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CrashScreen
Nov 11, 2012


What is Final Fantasy XIV?
If you had asked me this in early 2013, I would have called it a massive disaster. Now, though? One of the most recent, biggest success stories in the games industry. Releasing in 2010, Final Fantasy XIV was an unfinished MMO. Before launch, players who participated in the beta warned Square about a number of issues, including one of the most stupid issues I've ever heard: handling everything server-side. That includes player inputs and movement. The world was empty, and the story just suddenly stopped in the middle of a storyline. Combat was clunky, and the environment just repeated itself. It absolutely flopped.

Then, a miracle occurred. Square-Enix officially apologised for the game. Suddenly, there was a huge shift in the development team, and Hiromichi Tanaka (the producer) was removed from the team. Replacing him was Naoki Yoshida. Final Fantasy XIV started to improve, but that wouldn't be enough to fix the situation. On October in 2011, version 2.0 of Final Fantasy XIV was announced. Later to be called Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, 2.0 was going to fix all the issues. And it did. With over two million subscribers, it's more successful than Square-Enix' previous most profitable venture: Final Fantasy XI. It's also probably the only subscription-based MMO to see as much growth as this since World of Warcraft. Oh, and did I mention that a lot of 2.0's development happened while they continued to work on the original XIV, and that it only took two years to develop?

So, is this a remake then?
Yes and no. It's a continuation of the original Final Fantasy XIV (often referred to as 1.0 or Legacy). Almost everything has been changed, though. It's kind of more like a sequel, if anything.


So, what's the story?
Final Fantasy XIV is set in the continent of Eorzea, one of three large continents in the world of Hydaelyn. This land has recently become the target of the growing Garlean Empire, which hails from the small, technologically advanced nation of Garlemald. They successfully captured the nation of Ala Mhigo; however, this invasion was interrupted when the empire awoke the slumbering guardian of Silvertear Lake, in the region of Mor Dhona. The guardian of the lake and king of dragons, Midgardsormr, was defeated, but not before taking down Garlemald's most powerful weapon--the airship Agrius. The subsequent crash of both entities into the lake broke a seal, unleashing a vast quantity of aether upon Eorzea and destroying Mor Dhona's landscape. Meanwhile, a small number of denizens from Eorzea started to discover the power of the echo, allowing them to communicate without knowing the language and view the memories of people they meet. Unfortunately, this power is also a sign that a catastrophic event is nearing.

Five years ago, during 1.0, the Garlean Empire finally began to advance once more. However, Eorzea now faced greater dangers. Local beast tribes were becoming more hostile, and gathered large quantities of aether. Strangers known as Paragons were teaching these tribes how to summon their gods, known to Eorzeans as Primals. At the same time, Nael van Darnus of the Garlean Empire, known as the White Raven, started going mad and attempted to use technology created by the ancient Allagan people to summon Meteor on Eorzea. This meteor would take the form of the lesser moon, Dalamud. As his plan advanced, Darnus became more mad, enslaved by the lesser moon and referring to it as "He". A band of adventurers eventually managed to slay Darnus, but it was too late. In an attempt to postpone the apocalypse, the Eorzean Alliance sent their forces to the Carteneau Flats to finish Darnus' legion. I won't spoil the fun. You can watch what happens in this really awesome video.

LP Rules
- No spoilers. Consider anything not shown in the LP as a spoiler.
- Please don't even post spoilers in spoiler tags. Sometimes giving the right context is tricky, so we don't want to ruin things for anyone.
- Stories from your time in 1.0 is awesome. Please share some stuff about the game that's been lost to time, but avoid touching things that haven't been covered in the LP yet. Many of the story elements in 1.0 have been rehashed into the first part of the ARR storyline.
- Voiced sequences and cutscenes that are animated (beyond using player emotes) will be in videos.
- I'll be showing off all the classes and content. I'm going to be crazy and aim to do every piece of content, even if I'm focusing on progress on another character too. Expect this to take forever.
- I'll try my best to show off all the tactics for bosses, including as many ways to break them as I can find. If you can find cool or silly things to do with those bosses after I've shown them then please go wild! Likewise, if I miss a reference or there's a missed bit of background from 1.0, be sure to share it for everyone else!
- You can even help out in-game if you want, but please go to Excalibur if you really want to play this game otherwise. That's where everyone else is.

Thread Rules
- Be civil, please.
- You can talk about other Final Fantasy games. There's a lot of references so conversation about that is a rad thing.
- Let's not go on about which Final Fantasy is good or bad, even if someone says something silly like that Final Fantasy XIII is good.
- There's a few Final Fantasy Let's Plays up right now, so if we're going to spoiler anything in them then please use the tags. Let's not ruin it for anyone reading both threads.
- You can discuss FFXI and how similar some elements are as much as you like. Just be careful about spoiling things due to their connections.
- I notice FFXIV players like to take screenshots of everything, so if you have anything cool that you want to share that we've covered, please do! (Remember to timg it though!)

I've set up a Twitter account to announce things like when I use duty finder or post an update, which you can follow here. You can also check out the characters' progress on the lodestone here.

Contents:
Chapter 1: Weird Dreams and Waking Up to Weird Old Men
Chapter 2: Oh, yeah! I forgot all about the Warriors of Light!
Chapter 3: The Training Wheels are... still on.
Bonus: Exploring and talking with the locals, also Chocobo travel that we can't use!
Chapter 4: The Training Wheels are... still, still on.
Chapter 5: A Fast Blade to the Coliseum (Gladiator quest)
Bonus: Gotta check the mail, kupo!
Chapter 6: Aldis running around is making me tired! (Gladiator quest)
Chapter 7: Where we take crystal and have a bad trip.
Chapter 8: A Fateful Detour
Chapter 9: The End of My Silver Bazaar Vacation
Seasonal: All Saints' Wake (Halloween 2013)
Chapter 10: Fishing for More to Do
Chapter 11: Time to get Cracking On
Chapter 12: Echoing the Past

CrashScreen fucked around with this message at 16:27 on Dec 20, 2014

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CrashScreen
Nov 11, 2012

Character Creation Lore
Rather than bog down the SSLP with constant explanations of the race or who is what race, I figured it'd make sense to share some information on the five playable races of the game. I'm literally just going to snatch some screens from the game's character creation for this, because it provides a lot of really good detail. It saves having a full update on all the interesting things that the character creation screen provides. It'll also be handy for readers who want a reference for regular things in the LP.

