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[NecrosaroIII]

I wanted to share my thoughts on the new Final Fantasy XIV TTRPG. While they clearly took some cues from D&D in terms of design, it's very much its own beast. It's fascinating to see how they've tried to adapt FFXIV's mechanics for a tabletop format. Here are some of the standout features and my impressions:

Class Roles and Mechanics​

In the starter set, classes are broken into specific roles, similar to the MMO. There are only four classes:

• Warrior/Tank: The physical fighter who builds up enmity (aggro) to draw enemy attention.
• White Mage/Healer: Uses healing magic to keep the party alive.
• Dragoon/DPS: Utilizes jumping spear techniques for heavy damage.
• Black Mage/Magical DPS: Casts powerful spells to deal magic damage.

Borrowed Mechanics from FFXIV​

• No traditional resting: Your health and MP regenerate outside of combat, mirroring the MMO.
• AOE markers: Similar to FFXIV, giving it a "Simon says" feel during encounters.
• Encounter-focused gameplay: Feels more like Descent than D&D, with less room for customization. No character levels or money, making homebrewing difficult.

Pros​

• Helpful examples: Little comics at the bottom of each page provide rule examples, which is super handy.

Cons​

• FFXIV fans only: This game assumes you're familiar with FFXIV. There's little explanation of the world or lore, so if you don't know what a Mi'qote or Lalafel is, you're out of luck.
• Limit Breaks: In the MMO, Limit Breaks are powerful abilities that activate after a meter fills from taking damage. Here, it's just "Your GM will tell you when you have a limit break ready." Not a fan of this approach since it’s easy to forget.

Overall Thoughts​

The game seems cool, but it's definitely tailored for existing FFXIV fans. The starter set feels like a streamlined version rather than a complete experience, unlike D&D starter sets. I'm hoping the full rulebooks will flesh out the game more. However, it's unclear how well this will be supported, especially in English. It kind of feels like a novelty product for FFXIV enthusiasts.

Edit: Later thoughts:
Reading the rules for FFXIV TTRPG further, it's funny how railroady it is:From the FAQ:Q: What if the player tries to do something outlandish that will derail the story.A: Don't let them do it. Tell the player that you don't know how to resolve their action without ruining the story, so they are unable to do that action.There is also a section about character background stories where it's like "If a player comes up with a backstory that conflicts with the story, the GM has the discretion to ignore those aspects of the character's story. For example, if a character's backstory is that they're the illegitimate child of a major character, you don't need to acknowledge that as a GM."Cooking in that lack of player agency into a role playing game is certainly a decision

 

[Zephyranthes]

Am definitely interested in this, have you played a session yet? If so, is it just 5e with a bit of FFXIV flavor or does it genuinely feel like a different experience?

Looks like the initial print run sold out, but the S-E store is taking pre-orders for a reprint that will ship in September. Hopefully it will be successful enough to warrant continued growth and support.

 

[NecrosaroIII]

Am definitely interested in this, have you played a session yet? If so, is it just 5e with a bit of FFXIV flavor or does it genuinely feel like a different experience?

Looks like the initial print run sold out, but the S-E store is taking pre-orders for a reprint that will ship in September. Hopefully it will be successful enough to warrant continued growth and support.

General consensus is that its more like 4e than 5e, with powers. There are some pretty big changes though. For example, there isnt money or xp. There arent rules for character creation (yet). There isn't any sort of character customization. They tried too mimic skill rorations, so your character card tells you the order of actions to use

 

[Darkmakaimura]

I'm looking forward to the Trails tabletop RPG. I wouldn't doubt that they're not going to go too far into the lore in the rulebook and it's also going to be a case where you have to know about the video game. The world is very heavily based on lore and world building.

 

[Zephyranthes]

Interesting discussion about the game here. Seems like the designers prioritized the "make it feel like FFXIV" aspect of the game over player agency, which is not ideal considering that player agency is one of the main reasons why people play TTRPGs in the first place.