In Defense of Final Fantasy XIV

In this video Genjigear defends Final Fantasy 14 from it's biggest critique, Genjigear himself. Instead of complaining about the same old things in this video Genji decides to flip the script and only talk about the good things in Final Fantasy 14.
I wanted to make this video to balance out my thoughts and show that I do see and understand the good that people see in this game. Just because I critique the game does not mean I hate it, and just because I praise it, does not mean I love it. Like most things in life, it's complicated, and this video continues to add to that narrative.
Limited time Discord Link: / discord
Twitch Link: / genjigearlive

[@KalarMeadia]

This is from the perspective of Stormblood, so there are things you'll see addressed and possibly new problems showing in Shadowbringers and Endwalker - but you'll enjoy it regardless! Have fun! Everyone gets to experience this in its own way.

[@genjigearlive]

Yup, all my videos are from limited knowledge on the game as to show my progression of feelings and thoughts throughout playing it.

[@michaelkpate]

It took me a little time to get into the flow of the story. My breakthrough moment was traveling to the Hinterlands with Alphinaud, Estinien, and Ysale. Traveling to a new zone with a party of NPCs felt so different from anything I had ever done in WoW. And then again going to Kugane and Doma. I look forward to your thoughts when you get caught up with the rest of us.

[@genjigearlive]

Yes totally agree! That was one of the best moments, after playing more WOW I am definitely appreciating this game more. (Even though I’m loving WOW too)

[@Rhob81]

To be fair, there's MSQ parts which can feel dull. Specially in ARR and early SB as there's lots of worldbuilding, and it's a very needed worldbuilding when you get to play the later expansions. Once you get the flow of it and let yourself immerse into the side content (housing, Saucer, maps, venues, deep dungeons...) to break from the MSQ, it's a bliss of a game. It doesn't push you to do something you don't enjoy, it just offers plenty stuff to do for you to decide which one to do a certain given day.

[@miqotesoulia8620]

well said, I cant echo enough about the slow pace at the start. Its VERY crucial for the setup.Early SB you see how bad the people have it under garlean rule

[@Eredom]

I think in this style of game and story its very hard to kill main characters. They appear in side quests etc, so you could get into a situation where... lets say Yshtola is dead but she still appears in dozens of side quests so it would be jaring and immersion breaking to see that. Its difficult to kill main characters in an MMO like this...

[@astralbuddha]

They could offset this by using New Game+ to access those side quests involving said dead MCs.

[@drarko91]

They manage the concept of "time bubble". That is all content related to each expansions always happen during the timeline of that expansion, no matter if you do it three expansions after

[@neh1234]

Well, technically it's a RPG. In your averge JRPG, the deaths tend to be in the first part. And it kinda already happened with Ysayle, Haurchefant and Papalymo. Characters that manage to survive the "Aerith filter" are pretty much immortal until the end credits.

[@gryphoncompanion]

I am happy someone out there has a different perspective. Even if/when I may have gotten angry at your opinions, I won't leave because those opinions are yours. It isn't the end all be all of anything. I am happy I am subscribed to you. I haven't popped in on your streams in awhile, but that's ok. I will soon enough :)

[@DoktorWieg]

Nothing wrong with critiquing the game; no game is perfect. I take the low points in stride because the high points make up for them and keeps me coming back, personally. And really, as long as the good stuff makes the bad tolerable, I'll be willing to play and sub to it. :D

[@genjigearlive]

Well said

[@ketthefox]

I was watching your stream from last night and one thing came in my mind. Have you tried to play with all players names hidden? In my opinion it makes game more immersive. I set up my hudd in way that I see players names only when I click them. It makes game so much prettier!

[@thed4rknss673]

Everyones that loves Heavensward have a hard time in Stormblood, is such a downstep, but i can see why, you just finished a plot that don't leave much to do with it, and sudden you have to go to new places that are not related at all, at leats is what i felt, but i loved Shadowbringers and Endwalker, and here i am, one year later, still playing :)

[@genjigearlive]

Yeah I did a whole video on why I think people don’t enjoy Stormblood as much, it’s definitely a downgrade in my opinion.

[@sinom]

did you change something about your mic in this video? the audio felt a kinda off

[@genjigearlive]

Good catch, I used the Adobe AI audio enhancer to edit this one. I like trying out new tools, this one isn’t perfect but it takes room echo away completely which is nice, not sure if I’ll use it again in the future, thanks for the feedback!

