How to bring more Final Fantasy into FFXIV Content

FFXIV dungeons and content in general are very mechanic based.  Move out of fire, avoid cone attacks, remove a debuff, and DPS before insta-kill move triggers are prevalent.  Although very much a themepark MMO, one of the attributes blatantly missing from FFXIV dungeons is the use of the Final Fantasy theme.

There are tons of great Final Fantasy themed events and dungeons I have rolling around in my head.  Instead of just being about killing trash monsters to get to the next boss, the ‘dungeon’ could be an ‘experience’ to play through. Heck, who’s to say they even have to be like dungeons at all?

FF1 iOSTurn-based Combat
A dungeon, a boss, or simply an event could be played out entirely in turn-based combat just like the traditional Final Fantasy style.  The enemies would be on the left and your party could be staggered on the right.  Each player would take a turn to using abilities.

Random Encounters
Another throwback idea is randomly being jumped by a group of monsters as you make your way through a dungeon.  Maybe mix in the overworld monsters making contact to start battles.  This mechanic can be implemented somehow to be a lot of fun in a upcoming dungeon.

FF TacticsFinal Fantasy Tactics
Tactics uses a movement grid.  Characters take turns moving on the grid and receive bonuses based on where they are positioned (terrain, position, etc).  It’s like traditional FF combat with movement on a grid.

Active Time Battle System
In a ATB system everyone has a gauge and once the gauge fills up.  Once full, it’s your turn.  This could take into affect skill speed and let players strategically have to use their bar. This adds a depth to the turn-based system and could also be a lot of fun.

ff7 chocobo raceChocobo Battle Race
Not every dungeon has to be about traditional combat.  Here’s an idea going outside of the box a bit more.  What if the entire ‘dungeon’ was a race on the back of chocobos.  Players could obtain powerups to fire off at each other and simply have a lot of fun racing at high speeds.  I see it being really similar to Mario Kart.  The winner could get some tokens or something.

Arena Fight
In Final Fantasy 7’s Golden Saucer there’s an arena that players can enter to battle monsters..  Square could always add specific mechanics to the fights like “don’t do X” or “only do Y” to spice things up and make the battles not just normal combat in a confined space. Introduce new mobs every week or month and adding different battle mechanics is a great way to keep simple content like this interesting.  Playing through the different arena battles could give all sorts of prizes ranging for vanity items to tomes.  We know they’re working on adding the Golden Saucer anyway so this is a perfect opportunity.

This is the type of content I would add to FFXIV if I was in charge. Out of the box ideas meant to excite and get players eager to do more than run through dungeons repeatedly.  More ‘Final Fantasy’ and less ‘MMO mechanics’.  Thoughts? Ideas of your own you think would make for great content in FFXIV?

  • I forsee two of those being added with the golden saucer.

    But tbh who knows how far off we are on that one.

    The Battle Arena and Chocobo races I would say are very likely to be implemented in some capacity.

  • I agree. I see anything resembling mini-games making it into the game. To me it’s more than the mini-game feel, though. I want the chocobo race to be an option for earning gear or advancing my character. The fun, almost gimmicky, content should give people equal opportunities for character progression.

  • How about anything but the same two or three dungeons? I REALLY enjoyed the story and leveling in this game until I had to start FATE grinding and I got tired of running AK and CM over and over constantly (now WP as well). With the big patch coming up we’re going to see FC housing but no personal housing and we’re going to see Crystal Tower which has gear of lesser item level than coil. I want to keep playing but it feels as though there are few things to do at the moment (other than grinding out tomes or leveling other jobs). 🙁

  • @Halldorr: I totally empathize with your position. I’m in the same boat.

    Story = Fun.
    Leveling = Fun.
    World = Love it.
    Dungeons = Fun the first 10 times but now they’re starting to lose their luster. I’m not a gear grind person anymore. The gear grind has to be very shallow for me to even care.

    I like being able to log in and do more than run instances of the same dungeon.

  • I am really banking on the housing being robust.

    It seems like it will be, but cant be too certain these days.

    I am enjoying the completionist aspect of leveling different jobs. Just so I can have a fully leveled toon and what not. Pretty pointless, but for me I will have fun in a game as long as I can set goals and work towards them.

  • Gold saucer is coming. Probably not for another solid 5-6 months, but it’s coming.

    I’ve decided to not sub for now while I decide if I want to tank again or not (very disenfranchised with what the “Dragoon” is, don’t want to run a monk.).

  • The Final Fantasy ideas are fine and sound fun but as an EQ veteran are you really happy with the idea of dungeons as it seems to be understood in most MMOs nowadays? When you and your party worked your way deep into Lower Guk back in the day, did you feel every froglok that didn’t have a Name was just “trash”, wasting your time? When you were lost in the bowels of Chardok, huddled in the corner of a room trying to figure out the EQ Atlas map in the ringbinder on your desk, did you seethe with irritation over the dozens of Sarnak “trash mobs” standing between you and the Nameds that had the Phat Lewt?

    I doubt it. I know I didn’t and neither did the people I played with back then. The dungeons were living places, part of a living world. Guk was full of Frogloks because that’s where frogloks lived. They hadn’t been put in there to get in our way or slow us down on our way to the ones that had stuff we wanted. It was we who were trespassing on their territory, always at risk, always in danger, hoping to get in and get back out alive, with treasure if we were lucky but always with stories to tell.

    Dungeons should be about adventure. In a good dungeon in an MMO you shouldn’t be thinking “this is a fun game I’m playing” you should be thinking “this is an amazing adventure I’m having”.

  • I do not own final fantasy 14, but I like your ideas.
    They are things I enjoy from final fantasy.

    Off topic: remember that faulty 2DS i told you about.
    Got it back and it was not faulty. The pokemon Y game inside was faulty so they swapped it.
    But!! they did not transfer my savegame to the new game. Lost 10+ hours.

    Sniff.

  • Oh man the chocobo races were awesome! And in FF7 it was a great way to advance your character. I think it was the “Counter” materia which was one of the most important materia that was only available through chocobo racing.

  • @Darkstryke: That’s a long way away. That puts the The gold saucer right smack dab in the middle of TESO and WildStar. That’ll be dangerous.

    @Bhagpuss: You know me. If I could have an open-world dungeon that behaved like EQ’s dungeons in a themepark world I would. I’m doubtful that it will happen. Given FFXIV is a themepark, I want the rides to be as fun as possible.

    @Zyler: Doh 🙁 Sorry to hear that man, but let me say it’s all worth it in the end. Pokemon X/Y is amazing and I”m only like 18 hours in. Graev is 30+ and loves it.

  • Seems I cheered to soon and trusted the techguys at Nintendo to have fixed it.
    So they said.

    Brand new copy of pokemon. I finally get to the part of the first gymleader.
    I get the skates and the problem is back!! “pulls out hairs”

    Someone is gonna hear my frustrations this monday.
    Sorry Keen just annoyed at the moment.

    At the moment I’m enjoying hearthstone.. Are you in the beta Keen?