Final Fantasy XIV

[Briar King]

What does Ardyn have to do with 14?

[Wyrmhero he/him]

On 7/7/2019 at 9:39 PM, Briar King said:

What does Ardyn have to do with 14?

The character 'Ardyn' doesn't make an appearance, but it's clear that (and spoilers for Shadowbringers ahead, and I guess FFXV)

Spoiler

the designs and mannerisms are at least partially influential for Emet-Selch, as they have a superficially similar appearance with the hair colourings, position as the progenitor of an empire, and their affable or even friendly discussions with the main characters, as well as popping up unexpectedly for those purposes.

It's not a transplant, just very similar character concepts. 

Edited July 9, 2019 by Wyrmhero

[Zurvanight he/him]

Ok so I've had sufficient time to play Shadowbringers (but not Eden Raid yet because I work late tonight  ;-; ). This expansion has been phenomenal. Probably the best expansion I've ever played in any mmo, possibly one of the best Final Fantasy stories ever.

The story was amazing, the cast unforgettable, and the music...Soken nailed the music. Almost every single track is just wonderful, especially final boss theme and the Raka'tika Greatwood overworld theme (which is so good it's a meme). And yes Emet-Selch is amazing. Better than Ardyn though. And I really love Dancer. They shred through adds, and their buffs are really nice too.

All the memes made for this expansion are pretty funny too. This one made me laugh so hard I cried: 

 

[Zurvanight he/him]

Bumping this topic to bring you the latest news for this game: 

Patch 5.2 is looking to be the best patch I've ever seen in XIV. First off: RUBY WEAPON!!! AHHHHH!!! The new Eden raid tier Eden's Verse has Ramuh, Ifrit, and Garuda reimaginings as fights, and you'll have to fight the latter two together. For the lore aspect it looks as if we'll learn even more about Hydaelyn and there's a dungeon or trial with Dalamud falling on the city of Amaurot...for some reason.

Some updated lore of Hydaelyn and Zodiark, spoilers for Shadowbringers:

Spoiler

So it turns out in Shadowbringers we learn the two deities Hydaelyn and Zodiark are in fact Primals. The first Primals. The Ascians summoned Zodiark by sacrificing half their people to stop a Calamity from destroying their planet (there was a sound from the Planets core which caused their creation magic to go out of control, summoning eldritch abominations). Then, after that they sacrificed half of those people to revive the worlds ecosystem. The Ascians then planned to seed new life, let the people of the planet prosper, then sacrifice them all to bring back all the other people they originally sacrificed. A splinter group got tired of all of this, and summoned the goddess Hydaelyn (again they had to sacrifice to summon her) and in exchange she would fracture the world and everything in it into 14 Shards to keep Zodiark sealed away and stop the sacrifices. And now the Ascians who survived the fracturing of worlds are causing the Rejoinings to bring the world back to to its proper form, so they can sacrifice everyone to bring their people back.

 

[Zurvanight he/him]

New patch trailer including some really interesting stuff.

Spoiler

First off, giant robot fight against Sapphire Weapon where you literally pilot a mobile suit and do battle with it. Second, a new NieR raid, this time it takes place in the Puppets Bunker, the space station from NieR Automata. Third, the Relic Weapon questline will take place in a brand new zone called the Bozja Southern Front, where you and 72 other players do battle against the Garlean forces occupying the area, and try to push them back. It's Shadowbringers version of Eureka but much more forgiving. Fourth, it looks as if Elidibus is finally getting serious against us and will send Warriors of Light against us, the Warrior of Darkness. Fourth, and although it was known for awhile, ARR, the base game is being overhauled so it wont be as tedious, and they are adding flying to all the old zones.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.gamespot.com/amp-articles/final-fantasy-14-extends-free-trial-to-entire-base/1100-6480001/

Finally, some good news for people who are interested in playing, but not paying the subscription. The free trial of the game is being extended to include the entire base game, and the entire first expansion, Heavensward along with all its patches. Originally the free trial was only up to level 35, and less than half of the base game. This is extremely generous, and while you are a bit restricted in doing certain things (you cannot use the in-game market, or join a guild, among other things) you can still experience one of the best Final Fantasy stories in recent years. This applies to both PC and PS4. This takes effect on August 11th, the same day Patch 5.3 drops. 

Edited July 27, 2020 by Zurvanite

[Zurvanight he/him]

Bump.

