Being Saleh: FFXIV Shadowbringer review

WARNING: Contains story spoiler for past expansions of Final Fantasy XIV, minor spoiler for Shadowbringers

 
So, who thinks that the light can be used to hurt? Well, I'm a fantasy gamer so I'm pretty much have wield every aspect of elements and unleash them to my enemies, light included, and as the name of the latest expansion from FFXIV suggests, yes this time the light is the enemy.

FFXIV brings our Warrior of Light to the First, a doppleganger world created in the image of the original planet (called The Source), as I mention in the past post there are several, each with an affinity to an arcane element (light, dark, fire, etc, etc), in here a flood of light almost wiped the entire world, making it unhabitable, save one continent called Norvrandt, apparently somenoe stopped the flood, and another someone wants to restore the first to it's former state and that's why they need us and oh, and the Scion of the Seventh Dawn are all here too.

Alisaie could use a haircut though

New Gameplay

 
The gameplay of Shadowbringers are much simpler now, thanks to ability prunes my Dark Knight (which is now a mainstream job) no longer have two set of combos for enmity and self healing, they got merged, my darkness (which I used between combo steps and before unleashing high powered attack) is now merged to a new attack both for single and multi target, it took me a while for cleaning up my shortcuts and macro not to mention trying new combos but it worked, and it's still fun, paladin however have mana-based new attack and defense skills which I never figured it out when or where I should use it, I'll get to it somehow, or SE can get to it, that's it, I'm gonna call it, fix paladin, it's not fun, yes it's easy to stay alive, but it's not fun

everything can be better with MORE FIRE!!

F.A.T.E (ah crap, will just call it FATE now) have two benefits now, for leveling and you can get a nice jewels in the end for stuff trading in every area, there are also FATE levels now indicating how an area is 'safer' now after you cull those kobolds, the more you level your FATE, the more stuff you can trade for those jewels, every area is different so yes more useless junk to collect, if you level them all enough, you'll get access to a vendor in the main city hub

The new classes are gunbladerbreaker and dancer, gunbreaker wield gunblades and  have a long combo depending how many ammos you can store and your third skill cooldown, so yeah, it have several combos and utilities which can be fun for tanking (yes, it's a tank) since you're shooting for shielding now :D. Dancer as the third physical ranged DPS is not that different at all from the Machinist, but now you can 'store' combos and it's awesome, because not everytime a skill triggered the next skill, so it's a bit of gambling but you can also dance to buff you and a party member (dubbed: dance partner) for a significant increase in attack, so imagine you store those finisher and unleash them when your dance buff still up, it's glorifyngly satifying, there are also a def buff, a skill buff, which you can mix and match in a boss fight or trials.

New Story

 
Well, after I kicked Zenos' butt and got kicked myself in the in-between-xpac storyline, the story hinted that we will be brought to Garlean, the seat of the empire itself, but well... things happen and now we're in a whole another planet ourself, the new character is the Crystal Exarch, the dude that brought you in, Norvrandt is besieged by a horde of pale monsters called the sin-eaters which can infect living creatures to become monsters as they are, and of course there are zombies, pale zombies, but anyway we're also introduced to an Ascian called Emet-Selch which is more... sightful than the usual Ascian like evil-laugh Lahabrea and his friends, he is as cryptic as Elidibus though and his actions are sometimes questionable, but's he's breathtakingly fresh when compared to Zenos and since the story of Shadowbringers are long and intertwining you might questioning if he is really the big bad here.

Well, this pixie hater is definitely the big bad

Even if the story is a bit convoluted at first it's slowly unravel as it's progressing forward, but what I like is that the main story never strays from The First, there're no back and forth jogs between the two worlds, the allies and enemies are all from the first (except your Scion friends), and you'll meet new friends along the main story which come and go in a satisfying way (and some who wasn't probably was saved for the in-between-xpac stories, or a side quest). Everything is from the First and for The First, The First is a different world, with different culture, but same looking races although the names are different, elezen becomes elves, Hrothgar is Ronso (sounds familiar?), Lalafell are dwarves and they put on white-bearded-yellow-eyes-and-horned helmets like a generic FF dwarves, ho ho ho. uh wait, that's not right, Lali-Ho!!