The Races of Eorzea:








In the original Final Fantasy XIV, players could only play female Miqo'te. Also, they had better butts or something, according to the official forums. Males are now playable.



Similarly to Miqo'te, Roegadyn were only playable in one gender too. Players could only play them as males. Females are now playable.

Clans:
Each race has two potential clans that the characters can belong to. The player's choice of clan can impact their starting attributes. The impact isn't completely severe, and most players claim it won't make a difference. In all honesty? It won't really, but the attributes can range enough to be the difference between an item level 100 and item level 110 accessory.

Hyur Clans




Only male Highlanders were playable in the original Final Fantasy XIV. Females are now playable too.

Elezen Clans




Lalafell Clans




Miqo'te Clans




Roegadyn Clans




The Twelve
Eorzeans worship "The Twelve", who are twelve different deities that have been worshipped as far back as the earliest known civilisation. You can select a your own guardian deity. They don't give you anything special except elemental resistances. The order is Fire/Ice/Wind/Earth/Lightning/Water.

























Classes
The class that you pick determines your party role and home city state.

Disciple of War


Gladiators start in Ul'dah and play a tanking role.



Pugilists start in Ul'dah and play a damage dealing role.



Marauders start in Limsa Lominsa and play a tanking role.



Lancers start in Gridania and play a damage dealing role.



Archers start in Gridania and play a ranged damage dealing role.

Disciple of Magic


Conjurers start in Gridania and play a healing role.



Thaumaturges start in Ul'dah and play a damage dealing role.



Arcanists start in Limsa Lominsa and play a damage dealing role, but can also become healers later.

City States
Because of the backgrounds on the city states, it's kind of difficult to read. The images are nice, though, so I'll share them anyway and explain what it says below.



The bustling commercial hub of Ul'dah sits amid the desolate desert landscape of southern Aldernard. Ul'dahn culture is known for its affluence and the wealth of the nation comes in large part from its abundant mineral resources and clothcrafting industry. Though it is the sultana who claims sovereignty, true power is wielded by the Syndicate, a council sat by six of Ul'dah's most elite and influential. Nald'thal is the nation's patron deity, and two great halls devoted to His two aspects lie in the east and west of the city.



On the southern coast of the island of Vylbrand, under the shadow of ancient cliffs worn by the relentless onslaught of the Rhotano Sea, lies the thalassocracy of Limsa Lominsa. Its economy is driven primarily by shipping, but boasts lucrative shipbuilding, fishing, and smithing industries as well. To maintain the safety of its maritime routes, the city employs a formidable navy known as the Knights of the Barracuda. Even so, pirate bands run rampant in nearby waters, reaving and pillaging.



In the eastern reaches of the Aldenard landmass, home to vast, dense woodlands and coursing rivers, lies the forest nation of Gridania. The cityscape is a mosaic of labyrinthine waterways and great wooden structures, so gracefully constructed they seem a part of the surrounding environment. The favored goddess of the citizenry is Nophica, the Matron, but great faith is also placed in the wisdom of the Seedseers-young oracles who guide the nation based on the will of the forest's elementals.

CrashScreen fucked around with this message at 11:11 on Aug 25, 2014

CrashScreen
Nov 11, 2012

Chapter 1: Weird Dreams and Waking Up to Weird Old Men
Before we begin, we're prompted to create our character and select the world we'll be playing on. For the sake of simplicity, I created a basic looking Hyur suffering from teenage angst like any new Final Fantasy character would. I forgot to give him different eye colours, but that's okay, I'm not sure they have contact lenses in Eorzea anyway. We'll name him Crash Screen, and send him off to Midgardsormr because we're silly like that. I'd recommend anyone wanting to play this game to play on Excalibur, though, because that's where all the nerds that can help you out will be hanging.



For the most part, the race and clan of your character won't matter. There are small stat differences, but they aren't huge enough to impact your play style. You can still play a Lalafell Paladin and soak up all the damage fine. Likewise, when selecting a Guardian Deity, players will receive elemental resistance bonuses. These also won't really impact your play style. For this character, we're going with Ul'dah's local guardian: Nald'thal. Nald'thal provides mostly fire resistance, and is a single entity that was once twins named Nald and Thal. We'll get more into them and the remaining eleven guardians later. I'll also start off as a Gladiator, but I'll be showing off all the other classes at some point.

:siren:Video: Introduction:siren:
Upon starting the game, players will be forced to watch a pre-rendered cutscene that introduces Eorzea. It explains that Eorzea is one of three continent in the world of Hydaelyn. Five years ago, it faced destruction as the second, smaller moon Dalamud unleashed Bahamut, which brought about The Calamity, ushering the Seventh Umbral Era. This was a great plot device to end the last game, and to explain all the huge changes that A Realm Reborn brought to the table. Unfortunately, I didn't have the privilege of having a legacy account or defeating the White Raven in the previous Final Fantasy XIV, so Crash Screen won't be one of those previous Warriors of Light that fought in the Carteneau Flats just before Bahamut was released. It is only after this introduction that we actually get to make our character.

:siren:Video: A Giant Crystal and a Weird Masked Man:siren:
After completing our character and selecting our world, another cutscene pops immediately. It won't make very much sense to us right now, which is funny considering most of the scene involves a giant crystal talking about our senses. We also get to see Crash Screen in a Paladin outfit, striking a masked and hooded guy with a light sword of some kind.



Of course, it's all a dream and just before the finishing blow is struck, we're woken up.





Our hero finds himself waking up on a carriage reeking of Chocobo, and travelling through the arid region of Thanalan on its journey to the city-state of Ul'dah. Thanalan is the most south-western region of Aldernard, the main landmass of the Eorzean continent. The city is known as the commercial hub of Eorzea, but is also famous for its entertainment. It is home to a coliseum and gambling halls. We'll be learning more about it once we reach the city, but for now we're stuck in a Chocobo carriage with a bunch of strangers in the blazing hot desert. Here, we're greeted by a British merchant.



He does have teeth. They just seemed to have disappeared occasionally during the recording of this scene.

"You were moanin' somethin' fierce for a while there."



"You'll get used to it though, don't worry."