Patch 5.4 Futures Rewritten adds the last tier of the Eden Raid, Eden's Promise. People have been speculating that Ultimecia will be the final raid boss, but it hasn't been confirmed yet. Emerald Weapon is the next Weapon we fight who pummels the party with lasers and rocket hands. Fandaniel finally reveals himself to the Scions and weird towers pop up all around Eorzea. A new Bahamut like creature with tentacles for a face appears. Fandaniel muses that he is different from the Warrior of Light & Darkness, and the Unsundered Ascians. Who knows what his plot is, but the guy is definitely unhinged. December 8th will be Patch Day. 

Edited November 27, 2020 by Zurvanite

[Zurvanight he/him]

Just bumping this to post the teaser trailer for the newest expansion, Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker. We go to the moon! And the new healer is the Sage, who uses floating crystal rods to fire off lasers:

 

Edited February 6, 2021 by Zurvanite

[Zurvanight he/him]

"While I await you, I shall drink a sea of souls, and gorge myself upon the darkened moon."

Patch 5.5 trailer looking amazing. We've got Dark Primals (Lunar Primals) a new Bozja instance, a new dungeon called Pagl'than, Diamond Weapon fight, Tiamat finally taking action, the final Nier Automata Alliance Raid, which includes bosses from Nier Replicant/Gestalt, and Fordola returns! 

Edited April 2, 2021 by Zurvanite

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Kinda disappointed that we won't get another solo duty with the G-Warrior in this patch.

I wonder how Valens will be dealt with. Is he piloting the Diamond Weapon? Thus, when we blow it up, he will die too? Or the Diamond Weapon only the first half of the trial, and after we beat it up and convince Alfonse to join our side, Valens shows up in a secret 6th weapon and we fight against him with Alfonse? Or do we just defeat Alfonse/Diamond Weapon in the trial, go to Werlyt, and then Valens is dealt with in a cutscene afterwards?

Garlemald is deploying forces to their towers? Really? Garlemald still having installations throughout Eorzea after 2.0 was already ridiculous, but come on. Garlemald's infrastructure is in tatters. It's in no position to launch invasions anymore. And how would they even manage to get past the Alliance's army at the Ghimlyt Dark anyway?

Interesting that Zenos is sifting through a bunch of weapons in the Imperial Palace. Did a group of adventurers or resistance members come to try to kill him? If they all died, that makes even more impressive that Estinien and Gaius didn't immediately die to Zenos in 5.1.

I'm guessing that the figure in white that the WoL sees @2:21 is a vision of Azem? It can't be Venat because Venat wasn't a member of the Convocation, and that figure in white is wearing the distinctive Ascian/Convocation robes. Still wondering what is going to be done with the Azem soul/job crystal that the WoL got in 5.3. Still holding out for a secret third job with it.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

5.5 MSQ thoughts

Spoiler

It takes months to travel to Garlemald and back on foot. Unless they took Tataru's newly built airship, then at least several weeks - if not months - have passed since 5.4. Perhaps travel on foot is faster and easier due to the collapse of Garlemald empire and there isn't really any military closely guarding the border or any internal police patrols.

lol Estinien's face at Alisae

Funny node comedy

YES PLEASE! I'd like to save an Ascian. I'd think it'd be rather sad if we went through the entire Ascian saga and not one was saved or had a change of heart (no, Gaia doesn't count).

Is that a new race?

Damn. I'm split between bringing Alphinaud or Urianger. Alphinaud will almost certainly have the most story relevance. If Arenvald and Fordola are in the dungeon, then I want to hear Alphinaud's dialogue with Arenvald. But on the other hand... I want to see Urianger toss Thancred powder charges like Ryne did in the 5.0 dungeons.

*sigh* I will never get over how bad the new Shadowbringers mid dungeon boss fight music is.

Is that just Raubahn's voice actor as the Amalj'aa War Chief? He ain't fooling anyone.

"Peace with Ul'dah", huh. Yeah... you're feeling euphoric right now... let us know if you still feel that way when things calm down and your trade deals with the Syndicate go sour as they try to exploit you. I'll be waiting. (Seriously, I'm not a fan of how this patch and 5.4 have been most convenitly handwaving away each city state's problems just like that).

Hm... so is the giant tower in Garlemald - the one that the Imperial Palace being transformed into - is it being used to summon the people of Garlemald's belief in... Garlemald? A Garlemald primal? The incarnation of Solus? That's the only thing I can think of that the Garlean's populations beliefs can be harvested for.

