Dylan

@supergeekmike I agree. Many agree. It’s unfortunate.

@n3verendR That’s the entire premise of the sequel trilogy, yeah. It’s honestly the issue with most legacy sequels. I would argue this film handles it better than most, but if you don’t like that trope, you aren’t going to enjoy the Star Wars sequels.

Last Jedi is far from a perfect film, but if you don’t like this scene, I’m sorry, but you just don’t understand how character arcs work.

@SylvieClosVT Stoked to hear what you eventually have to say about post 7.0, especially 7.4 and beyond.

So I finished the main Dawntrail MSQ in Final Fantasy XIV. It wasn't bad overall. First half had me confused and bored while the second half felt so different I had whiplash with how much I enjoyed it. I don't hate dislike Wuk Lamat but I feel like she was wasted potential. Personality is fine -- execution was questionable. Anyway! I wanna talk about my thoughts about the main 7.0 MSQ in FFXIV. The first half was... Definitely an experience. It was really slow in the beginning and felt more like a chore to go through than ARR. The point of the first half was to world build and I think it could have done it considerably better. There were a lot of sequences that just ended up being minor annoyances that added up because they seemed unnecessary. One thing that comes to mind when you get to the city is you check out these eight inscriptions. I don't think it was necessary at all to read four then pivot to Wuk Lamat and confirm with her that you're ready to move on, read the next for, then confirm with her that you're ready to move on. It could've just been just up to the player to read/be told about all eight and then have all eight be available afterward. The trading sequence felt like a big chore filled with really obvious sequences. It felt more like a side quest than interesting world building to me. That kind of set the pace for everything feeling like a big sidequest until you got to the section with Valigarmanda -- and even then I wish it had more to it since it felt a bit rushed for something so grand and important. The boss felt kind of like a throwaway despite the leadup to it. I think when I was losing hope for the story was when I was doing the Feast of Repast. I found it extremely strange that Koana AND Wuk Lamat didn't know what Xibraq Pibil is or even what it symbolized. It felt like I was talking to an American who lived in America for their whole life and they didn't know that Turkey was THE symbolic meat for Thanksgiving. It was extra strange since Wuk's father was directly involved with Gulool Ja Ja's peace talks. I feel this important event would be something she would learn at some point instead of it being some... strange mystery. I want to touch on this later. The first half felt like a chore overall but it definitely felt cooler with the fights you had. Shout out to Gulool Ja Ja since it was always delightful whenever he got screentime. Fighting a version of him at his prime was extremely cool. Overall the dungeons so far were pretty rad and a lot of the bosses cool. After Wuk became Dawnservant and the next arc continued, it was pretty cool running around with Erenville (the goat). It gave me Stormblood levels of whiplash when suddenly the high-tech army shows up. This was where the pacing really started to feel pretty... strange. I feel like the highlight of the expansion's MSQ SHOULD have been becoming the Dawnservant but with how they wrote the first half by this point I was pretty happy we're pivoting. To be clear, I don't mind a slow burn lore experience if it was written well. It wasn't written well. More on that later. The whiplash into Alexandria was pretty interesting. I like how Wuk was here compared to the initial section. It felt less like I was a chaperone and more like I got to see their curiosity written in a much better way. It was pretty interesting seeing how time moved significantly faster and talking to the citizens here and learning about how this society functioned. Lots of interesting moral and philosophical topics to think about in Section Nine. Section Nine... While it appealed to my love of modern, science, and tech aesthetics... It felt so very empty. I assumed this was going to be the expected "Tomestone" City and it seemed so utterly barren and devoid of... Anything really. And BY THE TWELVE can we just mount up when we have a big city like this? It feels like a slap in the face when you can even BUY a BIKE. Anyway. Later half very cool. Was more exciting and maybe juxtaposed to how poorly written the first half was it probably felt more exciting going through it. Getting to the last area... Man. It was so good. Chillingly good. It felt like we were quite literally shutting down an entire civilization. We