PinstripedBarbarian
@pinstriped.bsky.social
a.k.a. Andy
Freelancer/bard/gamer/autistic/coffeeaddict丨He/They丨Cleffa enthusiast
http://ko-fi.com/pinstripedbarbarian
Pathfinder Infinite Master releases: https://www.pathfinderinfinite.com/browse.php?author=Andrew%20D.%20Geels
Freelancer/bard/gamer/autistic/coffeeaddict丨He/They丨Cleffa enthusiast
http://ko-fi.com/pinstripedbarbarian
Pathfinder Infinite Master releases: https://www.pathfinderinfinite.com/browse.php?author=Andrew%20D.%20Geels
Music and fights for DT is a mixed bag of fantastic and mediocre. Arcadion? Great fights, killer songs. XI Alliance? Doesn't do much for me but isn't bad.
November 23, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Music and fights for DT is a mixed bag of fantastic and mediocre. Arcadion? Great fights, killer songs. XI Alliance? Doesn't do much for me but isn't bad.
Dungeon homogeny is the biggest culprit (along with the 2min window but I don't mind that as much personally). Something needs to get shaken up so dungeons aren't just trash-trash-wall, trash-trash-wall, boss, repeat. But that's not a fault of DT so much as a fault of XIV in general.
November 23, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Dungeon homogeny is the biggest culprit (along with the 2min window but I don't mind that as much personally). Something needs to get shaken up so dungeons aren't just trash-trash-wall, trash-trash-wall, boss, repeat. But that's not a fault of DT so much as a fault of XIV in general.
General gameplay is in a weird place where everything has stagnated a bit, but major overhauls are planned for 8.0. I think classes feel fine, getting some new toys without completely changing things up. Occult Crescent had hiccups but is still fun. Pilgrim's Traverse is good. Mooncrafting's good.
November 23, 2025 at 10:19 PM
General gameplay is in a weird place where everything has stagnated a bit, but major overhauls are planned for 8.0. I think classes feel fine, getting some new toys without completely changing things up. Occult Crescent had hiccups but is still fun. Pilgrim's Traverse is good. Mooncrafting's good.
The zones themselves, the fights, the dungeons, all that has been great for the most part. Not as diverse as ShB or EW, but still fun and with fairly unique flavor defining things.
November 23, 2025 at 10:19 PM
The zones themselves, the fights, the dungeons, all that has been great for the most part. Not as diverse as ShB or EW, but still fun and with fairly unique flavor defining things.
And you know what? That was done in a way that felt necessary. You had to do that for Wuk Lamar's quest. If they said "spend half of 7.0 learning the setting's culture and history" people would have rioted. Instead, they gave a reason to do so that made sense. Pacing aside, it was brilliantly done.
November 23, 2025 at 10:19 PM
And you know what? That was done in a way that felt necessary. You had to do that for Wuk Lamar's quest. If they said "spend half of 7.0 learning the setting's culture and history" people would have rioted. Instead, they gave a reason to do so that made sense. Pacing aside, it was brilliantly done.
Helping birdmen farm and rebuild a parade float wasn't exhilarating, but damn if it didn't make me feel like I knew that culture a hell of a lot more than I would have otherwise. Trading with folks and chasing alpacas didn't get my blood pumping, but I understand the people and zone really well now.
November 23, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Helping birdmen farm and rebuild a parade float wasn't exhilarating, but damn if it didn't make me feel like I knew that culture a hell of a lot more than I would have otherwise. Trading with folks and chasing alpacas didn't get my blood pumping, but I understand the people and zone really well now.
And DT did that excellently. Going through the first half of DT didn't feel like you were the big damn hero you were through other msqs, especially compared to ShB and EW, but you got to know the setting. Each step made you intimately aware of the culture and values and problems the people had.
November 23, 2025 at 10:06 PM
And DT did that excellently. Going through the first half of DT didn't feel like you were the big damn hero you were through other msqs, especially compared to ShB and EW, but you got to know the setting. Each step made you intimately aware of the culture and values and problems the people had.
If you look at previous expacs as new chapters to book and DT as its own new novel, or previous expacs as a book series with DT as the first book in a sequel series, it makes sense how much exposition and world building there was in place of raw, adventuring content. We need new stuff to build on.
November 23, 2025 at 10:06 PM
If you look at previous expacs as new chapters to book and DT as its own new novel, or previous expacs as a book series with DT as the first book in a sequel series, it makes sense how much exposition and world building there was in place of raw, adventuring content. We need new stuff to build on.
And it does have its flaws. I've gone on at length about how choppy the msq felt and how some things felt like expository rambling while others were off-screen hand waves and WHY was King Dad there and go "BUT THAT'S A STORY FOR ANOTHER TIME" out of nowhere. Pacing was... bad. But the story wasn't.
November 23, 2025 at 10:06 PM
And it does have its flaws. I've gone on at length about how choppy the msq felt and how some things felt like expository rambling while others were off-screen hand waves and WHY was King Dad there and go "BUT THAT'S A STORY FOR ANOTHER TIME" out of nowhere. Pacing was... bad. But the story wasn't.
Dawntrail has the opposite problem. It explicitly doesn't have things to call back to and fan service to play up because EW closed those doors. Anything DT does has to stand on its own, while everything EW did had to live up to its past. It doesn't have the nostalgia filtering its flaws.
November 23, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Dawntrail has the opposite problem. It explicitly doesn't have things to call back to and fan service to play up because EW closed those doors. Anything DT does has to stand on its own, while everything EW did had to live up to its past. It doesn't have the nostalgia filtering its flaws.
