Learning to Love Final Fantasy XIV
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- čas přidán 30. 08. 2021
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After several long years, I think I finally understand what Final Fantasy XIV is trying to do: and I think I am in love with it.
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#KingK #FFXIV #Shadowbringers
Final Fantasy XIV Retrospective Review Critique KingK - Hry
The insane amount of People coming to FFXIV and giving it a genuine chance, just feels so nice since I've been here for like 8 years and people just called you a weeb for liking it.
@@FSAPOJake dude. IKR?!?
As an ARR vet who made it to the last fan fest and is still playing daily it feels amazing to see our game getting more people to experience it these days and seeing the flood of new content for it!
People who call FF like this weeb just straight up haven’t played the series
@@FSAPOJake Well unlike PSO2. FF14 gets updates that fixed shit. PSO2 you don't hear anything from the devs. Other than maybe from the Community Director. Even then. There is stuff with PSO2 that is still kind of broken to this day from what I've heard. And fans who love the game are getting tied of being ignored for wanting to make the game better.
Meanwhile, Square fucking apologies for being too successful. As their servers are too full. And they have been trying to expand the servers but with hardware almost as rare as Blizzard not retconning some NPC no one knew existed into being Trans or deleting them for seemingly having an "Offensive Name". It is hard going.
Which I find kind of sad. No, one could have predicted this. As FF14 was such a trainwreck 10 fucking years ago. To now literally being Reborn like the Phoenix. To just crush WoW finally. Kicking that tyrant off the mountain. For how long will it be like this? No, one knows. Yet can be said for sure. The market has changed and Square has managed to pull off the impossible.
Weeb, lol.
[Says the guy that rewatches Cowboy Bebop every year on his birthday.]
It wasn't said in the video, but the moment that sold KingK, right at the end of the first expansion is actually available as part of the free trial. You can play 60 levels on every single pre-stormblood job, and enjoy 2 expansions worth of story all for free
One expansion, you mean.
@@sleepythemis 2 expansions 'worth of story'.
They're adding Stormblood to the free trial soon too.
It's so cool you mention "The final steps of faith" as a turning point. That was the moment I first cried playing this game, while waiting for the duty to commence. The music, the build-up, everything came together. It truly felt like a momentous occasion. One of the absolute best moments in a Final Fantasy game, heck, any game ever for me.
And gosh, you made me cry now talking about it...
I cant even remember it :(
The Royal Menagerie was kinda that way for me. The whole fight comes to its end, the way the instrumental part of the track makes the vocals sound like they are cracking, and the lyrics themselves. I started during Stormblood is my favorite part of the msq, despite what others say about it. Every time I do any of the Stormblood duties or RM I'll sing with the choir.
Ringing in our hearts!
@@Exel3nce Damn i'm shocked at this statement. I can still remember so much of it xD.
@@narius_jaden215 i kinda disliked hwd , so i guess i didnt bother paying Attention that much. I know i liked the end Segment, but it was too late.
Yeah, that was one of the moments i clearly remember, they made really good use of scenario and music, while you waited in the Matchmaking to find a group.
As someone who has been playing since 1.0: I truly, truly enjoyed the ARR MSQ, even the patch part. It might be slow, but rediscovering Eorzea after the calamity, slowly finding out what has happened and reconnecting with my old story friends was really nice, and I feel the patched MSQ for ARR is a really nice intro into the gameworld, especially since the people, zones and enemies you encounter during that time are *not* discarded with the next expansion. You will often return and if you just accepted that your beginning as WoL was slow and humble, these returns will feel way better. A castle in the skies might be a really great sight to behold, but enjoy the journey which took you there.
FFXIV is a high barrier to entry with ARR being a slog but once you get past it, it's just consistantly incredible from that point on. Even putting the mmo part aside, this is just a great final fantasy game. My favorite since FFX.
Also side note: I'm currently playing while watching this and BOY does doing the Dragoon questline post Heavensward feel really weird. Have to remember that it's basically taking place in the past now.
@@DesignDoc your current quest level tells you where in the timeline of events everything fits. Everything below level 60 basically happens during or before HW
I understand that playing through ARR in 2021 can feel like a slog, especially for those who know how better the game gets from HW onwards. But honestly, I remember playing ARR pretty much on release and going through the game with my friends was the best MMO experience I had back in 2013-2014. Maybe ARR feels slow and boring to a lot of the new MMO audiences, but I imagine if you played WoW vanilla or even a lot of other Korean MMOs like me, then even ARR was a step above the other MMO options back in the day imo.
didn't they streamline ARR? I thought they removed a lot of the quests to make it a little less of a slog.
@@extremewirehead yeah I have to remind myself that.
This song always stirs something deep in me. The Dragonsong, when knowing the story, hits really hard
Can't wait to finally get into this game - it really seems to get people excited and the class system!!
Kbash!! My guy!! Love the vids dude!
Hope to see some KBash style vids on ffxiv !!
Hope you like it, good luck :D
Big fan, if ya end up playing courel is a great server :p
KBash, you’re planning to start? HELL YEAH!
One of the besy parts about the massive emotional moments that lead into story-culminating fights: they play the track and it doesn't cut between the cutscene, queue time, and entry into the trial. Just one long, undisturbed, emotional experience
FFXIV has been the only game to break me out of my 'only play single player games' mindset. It's my first MMO, my first FF, and honestly my first real multiplayer game in general. And I loved every bit of it since I jumped in last year. I will admit parts of ARR aren't the best, and it's only MY individual taste that likes all the meandering fetch quests since I'm so patient and a lore nerd, lol. I'm so glad I worked up the courage to finally play it myself after spending years only watching others play!