[@kimaclaret]

No need to defend the game, or yourself, for me. We all have things we like and dislike, and they are often different. My only wish is for you to finish the arc and then tell us what you think overall, however long it takes (so many things to play rn, oof!), whether it be streamed or not.

[@genjigearlive]

Of course, I will make probably a dozen videos once I finish everything.

[@Ventus777777]

The world building example felt like a concession for when you said people use world building as an excuse😂 Great video!

[@genjigearlive]

Well, this whole video was a concession lol. I don’t always love that the world building is drawn out as much as it is but I can’t deny the fact that the game has it, I personally feel like it’s a little too much sometimes and people hide behind it for some arguments about pacing, but this video was about the positives! Thanks for watching!

[@marcvongeldern847]

To add to the world building argument, I think that if you’re not super into world building it can definitely drag. World building enthusiasts will enjoy the crap out of it, but for most people, the world building isn’t as obvious, but later you’ll be doing something and you’ll realize it’s building on something from before and you’ll have a “Hey, that’s cool!” moment. Obviously this is more rewarding for the enthusiasts who saw that a couple times then start hinging on every little detail from every NPC, because the writers in this game don’t forget much and they reward diligence. So I think that makes a lot of the community seem pushy on this subject, which is kind of a shame.

[@genjigearlive]

I don’t think one is simply into or not into world building. I think a game must earn your interest and your buy in by giving you pay offs from that world building. I had an experience with the Witcher 3 were I didn’t really pay attention to the first 10 hours of the game but then replayed it multiple times after the game had my buy in. It seems like the “payoff” for FFXIV’s world building that have people giving their buy in for the game takes place very late in the games story, I.e. shadowbringers and beyond. That’s not to say their aren’t smaller payoffs throughout the whole thing, there are, but they honestly haven’t been enough to give me buy in, and haven’t made me want to replay or re experience anything, but we’ll see. I haven’t beat the game, but regardless, I do think their are flaws with it, but again, this is supposed to be a positive video. Let’s save those critiques for another time because despite my lack of buy in, I can acknowledge that the game does have depth and some people will really enjoy it. I think is where preferences can come into play, and I’ve learned a lot more about mine through playing this game.

[@marcvongeldern847]

@@genjigearlive Completely fair take. You’re right. Most of the payoff comes in ShB and onward. But what a payoff it is, especially for the diligent. I’m absolutely never going to try to puff the story before ShB up. There’s some really good high points, though most of them may be higher in my estimation as a result of hindsight after ShB/EW revelations. Hard to tell for me because I’m past that filter. Lol

[@ketthefox]

Still here! I love to hear different perspective. Theres been times when I don't agree with you, but that's life. You like bacon jalapeno bread and I like ciabatta. I don't like at all streamers who are hyped 24/7 and all games they play are wonderful from start to finish. How I can know when they speak truth and when not? Also too much negativite is consuming. I believe there is happy middle road where you can critize game and not being crusified for it. Keep up with the content! I hope you have good time with Starfield! I'm playing it after I finish Sea of Stars because I wanted ciabatta first and I'm going to try bacon bread after that.

[@genjigearlive]

Thanks for sticking around!

[@grygaming5519]

The way I looked at your negative nitpicks is pretty much in a simple phrase: You are looking at it from someone whose walking into a house that was renovated 3 times and complaining about the crown molding being a quarter inch too high. Is there serious issues with XIV...yes from its onboarding choices to story meandering in ARR and first half of Stormblood. To the technical side of some classes going from super complex during Heavensward to being flat out dumbed down in Endwalker. You wont find a lot of people complaining about those issues. Questing well lets look at the culture around those quests... ARR came out right around Mists of Pandera was current. So a lot of the MMO ques for ARR and Heavensward were just ideas taken from WoW and adjusted for Final Fantasy. The same goes for the Raid design and Dungeon design. It wasnt until Stormblood that the development team felt comfortable enough to walk on its own and I'll stand by that questing, dungeons and raiding from Stomblood onward are good if not just up there in great level. The fetch quests after Heavensward feel more like inside jokes about MMOs in general. The community....how to say it...there's always toxic side of community it just so happens that 14 kind of does an ok enough job of mitigation...although there's some blowouts here and there. Now....onto the story or as with your case...not using death. I'd like to counter argue that Death in modern western writing has been overdone to the point that its become cheap. Writers use it to create a shock value but it always comes flat...GoT is by far the biggest if not worst offender in this case *cough* red wedding *cough* completely different from what was in the book....the writers used death to a massive amount of shock value that it pretty much made me numb to character deaths. The same goes for Star Trek Picard seasons 1 and 2....deaths in those of liked characters were cheap. Season 3 did death correctly as well fixed a lot of the story issues season 1 and 2 had. So its hard for me to argue for more death when death has become relatively a cheap tool and often used by bad writers. The skill of a writer to me is not only how they use death but how they can fake death. I mean case in point, you dont just kill Han Solo and Luke Skywalker then expect the fanbase to continue to buy Starwars merch. The same goes for 14, you don't just go and flat out kill Y'shtola and not expect a revolt.