In the end(walker) it had to live up to the hype of the whole story this far, do so in a shorter amount of time, and was following the absolute beast that was Shadowbringers. It had a lot of good fan-service-y content and got closure on lots of stuff, but it doesn't hold up as well as ShB imo.
November 23, 2025 at 10:06 PM
In the end(walker) it had to live up to the hype of the whole story this far, do so in a shorter amount of time, and was following the absolute beast that was Shadowbringers. It had a lot of good fan-service-y content and got closure on lots of stuff, but it doesn't hold up as well as ShB imo.
I have lots to say on 6.0's msq but I'll make it a separate branch of this thread.
I liked the Golbez story. For only having a few patches, it was done well.
EW had good music (the theme is a BANGER) and pretty good fights... but nothing that I'd say reached new heights comparatively.
I liked the Golbez story. For only having a few patches, it was done well.
EW had good music (the theme is a BANGER) and pretty good fights... but nothing that I'd say reached new heights comparatively.
November 23, 2025 at 10:06 PM
I have lots to say on 6.0's msq but I'll make it a separate branch of this thread.
I liked the Golbez story. For only having a few patches, it was done well.
EW had good music (the theme is a BANGER) and pretty good fights... but nothing that I'd say reached new heights comparatively.
I liked the Golbez story. For only having a few patches, it was done well.
EW had good music (the theme is a BANGER) and pretty good fights... but nothing that I'd say reached new heights comparatively.
The universal "BUT WE'RE ONLY LEVEL 83?!?" was an unfortunate consequence. This big bad that we've been against for literal years by this point, the ultimate antagonist for multiple expansions... wasn't the final boss? Again, I get why it worked out this way, but that would have been a great climax.
November 23, 2025 at 10:06 PM
The universal "BUT WE'RE ONLY LEVEL 83?!?" was an unfortunate consequence. This big bad that we've been against for literal years by this point, the ultimate antagonist for multiple expansions... wasn't the final boss? Again, I get why it worked out this way, but that would have been a great climax.
I liked Endwalker. It had a lot going for it, but circumstances did it no favors. Forcing the whole story into x.0 instead of through x.3 rushed it, though I understand why they felt it necessary. Dragging out a big climactic end like that over the course of a year would deflate it quite a bit.
November 23, 2025 at 10:06 PM
I liked Endwalker. It had a lot going for it, but circumstances did it no favors. Forcing the whole story into x.0 instead of through x.3 rushed it, though I understand why they felt it necessary. Dragging out a big climactic end like that over the course of a year would deflate it quite a bit.
Being a BRD main is also why I put HW low. Bowmage is cool in concept, not in execution. Plus I don't want to go back to the days of TP.
November 23, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Being a BRD main is also why I put HW low. Bowmage is cool in concept, not in execution. Plus I don't want to go back to the days of TP.
As a BRD main, StB-ShB was a hazy time where we needed to focus on Crit instead of our main stat which was... questionable. ShB at least had fun times where you could have nonstop procs in wall-to-wall pulls for machinegun-Rain-of-Deaths.
November 23, 2025 at 8:53 PM
As a BRD main, StB-ShB was a hazy time where we needed to focus on Crit instead of our main stat which was... questionable. ShB at least had fun times where you could have nonstop procs in wall-to-wall pulls for machinegun-Rain-of-Deaths.
Stormblood, for all its shortcomings in the story, had fantastic gameplay. Eureka, Heaven on High, Omega, 2/3 of Ivalice, and a slew of great trials, along with great music. Tsukiyomi, Suzaku, all of Omega... Quality stuff.
November 23, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Stormblood, for all its shortcomings in the story, had fantastic gameplay. Eureka, Heaven on High, Omega, 2/3 of Ivalice, and a slew of great trials, along with great music. Tsukiyomi, Suzaku, all of Omega... Quality stuff.
ShB gameplay falls short for me if only because the equivalents of other expacs are better imo.
Eureka > Bozja
Omegascape > Eden
Literally any other alliance raid > Neir
I think the trials are good, in particular Seat of Sacrifice is wonderful.
Eureka > Bozja
Omegascape > Eden
Literally any other alliance raid > Neir
I think the trials are good, in particular Seat of Sacrifice is wonderful.
November 23, 2025 at 8:48 PM
ShB gameplay falls short for me if only because the equivalents of other expacs are better imo.
Eureka > Bozja
Omegascape > Eden
Literally any other alliance raid > Neir
I think the trials are good, in particular Seat of Sacrifice is wonderful.
Eureka > Bozja
Omegascape > Eden
Literally any other alliance raid > Neir
I think the trials are good, in particular Seat of Sacrifice is wonderful.
Shadowbringers msq has the best arc, characters, conflicts, atmosphere, pacing, and lore behind any part of the game.
Soken puts out some of the absolute best video game music in existence, and ShB has some of his best work: A Long Fall, To the Edge, What Angel Wakes Me, the Shadowbringers theme...
Soken puts out some of the absolute best video game music in existence, and ShB has some of his best work: A Long Fall, To the Edge, What Angel Wakes Me, the Shadowbringers theme...
November 23, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Shadowbringers msq has the best arc, characters, conflicts, atmosphere, pacing, and lore behind any part of the game.
Soken puts out some of the absolute best video game music in existence, and ShB has some of his best work: A Long Fall, To the Edge, What Angel Wakes Me, the Shadowbringers theme...
Soken puts out some of the absolute best video game music in existence, and ShB has some of his best work: A Long Fall, To the Edge, What Angel Wakes Me, the Shadowbringers theme...
