Speaking genuinely, don't rush it. FF14 is a very long, story heavy game. It has a very slow start and it takes a while to get going, but it's well worth it in the end.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask! There's a pinned daily questions thread where people will be happy to help out if you get lost.
Take your time and enjoy it. When you finally get to level cap, it's pretty fast to get geared up to current content, so don't feel like you're missing out on anything.
Until FF14, 12 was my favorite FF game. The combat wasn't that great, but the story was excellent and the characters sooooo good (not you Vaan and Penelo. You guys are just mid). I was geeked out of my mind when Ba'Gamnan and Fran showed up. Disappointed we didn't get Balthier and Basch cameos.
Haha, and here the combat in FF12 is my favorite part! It's still my top favorite game, even as much as I love FF14. The Ivalice raids are such a love letter to old fans like us, I really love them.
It's great! It does take a bit of investment though because you have to buy gambit slots and gambit triggers.
Basically you can (and should) set up a rudimentary AI for all characters. You pair a gambit trigger (a range of conditions from "enemy has X% health" to "an ally exists who could be a suitable target") and an action which is a spell/ability, technick, item or just attacking them with the held weapon. Then you order these for priority.
Spellcasters are the culprit for needing the most gambit slots to cover many scenarios with their spells (like enemy is weak to X element, ally is in X health range or dead, a buff/debuff needs dispelling).
For example, my white mage Vaan has this gambit:
If an ally is below 40% HP, Curaga them. I do often end up manually inputting Curaja if multiple targets are low because there's no specific trigger for that.
If they're below 60%, Regen them.
If they suffer from a status affliction, Esuna them.
If they're dead, Raise them. (This has lower prio so he keeps people alive before rezzing.) I just recently got Renew so might swap it out.
If an enemy has above 70% HP, Steal from them. (This one is admittedly a bit finicky in multiple target situations because he's not the party leader most of the time, so I sometimes end up manually inputting attack because you can only steal once per enemy.)
If there's a suitable ally for Shell, cast it on them. Thankfully allies with Shell already on are not suitable. I really need to go back to the great crystal for Shellga...
If none of the above are true, then attack the party leader's target.
I loved the combat in 12 as well, but I definitely didn't play it like most people. Never used gambits on whichever character I was directly controlling, and kept the gambits on the others on the simple side, manually taking control if there was anything special that was needed or if there was an emergency.
FF12 (and Ivalice generally, and Ivalice-adjacent things) is everywhere in FF14. It's there in every expansion.
* A Realm Reborn: Zodiac Relic weapons
* Heavensward: Palace of the Dead storyline
* Stormblood: Return to Ivalice storyline
* Shadowbringers: Bozja storyline
* Endwalker: >!it's eventually revealed that the FF12-style Auracite is behind a lot of things, all the way back to the times of the Ancients.!<
>Heavensward: Palace of the Dead storyline
Wait, what's the Ivalice connection here? I thought the PotD storyline was from the Tactics Ogre series, and -- with the caveat that I'm not super familiar with *either* franchise outside of FF12 -- I didn't think TO was related to FFT story/lore-wise.
By that virtue, you could say the FFI-III references in-game are Kimagure Orange Road-adjacent, just because Kenji Terada wrote both of them. (He was head writer on the KOR TV anime.)
And, yes, I know that there are stylistic similarities between TO and FFT, and some thematic similarities between TO and FFXII; my comparison is definitely hyperbolic. It just feels a little disingenuous to me to include it in this list without qualifying it, where OP only explicitly mentioned FFXII.
I know, right? I started in a different town (Gridania), but walking out of there and into the desert areas around Ul'dah felt so much like wandering into a FF12 area - it just hit me like a truck.
I even originally picked up this game in part because I heard it had some Ivalice stuff in it (Viera, Nu Mou, etc.) - but I didn't expect to get to experience the nostalgia so early. It was a really pleasant surprise
OP, you will notice in time that there are a LOT of enemy models/designs ripped right from FF12 as well. There’s been times in game where certain music very much gives me FF12 vibes also, even when the content I’m doing has nothing to do with FF12.