I don't like the insinuation here that Hydaelyn isn't speaking... because everything is going exactly as she wants it to. Hoping it's just some aetherial jamming or something, or she's still too weak to speak.

Once again, the fact that Alphinaud and G'raha Tia hardly ever both speak at length in the same scene together goes to show how they are both effectively the same character (young, idealistic intellectual of the group and sidekick to the protagonist) and the writers don't know how to get around that without the audience noticing.

LOLOL Zenos is pissed at Fandaniel!

Awww they blueballed us with Zenos' new weapon.

 

Werlyt/Weapon storyline

Spoiler

Well... that is a most strange track name to associate with this questline. What, do Alfonse and Allie reunite and a love theme plays at the end? Seriously. This is bizzare. Unless it's supposed to be an ironic name/morbid joke for the track that plays when Valens is with the kids...

Why is Valens trying to use Zenos oversoul data? He already concluded at the end of the last patch that Zenos was uncontrollable and thus ill suited to be used for the Oversoul imprint.

*sigh* Allie... you shot like 30 different lasers... and not ONE OF THEM HIT HIM!

Oh wow... is Valens dead before we even get to Werlyt? We don't even get to meet him? So who was Gaius fighting right outside of Terncliff in the trailer? Did the Overmind device imprint Zenos' cunning and tactical mind and ambition onto Allie, and now Allie is a warlord who has taken over the VIIth Legion and is trying to conquer Terncliff?

... That was it? Just a one phase fight? No second phase? Awww. Disappointing.

Wait, how did Valens survive?

Damn, Alfonse got stuffed into the robot, just like Shinji's mom was stuffed into the EVA? Ouch.

So Alfonse asked his dad to help him commit suicide? I mean... I don't know. I mean, in some fiction, being turned into an AI or a robot isn't too bad (ie Gundam 00), but I guess this seems to be more like a Nina Tucker situation where he's living a fate worse than death.

So... wait, we never even got to go to Werlyt? What?

No Livia! You don't deserve to be in the happy ending montage!

Uh... can we NOT pray to the fanboy gundam statue/bust you just made as if it was some kind of kami shrine or an idol?

Well, now that Cid has captured a fully functional Diamond Weapon, what is he going to do with it? Gaius is going off be governor/American Shogun of the offscreen Werylt, and Allie is going with him. So neither of them is going to be piloting Diamond Weapon in future storylines. Hm...

Welp, I'm pretty disappointed that we didn't get another solo duty with the G-Warrior. Or visit Werlyt. Or get a second phase in the fight. Otherwise... a decent ending.

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Val the Moofia Boss

[Zurvanight he/him]

The full trailer for Endwalker has been released along with a slew of new information. The most important is November 23rd being the release date for the expansion. A lot of info was revealed in the Fanfest intro yesterday. Old Sharlayan was confirmed to be one of the new hub cities, Reaper job was revealed, Male Viera was announced, a new Datacenter for the Oceana region was confirmed, locations like lands under the earth and moon palaces were also revealed. 

 

 

Edited July 28, 2023 by Zurvanite

[Briar King]

Think I’m just going to download this even though MMOs ain’t my jam it’s free. Maybe it ll be the exception and hook me. Won’t be for months at the way I’m crawling through Cold Steel games though till I’d start.

Is there a PS5 upgrade for this?

[Zurvanight he/him]

Endwalker has been pushed back two weeks from November 23rd to December 7th, with Early Access starting on the 3rd. Also the launch trailer dropped and it looks so good. 

[Zurvanight he/him]

So I beat Endwalker's MSQ (because I only had three days off and que times are a nightmare and I wasn't going to wait a month to beat it). Anyone hoping to try the game out should wait because ques can be in the 6000's. I waited two hours yesterday to get in and I got a lobby error once. 

 

My thoughts on this expansion are as follows: It's really good. Like Shadowbringers level good, but I think the pacing suffered a bit at times because they wrapped up the entire ten year story in one expansion with no patch x.1-x3 story usually finishing things up. The trials, dungeons, music, story everything is above and beyond what I expected. I especially love the first and last trial boss music and Radz at Han's music after you beat MSQ. So many moments hanging out with the Scions really made this expansion great.

