Final Fantasy XIVhas often been referred to as a “theme park” of an MMO. This has been interpreted variously over the years, but the way I see it, the term refers toFFXIV’s nature as a curated experience. It’s not a sandbox MMO where you define your own experience however you want; you can, however, choose which “attractions” you spend your time on, be they the linear MSQ, dungeons, raids, PvP, the Gold Saucer, or whatever else strikes your fancy.
This approach to MMO development has its merits, butFFXIV’s theme park approach may now be doing it more harm than good. In recent days, it’s been controversy after controversy for the hit MMO, and itsconsistency is rapidly becoming its greatest weakness.
Dawntrail Showed Some Cracks In The Foundation
The End Of An Era
FFXIV’s recent troubles began in earnest with the release of theDawntrailexpansion. It’s as if a new park was introduced to a multi-area, mega-theme-park complex:Dawntraildidn’t fit in with anything elseFFXIVhad done to date, which was supposed to be a good thing.
InDawntrail, we were promised a sort of summer vacation for our Warriors of Light. And we got it: a tropical destination, a low-stakes story, and two reasonably fun new classes.
ButDawntrailsuffered as a result ofFFXIV’stheme park approach. While I found its story largely fine, I do understand the disappointment. We were railroaded through a base game and four expansions worth of epic, linear, constantly escalating MSQ - each roller coaster got bigger and more exciting than the last.Dawntrailwas a kiddy ride by comparison, and left many fans wanting.
Things only got worse from there: like excessively long lines at a theme park,a housing crisisprevented many players from accessing one of the game’s most popular attractions.
Now, this is where the theme park analogy gets away from me a bit. A real-life theme park benefits from the simple reality that even its biggest fans can only visit it a few times a month at most. Therefore, it really only needs to update its available attractions every so often. Most who visit are entirely new to the park, or haven’t been there for a while - they’re sure to find something they’ve never seen before.
But MMO players are logging in much more regularly: some as often as multiple times perday. Therefore,XIVneeds more regular patches and refreshes. Even if it’s not new content, bugs, balance, and other player complaints need to be tweaked regularly to avoid long-term frustration.
The Next FFXIV Expansion Has A Lot Of Work To Do
The Theme Park Formula May Need To Go
While it’s had plenty of updates and certainly seems to be headed in the right direction overall,FFXIV’s progress has still been too slow for some players, many of whom havemade the jump over toWorld of Warcraftinstead.
ButFFXIVneeds to keep changing. Its next major expansion, whatever it has to be, should and almost certainly will be a monumental shakeup to what came immediately before, as many previous patches have done. And in that tradition,it may be time to leave the theme park approach behind.
FFXIV’s theme park approach has often been framed in opposition toa sandbox MMO: a game that just gives players a variety of tools and a space to use them in, and lets them create their own experience. Of course,FFXIVstill needs to include a wide variety of attractions to keep multiple demographics interested.
Butmaybe a less linear, more player-defined experience is what it needs. It could be an expansion to crafting and the trade marketplace that opens up a new dimension of player freedom. Maybe it’s a new, more open-ended version of Island Sanctuary.
Whatever it is, it should increase player agency by providing us with a gameplay experience we can customize, instead of a predetermined path through linear activities. It’d be radically different from anything elseFinal Fantasy XIVhas done to date, and could be a good first step towards addressing some of its ongoing issues.
