Final Fantasy XIV - Kiwi Free Company

[JektheDumbass]

You mean "based-ness"

 

[ForgedBlades]

I'm halfway through 2.4 of the Seventh Astral Era and it's basically a boring VN.

>go to Revenant's Toll to watch a cut scene
>now go to Gridania to watch another cut scene
>now go back to Revenant's Toll to watch yet another cutscene

Dying for a new area to explore.

I like the voice acting though. And Nanamo breaking down and running into Raubahn's arms was pretty kino.

 

[Zeke Von Genbu]

I'm halfway through 2.4 of the Seventh Astral Era and it's basically a boring VN.

>go to Revenant's Toll to watch a cut scene
>now go to Gridania to watch another cut scene
>now go back to Revenant's Toll to watch yet another cutscene

Dying for a new area to explore.

I like the voice acting though. And Nanamo breaking down and running into Raubahn's arms was pretty kino.

You got another I'd say...5-6 hours left give or take before you hit Heavensward. Add about 2 or 3 if you haven't done the Crystal Tower 24 man raids yet.

The cutscene stuff is pretty normal, but they thankfully don't make you do something like 5 teleports per quest most the time post ARR now its more like 2 or 3. That and the plot has hopefully taken off enough for you that the cutscenes are actually fun to watch. Personally 2.4-2.55's storyline with its Ishgard focus is actually decently fun and interesting, along with other political games with Telediji wanting to...you know dig up a fucking super weapon using refugee labor and whatever the fuck he wants with it.

ARR's voice acting is very hit or miss imo some performances are good and others are really damn awful (Alphinaud's attempt at sounding british or whatever is annoying), but they changed studios after ARR so be ready for some voice adjustment. Unless you hate Brits it should be an improvement once you get used to it for most the cast.

 

[ForgedBlades]

Yeah, I've done everything there is to do besides the MSQ. Fully geared, all available dungeons and instances, sidequests, even have all of the Triple Triad NPCs beaten up to this point. Honestly, the MSQ is the least interesting part of the game for me.

 

[BlazikenLover]

Yeah, I've done everything there is to do besides the MSQ. Fully geared, all available dungeons and instances, sidequests, even have all of the Triple Triad NPCs beaten up to this point. Honestly, the MSQ is the least interesting part of the game for me.

Honestly, ARR is a shit experience in general, get it done so you can experience HW. ARR postgame put me to sleep until the very last quests (well except for stuff like shiva), being forced to do crystal tower was also a crapshot and I say this as someone who liked the crystal tower storyline it is just that they force you to do this enterily unrelated thing while you want to follow the main story. Regardless, I say it was worth it simply to get to HW.
Taking my time with stormblood since I am tired in general and the heat wave we are experiencing down here is not helping.

The queue is a crapshot since I either connect "early" or wait one to two hours to play and by the time I connect I will be sleepy or focusing on something else. I don't like the fact I can't play at my own pace, that being connecting at whatever time I want and playing a few quests.

 

[Agarathium1066]

Honestly, ARR is a shit experience in general, get it done so you can experience HW. ARR postgame put me to sleep until the very last quests (well except for stuff like shiva), being forced to do crystal tower was also a crapshot and I say this as someone who liked the crystal tower storyline it is just that they force you to do this enterily unrelated thing while you want to follow the main story. Regardless, I say it was worth it simply to get to HW.

Yeaaaah all of ARR's post game is really woeful and this is post them trimming some of the pointless cruft from it. Won't go into spoilers but CT does have story significance but you're gonna have to truck through a lot of stuff until you get there. I really don't get why they felt it was a necessity since the relevant content released without requiring it, they patched that in later.

CT does at least introduce you to fairly reasonable raid mechanics which you will be seeing a lot more of later so I can at least say that part is a mild positive.

 

[Zilortha]

Personally 2.4-2.55's storyline with its Ishgard focus is actually decently fun and interesting, along with other political games with Telediji wanting to...you know dig up a fucking super weapon using refugee labor and whatever the fuck he wants with it.