***The trials are insane but they are gigantic spoilers so only click if you really want to know, already know and beat the MSQ, or don't care.***

Spoiler

The first trial is Zodiark. Yes the God of Darkness which we always thought would be the final boss. Instead he literally became the first boss. He has some weird abilities like rotating the entire stage where you have to position yourself by standing in an aoe and when the stage turns you'll be safe. He also summons these magic circles that do different things depending on the shape in the middle. Easy to avoid once you figure it out.

 

Second trial is Hydaelyn. The Goddess of Light, Will of the Star. She uses tidal waves of light that wash over the stage, and can job change like us, but in the middle of combat. She was easier than Zodiark imo. 

 

The last trial is literally insane. It is The Endsinger. A being formed of the universes despair using Meteion, a bird girl you meet in Endwalker as a vessel. She's basically a Siren that ushers in the end of existence. She throws planets at you and can rewind time to repeat the process of exploding stars. The music here is absolutely incredible. It's a combination of every single expansion's final boss theme that blends extremely well.  

The new jobs, Reaper and Sage are both really fun. Reaper can use Enshroud which lets a demon possess you for increased damage, and you can summon the demon to attack enemies which opens up a proc for some really cool looking attacks like Gibbet and Guillotine while Sage can use an ability called Kardia on a party member which will heal them when you deal damage. They also have Eukrasia which changes certain spells, like a healing spell will become a shield while an attack spell will become a DoT ,(damage over time). Kind of hard to use but they have floating laser bits so I love them.

 

I think Shadowbringers was still my favorite expansion but this is a close second. So close in fact I don't know if I can compare the two so I won't. 

Edited December 7, 2021 by Zurvanite

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I finished Endwalker's MSQ a couple hours ago. Wrote an indepth post on it on another forum. I give it a 5/10. Rushed, convoluted story that flip flopped on what it wanted to be, was awkwardly paced, and botched the payoff. The story was also very cynical (despite the repetitive speeches and empty platitudes about hope and such). I found the rolequests to be much more enjoyable.

I will check out the next expansion, but if the future of FFXIV's storytelling is going to be more Kingdom Hearts sob stories from Ishikawa, I'm out.

[Zurvanight he/him]

I forgot to update. 6.1 came out yesterday and this patch is great. It adds a ton of QoL improvements, a new 24 man raid where you literally fight the 12 Gods of Eorzea, a new dungeon, new role quests, a new pvp mode that looks fun, and a surprisingly long MSQ. Lots of great dialogue choices here and fun moments. 

 

The 24 man was insanely fun. I don't think I've had that much fun in a 24 man raid since Void Ark first came out back in Heavensward. Final boss theme is a banger like usual. 

 

They totally revamped a ton of old dungeons. Castrum and Paretorium aren't facerolls anymore and actually require you to pay attention. They also are only 4 man instead of 8 now. They got rid of Cape Westwind, and Ultima Weapon is now a trial. Thousand Maws has also been streamlined and no more gunk puddles. You can do solo runs of ARR content with NPCs now, with Heavensward and Stormblood content being added to the list in later patches. 

 

Adventurer Plates allow you to customize your own adventurer 'license' but some people are making them super lewd because of course they are. Let's just hope the dev team doesn't remove it since it's a fun feature.

 

 

Edited April 13, 2022 by Zurvanite

[Zurvanight he/him]

 

Patch 6.2 trailer and release date of August 23rd.

 

In this patch we brave The Fell Court of Troia and learn more of the fallen World of Darkness, take on Scarmiglione, the Elemental Archfiend of Earth, return to Elpis and discover what Lahabrea is up to in Pandaemonium Abyssos. Then finally relax on the new Island Sanctuary. 

[FeatherWriter she/her]

Oh hey, maybe I should be on the forums more often, there's fellow FFXIV fans out here! I admit, I spend more time than I probably should in the FFXIV thread on our 17S discord (we've got a good crew over there, and some lovely sprouts playing through for the first time) but I love this game to bits, I think it's got some absolutely amazing storytelling and Ishikawa is a cruel and wonderful writing genius. Love the story, love the gameplay, love the community. Spend far too many of my waking hours hunting down streamers doing first time MSQ playthroughs so that I can feed off their reactions like an emotional vampire (the true endgame of XIV, of course).

I've got a couple of viera that I play, because viera are the best, hands down, I love all bnuuys deeply and with my whole heart and soul. I hard main red mage because I think it's got an awesome aesthetic, great raid utility, and a very snappy build-and-spend cycle to its rotation, big fan. I do also dabble in Dancer and Sage on occasion though.

