#seriously I love this franchise

[crossroadsdimension]

Reply from @metalmewtwo-kxb on this post Sincere question because I've never played FF games before, but is the gameplay that fun to do? Is it more item grindy, or is it like... more quests and story? Solely grinding for continued gameplay is what turned me off of recent pokemon games, so I'm actually sorta looking for other things that might be better 😅

Good questions! And I'd say that FF14 is very fun, since I've been playing it for the last two and a half years or so.

I'm going to preface the rest of this by saying Final Fantasy 14 specifically is an MMORPG, which means that occasional grinding is a given with this game. NOT for the main story (or "MSQ" for short), since that gives you enough experience to carry you through from start to finish. Some additional content requires grinding (the areas Eureka and Bozja, mainly, as well as grinding levels for additional jobs), but that additional content is not required.

FF14 as a whole is quest heavy, story heavy, and dialogue heavy, but there is a fair amount of combat. There are dungeons and boss fights you have to run for the sake of the story, but generally you only have to run them once for the sake of the plot. They can be run repeatedly for additional bonuses, like gear upgrades, music to be used in certain places, and later, little minion pets (they don't do anything, just look cute) and mounts. But again, that's all optional.

Now, the gameplay itself....I'm gonna have to put the rest of this under the cut because this is getting long.

FF14 has you start with one chosen job at the beginning of the game. You build up your number of skills over the course of leveling up, giving you the time needed to get used to each of your new skills. Like other MMOs, you have a choice between tank jobs, healer jobs, and damage-dealing jobs. The neat thing is that you can pick up all the jobs available on one character. The game is designed with this in mind, so if you don't like the job you start with, you can pick something different later.

For example, I went with Thaumaturge, which advances into Black Mage, and I've stuck with that because exploding things with fireballs is just far too much fun. Playing a job that wants to stay still while casting spells is a little difficult when boss fights require you to move frequently, but I've made it work! Maybe not to the level of efficiency as other players, but I don't really care about that too much.

The combat works this way: there are skills that are "on global cooldown" (meaning you have to wait 2.5 seconds before you can use it again,) and "off-global cooldown" (that have longer wait times). When you start the game, you don't have a lot of skills, so it feels slow when you fight, but the more you level up and the more skills you get, the more complicated fighting can become. I and other players have learned how to "weave" these two kinds of skills together in order to keep damage and/or healing moving, depending on the job type. It took me a bit to get used to, since I'm used to turn-based styles, but I think I've got a good handle on it!

Combat isn't the only type of job available, either -- there are crafting and gathering jobs as well, to make gear and other items that players might want. Like, say, housing items. Or more of those cute minions. Or glamour items to make your armor look stylish. And there's a mini-game attached to these which is also pretty fun!

The "grinding" aspect of FF14 comes about when you want to level multiple jobs. And there are multiple options for that, since the MSQ only has enough XP for one job. The FATE system that I was talking about grinding, for example, is optional side content that is constantly available. Easy XP when you're waiting for queue to pop for dungeon roulette runs...or the PvP system, which has its own set of combat skills separate from the rest of the game.

There's a repeatable quest system too, called "leves," but those are mostly used for crafting/gathering nowadays instead of the combat jobs.

If you want to give the game a try, I can promise that the game's story and music is all fantastic, and there's a free trial that's available on PS4/5, PC, and most recently Xbox. Play up to Level 70 out of 100, get access to the base game and two following expansions (A Realm Reborn, Heavensward, and Stormblood). If you don't want to play it, there's plenty of people who have recorded playthroughs online. Playframe is an easy one to find on YouTube, for example!

I'll be honest, I'm keeping any storyline stuff to a minimum because as much as I want to get more people into the game, if I gush too long I'll give spoilers and there are some surprises that just. Need to be experienced. But needless to say, the story is fantastic and intricate and can make you think some very deep thoughts the further into the game you go. The plot starts very simple -- almost deceptively so -- with your character becoming the Warrior of Light through deeds done and big boss battles fought. And everything progresses from there....

If you don't want to play an MMO, but do want to play an FF game and don't want to worry too much about level-grinding, I've been playing through the Pixel Remasters of FF1-6. The settings for these turn-based RPGs allows you to boost your XP and gold (or gil) gain, completely cutting out any need to grind. I've played FF1-4 so far, and I've started FF5, and I've enjoyed the experience! Especially since FF14, the game that I started with, has references from every single other FF game in the series. So I'm getting the references in reverse!

If you want something more recent that has a Devil May Cry-esque play style, FF16 could be right up your alley. The game also has difficulty settings to make it easier if you're not prepared to handle that kind of play style. The experience given in that game is enough to get you to where you need to for the sake of the plot, too, so I wouldn't have to worry about grinding in FF16.

As for the other games...well, I don't have much experience in the Final Fantasy anthology as a whole, sad to say. I'd love to get more experience, but that's going to take a while.