The carriage continues to travel through Thanalan. Unfortunately, members of the Brass Blades often patrol trade routes to carry out inspections on the wares of travelling merchants. The Brass Blades are a military organisation from Ul'dah.







"What's all this about!?"



The Brass Blade Captain unsheathes his sword, and his Chocobo looks menacing as hell here for some reason. It's really staring down that carriage driver. Maybe it smells the Gysahl Greens - a type of carrot that Chocobos love? Or maybe it's just one mean Chocobo?

"Inspection! Men, search the carriage!"





What is up with the Grizzled Passenger's face here?

"I'm just an honest peddler, friend. So, er...don't be too disappointed if you don't find nothin', eh?"

"Mind your tongue, old man, lest I cut it out!"



Oh, dear. Looks like our honest peddler isn't so honest. Shocking, I know.

"Sir, look! Somnus!"



"You're in a lot of trouble, old man. You'll rot in a dungeon till the end of your days...unless you can afford the fine."

"Heh, business as usual..."

Oh man, let's hope you're not guilty by association in Thanalan.



Suddenly, an arrow strikes! The surprise alone causes the Grizzled Passenger to lose yet more teeth.



What's also a common threat for travelling merchants in Thanalan is the Amalj'aa, a tribe of hostile lizardmen. Before The Calamity, the Amalj'aa were a little more friendly and actually traded with the five races. However, shortly before this catastrophic event, the beast tribe began to change. Members of their group started abducting innocent people, subjugating them to their god, Ifrit. They do this by bathing people in Ifrit's flames, leaving them tempered and under Ifrit's control. We'll get to all that later, though. Now, what do these beast men look like?



Well, uhh... I think I'll just leave them to the Brass Blades.



We flee the scene, leaving the Amalj'aa and Brass Blades to duke it out. What we didn't expect was that both sides were actually trying to get into that recent fad from Japan. You know? That one where they fake anime fight scenes.



The carriage manages to get away safely. There'll be no participation in outdated trends for Crash Screen.



The Grizzled Passenger also experience dangerous levels of excitement from cats playing pianos, dogs with a strange understanding of English, and obviously, reading the front page of Something Awful.

"You be careful 'round them Brass Blades, lad. Bastards'll have the shirt off your back if they fancy it. Like common bandits, they are, only less honest."

"Thank the gods for sendin' some beastmen to the rescue, eh!?"

"Hey, seein' as we've still got a long ride ahead, you mind keepin' me company till we arrive?"



"Them young'uns don't care for conversation, see."





Finally, we have a name. Unfortunately, this also costs him almost all of his remaining teeth. I can imagine that making transactions with Brendt would be quite an awkward experience.



drat it! I got this scar to avoid looking inexperienced, and he saw right through me.



"So long as you can avoid dyin', I mean. Ain't no secret that adventurin's a risky business-these days especially."

"What was it that first attracted you to it?"

We're given our first choice. It doesn't really change anything, though the dialogue that follows will be slightly different. Sadly, there's no "my parents died when I was five and I'm an orphan" option, so we had to make do.



I went with glory. I'm going to become a Gladiator after all, and there's nothing more than a Gladiator wants than glory. Or fortune. I probably should have went with fortune, I mean the only way to really live even remotely well in Ul'dah is to be rich.

"Glory, eh? Well, if you're willin' to take on them tasks as other folk ain't, an adventurer such as yourself can win fame what coin can't buy."

I'm pretty sure coin can buy fame in Ul'dah too.

"When you arrive in town, you'll want to report to the Adventurer's Guild."

"You can find out everythin' you need to know about the adventurin' business in there."

"Just remember, though: there're more important things than fortune an' glory. Such as breathin'. Ain't no profit in bein' dead, an' that's a fact."

The entire time Brendt talks, he makes a lot of hand gestures and moves around. He's very animated, and most characters in this game are, even though the screenshots don't really show that. Also, come to think of it, just how far away is Ul'dah? This trip is taking forever!

By the by, is this your first trip to Ul'dah?



We're given another choice. Like the last choice, this doesn't really impact much. Unlike the last one, the dialogue doesn't really change that much. Regardless of whether you choose yes or no, Brendt will give you a run down of Ul'dah and Thanalan anyway.


We'll just say yes. For Crash Screen, this is the first time, and it will also be the first time for many of you. As I said before, though, it doesn't actually really matter.



Brendt explains the situation in Ul'dah while we watch the Chocobo carriage travel off screen.

"Ul'dah's ruled by the sultana in name, but as most folk know, the Syndicate holds all the real power."

"Them and their Monetarist cronies would happily get rid of Her Majesty altogether, but that won't happen while she still commands the loyalty of the Royalists-an' the Royalists are nothin' if not loyal."

"These factions have long fought over power, throwin' the weight of their wealth against each other, an' they show no sign of stoppin'."

"'Course the lizardmen-that's the Amalj'aacouldn't care less about Ul'dahn politics. They have their own interests, see-an' they ain't afraid to use force to serve 'em."





"Ah, at long last."

"Behold Ul'dah, jewel of Thanalan, where folk turn sand into gold!"

:siren:Video: Visiting Ul'dah:siren:
Our first view of Ul'dah. What's weird is that we approach it from the north, on a path known as the Royal Allagan Starway, which leads to the Gate of Nald entrance to Ul'dah. However, for some reason, we stop at the Gate of Thal, which is further south and more out of the way. I guess the carriage driver wanted to avoid our first good look at the city being too close to all the refugees forced to camp outside its gates?

Well, actually, the real reason is that the Gate of Nald is large enough for two Chocobo carriages to pass through simultaneously, unlike the Gate of Thal. As a result, you can imagine that most transport would travel through here. Although, this carriage stops outside the gate before heading back the direction it came anyway.



"An' here's where we part ways, lad."

"I'm off to the markets to deliver me wares, then it's on to the highroad for me."





We accept the gift. Whatever it was.



The Chocobo carriage starts moving away at this point, and will leave the screen whether you remain on this dialogue or not. Incidentally, it's possible to see a path leading to a giant tree amongst all the rock in the background (not the tree between Crash Screen and Brendt). That tree is the Sultantree.

"Become the sort of storied personage I can brag about havin' met, an' I'll consider us square."