And I see that Xaela WoL from the Goro tribe. How's the horse marriage going for you? 😏
I'm almost in the same boat as you. FFXIV is the only online game I play. Other than that, single player are the only games I buy now, unless they're couch co-op too like Mario Kart or Mario Party, that shizazz.
more of an Mo than mmo but I can relate. but that's hair splitting tbh
@@cariburn1 it's an mmo...
@@cariburn1 Nah, it's still preeetty much multiplayer. only if you decide to IGNORE the multiplayer does it become what you think it is. Many do, many don't!
It was my first MMORPG and FF game too. I thought I wouldnt really get into it because of the grinding (I got the game from a friend for my birthday). Boy was I wrong. I play it daily now and made great friends. Hell, when I didnt have the money to extend my sub, some of my ingame friends got together and made sure I could keep going simply because they liked having me around. Coming from games like League of Legends (toxic hellholes) this was unthinkable for me. The community is 95% nice and I absolutely love it.
I really need to preface by saying I literally NEVER comment on stuff or videos or any sort of engagement with content creators, but I can't begin to describe how unimaginably happy I am that one of my favorite channels went through with this game!!! Especially with me wrapping up my 6th year of playing ffxiv (started with heavensward as well!!) and you having the final steps of faith also be your turning point for the game. Ffxiv is such a special game and I'm beyond happy for you that you got to experience it and will continue to do so. I CANNOT wait for you to delve deep into the expansions and here your thoughts on the stories in more detail!
As someone who started almost 2 years ago (and who also did the 7th Astral Era quests before they were fixed...), FFXIV has been a damn worthy experience. I have made so many friends that now mean the world to me. I have discovered that I have skill sets that I never knew I had. And the feeling of community in game is just...unparalleled. Hell, my first week, I had a random player just...give me a minion as a welcome present. No prompting. No interactions prior. The people that make this game's community make even the slower and more painful bits bearable.
I knew the FF14 community was super cool and caring for each other, but I didn’t know the sheer extent to which the game helps facilitate characters learning and new players getting the hang of things. That’s exceptional design right there.
Ah, the Final Steps of Faith. aka, "Welcome to the fandom, we hope you like it here because you'll be here a long time"
I agree that the buildup to that moment is something special. Definitely a make-or-break moment for anyone playing through. If that moment doesn't hook a player, I doubt the equivalent moments in the following expansions would do the same, but who knows.
Just finished the video now, and I had already been thinking this but I think this has gotta be my favorite series on this channel. The way it's structured is phenomenal. And on the topic of this specific video, I loved it. I can tell the pure love you have for this game, the moments of just riding your mount and absorbing the feeling this beautiful world gives off, those epic moments where your silent protagonist is the central most important focus driving all these other characters forward, the masterclass soundtrack amplifying every waking moment, i know the feeling, because ive been there too. But the thing is, even if I hadn't, Its widely apparent how much impact these scenes and moments are supposed to have even without context. I agree ARR is a slog, it took me 4 years of on and off play to finish it but when I did, I never stopped. In nearly 24 minutes, you made me fall in love with a game I'm already in love with all over again. Fantastic video as always.
It took 2 separate attempts through ARR for me to get through to Heavensward, but after 5.3 when ARR became a lot smoother, it helped push me to go all the way through to Shadowbringers, and FFXIV is now my favorite game I've ever played.
FFXIV helped me through a very dark time in my life, and has lead me to an amazing new family in my FC and even meeting my partner that I love very much. So glad to hear you enjoy your experience with the story and community
Wow this video came out at a perfect time, I literally just finished ARR for the first time. The game's been a blast so far and i can't wait to play the expansions
Wish you so much fun with the expansions, I hope you can enjoy the game to its fullest 💙
Honestly, for me it's not even just my old love of MMOs that FFXIV rekindled, but my old love for Final Fantasy. I grew up with FFIX, and have loved the series deeply ever since. I went back and played every game before, and I've stuck with the series. But somewhere between the mess that was XV and the latest instance of VII being dug out of its grave to beg for money again, I really fell off the series and decided that it was long past its glory days. FFXIV *really* changed my mind, and whenever I play it, I see all the things that I fell in love with as a child again. Now hearing that CBU3, the squad behind XIV, are working on the upcoming FFXVI, I finally feel excited for the future of the franchise again.
Dude you have no clue how happy I am to hear that you’re going to do a retrospective of every expansion in the near future. For some reason this doesn’t really exist on CZcams, likely because of the time investment required. There have been things that come close, but they’re either left unfinished, not very thorough, or just incessant rambling and thanking subscribers every 30 seconds on a livestream instead of a scripted and edited video with effort put into it. On behalf of the Final Fantasy community, thank you.
Man it rocks seeing FFXIV get so much love. I’m not ready for Endwalker though, I know the game will continue on but I’ve been with it since 2.0, to see this saga end is gonna be both amazing and melancholic.
A new journey begins :)
It makes me sad, but at the same time I'm really glad they aren't dragging out the Zodiark/Hydalyn arc. It feels like they know when a story needs to end.
