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Yeowch!!! My Balls!!! posted:hien is a little bit too Generic Protagonist Shaped Object for my tastes, but they can't all be gems He feels designed by committee to me, probably after the strong fan response to Ayemric.
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Sep 20, 2022 16:38
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part of it is his narrative role is straight out of Tolkien: a walking, breathing instruction manual on how to be a leader for someone who is questioning if they're good for anything more than being a soldier. book Theoden is the guy who teaches mopey, indecisive Aragorn that being a king doesn't mean you don't make bad decisions, it means that you don't publicly second guess yourself and you try to make the best out of them when it goes wrong. Lyse is questioning if it's even possible to be a good revolution-leader, and Hien is here to be your bright, shining example of how to do that. this marks one of the only times where you can refer to Tolkien's character work as being better than someone else's, though, because Theoden, it becomes clear, is a little bit too hidebound and a little too eager to go out in a blaze of glory. the sole flaw of Hien is 'wasn't willing to launch the revolution before you showed up.'
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Sep 20, 2022 17:04
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I like Hien a lot but I'm also a generic protagonist shaped object IRL.
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Sep 20, 2022 18:38
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Yeowch!!! My Balls!!! posted:part of it is his narrative role is straight out of Tolkien: a walking, breathing instruction manual on how to be a leader for someone who is questioning if they're good for anything more than being a soldier. book Theoden is the guy who teaches mopey, indecisive Aragorn that being a king doesn't mean you don't make bad decisions, it means that you don't publicly second guess yourself and you try to make the best out of them when it goes wrong. Lyse is questioning if it's even possible to be a good revolution-leader, and Hien is here to be your bright, shining example of how to do that. Well if you heard the Warrior of Light was on their way to you to start a rebellion, I'd wait until they showed up too, it seems like pretty much everywhere has a rogue god problem and letting the WoL clear them out first and then turn them against the Garleans to finish the job is the ideal use of their time. And if you don't keep them motivated they'll run off and go fishing or spend the next three hours playing mahjong.
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Sep 20, 2022 20:33
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Feldegast42 posted:I like Hien a lot but I'm also a generic protagonist shaped object IRL.
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Sep 21, 2022 01:12
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Chapter 18: Swordsoul I – Beneath the Blood-Stained Sand After arriving safely in Ul’dah (thankfully with all her clothes on despite the teleport distance), Kheris’ first move is to check in with her old pal Jenlyns. If she’s training her swordsmanship, where better to start than with the Paladins? He has some tremendous news that suits her goals perfectly: the Coliseum has announced a tournament! They are reviving the legendary Ul Cup, an event created by Ul’dah’s first monarch, the same sultan who established the Sultansworn. It's a canny political move from Nanamo which underscores her heritage and its intrinsic ties to the nation’s origins as she reasserts her authority. At the opening ceremony, she also proclaims that all proceeds from the event will go toward refugee relief, which both advances her preferred government policies and is objectively more important than ever now that we’re at war. As far as Kheris is concerned, however, the event is most valuable for her as an opportunity to take on the best in the realm. Plus, the grand prize is a tome containing secret techniques known only to the First Captain, the original wielder of Oathkeeper! Famous names are already lining up to compete for that prize, including Jenlyns himself. Maybe he’ll get that sword to shine for him after all. Kheris heads down to the arena, where she finds most of the other registered combatants anticipating the first round. The Sultansworn have fielded two other candidates in addition to Jenlyns: Bartholomew, the Sultana’s chamber guard, and young Owyne, the lad whom Kheris helped recover the royal crown so long ago. She also runs into her fellow scam victim from the Heavensward Paladin quests, Constaint. He speculates that Jenlyns secured him an invitation by way of apology for that debacle. Solkazgyl is nowhere to be found, which is probably for the best. Paladins aren’t the only participants, fortunately. Our old friend Second Commander Handeloup has come down from Ishgard to represent the Temple Knights. There’s also an arrogant Bloodsands fighter named Franz who mistakes Kheris for a groupie. Most interestingly, in the corner, we find a mysterious masked warrior. He claims to have nothing to say to his competition, though the boy at his side is eager to talk smack.  …   …So, that’s definitely Aldis in disguise. Yay! A chance for Kheris to face off against her very first mentor! Speaking of mentors, our hero takes Black Lotus’ advice and makes her way down to the Gladiator’s guild to greet First Sword Mylla. She’s also participating and explains that the Cup is a simple two-block bracket, Group Nald and Group Thal, and will operate under single-elimination rules. Nice to know that for once, the Paladin questline will avoid needless convolution. Nanamo and Papashan appear at the opening ceremony to give a brief speech. Then we cut to our commentary team.   Nice to see Dour Meadow again. They’re going all-in on the cameos for this one. Both brackets are 8-man fields, meaning three wins will put Kheris in the finals. Her first opponent is Bartholomew, meaning she’ll finally have her revenge for all those times he wouldn’t let her into the Fragrant Chamber to hang out with her friend Lady Lilira! But seriously, I was very excited about this. After more than a year of waiting and several near-misses and cruel denials, Kheris Kilrau was finally stepping onto the Bloodsands, just like she dreamed when she first came to Ul’dah!  