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Shadowbringers is better than your favorite FF
- Thread starter Zen
- Start date
Yeah, I completely disagree with you. The narrative is not so dramatically tied into YOU personally being the player character. And certainly not on your experiences in past expansions. There are some more minor "Cool" moments, especially a very specific one which I am sure you know I am referring to, that are only as cool as they are because you have a connection with your character, but it is not so vital to the game that it couldn't work without it... and if the exact same effect was desired to be achieved, they could do it with a created character in a single player game anyway. The thing that makes the narrative great isn't you or your character. It's the world, the scenario, the villain, and a few of the supporting characters like Ardbert -- none of which is inherently contingent on you specifically having played a character who went through the stories of ARR, Heavensward, and Stormblood.
In regards to the other party members, like I said in my last post, you don't really have to know about any of their prior experiences. The game pretty well establishes who each of these people are and why they're doing what they're doing from this expansion alone. Thancred is potentially the one exception, but you get his whole story, essentially, just by playing through the expansion. Heck, Urianger was, I would argue, barely a character before this expansion -- which is the first time he's been more at the forefront.
As far as eliciting praise, I absolutely believe it would be even wider regarded were it a single player FF and not tied to a MMO that requires you to play several hundred hours first.
For just getting through the story playing normally, doing some but not all extra stuff, my usual rounds of grinding, 50+ hours is by far abnormal in the case of jrpgs I generally play. 20-30 hours is average. 40 uncommon, 50 rare, etc. This year first (and last...) time playing Blue Reflection just ta get through it was 18 hours. Ni no Kuni 2 "99%" took only 42 hours despite going all in on its non-main content so just imagine how much shorter it'd have been without that. 7, my fave FF, I can easily clear in around 15 hours just for the story. Even on my earliest playthroughs of 7 of which my ancient save files can attest to, it wasn't taking me 50 hours ta hit the final save point.
It's not as dramatic as that. Because you are taken to a new world, there is alot of world building that you don't need any prior history for, and for big picture stuff you do, it's explained to you when the time is right. Aside from one reveal and a few character moments, it's very self contained.
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I can't bring myself to agree with your take. It would be executed differently as a single player game not taking the MMO framework into account. Basically an entirely different game. To say nothing of the team working on it. I am all about future FFs taking up the themes in Shadowbringers, though, so we can hope that this serves as influence for future titles.
Just wanted to say thanks for this thread. I mean, arguments about the "best" FF aside, this got me to reinstall the game and give it another shot after not being able to get into it a couple years ago. Since then I've beaten some of the Xenoblade games, which were kind of an MMO primer for me (literally the only MMO I've played is about 5 hours of FF11), so it's been a comfortable experience so far. Only Lv. 7 and barely out of the first town, but everything is feeling good at the moment, and I absolutely love the soundtrack and fast combat.
As early game goes, spikes of interest at 10 (first pair of guildhests, good xp and teaching), 15 (first dungeon), 20 (first trial and your chocobo mount).
Is it possible to hire npc mercs to take place of party members like Everquest? Last time I played few years ago with the free trial it took almost a hour to find a party for one of the story dungeons. Quit after the trial was up.
Cool! I'm just trying to take my time, learn my bearings, understand my way around menus and such. I don't like having to think about gear degradation, but it seems to happen very slowly, so hopefully it won't get annoying. :)
Yeah there's never really a point where your gear will degrade very quickly, quite forgiving. I forgot to mention that there's also the Hall of the Novice which will also teach things and give rewards (including some gear). That opens at level 15, just look for The Smith in the adventurer's guild in any of the starting cities.
Only in Shadowbringers. They added Trusts for dungeons in Shadowbringers.
Awesome -- thanks for the tip. It frightens me what this could become if I really get into it, but at the same time, it's exciting to feel like one of these games has finally appealed to me and is holding my interest.