(I hope we have a timeskip for 6.1 so we have grownup Alphinaud and Alisae my heart would just explode)
I'm excited to see what they come up with next after this story arch finally ends. My vote is we'll have to deal with the void, or what's left of the 13th Shard.
@@Ren99510 that would be interesting going in and fixing all the broken shards
Gonna have to disagree with you on the "pointless meandering" early bit of ARR. It's designed to test your mettle from the beginning. Even though you're one of Hydaelyn's chosen, you're still a fledgling adventurer wielding an old, busted up weapon. You need to prove yourself to the common folk before you can prove yourself to those more important higher up. It also ties heavily into a cutscene near the end of Shadowbringers because it reminds you that you aren't just some hotshot who's too big to help some peasant with a mundane issue. You're _everyone's_ hero, no task or issue is too small and people all across the world will have their tale to tell of you. You're the campfire story made manifest and they've got you to thank for making their lives better
Its pointless for us tho
@@Exel3nce Pointless if all you're expecting and seeking at the beginning of your journey is slaying a dragon.
Help the common folk first so that they'll raise your name
@@kaihedgie1747 no, Not slaying a dragon, but not typical and overly boring mission design
@@Exel3nce Then what is it that you're expecting, exactly?
@@kaihedgie1747 Something that isnt dragging, boring or overly stereotypical
I have to admit I'm where you were with the game now. That feeling just dragging my feet through the campaign. Feeling like MMOs just aren't for me now that I've removed WoW from my life (for obvious reasons...). Videos like these make me want to keep trying to see what everyone says is so special about this game. Maybe I'll get there maybe I won't. I just can't seem to form a connection in this game like I had with my Frost Mage, Shaman, and Demon Hunter. That being said, maybe I haven't tried out enough jobs yet and I just need to bite the bullet and get through ARR. I'm very glad that you found something special! I hope to maybe join everyone in Eorzea
I highly recommend trying out those new jobs. And also, try to keep in mind that most jobs don't really hit their stride until 60. (Which is unfortunate) If you want to see what as job is really like at its core, you can use Palace of the Dead. In addition to just being a chill way to level, Palace also provides a relatively fast way to get a new job up high enough to experiment with its core gameplay and see if you like it or not.
It isn't instant. You still have to level the job with the Palace, but it levels WAY faster and the mobs in there will do a decent job of showing you how it plays with some real targets.
It unlocks after you've beaten Copperbell Mines at level 17, you just need to go to New Gridania and take the quest called "The House that Death Built". (Blue quest marker)
Don't worry mate. In about 30 hours it gets good.
Most of the jobs get this addictive flow to them later in the game that unfortunately isn't there earlier, mostly because of job actions.
As a FFXIV veteran...it's okay to stop if you feel like you really just want to quit. The slow burn will never be for everyone. It can't. That could just be you. There's always watching a streamer you like play the game, watch/skim their playthrough so you can see what it can be, and watch it like a tv series.
Crazy to hear that I am not alone with having the same experience on "Learning to love FF14", word for word KingK you pretty much detailed how I felt with years of trying to get into FF14 and finally succumbing to its charm. Really excited for Endwalker and can't wait to experience the story live this time round.
SO looking forward to all the deep dives from you. found your channel from your retrospectives sometime earlier this year and every video you've put out since has been such a joy to watch :D
Steps of faith was definitely when I went from having an ok time to playing one of my favorite games of all time no other game has captured the same constant highs that xiv has for me
I've been so exhausted hearing FF fans just dismissing XIV as "one of the MMOs, it doesn't count" when talking about the series. So glad more people are giving it a shot. The story and world are absolutely fantastic.
It has a number. By law it counts.
very odd i dont hear hardly anyone who is a FF fan not calling it a final fantasy game you must just have been hearing a very vocal minority as someone who grew up with FF in my childhood i can tell you that FFXIV embodies everything that is final fantasy.
it has chocobos, has moogles, has god like beings that appear in every FF game, has naming conventions for weapons we've seen in all FF titles, has the gold saucer an omaje to FFVII with chocobo racing, has hunting, has collaborative events that were directly linked to other FF universes that included two main FF protagonists Lightning/Claire from XIII and Noctis from FFXV, and it has a narrative driven story that builds up the world and reveals a deeper connection to the whole FF metaverse.
so to anyone saying that just cause its an online multiplayer doesn't count are just plain wrong and are single player rpg purists hating on it cause they have to dish out monthly money play and have to work with other players lol rather than living in their own quiet little rpg world where only they matter an no one else xD
I genuinely love that you kept Dark Knight as your class for a lot of the video. Not only it is at least one of the top 3 coolest looking ones, almost everyone agrees it's the best job questline in the game, to the point that it really gets you invested in your character, more than most other jobs
Super relatable the feeling of outgrowing MMOs after WoW, but maybe I’ll check out FF now 🤔
it's definitely very sick
I'm new to MMOs but decided to dip my feet into this genre thanks to the stupid pandemic. Can any of you let me know if I can play the story + all DLCs in less than 100 hours. I really don't want to get addicted to the game, but just love the stories of Final Fantasy games and Nobuo Uematsu tracks!
@@nimazsheik5152 If you buy a story skip to Shadowbringers then yes, you can complete it technically in 100 hours. But, keep in mind it's an MMO. MMOs are extensively long and especially with FF14's story with each expansion building on top of each other, and the first part taking roughly 100+ hours to get through ARR... you're not going to be completing the whole game in 100 hours. It's impossible.
