I enjoy the story of Final Fantasy XIV most with NPCs

Final Fantasy XIV has had really good NPC support since the Shadowbringers expansion. That’s why I prefer to play the game’s story with said NPCs. In Dawntrail, however, an NPC was added who absolutely has to go to the role teacher again.

Square Enix introduced a really cool feature with the Shadowbringers 2019 expansion: Content Helpers. The system provides the player with NPC fighters for certain group content, who can be taken along instead of real fellow players.

This has several advantages: For example, with the current release of the Dawntrail expansion, players of a damage dealer class can skip the currently very long content waiting times for these roles. On the other hand, the NPC companions also know the mechanics that await you. This means you can learn them in a relaxed manner.

You can see which NPCs will be joining you on the adventure in Dawntrail in the trailer:

And story enthusiasts will enjoy the small dialogues and screenshot opportunities that the NPCs offer. It does make a difference if, for example, the character Alphinaud admires the wild flora and fauna in the chat instead of GG or First Time.

Personally, I now prefer playing the story of Final Fantasy XIV with the NPC companions. Firstly, for the immersion and the lore that some NPCs tell. Secondly, because of the waiting times.

Of course, there is also NPC support in dungeons in Dawntrail. Krile Baldesion is also a new addition as a pictomancer. She has made my life extremely difficult recently, though.

NPCs versus fellow players: That’s why I play with the AI ​​first

First of all: I have nothing against my real fellow players. Dungeons with friends or strangers in level roulette always bring me joy. You get to know new people, make stupid jokes in the chat and as Dragoon, after my expected death, I give my opinion on the floor design of the arena.

Final Fantasy XIV is most fun with real players. But.

When I play, it’s usually after a long day at work. So I don’t go into the content feeling super fresh. Most of the time I just want to relax and play a bit with the nicest people possible. Be it dungeons, (difficult) trials, treasure maps or playing hide and seek with the Free Company.

But by then I’m usually already tired and mentally not at my best. This leads to me making mistakes with dungeon mechanics or missing an enemy.

If the Dragoon is lying dead on the ground, it’s still fun. But if the Dragoon is permanently out of action and can’t contribute anything except stupid sayings? Then it’s no fun for my fellow players and, to be honest, no fun for me either.

That’s why I prefer to tackle new content whose mechanics I don’t yet know with the NPCs. If I die, we just start over. That way I don’t steal anyone’s life time and I can learn the bosses at my own pace.

After the first clear, I usually dare to go straight into the content with real people. The exercises with the NPCs give me confidence and experience.

But sometimes they drive me crazy.

The new girl in the team is making jokes

The programming of the NPCs in Final Fantasy XIV leaves nothing to be desired: the tanks tank, the healers heal and the attackers attack.

In Dawntrail specifically, there is now a new NPC fighter that you can take with you into dungeons: Krile Baldesion. The Lalafell has been a member of the core NPCs surrounding the player character since the Heavensward expansion. But it is only with the new expansion that she a) plays a more important role and b) gets her own class: the Pictomancer.

Because I don’t have the time or energy to level up NPC fighters between expansions (which sometimes takes a really long time), I go to the Dawntrail dungeons with the characters available there.

Krile is always there too. And my goodness… I would love to send Krile back to the class coach.

She plays her class well. Does adequate damage. Nevertheless, she managed to wipe the whole group several times in one dungeon. At first I didn’t even notice what was happening. It was actually a very simple dodge mechanic.

The first two triggers of this mechanic were also child’s play for us. But the third time, when the boss only had 10% health left, my character died and I had to start over. And that happened more than once. It was only on the third attempt that I found the error: Krile.

While the Pictomancer dutifully ran to her place during the first two attacks, she decided to simply stand next to me and the tank during the third attack. A small area attack aimed at her killed us because of this.

As I wrote, this happened several times until I identified the problem. I could have grabbed her by the throat at that moment.

Because of the two new attacker jobs, the wait time for attackers in many group content has increased. Here we introduce them both to you:

Programmed misbehavior against lazy players

We survived and finished off the boss. Sure, the few seconds of DPS down didn’t make much difference to me. But I would never have thought that my reliable, predictable NPC, who NEVER makes mistakes, would suddenly change position.

But also: This is not the first time that an NPC has simply fledged. In Endwalker there was the first main story test that could be completed with the accompanying characters. However, said helpers were programmed in such a way that they made mistakes:

Anyone who simply followed healer Urianger often found themselves within range of unpleasant boss attacks. In fact, only one NPC knew how to avoid all of the effects: the black or white mage Y’Shtola.

At least that keeps me on my toes as a player.

My conclusion is that I would recommend that Krile visit the job tutor – there are NPCs in A-Realm Reborn areas who explain how to act as a tank, healer and attacker. They can definitely explain it to her again.

Until she does that, I have to keep an eye on her myself, whether I like it or not. Because even though the NPC companions are less prone to errors and rage than real players, I shouldn’t rely on them completely. Thinking for yourself is the motto.

How do you feel about NPC companions versus real players? Are you also avoiding long waiting times by going into battle with the former Alliance of the Dawn? Has Krile already knocked you out? Write it in the comments.

As much as I like the NPC companions, having to travel with them alone and having no other choice because of the long queues makes the game extremely lonely. I also noted this in my review of Dawntrail. You can read it in full here: Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail shows that the MMORPG is becoming more and more of a single player game