A pretty rare theme plays during the first two fights,  “Beneath Bloodied Banners.” It has a synth metal vibe that fits a pulp fantasy arena. The third match features the more familiar and more serious “Tug of Fate.”Bartholomew isn’t much of a contest, though he’s a good sport and seems happy to have crossed swords with the Warrior of Light. The second match is against a Roe gladiator named The Bronze Bull. Mylla had pointed him out as a possible adversary, though he’d been standing next to Avia from the Hildibrand quests at the time, so not seeing her in that spot was a little disappointing. He’s a more formidable challenge than Bart, with a lot more HP, the ability to summon long-lasting damage zones, and a knock-back that he uses to force you inside them. But for once, I was much more into the fantasy evoked than the mechanical test. The crowd even roars for you after you win! Handeloup is your last opponent. He’s yet another step up in challenge, with even more HP and the exploding Holy Orbs ability used by the two shield knights of the Heavens’ Ward. He even has an ultimate attack, summoning a protective orb that you have to destroy before he hits you with what I assume is a one-hit-kill sword strike.  These bouts give me an opportunity to discuss the Job’s gameplay. In my previous writeups on Paladin storylines, I skimmed over this. That’s mainly because, mechanically, Paladin is very straightforward, and I didn’t have a lot to say. Frankly, I still don’t. You have two Off-Global Cooldown attacks and a very short cooldown damage booster, making the class feel proactive and fun on offense, even though it deals far less damage overall than Warrior and Dark Knight. Its protective cooldowns are the most basic, but there’s nothing wrong with a ‘Keep It Simple Stupid’ approach to tank defense. Plus, one of them is the godlike Hallowed Ground, a near-total immunity shield, so there is nothing to complain about there. The only place where the job gets complex is with the Oath Gauge, which fuels the Sheltron ability. Sheltron is one of those abilities I simultaneously love and hate because it’s obscenely powerful but in a way that needs to be explained to a new player. When you read “block incoming attacks, lasts 4 seconds,” then use it and keep taking damage, a baby RPG player will think the thing sucks. You have to read your floating combat text, see that -20% damage reduction, think about the fact that your #2 defensive is a 30% damage reduction, and then think about the fact that you can fire off two of those in a row and are building resources for more even as you use them to get how powerful it is. RPGs often include ‘Newbie Traps,’ buttons that seem fantastic but are secretly trash. Sheltron is a REVERSE Newbie Trap, which is always a strange design move. That said, I can appreciate that there is at least one element of the job with a high-ish skill ceiling. I should also mention that the Oath Gauge fuels Cover, but even now, I don’t think I’ve ever used it in combat. I’m certain redirecting all damage from other party members is insane in high-level raiding, but since I’ve only tanked casual stuff, it’s been a dead ability. Heavensward added attack upgrades and another powerful defensive cooldown, but its biggest unlock was the one thing the class fantasy was missing, a healing spell. While Clemency seemed weak and awkward when I first got it, I’ve since learned how powerful and versatile it is. The power to take my HP (or my party’s HP) into my own hands if things look dicey in a dungeon and the boost it gives me for content like Boss FATEs or Soling Raids are invaluable. Stormblood took the ‘Dungeons and Dragons Style Paladin’ ball and ran even further with it by adding an OFFENSIVE magical spell, Holy Spirit, which you can see me using above. Currently, it’s more a novelty than something to use in the heat of an encounter. It does, however, give me a chance to mention something important about Job Abilities in this expansion. For the first time since pre-Level 30, new skills are unlocked immediately when you reach the appropriate level rather than requiring you to clear the relevant Job Quest. I was sad about this at first. There’s been some very cool metanarrative storytelling through those ability unlocks. On the other, it means I’ll never again go twenty levels of Red Mage without gaining an important button because it didn’t feel right to do the job story yet. So, you know, that’s good! When Handeloup falls, the camera sweeps up to the commentary team, who recap the bouts to build hype for the other side of the bracket. But all may not be well, for off to the side, some shady-looking characters boast about all the money they just made betting on Kheris’ victory.  Then we get a nice round of Good Sportsmanship from your three vanquished foes. They all promise to take what they learned while fighting Kheris to heart and cheer her on in the finals. Mylla is equally enthusiastic about the victory because she’s been waiting for the opportunity to take on her guild’s star member in an official match. All she needs to do is win the second block. Her victory appears inevitable when the commentary team recaps her trouncing of poor Constaint. But in the Block Final, she has to face Definitely-Not-Aldis, which goes about as well as you’d expect.  …  He IS the most legendary gladiator since Raubahn, after all. The Masked Man and Kheris share a staredown across the arena as the crowd roars in anticipation of the Grand Final. But with this unknown figure besting the head of the Gladiator’s Guild, our two gamblers are nervous about the money they put on the Warrior of Light. So nervous that one of them decides it’s time to ruin everyone’s good time.  After consulting with the defeated competitors about how Black Lotus’ fighting style is so darn familiar, Mylla brings up that he came by the guild and asked for Kheris by name. She finds him waiting at the Quicksand Inn, but by the time she arrives, that little match-fixing cretin is already trying to get him to back out of the fight. At first, Lotus refuses… but then the tiny jerk whispers something that sets him off. Considering the little kid who was busting my chops on Lotus’ behalf is nowhere to be seen, it’s not hard to figure out what must have happened. Still, Certainly-Not-Aldis decides he will handle the blackmail himself rather than ask his old apprentice for help or even admit who he is behind the helmet. As stubborn an idiot as ever. Kheris reports the incident to Mylla, who doesn’t have any answers. However, she suggests that if her student wants to investigate rather than wait and see what happens, she should wander around Ul’dah and talk to some fighters and spectators. You never know what you might overhear!  …Go on. ~*~*~ The man on the street weaves a terrific tale of an old man from the Far East appearing in the Blood Sands and issuing an open challenge. A cocky young gladiator accepted, expecting an easy victory, only for the elder to overwhelm him easily. The crowd was then stunned as the Eastern Warrior sheathed his sword. The gladiator charged, looking to take the guy’s head off while he was defenseless and avenge his humiliation.  If Kheris didn’t already know a master samurai herself, she’d say the story was hard to believe. Yet she also can’t recall seeing Gosetsu use this ‘quick draw sword’ technique in their previous battles. As a student of the blade, she can’t in good conscience pass up the chance to learn if the tale is true. Best of all, she will get the chance to investigate close-up because the fellow is still holding his open challenge. She finds a coliseum promoter, a young Lalafel, attempting to recruit opponents for this contest. He notes that the man is from Hingashi, not Doma (perhaps explaining the difference in technique) and notes that a valuable treasure is up for grabs to anyone who can defeat the stranger from the East.  She gets a new sword just for participating? Twist my arm, why don’t you! The old man is waiting for her at the Coliseum entrance. He identifies himself as Musosai and offers not only a blade but a complete set of traditional robes for the duel. More importantly, he also provides a Soul Stone. He seems almost dismissive as he mentions the talisman, noting it will theoretically allow her to wield the techniques of the Samurai. It’s as if he has little hope that some random woman off the street will be able to tap into the thing. Guess he’s in for a surprise! Yet again, Kheris gets to drink in the crowd’s cheers as the green-clad Lalafel warms them up for the exhibition match. She matches her opponent’s gaze with all the steely confidence she can muster, which is a lot after defeating so many gods, monsters, and giant robots. But before their match can begin, something obnoxious appears.  Beroald, the gladiator from the street man’s story, is in a foul mood after his humiliation. That mood is not much helped by the crowd’s persistent boos or the announcer reminding him that he was already banned from tournament competition for being “an all-round odious brute.” drat, you know you're bad news when you’re too ill-mannered and annoying for Ul’dans to want to see you die in a fighting pit. The big bastard attempts to force Musosai to fight him a second time, using his personal sword instead of “that toothpick.” Sadly, he didn’t account for the fact that he was insulting SUPERIOR FOLDED STEEL.  …  Ah, one of the classic blunders. Never get involved in a land war in Asia, and never hold out anything made of metal in range of an anime character’s katana. The trash makes itself scarce, and Musosai declares our duel can finally begin. ‘Duel’ is a bit generous, however. In true Martial Arts Film fashion, the old master spends the entire bout standing still while you swing on him. His only interest is to observe how well Kheris has linked to the Soul Stone and drawn out the techniques within. Samurai starts at level 50, meaning your bars are flooded with abilities from the moment you equip your gear, not unlike Red Mage when I picked it up back in the day. Fortunately, I’ve come a long way in understanding this game’s mechanics since then. I can best describe Samurai as a blend of Dragoon and Ninja. Like Dragoon, you have two three-button combos which you’re meant to alternate (plus a third “finisher,” of sorts). Each combo line gives you a buff and lights up one of the three symbols on your Sen Gauge. Depending on the number of symbols lit up on the gauge, you unlock special attacks reminiscent of Ninja’s Ninjutsu. This ability is called Iaijutsu.  I mentioned that word in the first post analyzing the expansion’s trailer, but if you forgot or didn’t know, Iaijutsu (or Battojustu, depending on the era) is a term used to describe sword strikes performed as a single motion while drawing a sheathed blade. This 'quick draw' style of swordsmanship is played to great effect in entertainment media, allowing for high-tension duels decided in a single blow as if the warriors were fighting with guns. Because of how often this is seen in fiction, it’s worth noting that this is a very real martial art, not some dramatic contrivance. The notion was that samurai often faced threats in their day-to-day lives, not just on the battlefield (a reasonable stance considering how much of Japanese history involved civil war), and thus needed a sword art suited to both pre-emptive strikes and counter-attacking even when one did not expect danger. Here’s a video of real-life Japanese sword students practicing Iaijutsu moves so you can get an idea of the nature of this style. Try not to cringe over the cosplayers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlOjuVehh68 The Iaijutsu we see in the game is a bit more theatrical. Historically it would have been highly unusual for a samurai to sheath their sword after a fight began so that they could use an Iaijutsu move. Musosai will later state that we do this because the blade “steeps in power,” while in the sheath, implying a magical/aetheric element to these attacks. There are three options depending on your Sen Gauge. One Sen gets you a low-damage strike which applies a one-minute DoT, two Sen an AOE attack (which fits because you are given two Sen-generating AOE strikes), and three Sen a BIIIIIG single-target shot. Between the double-combo, short-duration buffs, and multiple finishers, the Job appears complex on the surface, especially when you’re getting all these buttons simultaneously. When you use it, though, it’s surprisingly intuitive. The fact that I played so much Dragoon in Heavensward and got used to alternating rotations probably helps. After a couple of minutes, Musosai is satisfied, impressed even. He didn’t expect to find someone who took to the Soul of the Samurai so naturally. Kheris has earned the promised treasure, which turns out to be instruction in the ways of the Samurai rather than any monetary reward. That suits her just fine, but it also triggers that oaf Beroald, who returns with an entire squad of thugs looking for Even More Revenge. Musosai decides that beating these punks will be Kheris’ first official lesson. Kind of a dick move, but old warriors do be like that sometimes. It’s nothing she can’t handle.  