:siren:Video: Entering Ul'dah:siren:
And so, after a long journey, we have finally arrived at Ul'dah. The first building we see is that of The Quicksand. We'll be learning more about that very soon. The video stops when a stranger shouts on us.



So who is it that's calling on us? What dangers will we face in Ul'dah? Who knows, really?

Our map progress:
There's none for this update! We've just entered the gate, and not actually done any playing yet. In the next update, we'll be able to explore Ul'dah, so I'll show off where we've visited on a map then.

Bonus:
:siren:Video: Legacy Introduction for Ul'dah:siren:
Players who defeated the final boss in 1.0 would receive this introduction to the game, rather than the one we received on Crash Screen. It's pretty cool, and ties in with the video linked in the OP. The player shown in the footage is a Hyur, much like Crash Screen. They're even the same class, as the observational readers will notice that he's wearing the same armour shown in the dream sequence.

Mega64
May 23, 2008

I took the octopath less travelered,

And it made one-eighth the difference.
Yesssss. I got suckered into this game a few months ago, and god drat did I love it. This game oozes more charm than anything else SE's released in the last ten years or so. This game does a ton of great things, and with a decent story to boot.

I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the LP unfold.

tithin
Nov 14, 2003


[Grandmaster Tactician]



Mega64 posted:

Yesssss. I got suckered into this game a few months ago, and god drat did I love it. This game oozes more charm than anything else SE's released in the last ten years or so. This game does a ton of great things, and with a decent story to boot.

I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the LP unfold.

I liked it too - only I was playing as a GLAD.

I stopped playing about level 32 or so, just after getting my PLD soul. Was finding it more and more difficult to solo storyline quests, and I was on the JPN Server, so not many english speaking guilds, and eventually gave up.

Hamsterlady
Jul 8, 2010

Corpse Party, bitches.
I skipped all the cutscenes and finally started to regret it recently, but watching them in my inn room without any context really doesn't help me understand the plot I missed. I'll be following this LP so maybe I'll get to know the plot of this game I've played for over 800 hours!

CrashScreen
Nov 11, 2012

Sir Shion posted:

I liked it too - only I was playing as a GLAD.

If it helps, it's currently free to play the game for the week. You could always try rolling on Excalibur and seeing if playing with some goons might help more. They'll definitely assist you if you have any issues, and give you tips on anything you're struggling with.


DarkHamsterlord posted:

I'll be following this LP so maybe I'll get to know the plot of this game I've played for over 800 hours!

Part of me wishes that FFXIV had /playtime. The other part of me is afraid of what I might learn.

Mega64 posted:

Yesssss. I got suckered into this game a few months ago, and god drat did I love it. This game oozes more charm than anything else SE's released in the last ten years or so. This game does a ton of great things, and with a decent story to boot.

It's really surprising, too. It's such a massive turnaround.

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


As a long time FF fan, I was surprised that the writing in this game had more in common with WRPGs than JRPGs. Don't get me wrong, this is still Final Fantasy as gently caress, but the game actually discusses topics that JRPGs tend to shy away from.

Sir Shion posted:

I liked it too - only I was playing as a GLAD.

I stopped playing about level 32 or so, just after getting my PLD soul. Was finding it more and more difficult to solo storyline quests, and I was on the JPN Server, so not many english speaking guilds, and eventually gave up.

My condolences, GLD is a painful class to level.
Try to get to 40, because that's when you can get Shield Oath. This is a super useful and super important move that makes holding agro much, much easier. One of the main complaints about the class is that you get your necessary class role stance at 40, while the stance at 30 is just a DPS boost. It's one of the more questionable design decisions in this game.
Best advice I can give you is stick with it, try to upgrade your equipment every five levels and use tank marks. Remember to use your cooldowns to mitigate damage. If you're soloing, cross-classing protect might not be a bad idea (you should have CNJ at 15). In dungeons, see if a friendly WHM/BLM can sleep enemies for you, as one-on-one tanking is what gladiators excel at.

If this part is against OP's rules, I'll remove it.

Seraphic Neoman fucked around with this message at 08:43 on Aug 25, 2014

Hamsterlady
Jul 8, 2010

Corpse Party, bitches.

CrashScreen posted:

Part of me wishes that FFXIV had /playtime. The other part of me is afraid of what I might learn.

I bought it on Steam, which helpfully keeps track of my playtime for me. 838 hours right now, and I haven't really been playing for all that long...

Ciaphas
Nov 20, 2005

> BEWARE, COWARD :ovr:


I sort of wondered if anyone would have a go at LPing this. You've got one hell of a long road ahead, mate :v:. A good road, though, no doubt there.

I had forgotten that 1.0 players had a somewhat different opening. Looking forward to seeing what else is changed for those crazy bastards.

ReturnOfFable
Oct 9, 2012

No tears, only dreams.
I've been waiting for this LP to be posted! I'm considering switching to Excalibur to participate with the thread, I could use some people to play with.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!
I've heard pretty much only good things about ARR, but I don't "do" MMOs. So I'm looking forward to seeing what all the fuss is about.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


Holy poo poo, someone is actually doing this. :stare:

...can you gift Phials of Fantasia to other accounts? Because if you can, we will totally turn you into a lalafell (the best race)


e. So, some actual comments on the game: Everything said about it, with regards to its charm and playability, is correct. FFXIV:ARR is the best main-line FF game we've had over the past decade, no contest. Only, it's an MMO and not a single-player game, and if you don't like MMOs, it's unlikely that this will change your mind.

The plotlines, both main scenario and those in the numerous side quests, are pure camp, and feel most at home held up beside those of FF5, 6, and 9. It's quite fun, though on a small handful of occasions rather jarringly dark, at least compared to the upbeat aesthetic and tongue-in-cheek dialogue. Altogether, though, it's satisfying. The story and atmosphere are everything an FF game should have, and one gets a sense, while playing it, that they deliberately aimed to capture a vibe that the now-adults who grew up with the FF games of the past would love.

Speaking of that dialogue, CrashScreen, please do not hold back in showing off the stuff that random NPCs in this game say. :allears:

Mazed fucked around with this message at 07:50 on Aug 25, 2014

AMooseDoesStuff
Dec 20, 2012
Oh hey, this is happenning? Neat!
I've only played XIV for that free month that comes with buying the game. I leveled a GLD/PLD up to 50 and did a few high level dungeons, and despite never normally being a tank in MMOs it was a blast.
I really super like the game and wait there's a free week? Hoo boy. Time to get back into it.

