this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2026
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I heard 15 sucks

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[–] abc@hexbear.net 6 points 1 week ago (5 children)

In my opinion?

10 is the best because it was the first one I remember buying for myself at Gamestop circa like 2004 & it really solidified my love for JRPGs (although it was not the first I ever played) because it was arguably the first 3D jrpg I played - I'm not counting Kingdom Hearts. Cast is great in both versions (even if the english dub is memed), story is great & doesn't ever really drag, gameplay is great and has all the hallmarks of a good FF game (lots of side-quests/interesting enemies/good minigames/etc)

14 is the worst because, while parts of it are literal diamonds in the rough (Base Heavensward is genuinely the best expansion imo, way before the WoL gets so overpowered they're basically a god, the Scions aren't completely annoying, and it is the introduction of the two best characters in the series - a serious story about how holding onto anger and violence over the past can ultimately lead to destruction unless you channel that rage into making it so no one has to experience what you did. Ysayle and Estenien spend the entire base expansion struggling with this & reach the conclusion that "maybe I'm doing this wrong" in separate but important ways. I'm still mad about Ysayle's ending but I've given up on FFXIV ever having like, a really well written female primary character. Alisaie & Krile lovers don't comment on this, I don't hate either but....Y'shtola fans please do some soul searching...) the rest is just dennis-stare Yes I probably will re-sub for Evercold & weep and moan the entire time because I dropped it in 7.1 and have to get through the rest of whatever Dawntrail is about.

I guess my real gripe with 14 really is that it is more of a MMO than FF11 was in a way. People love to say "14 respects your time!" and sure, it does in the sense that you won't ever really 'miss' anything if you choose to take a significant break, but this design perspective caters to the super casual who are less interested in actually playing the game itself & more interested in roleplaying/treating the game like a FF version of Second Life. I've played (on and off) since Stormblood and have never been an ultimate raider or anything, but I got really frustrated in Dawntrail (after coming back specifically for Endwalker after taking a break post-Shadowbringers) because it seems like they've spent the last 2 expansions just 'streamlining' things for the sake of making sure the base game/fights have no actual challenge to them & so people don't actually have to learn how to play a class. Healers still using Cure 1 40 levels after they unlocked Cure 2, Ninjas using their AOE on single mobs, tanks pulling 2 enemies at one time in a dungeon instead of the entire group because they don't know they're supposed to be using their damage mitigation skills. All fine in like, the base difficulties but god forbid you try to tell a healer "hey you should use Cure 2" in an Level 90 Extreme Trial because they'll hit you with the 'you don't pay my sub'. I hate that bald streamer fuck but he really did hit the nail on the head when he made that clip talking about how FFXIV's combat/difficulty is really just "can you avoid the bright orange circles that appear on the screen??"

Also the gooners of FFXIV really put me off because I could not escape them. I like playing dwarves/gnomes/etc in MMOs. Small characters are funny to me. So my sole FFXIV character for over a decade has been a lalafell. I knew going into the game that they were seen as children by the playerbase at large, so I tried my hardest to make him look like an old man and even gave him an old man name. My mistake because it resulted in constant PMs from weirdos like "so adorable!! you should come to this house plot and join our stripclub!!" - no, I'm not interested in roleplaying as a stripper in a child-sized body I know what you're looking for!!!

All in all, makes me sad because I did meet a ton of nice people on FFXIV who were just casuals; I don't mind that! 95% of the FC I was in were players who would be online for 8 hours daily just sitting in a public area with their in-game boyfriend/girlfriend whispering to eachother - whatever floats your boat I guess! But inevitably this always leads to drama. I remember getting so frustrated because I really wanted to do The Epic of Alexander ultimate and the FC had enough people who'd done it successfully that I spent like 2 weeks trying to plan a group around it; I remember logging in day of and having the FC leader tell me "Can we reschedule?? There's a club party going on that I really want to go to & I already told everyone else that we'd reschedule" -- mind you a 'club party' is a bunch of people just doing /beesknees in a housing instance and maybe roleplaying or, more likely, ERPing. I got so mad because when I said "can't you do that after? It shouldn't take us more than like an hour or two to clear the raid since there's only 2 people who haven't done it" they just hit me with a "um..no; you can use party finder though if you want :D" dennis-stare

[–] abc@hexbear.net 7 points 1 week ago (2 children)

runner up for worst game is 16 if we're talking purely single-player. Story was alright (if you ignore the whole Ultima plot...would have been a 10/10 story if it'd just stuck to the whole war of Valisthea with the eikons and mothercrystals & the way bearers were treated), gameplay was shit and felt like all the worst parts of 14 melded into a single player experience. SOMEONE FIRE NAOKI YOSHIDA FROM CBU3 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE.