My new sensei applauds my success even as he apologizes for the unfair test. He spent many years seeking an apprentice in Hingashi, but all he tested were too rigid in their thinking, too bound by tradition. Thus, did he cross the sea, hoping to find a worthy sword in Heir’s Ear. (His inability to pronounce the names of places on this continent will become a recurring gag) ~*~*~ Kheris’ training begins with a history lesson. The Samurai techniques were born during an era of Hingan history known as the Age of Blood, during which the various daimyo lords fought against each other to unify control of their nation. He describes this as distant history, while later quests imply that the faction which triumphed established the current bakufu government relatively recently. We can thus infer that Hingashi has been engulfed in nearly constant civil war for decades, if not centuries. A great battle brought this war to a decisive end, and since then, Samurai have become peacekeepers. Some serve the government or various lords to enforce the law, like the Sekiseigumi. Others, like Musosai, create their own justice.  Once again, this all reflects real-life Japanese history. The Sengoku, or Warring States era, was a 130-year period of instability that began after the Ashikaga Shogunate’s feudal power structure collapsed. The lords of the samurai clans began fighting almost constantly to claim dominion over their territories in the absence of a centralized authority. Countless video games, anime, and other pop media have glorified this era like no other. Families like the Takeda and the Sanada and individuals like Date Masamune, Hattori Hanzo, and Uesugi Kenshin were made legends and national heroes (or villains) for their deeds during these wars. This was the samurai golden age. Of course, the names most associated with the era are the Three Unifiers: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Each of these three had a role in creating a consolidated Japanese nation-state at the end of this period. The one we’re most concerned with as far as our Game Lore goes is the last, Tokugawa. He ultimately established the new Shogunate, which ruled over Japan until the Meiji Restoration. He was the start of most of the government policies and culture shifts I mentioned when we discussed Kugane and the history that inspired it. He did this with a decisive victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, a name which carries similar weight in Japan as battles like Gettysburg, Waterloo, or Stalingrad.  At the edge of a sword, Tokugawa forged a new era. A time of peace and corruption, prosperity and disparity, cultural flowering and stagnation. A world where the Samurai were triumphant but also struggled to find a new role after a century of endless war. Some continued to serve the new authority, substituting their master’s values for their own. Others walked the path of the ronin, the masterless samurai, bound by no will but their own. These would become criminals and folk heroes in equal measure, not unlike the cowboys and gunslingers of the American West. This history will inform our understanding of the FF14 Samurai story. Musosai intends to begin our Batman Shenanigans right there in Ul’dah, which is as good a place as any, considering corruption and abuse run rampant, and the local cops can be so corrupt it makes the Sekiseigumi look like the goofballs from Brooklyn 99. But to ensure we don’t cross any lines, we could probably use somebody who can pronounce the city’s name on our side. Enter Momozigo, that little fellow in green. It seems he owes Musosai a favor, as the old man rescued him when he tried to get some bandits to go legit as gladiators. Plus, he’s got a feeling that following a couple of samurai might put some coins in his pocket before all is said and done.  Our first target is certainly a deserving one. A loan shark is preying on the folks who inhabit the shanty towns outside the city walls. They are the people in the region most desperately in need of cash, so they’re quick to accept his extortionate terms, and any who can’t afford the interest rates are sold into slavery. Seeing the collection of tents and lean-tos right outside the shining city prompts Musosai to note that Hingashi is no better regarding the gap between the wealthy and the poor. I guess that implies an answer to my question about whether Kugane is the norm or the exception in Hingan architecture. Still, the socio-economic reality doesn’t dampen his enthusiasm for bringing down this money-lender, particularly once he hears that his latest victim is a young woman who borrowed money to purchase medicine for her sick father. We find the dirtbag, and just in case we don’t hate him enough, he goes out of his way to announce that she’ll be working off her debt “on her back,” from now on. Kheris attempts to make him back off, and a violent confrontation seems imminent.  …  Momozigo is confused, but Musosai counsels patience. The fact that this scum threatened to go to the Brass Blades might mean that this is an even deeper corruption than we thought, and following him might expose an even bigger evil. Based on her history with Ul’dah, Kheris thinks that Loan Sharking could be completely legal, and he was legit in his threat to call the cops on us for stopping him. However, the alternative of a cop protecting someone doing blatant crimes is just as likely. What a city... Musosai’s instinct turns out to be right on the money.  We take out the corrupt Blades, prompting the evil Commander and the loan shark to surrender and cry like a baby. Musosai commends his student and tells her to take this lesson to heart: the way of the Samurai is to strike with perfect precision and timing. Do not indulge the instinct to cut mindlessly. And the best part is that Kheris won’t even have to go through awkward conversations with the Sultana to explain why she needed to murder Brass Blades because Momozigo is friends with her old ally Fufulupa, the only Good Cop in Eorzea who is not a Former Cop.   So, our first adventure as Samurai has gone swimmingly. But evil still preys upon the land of Eorzea, and Musosai-sensei believes we must follow the wind to find it! A wind that blows to the sea! Limsa Lominsa, eh? There are certainly a lot of villains there, but even more of them work for the government than in Ul’dah. I hope this doesn’t turn ugly…
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Sep 26, 2022 03:39
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Once again, Kheris has cut a worthless object.