I liked the Post-ARR/Pre-HW content. I don't really understand the hate some people have for it. That's when the story hooked me 100%

 

[Well Intentioned]

I liked the Post-ARR/Pre-HW content. I don't really understand the hate some people have for it. That's when the story hooked me 100%

There's some interesting stuff in there that plants the seeds for later storylines, and it has an appropriate 'big' finale. But all the fucking around with Alphinaud and sitting through cutscenes where he's basically stroking himself off gets tiresome.

Couple that with a lot of annoyingly designed quests, where you're running all over the place, and some head scratchers (like the impromptu sparring match with those 2 hanger-ons with the Scions. Hoary Boulder, I think? Guessing this was a weird questline that missed the initial pass of them cutting ARR MSQ shit) and it just gets tedious.

 

[Kane Lives]

There's some interesting stuff in there that plants the seeds for later storylines, and it has an appropriate 'big' finale. But all the fucking around with Alphinaud and sitting through cutscenes where he's basically stroking himself off gets tiresome.

Couple that with a lot of annoyingly designed quests, where you're running all over the place, and some head scratchers (like the impromptu sparring match with those 2 hanger-ons with the Scions. Hoary Boulder, I think? Guessing this was a weird questline that missed the initial pass of them cutting ARR MSQ shit) and it just gets tedious.

I wish they didn't cut the Tataru one though. Her being a miner was hilarious.

 

[Zeke Von Genbu]

There's some interesting stuff in there that plants the seeds for later storylines, and it has an appropriate 'big' finale. But all the fucking around with Alphinaud and sitting through cutscenes where he's basically stroking himself off gets tiresome.

Couple that with a lot of annoyingly designed quests, where you're running all over the place, and some head scratchers (like the impromptu sparring match with those 2 hanger-ons with the Scions. Hoary Boulder, I think? Guessing this was a weird questline that missed the initial pass of them cutting ARR MSQ shit) and it just gets tedious.

Both of these scenes are basically for Alphinaud.

Alphinaud's whole spiel is basically raising him up as if he's some enlightened messiah who will be the next savior like his grandfather before...you know the ending happens. That's why you spend so much time with the little brat before he later evolves in HW, to me HW's development isn't as effective without most of these moments in ARR (if anything the pre patch ARR Alphinaud stuff is more tedious and whatever imo)

The Hoary boulder thing was more to position Alphinaud as someone who fully realizes what his grandfather died for as the cutscene after it has him reflect on his grandfather's actions, and it is there to show WoL's progression as an adventurer in something more down to earth then "Yeah I killed a giant death robot and outran an explosion on my giant mecha walker", as Hoary Boulder and his Elezen sidekick who's name I can't spell are supposed to be veterans. Alphinaud in that cutscene basically says that for all of Eorzea's faults, for all of their ignorance, their life and happiness matters and that is worth protecting with everything you have. It ultimately emboldens Alphinaud to make the grand company of Eorzea/Crystal Braves and helps Alphinaud fully accept his grandfather's death as valid and not wasteful. For all of his blustering to his sister and everything he's doing, Alphinaud still has doubts that Eorzea was worth his sacrifice and obviously his sister still thinks it was for nothing at this stage in the story.

That's why it is still there, now if that is worth 5-10 minutes and tedious gameplay is up to the person, but I do think it was valid to keep all of this stuff. Although Alphinaud is probably my favorite Scion so maybe I'm biased.

 

[Well Intentioned]

Both of these scenes are basically for Alphinaud.

Alphinaud's whole spiel is basically raising him up as if he's some enlightened messiah who will be the next savior like his grandfather before...you know the ending happens. That's why you spend so much time with the little brat before he later evolves in HW, to me HW's development isn't as effective without most of these moments in ARR (if anything the pre patch ARR Alphinaud stuff is more tedious and whatever imo)

See, I really, really don't like Alphinaud so that's probably tainting my interpretation of things.

Out of the twins, I found that Ali has had more interesting character development and find that she's got more depth as a character.