There's something like a 'main side story' (What..?) it is a continuation from a post-main Heavensward expac and a new form of job quest, mainly focused in the members of the First' Warriors of Light (Adbert and friends), even if it's a side quest it is needed to complete the main story so you can get some picture about these ex-Source' Warriors of Darkness life before and after they moved on (or by), there are four of them each focused on a member and divided by jobs: Tank, Ranged/melee Physical DPS, magical DPS, and Healer, I played Dark Knight and the Tank Job quest focused on the other tank in the band, the Roegadyn Paladin and yes the story is as sad as ever. It was so good that I decided to level one from each jobs, which included leveling my Monk that i have sweared would never touch again, see now, a good story can even make you broke your promise right? (update: I did that and surprisingly there is another side story quest opened up, just call that that a closure, or epilogue, it's good)

It always ended with a GF, always

Features

 
Ability Prune aside, the ability of Dark knight to clone myself and lots of visual upgrade is appealing, oh yeah there are trust system now in which you run dungeons with your fellow Scions as bots so yeah no more long queue if you leveled as DPS, although Roulette still exists on max level to farm the tomestones, companion has level too and achievements attached to them so I'm still trying to max them out by playing as several jobs and combining them with the role jobs it is an AWESOME way to level grinding since trust dungeons grants you a HUGE chunk of XP, combine them with FATE jewel grinding and you'll level FASTER than your main, moreso the bosses drop loots for you and you only so yeah, FREE LOOT, they are just leveling gears though no tomestones are granted in Trust dungeon.

The Crafting and gathering Jobs are also revamped, started with the so-called restoration of Ishgard the crafting jobs were given a new instanced area which grows along with player's contribution, the gathering profession also will be given a new feature in the next patch in a form of a beast tribe reputation, and to be honest this is another thing I swore off not to touch again because crafting and gathering up to Heavensward were so exhausting and unfun I stopped leveling them on Stormblood, and when Stormblood gave us the Eureka Island rather to a revamped gather-craft things instead I just flipped and never bothered with them again. But to be honest with these addition I probably will just have to broke my promise again (update: I did, and they add new beast tribe dailies for gathering)

Verdict:

 
Well the for the story itself I gave FFXIV a solid nine, it's long, clocking me at three weeks of gameplay (4-5 hours a day), but it's so great, if heavensward main story gives a 'journey to the west' vibe, and Stormblood is about 'tactical war (part 1) and tragic redemption/consolidation (part 2), Shadowbringer is mostly about limitation of self and how to deal with it since the main villain is continuously engaged with our warrior of light/darkness beyond taunt and threats. The side quests are weirdly more about you knowing more about the world rather than just simply for leveling up or gained money, some can be tiresome and there are lot of them but in the end you'll realize that you learned just a little bit more.

The gameplay is wow, I must say: I can never find myself running around town figuring out what to do next, there is always something to do, even leveling can be combined to other activities like farming jewels and hunting marks (just like the old days, but more varied, also there is a gigantic coeurl with great horns, but she rarely spawned, I tried to take her down solo only to be be quickly floored)

Eden is the new raid (featuring alternate version of past primals fight) and Yorha (collaboration with an android dating sim game called Nier: Automata...wait, what?) is the new Alliance Raid, both are complex and featuring longer fights that drains your brain cell since one encounter can have 10-20 movesets and you are compelled to memorize them all or you (like me) can just lie facedown for two- third of the fight :D

 

I just got rejected, didn't I?

It's fun that crafting and gathering jobs got some love although they mainly just upped the xp from quests and levequests below level 70 until you zoomed through them, fishing got new fishing boat instances where you and other people can engange in ocean fishing together, you can catches special fish that can buff everyone in the ship, the level 60-70 daily crafting beast tribe quests from stormblood is still relevant in term of XP and reputation grinding, new beast tribe quests featuring the Qiqirn version of The First called the Qitari is a welcomed feature.

A bunch of lore story dump, plot twists, and a lot of can be/could be situation is the meat of this expansion, it's well-written to the details, although sometimes suffered from 'too much explanation' but seeing the Scions are now more battle ready and more involved on the fighting are refreshing takes, we're still the hero and they are the companions and in the end we still win big (although not a complete one).

Yes, the traveling merchant is now on credits, we win BIG

Final Fantasy XIV: ARR Crystal Tower: Labyrinth Of The Ancients Guide

Undoubtedly, Crystal Tower has been a major excitement for me for the past three weeks, It's one of the encounter of FFXIV that keeps my head from banging my keyboard, IMO it's perfectly balanced but hey even the easiest encounter is easily trolled right? So here's the breakdown of almost everything about Crytstal Tower

1. The Precursors
Before you can enter this 24-man raid instance, you must first open it's precursor quest, available at level 50 after finishing the main storyline quests, talk to NPC Outlandish Man (X21, Y28) in Mor Dhona, after that you'll have to do three fates and fetch-give typical quests until you unlocked it, pretty straightforward.