CrashScreen
Nov 11, 2012

SSNeoman posted:

If this part is against OP's rules, I'll remove it.

Nah, it's vague enough. My main issue with that kind of mechanics talk is that it often tends to flow into dangerous territory, but that much was fine. Gladiator being a pain is one of the reasons I went with that first. It's the class a lot of new players tend to go for (they wanna fight with swords!), and it leads to a lot of people new to the genre struggling with their party role. I figured showing off one of the misunderstood classes would work well.

Mazed posted:

Speaking of that dialogue, CrashScreen, please do not hold back in showing off the stuff that random NPCs in this game say. :allears:

I actually feel like I don't hold back enough. I've already written a few updates ahead, and I had to split one of them in two because I decided to show off some of the extra dialogue. I intend to dwell in certain places when we go there as part of the main scenario or side story. I might make mini-updates to show off some of the dialogue to try and keep a good pace. I'll keep that particular two-part update as it is, though, and see how it's received.

Also, as for Fantasia, I already have two, so I'll probably use it way later on to have some fun.

tithin
Nov 14, 2003


[Grandmaster Tactician]



I'm familiar enough with the mechanics of tanking from wow that I was able to transpose it easily enough so that actually tanking wasn't a huge issue, it was primarily the lack of damage that was making it difficult to do anything on a solo basis. I assume the inverse would be true if I were to play something non tanky.

I think I'm done with FFXIV - it was definitely fun to play, but I honestly have no desire to replay a new character through enough of the story to catch up to where I was, even though the mechanics were relatively fun. Too time consuming for my tastes (see - peoples 4 digit time played itt :p )

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


Advice to anyone starting a new character is this: You can level multiple jobs as of a point rather early on, so do it! Gladiator (and Conjurer, the basic healer class) is pretty tedious to solo but you'll never wait long to get into dungeons, while soloing tends to be a great deal more fun on something that packs more of a punch, even though you may not get very fast groups. So, have your cake and eat it. Between story quests, side quests, group content, and the buttload of stuff you can find to do just running around, you'll get plenty of XP for more than one class at a time.

On the character I'm playing now, I've about found the limit to how thinly you can spread it: Three to four jobs. I got Paladin, White Mage, Black Mage, and Monk all rolling along fairly steadily with even indulgence in all available XP sources as they become available, but had to put Summoner aside...for now. :shepface:

CrashScreen
Nov 11, 2012

I'm going to avoid mentioning things that haven't shown up yet, but even focusing on just Gladiator right now has been really smooth. I'm at the first level six main scenario quest, but I'm already just about to hit level ten and geared as such, even though I can't say I've fought very much. At the very least, getting to the point where you can play any class you want is pretty quick and painless.

ReturnOfFable
Oct 9, 2012

No tears, only dreams.
If anyone is jumping in, getting to level 10 is fairly painless for any of the classes. Level 10 - 15 is a bit slow for some classes but once you hit 15, it really starts to pick up speed. Once CrashScreen gets further in, I'm sure he'll touch on some level tricks that people commonly ignore.

I switched around my class so many times playing this game. Leveled a Thaumaturge to 35 before switching to a Conjurer, got that to level 40 before I realized I didn't like it and then switched to the Arcanist which is now my main. I've been playing a lot of the Archer now and that's probably going to become my main.

Wind God Sety
Sep 2, 2011

"I think you really should be in the ocean..."

So that's what I been doing wrong!
I wasn't super interested in this game's story for the first half to two thirds of it, and after sinking hundreds of hours into endgame stuff, I kinda regret that, so I'm looking forward to getting another look at it through this LP. It's kind of crazy how much stuff is in this game, to the extent that I probably have a four digit play time and still haven't touched a lot of the content.

EzEight
Jan 21, 2014
A little background on the video in the OP.

This was the video released before they took down the server for 1.0, the game was literally "Reborn" into what it is right now.

CrashScreen
Nov 11, 2012

Yeah. I wasn't there for it, but Square basically told everyone to go to a specific location in the game where a lot of imperial soldiers were. The game was pretty abruptly shut down, and that's when the video played before telling players that they were disconnected from the server.

What's funny is that a lot of people put in effort to go to that location and got disconnected, unable to log back in. Square had to send them all links to the YouTube video so they could still see it.

The song from the video also played moments before the servers shut down, but it had a pretty neat effect to it and it was all pretty eerie. If anyone wants to, they can take a look at what the closing minutes of the original looked like here.

Torrannor
Apr 27, 2013

---FAGNER---
TEAM-MATE
Wow, that FFXIV 1.0 server shutdown video was amazing! Much better than the Cataclysm intro for WoW. It must have been even more amazing for the players who knew the characters and the backstory.

FFXIV 2.0 looks very interesting. If I wasn't burned out from ever playing MMO's again because of WoW I would probably give it a try. But I will be following this LP, it's already off to a great start.

Spiritus Nox
Sep 2, 2011

You can say what you like about Final Fantasy, but I still find the idea that Square actually apologized for releasing a lovely game, remade it from the ground up, and even wrote the remake into the game's drat cosmology complete with bombastic cinematics to be pretty drat cool.

Materant
Jul 22, 2010

see, what you don't understand is he now has

THE MANLIEST MUSTACHE

it defies physics


If you ever need a hand with dungeons and the like, I'm on Balmung, but I can queue in with any role you need. From what I hear, Midgardsormr is pretty drat empty.

CrashScreen
Nov 11, 2012

My plan is to update this weekly, with the odd week where I'll post twice. Considering we've only really seen the opening cutscene, I'll be posting the next update either tomorrow or the day after.

Materant posted:

If you ever need a hand with dungeons and the like, I'm on Balmung, but I can queue in with any role you need. From what I hear, Midgardsormr is pretty drat empty.

I've already got a light party prepared, since I needed footage to show off the other city storylines. Using duty finder for cross server parties also requires a bit of luck. Still, I appreciate that, and I might post ahead of time for those willing to give this a shot.

Captain Bravo
Feb 16, 2011

An Emergency Shitpost
has been deployed...