I get that the post-ARR > into HW is supposed to be a humbling experience for Alphinaud, but it doesn't play for me, as it's like 2 MSQ quests where he's 'doubting' himself before he's back to normal. By the end of HW he's back to being a condescending prick (I may have my interpretation of this off, but there was a part where he literally tells his sister an equivalent of 'adults are talking.') The relationship between him and Estinien also falls flat for me. I get what they were trying to do, but I don't feel it was really conveyed that well until after that key moment at the end of HW.

I know Krile is a character that the great community btw is divided on, but I like that she brings a bit of depth to his character and embarrasses him a bit. You get a bit of humanity and background detail to him that I think is useful, even if it's played for a quick comedic moment.

That's why it is still there, now if that is worth 5-10 minutes and tedious gameplay is up to the person, but I do think it was valid to keep all of this stuff. Although Alphinaud is probably my favorite Scion so maybe I'm biased.

Yeah, the 'is it worth?' is I guess where I fall here. I am just finding it hard to accept that all 3 nation states would be okay with some 16 year old twerp coming in and basically proposing creating an army that would reside within their borders and is independent of any of them. I get that he has a bit of cachet given who he is related to, and lol anime tropes, but a lot of what happens with Alphinaud isn't convincing.

Might be worth rolling an alt and mucking through the MSQ again or something. Or NG+, I guess.

 

[Zeke Von Genbu]

See, I really, really don't like Alphinaud so that's probably tainting my interpretation of things.

Out of the twins, I found that Ali has had more interesting character development and find that she's got more depth as a character.

I get that the post-ARR > into HW is supposed to be a humbling experience for Alphinaud, but it doesn't play for me, as it's like 2 MSQ quests where he's 'doubting' himself before he's back to normal. By the end of HW he's back to being a condescending prick (I may have my interpretation of this off, but there was a part where he literally tells his sister an equivalent of 'adults are talking.') The relationship between him and Estinien also falls flat for me. I get what they were trying to do, but I don't feel it was really conveyed that well until after that key moment at the end of HW.

I know Krile is a character that the great community btw is divided on, but I like that she brings a bit of depth to his character and embarrasses him a bit. You get a bit of humanity and background detail to him that I think is useful, even if it's played for a quick comedic moment.



Yeah, the 'is it worth?' is I guess where I fall here. I am just finding it hard to accept that all 3 nation states would be okay with some 16 year old twerp coming in and basically proposing creating an army that would reside within their borders and is independent of any of them. I get that he has a bit of cachet given who he is related to, and lol anime tropes, but a lot of what happens with Alphinaud isn't convincing.

Might be worth rolling an alt and mucking through the MSQ again or something. Or NG+, I guess.

Spoiler: Alphinaud sperging, spoilers implied from HW

Alphinaud to me is better longer then his sister, I'd say in current day (around late ShB to EW) Alisaie is probably better then her brother but I felt Alphinaud from HW and beyond is the better of the two for most of their time and Alphinaud I find is still good. I don't find him condescending really in HW, especially after dealing with him in ARR for literal years, I find him a character who ultimately embodies all the optimistic idealistic takes this story likes to promote. His bits (like "The adults are talking" bit) with his sister are more like "sibling" things, which is why Alisaie makes fun of her brother being a "doggy paddler" because he can't swim. Also Alphinaud's doubt and guilt lingers for a very long time, it comes up even to this day how he feels about his failures and tends to be his emotional heel that tempers his idealism and willingness to argue with the antagonist.

I feel Alphinaud doesn't just win everything he's involved in, and he steadily has to recognize where his idealism doesn't work, which I feel is nice in a story that tries to promote talking through conflict first before drawing the sword as in those stories "talking first" I feel works too often and you get forced heel turn redemption arcs. Like Ilberd at the literal end of HW would have suddenly regret everything in most JRPGs, but no he just said fuck everyone and died and Alphinaud's talking didn't just magically work. I could probably spend forever typing up why I like Alphinaud the most, but part of it also stems from most Scions being sort of eh for most of their screen time until ShB, so Alphinaud actually standing out at all (even in ARR I find him the most interesting because I find ARR cast is boring as fuck) makes him my favorite.