[vero-niche]

overall i really liked the first episode of delico's nursery but. but. as someone who knows nothing. about the theatre plays. i couldnt quite take the plot seriously when. the god of vampires/first vampire ever. has the most unfortunate abriviation of our time.

resulting in lines such as:

[writingtraumaforever]

The director of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 saying the reason Gerald was alive is because it was a waste of comedic talent to have Jim play two characters and them never interact (which like— why would you be looking at comedic talent when referring to one of the franchise’s darkest and most vengeful characters, but okay it’s a choice?) as well as the fact that these movies have a constant theme of finding family, so they wanted to explore what would happen if Robotnik found family…

But what if— now hear me out everyone..

What if in the movie that is introducing Shadow and his backstory and has been marketed as a SHADOW movie in the year of SHADOW… they focused on Shadow and let him find family?!

Just a thought.

[3142-redgrave-avenue]

Welp its over for ikemen 2007 anime dante. Goodbye. So long, your google image results. I will miss you and cherish every frame i have left before April 2025.

The time has come, my handsome devil.

[sassycordy]

[watermel0ns-dumb-cringe]

These are same picture to me

[the-acid-pear]

Not to get into drama the first fucking moment I open my eyes after but calling the Phoneys slaves is such a bad take because the whole game is about that not being true. Like the whole fucking point is that by All Means they're not people. Not to the law, at least, and much less to Freddy's. This is the narrative you've been sold on since the very first game and that it's trying to disprove. Trying to show you thru their back stories and ending dialogue that, hey, these are actual people too!

Sure Jack can still be a turbo cunt to them but the Phoneys still do whatever the fuck they want if they so wish. Jake LITERALLY threatens with walking out on you like on the first month he's in. But this is also a major part of the plot like Where Else will they go if they're not here. Their choices are fucking dying or working at Freddy's Independent of Jack. AND THE POINT ALWAYS TENDS BEING FOR JACK TO BE BETTER BOSS THAN EVERY ONE THAT CAME BEFORE (unless he's evil but he rips Dave's head off he's just off the shits there he killed a baby dude c'mon he's no point of comparison for anything.)

Like to boil it down to "jack x phoneys bad because they're slaves" is literally Ignoring the whole game and all its trying to say. People starting these dramas are probably still in school you can't be so bad at reading baby it's concerning.

[c0smiccom3t]

Guys i think there's something wrong with the cover of my Crash Twinsanity copy.

[dickvandyke33]

my ver of pearlina :s

tried my best at tweaking the actual image to match my vision of em

original:

[sweetmoonbeam17]

did not expect the best shot of 2024 to be of two hedgehogs watching the sun rise from the moon

[lokiinmediasideblog]

The Loki series accidentally woobified Loki variants even more because they never explain why they can get manhandled by humans so easily. And like i don't even mean the TVA (which represses magic and maybe their strength is magic-based(?). And maybe the TVA agents are "enhanced" in some way.). But on Lamentis (outside the TVA), those were humans and they couldn't do shit against them? D:

Outside the TVA they seem to have human-level strength with magic powers when asgardians can lift cars and survive neutron stars... (*cue woobifying fanfic trope*)

(I am well-aware it's inconsistent writing because TVA!Loki had just survived a Hulk smashing.)

[mav-the-artist]

"I shall be the instrument of Armageddon."

[buwheal]

what the hell is going on with this movie why are there like 6 different side plots

i am so lost and its so convoluted what the hell happened to the primary plot being about his adopted family and learning to love them?????and breaking the cycle from his neglectful mother???? And why the hell do they always need some weird irrelevant minions sideplot??? For MARKETING??? SO many scenes wasted on them and then they were lazily tied in at the end so they had somewhat of a contribution?? I feel bad for the people who probably had to find some way to shove the minions in for promotional purposes.... i hate the minions so much dont even get me started but otherwise the visuals were drop dead gorgeous HOLY.... The animation is really amazing too good god... I love the use of 2d animation techniques being further used and emphasized more and more in 3d animation, like more extreme squash and stretch and smear frames too?? LOVE THAT,, plus He had WRINKLES!!! It looked SUPER great but suffers from cashcow disease please let this story rest you didnt even need a second one honestly... tldr DM4 plot was ass and overstuffed with stupid sideplots because theyre running out of ideas for a coherent main plot but the animation and art/visual direction was stunning

[heloflor]

So I was looking up random moments from "Save the World" and um...

This is yet another sex joke, isn't it ? Unless Max built a torture dungeon inside the White House (tbh he would).

(Footage from Andrea Pannocchia, at the beginning of 105)

[thecreaturefromneptune]

hyperfixation going so hard I worked on a model chestburster for nearly 3 1/2 hours with clay, a medium I swore on my life Id never touch ever again

(also if anybody could tell me what the difference between a hyperfixation and a special interest is that would be great thankss)

[meri-meri-mwah]

Never played a single Devil May Cry game...

But that might change after seeing these two.