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draginhikari · 4 years

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Dragin Hikari's Top 12 Games of the 2009-2019 Decade #2 Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn for PC (Released 2014)

Anyone that knows me remotely could see this one coming from a mile away. If there is any game which has defined me during the 2010s decade there can be no other then Final Fantasy XIV (Post 2.0 anyway, we don’t talk about 1.0). Most people who play Video Games are probably familiar with the base story of FFXIV development.

The original release of Final Fantasy XIV was an utter disaster, a rushed, mismanaged excuse of an MMORPG the had very little to offer and was an example of SquareEnix going off the deep end at the time. However, in order to restore the integrity of the Final Fantasy brand, the game’s new producer Naoki Yoshida and his team were sent out to do what seemed to be physically impossible: Save the game and the reputation of the FFXIV brand. Though improvements were made to try to fix the buggy broken mess that 1.0 was. Eventually, the reality that fixing the current game was impossible so they basically started over again and had to develop a new game in what seemed like an impossible amount of time. During FFXIV 2.0 development, I was an extreme skeptical of the idea, as finicky as the gaming community can be, I thought there was no way they could fix the damage done. I’ve never been so happy to be a wrong about a game.

Final Fantasy XIV story always on-going therefore I can’t fully summarize it a short review like this but I can at least provide the basic premise. When starting you are an adventurer from an unknown location venturing to one of the three main City-States in Eorzea: Ul’dah, Limsa Lominsa, or Gridania to seek new adventures in the land of Eorzea. While getting involved in local affairs and engaging in an act of heroism the Adventurer encounters a crystal of strange origin and finds himself/herself trailed by a strange figure in dark garb. This adventurer eventually receives a vision and being called upon by the Goddess, Hydaelyn, to seek out the crystals of light scattered across Eorzea to thwart the Ascians, an immortal band of beings that posses’ others in order to revive their god. As the story continues, the adventurer continues to travel getting involved in many of the world’s conflicts as a new hero and also discover many hidden truths at the core of the world and the true nature of the conflict between the Light and Dark.

After it’s rebirth, Final Fantasy follows a more modern MMORPG model via Global Cooldown (GCD). For those unfamiliar you basically have attacks and abilities that share a universal timer (Usually 2-3 seconds) while you have other abilities that do not share this time but instead have their own recast timers which can range anywhere from twenty seconds to as much as seven minutes depending on the ability. The general idea is you weave these Non-GCD abilities during the cooldown of GCD abilities using each jobs mechanics to fulfil the task at hand. As of the release of Shadowbringers there are a grand total of eighteen combat jobs, eight Crafter class and three gatherers class. The Combat classes include four tanks, three healers, four melee DPS, three range DPS, three caster DPS, and one limited job, Blue Mage. Though each job has a similar set of abilities in their category, each job has its own ascetics, system, and general feel with just enough variety to find favorites without struggling too much in the general field the jobs falls into.

Final Fantasy 14 also follows the modern MMORPG convention of ‘Theme Park’ gameplay. The vast majority of the content takes place in Instance Areas usually in parties of four or eight depending on the content. Keeping in spirit of a Theme Park there is a variety in the content ranging from regularly recurring elements such as the Story Quests, Dungeons, Harder Raid content, and Alliance (Three full party) raids. Spread out released features including PVP modes, Exploration Content, Randomized Dungeons, Additional Crafting/Gathering options, and Gold Saucer Mini-Games. Like Many MMOs there is a variety of additional seasonal events throughout the year. The quality and quantity of this content has varied quite a bit throughout the years. Like most on-going games it’s hard to judge individual content until well after its been released leading to a lot of hindsight. Some of their experiments have worked and others have failed. However, I would say they’ve had more success than failures and generally the development team does appear to make efforts to learn from their mistakes for future ideas even if the mistakes can’t always be correct after the fact.

One of the biggest downgrades from version 1.0 to 2.0 was probably in the graphic department, though this was a good thing in FFXIV case as those pretty graphics came at a price to the games ability to perform and be updated. Personally, I still think the game looks good at they continued to improve on the design process with improved cutscenes and art direction. The engine is starting to show some age but I think it’s a small point in the grand scheme of thigs. The music direction on the other hand goes into the realm of legendary to me. Masayoshi Soken and his team have created one the largest and most varied video game soundtracks I’ve ever seen on an ongoing game. I could probably spend most of this mini-review gushing about that alone but I think I’ll spare you on that.

Being one of the most played games of the decade for me you’d think this would be the top of my list. However, the game has one distinct negative disadvantage that is almost unavoidable and probably would never allow a game like this to top a list like this for. That is, as a game collector, the temporary nature of online games. One day the game will cease service and will one day be unplayable in its current state. It may be kept alive through private servers or other means, but it will eventually disappear. A sad reality but one that must be accepted regardless of the game’s quality.

Still, of all the online games I’ve ever played FFXIV currently stands as my absolute favor of all time and look forward to future of the game and the many years I still have with it.

#Video Game #Video Game Collection #Final Fantasy #FFXIV #SquareEnix #Top 12 of 2009-2019

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emptymanuscript · 7 years

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I also apparently started and never finished an Evil Emperor Test personality quiz thingy.

Great rulers are heralded by many omens. Which miraculous omen occurred at your conception?

A) Lo, on that night did all the Boy Bands fall silent and the groupies lay not with them so that they slept ill in their bowers and dreamt of the coming age.

B) A bunch of foreign tourists showed up at your house looking for Charlton Heston because their map said he lived there.

C) Then did it rain for 7 days and 7 nights and the trailer parks were washed away and when at last the sky cleared there was no rainbow.

D) The clouds of heaven parted and an Angel’s horn trumpeted, heralding a golden age.

E) On that night the dreamers dreamed of wrong geometry and their master reborn in his green city at the bottom of the sea.

How did you know you were destined for greatness?

A) There was, like, a star, dude.

B) Unlike Rudolph, you were in charge of all the games.

C) Might makes divine right.

D) Only you can see all the dangers arrayed against us.

E) You never KNOW, but if not you, who?

Who is the sexiest?

A) Captain America, you get to salute him in the morning.

B) Thor, that boy knows how to swing.

C) Batman, he knows how to “use” everything.

D) Superman, Who needs the rest when you have the best?

E) The Hulk, he’s all musckely.

Really? That’s interesting. On that note, what’s your sign?

A) Yield.

B) Road Closed.

C) Warning: Hazardous Material.

D) Toll Road

E) Rough Road Ahead

You can’t ride my red wagon, wheel’s broke, axle’s dragin’.

A) Incorrect. The red wagon is state property and yours to do with as you please.

B) By God’s grace the axle will mend.

C) Well, we’ll just have to “fix” it then won’t we.

D) You have your own wagon and a blue one to boot, which you’ll be happy to loan out for a price.

E) There is only one proper response to this outrage: both owner and wagon must be smelted down for the war effort.

Can you believe you answered this many stupid questions?

A) There are no stupid questions only questions to be answered and questions to be shot for.

B) There are no stupid questions only good questions and misleading questions.

C) There are no stupid questions only stupid answers.

D) No, not really.

E) How can they be stupid if you answered them? (sound of cracking knuckles)

And the key was apparently supposed to be A: Enlightened, B magnanimous, C Ironfisted, D fearmonger, and E Mad. There was also meant to be a second scale that it mixed with but I never wrote any questions for it.

No idea when I wrote it or what I was thinking. Though since the result of D5 got you Dubya, I’d assume it was sometime while Bush was still president.

#this is me house cleaning

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