2. Trash Mobs (Pool)
Welcome to the first raid wing of Crystal Tower, The Labyrinth of The Ancients. When you first entered here with the other 23 clueless people you will see that you'll be divided in teams A, B and C, also you will be greeted by three pack of trash mobs. Pack one has two Valefors and lots of elementals, Team B should grab all the elementals and tank them in the middle paltform, Team A and C should grab these valefors and their tanks should tank them so their tail whip (AOE Cone from behind) and their front AOE cone doesn't hit anyone except the tanks, also make sure you're standing in one of the heightened platform because during the fights the entire area will be flooded with purple substance that will deal you about 200 damage per second, only the platform is safe. Pack 2 has greater Demon that will knockback the tanks and Valar that will slow everyone with their blizzard attacks. Pack 3 has two Diras that has AOE stun and Cursed Eyes that has petrify front AOE cone, just make sure their AOE didn't hit most of the party and healer shouldn't be petrified and you'll be fine, after that it's time for the first boss

3. Bone Dragon

This will be an easy fight if most people knows what to do, if not then it can be a nightmare, Bone Dragon is waiting at a center platform of the pool and should be tanked there away from the party, around the pools are heightened platforms which will play the role in later phase, as usual the pools will be flooded and drained some times, Team B tank should grab bone dragon and immediately tank it away from everyone (a.k.a turned it around) sine Bone Dragon has devastating front AOE cone that will inflict disease, when he reach about 50% he will summon platinals on his platform, these skeletons must be pulled away to the furthest platform from the boss and killed there, also makes sure that you only have one platinal on each platform, DPS should turn to platinals whenever they spawns, but hold DPS until tanks pulled them to the far platforms, after platinals died turn to Bone Dragon and continue DPS it until it died

When Bone Dragon died the platinals will be revived on their death platforms, here's some things that might happened
a. There's a platinal alive when the Bone Dragon died, when this happened it will RUN back to the boss and sacrificed itself, creating a massive AOE wide room that will nearly halved every non tank players, it can't be slowed, it can't be stunned so your only option is to have to kill it quickly
b. Two or more platinal died in the same platform, when they're revived they will RUN back to the boss, AOE things, etc etc, bad
c. The right one: only one platinal died in a platform, as this happens when they're revived they will WALK back to the boss, giving you time to kill them
After all platinal died for good the Bone Dragon will be revived and the cycle continues

After two phase of resurrection the Bone Dragon will not summon platinals, it will instead summon cursed eyes that should be ignored, it's a healer and DPS burn phase as the terror eyes cast AOE petrify, just keep pummeling the dragon until it bites the dust for good

TLDR:
Team A = Pummel Dragon, keep eye for platinals and pulled them to platforms at West and North West,
Team B = One of the Tank grab the dragon and tank it for the entire encounter, the rest should pulled platinals on platform South and South East
Team C = Pummel Dragon, keep eye for platinals and pulled them to platforms at East and North east,  

4. Atomos

Atomos is an interesting mini boss, there will be three of them in separated paths, which means Team A, B, and C has their own boss (and their own drama :P), in the room you'll see Atomos floating on a platform across the room and there is  another platform in the middle of the room, healers and at least two DPS should stand on this platform As soon as the raid entered their rooms, otherwise it will spawn Iron Giant that will insta-kill the team (9999 damage FTW!!), if one team got wiped everyone failed so it's bad. You will need FOUR people on the platform which means two healers and two DPS which can be a bit problematic if you have all melee DPSer, you can tried to switch with other team or just go ahead with it and have the other free DPS take down Atomos

Atomos doesn't need a tank, it doesn't even attack, but the catch is he'll spawn Valefors, Diras, and Greater Demons throughout the fight, and they should be tanked between platforms by the tanks so DPS standing at the platform can kill them without leaving it, if there's only melee DPS on platform tank should be tanking it near the middle platform so they can hit it, careful with their AOE though.