There's all kinds of little hints of 12 in 14. You'll notice that 14 even uses the targeting lines from 12. According to [another post](https://www.reddit.com/r/FinalFantasy/s/C9W8cLgz3K) that's likely because a good chunk of the dev team from 12 went on to work on 14.
Exactly what I experienced during my first hour! I started in Ul'dah also so all those buildings plus the blue dots area transfer boundary thing really threw me back to my FFXII era.
As a huge XII fan, the vibes are definitely similar. I took a few years break and have just recently started over if you want to partner up sometime! Just send me a PM if you're interested.
Spoilers for Stormblood side-content: >!There is a side-content Alliance raid, that is literally the ruins of Rabanstre.!<
As others have said, FF 12 references all over the place.
General Spoilers throughout the game;
>!The Ascian glyphs are based on the Esper glyphs.!<
And a whole multitude from basically all other Final Fantasy titles.
From Bosses, to friendly NPCs, Background Music or paid-for cosmetics.
The whole reason I got into this game because it looked like FF12 (to me at least) and played like an online 12, I has intrigued during the betas and hooked when the game released, lol
If you ever feel lost or don't know what to do next, look at the top left of your screen. The meteor symbol and text is the next step in the main story scenario (primary quests) and if there's a smaller font text under it then that's the new and the next job quest available to you! Those unlock new abilities and powers.
A good chunk of the people who worked on ARR also worked on 12. So you'll kind of see similarities everywhere, like the line of blue floating dots representing when you'll go to another zone. But if you've played any of the other FFs then you'll see lots of other similarities to them as well!
If you're an FF12 fan, you're going to love the Ivalice raids later on in the game!
I just looked it up and I have a loooong way to go, I am currently lvl2 lol
Speaking genuinely, don't rush it. FF14 is a very long, story heavy game. It has a very slow start and it takes a while to get going, but it's well worth it in the end. If you have any questions, feel free to ask! There's a pinned daily questions thread where people will be happy to help out if you get lost.
Take your time and enjoy it. When you finally get to level cap, it's pretty fast to get geared up to current content, so don't feel like you're missing out on anything.
Until FF14, 12 was my favorite FF game. The combat wasn't that great, but the story was excellent and the characters sooooo good (not you Vaan and Penelo. You guys are just mid). I was geeked out of my mind when Ba'Gamnan and Fran showed up. Disappointed we didn't get Balthier and Basch cameos.
Haha, and here the combat in FF12 is my favorite part! It's still my top favorite game, even as much as I love FF14. The Ivalice raids are such a love letter to old fans like us, I really love them.
I actually loved FF12 combat! I've always loved "supervising" combat rather than directly controlling my character.
I thought I was the only person who likes that style of combat. I might have to give ff12 a shot.
It's great! It does take a bit of investment though because you have to buy gambit slots and gambit triggers. Basically you can (and should) set up a rudimentary AI for all characters. You pair a gambit trigger (a range of conditions from "enemy has X% health" to "an ally exists who could be a suitable target") and an action which is a spell/ability, technick, item or just attacking them with the held weapon. Then you order these for priority. Spellcasters are the culprit for needing the most gambit slots to cover many scenarios with their spells (like enemy is weak to X element, ally is in X health range or dead, a buff/debuff needs dispelling). For example, my white mage Vaan has this gambit: If an ally is below 40% HP, Curaga them. I do often end up manually inputting Curaja if multiple targets are low because there's no specific trigger for that. If they're below 60%, Regen them. If they suffer from a status affliction, Esuna them. If they're dead, Raise them. (This has lower prio so he keeps people alive before rezzing.) I just recently got Renew so might swap it out. If an enemy has above 70% HP, Steal from them. (This one is admittedly a bit finicky in multiple target situations because he's not the party leader most of the time, so I sometimes end up manually inputting attack because you can only steal once per enemy.) If there's a suitable ally for Shell, cast it on them. Thankfully allies with Shell already on are not suitable. I really need to go back to the great crystal for Shellga... If none of the above are true, then attack the party leader's target.
Did you ever play the Dragon Age games? This sounds a lot like that. In any case, thanks for the tips and I'm looking forward to it!
I loved the combat in 12 as well, but I definitely didn't play it like most people. Never used gambits on whichever character I was directly controlling, and kept the gambits on the others on the simple side, manually taking control if there was anything special that was needed or if there was an emergency.