Frankly it cant be the "best".. just getting to it you have to suffer through 50 hours of shit.. i managed 20 before i quit
Those 20 hours were some of the most formulaic and boring gaming hours i ever had
Yes, ever
Granted i have never played mmo - this is perhaps the norm?
Those 20 hours were some of the most formulaic and boring gaming hours i ever had
Yes, ever
Granted i have never played mmo - this is perhaps the norm?
It can be a hoot, but best enjoyed at your own leisurely pace. There's a lot of content, even side-content.
Yeah, I'm enjoying just running around and completing the various sidequests and such. Don't really feel like I've progressed the story at all, and I got to Lv. 10 rather quickly, which is opening up some new things. Very excited to have the weekend ahead of me to dig in deeper! :)
Also, the CG movies are so good. I don't think I ever watched these! Also cool that certain events/cutscenes are voiced, even though I appreciate the text-only approach for the vast majority of the game.
I don't doubt Shadowbringers is amazing as I've heard a ton about how good it is, I don't have time anymore to wait several hours for a game to get good or go through a total slog to get through the good parts.
I also have zero desire to suffer through any multiplayer/MMORPG component to get to that good stuff as MMOs really, really aren't my thing. If FF XIV ever introduces a way for solo players to get the full narrative experience while minimizing the grindy elements of base FF XIV, I will very likely play it. Until then, I just can't be bothered even if the story really is that good. :/
EDIT: Sounds like Shadowbringers is locked behind 50 hours of base content that people describe as grindy and formulatic? Yeah, uh, no. I'd love to experience Shadowbringers but I definitely don't have 50 hours to burn to get there.
I also have zero desire to suffer through any multiplayer/MMORPG component to get to that good stuff as MMOs really, really aren't my thing. If FF XIV ever introduces a way for solo players to get the full narrative experience while minimizing the grindy elements of base FF XIV, I will very likely play it. Until then, I just can't be bothered even if the story really is that good. :/
EDIT: Sounds like Shadowbringers is locked behind 50 hours of base content that people describe as grindy and formulatic? Yeah, uh, no. I'd love to experience Shadowbringers but I definitely don't have 50 hours to burn to get there.
Is there anywhere that I can watch people explain the lore...I pay zero attention to story in MMOs because I'm focused on doing my next task so I can level up etc. (I know this is very stupid of me but I get very one track minded)
You know the best way to get people to play a game that you love? Turn it into a pissing contest for no reason other than to be inflammatory.
It's 200+ hours to get to it, not 50 and I was told I was going fast.
But you literally play 3 FF games with the first one being the main issue to get to this one so it's not like you aren't doing anything
What.
WHAT.
Two hundred hours of grindy MMORPGing to get to the good stuff? Even if the first one is the only really sloggy one... no way. I can't. I don't have anywhere near that kind of time, nor will I probably ever, haha. I'll continue to live vicariously through everyone who loves it and wait patiently for the next single-player FF. I'm in the minority who really liked FF XIII and XIII-2 and had a great time with FF XV despite its horrific narrative problems, though, so I don't feel as though I've been going without.
Ya, it was like 250 or so for me, I don't remember exactly. Somewhere between 200-300 hours depending on your proclivity to get distracted from the main quest. But it's almost all good stuff.
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Sure, it's a hyperbolic and opinionated title.
It is a time investment for sure. Well worth it if you can make the time, but understandably not everyone is in a position to dedicate that or wants to. Grindy isn't the way I'd describe it though. There's just a lot of quests and running around.
If you don't enjoy the MMO aspect at all, Shadowbringers is absolutely not worth it. It's a fine fantasy story and one of Final Fantasy's best (not the genre, but perhaps that's a different thread), but it ain't changing anyone's life.
I'm at level 76. It's been hard to get time to finish it.
Having played through it slowly, I'd say it's good, but it hasn't blown me away or anything quite yet. I assume it ramps up a lot in the last couple levels.
Having played through it slowly, I'd say it's good, but it hasn't blown me away or anything quite yet. I assume it ramps up a lot in the last couple levels.
