at all. Literally take a rock, pump it with some aether and it can do practically anything. And this is how they justify and explain having a futuristic modern city in this game. It's dogshit and unoriginal.

 

[Troon Whisperer]

One of my issues with Dawntrail that was bugging me more and more as I progressed through the MSQ is that it's fucking weird that the whole area was so peaceful and boring. The end of days weirdness should have fucked these guys over massively, because they'd have zero context as to what's happening other than "people randomly turn into horrifying monsters" and how there was nothing they could do to stop it, it just stopped by itself one day.

 

[RIPRhongoBongo]

One of my issues with Dawntrail that was bugging me more and more as I progressed through the MSQ is that it's fucking weird that the whole area was so peaceful and boring. The end of days weirdness should have fucked these guys over massively, because they'd have zero context as to what's happening other than "people randomly turn into horrifying monsters" and how there was nothing they could do to stop it, it just stopped by itself one day.

I assume travel between Eorzea and Tural would have been drastically reduced because of the situation(anyone fleeing likely would have turned long before reaching a ship). Also, I believe there isn't even government-level communication between the continents. Still would have made a fantastic plot point, but "muh aetheric density"

 

[00R-Gundam]

Clearly the end of days stopped its calamity to speak with Wuk lamat and then it decided to stop. There debunked and its lore accurate.

 

[Agarathium1066]

Clearly the end of days stopped its calamity to speak with Wuk lamat and then it decided to stop. There debunked and its lore accurate.

The end of days decided to punch out then and there.

 

[Baguette Child]

Clearly the end of days stopped its calamity to speak with Wuk lamat and then it decided to stop. There debunked and its lore accurate.

Not even the emo girl apocalypse beasts wanted to spend any more time Speaking To Wuk Lamat

 

[Dopey Cunt]

Is there anyone here who cleared EX4? I have a question about RB3 that I'm having trouble understanding and all the guides I look up don't do a good job of explaining.

I know that the floor pattern will always have 1 inner safe tile in between 2 unsafe tiles and that it should be considered the relative north for the mech. What I don't know is if the floor pattern has multiple different iterations or if it's a simple, the relative north tile spawns either NE or NW and we just move clockwise from our clockspots.

 

[The Stranger]

Is there anyone here who cleared EX4? I have a question about RB3 that I'm having trouble understanding and all the guides I look up don't do a good job of explaining.

I know that the floor pattern will always have 1 inner safe tile in between 2 unsafe tiles and that it should be considered the relative north for the mech. What I don't know is if the floor pattern has multiple different iterations or if it's a simple, the relative north tile spawns either NE or NW and we just move clockwise from our clockspots.

Floor pattern is always the same, just rotated in a random direction.

 

[Dopey Cunt]

just rotated in a random direction.

What do you mean? Like, the relative north tile can spawn in any direction? So like it could spawn in the inner SE tile? Or do you mean randomly between NE or NW?

 

[The Stranger]

What do you mean? Like, the relative north tile can spawn in any direction? So like it could spawn in the inner SE tile? Or do you mean randomly between NE or NW?

It can be anywhere. Pic related is a random clear vid I just opened in youtube, the relative North spot is SW here

 

[Dopey Cunt]

It can be anywhere. Pic related is a random clear vid I just opened in youtube, the relative North spot is SW here
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Ah okay. Then the MT is supposed to position the boss accordingly and everyone else just positions themselves in their assigned positions with the new relative north. If I was assigned NE in the screenshot, I would soak the East tower if I wasn't marked and I would place my mark down in the south while the other ranged that's paired with the MT drops it on the relative north tile, right?

Okay, okay, gotcha. Thanks!

Edit:

Hooray!

 

[Tanner Glass]

Totally off topic, but I see a lot of Wuk defenders claim that reception to Dawntrail has all just been a shot for shot repeat of the fan hate for Lyse and I just can't agree with it. Lyse was objectively less shit than trooncat, and I think the reason why Lyse ultimately didn't piss me off as much as Wuk is twofold;

Adding onto your list, but Lyse's objective was also your objective. She got dragged into it because of her family, but the Scions and Alliance were already moving on the liberation of Ala Mhigo and Doma. It's not you literally just picked up a flyer that said "participate in the liberation of Ala Mhigo" like you did in Dawntrail.

It really needed a much better setup and pacing - the first 60% of Dawntrail is just a less interesting retread of Shadowbringers but instead of being the Warrior of Darkness bringing the night sky back to the people, all you get is to watch Wuk Lamat learn a lesson and get a stamp for her "ready to be Queen" stamp book. They really didn't need to do another "here are a bunch of new societies that you'll painfully learn about that are like the ones you already know but different" - it worked in ShB because it was a neat idea supported by lore, this just feels like a needless retread. You could cut the entire Yuk Hoy segment out of the game and it would be better for it. I'd cut the pelupelu, hanuhanu, and moblins also and focus more on the Mammol Ja and the games two villians instead. Which having two villains is kind of insane.

