(10-15-2016, 03:37 PM)Zyrusticae Wrote: It feels far more physical in a way that's hard to describe. It's more like... the cool things you see people doing in cutscenes (especially the Stormblood trailer recently released)? You get to do that.
Well I most of the time find the things we see in such cutscenes to be over the top and look totally silly/rubbish. But that's probably just me.
I agree though that ingame where it looks less realistic and where you have to contend with gameplay and stuff, it's another story.
(10-15-2016, 03:37 PM)Zyrusticae Wrote: The way the game puts an emphasis on manual blocking, dodging, and parrying, on high-speed movement, on heavy crowd-control effects, the incredible animation work... it all comes together to create a feeling of personal power that you just don't usually get in these types of games. It's the sort of thing usually reserved for dedicated character action games like Devil May Cry, Metal Gear Rising, Bayonetta et al. Granted, it's not as deep as those games, but that's also to its credit - the learning curve isn't anywhere nearly as steep, and it works better in the context of a game where you're supposed to be helping your party members.
Well, it looks and sounds neat and all, for sure, but that's a totally different genre/game then. Personally, it doesn't appeal to me at all.
When I played most of the final fantasy titles, I didn't play them to feel like Star Ocean. Don't get me wrong, I find the things you find in such games mixed with hack and slash elements to be quite interesting and have their own charm, but that's not my thing. I play FF for its tactical depth, not its reactivity layer (and yet, there is one though, if you play a lot of DPS classes where it can still get rather frantic).
(10-15-2016, 03:37 PM)Zyrusticae Wrote: In FFXIV, the combat has a strong tendency to feel disconnected, like I'm just going through the motions (the rotation), and that nothing I'm doing really has any connection with the physical world that my character is supposed to inhabit. Everything feels floaty, detached, with nothing but numbers to inform me of my performance.
Yeah, I'm always for more realism in combat, either in animations (as long as we don't get into a quagmire like it was in 1.0), or in gameplay. I also wish we could interact more with the environment, that some skills would be more useful (esp the ones that are crowd control, etc).
(10-15-2016, 03:37 PM)Zyrusticae Wrote: In Blade & Soul I can knock down the boss and literally choke-hold them so my party members can beat them up without retaliation. I can send my enemies flying away, then close the distance instantly, move to their back just as fast, stun them, knock them into the air, and then follow up with an air combo. I can parry their attacks, causing them to be momentarily stunned, then retaliate with crushing force.
In FFXIV the only mechanics have to do with where you're standing, who you're targeting, how well you handle your class role (tank, DPS, heal), and *very occasionally* how you time your stuns (the only CC effect that is relevant in FFXIV). The lack of active participation in the combat has bored me to tears and is the primary reason I completely burned out on Heavensward so fast (after playing the game almost religiously in ARR, mind you). Â
I can agree that I would love to see more diversity in terms of crowd control skills, synergy, etc. But I disagree that in FF there is no team synergy. I'm always for more of it, sure, and I think they could do better with that, but there is actual synergy between classes and roles.
The active participation you speak of is actually there in most of the extreme and savage versions of the fights. Mechanics are always way heavier and lethal than they are in normal mode (a joke usually), and they actually force you to participate in the system you are presented with.
(10-15-2016, 03:37 PM)Zyrusticae Wrote: Of course, I also recognize that I'm a particular kind of player who tends towards games with high skill caps (one of my most-played games is Starcraft, after all), and I do understand that the slower-paced, more simplistic style of combat works for a lot of folks. B&S (and PSO2, and Dragon's Dogma Online, etc., etc.) is just the type of game I gravitate more towards these days, and I'd just be pleased as Punch if FFXIV could join the roster.
I find it a bit insulting to read that those games have a higher skill cap than others. They sure have a higher skill cap in terms of APM, yeah. They sure as hell also have a very low skill cap in terms of thinking and strategical planning. Now then, I'm not saying that the FF MMO have a high one either.
I find FF to be rather demanding when you start to get into high end, raiding, content. You know, when you are trying to dish out as much DPS as the good players, or whatever. Some jobs are just a memorized rotation sure, some are priority based and require quick thinking.
Balmung:Â Suen Shyu
