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alias_sqbrI FINISHED A REALM REBORN!!! I did the big battles and got to the credits of Final Fantasy 14!
Which by no means is the same as finishing the game, I have a bunch of interstitial parts and then will begin the first of several expansions, each just as big as this first part. But I am done with the start! Which is from all accounts the most boring part of the story, and it's only up from here! I spoiled myself for the end of ARR ages ago but have only the vaguest sense of what happens next, it's exciting :D
As I did the endgame dungeons I discovered a major downside to the Duty Support system I use to help me through dungeons without playing with real people: if you die, you fail the dungeon. Which is normal for single player RPGs, but this is a MMO, so normally if you die the healer can just revive you. And some of the final bosses have very powerful hits that one shotted me any time I wasn't quick enough on my feet to dodge. I managed to get past them after a few tries but it was a close thing and made me worry I'd not be up to later, even tougher dungeons.
When you fail a major battle the difficulty gets lowered in one way or another, and there's checkpoints between bosses within each dungeon, but repeatedly failing a boss near the end of a dungeon just sends you back to the checkpoint and doesn't make things easier. It got frustrating, because dungeons have a time limit and if I took a long break I'd have to go back and redo the earlier bosses.
But! I complained about this to a friend and she said "Wait, are you using the shitty movement system that makes it near impossible to dodge?"
AND I WAS. I switched over (from "Standard" to "Legacy") and suddenly dodging is SO MUCH EASIER OMG.
And looking back, someone (maybe even this friend) suggested I do this right at the start of me playing, but while Legacy is much better for small precise movements it's more fiddly when you're travelling large distances, so decided I didn't like it. But that was in the early game when dodging wasn't a big issue, at this point the fiddliness is WORTH IT.
Some of the dodging required for last few battles after that was still challenging, but (a) my friend says that while the fights are going to get overall harder from here they don't require more precise hand eye coordination and (b) One reason I had trouble was that these dungeons were significantly rejigged in the last week or two, so noone's had a chance to create updated video tutorials, which help me mentally prepare.
So I might hit a wall later, but hopefully not too soon. I also intend to try out some other classes, I am really not doing Monk properly since that requires being precise and quick-moving with positioning, which is one of the things I am worst at.
For now the new quests have all just involved talking to people, which has been a nice break after all those long difficult battles! Well, that and there's been optional quests offering harder versions of earlier dungeons but NO THANKS I'M GOOD.
Said friend also persuaded me to get around to making a "glamour plate", which let me create a custom cosmetic appearance, instead of the generic endgame armour that made my character look like a toddler in BDSM gear. Look at how cute she is now:
This is just the cutest stuff I had to hand, I might try and make something more fancy later, especially since I'm not sure how much of this I'll be able to keep wearing if change jobs. But it's a nice start!
Which by no means is the same as finishing the game, I have a bunch of interstitial parts and then will begin the first of several expansions, each just as big as this first part. But I am done with the start! Which is from all accounts the most boring part of the story, and it's only up from here! I spoiled myself for the end of ARR ages ago but have only the vaguest sense of what happens next, it's exciting :D
As I did the endgame dungeons I discovered a major downside to the Duty Support system I use to help me through dungeons without playing with real people: if you die, you fail the dungeon. Which is normal for single player RPGs, but this is a MMO, so normally if you die the healer can just revive you. And some of the final bosses have very powerful hits that one shotted me any time I wasn't quick enough on my feet to dodge. I managed to get past them after a few tries but it was a close thing and made me worry I'd not be up to later, even tougher dungeons.
When you fail a major battle the difficulty gets lowered in one way or another, and there's checkpoints between bosses within each dungeon, but repeatedly failing a boss near the end of a dungeon just sends you back to the checkpoint and doesn't make things easier. It got frustrating, because dungeons have a time limit and if I took a long break I'd have to go back and redo the earlier bosses.
But! I complained about this to a friend and she said "Wait, are you using the shitty movement system that makes it near impossible to dodge?"
AND I WAS. I switched over (from "Standard" to "Legacy") and suddenly dodging is SO MUCH EASIER OMG.
And looking back, someone (maybe even this friend) suggested I do this right at the start of me playing, but while Legacy is much better for small precise movements it's more fiddly when you're travelling large distances, so decided I didn't like it. But that was in the early game when dodging wasn't a big issue, at this point the fiddliness is WORTH IT.
Some of the dodging required for last few battles after that was still challenging, but (a) my friend says that while the fights are going to get overall harder from here they don't require more precise hand eye coordination and (b) One reason I had trouble was that these dungeons were significantly rejigged in the last week or two, so noone's had a chance to create updated video tutorials, which help me mentally prepare.
So I might hit a wall later, but hopefully not too soon. I also intend to try out some other classes, I am really not doing Monk properly since that requires being precise and quick-moving with positioning, which is one of the things I am worst at.
For now the new quests have all just involved talking to people, which has been a nice break after all those long difficult battles! Well, that and there's been optional quests offering harder versions of earlier dungeons but NO THANKS I'M GOOD.
Said friend also persuaded me to get around to making a "glamour plate", which let me create a custom cosmetic appearance, instead of the generic endgame armour that made my character look like a toddler in BDSM gear. Look at how cute she is now:
This is just the cutest stuff I had to hand, I might try and make something more fancy later, especially since I'm not sure how much of this I'll be able to keep wearing if change jobs. But it's a nice start!
no subject
Date: 2022-04-16 07:08 am (UTC)I like the hat! (And the multi-colored hair, which I assume is not part of the outfit!)
no subject
Date: 2022-04-18 01:26 am (UTC)Thank you! And haha, yeah, that's just my character, who has blue hair with purple tips. I really like the effect, you can see it more clearly in this shot of the first iteration of the character: https://alias-sqbr.dreamwidth.org/780474.html
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Date: 2022-04-16 07:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-04-18 01:27 am (UTC)Thanks!
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Date: 2022-04-17 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-04-18 01:22 am (UTC)Thank you!