Remaining Fantasy XIV’s subsequent enlargement, Dawntrail, releases on June 28 (for individuals who pre-order). I’m trying ahead to it. There is only one downside—I nonetheless haven’t completed the final enlargement, Endwalker. Sure, I do know it got here out on the finish of 2021, however time simply obtained away from me and I fell off in the midst of the enlargement. On the time of this writing, the date is April 3. That offers me 85 days to finish Endwalker and its patches. This requires a drastic change in technique that I hope will assist me in my mission: I’m switching my platform of alternative from PC to PS5.
There’s a motive I’ve performed Remaining Fantasy XIV on PC since I first began taking part in the sport 4 years in the past: it’s an MMO. The assortment of actions and actions it’s a must to concurrently carry out throughout large-scale dungeons or raids feels tailored for a keyboard and mouse. A controller all the time felt too constrictive, particularly in my aggravating job as a White Mage (a healer function). However one of many greatest hurdles I’ve confronted in making an attempt to finish Endwalker is my PC itself. I’m simply not within the temper to sit down at my desk for hours as I rush by the enlargement.
The crux of the difficulty lies in Remaining Fantasy XIV’s quest design. As an MMO, many of the recreation’s foremost state of affairs quests are quite mundane, not less than mechanically. Whereas there are spectacular fight encounters in Endwalker, there are solely 9 foremost state of affairs dungeons or trials, unfold out throughout 108 quests. Meaning nearly all of quests ship your hero—the Warrior of Gentle—from one level of the map to the opposite, generally to kill an enemy or two, generally to gather gadgets, and generally simply to speak to folks. The speaking is the most effective half, as a result of that’s the story I’m right here to expertise. However the time in between is usually mundane. “Mundane” isn’t enjoyable for me to do from my uncomfy desk chair (which is its personal downside). I wish to do that from the consolation of my sofa. Fortunately, I used to be in a position to snag the PS5 model of the sport on sale.
Regardless of my aversion to taking part in with a controller, the promise of leisurely stress-free on my sofa referred to as to me. That’s the straightforward half. However identical to switching jobs within the recreation itself, switching to a special methodology of enter—a DualSense controller, on this case—primarily means I’ve to relearn all the things. It’s sluggish going, and at instances I’m wondering if it’s value it. The primary subject is that I’m nonetheless making an attempt to arrange my cross hotbars in a manner that meshes with how I play. Cross hotbars are the way in which console gamers set off their actions. Versus the rows of actions on a PC that you just hit with totally different keybinds, the cross hotbar appears to be like like two plus indicators side-by-side with house for actions on every nook. It’s made to mirror the d-pad and face buttons, which the actions are certain to. So far as transferring the complexity of an MMO to a controller, it’s fairly ingenious, but it surely’s nonetheless a studying curve. My first 24 hours with the PS5 model had been principally spent tweaking settings and getting my cross hotbars excellent.
However after overcoming the pure rising pains related to it, I’ve been pleasantly stunned by simply how properly my change of platform has labored out. Motion particularly is a spot the place I recognize the benefit of a controller. Whereas WASD and a mouse actually don’t make journey exhausting, it’s just a bit extra difficult than merely utilizing the joysticks. Now I discover myself breezing by the sport’s quests far more fortunately. My sofa is certainly as comfortable as I keep in mind and I take pleasure in lounging on it as I discover the beautiful surroundings of Elpis and Labyrinthos. Nearly all of quests aren’t fight heavy, so even once I’m introduced with a brief struggle my slowed reactions on the cross hotbar aren’t actually an enormous deal. It’s turned the sport right into a a lot smoother expertise for me in precisely the way in which I wanted proper now. I principally flip my mind off after which tune again in once I want to look at a cutscene or learn some vital dialogue. Seems Endwalker is fairly good, who knew?
The place I do nonetheless really feel the console model falls behind is in dungeons and trials. Once I do attain these extra intensive fight encounters, I nonetheless discover myself switching again to my PC so I can carry out at my finest for my celebration. In fact, I might use the NPC events out there by the Responsibility Help system and run these sections with a bunch of bots however a lot of the enjoyment of taking part in FFXIV is in partaking with different gamers. That’s why I’ve additionally taken to holding a Bluetooth keyboard linked to my console—so I can sort out messages. The opposite options of the PC model I dearly miss are issues that director Yoshi-P has frowned upon however I nonetheless discover nice utility in.
So, the leap has had its professionals and cons, however total, switching to PS5 has made me recognize the other ways folks can play this recreation. Now, as I anticipate the discharge of Dawntrail, I can’t assist however assume that I’ll swap forwards and backwards between PC and PS5 for the upcoming enlargement as properly.