As for why they let the Crystal Braves happen, I believe its mostly because they trust the Scions and Minfillia has to run the Scions and no else is willing to do Alphinaud's proposed job and tying anything to a nation ruins the point as it brings too much potential for nationalistic bias which ruins the point of the unit. Overall this whole idea was incredibly ambitious, and failed because Alphinaud's idealism and savior complex got the better off him. Their is a part in late post patch ShB where Alphinaud ultimately gets told how much this idea really didn't work and why, and most it stems from him and he has to fully acknowledge that.

This might just be a "I've seen Alphinaud grow for literally 8+ years" thing, while you iirc just started playing a few months ago. So our experiences with the twins are vastly different. So I think I'll just chalk it up to that. I will say Estinien's relationship with Alphinaud I find doesn't come together until late ShB into EW because you can really tell how he's changed due to his attachment to Alphinaud while not doing a total 180. I didn't like Estinien much in general, besides what he represents to HW's primary moral which makes his character worth it, but he grew on me later on.

Alisaie for I'd say most of HW through SB is I'd say is an average jrpg sort of character. She's fine, and I like that she's got a good heart and is a nice counterbalance for Alphinaud's traits while not just being a complete forced polar opposite. My issue is more the trope she embodies, I've seen too many "spunky, high energy, ready to fight" esque females to find too much for her for the first half of her formal introduction to the group. Shadowbringers and beyond I feel they lean more into her actual intelligence (She's a graduate too, Alphinaud just leans more into being "the prodigy") and melding it with her "heart" into actually a very well balanced character that doesn't feel like every other one of her trope.

tl;dr: Alphinaud has grown so much in 8 years to me, and Alisaie to me doesn't have the same level of development for most of the game so I like her brother better overall. I think our vastly different experiences twist our perceptions of Alphinaud, as Alphinaud is the only ARR character who is solidly moving forward and developing while the rest don't move at all (Y'shtola like 90% of the time) or barely move at all until way later (Urianger for the most part). So having a Scion who has a constantly moving arc from start to finish makes them stand out and in my experience Alisaie's anime trope I find is overplayed compared to Alphinaud's trope, so she doesn't interest me as much early on until she grows beyond it by ShB.

 

[Rubedo]

tl;dr: Alphinaud has grown so much in 8 years to me, and Alisaie to me doesn't have the same level of development for most of the game so I like her brother better overall. I think our vastly different experiences twist our perceptions of Alphinaud, as Alphinaud is the only ARR character who is solidly moving forward and developing while the rest don't move at all (Y'shtola like 90% of the time) or barely move at all until way later (Urianger for the most part). So having a Scion who has a constantly moving arc from start to finish makes them stand out and in my experience Alisaie's anime trope I find is overplayed compared to Alphinaud's trope, so she doesn't interest me as much early on until she grows beyond it by ShB.

It sucks that seeing the start of Alisaie's character development is locked behind Coil, which you gotta be a hardcore sadist (either by knowing another group of sadists or be past lvl 80 w/ilvl530 and knowing your rotation to a T while do it unsync'd) to see everything. Which is also holding the bad voice acting expect for Louisoix, but doubt you'll see your average sprout wanting to do it unless they're completionists or glamour hunters.

 

[Zeke Von Genbu]

It sucks that seeing the start of Alisaie's character development is locked behind Coil, which you gotta be a hardcore sadist (either by knowing another group of sadists or be past lvl 80 w/ilvl530 and knowing your rotation to a T) to see everything. Which is also holding the bad voice acting expect for Louisoix, but doubt you'll see your average sprout wanting to do it unless they're completionists or glamour hunters.

Alisaie's coil stuff is really good, if hindered by the bad voice acting in the english dub, but I feel most of her stuff in HW through SB is just sort of alright by comparison. It is in ShB where I feel Alisaie hits her stride as a character, and everything fully clicks.