...but experts warn it is
just a drop in the ocean.
Oh man, I am super excited for this LP. I was the biggest goddamned nerd for FFXI, I played it for probably four years and sunk so much of my life into that game that I still have fond memories of playing it, half a decade afterwards. I never got into FFXIV, I couldn't keep up with an MMO anymore, but I've always wondered how it compared to it's predecessor. (To be fair, I almost bought it at one point, but then a friend told me they didn't have Blue Mage in it and I decided against it.)

Without spoiling anything, can anyone give kind of a basic comparison between the two? Does FFXIV have any storylines as incredible as Chains of Promathia? Any areas as buttfrustrating as Valkurm Dunes? Any weapon skills as awesome as Ground Strike? :v:

Ciaphas
Nov 20, 2005

> BEWARE, COWARD :ovr:


Captain Bravo posted:

Oh man, I am super excited for this LP. I was the biggest goddamned nerd for FFXI, I played it for probably four years and sunk so much of my life into that game that I still have fond memories of playing it, half a decade afterwards. I never got into FFXIV, I couldn't keep up with an MMO anymore, but I've always wondered how it compared to it's predecessor. (To be fair, I almost bought it at one point, but then a friend told me they didn't have Blue Mage in it and I decided against it.)

Without spoiling anything, can anyone give kind of a basic comparison between the two? Does FFXIV have any storylines as incredible as Chains of Promathia? Any areas as buttfrustrating as Valkurm Dunes? Any weapon skills as awesome as Ground Strike? :v:

I can safely say that nothing is as frustrating as Valkurm Dunes, if only because you can actually play the game without a group past the first ten or whatever levels. :v:

(ok, most of the time. more to be said about that later though)

Penguin Bacon
Apr 19, 2010
I remember being passably interested in FFXIV before I found out the producer. He's the guy who thought bosses from FFXI and that stagnant endgame content was considered "good". Absolute Virtue who I think holds one of the longest unkillable monster streaks in MMO history and then Pandemonium Warden. 18 hrs for the first run and he still wasn't beaten.

If a producer can defend that type of content, I wasn't interested.

Still excited to see the new content but I think it was too late for me.

Captain Bravo
Feb 16, 2011

An Emergency Shitpost
has been deployed...

...but experts warn it is
just a drop in the ocean.
I liked absolute virtue until they found out that players had actually discovered a method of beating him!? And so they made that, as they called it "bug", not work anymore. And beefed him up considerably. And gave him a move he could use basically whenever he felt like it that healed all of his health instantly. And released a confusing video that gave no information, and claimed it was the key to defeating him.

That's one of the reasons I stopped playing FFXI. That guy was a complete and utter shitcamel.

Charlett
Apr 2, 2011
I remember actually beta-ing 14 1.0, and I cried a little inside about how I really disliked what they were doing with it. Most of it was pretty much unfun, so much so that I gave up after the first weekend and went into the forums to tell everyone my opinions, which were asked for.

Of course being a giant Squeenix circle-jerk forum, I was immediately drowned out with "Well they aren't hand holding you", "At least you're doing something instead of (insert game in here, 95% of the time WoW)!" and the ever popular, "Well this is only beta, they'll fix it soon!" Seeing as how it was going to come out in like two months, I figured it was as done as it ever was, laughed, and uninstalled.

When my friend started playing ARR, however, it quickly became apparent as I watched that this was the game I was expecting and wanting in 1.0. I've been playing it now for a month or two, and I've run through most of the easy-mode dungeons. I've actually been enjoying the story too.

Mega64
May 23, 2008

I took the octopath less travelered,

And it made one-eighth the difference.

Penguin Bacon posted:

I remember being passably interested in FFXIV before I found out the producer. He's the guy who thought bosses from FFXI and that stagnant endgame content was considered "good". Absolute Virtue who I think holds one of the longest unkillable monster streaks in MMO history and then Pandemonium Warden. 18 hrs for the first run and he still wasn't beaten.

If a producer can defend that type of content, I wasn't interested.

Still excited to see the new content but I think it was too late for me.

That guy (Tanaka) "resigned" after the whole 1.0 fiasco, so they got the guy who was improving FF11 in the meantime and had him spearhead 2.0, which worked well. There's some good design talk out there for those interested in that kind of stuff, where Yoshida talks about the struggles of adapting the old, inefficient game-development methods that have been plaguing SE through the years (like with FF13) and how, due largely to SE pretty much giving him free reign to fix things however he can, he was able to change their design processes to be much more efficient. My favorite tidbit was about a barrel in FF1.0 having more polygons than the player characters. Now the game is releasing content at a really rapid rate, with major patches every few months and at least two "small" (though still beefy with content) patches between them.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


For some good info as to just what the hell is going on up at Square-Enix over the past decade or so, search the Final Fantasy thread on the Games board for posts by a guy named Sunning, who probably either works for them or another closely associated company, going by how much he knows. :v:

I tried getting into FFXI back in the day, and it was pretty nice-looking and the story seemed to be going cool places, but the gameplay itself I can safely say caused some of the most un-fun video gaming I've ever experienced. My favorite example being that game's version of the Ninja class, which was released as a half-finished DPS/debuffer sort of thing but had access to an extremely broken blink spell, and so it became a popular tank...never mind the fact that each and every cast of that spell cost cripplingly expensive reagents, and to even get the spell in the first place you had to complete a rep grind that was almost invisible to detect progress in. Still, ninja tanks were popular since it virtually eliminated the need for a healer, which was otherwise needed in every group and you needed a group to do drat near anything and :suicide:

That said, the last time I actually played it was 2006, and supposedly it's not quite as horrid anymore.

Now, though, what IS good is that FFXIV carried over a lot of the designs of monsters (which were pretty rad) as well as the races. Though, XIV's Roegadyn, Lalafell, and Miqo'te are way more like big/short/cat-tail-cosplay humans with funny ears and noses compared to XI's Galka (technically-genderless ascetic bear dudes who reproduce through reincarnation), Tarutaru (funky chipmunk people with a cutesy dialect), and Mithra (all-girl feral cat tribe)

CrashScreen posted:

I've already got a light party prepared, since I needed footage to show off the other city storylines. Using duty finder for cross server parties also requires a bit of luck. Still, I appreciate that, and I might post ahead of time for those willing to give this a shot.

