Final Fantasy XIV (Guide in first post)

The glamour changes are insane because there are some good looking sets that were previously restricted like crafter scrip gear for a single job (i.e. BSM only) suddenly is viable for everyone. Glow swaps: if you want green glow instead of yellow from eureka gear you have a reason to go back and collect them. Doesn't even need to be whole outfits single pieces that are amazing for mix and matches are out there.

I assume this will not affect racial gear which is sad but one step at a time.

Pyros said:

Racial gear being tied to the race body itself will limit it yeah but it is otherwise a huge change for glamours. The crafter stuff has a ton of really good glamours, alchemist for combat medic kind of stuff, blacksmith has notably one of the best chest pieces for monk type glamours with just the cloth band over the chest, GSM and WVR had plenty of dapper style stuff you couldn't use otherwise, miner and fisher have some cool looking stuff too.

Another big thing is those glamours that were class restricted then released again a few expansion later as crafted but for another class so you still had to farm the shitty dungeons for yours, or the crafted one had bad dyes on some areas compared to the original but you could only use that and so on, now you just pick.

It's just a very good change overall considering a lot of people who stay subbed for long periods of time are people very into glamours and housing and all that and the original reason for not allowing it completely disappeared years ago when they kept releasing weird sets that didn't fit the class imagery anyway(like the Judge armor sets being full plate armor for casters anyway, all the casual wear for tanks and so on). Now if they could delete the glamour dresser and plates shit and just have a proper binary checklist for all gear looted and just have dyes saved separately in a limited way if they really care about that(which I guess they do since they sell them in the cash shop).

No BLU info kinda sucks though, wonder if they'll be skipping BLU updates this expansion in favor of Beastmaster. Would seriously suck if they go "we can only do one per expansion" kind of deal.

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It seems that this is more of just a "general" these are the things coming down the pipe, there is more coming but this is what we have ready so far. (I'm sure Blue is gonna get more toys, along with the new beast master stuff)

As far as racial sets go though that is gonna be tough, the major issue with the vierra/hroth hats was because those models are not based off of the Hyur model(All starting races are based off the Hyur. The skeleton of the model is adjusted to change size, its a smart way too do it, but it becomes a massive headache when you add in new skeletons and you have a shit ton of models that need adjusting)

Some good news. People found out about this thanks to a trash taste video.

Ewww, Grummz. That dude is such a grifter

Anyways, after doing some research online, it suggests that Kate maybe still works at Square Enix/on the team, but was moved to a different role that deals with game lore. I would be curious what actually drove the change - while it is possible the tweets played a role (Japanese companies are usually very controversy adverse, so I could also just as easily see moving her to a less front-facing role as a means to mitigate that), it could also be unrelated. It wouldn't be the first time a manager gets replaced at a company after a product gets scorched by customers.

edit: Paul Chandler also isn't new - he has been a localization lead on the game for at least a few years

Well, that sucks. She should be fucking fired for all I care. When the shoe was on the other foot, her ilk constantly celebrated anytime a conservative or center right person got canned.

She would like said person dead

People are still trying to pin Dawntrail on the localization team huh. How retarded. Should go read the Japanese forums opinion of Wuk Lamat, makes the English complaints seem quaint. My wife who played through it IN Japanese hated that character.

... said:

She would like said person dead

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Have you read these forums before sir? Thats beginner shit

Cybsled said:

Ewww, Grummz. That dude is such a grifter

Anyways, after doing some research online, it suggests that Kate maybe still works at Square Enix/on the team, but was moved to a different role that deals with game lore. I would be curious what actually drove the change - while it is possible the tweets played a role (Japanese companies are usually very controversy adverse, so I could also just as easily see moving her to a less front-facing role as a means to mitigate that), it could also be unrelated. It wouldn't be the first time a manager gets replaced at a company after a product gets scorched by customers.

edit: Paul Chandler also isn't new - he has been a localization lead on the game for at least a few years

FFXIV Backstage Investigators (No. 9): Localization Team (Pt. 1) | FINAL FANTASY XIV: Official Blog

The official blog for FINAL FANTASY XIV.

na.finalfantasyxiv.com

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Correct, though few years is kinda underselling it, its been from the start lol

Kate is credited as:

• Final Fantasy XIV Online: Dawntrail (2024, PlayStation 5) Lore Consultation & English Localization Lead
• Final Fantasy XIV Online: Endwalker (2021, PlayStation 5) Lore Consultation & English Localization Lead
• Final Fantasy XIV Online: Shadowbringers (2019, PlayStation 4) English Translation & Localization
• Final Fantasy XIV Online: Stormblood (2017, PlayStation 4) English Translation & Localization
• Final Fantasy XIV Online: Heavensward (2015, PlayStation 4) Assistant QA Coordinators
• Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn (2013, Windows) Assistant QA Coordinators

