So, here we are at the end of the Endwalker patch cycle for Final Fantasy XIV. That isn’t entirely true, of course; we all know that we’re getting a few more updates moving forward, what with the second half of the patch and all that. But we also already know that that is going to be entirely based around the lead-in to Dawntrail and so forth. This was the patch that polished off the big stories, and it must needs be evaluated as such.[AL:XIV]
Not that we’re going to be talking about any of that this week because – as is tradition – this week we’re just talking about content free of any spoilers. That means the new alliance raid, the new dungeon, our first new trial, and so forth. So looking past any and all elements that are linked to the story, from a purely mechanical fashion, how does this content feel? Especially when we’re supposed to be running it for the next 260 days or so?
Lunar Subteranne: A last reference grab-bag
All right, Final Fantasy IV fans, this dungeon is all of the remaining possible references you could ask for. Every single one. It’s actually kind of egregious because the Lunar Subterrane and Baron are actually dungeons (at least in part), but neither of them contains the actual bosses we fight here; the Dark Elf was over in Troia and the Antlion is near Damcyan. This dungeon is 100% a case of fitting in the last couple of memorable bosses from FFIV that didn’t fit anywhere else. (Aside from Asura. Please look forward to it.)
That in and of itself doesn’t make it a good dungeon. Perhaps not shockingly, this is actually a good dungeon; somewhat more surprising, however, is that it’s a remarkably unforgiving dungeon. I realize that it’s not exactly unexpected to see people fall prey to mechanics in a new dungeon on the week of its release, but I found it far more common for people in my groups to not only get hit but die pretty dang quickly. That hasn’t been the case in any dungeon for a while except for the occasional Doom mechanic, and here it’s usually flat-out damage.
It’s kind of interesting to me how the dungeon does play around with familiar mechanics a fair bit. The Dark Elf makes you play a game of memory with AoEs that isn’t all that common but I like it. The Antlion’s charge mechanics are familiar by now, but the smaller arena size means they’re harder to dodge than normal. And the last boss has some staggered dodges and timing that isn’t uncomfortable but is not what has been standard for a long while. All of it feels novel enough that the dungeon feels fresh and invigorating.
This is all welcome since it’ll be in the Expert rotation for a long while. And traditionally, this is also where the developers play around with new ideas for the next expansion’s dungeons. We’re definitely in a place where it’s hard to come up with totally new mechanics that are still fair, but it’s nice to see that after a decade the team is still trying.
Thaleia: A bit easy, a lot appreciated
In contrast to the dungeon, Thaleia feels oddly easy. It’s not as if you can’t die in the raid, of course; that’s not up for debate. But I have yet to be in a run that actually wipes on any of the bosses, and I’m fairly confident that if you have a solid core group that understands mechanics, you won’t actually get wiped out at any time. It’ll certainly take longer, but unlike the last raid of the NieR series, this one seems to generally be kinder.
Some of that is probably because you don’t have famous game design sadist Yoko Taro calling any of the shots (and to be clear, none of my gripes with Taro come from the design of that raid… more so the narrative), but some of it is also just that the telegraphs feel less punishing. There’s space to maneuver and make it through. I struggle to totally explain Thaliak’s triangle attacks, but they make sense. I might get tripped up by some of Llymlaen’s attacks with her pets, but that’s just muscle memory, and they’re not lethal.
More importantly, the raid stays creative throughout. The triangle attack sequence is memorable and fun, Llymlaen’s blasting of the arena into a new corridor, Oschon’s telegraphs and sequences… they’re all clear, but they’re also all fresh alongside more familiar attacks. And the last boss definitely succeeds in feeling like a culmination in a way that can be really tricky for these raids.
As a whole, I’m fond of how the mechanics have pulled together for the first non-crossover alliance raid since Heavensward, which feels weird to say but is undeniably true. If you totally ignore any and all narrative elements, the gameplay is an unqualified success front to back. And while it might not be as engaging, I’m kind of glad that we finally have an alliance raid where each trash sequence just feels like trash with some mechanics instead of a boss fight without loot. It’s a warmup, darn it.
Into the abyss
I’ve noted a couple times that Zeromus is only our first trial, and there’s a reason for that; the trailer clearly shows the Asura fight, and it was on display at Las Vegas, but it’s nowhere to be found here. That is probably the last FFIV reference we could get, and so I think it’s pretty well a lock that we’re getting a surprise additional trial before Dawntrail arrives. But for now, it’s just us against Zeromus, and Zeromus was always going to be hard to realize in 3-D because that design is a pile of monster bits mashed together. He’s not a great character or design.
So it’s probably for the best that in FFXIV, Zeromus is more of a she and also closer to a design based on her core. And it’s also a pretty dang good fight, easily on par with some of the better trials that we’ve had over the course of these patches.
Part of me is still a bit sad that all four Fiends didn’t get a trial, but the ones we did get felt inventive, neat, and original. And Zeromus keeps up that pace by also feeling fresh, willing to lay out some pretty extreme damage but also not trying to just be a mountain of damage and precise mechanics. The Extreme version is a little more difficult, as suits the very nature of it, but both of them are solid content that stays engaging and interesting all the way through.
Now, I wonder how this will fit into the fight against Asura… but that’s for another week.
Feedback, as always, is welcome in the comments down below or via mail to eliot@massivelyop.com. Next week, also as is customary, I will be walking through the story beats from the patch. Did the conclusions land? Did the stories work? Was this a worthwhile experience? You’ll have to come back next week; I ain’t spoiling it now.
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.
