It may come as a surprise to learn that many of the top Japanese players in Final Fantasy XIV migrated from an action game known as Phantasy Star Online 2. This migration occurred between 2020 to 2021, and since then, they have established themselves as a dominant presence in the Japanese raiding scene. You can find many of them some of the earliest clears of raiding content and in previous World First teams. 👀
What is Phantasy Star Online 2?
Phantasy Star Online 2 is an action MMORPG developed by SEGA and initially exclusively in Japan in 2012. It started off with instanced content, and later received a complete rework known as New Genesis. New Genesis introduced an open world with less focus on instanced content, but to mixed reviews. This, as well as some earlier decisions, resulted in a migration from PSO2.
The Concept of DPS is Unchanging
When so many players successfully make a drastic change in gameplay, one may wonder if there was any connection. The most basic aspect of MMOs ends up staying the same: ABC. For many FFXIV players, especially raiders, ABC will be a familiar term for “Always be casting.”
Difficult content often imposes a time limit or another constraint that players can overcome only by doing enough DPS. This is unchanging, even in an Action-style MMO. This core concept is what drives your ability to go beyond progression into clearing a boss. 💪
During early progression, you’ll often find yourself sacrificing a lot of damage uptime to learn boss abilities and mechanics. However, progressing beyond a single phase usually requires you to deal a certain amount of damage, rather than wait for a time gate.
PSO2 gameplay doesn’t have a global cooldown. Rather, every ability has its own set animation time. To optimise gameplay, players will either vibe it out, or use spreadsheets compiled by users who counted animation frames. Yeah, every frame. 👀 As such, the idea of optimising your DPS will often feel unintuitive.
For example, there is a Photon Art (the FFXIV equivalent of Abilities), or PA, called Last Nemesis. Last Nemesis deals the single largest hit that the Bullet Bow weapon has, but is actually rather niche. A new player may not expect this ability to be among the lowest DPS options available.
The actual best option is to use the PA called Penetrating Arrow at a specific distance. When used at an appropriate distance, this PA will deal its damage twice due to the way that hitboxes function. The appropriate usage for Last Nemesis is at the moment that an enemy is about to reappear.
Putting Good Positioning into Practice
The last section briefly touched on the idea of positioning. Some PAs require you to position in a certain manner to utilise them correctly. However, this specific idea of positioning is not something that can carry over to FFXIV. Rather, positioning more closely resembles how a Black Mage approaches it.
Good positioning to avoid attacks and maintain uptime is key to dealing enough DPS. Unless your PSO2 class or FFXIV job has a counter, every moment you spend actively avoiding damage is a moment you cannot spend dealing it. Keeping this in mind, you should position yourself carefully enough to avoid taking damage. In PSO2, there is no healer role, so you are responsible for yourself. Every moment you spend healing or “licking” the floor is a moment you are not dealing damage.
Is There Anything That Carries Over Into FFXIV?
Players who started with FFXIV and then picked up PSO2 are few and far between. We managed to find a player who has already cleared SIX of the available Ultimate Raids. They wish to remain anonymous, but were available for a few questions about their transitional experience. If you’re a new player, or want to start your FFXIV raiding journey, perhaps this interview will be helpful!
The most useful player skill that they learned was how stats work, as well as the effectiveness of good coordination and a positive attitude.
Interview Transcript
This interview was translated from Japanese to English, and has been edited for clarification. The interviewee will be referred to as Anon.
What is the most useful skill you learned in FFXIV that has also helped you in PSO2?
Anon: Probably knowledge about detailed stats. I’ve typically managed to get through various types of games just using mechanical skill, so Final Fantasy was the first game that made me pay attention to that.
What part of FFXIV made you start paying attention to stats?
Anon: When I first reached end-game, I learned about adjusting stats like Critical Hit and Direct Hit, but usually there’s already a lot of information available for the latest Best-in-Slot gear. When I went into older content with level-sync and had to make optimal gear myself, I was able to get the best possible stats by paying attention to caps and other values.
When you say “older content,” is it like The Weapon’s Refrain or The Unending Coil of Bahamut?
Anon: Yes, exactly. PSO2 also didn’t have much information available when making optimal gear, so that experience helped me think through various things on my own.
This really helps, because I hardly know anyone else who started with FFXIV before PSO2.
Anon: Honestly, I haven’t really struggled with FFXIV’s mechanics.
Why is that? Do you find PSO2’s mechanics more difficult?
Anon: I think PSO2 is easier, but for people who are only good at FFXIV, it would probably be quite difficult.
Back in Shadowbringers, I’d made a lot of progress on UWU and UCOB, but my static fell apart before we cleared either of them. I was frustrated because we were so close to seeing enrage. Perhaps that’s an experience shared by many?
Anon: Yeah, FFXIV is pretty much an 8-player game. So I think the hardest part is finding people whose motivation and skill level match yours.
Agreed, since raiding can get a little draining over time. This is especially the case in fights with a lot of personal responsibility. Do you have any advice for players who may be struggling with this?
Anon: So, you have to approach things in a way that allows the entire party to solve one person’s issue collectively, rather than treating it as an individual’s problem.
If you don’t, the atmosphere can get worse and you end up failing to progress.
That’s all the time I have for now, but thank you so much for answering my questions. It was really helpful.
Anon: No problem! I’m glad it was helpful.
What do you think, Warriors of Light? Did you start your journey from another game and transfer any useful skills over? Or was FFXIV your first MMORPG ever?
We’ll have more community content and FFXIV updates over on Icy Veins, so keep a close eye out!