I recommend if you really want to try FFXIV, just play it in small pieces at a time if you don't have a lot of free time to dedicate to it. It'll take longer for you to get to Shadowbringers, but at the very least you'll eventually get there.
Realm Reborn was the reason I built my current PC. A friend showed me some footage, I got to listen to the amazing soundtrack, and that was it, I wanted to build myself a PC so I could indulge in the visuals at their max settings and I did just that...only to then forget my internet was trash due to the layout of my home and the local providers refusing to provide a means of a wired connection to fix it.
It's probably for the best though. I played Runescape for close to ten years and reminiscing on how much time I pumped into it terrifies me, because my account has been around for more than half my life. The closest I came to jumping back into an MMO was Phantasy Star Online 2 back when I english patched it as far back as 2012, and then made a brief return in 2020, and once more to see what New Genesis brought to the table...but I just can't commit to something like this anymore. My collection remains just under halfway finished and I desire to one day catch back up, rather than let everything sit as glorified trophies in my room
I've been a long time subscriber that hadn't said anything yet but i was really surprised to see this pop up in my notifications - a video by KingK on FFXIV! I'm so glad and excited to hear that you've given this game a go despite the massive roadblock in the beginning, and you sharing the love to the world despite the fact. The way you wrote the video flows each segment beautifully into each other, and I could feel goosebumps rising hearing you describe the encounter on the final steps of faith - it brought me back years ago when I've faced it for the first time myself. Wonderful work!
I hope you'll continue to have a great time in Eorzea!
been following for a while now my guy and i'm glad you kept giving it a chance. it sounds like something intriqued you for you to keep coming back and i'm glad you found it
also yooo crystal dc represent
Wow, just wow! Absolutely amazing video! I just sent this to a friend who is new to MMOs and might find similar struggles that you found when first starting out in ARR, but I'm crossing my fingers he keeps going, cause just like you said, the payoff for everything is just so mindblowingly amazing
Dude, this spoke to me. I am a veteran from ARR and a habitual story skipper. It took me 6 years to realize I should give the story a try. It was because of that damn Shadowbringer trailer that made me rethink about my own journey. And I am now kicking myself for skipping the story because I never knew how engaging it was and I learned a new way to experience an MMORPG. My friend told me FFXIV is a detox to your old bad habits from bad MMORPG. I beginning to understand what he meant by that.
Thanks for putting exactly my feelings into words. The finale to Heavensward really was such a big moment, and the song is just burnt into my head - never sat through a game's credits in full before until HW.
I just wanna say, I started watching this after bouncing off ffxiv ARR myself twice...and...had to leave the video unfinished to go play it. I'm still not finished with endwalker but... The end of ARR wasn't too bad for me since I did it after they reduced the extraneous quests but...because of that I got so invested when [redacted] happened, and we were swept off to coerthas. And from there I was hooked. The characters--especially an NPC I figured I would never see again once we finished that questline--turned into pivitol things keeping me drawn into the story. Dragonsong was something special. And Shadowbringers was my undeniable absolute favorite experience in a video game EVER.
So...I guess this is a rambling way to say, thank you. Thank you for convincing me to give it another shot and telling me that I could learn to love it too.
FFXIV 1.0 released on my birthday back in 2010, so at the end of Sept I’ll have been actively playing this game during its uptime for ELEVEN YEARS. I had a bit of a shock thinking that - I’ve never been into an MMO for this long before, and I never want it to stop. It’s been a fantastic experience and I’ve never lost my excitement for every new patch and expansion.
I think you’re in for a great time, KingK. Nothing beats the excitement of a new expansion or patch. The speculation, reading/watching live letters and interviews, then the trailer dropping (even patches have them).
Then the experience of playing the patch content for the very first time, alongside your friends and millions of other players (no PTR). The new dungeons, trials and raids are most challenging at this point, when everyone is learning it together. And the story only continues to get better and better.
I’m glad you’re enjoying the game so much now.
So I started FF14 in January with 3 friends, one of which had been playing it for a couple years already.
I, wanting to be different from my friends, picked Marauder, because I like axes and no one else was playing a tank (or healer, all 3 of them were dps).
That's the first mistake. Starting the game as a tank basically guarantees that you won't have any fun before Heavensward. Doing dungeons, between running and teleporting back and forth throughout the world for hours on end, are supposedly the fun parts of the game - except for tanks. Early tanking is just using the same aoe over and over and over and over and over and over for about 30 minutes.
Any story fights where friends can't help takes forever because while you can survive a long time, you also do next to no damage to enemies.
After about 2 months of playing a few times a week, I couldn't take it anymore and took an extended break. A break, plus my already comparatively slow progress through ARR meant that my two friends that started alongside me went on ahead and finished ARR, Heavensward and Stormblood, while I wasn't even in post ARR. So I wasted money every month to grind through the droolingly dull gameplay and story on the promise of "It gets better!" And the desire to actually play the game I payed for with my friends.
Finally, after many months of on and off grinding whenever I even slightly felt the urge to play it, I got through ARR and it's post game and finally started Heavensward, the dlc that I was promised would revolutionize my feelings on this game.
Needless to say, I was a little disappointed to see it was more of the same back and forth busywork.
Yet my desire to play a game with my comrades still burned inside and now everyone was hopping onto the FF14 bandwagon, I had to be the problem right? I hate this game but.. maybe I can get through it without playing it?