Got a twitter? If so, something that might work is to do like streamers and put the word out for people to possibly hop in.

Mazed fucked around with this message at 09:31 on Aug 26, 2014

Captain Bravo
Feb 16, 2011

An Emergency Shitpost
has been deployed...

...but experts warn it is
just a drop in the ocean.

Mazed posted:

My favorite example being that game's version of the Ninja class, which was released as a half-finished DPS/debuffer sort of thing but had access to an extremely broken blink spell, and so it became a popular tank...never mind the fact that each and every cast of that spell cost cripplingly expensive reagents, and to even get the spell in the first place you had to complete a rep grind that was almost invisible to detect progress in. Still, ninja tanks were popular since it virtually eliminated the need for a healer, which was otherwise needed in every group and you needed a group to do drat near anything and :suicide:

Oh, don't forget about how you could assign a subjob in FFXI, and subbing ninja got you access to the first level of that spell! So once you hit a certain point in endgame, you literally had to have ninja, had to have the spell, had to have the reagents, and were forced to use it with basically every job. Tank? Sub Ninja. DPS? Sub Ninja. Healer? Oh, you goddamned better sub Ninja or you're out of the linkshell.

:v:

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


Captain Bravo posted:

Oh, don't forget about how you could assign a subjob in FFXI, and subbing ninja got you access to the first level of that spell! So once you hit a certain point in endgame, you literally had to have ninja, had to have the spell, had to have the reagents, and were forced to use it with basically every job. Tank? Sub Ninja. DPS? Sub Ninja. Healer? Oh, you goddamned better sub Ninja or you're out of the linkshell.

:v:

Sub jobs! Sound like fun, right, combining class abilities? NO. NO FUN. FUN-HAVERS NOT WELCOME. SUB THIS ONE THING OR gently caress OFF.

Which was a shame, because I played a Warrior and loved subbing Dragoon so I could macro Jump with greataxe weapon skills and cause my framerate to tank with screen shaking and dust cloud effects, or Thief just so I could backstab with that beast of a weapon. :black101:


XIV, happily, brings some cross-class options, though with certain caveats that'll probably be touched on in the LP.

CrashScreen
Nov 11, 2012

Mazed posted:

Got a twitter? If so, something that might work is to do like streamers and put the word out for people to possibly hop in.

That's a good idea. I've set one up here to save bogging people's feeds with my dumb personal Twitter, too.

Captain Bravo
Feb 16, 2011

An Emergency Shitpost
has been deployed...

...but experts warn it is
just a drop in the ocean.

Mazed posted:

or Thief just so I could backstab with that beast of a weapon. :black101:

No game experience will ever top the first time I tried a Warrior/Thief with a fully-leveled, pimped-out greataxe. Trick attack on top of it just to piss off the real thief and make him burn some shadows. :v:

Great, now I really miss playing that expensive, badly-balanced, sperglord-infested, grindy-as-hell game. :negative:

CrashScreen
Nov 11, 2012

FFXI is a game that I wish I played more of. The more I remind myself of what's in it, the more terrible badly aged it sounds. It doesn't stop me wishing I could experience more of what it used to be, though. I was a dumb teenager when I played it, so I relied on one of my friends forming the party so I could avoid any form of spotlight. I ended up grinding more in Ronfaure than I ever spent time out in Valkurm Dunes, and I think the highest level I ever got back when I was subscribed was 20.

It's funny how trivialized some of the content is compared to what it used to be though. I gave it another go during the free period in December and got to level 30 while solo'ing everything. I got stuck trying to unlock Paladin in it though. That dungeon in La Theine is really mean.

CrashScreen fucked around with this message at 12:09 on Aug 26, 2014

Ither
Jan 30, 2010
I got this game about week ago. Started off with a Conjurer. I'm looking forward to seeing how different beginning in another city is.

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CrashScreen
Nov 11, 2012

Chapter 2: Oh, yeah! I forgot all about the Warriors of Light!
We've finally reached our destination: Ul'dah. After stepping into the city for the first time, Crash Screen was shouted over by an unknown voice.



The voice belongs to this man. He points at us and smiles.

"Aye, I mean you."

"Fresh off the carriage, by any chance? Eh? How can I tell? Heh!"



Crash Screen is stunned to have yet again been seen through. That scar isn't fooling anyone.



"Now then, what if I was to offer you some invaluable advice by way of welcome to our fair city? Free of charge, even-just this once, like."



Hooray! Finally, we've reached some actual gameplay. This is what the game looks like by default. We're given a compass that can tell us our position, the time of day, and the current weather. In the bottom right is, from bottom to top, is our current gil (the currency), menu options, and inventory. In the middle are combat parameters and our exp, which I'll get to soon, and to the left is our chat log. You'll notice that we've received a Ring of Fidelity. This happens to be the gift that Brendt gave us. We'll also a look at that when we discuss gear.

It's worth noting that the UI can be customized a little. I will be going with a minimalistic UI for the LP.

The tutorial first explains the controls to us, asking which scheme we'll use. This doesn't really matter, and players should just use what they prefer. The choice is between a mouse and keyboard, or a controller, and they'll be given a brief tutorial regarding that scheme. Both styles of control work perfectly fine. PlayStation 4 players will also be able to choose their control style.



Alright, let's go speak to Wymond then. Above his head is a quest marker, telling us that he has a quest for us. Not that we couldn't tell from how he shouted us over. Fresh off the carriage...



The game does go pretty mental on the tutorial front. Pretty much every single possible thing you can do will have some sort of tutorial. This will be the only one I share, though.



Our first quest is "Coming to Ul'dah". You'll notice that the quest marker looks like it's on fire. That signifies that it's a main scenario quest, and is part of the main storyline.



"If I let you go wanderin' off down the nearest dark alley, you're certain to get mugged or worse, an' I don't want that on my conscience."

Actually, wait. Can we go back? I'd like to start over. Maybe I should start in the quiet, nature worshipping city of Gridania?

"So before you do anythin' else, you'll want to head over to the Quicksand, an' speak with Momodi. She's the master of the Adventurer's Guild, an' can set you on the right path."





"...An' that's as much as you're gettin' for free. Good luck with the adventurin', adventurer."



So there we have it. We've accepted our first quest. The objective is pretty simple. We've to walk up the steps we just saw and into the Quicksand to go find Momodi.