Tbh, at level 78 almost 79 I've been disappointed by Shadowbringers. I'd been led to believe that it was the best expansion but to me it just seems like a decent return to form after a poor Stormblood
Nothing about it has touched the highs of Heavensward, other than maybe Emet Selch who actually caused me to care about the Ascian story when I wasnt hugely interested by it before
Nothing about it has touched the highs of Heavensward, other than maybe Emet Selch who actually caused me to care about the Ascian story when I wasnt hugely interested by it before
Well, I started up from scratch again with this game. Made an Arcanist, since it looked like a good solo class and I will have to spend the majority of my leveling soloing and doing quests. In previous attempts at playing FFXIV, I treated it mostly like WoW where I just skipped all the dialogue and tried to grind up to a higher level quickly. This time around, I'm trying to treat it more like a single-player RPG where I'm here for the story and I'm going to take my time and read all of the quest dialogue. Wish me luck!
All you have to do is literally not play anything else for a month and a half and use any free time for the game like I did.
Also Heavensward is when it gets really good and that is like around 100 hours. Shadowbringers is just better.
This is where I'm at. I still have a bit to go but I was very taken with the Crystarium, the desaturated eternal light world. The world building, how Eulmore decides to deal with its problems by not dealing with them. The first time that
you return night to the Crystarium and get a haunting night theme with vocals
But then you go to that fecking place with the Irish pixies and it never recovered for me. It's kind of boring tbh.
Much preferred my time in Ishgard to this.
Pretty much how I feel. If you aren't looking for a heavy narrative and massive multiplayer, it's going to get on your nerves, especially since it likes to lock one behind the other at times.
Soloing in MMOs is boring, but I'm also sick of other people, so I just don't play them anymore.
Eh, yeah, sounds like this really isn't for me then, as I suspected. Perfectly stated too -- I find MMOs to be dull in general but soloing them is even worse, and I genuinely cannot think of an online multiplayer session of anything that other people (randos/non-friends) haven't ruined for me, so now I just stick mainly to Smash with friends in private arenas. My mental health is a lot better off for it too, haha.
It's sublime and now that YoshiP is working on FFXVI apparently ? I'm even more excited for it.
I'd wait for 5.3 and the post-ARR revamp to get done, and then I think people who want to get into it from the very beginning should. I started playing in late Feb / early March this year, and I wanted to beat myself senseless during the post-ARR stuff. That said, holy crap is Heavensward good, and I damn well near put my mouse through my monitor out of emotions running high during ShB in a couple of scenes. Definitely my favorite FF currently, though I've never played Tactics. (I played FF7 originally and it was my favorite, but the remake is soooooooooo good that it might pass all of them).
Cool make sure the narrative doesn'T fall apart half way through.
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I would say if you love Ivalice and the kind of prose and lore rich storytelling it provides then you'll like XIV. I'd say the quality is on par.
Is there a source for this, I can't find it anywhere? Playing WoW classic is just making me want to play FFXIV...
I believe we know he is working on a next gen game with the Heavensward team. Not officially confirmed but highly likely it's XVI.
Cool, just seems so...early? I can only really compare it to WoW and they've been building off that base game for like forever
Yoshi-P is making a new game, and it's far into development
Could it be Final Fantasy XVI?
www.tweaktown.com
yup its prity clear yoship handed them a lore book/disgin outline and is focusing on that un anounced game. I wont 100% say its ff16, but seems likely.
do pwople think it will be gaas, with mp hocks given yoship background, or pure single players?Cool, just seems so...early? I can only really compare it to WoW and they've been building off that base game for like forever
Yoshi-P is making a new game, and it's far into development
Could it be Final Fantasy XVI?
200 hours to get to the best stuff (which is SHB), the other xpacks are great and ARR has its fair share of greatness (usually the dungeons and trials) amid the good and dull. In no sense imaginable are you waiting 200 hours to get to something good.