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Sep 26, 2022 03:57
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SAM is is a very unique class that comes fairly complete out of the gate at 50. SAM's GCD structure won't change much until ShB levels, so get used to it. SAM is the selfish DPS class for the melee group; it has no party utility at all outside of Feint, but it has the highest personal damage in the game by far. There is still plenty of controversy about some relatively recent changes to the class, namely the removal of the old 52 skill. Overall, I still like the class and it's my main subclass for raiding behind Scholar. I'll hold off on details about the post 50 skills since you have not discussed it yet.
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Sep 26, 2022 03:57
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The fact that Paladin's quests for Stormblood say "to hells with it, let's go back to Gladiator and do a traditional anime fighting tournament" is generally considered to be a wise move, considering the job's Heavensward quests. And ah, Samurai. The claim that it's a mix of Dragoon and Ninja is well-founded, it's honestly very straightforward with that in mind. Apply DoT, go for BIG DAMAGE.
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Sep 26, 2022 04:07
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Ah, Samurai. Such an awesome class. Cool to see Kheris pick it up. Also nice to see actual good Paladin quests! (Because they basically said screw it let's go back to Gladiator quests.)
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Sep 26, 2022 04:17
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Ah, yes, here's the impetus to get off my rear end and get SAM to 90.
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Sep 26, 2022 04:45
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Samurai just feels good. That cast time on iaijutsu is Chef Kissing Fingers level nice. I should really learn the intricacies of the class one of these days.
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Sep 26, 2022 05:08
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Sanguinia posted:It does, however, give me a chance to mention something important about Job Abilities in this expansion. For the first time since pre-Level 30, new skills are unlocked immediately when you reach the appropriate level rather than requiring you to clear the relevant Job Quest. I was sad about this at first. There’s been some very cool metanarrative storytelling through those ability unlocks. On the other, it means I’ll never again go twenty levels of Red Mage without gaining an important button because it didn’t feel right to do the job story yet. So, you know, that’s good! I don't know if it's said concretely, but the implication is that, at this point on, you are basically the best of the best, and can't learn from trainers anymore - and so all the techniques you're learning are ones you're creating yourself. You are no longer learning from the soul stone; now you're imprinting on it. Often times this is a cool idea. In the case of Machinist and Summoner specifically, it becomes hilarious. Cid told the WoL he left Garlemald so he wouldn't have to invent war crimes, and the WoL just heard "war crimes...war crimes...war crimes..." on repeat and made a flamethrower.
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Sep 26, 2022 05:21
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ProfessorCirno posted:I don't know if it's said concretely, but the implication is that, at this point on, you are basically the best of the best, and can't learn from trainers anymore - and so all the techniques you're learning are ones you're creating yourself. You are no longer learning from the soul stone; now you're imprinting on it. Often times this is a cool idea. In the case of Machinist and Summoner specifically, it becomes hilarious. Cid told the WoL he left Garlemald so he wouldn't have to invent war crimes, and the WoL just heard "war crimes...war crimes...war crimes..." on repeat and made a flamethrower. Machinist specifically is all new techniques being inscribed on a blank soulstone. Also, since you mentioned it coming up later Sang, indeed the mid combat sheathing is a way to focus aether into the blade to perform the powerful Iajutsu techniques. Every job in the game bar one involves aetheric manipulation one way or another. This also leads to an interesting detail about Zenos, who as a Garlean cannot channel Aether. His Katana Golf Bag is part of what allows him to fight the way he does. Or at least, when I was doing the Samurai quests and later fought Zenos during the solo scenarios early in Stormblood it was the inference I made about his gear (I grabbed Sam before I even finished ARR because I knew I wanted to play Sam before I began playing FFXIV last year). As mentioned, the removal of a specific ability in 6.1 is quite sad for the game feel of Samurai, but ultimately it is still my preferred job for hard combat. Big number feel good, and Samurai has the biggest numbers around.
