Last Fantasy XIV’s subsequent growth, Dawntrail, releases on June 28 (for many who pre-order). I’m wanting ahead to it. There is only one drawback—I nonetheless haven’t completed the final growth, Endwalker. Sure, I do know it got here out on the finish of 2021, however time simply received away from me and I fell off in the course of the growth. 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 Last 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 you need to concurrently carry out throughout large-scale dungeons or raids feels tailored for a keyboard and mouse. A controller at all times felt too constrictive, particularly in my nerve-racking job as a White Mage (a healer position). However one of many largest hurdles I’ve confronted in attempting to finish Endwalker is my PC itself. I’m simply not within the temper to take a seat at my desk for hours as I rush via the growth.
The crux of the difficulty lies in Last Fantasy XIV’s quest design. As an MMO, many of the sport’s foremost state of affairs quests are relatively mundane, a minimum of 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, typically to kill an enemy or two, typically to gather objects, and typically simply to speak to folks. The speaking is the very best half, as a result of that’s the story I’m right here to expertise. However the time in between is generally mundane. “Mundane” shouldn’t be enjoyable for me to do from my uncomfy desk chair (which is its personal drawback). I need to do that from the consolation of my sofa. Fortunately, I used to be capable of 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 known as to me. That’s the simple half. However identical to switching jobs within the sport itself, switching to a distinct technique of enter—a DualSense controller, on this case—primarily means I’ve to relearn every little thing. It’s gradual going, and at occasions I ponder if it’s price it. The principle challenge is that I’m nonetheless attempting to arrange my cross hotbars in a manner that meshes with how I play. Cross hotbars are the best way console gamers set off their actions. Versus the rows of actions on a PC that you just hit with completely different keybinds, the cross hotbar appears to be like like two plus indicators side-by-side with area for actions on every nook. It’s made to mirror the d-pad and face buttons, which the actions are sure to. So far as transferring the complexity of an MMO to a controller, it’s fairly ingenious, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a studying curve. My first 24 hours with the PS5 model had been principally spent tweaking settings and getting my cross hotbars good.
However after overcoming the pure rising pains related to it, I’ve been pleasantly stunned by simply how nicely my change of platform has labored out. Motion particularly is a spot the place I admire the convenience 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 via the sport’s quests way more fortunately. My sofa is certainly as cozy as I bear 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 offered with a brief combat 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 best way 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 essential 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 greatest for my occasion. After all, I may use the NPC events obtainable via 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 participating with different gamers. That’s why I’ve additionally taken to maintaining 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 general, switching to PS5 has made me admire the alternative ways folks can play this sport. Now, as I anticipate the discharge of Dawntrail, I can’t assist however suppose that I’ll swap backwards and forwards between PC and PS5 for the upcoming growth as nicely.