I'd cut down the weird out-of-place wild west segment and spend much less time sorting out the train as well. With those cut - you can actually let the back half of Dawntrail breathe on it's own instead of being hyper compressed and rushed to a point where it feels like the story itself forgets things.

Dawntrail would have also flourished with better writing on top of better pacing. Zoraal Ja should have been a surprise villain - it would have been more shocking if he was revealed as the villain when launching the attack and then you get to work backwards to learn his motivations instead of having "very evil man" cutscenes leading up to it. You should have gotten to fight the other scions instead of just bumping into them on rare occasion - a missed opportunity. It really feels like they just threw a whole bunch of shit at the wall and hoped something stuck.

 

[Agarathium1066]

You should have gotten to fight the other scions instead of just bumping into them on rare occasion - a missed opportunity. It really feels like they just threw a whole bunch of shit at the wall and hoped something stuck.

They more or less took what they thought were the ingredients of what did make SHB an interesting expansion but forgot the important parts of it. That the world was steeped in conflict and difficulty. That the whole of it was a tragic battle uphill dealing with many desperate peoples and broken societies. Even those that weren't broken or wrong are in a hostile environment in a post apocalyptic setting where things went to pot.

All of Tural felt more like a trip to a reenactment scene where they try to really hammer home the moral lesson. Except its not even for you, the player. They're trying to teach Wuk's addled ass so she'll be a less incompetent heir. You largely just sit there being the chaperone for a drooling retard while you are drug through vaguely south american Frontier Days.

Then the retard steals your one moment to actually be the protagonist again.

 

[Well Intentioned]

I never had a problem with Garlean tech because...

I agree with all of this, to be honest. Garlemald's diesel punk aesthetic works because people put the time and effort in to come up with something. Solution 9, in contrast, is basically MacGuffin-ism cranked up to 11 and is even unintentionally memed on with the Wicked Thunder fight ("electrope has many uses.")

It's subjective, but I don't understand why people basically want to be Dwight Schrute playing Second Life, essentially. It just seems so fucking boring, and like you said, people want to escape from real world bullshit with entertainment like this, not re-live it. GTA is, like, right there.

Adding onto your list, but Lyse's objective was also your objective. She got dragged into it because of her family, but the Scions and Alliance were already moving on the liberation of Ala Mhigo and Doma. It's not you literally just picked up a flyer that said "participate in the liberation of Ala Mhigo" like you did in Dawntrail.

The big difference between Lyse and Wuk Lamat is that Lyse has a believeable arc, experiences difficulty, etc. whereas Wuk Lamat just barrels through everything.

EDIT: Also I think that what they did with Lyse, in revealing her, is probably why a lot of people dislike the character. Going from Yda to Lyse is jarring and felt like it came out of nowhere. I get the resentment that there is essentially what is a brand new character being thrust upon players, much like how Wuk Lamat was.

Beyond that, though, the comparisons fall flat in my mind. Very early on in Stormblood we see Lyse basically get shit on by some Ala Mhiggers. You're presented with just how grim things are under Imperial rule, how hopeless and impotently angry the Ala Mhiggers are, and then you and the Scions get your asses handed to you by Zenos.

Comparatively, the worst that happens to Wuk Lamat is that someone...steps on her TACOS!

The only real significant character moment she has is like 60% of the way through Dawntrail when her adoptive father is killed. There's no real introspection or opportunity for growth because Wuk just succeeds.

 

[The Bovinian Derivative]

Well I missed out on the previous tier, but having braved the PF for a couple of weeks now I can say that it's pure aids. Its chill for the Unreal and the Extreme, but for the Savage its a dumpster fire. For Practice matches people quit half way through because people fucked up, in a practice match, and for Duty Completion people outright quit after 2-3 wipes when we almost killed the boss once. I spent 2 fucking weeks trying to clear M5S because the greatest challenge the game has to offer is to find 7 other people who haven't been sniffing glue for their whole lives. And from what I've heard M6S is far worse so I am not looking forward to that.

 

[Brandy [◉'']]

It's subjective, but I don't understand why people basically want to be Dwight Schrute playing Second Life, essentially. It just seems so fucking boring, and like you said, people want to escape from real world bullshit with entertainment like this, not re-live it. GTA is, like, right there.

Well, at this point the game really urges you to do that and live out your isekai fantasy of being a dude* trapped into a fantasy world, considering how much modern crap it shoves down your throat. Isn't the mount for the current tier literally a car?
*exclusively wearing sneakers, jeans, tanktop and, if feeling spicy, sun glasses.
One of the reasons I am looking forward to Crescent is that it looks to be a lot more consistent in looks how I would assume content to be in XIV. Fingers crossed they don't fuck it up...