TLDR: Healers and two dps stand in the middle platform, tank grab adds, platform DPS kill adds, free DPS kill Atomos

5. Thanatos

Thanatos fight is a chaos and will put everyone (especially healers) on their toes, there are three magic pot that can be healed and buffed with stoneskin around the room, your job is to keep them alive, Thanatos can only be damaged if you have the 'Astral Alignment' buff granted by the magic pots, Team A should grab Thanatos first and tanked it in a corner of the room, their magic pot will surely give them the buff, after that it will be a random.
Throughout the fight there will be two type of adds: Sandman and Nemesis, Sandman will move slowly (can't be slowed, stunned, or provoked) to the pots and cast bravery on them, leading them to Thanatos (which will destroy it), Nemesis will spawn in great numbers, throwing AOE indiscriminately (also dangerous for the pots), non-buffed people should prioritize sandman and gain attention of the nemesis, leading them away from the pots, buffed people should burn Thanatos, healers must switch between pots and players which can be chaotic

TLDR: Tanks immediately grab Thanatos when buffed, careful when switching target when the buff wears off since the next buffed tank should grab aggro first, DPS when buffed = Thanatos, non buffed = Sandman > Nemesis, Healers = heal everything including the pots

6. Allagan Bomb

There are three Vassagos guarding The Allagan Bomb, The Allagan Bomb itself is invulnerable as long as the Vassago's alive, each team should grab their own vassago and tank it away from the team, throghout the fight there will be Allagan Bombs and Napalms, DPS should kill these immediately as they float slowly to the Allagan Bomb at the center and will explode inflicting room-wide AOE, Vassagos has strong cone physical attacks and they will occasionally cast desolation a randomly targeted AOE Line, they will occasionally filled a part of the platform with lava that force the tank to move and tanked him in a different position, avoid these three and you're done, when Vassagos died turn your attention to Allagan Bomb, kill it before it explodes and wipe you

7. King Behemoth

Meet the PUGbreaker, this is the hardest fight on CT, There are several mechanics that should be paid attention, otherwise, it'll be a wipe

a. There are towers around the outside Arena, throghout the fight you will be hit by constant DOT of electricity, when a tower glow red it adds several damage to your debuff, you can turn this off by simply clicking them, but this will deal you damage, so preferrably tanks should do this
b. Behemoth only needs one tank but there are several random hard-hitting AOE that comes from him, avoid these, the tank is usually is from team B

So when team B grabbed the behemoth and tank it on the corner, facing outside,  team A should be on the center since there will be two of an annoying adds called Puroboros, they spawned in the center and move slowly towards towers, if they arrived they will explode, damaging the tower and put you another stack of debuff, Team C should grab another add called the Iron Giant, tank it and kill it ASAP as it will destroy your only mean of survival, the comet

The comets will fall from the sky, indicated by green icon above a player head, wherever he/she is that's where the comet will be so tread carefully since you don't want it falls near the iron giant that will destroy it, sometimes during the fight the King will shout GGRRAAAAAGHH!!! (or something) as he cast ecliptic meteor (9999 damage again!), this your cue to HIDE BEHIND THE COMET, just put the comet between the behemoth and you, effectively cutting it's line of sight, when the Meteor hits it will destroy the comets and you're back to phase one, mind you at this hiding phase Puroboros will still spawn, and at about 25% there will be several tornadoes on the side of the room that will kill you and destroy the comet if you got near them

TLDR:
Team A = grab Puroboros, kill it before it reach the towers, deactivate red towers
Team B = tank and DPS behemoth
Team C = tank and DPS iron giant, help kills puroboros, deactivate red towers

8. Acheron

Acheron is the last boss and also a disappointment since he's the easiest boss in CT, but although his mechanic are so easy it also can be wiped. At first as usual Tank B should grab it and face it away, he has several line, cornered, and cone AOE, nothing unavoidable, their damage is also can be shrugged off if your healer's good, throghout the fight he'll summon Iron Claws that will grab one of your team member (usually healer or ranged DPS), drained their HPs and stunned them, this must be killed ASAP

After some damage Acheron will walk into the center of the arena and cast Ancient Flare, another insta-kill move, there are three patforms on the East, West and South corner of the arena, Team A should grab West, B = South, and C = East, when at least one person in the platform it will put up a shield that contains the Ancient Flare, after that an iron giant and occasionally an Iron Claw will spawn on the platforms, kill them ASAP as you need to move back to the arena and the platform will be drowned in lava

After that it's practically rinse and repeat, there are several unavoidable skill on last phase like Demi that will cut everyone's health in half and quake that will deal heavy earth damage but nothing that will taxed your healer, just burn him and enjoy the cutscene

Congratulations, you've beaten the Crystal Tower....well....not, it's only one area =))

Image courtesy of: USGamer
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