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Sep 26, 2022 05:44
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Ahh, Samurai, easily my overall favorite job on just about every level  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAVIZrs4HTc
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Sep 26, 2022 05:53
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Samurai is weird for me; I just don't vibe with the class despite having spent a fair bit of time learning the rotation, and also liking the infinitely more complicated other selfish DPS class, BLM, as well as a class with just as many buttons to juggle, DRG. I couldn't tell you what it is I don't care for, honestly? It just feels bad. (The answer is I probably just broke my brain spending the entirety of ARR in THM/BLM, only detouring to learn DRK and DRG once I hit Heavensward.  But it is frustrating that I can't verbalize why I don't care for it.)
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Sep 26, 2022 05:57
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Like Clockwork posted:Samurai is weird for me; I just don't vibe with the class despite having spent a fair bit of time learning the rotation, and also liking the infinitely more complicated other selfish DPS class, BLM, as well as a class with just as many buttons to juggle, DRG. I couldn't tell you what it is I don't care for, honestly? It just feels bad. It took me a long time to 'get' Samurai as in actually enjoy it. I still haven't finished leveling it, I only have it to level 70, but it's likely to become my go to melee job once I hit 90. I think the thing for me is that I enjoy the vaguely open-ended nature of the sen guage. It doesn't really matter what order you accrue the sen in, so you are free to kind of choose which one will be most convenient for the situation you are in. This means less using True North (if I even bother in leveling dungeons). I can also understand how that might be off putting though, most other jobs do NOT work like that, the order you need to do things in is very specific.
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Sep 26, 2022 06:56
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I still haven't 'gotten' SAM myself, but I think I only tried it around the time I got to 50 and it unlocked. It's been like four years since then, so I'll probably have a better idea of it if I give it another go now. Think I was probably overwhelmed by all the abilities you had off the bat, since it starts at 50. But since then I've maxed out a number of the other expansion Job that start even higher. I should probably pick it back up and give it another go.
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Sep 26, 2022 07:50
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Sanguinia posted:For the first time since pre-Level 30, new skills are unlocked immediately when you reach the appropriate level rather than requiring you to clear the relevant Job Quest. I was sad about this at first. There’s been some very cool metanarrative storytelling through those ability unlocks. On the other, it means I’ll never again go twenty levels of Red Mage without gaining an important button because it didn’t feel right to do the job story yet. So, you know, that’s good! I think the main reason for the change is that they realised having abilities tied to quests is a pain for them when they want to rework a job in a future release. If they decide in 7.0 that Holy Spirit should come at level 62 instead of 64, or shouldn't exist at all, or something, that's made a lot harder for them if there's a level 64 quest all about learning Holy Spirit.
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Sep 26, 2022 08:09
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Samurai is a fun class, it dumps a lot of skills on you right away with lots of Japanese names which can be confusing but everything is mostly just an extension of a pretty simple core concept: You have a 3 path gcd combo which branches out from the same first attack, and the combo finisher in each of the 3 branches gives you a sen charge for completing it. You then spend your sen charges by doing a big powerful Iaijutsu move, which changes depending on the number of sen you've built up. As already mentioned, 1 sen is a big single target DoT, 2 is an AOE attack, and 3 is your big single target nuke. So the fundamental gameplan on a boss is get 1 Sen to DoT them, then continually build up a full 3 sen stack to nuke them, refreshing the DoT every minute as it expires. SAM has been my raid class since Shadowbringers and it's also the class which has my Official Warrior of Light glam for when it's time to look the part for playing the hero in the MSQ. 
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Sep 26, 2022 08:30
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Aside from the debates over the removal of SAM’s “buff your next weapon swing” ability, there really hasn’t been a better time to start playing it.
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Sep 26, 2022 08:34
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Regalingualius posted:Aside from the debates over the removal of SAM’s “buff your next weapon swing” ability, there really hasn’t been a better time to start playing it.