[@genjigearlive]

This video was about the positive things in FFXIV, I didn’t criticize it.

[@grygaming5519]

@@genjigearlive Actually let me add this here as an addendum. I think you hit all the major positive points. I also didnt fully finish my train of thought as I was sort of behind but I'll own up to the issue that I didnt write out exactly what I wanted to go forward. Your positives are true to everything, there's a lot more good in 14 that wholesale out weigh the negatives that 14 may have. No game is overall perfect and what may be liked by a majority can be a negative to a minority (and vice versa). So when I wrote that, I was sort of summarizing the past few negative nitpicks you've had as the minority issues that 14 have...sort of stick out like sore thumbs. Its like a garden with beautiful roses but if its not culled for weeds, eventually you'll pay attention to the weeds more than the roses. I'll add a few things to your positives. The ability to open all the jobs and professions on one character saves the player time from constantly having to go through the story multiple times to level up alt professions. The gearing system makes it so that even if you take a break at 5.0 your gear will still be viable at 5.1. Crafted gear is viable upon the introduction of the gear for a bit while. The gameplay loops do not overstay their welcome and are accessible. You're not dumping hundreds of hours to gain an additional 3AP. All the classes are viable at high end, even with the lack of customzation, i.e false customization because lets be honest everyone is going to follow the META. The people who decry the lack of customization are those who make their YT career putting out content META build videos. So I apologize if I left my message unfished.

[@genjigearlive]

After playing WOW I am seeing how these choices the developers made appeal to people who had to deal with a game that demanded a lot more from you. To be fair, I am finding the demanding nature of WOW very enjoyable, but that’s because I’ve played for 2 weeks, but 2 years? 12 years? I can see the appeal of FFXIV to many who still want an MMO but don’t want their life taken over.

[@heylookitsnana]

I always thought many of your criticisms were on point.

[@genjigearlive]

Thanks!

[@OmegaEnvych]

Great video. I do agree that FFXIV is not infallable masterpiece without issues. Hell, even Baldur's Gate 3 sometimes is buggy mess. Question is - is it fun? And Natsuko Ishikawa said that she doesn't like to kill characters she likes and when she does so, it should be after fitting sendoff.

[@ImPersonNation]

Didn't Ishikawa only come in as the main lead for Shadowbringers and Endwalker? (Genji's still in post StB)

[@Onyx_Dragon]

@@ImPersonNation As lead yes, but she had been on the writing team since at least HW since she wrote the DRK story and then later the Doma part of StB-- which is what got her the lead position if I remember correctly. I heard a rumor that the previous head of story was pretty kill-happy with characters and really wanted to off a lot of characters soon after introducing them, which prompted the hard turn to avoiding character death. However, I'm not sure how true that is.

[@NibelungJ]

​@@Onyx_DragonEven earlier. She wrote the ARR alchemist and Rogue job quests too, as well as the Crystal Tower series. Her big debut was writing the Azim Steppes storyline in Stormblood, before being promoted to lead writer in Shadowbringers.

[@BongSwansong]

Please continue so longs as you are enjoying your time with xiv and I think we should be far more willing to embrace criticism. Xiv isnt perfect never will be but solid criticism and the devs/community willingness to find meaning and accept them will land us a bit closer.

[@genjigearlive]

Thanks for watching!

[@burtwonk]

You’re doing great. It is a great game, and in some ways a VERY flawed masterpiece. I love it deeply and I want it to continue to improve. But your criticism has been fair and thoughtful.

[@genjigearlive]

Thank you!

[@VampireNoblesse]

imo reach endgame (raiding, housing, etc.), than pull a conclusion ... or atleast see the Shadowbringers climax

[@genjigearlive]

The point of my videos and channel is to talk about my thoughts throughout my time playing games, I will share my conclusions when I get there but there is nothing wrong with sharing thoughts throughout a process and documenting how your thoughts and opinions change throughout. A lot of things get left out if all you do is make a 8 minute review of a game you played for 700 hours.

[@elgatochurro]

You know you can just take a break