What's weird is that in the opening cutscene, we enter Ul'dah through the Gate of Thal. However, the entrance we saw Crash Screen enter Ul'dah through was the Gate of Nald. It's a strange continuity error, because we should be on the Sapphire Avenue Exchange, rather than Emerald Avenue, where we are now.

Directly facing us is the Quicksand, home of the Adventurer's Guild and the Hourglass, the latter of which is an Inn.



Right next to the Gate of Nald is the Chocobo Stable. Here, players will be able to rent a Chocobo for faster travel. Currently, we're unable to do this, but it shouldn't be long until we can. But that's enough admiring the landmarks next to the Gate of Nald. It's time to enter the Quicksand and meet Momodi.



In the center of the Quicksand is the social area. This is where players can socialise. You can actually sit on those seats. Actually, you can sit on any seat in the game. Well, with one exception, but it will be a while before we see that one. Does it really matter? I mean I'm talking about being able to sit on chairs here.




And here she is, Momodi of the Adventurer's Guild. Above her head is a green quest marker, signifying that this is where the quest ends. Now let's claim our 103 gil.



We stumble upon Momodi having a good row with her log book. You can't see it in this screenshot, but she's shaking her finger up and down at the book. I suspect she's just not happy with the texture quality, but it's okay, those better textures are apparently being released alongside DirectX 11 support.



Momodi spots us walking over with that vacant look on our face and strikes a {/pose}.





The camera really likes getting different angles on our conversation with Momodi. She isn't just popular with the patrons of the Quicksand, but with the cameraman too!



Speaking of The Quicksand, it's also gotten eerily quiet all of a sudden. I could have sworn that there was more people around a second ago.



Oh, there's some people! That's good. I was beginning to worry that the smell of Chocobo had clung to my clothing. Chocobos are known to smell really bad in Final Fantasy XIV.



In the previous shots, you'll notice a severe lack of other players running around. This is because we're currently not actually online with other players. We're in a unique instance.



"Then there's the Garlean Empire. None can say for sure what they're plottin' these days, only that they are."



It's a good thing Brendt isn't with us. I'm not sure his heart could take the excitement of cat girls doing the Gangnam Style dance.



"So much was lost in the blink of an eye. 'Twas like the end of the world had come at last."



So anyway, about our instance. If we had tried to go elsewhere instead of the Quicksand, we'd have been told off and directed back to the Quicksand. Until you speak to Momodi, you can't progress.



Rather than the protagonist having amnesia, which would be rather silly given that the protagonists are actually players, Square has opted to instead give the entire cast amnesia. Well, it's certainly a twist on an old cliche.





The whole "amnesia causing NPCs to forget player characters" thing is a bit goofy, but it allows old players to return without too much of a rewrite of the story. Let's not forget that the adventurers were large in number (even if they were small in subscribers), and players didn't really stand out very much in the world until the Seventh Umbral Era was coming. It's not unusual that they'd be forgotten, but it's worth noting that there are exceptions later in the game.



"But even if we can't remember them, we'll not let 'em be forgotten, and so we call 'em the Warriors of Light."



That's if we can actually remember what they actually did, beyond fighting valiantly and dying that is.



Joining the guild to start earning money is that easy; however, that's because Crash Screen is fortunate enough to already be an adventurer. You'll notice that he already carries a sword. We already have status. There are many that don't, and we'll be seeing more of them later too.





"And a happy and prosperous Ul'dah means more business for the Quicksand, too!"



"Go ahead and write your name in the register-neat as you can."



A lot of items aren't rendered in game, often being simply pictures in the inventory. Consequently, when other characters hand Crash Screen items, they tend to just thrust their hand in his face.







Oh, no. Don't tell me that she realised I provided a fake name.





Sorry! I forgot to get rid of the speech bubble here. Anyway, we watch the Gullible Gambler get knocked over, and he cowers back.



"Be grateful you were given a fourth chance to offend. You two, attend to this scum."



"No, please! Mercy!"



Momodi just shrugs off the scene like it's nothing. Seriously.



"'Course, I do enjoy hearin' tell of a gentleman's woes with the womenfolk from time to time..."

It's worth noting that Momodi's dialogue is different when you're female.

"'Course, I do enjoy hearin' a lady muse on the many manhoods of her acquaintance from time to time."







And there we go, finished with our first quest. We're rewarded with 50 exp and 103 gil.



After accepting the quest rewards, we're given a little fanfare. That's us finally finished the tutorial, and after a brief loading screen, we're now in the open world with other players. We're now clear to explore the world and meet other adventurers. Momodi now also has a few tasks for us to help us learn the city. We'll get to that next time, though.



It's also worth pointing out the Sanctuary symbol, next to the experience bar. This tells the player that they are in a sanctuary. When in a sanctuary, you'll obtain a rested bonus. Logging out also contributes to this bonus. A rested bonus provides 50% extra experience for battle, crafting, and gathering. The longer you build a rested bonus, the more experience that it will apply for. For example, it could provide 50% extra experience for up to 2000 experience points, or just up to 100 exp.

Next time, we'll carry out Momodi's task and learn a little bit more about Ul'dah. We'll also explore the Quicksand a little bit, and learn about its function within the city.

Progress:
Now that we're out of our instance, we can finally start mapping our progress from the next part. At the moment, we've basically just taken a few steps forward.

Bonus:
So, we've learned about the Warriors of Light. On the last day of 1.0, players were told to visit a specific location in the region of Mor Dhona, where level 100 Imperials would spawn (the maximum player level was and still is 50). In the closing moments, a song called "Answers" played in a rather eerie way. The severs were shortly shut down, and players were shown the End of an Era video. You can watch the final closing moments here. It's really cool.

As a reminder, players who beat the final boss were teleported in a bright flash during the opening cutscene of A Realm Reborn. This heavily implies that the player characters involved also fought on the Carteneau Flats during this sequence, and are the true Warriors of Light, while the players who hadn't beaten the final boss are not necessarily considered a part of that group. There's a line later in ARR that also references both groups distinctly, which I'll point out when we get there.


Also, here's a shot of Emerald Avenue, the street that the Quicksand and Gate of Nald are on.

CrashScreen fucked around with this message at 10:16 on Aug 28, 2014

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