Props to @Zurvanite for keeping this topic going for so long, fighting the good fight! If anybody's on Crystal, we've got a CWLS set up for a few of the 17S folks to keep in touch though it doesn't see a huge amount of use on a day to day basis.

In conclusion: bnnuuuuyyyyyyy.

That is all.

[Zurvanight he/him]

6.3 trailer dropped the other day. The next Alliance raid teases several of The Twelve. Oddly it shows five gods in the trailer, meaning you might fight two at once since 4 bosses are standard for Alliance. We see Nophica the Matron, Menphina the Lover, Nymeia the Spinner, Althyk the Keeper, and Halone the Fury.

As for the main story, it seems we alongside Zero and the Twins will venture to Garlemald once more to find a ramshackle village where Reapers used to practice dark sorcery. And of course the village is teeming with Voidsent. It also looks as if Vrtra will Call (special dragon roar to summon his siblings) to Azdaja and Golbez plans to create a kingdom where Voidsent can finally die in peace. This whole patch is looking to be really fun. 

 

[Zurvanight he/him]

 

"Come, face me. The hero who shattered the wheel and brought salvation to the world."

Bumping because the trailer for patch 6.4, The Dark Throne was revealed today. In it, the Warrior of Light, the Scions, and Zero travel to the moon of the Thirteenth, a reflection of The Source filled with soul devouring demons, to confront Golbez, the leader of the Archfiends. What will they find there, and will they be able to save the Great Wyrm Azdaja from the clutches of darkness?

 

The last tier of the Pandaemonium raid releases too. Last time, Pandaemonium had somehow crossed space and time and ended up in the Aetherial Sea, much to the surprise of everyone. Athena may yet still live in order to carry out her diabolical experiment. And what of Lahabrea? Will he be a friend? Or will he once more seek to destroy us?

 

Oh and Blue Mage is getting an updated level cap and new spells so I'm super excited for that.

Edited May 12, 2023 by Zurvanite

[Zurvanight he/him]

Bumping because the newest expansion was just announced. Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail

This time we head to the New World, home of Blue Magic and the Mamool Ja.

 

Other interesting things are the new next-gen graphic update, two new DPS jobs; a melee, and a caster (Yoshi-p's hint on what they are was a TMNT shirt) and Xbox support. The Free Trial was also extended to include all of Stormblood! We'll know more in the coming weeks and months at the other Fanfests in London and Tokyo. 

Edited July 28, 2023 by Zurvanite

[Zurvanight he/him]

"Thus will the way open to the Promised Land, and the death we have been too long denied! Thus will I, Golbez bring salvation to all!"

 

Patch 6.5 trailer just dropped today. Growing Light is its name. In this patch we fight the final of the Twelve Gods, and learn why they chose to face us in battle. 

 

Golbez succeeded in summoning Zeromus, a piece of Zodiark's aether given form, and plans to 'save' everyone on the Thirteenth by allowing them to die at last. To stop this it looks like we go back to the First to enlist the help of Ryne, then fight our way through Baron, the kingdom in Final Fantasy IV where Cecil is from. Will the Warrior of Light and their companions stand triumphant, or will they drown in darkness? Ok the answer is obvious, we kick that oversized beetles butt. 

 

Edited September 24, 2023 by Zurvanite

[clowncarcrash]

Aaah the patch is out! Praying for Zero. I'll be crushed if they fridge her. Worried because she hasnt been in any of the expac material.

[Zurvanight he/him]

At the London Fanfest they announced some new stuff about Dawntrail. The big ones are an extended teaser trailer, a FFXVI crossover event, a FFXI raid series and a new melee dps called the Viper, a dual blade user who can combine both their swords together to pull off flashy moves (an obvious homage to Zidane from FFIX). Looks super cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the Tokyo Fanfest we'll get the full trailer and the reveal of the second new job, which is a dps caster of some sort. 

Edited October 21, 2023 by Zurvanite

[Zurvanight he/him]

Bumping because tons of new info from the Tokyo Fanfest. Pictomancer is the second DPS job they revealed. Like Relm in FF VI they use paint and art to attack enemies and support allies. The Limited Job Beastmaster was revealed but very little was mentioned about it. Female Hrothgar was confirmed. Space exploration will be a thing. Tons of new areas and towns were revealed including a cyberpunk city called Solution Nine. 

Full trailer:

Pictomancer trailer:

Female Hrothgar trailer:

Solution Nine: