I have very little to say, unfortunately. I still quite enjoy Heavensward but it's definitely certain my overall enjoyment has diminished. I still find HW's immaculate theming with regards to debt and repayment engaging. I find how this extends to the worldbuilding everywhere just so. I understood about halfway that I would be repeating either my original write up or just other friends and people I look up to. You're far better off reading ghost_girl's for one.
That being said, it's not like I'm lacking in anything. Though I don't have the motivation to personally continue what I thrusted in my re-ARR writeup which was being "overly comprehensive", I can at least finish up talking about a few details.
For one, it's really sad how all three jobs added in Heavensward are really just not doing so well now. Machinist is only in competition for simplest job to play with Dark Knight, both of which have very little to them now other than 1-2-3, an oGCD after 40 seconds or so, and a burst phase. They're lacking in such an identity that's hard to come back to now, were it not for Dark Knight's job quest which I still find incredible I would consider it a lost cause. Astrologian is as well. I personally hate the new redraw, it irritates me. Even if I get used to it I can't say it's doing too hot. If I want its versatility of weaving I can now see Sage and Scholar for it. And it's less reliable at healing than White Mage. Maybe its dps could conceivably be balanced soon to be what you play it for as a healer but I just can't stand the gacha life it feels like now.
Secondly, I think the biggest miss of wind in Heavensward's sails as I come back to it is that it's missing the real personalized cast that would come to define FFXIV later. I still love the cutthroat nature of the party that stays with you, and the way each character ends, but it's clear not everyone here has as much presence. I love these characters for what they become, not for their dialogue and personality as they were. Especially in terms of the archbishop, who while I think is constructively a perfect villain for the plot, is something my mind just zones out through the words of now. You can really feel the breath of fresh air in terms of personalities building and clashing off each other in the post-patch when the scions reform. The comparison works enough, I think, even as unfair as it is.
Also, it was kind of a mistake to keep the sidequest game going. I know they improve soon but doing every sidequest in HW was simply a chore, somehow moreso than ARR. This mostly extends to them locking like two things behind extremely long sidequest line (Looking at you moogles holy shit) and while there's definitely a few still with charming worldbuilding ends I can't say they added much to my re-playthrough.
Oddly I ended up liking the ishgard restoration stuff most. It's a Shadowbringers addition but the fact you can see so much of Ishgard tie itself up post-3.3-story here and done decently well is heartwarming. Fuck them for saying that Estinien bathes though. Murder hobo who doesn't shower doesn't have the same joking tone to it when they forcefully establish he comes by to bathe. I'll never forgive them for this.
I still love the majority of the instances, although I've soured on the post-patch HW dungeon additions. They were clearly experimenting more there but god the tedium! Nice to do them and see where everything later comes from, I suppose. I kinda wish they relooked at Pharos Sirius. This is totally random because PS was in A Realm Reborn but the turbo-nerf still hurts me even being unable to experience it myself. I would've loved to see really Hard Dungeons, rather than the deep dungeon bullshit we're left with.
One last big negative, is it weird that most of the 50-60 questlines are like such a major step down? I'm not saying that most job questlines were really good in ARR but even Dark Knight kind of degrades. I think out of the lot I only really liked... Red Mage. Which is a really good job questline overall, but that counts as Stormblood content, technically. DRK 50-60 is fun and the ending is hilariously good but I still kinda hate like, most of it.
I'd kind of consider this a companion write-up btw. This is so overly negative because it's all like nitpicks and flaws I notice with excess revision. I still think Heavensward is a super great game that I cherish, even if it's a lot less than a year ago. Will I do a big write-up for Stormblood? Probably not, but I hope to have some more thoughts there.
I've kind of moved my writing pursuits to self storymaking and going more with the flow nowadays. I think it's significantly less likely that I'll be writing big reviews like this, and moving down to more bloggish stuff. I,, like to think I've gotten better at putting my words out but who can say.
That being said, it's not like I'm lacking in anything. Though I don't have the motivation to personally continue what I thrusted in my re-ARR writeup which was being "overly comprehensive", I can at least finish up talking about a few details.
For one, it's really sad how all three jobs added in Heavensward are really just not doing so well now. Machinist is only in competition for simplest job to play with Dark Knight, both of which have very little to them now other than 1-2-3, an oGCD after 40 seconds or so, and a burst phase. They're lacking in such an identity that's hard to come back to now, were it not for Dark Knight's job quest which I still find incredible I would consider it a lost cause. Astrologian is as well. I personally hate the new redraw, it irritates me. Even if I get used to it I can't say it's doing too hot. If I want its versatility of weaving I can now see Sage and Scholar for it. And it's less reliable at healing than White Mage. Maybe its dps could conceivably be balanced soon to be what you play it for as a healer but I just can't stand the gacha life it feels like now.
Secondly, I think the biggest miss of wind in Heavensward's sails as I come back to it is that it's missing the real personalized cast that would come to define FFXIV later. I still love the cutthroat nature of the party that stays with you, and the way each character ends, but it's clear not everyone here has as much presence. I love these characters for what they become, not for their dialogue and personality as they were. Especially in terms of the archbishop, who while I think is constructively a perfect villain for the plot, is something my mind just zones out through the words of now. You can really feel the breath of fresh air in terms of personalities building and clashing off each other in the post-patch when the scions reform. The comparison works enough, I think, even as unfair as it is.
Also, it was kind of a mistake to keep the sidequest game going. I know they improve soon but doing every sidequest in HW was simply a chore, somehow moreso than ARR. This mostly extends to them locking like two things behind extremely long sidequest line (Looking at you moogles holy shit) and while there's definitely a few still with charming worldbuilding ends I can't say they added much to my re-playthrough.
Oddly I ended up liking the ishgard restoration stuff most. It's a Shadowbringers addition but the fact you can see so much of Ishgard tie itself up post-3.3-story here and done decently well is heartwarming. Fuck them for saying that Estinien bathes though. Murder hobo who doesn't shower doesn't have the same joking tone to it when they forcefully establish he comes by to bathe. I'll never forgive them for this.
I still love the majority of the instances, although I've soured on the post-patch HW dungeon additions. They were clearly experimenting more there but god the tedium! Nice to do them and see where everything later comes from, I suppose. I kinda wish they relooked at Pharos Sirius. This is totally random because PS was in A Realm Reborn but the turbo-nerf still hurts me even being unable to experience it myself. I would've loved to see really Hard Dungeons, rather than the deep dungeon bullshit we're left with.
One last big negative, is it weird that most of the 50-60 questlines are like such a major step down? I'm not saying that most job questlines were really good in ARR but even Dark Knight kind of degrades. I think out of the lot I only really liked... Red Mage. Which is a really good job questline overall, but that counts as Stormblood content, technically. DRK 50-60 is fun and the ending is hilariously good but I still kinda hate like, most of it.
I'd kind of consider this a companion write-up btw. This is so overly negative because it's all like nitpicks and flaws I notice with excess revision. I still think Heavensward is a super great game that I cherish, even if it's a lot less than a year ago. Will I do a big write-up for Stormblood? Probably not, but I hope to have some more thoughts there.
I've kind of moved my writing pursuits to self storymaking and going more with the flow nowadays. I think it's significantly less likely that I'll be writing big reviews like this, and moving down to more bloggish stuff. I,, like to think I've gotten better at putting my words out but who can say.
2 Comments
I think once you write a few big pieces on here it can feel like an obligation that you have tons of thoughts about every game you play, but short little oneline reviews are just as worth it imo!! Good to have ya here
Woodaba
2 years ago