So, story skip and level skip were my $50 ticket to Shadowbringers.
I have yet to get on it since wasting that $50 (on top of the $100+ on the game itself and the monthly subscription)
I was a fool. I wish I could enjoy it's dull "gameplay" and while certain trials were actually fun, that is like 2% of the actual game. 3% is customizing your character and the remaining 95% is a waste of time and money.
I'm happy for those of you who enjoy it though, because I envy you. And thanks for reading my pointless rant.
I despise this amazing MMO.
Gonna be honest, first played FF14 in 2019, beat base ARR, and then stopped during the patch quests. Picked it back up again in 2020, got about halfway through ARR before my old PS4 kicked the bucket. Couldnt find the motivation to go back to it again until january of this year, which I not only got caught up on the story, I got from ARR - end of Shadowbringers in just over a month. Absolutely no regrets. One of the best damn games i've ever played.
Damn this was so heartfelt and in-depth.
Thank you for taking the time. We are happy to have you alongside us for the rest of the story 🖤❤️
This is one of my favorite formats of yours.
16:26 aaaaaaah the twinning. Such a good piece of music.
I've been watching this video for the past two weeks on repeat since it popped into my recommendations. Your channel was always one I debated subscribing too here or there and I've watched your TP retrospective more times than I can count because of how accurately it describes my own experience, how pangs of memories for everything in it flow through my head. However this video I've been watching over and over again, not because it was so similar to my experience, yet so different, and yet it had the same sparknotes. Allow me to elaborate.
I am no stranger to FF. Before my dive into 14 in June, I had played every other mainline game besides most sequel titles, 11 and 12. In fact I thought I was finally outgrowing FF thanks to not liking any game after 10, and even then I barely liked that and already despised 8. I saw 6 as the peak of the series, and was willing to let my love for it end there. But there was always 14, staring me in the face from a noticeable distance. I first hear back in 2013 its acclaim of ARR saving the game, though MMOs weren't something I could just play, nor did I have the money for it. I couldn't do it. Only MMO before this I had played was the free trial on FreeRealms... and liked it! Somehow! But I was always left wanting more, wanting to know more... I was wanting an RPG that had online like an MMO. A great story, loveable characters, and the music... But I didn't even budge during Heavensward. I saw it as too pricey. I couldn't take a risk on something I was certain I wasn't going to like thanks to me not even liking 15 when that finally happened. So on I traveled along different worlds, falling in love with Destiny purely for The Taken King and bouncing off D2, never wanting to return after how poor a job the "big expansion" did. I had continued playing my comfort zone. And then recently in the past two years or so, I decided to burst that bubble and venture outwards into the sea to see if I could latch on to anything. I started finally finding new things to enjoy once again, realizing my arrogance, fixing it and so on.
And so it was in this changing period that I took the leap into 14 in June as it was on sale and I had nothing better to play at the time as I was still searching. I had a friend help guide me and speed up ARR, it barely kept my patience, and I somehow beat it up to the 2.4 patch in less than 9 days. So far at this point, the music was getting better and the story more interesting, but I still wasn't completely hooked. I needed something I hadn't experienced in a fresh way since 2013. I needed an actual, fantastically done FF cutscene of old. And that's what The Parting Glass brought me. I was finally being hooked. And Heavensward started to press its talons against my skin, only for me to not get them fully in until the selfsame Final Steps of Faith which hooked you. After that hook set in, I did something still considered insane. Within 60 days, I beat all of Shadowbringers 5.5, completed all normal raids, only had Void Ark left to do in Alliance Raids, and was prepping to start Hildibrand... I am fully hooked and ready for Endwalker.
At the point I am now, my sub recently ran out. Can't afford to renew it until Endwalker's release. I have now officially completed the Bozja story, and even gotten multiple classes over 80 to see the full end of the Role Quests in Shadowbringers. I have seen almost everything the game has to offer, and I am in love and cannot wait for the future.
"We fall... Unto the End."
I've been looking for another mmo to rekindle my love for the genre kind of like how you described, and this one has been on my radar so you definitely given me something to look more into now lol!
I’m so happy my favorite game is getting so much love from all my favorite creators! Genuinely a game that changed my life 7 years ago, and I just want as many people to share in the love as possible
Welcome to Eorzea! cant wait for those expansion retrospectives!
As a FFXIV "vet" (starting with the 2.2 patch during the first half of ARR), those few month feels really specials. It's like seeing something I grew with during all those years becoming trully popular and attracting a lot of new players, enjoying their journey themself and building up this uncomming expansion release, I cant wait seeing everyone playing and enjoying Endwalker, being able to all talk together about what we experimented, seeing all those new players walking through Endwalker just as I did with ARR, Heavensward, Stormblood and Shadowbringers.
I cant wait too seeing the end of this story arc I started almost ten years ago, as a 17y old teenager, feeling the thrill of a conclusion to something who will ultimatly having a good part in life.
I really love how it gently eases you into complex mechanics throughout A Realm Reborn. I absolutely feel you on the glorified post officer bit though xD I have spent a lot of time with the jobs and crafting system tbh, it's the best I've seen in a long time
A KingK essay on my favorite game of all time? And he's going to review each expansion in turn? Sign me the hell up! Looking forward to the rest of the videos, and may you ever walk in the light of the crystal
Dragonsong makes me tear up almost every time I hear it, this game truly does have an incredible way of grabbing your emotions and it is easily my favorite game of all time.
Great video! Thank you for sharing your experience with us!
I am having some well deserved fun today because you dropped!
This game I’ve been playing for 3 months now since I’ve left wow. This game so many tears already almost done with stormblood. The fc I’ve got in had a little drama but I’ve learned so much made a very good friend. I’m learning so much about the game being social. It’s just amazing. The community and fc that I’m at it’s like a family. This game was developed with such a passion really shows. It taught me what fun is and found a favorite job which I’ve never had that feeling before thanks to the amazing class balance. I can pick tank healing and melee and range in one character.
Yo, no shit, I know this is about FF14, but I just love that I wasn't the only little kid on warcraft during the wrath of the lich Era. Everyone's got that childhood game they remember... mine is warcraft, I was playing during burning crusades when I was 6 years old.... playing is a bit of an overstatement, but I was just running across the world for hours at a time and when I wasn't doing that I was watching my dad play... good times
it is literally impossible for me to describe how I felt at the end of shadowbringers(5.0) whenever people ask why I love the game so much I can't answer them because nothing short of actually experiencing those moments can come anywhere close to doing them justice.
I've never sat at my desk literally fucking clapping irl because of a game's story before the end of 5.0 lol
brooo so happy to see you talk about this game, I love this game so much :')
started playing last year, got through Heavensward but lost my psn account blah blah started over about 2 months ago and I'm in the thick of Shadowbringers now, so excited for Endwalker!
How wholesome. Sharing your journey with the game both inside and outside of the screen. I will say your story is different than mine and I find it interesting.
I started playing WoW during Vanilla, when I was 10 years old. I didn't really understand the game back then but I still had a great time. I missed all of Burning Crusade and came back in during Wrath. I started doing raids during Trial of the Crusader and got into hard-core (10 heroic and 25 regular) raiding during Icecrown Citadel. I still play WoW to this day, though I haven't logged on in over a month. I've mostly just lacked the time but even when I have the time to play, part of me just can't get past the controversy
I haven’t done the quests leading to Endwalker yet, I think it’s about time I did. So far, Heavensward was my favorite expansion. I picked up this game cause I wanted more Final Fantasy after the 7 remake. I got into the game via roleplaying with other people. That drive to absorb more of the lore pushed me forward on the adventure. Because of that, Heavensward ended up being my favorite expansion as it had some of the deepest lore with the dragons and the Holy See. The feeling of being on a road trip with people that just got to know each other and discovered the crimes that began the war…it was something special. I still look back at it fondly, especially the Final Steps of Faith. The story was sooooo good
This video encapsulates so much of how I feel about the game, never thought I’d get into another MMO again, but here we are. Good stuff, man
Your descriptions of final steps of faith really hit me. I loved the game before doing that trial, but it's one of the ones that really hit you.
i think Jesse Cox described this came perfectly. "World of Warcraft is an MMORPG, while Final Fantasy XIV RPGMMO". ff14 puts the story and the nerative first. and is first and formost an final fantasy game.
I left WoW for FFXIV when ARR was new, about a month after launch because of the toxic WoW environment I was stuck in and it was bad for my health. XIV story wise was slow in ARR but it picks up and then falls HW was amazing but Stormblood did little for me, a lot of issues then, and a friend I had died while this expansion was massive and we raided together. Shadowbringers was great and another friend died just before Covid. It has been rough, my fiancé now plays with me but it still isn’t the same. Endwalker was great but I am feeling the burn. But I still have a massive love for the game, even when burned out…
Been watching for a long time - very happy to hear that you made it through that slog of ARR, and I am looking forward to your retrospectives of all of the expansions. That Shadowbringers retrospective is gonna be lit.
Love your content, and love FF, so it was surreal to see this video appear!
I think you're on with the story aspect, but I'd also like to say for people who are more interested in the raiding aspect, FF has some of the most brutal fights I've experienced in an MMO. The Ultimates are 16 minute, gruelling battles of extreme complexity and gigantic spectacle. They're 'non-canon', but if you love the story, you'll see some really fun fanservice tied to them.
The class balance is better than any MMO I've experienced - every single class can clear every bit of content.
Great video. I can related as ARR filtered me for about 4-5 years. I'd always get up to Ultima and lose interest during the 7th Astral Slog. Glad I pushed through when Stormblood came out.
Amazing, I just started this game over the weekend.
with all the new Players i dread the Endwalker release with the infinite login queue
Nice video; again, I really like your "Learning to Love" series. Even with your story laid out here, I'm not sure I could ever get into FF XIV. But that's probably best for my schedule.
