I think FFXIV is pushing the limits of reasonable complexity, even if the raids aren't super difficult. Take a look at this video guide to the 3rd boss:
I watched this video in a mild state of disbelief. It's actually a little better in-game, because you generally only have to move one square, so you can do with minimal movement if you stand on the borders.
The other thing that FFXIV does is that failing mechanics is usually not an instant kill. Instead, you get a debuff called "Vulnerability" which makes you take more damage, and lasts for a minute. So you can make a few mistakes and survive, but too many will cause you to die.
The actual raid story is quite good. The other three fights are a little more reasonable. All in all, Eden's Verse is a good raid. I am a little worried that SE is leaning too much on a somewhat "artificial" way of making the fights hard, rather than a more traditional "organic" difficulty. Though I suppose what's "artificial" is in the eye of the beholder.
I honestly haven't done a raid in FFXIV (neither 8- nor 24-person) since Void Ark. I didn't mind the 24-person ones up until then, but they weren't my favorite thing either, so when a raid came out that was immediately nicknamed "The Wiping City (of Mhach)" by the playerbase, I just didn't care to even set foot in it. The guide videos didn't help with that desire either, making it look like an annoying PITA, not like a fun challenge.
ReplyDeleteAnd I've never enjoyed the 8-man trials or instances that the game forced upon me during leveling, so I've avoided those to the best of my ability also. I actually walked away from Shadowbringers when I got up to the final trial without even trying it for 4 months, becuz a) I wasn't looking forward to it since it's an 8-man trial and b) the video made it look annoying.
I finally came back in November and buckled down and did it. And yeah, it was annoying, but got past it, so yay, I guess. But then hearing guildies talk about bad experiences in the new raids (mostly due to pugging them for weekly rewards) it still didn't encourage me...
Though after I finished leveling all my jobs up, mostly via Pixie beast tribe and a couple of daily roulettes, well... last night was the 1st time I've logged in since then either, and I didn't get very far in the MSQ that I've fallen behind on, so... I need to play more :P
I actually enjoy the raids and trials a lot more than the 4-man group content. Personally, I think the players exaggerate the difficulty of easier content a bit. Especially when you consider how many resurrections you can have.
DeleteHmm. When I watched that my first reaction was, yeah, I could do that dance. A lot is going on, but not that much. I feel like I've had to do similar things in Wow boss fights, if not quite so methodically.
ReplyDeleteMy second thought is what the hell does any of that have to do with the boss? Where's the flavor of the mechanics fitting the them of a boss? It feels more like a geometry exercise than anything interesting. There's nothing there to hook me as a player who's interesting in story, lore, RPG stuff.
This isn't to bash FFXIV as it is (now) successful and caters to its audience. This just shows me that I'm not that audience. (To be fair, the last FF I liked was FF2 (in the US) on the SNES.)
To be fair, the other three fights are a lot better at marrying mechanics to the story. Even this one is part of the story, at least the whole light/dark thing is. Not sure where the portals came from.
DeleteI didn't think I'd look back on the Heigan dance wistfully, yet here I am. I do appreciate FF14s push for forgiveness (lag alone!) compared to WoW.
ReplyDeleteChallenging but recoverable is a good design motto
At some point, though, people start ignoring mechanics. Or here, they pile on mechanic after mechanic in order to make it challenging.
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