 

[Rubedo]

Alisaie's coil stuff is really good, if hindered by the bad voice acting in the english dub, but I feel most of her stuff in HW through SB is just sort of alright by comparison. It is in ShB where I feel Alisaie hits her stride as a character, and everything fully clicks.

Oh yeah. When she came back in HW, it landed with the impact of a thud with a side of "who the hell are you again?" since after Coil they didn't know what to do with Alisaie, SB was starting to take a shine besides generating memes, but I agree ShB is where she hits her stride and it's just beautiful.

 

[JektheDumbass]

I'm okay with Alphinaud being a little shit, but they cut out Miner Tataru but kept literally getting the wrong type of crystals 3 times in a row before the Leviathan fight? I reassert my desire to punch the post-ARR story planners in the breadbasket. Not to mention the "get two items" quest followed by "get two similar items" quest. Bitch, just tell me to get all 4 items, stop padding this out.

 

[Well Intentioned]

Re: the twins (since I can't quote your post @Zeke Von Genbu )

Spoiler: MSQ Sperging

I'd argue both characters are pretty rote and rely heavily on anime style tropes. Alphinaud is just the hyper-intelligent pen-is-mightier-than-the-sword type and is a reflection of Japan's whole obsession with scholastic excellence. Ali has the whole tomboy/spunky girl protagonist vibe going, which...is fine. Like all of the Scions are archetypes of some kind because, again, JRPG/anime inspired storytelling.

What I enjoy with Alisaie is that we see a bit more characterization of her. She has brief moments where she has doubt or reservations about what's going on and comes across as a dynamic character rather than a one-shot archetype. Keep in mind that this is within the confines of expectations of a JPRG story. I'm not expecting high-level lit. Alphinaud's characterization is far more inconsistent and not as believable. He goes from being an insufferable ass up to the shit with Ilberd and the Scions going tits up, is mopey for like 2 MSQs and is then back to being his usual self. I can't really recall what the lightbulb moment was for him that made him pull out of his moping.

I'm also not sure if the fact that we're tethered to that little shit for the entirety of ARR and into Heavensward helps or hurts that. Because I think that we'd see more overall character growth with Alphinaud, being handcuffed to him, but I feel that the opposite is the case. Alisaie doesn't have a lot of room to develop as a character because she's off fucking around becoming a RDM or whatever in ARR.

The Coils stuff, which I've only gotten about halfways through, adds some depth to Alisaie's character. My understanding is that it's pretty much all Alisaie, and if that's the case, I think that Alphinaud having a few moments in that plotline could've been useful, based on what I know/have seen thus far.

 

[Gravemind]

It sucks that seeing the start of Alisaie's character development is locked behind Coil, which you gotta be a hardcore sadist (either by knowing another group of sadists or be past lvl 80 w/ilvl530 and knowing your rotation to a T while do it unsync'd) to see everything.

Coil wasn't even that brutal at 80 unsynched, my dude. On a DPS, you just have to play marginally better than facerolling your keyboard in order to clear. Tanks also have a very easy time with most of Coil on top of that, with maybe only a small handful of fights requiring more than one person to clear them due to mechanics.

My understanding is that it's pretty much all Alisaie, and if that's the case, I think that Alphinaud having a few moments in that plotline could've been useful, based on what I know/have seen thus far.

He does. Coil is predominantly focused around Alisaie until Final Coil, in which Alphinaud joins up as well, and they both get personal development/resolution with the true fate of Louisoix just before T13.

 

[Fcret]

Coils aren't even that hard synced if you're not min ilvl. I honestly feel like they could be in Normal Raid roulette at this point.

 

[Gravemind]

Coils aren't even that hard synced if you're not min ilvl. I honestly feel like they could be in Normal Raid roulette at this point.

I mostly agree, but I still feel like T9 would be a gigantic retard checker regardless. There's too many "fuck this one thing up and you wipe" mechanics throughout T9's progression that there's still a little bit too much organized play that's required to actually clear it.