[–] Commie_Chameleon@hexbear.net 4 points 1 week ago

I nearly died in my chair playing 16 when I went to go turn in a fetch quest and the button prompts to hand over items were the EXACT SAME as they are in 14. YoshiP why are you like this

[–] Athena5898@hexbear.net 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I love how you hate some of my favorite Final Fantasies

Me saying " people are allowed to dislike the things I love" like a mantra while I cry. cri

But in seriousness I don't like being called out lol. Me and my wife have a blog where we put up our character stories that we write and she is very good at the modding pictures. Honestly surprised she hasn't forced herself to learn blender yet.

As far as the house parties stuff. Yeah I avoid that stuff though to my understanding most venues are very strickly no Lala for that shit or they kick you. So its always pretty big red flag if they do that shit. Run to the fucking hills.

On the positive side, there is some awesome RP venues. Like Someone made their house a restaurant where they basically do RP cooking stuff for themselves while you engage with whatever scene you are doing. Then there are the Museums. Like holy shit. We went to a FC who's entire thing was being a Muesem. Every room in the house was a region dedicated to fishing and I think they were working on something for plants?

I can't speak to the raiding cause I haven't tried to be any type of serious since SB. Mostly because I raided in WoW from like Wrath, to first bit of Legion. And you want to talk about dude bro gamer culture. I've been burned out for years.

I did farm for the birds before SB came out and holy shit got to 95 totems for Equilibrium asshole. Voice lines are in my head as much as any wow fucker.

"Prepare yourself the bells have tolled. Shelter your weak, your young and your old. Each of you shall pay the final sum. CRY for mercy! The reckoning has come! MUHHAHAHA!" if I forget this, probably time to take me to a home.

As far as 16. I actually enjoyed the campness of the ff14 stuff. (Shocking I know). But I found myself enjoying the combat. Though it did get repetitive at times. My biggest issue is the lack of world map. Like give me a fucking world to EXPLORE dammit! And I still would prefer it to be turn based. I miss my then base final fantasy. Now I got to go elsewhere for people to do neat stuff with it like expedition 33.

I also enjoyed the story despite some of it's weak points because I was glad to see it return to form with a focus on hope in the face of adversary and "no gods, no master" which was pointed out to me is the actual thing that ties Final Fantasy together.

However big caveot is that I pirated it. So that probably helps me a LOT for my opinion. I try to give big corporations as little of my money anymore. And a interesting side effect means I enjoy the games more.

Still not touching 15 though. I live in a age where I don't have to walk through cis man mid life crisis stories anymore. And I am going to relish in that. (Someone out there, 15 is very important to them and they are also going to give me the cri

(Disclaimer I legitimately think its fine you like something different and mostly joking on my autistic first gut reactions everything else is me just shooting the shit)

[–] abc@hexbear.net 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Still not touching 15 though. I live in a age where I don't have to walk through cis man mid life crisis stories anymore

boohoo angry-place 15 is NOT A MALE MID-LIFE CRISIS STORY IT'S A STORY ABOUT 4 YOUNG MEN IN A CLOSED POLYCULE, WHO ARE DEEPLY IN LOVE WITH EACHOTHER, GOING ON ONE LAST ROAD TRIP TO GET THEIR GAY OUT BEFORE THEIR ONLY TOP GETS MARRIED.

And yeah, I didn't mean to denigrate the roleplay scene of 14 in general; I know there are cool housing instances and people - my lala is actually named after a politician so historically whenever someone ran up to me trying to roleplay in a non weird way I'd play along for a bit!

Me and my wife have a blog where we put up our character stories that we write and she is very good at the modding pictures.

This is like the ideal kind of roleplay in FF14 to me. Or even people who theme their FC around some sort of joke or style. All great. I was mainly shitting on the players who just mod the everliving fuck out of their characters so they are even more sexualized than they are in the base game (because let's be honest, 4/5 of the playable races are extremely sexualized). At the end of the day, thankfully I don't have to see any of it outside of social media with the nuking of Mare and whatnot - but it just rubs me the wrong way that a large portion of the playerbase is treating the game like it is interactive porn!!!

I miss mount farming old content tbh. I still need to finish the dragons & do the wings but wings are all the Dawntrail trials kitty-birthday-sad

[–] Athena5898@hexbear.net 2 points 1 week ago

Oh yeah I figured you didn't mean all RP. Just figured I'd mentioned some of the cooler ones if you hadn't been lucky to find stuff. It can be Russian Roulette sometimes and some FC peeps I knew had some weird horror stories to the point where I have no idea how they find themselves in those situations sometimes.

It can be hard to find ground RPers at times because of mods and stuff but I run into this problem when I DM too. So figure its more issue of western style protagonist syndrome then anything. Not to mention the ironic pilled individuals.

But you make the most at what you can find.

But yeah I truly didn't take any offense or anything like that. It just struck me as hilarious how your worst is some of my favs like back to back. Its amazing how that works sometimes.

[–] zedcell@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 1 week ago

Hating the egg man is problematic ngl

[–] Horse@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

tanks pulling 2 enemies at one time in a dungeon instead of the entire group because they don’t know they’re supposed to be using their damage mitigation skills.

ahhhh, that takes me back to early heavensward :D

everyone wanted to play the new edgy boi tank class without having the first idea about tanking

the hills were alive with the sound of "WHY AREN'T YOU IN GRIT?!?"

fun times


[–] Commie_Chameleon@hexbear.net 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I really want to like 14 but agree 100% with all your complaints. Really telling that one of the things they’ve worked super hard to add recently is bots to almost all the main dungeons and trials so you don’t have to engage with the player base that will scream the instant you suggest they learn basic mechanics. You’re right, I’m sorry, let’s spend another 20 minutes dying to a single trash mob because reading a tool tip is asking too much.

Also, I don’t play Lalafell but I feel for you, way too many gooners running around making people feel uncomfortable. Could really use a Limsa Volcel Vanguard or something.

Fuck you FFXIV and I’ll be back for Evercold

[–] abc@hexbear.net 4 points 1 week ago

Really telling that one of the things they’ve worked super hard to add recently is bots to almost all the main dungeons and trials so you don’t have to engage with the player base that will scream the instant you suggest they learn basic mechanics.

Don't worry the 1 button combos and perpetual job identity/playstyle simplification will solve everything dean-smile Sorry to anyone who liked Viper on release, or 5.0 Astrologian, or pre-7.0 BLM.

I've never been a 2-minute meta lover; I have always thought it hampers class design/playability. But the fact that the team seemed to say "we need to move away from the 2 minute meta, we can do this by making every job have a 1 button combo and getting rid of any unique-to-a-class playstyle" has frustrated me since they started implementing them. PVP has a 1 button combo? Fine; it's pvp and a large chunk of the playerbase cheats in matches anyways so it doesn't matter beyond doing your dailies and maybe the season rewards for CC if you care about them. Regular content/trials are given very telegraphed AoEs and no longer have penalties for fucking up? Fine - that's been FFXIV's bag since basically Shadowbringers because so many players revile content like Mhach and Orbonne.

But when the last 3 expansions have basically gutted every 'complex' job because the majority of the playerbase can't read skill tooltips & just ignore the job quests that teach you how to use specific skills/play the job in general? Enough. It's crazy to me that like, BLU is a way more rewarding job to play than PLD or AST, if only because BLU requires you to seek out content to learn spells and you can fill your hotbar with a bunch of unique skills that have their own drawbacks/benefits (even if once you unlock Moon Flute/Tingle/JKick you'll probably just use those for most things). And you can't even use BLU in regular content so it's a moot point besides having fun.

Could really use a Limsa Volcel Vanguard or something.

What's crazy is I've always been stationed in Gridania (even if they are the racist elves) specifically because I hate Limsa's idle population, and I still constantly got people running up to me while I was doing GC turn-ins asking me to join their strip club or come erp with them. I don't even hate them though. The "you need to download Mare so my character appears as a big breasted bunny-girl that has an excessive amount of cosmetic surgery on your screen too!!!" gooners were actually my most hated. There was one in my FC for like 3 months, who I finally was like "either he gets kicked or I leave" to the leader after he put a picture of 8 of us, who were doing one of the newest extremes at the time & just hanging out, naked in the discord. He had one of the Dalamud/Mare mods that would just make everyone nude. It was so egregious to me because 3/8 of the people in the party were lalafells and he was always up our asses (metaphorically) even though none of us really were buddies with him & when he posted that image I was like "oh my god he's been fucking gooning to us the entire time because we look like naked children". FC Leader did not understand it at first and I raised so much hell about it that they did finally boot him but that caused him to start stalking us, which is very funny to do in a MMO but made me realize "a lot of FFXIV players are just unhinged/gross and the game itself kinda encourages it with 'fashion' being the end-game and their lax stance on mods/plugins"

shrug-outta-hecks I'll be back for Evercold ofc but it's just one of those things that makes me cringe whenever I'm playing for awhile and long-time players who do participate in the general ERP scene (although all of them are fairly normal when it comes to that stuff and don't prey on lalafells) in my FC/Linkshells are like "where have you been!?!" because at the end of the day, I'm playing FFXIV because I like the final fantasy setting - I'm not playing FFXIV because I think the Miqo'te or Roegadyn are hot.

Makes me miss FFXI because it was never really like that, although I was way younger during its heyday when I played & might have just overlooked that side of the playerbase in favor of wasting my life on Kirin and Tiamat fights.

[–] ashinadash@hexbear.net 3 points 1 week ago

the super casual who are less interested in actually playing the game itself & more interested in roleplaying/treating the game like a FF version of Second Life

mind you a 'club party' is a bunch of people just doing /beesknees in a housing instance and maybe roleplaying or, more likely, ERPing.

I actually didn't know people played XIV for any other reason than this, incredibly funny to me. Your struggle, abc.