didn't talk to these memomries or warn them or get their consent. These memories with emotion that continued to grow more memories? We just shut them down. It evoked such a strange and interesting feeling of morals that I really enjoyed it. The music cutting out in each section you shut down? Haunting. It was really amazing. Everything felt like it was going great until the trial. It was a blast until... Wuk shows up in the middle of it by herself. I get it. It's supposed to be epic. But this felt so shoe-horned in and the cutscene was so long it felt like something that should happen after the trial and not... interrupting my moment as the Warrior of Light. I dunno, I really didn't like it at all. I just sighed especially since I was starting to like how Wuk was during this section of the story. What about our other friends that were with us? Did they really need to hammer in she's the main character THIS much? I guess so. Anyway, I wanted to talk about Wuk Lamat and her writing. I don't hate her as a character. The personality was fine. I think she was really poorly written and it affected my experience in the story. It feels like the intention for Wuk Lamat is she's so sheltered she doesn't know anything about the outside. This feels extremely contradictory because she loves her culture, land, and people so much but doesn't know a whole lot. It made me wonder how she was raised. I actually would have loved it if her character in the first half was that she was very sheltered but she read quite a bit about culture and the land. The feats and journey you go with her would be her being as a sort of excited guide who would be able to show off their booksmarts while being excited that she finally gets to experience things because of the trials. THEN when we got to the Feast of Rapast, it would make sense to have a difference between Koana and Wuk Lamat. Since Koana definitely feels like he's focused on what would literally make people's lives better he ends up being more detached from the culture. Wuk would be a foil and could know about this and be excited to prepare it for her first time because of how symbolic it is in her understanding of their culture especially because she's a Xbr'aal who were DIRECTLY INVOLVED in this feat Gulool Ja Ja did. To me it makes absolutely no sense that she didn't visit these areas on her own yet takes a whole freaking boat ride to Sharlayan. Why was she never taught anything? Why did she never actually learn more about her culture? It seems like she was very ignorant beyond JUST being sheltered. It would have been a lot better writing that, since she wasn't as strong as Bakool Ja Ja or as smart as Koana when it comes to his methods of improving their lives -- her charisma and understanding of her people is what makes her stand out from the get go as she finds ways to be better than both of them at the same time. When it came to the later half I like Wuk's presence here a lot more because it made considerably more sense for her to not have any knowledge of the people and for both of us to learn. Circling back to how I wished Wuk was written, I think it would've been perfect here because it would've really been in line with how curious she is with learning about culture and people. I think that direction would've been even more cohesive. As I said -- I don't mind a slow burn with story lines. I feel like a lot of decisions with how the first half was written could have been improved and been better world building. I feel like Wuk Lamat could have served as a sort of guide and it would have also really shown us that, despite being sheltered, she was well aware of the culture of her people. Yes. I understand the writer's intent was to write it so she would be open to learning and directly learning about her people with these first hand experiences. I personally don't think that's good writing when the character is presented as someone who loves her country, culture, and people but doesn't know some important things. Overall story wasn't bad as a whole when I look at both. I don't think it's great when I combine it all together. Liked Wuk in the second half and it was nice when she said things like we, the Warrior of Light, was stronger than she was. Gave me that validation that I was still pretty important. WOW THAT'S SO LONG. This is a really old piece of art I got from doraling12. She's really cool. Please check her out. 🎨@doraling12

@sproutheals I got two in one run over the weekend, my wife was calling me all sorts of names.

FISH. Not mine but one day.

@sproutheals Some of the coolest shit in the game comes from those pages

Only now realizing the achievement system actually rewards you things like minions and mounts! WHAT. I feel so silly not even checking until now.