This is actually the video that got me into XIV. I come back to it regularly. XIV is now one of if not my favorite game of all time. So I want to thank you KingK. Thank you for introducing me to this wonderful beautiful heartbreaking world. Through it I've met and made life long friends, so from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
so a experince i had when i was doing after MSQ of storm blood is join up for dungeon que and if you got a dungeon unlocked and even if youve never played it its still in the pool for you to even join, the one i got was the lost city of ampdapor. i somehow got a entire group of randoms who had never done the dungeon before. we were actually well off till we got to diabolos who is the final boss of the dungeon. this is the only wipe mechanic in almost all the content i did so far where i couldnt instantly learn from not doing it. through communicating with the party and none of us not wanting to look up a guide we actually tested and experimented with the mechanics in the fight and cleared it in a hour even know we keeped wiping. and we all just put up with we just had to learn it and even enjoyed overcoming it without a guide. i do however suggest look up a guide for this one. its one of those type of mechanics that has 4 ways of interpiting it and you got to progress part way through the fight to even interact with it
I dove into XIV early in the year as a pandemic timesink. I played it absentmindedly as mostly a checklist style open world game through A Realm Reborn, and mostly just sort of nodded along with the plot. It was just an average fantasy romp, both inoffensive and moderately unmoving. The story started perking my ears up when I had ARR patch content sending me after "The Ivy," giving me occasional whiffs of shady stuff going on that the plot was still being coy about, but it wasn't until I came upon the first , "Multiple cutscenes will play in a row, we recommend you set aside the time to view them in their entirety" gauntlet did I get well and truly hooked. The capstone of ARR shook me hard enough that I rode the high through the slow zone exploration right at the beginning of Heavensward, and once that journey got truly underway, I wasn't really under any threat of losing interest anymore. These days, the cast has full-on charmed me, so I'm very eager to experience story reveals and content simultaneously with the rest of the world this time... Although I will admit that I feel like Endwalker has a bit of a weaker lead-in premise than the previous three expansions.
The Final Steps of Faith is still one of my favorite story momenst. For me though, Keeper of the Lake was the moment the story started to grabbing me, late into the ARR patches when things finally started building to Heavensward proper.
My intro to FFXIV was definitely a rough one, like so many others. Although 14 was my first ever MMO game, it originally started out as something super positive. I started as an Au Ra Marauder, after having been told they were the 'dragon' people, but it was still a fun initial experience to truly make the character my own.
Then came the initial wonder and awe that came with arriving to Limsa, but seeing so many people back then was stupidly intimidating. So many different flavours of glamour, something that we take for granted post Shadowbringers.
Seeing La Noscea for the first time too was an experience I'll never forget, it got me excited to see what the wider berth of Eorzea had to offer. Only when I had trouble adapting to the combat did some of that initial awe flicker away.
And then came the MSQ, even past the first few missions, I was beginning to lose any sense of wanting to continue. Left for about a month, ended up returning refreshed, and found everything Eorzea had to offer to be something that wowed me. And that feeling only accentuated when I arrived in Gridania.
Seeing the beauty of the Black Shroud, and Gridania itself got me to take a few seconds to just appreciate my surroundings. And when I finally reached Ishgard, I wasn't disappointed with how it handled its areas.
Giving FFXIV a second chance is something I will never regret doing, because it's already given me so many great memories that I can look back fondly on, having just completed Endwalker. It really does make you feel how far you've come, and that is something no other game I can say off the top of my head has done.
It's crazy we had almost the same experience.
I started playing when the game first hit PS3 I'm a huge FF mark and always wanted to play an MMO. I beat ARR liked it but didn't love it and fell off. Played on and off for a couple years and finally pushed into HW and took a massive break until this year.
I got hooked this time and pushed all the way through the journey was amazing I'm so glad I never quit it for good such an amazing definitive Final Fantasy experience. Can't wait for Endwalker!
Playing through shadowbringers made me truly fall in love with my warrior of light. Caring about my character keeps bringing me back.
Love the video and had the same issue with you..though I fell in love with the game much earlier which was at 2.55 patch.
The Final Steps of Faith and the set up to it was also where I fell in love with this game. Having Dragonsong seemlessly play as the cutscene transition to the trial instance, with the final foe of HW standing in front of me made it the first time where i wasnt miffed by DPS queue time.
And since then my love for it has only grown.
Another game finds the love it deserves ❤️ Thanks to the hardworking people who brought that game to life and the fan base that never gave up on it 💪🏼
Welcome too the club mate, enjoy your time here!
Started like 7 months ago and so far 650 hours and after completing all main story , all raids, all crafters at 60 with 2 being 80 and one gatherer 80, 24mil gil and 4 level 80s and 3 70s yada yada I just did the first two raids of Bozja and I'm still shocked there was this much content still ahead of me and like this is some serious content.
Still have the rest of Bozja left and the warring triad and four lords quest chains and this is easily the best mmo I've ever played.
Refreshed my page and this popped up. Gonna enjoy this one! I'll leave my thoughts in another comment once I'm finished!
I'm glad you came back to give FFXIV another shot, and even more glad you found it to be a worthwhile experience. It really brings me joy to see people enjoying FFXIV. It may not be perfect, but it is a pretty good game. I'm looking forward to your (eventual) retrospectives on the expansions for your in-depth take!
Like everything in life that has meaning, you start slow and build up to what you will be in the future. Its meant to be a long journey. I feel more connected to my character and the world because of my growth in ARR
I first picked the game up in 2014, and I didn't get far, either. I hate pugging, so I noped out at Sastasha. Came back again in 2019, got most of the way through SB (thanks to a friend pushing me relentlessly to stick it out during the ARR patch content (before it was fixed)), but stopped again because of accumulated pug anxiety. I came back again this year, re-rolled, went dps instead of heals, and finally made it all the way. I've never had such a hard time getting into a game or had it pay off so much. I love this game, enough to put up with the pugging despite my pug PTSD from other games.
