I think a lot of the ideas here are exactly what I want from the game, since flying mounts and the overworld are my favorite parts.
But I also play specter and herald a lot and I don't wanna relearn how to use them after today's balance patch. We'll see how their rotations turn out but I'm not super excited for quickness herald anymore :(
So I've been waiting for this one for a while. I have many of the gripes that you do, and I will say that damn, if you don't like the combat and story, you won't like the game because there isn't much else.
But as an avid FF14 player, I think some of the more baffling decisions (shitty sidequests, boring world to explore) make more sense when you think of it from the FF14 writer perspective. FF14 has very epic moments, but something they always try to do (and IMO, works better in an MMO setting) is have VERY grounded sidequests to balance it out. In the MMO, the sidequests exist purely to expand the lore of the world and make it feel more connected overall, and the reward is the quest, not actual rewards.l. They are consistently just trying to flesh out communities and sometimes characters, as opposed to really being their own story.
The exploration is far more disappointing to me, but I will say that I suspect they simply put all their effort into the main story and it shows in the quality comparison mostly.
My personal gripes are mostly mob fights being too easy, since I regularly wipe them in around 10 seconds without giving them a chance to fight back. The boss fights are great but the awesome mob enemy variety and design from a game like DMC wouldn't even matter here because I can ragdoll the entire group to infinity.
I AM having a lot of fun with the game though. I'd give it a solid 8/10 at most currently. I played the majority alone, but restarted earlier this weekend to play with my girlfriend, and seeing it through her eyes (knowing nothing about the game or marketing) made me appreciate it more than through my own (me, who really devoured the combat, the demo, and all the promotional material).
It won't be my game of the year, but I don't regret my purchase. It's the kind of FF game I wanted, with a slightly disappointing execution.
One time I was at a camp in 7th grade for a week (a religious Christian camp) where my friend and I were NOT religious, so we were being bullied. I was so deathly afraid of getting bullied while taking a shit that I didn't poop until the 6th day. I honestly barely remember it but I snuck out in the night just to take a shit, and it was absolutely horrendous. Pretty sure it felt like trying to pass a big old hard fruit or something, it was the worst and took forever. 2/10 Do not recommend.
Thank you!
Yeah I love all the sylvari racial stuff! It looks good on both genders, though definitely moreso on female sylvari. It does get expensive though! I've spent a ton of gold on those sets.
This does look fantastic!
I have to corroborate this feeling. I feel like every balance patch makes me not want to come back as opposed to excited to try the new differences.
As a person who plays Herald, Specter, and Scourge pretty much exclusively I am scared of this patch lol
Looks great! I'm of the opinion that sylvari with any natural looking clothing is definitely one of the best fits in the game, and you chose a great color scheme. Is that the sylvari racial armor or something else?
Very cute but klee knowing how to drive a boat with a cannon on it is asking for trouble
Deeply love this demo. Especially Eikonic challenge, really wiped away all my worries about the combat. Very crunchy, a decent amount of skill expression while being easy to pick up at a moderate skill level. I've enjoyed going back through and kicking ass.
Don't forget even if you are only doing basic moves (no eikon) you have a lot more options than just mash square.
You have a closer with thrust/phoenix strike. You can weave every single strike with triangle (timing is tight but doable) and get extra magic bursts to do more will damage.
You can combine abilities to bring enemies into the air (charged shot and especially aerial burning blade work well for this too) so you can do different combos on them there.
All that stuff is doable after you get abilities halfway through the demo. On the Eikonic challenge you have so many options that you can easily tear through stuff doing only a few combos, even on bosses!
Damn this looks fire. Leaving a comment so I don't forget, but I can't wait to make this.