Trying to remember exactly what was patched in this year, for me, is an exercise in frustration; we had three major patches, and objectively a lot got added for each one, but it’s harder for each individual part to stand out from the crowd. But that’s also a very good thing, because it means that the game spent the year doing exactly what it’s supposed to be doing by providing steady, quality content to entertain players. So let’s take a look back over the year, the good, the bad, and the just-sort-of-there.
At the end of 2015, I noted that FFXIV was ending the year as the same basic game it was in 2014, and that’s really true in 2016 as well. There are tweaks, refinements, improvements, more content options, and so forth, but by this point it’s safe to say that if you don’t like the game, you don’t like the game. It’s not going to turn into something different. If you lament that you’d like the game more if it had active combat instead of its current system, that’s just not going to happen. Hate dungeons and want the rewards to come from just from high-end progression like Alexander? Yep, not happening.
This is a good thing, because it means that the stuff you like about the game is unlikely to suddenly and unexpectedly change into a new direction. It’s a bad thing, too, because it means that the game’s goal has to be to stay interesting while also staying basically the same. You can be sure that Stormblood is going to face a similar problem, but it will also have new jobs, new abilities, and new areas to freshen things up. This past year had only one tool in its toolbox, and that was making use of the existing areas and storylines.
What has worked well, overall, is that past 3.1 we’ve gotten a lot of really good content. Alexander’s second and third branches were far more interesting than the first one, and Weeping City of Mhach is far more mechanically interesting than its predecessor. Most of the dungeons have had more going on, as well, although Hullbreaker (Hard) was more or less an exercise in not caring about mechanics.
We also got some stuff that is indisputably new. The Diadem kind of didn’t work as intended at all, and that capped off 2015; by contrast, the Deep Dungeon works marvelously and is one of my favorite things in the game. Aquapolis is not, but the people who do like it are over the moon about it, and that’s also great. The stuff that was working before continues to work now.
But in large part, the year lacks something to tie it all together. There’s no lynchpin like an expansion, just a steady stream of good content and the things that have worked in the past.
In part, this puts end-of-year awards and people such as myself in a weird position. The most accurate summary of the past year being “it’s doing what it does well” sounds dismissive when it really isn’t; this is still one of the best MMOs on the market today, and the fact that it’s so consistent at turning out quality is a positive mark. Yet it also means there’s nothing huge to point to as a turning point. “Consistently solid and good” is hard to keep talking about, because it’s consistent.
This is, I think, one of the reason why I and several of the people I talk with about the game were disappointed by this year’s fan festival in Las Vegas. It’s not that the convention was bad, it’s that on some level it’s difficult to get excited by consistency. The endgame worked and continues to work, and that’s awesome, but without having anything to hang excitement on – like details about new jobs or what new abilities are coming or the like – it all becomes a vague, amorphous blob. I’m sure I’ll like it, but it doesn’t excite me right now.
Yet when you look at other MMOs, that degree of consistency and functionality is the exception rather than the rule. Most games are constantly making huge, sweeping revisions that chance the very face of the game, and that’s often a good thing, but it means that the game you’re playing on Tuesday might have no resemblance to the game you’re playing on Monday. Complaining about reliable goodness requires a fairly lofty perch.
As such, at the end of the day, the game is very good and very well-managed, but it’s still basically the same game it’s always been, and it’s been covering the same lands just long enough that we’re all a bit eager to move on. Which means it’s probably just the right time for exactly that.
High points? We had some pretty good ones, yes, even if none of them quite serve as tentpoles. Wrapping up the story of Ishgard for the moment in 3.3 was a good move, one that allows us to move forward and feel like things are conclusively done while still leaving space for later developments. I’ve already mentioned my love of the Palace of the Dead. We’ve seen some really creative and fun boss battles – Ozma, Alexander, Nidhogg, Ymir, and Brute Justice spring to mind – that force players to adapt and play in different ways. All good things.
Low points were there, too. The Warriors of Darkness were kind of shuffled off and then dealt with almost as a footnote, making that subplot feel like something of a wasted opportunity. For all the talk about the Warring Triad, they’ve never really occupied more than a peripheral space in the game, which again feels like a missed chance. Attempts to make the Diadem into the open-world gather-and-fight experience it could have been pretty well petered out and stopped.
But overall, it’s been solid, and so I can’t complain too much. A little bit, yes, but not too much. I’m just looking forward to the last fan festival and 2017 having much more to be specifically excited about, enough to break out of the rut wherein the game is quietly, solidly competent. Sure, that’s a good thing, but excitement is a good thing too.
Feedback, like always, is welcome in the comments below or via mail to eliot@massivelyop.com. Next time around, I want to toss around some predictions for 2017, since that’ll be my last chance to do so before we learn more about Stormblood and my ability to speculate is forever tainted by actual facts. Or just because it’s a nice way to wrap things up in December, either one.
The Nymian civilization hosted an immense amount of knowledge and learning, but so much of it has been lost to the people of Eorzea. That doesn’t stop Eliot Lefebvre from scrutinizing Final Fantasy XIV each week in Wisdom of Nym, hosting guides, discussion, and opinions without so much as a trace of rancor.