Meanwhile, Paul Chandler is credited as:

• Final Fantasy XIV Online: Dawntrail (2024, PlayStation 5) English Translation & Localization
• Final Fantasy XIV Online: Endwalker (2021, PlayStation 5) English Translation & Localization
• Final Fantasy XIV Online: Shadowbringers (2019, PlayStation 4) English Translation & Localization
• Final Fantasy XIV Online: Stormblood (2017, PlayStation 4) English Translation & Localization
• Final Fantasy XIV Online: Heavensward (2015, PlayStation 4) English Translation & Localization
• Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn (2013, Windows) English Translation & Localization

Juvarisx said:

People are still trying to pin Dawntrail on the localization team huh. How retarded. Should go read the Japanese forums opinion of Wuk Lamat, makes the English complaints seem quaint.

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I'll take all the slaughter i can get for them ruining fantasy aztec

Cybsled said:

Ewww, Grummz. That dude is such a grifter

Anyways, after doing some research online, it suggests that Kate maybe still works at Square Enix/on the team, but was moved to a different role that deals with game lore. I would be curious what actually drove the change - while it is possible the tweets played a role (Japanese companies are usually very controversy adverse, so I could also just as easily see moving her to a less front-facing role as a means to mitigate that), it could also be unrelated. It wouldn't be the first time a manager gets replaced at a company after a product gets scorched by customers.

edit: Paul Chandler also isn't new - he has been a localization lead on the game for at least a few years

FFXIV Backstage Investigators (No. 9): Localization Team (Pt. 1) | FINAL FANTASY XIV: Official Blog

The official blog for FINAL FANTASY XIV.

na.finalfantasyxiv.com

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I dont care for Grummz either - but lets not shoot the messenger. What she said is foul and it needs to be noted. As it seems this company consistently flies in the face of "adverse to controversy" by putting these people, as you said, in front facing positions and positions of power/decision making. I dont know what happened between Endwalker and Dawntrail, but Dawntrail made me put the game down ever since it came out. Wuk Lamat was influential in that decision, but not the deciding factor.

Juvarisx said:

Have you read these forums before sir? Thats beginner shit

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Chandler comes off just as left wing, imo. If the entertainment industry at large wasnt inundated with a left wing mentality - I dont think so many people (regardless of political beliefs) that are passionate about games, movies and series would feel so "fatigued" by the same shit coming to light, over, and over, and over, and over again. Look how fucking awful the Witcher series is now, compared to season 1. Or how GOT was fucking ruined by two far left leaning dudes. Or Rings of Power. Or Wheel of Time. How fucking easy should they have had it with those shows? Compare it to how often you hear the opposite side pin all their woes on blacks, jews and hispanics. Its just fucking tiring.

Daidraco said:

I dont know what happened between Endwalker and Dawntrail, but Dawntrail made me put the game down ever since it came out. Wuk Lamat was influential in that decision, but not the deciding factor.

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The Japanese fans didn't like it either, which evidenced it has less to do with the localization and more to do with other factors. What I suspect happened:

1) Ishikawa, who wrote ShB and EW, was promoted to lead story supervisor. That means other writers took primary reigns and she probably just signed off on it or maybe added bits here or there. The only writing in Dawntrail that felt like Ishikawa was the gondola scene with Graha

2) YoshiP said for Dawntrail they decided to throw a bunch of stuff out and see what stuck

3) Maybe she isn't as used to managerial duties or maybe she was just tired after carrying the past 2 xpacs or maybe that YoshiP direction was taken too literally, but as a result we get all sorts of pocket story arcs that felt semi-disjointed and a lot of "saturday morning cartoon/shonenjump" level writing.

Whatever the case was, it was super clear YoshiP probably freaked out when he saw the critical reaction and they probably had to shift people around to try to salvage the xpac. The change in tone/quality starting in 7.2 an 7.3 felt a lot more in line with ShB and EW than DT in terms of MSQ quality, so ither Ishikawa had to step in and write or in her new role, she had to tighten the reigns a bit

https://bsky.app/profile/jasonschreier.bsky.social/post/3m4yebaj5jk2o
"This layoff is not related to Square Enix saying earlier today that it is looking to automate QA testing with generative AI — this is consolidating publishing, marketing, sales, and other business operations from the US and Europe to Japan"

Moving jobs back to Japan sounds like a good move given the American industry

Cybsled said:

The Japanese fans didn't like it either, which evidenced it has less to do with the localization and more to do with other factors. What I suspect happened:

1) Ishikawa, who wrote ShB and EW, was promoted to lead story supervisor. That means other writers took primary reigns and she probably just signed off on it or maybe added bits here or there. The only writing in Dawntrail that felt like Ishikawa was the gondola scene with Graha

2) YoshiP said for Dawntrail they decided to throw a bunch of stuff out and see what stuck

3) Maybe she isn't as used to managerial duties or maybe she was just tired after carrying the past 2 xpacs or maybe that YoshiP direction was taken too literally, but as a result we get all sorts of pocket story arcs that felt semi-disjointed and a lot of "saturday morning cartoon/shonenjump" level writing.