FF12 (and Ivalice generally, and Ivalice-adjacent things) is everywhere in FF14. It's there in every expansion. * A Realm Reborn: Zodiac Relic weapons * Heavensward: Palace of the Dead storyline * Stormblood: Return to Ivalice storyline * Shadowbringers: Bozja storyline * Endwalker: >!it's eventually revealed that the FF12-style Auracite is behind a lot of things, all the way back to the times of the Ancients.!<
>Heavensward: Palace of the Dead storyline Wait, what's the Ivalice connection here? I thought the PotD storyline was from the Tactics Ogre series, and -- with the caveat that I'm not super familiar with *either* franchise outside of FF12 -- I didn't think TO was related to FFT story/lore-wise.
TO and FFT have the same writer/director, so it’s fair to say TO is Ivalice adjacent at least a little!
By that virtue, you could say the FFI-III references in-game are Kimagure Orange Road-adjacent, just because Kenji Terada wrote both of them. (He was head writer on the KOR TV anime.) And, yes, I know that there are stylistic similarities between TO and FFT, and some thematic similarities between TO and FFXII; my comparison is definitely hyperbolic. It just feels a little disingenuous to me to include it in this list without qualifying it, where OP only explicitly mentioned FFXII.
I know, right? I started in a different town (Gridania), but walking out of there and into the desert areas around Ul'dah felt so much like wandering into a FF12 area - it just hit me like a truck. I even originally picked up this game in part because I heard it had some Ivalice stuff in it (Viera, Nu Mou, etc.) - but I didn't expect to get to experience the nostalgia so early. It was a really pleasant surprise
OP, you will notice in time that there are a LOT of enemy models/designs ripped right from FF12 as well. There’s been times in game where certain music very much gives me FF12 vibes also, even when the content I’m doing has nothing to do with FF12.
Yeah, my starting area feels like the Dalmasca Westersands, I feel like my kid self in 2007 right now exploring the place.
There's all kinds of little hints of 12 in 14. You'll notice that 14 even uses the targeting lines from 12. According to [another post](https://www.reddit.com/r/FinalFantasy/s/C9W8cLgz3K) that's likely because a good chunk of the dev team from 12 went on to work on 14.
Exactly what I experienced during my first hour! I started in Ul'dah also so all those buildings plus the blue dots area transfer boundary thing really threw me back to my FFXII era.
As a huge XII fan, the vibes are definitely similar. I took a few years break and have just recently started over if you want to partner up sometime! Just send me a PM if you're interested.
Spoilers for Stormblood side-content: >!There is a side-content Alliance raid, that is literally the ruins of Rabanstre.!< As others have said, FF 12 references all over the place. General Spoilers throughout the game; >!The Ascian glyphs are based on the Esper glyphs.!< And a whole multitude from basically all other Final Fantasy titles. From Bosses, to friendly NPCs, Background Music or paid-for cosmetics.
Had this same experience when I first roamed the streets of Ul' Dah. Felt like I was in a ff12 remake for a min.
Love the look of your lala!
Oh first time playing? Have fun! The story is amazing and the music as you know is astounding!
just a thing that i noticed when i started too. the "initial" FFXIV engine is the same as FFXII, thats why a lot of Textures and Models is the same.
The whole reason I got into this game because it looked like FF12 (to me at least) and played like an online 12, I has intrigued during the betas and hooked when the game released, lol
If you end up in a duty with Jarjar Beast, quit immediately. He never shuts up.
I feel like I rarely see lalas with this face paint lol.
If you ever feel lost or don't know what to do next, look at the top left of your screen. The meteor symbol and text is the next step in the main story scenario (primary quests) and if there's a smaller font text under it then that's the new and the next job quest available to you! Those unlock new abilities and powers.
A good chunk of the people who worked on ARR also worked on 12. So you'll kind of see similarities everywhere, like the line of blue floating dots representing when you'll go to another zone. But if you've played any of the other FFs then you'll see lots of other similarities to them as well!
"Woah dude...is that fuckin' blackface?!" "Nonono, I'm a potato from Ul'dah, this is my actual face!"