Anyone who endured Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker as a melee primary will know the ache of that growth’s raids and managers—gigantic hitboxes, no positionals to hit, and just about zero downtime to strategise round.
Those issues sound like a dream, certain, however in observe they kneecapped any semblance of problem that makes these lessons so enjoyable to play. Every boss was now only a large, arena-sized punching bag with various mechanics to study. At least, that is the way it felt, anyway. Those issues have been already creeping in throughout Stormblood and Shadowbringers, however it was Endwalker the place the oversimplification actually got here to a head.
The typically straightforward and homogenised battle design has confirmed to be one of many 2021 growth’s greatest criticisms, one thing which lead battle designer Masaki Nakagawa and his staff has been making up for in spades in Dawntrail. After all, even he admits they went a contact far with streamlining fights.
“Prior to [Dawntrail], our coverage of lowering gameplay-related frustrations was generally taken too far,” Nakagawa informed PC Gamer in a latest interview. “And in some instances, even the hurdles and frustrations that existed to make the gameplay extra participating have been eradicated, which made them much less enjoyable.”
Discussing Endwalker particularly, Nakagawa confesses the staff “vetoed some fascinating concepts for mechanics so melee gamers would not be annoyed by durations of downtime the place they cannot assault the boss; we eliminated them no matter how fascinating the mechanic could possibly be.” Like I mentioned earlier than, it did actually really feel like melee DPS jobs bore the brunt of Endwalker’s underwhelming issue probably the most, although healers aren’t far behind. “In hindsight, we must always’ve weighed the fascinating nature of an thought versus the frustration of being unable to assault, however our insurance policies had fashioned an atmosphere the place such concepts have been simply eradicated,” Nakagawa mentioned.
The staff’s mindset has since shifted to “inserting larger emphasis on enjoyability,” with Nakagawa calling it “a daring resolution for us with plenty of unknown elements.” It’s been paying off up to now, although: Dawntrail’s battle design has been much better obtained than its predecessor, with story dungeons nailing the problem even when there are nonetheless arguments over whether or not its savage and supreme raids are nonetheless a contact straightforward.
But even with pure issue put aside, Square Enix has been doing extra fascinating issues. There’s loads of downtime throughout its first 4 raids—gamers get knocked into the air and rendered unable to assault, melees must zip far-off from bosses to drop AOE puddles, and mechanics that require a number of motion have confirmed nice observe for all my slidecasting after I play White Mage.
Interestingly, Nakagawa brings up the Alexander raids from Heavensward. As he factors out, they’re filled with area of interest and bespoke mechanics that you do not see anyplace else throughout the sport, ones that usually rip you out of your rotation to do issues like bat bombs away as an enormous gorilla or hopping on a mount. “If we proceed to veto concepts like these out of concern for frustrations, like dropping DPS when turning right into a gorilla, our content material would lose its range and all bosses would find yourself following the identical patterns,” Nakagawa mentioned. “That mentioned, we additionally do not imagine that every part must be distinctive; in spite of everything, some battles ought to stay orthodox whereas others could be tremendously progressive, and it was this ideology which led to the revision of our content material design insurance policies.”
I can positively perceive Nakagawa’s need to completely steadiness common rotation-based fights with some barely whackier mechanics. Hell, I do know melee DPS who will not even use Limit Break as a result of it messes with their rotation. Finding a pleasant center floor the place a bit of vital considering is required whereas nonetheless largely with the ability to pump your rotation out successfully is one thing I feel will take past Dawntrail to determine, however nice steps are already being taken.
