I've always been fascinated by mechanics in RPGs. While world-building, characterization, and plot are all really important components of what I like about the genre, what tends to keep me engaged is some degree of mechanical complexity. It's why some games that might have weaknesses in terms of story otherwise maintain my interest. In the case of Final Fantasy XIV, the story and characters are great! Sure, the pacing could use some work, but you have to keep in mind that the quests were distributed to be completed in chunks during regularly scheduled updates. When done consecutively as I'm doing now, it does start to feel like a bit of a slog at times. Still, even though I really enjoy a lot about FFXIV's story and its characters, what I really love about it and can't stop thinking about are the mechanics.
I've experimented with several of the massive roster of classes available in the game and each one has a variety of interesting gimmicks. None are so straightforward that I feel like I'd be able to jump into playing it right off the bat were I to be given a fresh level 80 with no prior context. In fact, when acquiring the Samurai and Red Mage jobs, I felt positively overwhelmed with just the skills and abilities available at level 50. But this is honestly a good thing, because part of what I enjoy about this game is that effectively playing a class involves quite a bit of finesse.
At first glance, many classes seem to be built around simple 1-2-3 combos, but as you acquire more levels, it becomes clear the classes are much more varied and interesting than that. The spear-wielding Dragoon was the first class I got to level 50 originally and serves as a good example of what I'm referring to. Its base skills are True Thrust, Vorpal Thrust, and Full Thrust, abilities that deal the most damage when performed in succession. This is the most basic of combos for the class and for standard encounters is what you'll be performing most frequently. However, against tougher opponents with more health, you'll be starting with a different set of skills. Although you'll still begin your rotation with True Thrust, you'll instead move on to Disembowel, another melee attack skill that increases the damage the Dragoon deals by 10% for a certain period of time. This only occurs if Disembowel is performed after True Thrust, keep in mind. The third attack in this sequence is Chaos Thrust, which, again, is only effective if performed specifically after Disembowel. This skill deals damage up front, but when performed in a combo, also deals a significant amount of damage over time.
Once the Disembowel buff and Chaos Thrust damage-over-time effect have been applied, you can then move on to the standard 1-2-3 combo again. Even at this point, the rotation is fairly simple and only involves five skills. However, we still have to consider other abilities that are more conditional. For instance, Lance Charge is a buff that simply increases the Dragoon's damage for a period of time and stacks with the Disembowel buff. Ideally, it should be cast when facing tough opponents and then whenever it is available. Additionally, Life Surge is another cooldown ability that ensures your next attack is a critical hit, which in my mind is best used just before Full Thrust since it's the most damaging ability in the Dragoon's basic rotation.
On top of these abilities that factor into the Dragoon's standard rotation, you have access to abilities like Spineshatter Dive and Dragonfire Dive to close the distance on faraway enemies, whereas Jump and Piercing Talon allow you to simply attack from afar. Dragonfire Dive also doubles as a way to deal with large groups of enemies, paired with Doom Spike, an attack that targets a cone in front of you. Combining all of these abilities and applying them in the correct order and in the right situations is intensely satisfying--and this is before even learning abilities I never got to use from the expansions. Every class I've played is just as inventive and I honestly cannot wait to try them all out.
No comments:
Post a Comment