In defense of the post patch of ARR yes it’s a “sloth” unless you was playing when it was dropping they was updating the MSQ every month it felt like so at the time it was great just more quest until next dlc but doing it NOW I understand lol it’s a double edge sword playing it in the moment was fantastic
It's surreal such a popular game still feela like an underrated gem. Guess it goes to show how much WoW has become the default MMORPG. Never played WoW but FFXIV really shocked me how much the story tied in to the meat of the gameplay compared to the free MMOs I tried. I loved the strategies required for even the early bosses. My friend and I played tank and healer year ago and had such a fun time. May have to jump in again after watching this vid.
This was random but I’m happy you’re enjoying your journey in ff14! My only piece of advice is if you can handle the cast times on black mage and white mage early game then every other class will seem remarkably faster and easier in contrast.
Although it looks like Monk and Summoner are getting the full rework so for anyone new to the game, you can go ahead and level them because the base theme and control of the class won’t change much but it will still be weird for a bit
New players will never know the pain of pre-crunch ARR patch quests.
I made it thru ARR with my bf and got so burnt I haven’t touched since February but I’m really excited to get back into it and this video got me even more excited
I do like that even your character knows you are just a sword the Scions swing at things since the Dark Knight quests do call you "The Weapon of Light" at least once, maybe twice.
Edit - Something small and funny is that, you mentioned during Final Steps "mechanics you already know", I believe it is the very first mandatory trial that uses the traditional stack marker we see now. It appears in a side-quest trial but not in the main story, so it is common to see a new player with it to run away due to that. The 1-Man Ahk Morn
I got into FF 14 march 2020 and i actually only wanted to play the story, because i heard so much good about it. But then the normal Trials and Raids with its always expanding mechanics made me want more and so i found a static raid with which i cleared just recently Eden 12s and even farmed the mechamander. Now i am collecting the raid mounts and i can't wait to experience to play an expansion from the start with endwalker. I thought an MMO would not stick with me anymore, but i was very wrong. Yoshi-P and his team are really amazing when it comes to merging all of the game's aspects and listen to community feedback.
I'm really fortunate I started playing FFXIV at the end of Stormblood. It was really something to play Shadowbringers at launch and see everyone's reactions to the story.
Been playing since Patch 2.0 of ARR. Glad to see people enjoy a game that I've loved since the "beginning."
I’ve been on an interesting journey with FFXIV. I’m a near life long Final Fantasy fan. Love the series.
I tried out ARR when it first launched on the PS3 and had an okish time but kind of dropped it after a while. I tried on and off again in 2019 soon after Shadowbringers (encouraged to get into it after that expansion’s amazing reviews) and I can honestly say I had a good time. It was my first MMO; I enjoyed learning the mechanics. For every bad fetch quest Post-ARR had to offer, I could offset it by learning a new class or running a raid or any other of the side content. It helped I had high-levelled friends to assist and encourage me.
Hype for Heavensward was real at the dawn of 2020 and I fell in love with the game truly. It was a little padded for my liking (that’s my criticism of all the expansions tbf) but the magic of the story and getting immersed into the world of FFXIV was real. And at the dawn of the 2020 it was a life line to my friends, now unable to see each other.
But as I pushed into Stormblood I started to fall out of love. Call it burn out (both being stuck inside for a year due to Big Scary Virus and putting maybe too many hours into FFXIV because of it) but I really didn’t like Stormblood. All filler not enough killer. I started to feel ill playing it, so I knew it was time to walk away for a bit, maybe forever, lamenting that I was so close to the Shadowbringers finish line.
But after a while I got the itch and started to dip in again. I pushed through Stormblood slowly but surely. Post-Stormblood was damn good and I could feel myself (in small doses) enjoying the game again. Shadowbringers took a while to click with me but last night I finished the main story and I can say it truly hits the heights of Heavensward and I do truly love this game again. Part of playing Shadowbringers was also partly my journey of learning to love this game again.
And to take breaks!
I’ve had some of the highest highs playing video games with my friends on FFXIV. And the excitement for Endwalker is real!
Oh you had my exact WoW experience! Never even touched endgame, I was just there to explore the world. I dropped off at WoD which was very pretty but felt like a fancy conveyor belt to get me to endgame.
I find that all I wanna do in Shadowbringers is hang out with Ardbert. The writings on the wall that I'm gonna a sobbing mess by the end, but fuck me, I love that guy.
And Urianger is the fuggin GOAT
ok, fine, I'll download it when I get home
The music in this game is unbelievably top tier!
i play ever since 1.0 and to this day, final steps of faith is my absolute favorite trial. the feels were so real in that one. and yeah shadowbringers was insane. i don't even want it to end. but knowing what's ahead, there'll be feels thrown left and right and overwhelm us for the grand finale of the hydaelyn-zodiark story ark. i can't wait and i'm glad you'll be there and join us for the incredible ride! ♥
the problem with ARR isn't the story. it is much needed world building, setting the stage for the entire, neverending tale. the problem lies with us. with this faster faster now now quick mentality. if you stop, relax and run with it, letting yourself get sucked into that world, it is just great.
we do, however, need most of the duration of ARR just to adapt to this very different approach because we're so used to skip through everything in mmos because it's usually not worth it to pay attention to some half assed story that merely serves as a vehicle that throws you into the next fight.
As someone who isnt into MMO, shadowbringers's trailer made me interested in the game, and i appreciate focusing on the story to move forwards so that i can continue playing in another date without worrying about people playing the latest event or update, now im hoping that more games being based on genshin impact.