Whatever the case was, it was super clear YoshiP probably freaked out when he saw the critical reaction and they probably had to shift people around to try to salvage the xpac. The change in tone/quality starting in 7.2 an 7.3 felt a lot more in line with ShB and EW than DT in terms of MSQ quality, so ither Ishikawa had to step in and write or in her new role, she had to tighten the reigns a bit

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The word that I heard is that with the end of the Ascian arc (Lol, they'll be back) and the beginning of Dawntrail they were going to let their understudies take more of a foreground role in writing and development of the game. This would give Ishikawa and company a break and see how the minions did. If it worked, the current heads would move up to producer and oversight as CBU3 took on more projects since apparently its the only Square Enix unit not shitting the bed. This would let YoshiP and Ishikawa etc work on more projects and FF14 could still be run under them but with less personal workload.

Some comments and interviews I read at the time made it seem like Kate and the California crew would be more involved in writing than prior, especially as it was focusing on more American continent storylines. Also, Kate was reportedly involved in the EN voice talent selection etc that ended us up with the VA for Wuk Lamat. Excepting politics and personal medical procedures aside, leaving all that out and just look at their performance, it was horrible. Abysmal. Laughably so and so bad they had to go after the fact and re-voice parts of it.

Now, my personal suspicions and beliefs based off what I read back when I cared and hated Dawntrail's writing enough to dig into it, is that the understudies were given an outline and storyboard etc to follow and were told to just fill in the empty spaces. Write the dialogue, follow the story beats and stay within the guard rails. Obviously, that failed horribly. Kate has been involved with writing in the past with side quests and lore. An interview with her had her stating that her proudest moment was getting the gender neutral status of the Fae put into Shadowbringers. I don't personally care one way or the other, but it does show a certain ideological bent if that is what you choose to brag about to a magazine.

So, I think Kate's political commentary played a role in her firing, but I also get the impression they put her up to the plate to take a swing and she struck out in the most spectacular way. The improvements in story telling in the later patches since 7.0 shows that something has changed behind the wheel and I wouldn't be surprised if Kate's canning has more to do with performance and the political stunts just further reinforced there was no value in rehabbing the individual into other lesser roles.

Mao said:

her proudest moment was getting the gender neutral status of the Fae put into Shadowbringers.

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Man that was so jarring and retarded. It ruined the immersion and every line including it was like a discordant note in a song.

... said:

I'll take all the slaughter i can get for them ruining fantasy aztec

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You want something they can't do cause of fucking Australia .. EndWalker was delayed so late because originally. Even when you look at what blood they show, it's very quickly shown and never shows up on the character again. (The few times they have shown blood)

Lolstralia. What’s with Australia and the UK being censor happy nanny states?

Mao said:

Excepting politics and personal medical procedures aside, leaving all that out and just look at their performance, it was horrible. Abysmal. Laughably so and so bad they had to go after the fact and re-voice parts of it.

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To be a bit fair, I think the American VA had bad direction. Remember the infamous “COVID patch” in ShB post-MSQ where all the English VA sounded off? Most of that was due to poor direction. VA work when you have no point of reference beyond what the director tells you and isn’t making you redo takes can fuck up the final product. I think some of the American VA mentioned that they frequently weren’t told the context of the scenes or treated it like a normal anime dub.

The re-recorded Wuk lines are much better compared to the original reading, although I do agree that in terms of VA quality they still fall short compared the UK counterparts

On that note, kinda concerned about Johnathan Bailey (Gra’ha’s VA). Dude is starting to get some major Hollywood roles. He likes voicing Gra’ha and likes the Shakespeare like dialogue since he was a stage actor originally, but I have to imagine at some point his agent is going to push for more money

FFXIV overstated its welcome since Shadowbringers' update. I like the game but it's too underfinanced.

Bondurant said:

FFXIV overstated its welcome since Shadowbringers' update. I like the game but it's too underfinanced.

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Can you elaborate with some specifics? I've never picked up that vibe from FFXIV. I definitely feel that from say, World of Warcraft. But FFXIV?