It’s Friday, and I’m the only one manning Kotaku today, so naturally we’re going to talk about JRPGs. Or, as the case may be, MMOJRPGs.
First of all, here’s a new trailer for the next update to Final Fantasy XIV, which comes out on June 7:
So much content! Sucks about the whole monthly fee thing, but I’ve been paying for a year now and don’t regret it at all.
I’ve written before about my newly discovered love for FFXIV, which is an excellent game even if you’re playing it by yourself. I love everything about it: the gameplay systems, the music, the world, the dungeons, the Final Fantasy references both big and small.
I finished the main story last week and am now doing all the post-2.0 content, which apparently lasts quite some time. I have to play through it all before I get to the story quests that were added in the new expansion, Heavensward, which means a lot of fetch quests, but everyone says the slog is worth it.
One interesting experience I had: at the end of the main quest, there are two dungeons that both require a full party of eight players. Since this stuff all came out in 2013, most FFXIV players have already beaten those dungeons several times, which means they skip all the lengthy story cutscenes that come along between each boss. If you’re a new player, you have two options: skip the cutscenes or let the rest of your group get ahead of you. I chose the former and had to watch as the rest of my party destroyed each boss while I watched their cutscenes, which was a bit strange. I’d see a cutscene introducing a boss, then immediately jump to a cutscene showing his or her demise. It raises the question: how do you do a story-based multiplayer dungeon without forcing new players to go through that?
I’m still plugging away at quests, but hey, let’s talk FFXIV. How good is this game?