I can’t speak for my fellow writer Justin (he apparently doesn’t want to install the mind-probe that would make this really easy to find out), but for me, at least, Perfect Ten is sort of like three columns at once. One type is where I make a weird point or a joke through an ordered list, another is where I find several entries that can be pulled together as not-quite-a-dozen strange trivia points, and the third column is just when I think of something that totally fits into a list format and has about 10 items so it works. And you can guess which one this is!
Now, to start with, I think it’s important to note that Final Fantasy XIV arguably has more than 10 cities I could rank here. So I have constrained myself to the capital cities of each expansion and the two “secondary” capitals that are indisputably cities. Solution Nine is a sub-section of what’s implied to be a larger city, so it isn’t in here. Does that sound arbitrary? It is. It is entirely arbitrary, that gives me 10 items to work with. On to the list!
10. Eulmore
We’re starting from the bottom, and the thing is that while Eulmore has a bold concept of an entirely vertical city, it really doesn’t work. I like the slums on the outside, but the core problem is that you never have any reason to visit them outside of a handful of quests. Every single aethernet node is actually located in places you’ll never need, but the top floor – that is, the only place you’ll really want to be – is just spread out enough to be annoying. It doesn’t even feel all that indulgent, since the majority by volume is slums and jail cells! It feels weird to say it, but the decorations we got at the Shadowbringers media tour did a better job of selling Eulmore’s atmosphere than Eulmore itself does. I don’t miss it.
9. Gridania
All three of the original cities from the game’s launch received gentle revisions when the game relaunched, but the odd thing is that Gridania is the odd case where every change is for the worse. Gone is the expansive theater in favor of a smaller, more central (but less charming) area. Every single aethernet node seems to be placed not quite where you want it (what the heck is with the placement of the Botanist’s Guild locale), and worse yet, the things that weren’t changed were things that actually should have been. There’s still that little entry area to the Lily Hills district which is never getting used, ever. Why? Combine that with all the Gridanian plot threads that just got dropped and never picked up, and it looks as if this whole city got forgotten.
8. Kugane
The strange thing about Kugane, at least to me, is that on paper it’s not laid out all that badly. It just feels oddly detached in its layout. Maybe some of this is because Kugane so consistently wasn’t the place you spent most of Stormblood hanging out in, or maybe it’s because the city just has a rather utilitarian design. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t really stick to the ribs. Nice housing district, though.
7. Ul’dah
So I definitely think Ul’dah did actually get improved a bit with the relaunch, although I miss being able to enter both of the major churches in the city. But it also lost a chunk of its character with the relaunch. Case in point: The Miner’s guild has gone from being what amounted to a dive bar with (literally) blackjack and hookers to being just… a place with a bunch of people who dig up rocks. It makes sense, but it’s just not quite as fun. Add to that some occasionally weird aethernet placement, and…
6. Crystarium
The old joke is that a camel is a horse designed by committee. By that logic, the Crystarium is a camel. I like all of the parts of this city, there are some cute areas, and I even like the music. But it somehow feels less than the sum of its parts. It has mostly good aethernet placement, albeit there at least a couple that weren’t well considered. It’s just not quite where it should be. (Of course, I think the ramshackle nature of the zone is kind of matched by the narrative backstory of how the Crystarium came to exist, but even so.)
5. Sharlayan
So Sharlayan is a pretty good city in terms of layout, design, space, all of that. Its biggest weaknesses are twofold. First, the music is kind of weak, which is worth noting. Second of all, while it has everything it needs, it gives the impression it was laid out to encourage wide empty spots. Even when it was ostensibly a hub, there wasn’t much reason to hang out there, and the way things are grouped, you would rarely see other players roaming around. It fits with what we know about the city, but it could be a little bit better.
4. Ishgard
All right, I freely admit that there is always going to be a level of nostalgia in me for Ishgard. The first moments of walking into this city, the first new city that the developers had made? It was magical. Not just that, but the distinct feel of the architecture, the music, the environment, and everything around it made it absolutely mesmerizing. I love Ishgard. So why isn’t it ranked higher? Well… two reasons. The first is that Ishgard has a weird problem with zone exits; you can zap out to only the Central Highlands, not the Western Highlands or the Sea of Clouds, despite both being very explicitly connected to the city. The other is just the fact that for all the city is great, it seems a bit overly large in areas. It’s clear why they developers scaled back to having cities in a single map after this. I love Ishgard, but I do recognize its flaws.
3. Limsa Lominsa
Very little of what was changed here made the city any worse, very little was removed, and while I’ve gone on the record many a time citing the weirdness of constantly reminding us about the Musketeers we can’t play, there’s very little to critique about the city itself. There are a couple of weird navigational points, and the Aftcastle aethernet winds up being the most useful by a large margin, but it’s a really good city. There’s a reason why it tends to be so populated now that Ul’dah’s centrality is no longer as big a deal.
2. Tuliyollal
When I first saw this city during the media tour, I fell in love, and time has not dulled that. Tuliyollal is a great city across the board. It has amazing architecture and design, it’s incredibly clean to navigate, it has tons of character, and the most populated areas are well-designed to push players closer together. (That’s kind of important in making the city feel more crowded.) It even lets you quickly zap to most of the zones in the expansion, which is nice. The biggest critique I have is just that the residential area of the city can be kind of annoying to navigate, with lots of weird layers and odd cul-de-sacs.
But of course, it’s not quite the best we’ve gotten.
1. Radz-at-Han
You would think I’d be sick of Radz-at-Han after being sent back there for the vast majority of the post-Endwalker MSQ, but no, I still love it. I love the aethernet layout, the vibrancy of the city, the big and small areas, the whole thing. It feels lived-in and real, and best of all, its soundtrack is an absolute bop. I will never be tired of hopping back to Radz-at-Han, whether to grab some old gear or just to admire the sights one more time.
Everyone likes a good list, and we are no different! Perfect Ten takes an MMO topic and divvies it up into 10 delicious, entertaining, and often informative segments for your snacking pleasure. Got a good idea for a list? Email us at justin@massivelyop.com or eliot@massivelyop.com with the subject line “Perfect Ten.”