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Sep 26, 2022 08:56
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In general, Samurai's priorities are pretty set in stone - you want to get your buffs up, with Fuka (the red buff that's a self-Haste, meaning you get faster cast/recast times and auto-attack speed) first and then Fugetsu (the blue buff that's a self-Damage boost, just making you hit harder) second (edit: though I believe things changed after they made Meikyo Shisui apply the buffs on the combo finishers, so optimal openers go the other way now - it's not a huge loss in speed when you can apply the haste a single GCD after the damage buff) . Then you want to make sure Higanbana is rolling if it's a boss or at least large enemy that'll take a bit to kill - the initial hit potency is small (200), but a DoT that lasts an entire minute means that it'll have like 20 ticks before falling off (most DoTs and HoTs in the game proc once every 3 seconds), and at 45 potency that means the full expected damage of Higanbana is a whopping 1100 potency! There's not much that competes with that on a single button press - however, it IS spaced out over a minute, and reapplying it too early clips the damage efficiency, so it doesn't FEEL as dramatic as Midare Setsugekka (which is 640 potency as soon as the attack hits). Once you have your buffs (and Higanbana rolling, if applicable), you're really just making sure those plates spin while you cram in as much damage as possible otherwise. It's not quite as easy as that sounds but there's also not too much more to it (beyond what gets added at higher levels which amounts to some more cooldowns to keep track of for maximum output). Your utility, such as it is, lies in damage hosing. Hogama fucked around with this message at 09:10 on Sep 26, 2022 |
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Sep 26, 2022 09:05
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Hogama posted:In general, Samurai's priorities are pretty set in stone - you want to get your buffs up, with Fuka (the red buff that's a self-Haste, meaning you get faster cast/recast times and auto-attack speed) first and then Fugetsu (the blue buff that's a self-Damage boost, just making you hit harder) second (edit: though I believe things changed after they made Meikyo Shisui apply the buffs on the combo finishers, so optimal openers go the other way now - it's not a huge loss in speed when you can apply the haste a single GCD after the damage buff) . Then you want to make sure Higanbana is rolling if it's a boss or at least large enemy that'll take a bit to kill - the initial hit potency is small (200), but a DoT that lasts an entire minute means that it'll have like 20 ticks before falling off (most DoTs and HoTs in the game proc once every 3 seconds), and at 45 potency that means the full expected damage of Higanbana is a whopping 1100 potency! There's not much that competes with that on a single button press - however, it IS spaced out over a minute, and reapplying it too early clips the damage efficiency, so it doesn't FEEL as dramatic as Midare Setsugekka (which is 640 potency as soon as the attack hits). Higanbana is the highest damage dot in the game if it goes for 45 seconds of it's duration outright, and whilst Midare says 640, it's also an auto-crit, so it is increased by your current crit damage (and there's some new math going on in 6.2 to buff it further when you have crit change up buffs/debuffs going on in group content). At 50, which you can reasonably expect to perform content for every now and then, the basic samurai rotation is quite simple. You open with Meikyo Shisui, hit your 3 finishers, Midare, do a Yukikaze combo, Higanbana, and then start rotating through your combos for Midares, remembering to apply higanbana when it's about to fall off, and using Meikyo on cooldown to skip parts of your rotation. "Optimal" Meikyo should never be used to do Yukikaze outside openers. This is also, unironically, the foundation for the Samurai design for the rest of the game, this basic opener and Midare based rotation is what you do from 50 to 90, just you get more buttons to add into it at appropriate times. Samurai has big, big, big buttons. The only buttons bigger might be on Black Mage, potency for GCD.
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Sep 26, 2022 09:19
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Slightly amusingly, there was another point to the Yukikaze combo when Samurai was introduced beyond being a quicker Sen - it applied a Slashing damage resistance debuff to the enemy. Of course, Samurai was also the THIRD job to have this debuff (Warrior had it first as an attachment to Storm's Eye, and Ninja had it on Dancing Edge which is no longer in the game (functionally replaced by Armor Crush)), while only Dragoon had the Piercing damage resistance debuff (which made them more or less essential to Bards and Machinists) and only Monk had the Blunt damage resistance debuff (which only mattered to... Monk, really. I mean, White Mage/Black Mage/Scholar/Summoner auto-attacks are Blunt, too, but...).
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Sep 26, 2022 09:34
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Hogama posted:Slightly amusingly, there was another point to the Yukikaze combo when Samurai was introduced beyond being a quicker Sen - it applied a Slashing damage resistance debuff to the enemy. Of course, Samurai was also the THIRD job to have this debuff (Warrior had it first as an attachment to Storm's Eye, and Ninja had it on Dancing Edge which is no longer in the game (functionally replaced by Armor Crush)), while only Dragoon had the Piercing damage resistance debuff (which made them more or less essential to Bards and Machinists) and only Monk had the Blunt damage resistance debuff (which only mattered to... Monk, really. I mean, White Mage/Black Mage/Scholar/Summoner auto-attacks are Blunt, too, but...). Actually, Scholar and Summoner had different damage types on their auto-attacks. Which is even more baffling, one is slashing, the other blunt. (Paper cuts vs book bonking I guess).
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Sep 26, 2022 09:36
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Lord_Magmar posted:Higanbana is the highest damage dot in the game if it goes for 45 seconds of it's duration outright, and whilst Midare says 640, it's also an auto-crit, so it is increased by your current crit damage (and there's some new math going on in 6.2 to buff it further when you have crit change up buffs/debuffs going on in group content).
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Sep 26, 2022 09:36
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Lord_Magmar posted:Actually, Scholar and Summoner had different damage types on their auto-attacks. Which is even more baffling, one is slashing, the other blunt. (Paper cuts vs book bonking I guess).
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Sep 26, 2022 09:37
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Lord_Magmar posted:Machinist specifically is all new techniques being inscribed on a blank soulstone. This means that all those flips and poses you do while firing your gun isn't because the Magic Memory Stone tells you that's the way its done, that's the WoL doing all those flips and stances for the hell of it.