@WhispurrAudio I have zero beef with Rian, I’ve enjoyed everything else he’s made. I just didn’t enjoy the last jedi very much

rian johnson dared to treat his audience like fucking adults who appreciate new stories that aren't just rehashes of the same old characters/tropes. the fanbase never forgave him for that

@PaulTassi Man the newer trilogy has its moments but I’ve never been less interested in a rewatch of anything in my life.

Too bad they never made another trilogy of movies, I bet they would have definitely made this list

@Zyonight Shadowbringers even tho I played since 1.0

Question for you! I'm thinking about getting a NG+ run of #FFXIV as a little treat for myself on the road to Evercold. What was the expansion that got you hooked? Played since 1.0, but for me, MSQ for Stormblood was when the hooks really got into me!

@_KingOmelette @TaigaLily_ Couldn’t agree more. The button count isn’t the issue, it’s just some buttons suck to press. Don’t know why some can’t get that through their heads.

@n3verendR @TaigaLily_ i am welcoming any lowering of the button count, i've been taking my lumps since 2005 in MMOs and even with three bars worth of hotkey combinations just in case i still think the entire genre would be fine with a button total for just two or one and a half bars total

I dont get the people who think there is a meaningful gap in skill expression btwn pressing 1-1-1 or 1-2-3 I've done my fair share of hardcore raiding, the place where this distinction arguably matters most, and genuinely cannot recall a single time where I dropped a 1-2-3 combo

FFXIV button bloat discourse in a nutshell: “Evolved mode is too easy” “Then use the other mode.” “But it does 2% less damage.” “Can you still clear?” “…yes.” What are we doing here

@lucytenzero LET’S HOPE.

xiv players talking abt skill expression when the current system is just a memory game with barely any skill expression as is. yall really are in for a rude awakening come 8.0 and i can’t wait to see it.

@loversthink @inkblotPrincess If it’s fun to play, I have agency over my in combat actions, my job feels distinct from other same role jobs, and the combat isn’t annoying, I’m happy. Reducing button count is a very small price to pay. If it’s JUST oversimplified, I’m not happy.

@n3verendR @inkblotPrincess if thats what they were doing that would be fine, but theyre skimming every class down to 10-12 buttons instead

My opinion on FF14 re: consolidating combos into a single button is that you cannot simultaneously hold the opinion that (1) it has no impact on difficulty/skill, and (2) the change provides massive QoL

@SylvieClosVT It felt like growing up and losing friends.

This last map in Dawntrail... Man just going through it has me feeling really mixed. Really beautiful area. The things you have to do in it... Man. I knew what we had to do but seeing it happen is really wild. Almost done with the MSQ's initial bit though. I have a lots o thoughts!

@sproutheals First time? I hope you enjoyed the tail end of ARR.

Onwards to Heavensward.. I'm making some hot chocolate to enjoy the start to this :>

@Sindalf A lot of people feel annoyed by the current state of gameplay in FFXIV. It’s natural some have different opinions but it’s still the worst MMO combat system I’ve ever played after dozens of MMORPGs

Rewatching the dev panel on evolved jobs and the cheering I hear when they announce combining combos into a single button is truly disheartening.

@SylvieClosVT You are absolutely correct, I completely agree with you. Thankfully, 7.4 and beyond is incredibly interesting so far.

I just beat the story trial for Valigarmanda and... Honestly I'm glad I didn't stream the FFXIV Dawntrail story. I haven't felt this disinterested in an FFXIV expansion since... Well, since Dawntrail haha. I also feel like this exact wording showing up fifty times also adds to how much of a chore this expac feels so far.

@sproutheals Same picture

This little guy reminds me of my sweet old man who passed away a couple years ago. Oh my goodness!

@sheepyclarissa I think it’s going to be a Gunhammer & Shield.

if we take the shirt at face value, dual wield shield job for the new tank (shieldmaster in bravely default can wield a wep+shield or 2 shields) “Guess who’s back” Sango’s hiraikotsu for phys ranged? Her weapon is a giant boomerang made out of demon bones and she is giga badass