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Sep 26, 2022 10:43
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There's something a bit entertaining about the fact that Paladin's Stormblood quests just gave up on the Paladin NPCs and just put you back with the Gladiator cast. It's a little sad, though. And you don't even get to fight Mylla.  I want to say Bronze Bull also shows up somewhere else in the game, but I really don't recall if he does. The Samurai quests were pretty fun though. Aside from one particular part that I'm sure you'll find out about next time. Blueberry Pancakes fucked around with this message at 12:05 on Sep 26, 2022 |
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Sep 26, 2022 11:50
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Samurai is cool. I mean, it's a Job that uses a Katana and does Anime stuff, of course it's cool. Got it to 70 during the Moogle Treasure Trove of Verity, probably should go and finish all of the Job quests there aswell as others due to how the Job Quests in Stormblood work.
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Sep 26, 2022 12:21
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SAM is the first class to display a pretty odd aspect about FFXIV class design; as you get further and further into expansions, classes seem to get more and more intuitive. Of course, part of this is that the player is more familiar with FFXIV abilities as the game goes on. Part of this is also that they're probably afraid of throwing too much nonsense at a player starting in a pre-levelled class. But part of this is also that Stormblood started the modern class design of trying to make the game more intuitive to newer players in general. There's also the fact that, by designing for classes starting at higher levels, they don't have to worry as much about making the class functional at lower levels and can have a simpler chassis to staple abilities onto.
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Sep 26, 2022 13:10
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Like others have said, Sam starts right off at 50 with pretty much the entire core rotation in place, and everything you get for the next 40 levels is grafting bigger and cooler things onto it. In that sense it's fairly similar to Red Mage, just that you're focused on stabs all the time instead of the occasional burst combo. And few things in this game are more satisfying than the sound of a Midare coming out, followed by big crit numbers. Another job history trivia bit is that most of Sam's AoEs were cones up until EW release, at which point they were changed to circles. Which is better for trash pulls, but boy did it screw with my positional sense for a while. Speaking of positionals, keep an eye on your traits and job abilities as you level up. At high level, Sam is probably the job that loses the most DPS if you ignore positional attacks even though it may not seem obvious at first. But believe me, it's really noticeable.
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Sep 26, 2022 13:55
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Blueberry Pancakes posted:I want to say Bronze Bull also shows up somewhere else in the game, but I really don't recall if he does. I believe you make a sword for him in the Blacksmith quests, and if you've already done them he'll recognize you here. SAM is one of my absolute favourite jobs, I should play it more but I'm just so in love with Dancer right now. The rotation's fun and the big hits are very, very satisfying. Not even losing Kaiten could beat it. It's also why I really enjoyed the solo fights against Zenos. Squaring off against him in a samurai duel was really fun every time, even if the result was scripted. Going back to GLD for the PLD quests was a good idea, though it does feel like you only do Gladiator things (fighting in the arena) in Paladin quests, and Paladin things (righting wrongs, protecting people) in Gladiator quests. The class identity is all screwed up.
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Sep 26, 2022 14:13
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Bronze Bull and Franz are 1.0 characters who also both have cameos in Halatali HM.
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Sep 26, 2022 14:25
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Specifically, for Sam aoe. The cone was your combo starter and your Iajutsu. Which indeed meant you had a bunch of cones during aoe. They changed the iajutsu to a circle and added a functional upgrade for the starter that makes it mostly all circles.
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Sep 26, 2022 15:01
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I think I'm the only one who wasn't excited to see the GLD cast pop back up with the PLD story. I hated Aldis, and I hated Aldis and Mylla. Mylla by herself was fine, though. SAM made me wish they'd stop with making expansion classes start at high levels. It's convenient, yes, but I'd prefer a more measured introduction to a class's rotation and mechanics before tossing you into the deep end.
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Sep 26, 2022 15:04
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Cythereal posted:I think I'm the only one who wasn't excited to see the GLD cast pop back up with the PLD story. I hated Aldis, and I hated Aldis and Mylla. Mylla by herself was fine, though. Unfortunately, Sam (and to a lesser extent Red Mage) is also where they stop really making expansion jobs work below 50. Sam is miserable below 50, and the lower it gets the less enjoyable it becomes, and some of the later jobs are even worse in this regard. So a measured introduction could be nice, but I think in this case Sam doesn't actually really work with anything less than the 50 kit (and also doesn't need much else added, hence why it really doesn't change at all much as time goes on in terms of actual GCD rotation). Sam's mechanics actually don't work below 50, thanks to how the Sen Guage functions (you can't actually get 3 Sen until level 50).
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Sep 26, 2022 15:14
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Blueberry Pancakes posted:I want to say Bronze Bull also shows up somewhere else in the game, but I really don't recall if he does. He also shows in the ALC quests, 60-70 if my memory is right, which ties to Minifelia I definitely like the quests for higher paladin and Samurai. Though I had quite a hard time with the first quest, I wasn't quite ready for all those dudes when I wasn't use to the buttons.
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Sep 26, 2022 15:15
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| # ? Jun 11, 2024 22:00 |
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SAM was the first time I'd ever seen combos, on account of playing only casters up until then. "aaaaaa why are these buttons outlined, why is it sometimes two or three different ones at once but then they stop as soon as I pick one, aaaa" I spent a good long time playing with hotbars in that solo duty. Thankfully Musosai gives you all the time in the world to do it. Worked out well enough in the end.
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Sep 26, 2022 15:21
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