This was a long time coming. My first experience of savage raiding was in Endwalker and my experience taught me a lot about raiding and how to play a couple of jobs on an ‘okay I can clear savage’ level which really just made extremes and normal content a bit more straightforward for me. I was never able to finish a tier. Some of that was my own lack of skill, some of that was group dynamics and my complete rejection of raiding in party finder and some of it was just bad luck. However, at the launch of Dawntrail I was introduced to a new group who were currently farming the extremes and that lead me to joining them for learning and clearing an ultimate.
When the Cruiserweight tier was launched with FFXIV Patch 7.2 I was invited to join as a phys ranged player for the four savage fights and we cleared the first one really fast which gave me high hopes. M5S Dancing Green is a pretty nice start to savage. The fight is pretty fun, mechanics aren’t too challenging and clearing on, I think it was the second week, felt pretty nice.
I originally started the tier as a MCH because its my preferred phys ranged job but it was, as usual, neglected and had damage output reduced and it felt really rubbish to play as the raids went on. The damage check on M7S felt really tight and there were a few times when we had almost flawless runs with no deaths or damage downs. I switched to DNC which, was a steep learning curve, as I’d never played it other than levelling content before. The biggest adjustment was lining up buff windows as Dancer offers a lot more support than Machinist does (and should, Machinist SHOULD be a selfish DPS job but it doesn’t do enough to qualify as one, frustratingly) but I managed to learn it and we were able to clear.
M6S felt like its own entity with add phase and I struggled a lot with orientating myself to be thrown across the arena in the correct direction. We maybe needed a few Tank LB’s to survive. With that being said, despite my not great abilities people were pretty patient with me which I really appreciated.
Getting to clear M8S for the first time felt really good. The adrenaline was going hard and I was pretty focused and pretty stressed. Others had cleared it already and wanted the reclear and I was just so desperately wanting that first clear. To finally get it after many weeks of progression and practice felt really satisfying. I was feeling super burned out from raiding, my health has been pretty bad lately which has made it harder to stay focused for any period of time and I really felt like I was being a burden on the group and was so ready to say to clear with someone more competent than me as I just didn’t think I could. But I did. I’m never going to be the most optimal player, but I can clear content unrestricted, even if it takes me longer than others.
The Hundred Line – Last Defense Academy has been a surprisingly enjoyable visual novel style game with tower defense combat to jump in and out of over the last couple of weeks. I’ve got around 60 hours of playtime with one full playthrough and I am currently making my way through NG+ to unlock some of the various endings and reveal more of the truth of what is going on.
I didn’t actively follow this game but instead saw a tweet from Sandfall Interactive (the team behind Expedition 33) recommending it and you know what seeing smaller developers recommending other smaller developers games is a pretty nice thing to do.
A note from Guillaume Broche, @SandfallGames Creative Director:
After your Expedition, check out The Hundred Line, another great turn-based RPG that was also released last week, and made with love by an awesome team.
— Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (@expedition33) April 30, 2025
So I looked into it a bit more and found out that The Hundred Line – Last Defense Academy was a collaboration creation from two directors; one of which Kotaro Uchikoshi I was familiar with having played (two of) the Zero Escape games and AI: The Somnium Files. So from that, whilst this was an original IP I had some familiarity with the type of gameplay to expect. Being a fan of the Persona series and also having played 13 Sentinels visual novel style gameplay is something I’ve enjoyed a lot in the last couple of years mostly thanks to having some excellent recommendations to start in this genre with.
The Hundred Line takes place in an academy that you are tasked with defending from Invaders for the next 100 days. You play mostly as Takumi Sumino who has a very mundane life until one day he gets jump scared by a dog and it turns his life around. For the better, or worse? Well, it takes 100 (in game) days to really figure that out. The first full playthrough of The Hundred Line has you following a series of events in the Last Defense Academy alongside a group of unique characters who are there to fight alongside with you. At first, not everyone wants to fight, and its up to the protagonist to convince everyone to work together. This is dotted in with a mix of visual novel style cutscenes, bonding events to raise stats, exploration for materials to upgrade things like weapons or create gifts for your classmates and tower defense style battles where you defend the academy from an onslaught of invaders.
The game really opens up with the New Game+ feature which allows the player to use Chapter Select in order to alter decisions made for different outcomes. Each decision made slightly alters the timeline the player experiences and allows you to uncover mysteries and secrets. Supposedly the game has 100 endings but you’re not required to do all of them to find out the truth of what is going on. I believe there are achievements for around 20 unique endings. I intend to try and get as many of them as I possibly can.
The Hundred Line – Last Defense Academy has been fun to play. It is quite gore-graphic with blood so that’s something to be aware of if you’re uncomfortable with that. The characters unlock hemoanima to access their powers which includes stabbing themselves and going into a blood cocoon before each fight so they can access their Class Weapons. Each character has unique abilities, some are great for support, others good for building up voltage (lets you access your superpower moves and buffs) and some make excellent tanks, alongside your heavy hitters. I found the combat engaging enough and subsequent playthroughs allow the player to skip battles they’ve already completed in alternative playthroughs of the game which does make getting a few routes easier than others. Each battle gives you rewards for upgrading your Class weapons and skills to make you stronger in combat or increase the amount of power ups and traps you can lay around the grid in each round.
My favourite character is Hiruko Shizuhara because she acts like a complete badass and has a massive axe to one shot enemies in combat. I found her one of the more intriguing characters for *story reasons* that I wont spoil and because there is still, even for me, some mystery there as I too am trying to avoid spoilers for potential endings and circumstances. Plenty of other characters have something interesting to add to the story. Some are, as can be expected with a large cast, more annoying than others.
Its a game I can see myself going in and out of still over the next few weeks as I navigate other paths and choices. Being a visual novel I find it easy to dip in and out of when I feel like it but the first playthrough really was pretty engaging enough to get me hooked in through those first 100 days. The Hundred Line – Last Defense Academy is available to play on Switch and PC. I’ve been playing through Steam.
Trails through Daybreak II finally got it’s English localised release on 14th February 2025 and since then I have been all consumed by the latest installment of the trails series. I’ll be honest and say this was far from my favourite game of the series but I enjoyed the experience nonetheless. There will be spoilers in this post, but I’ll try and stay relatively on topic. It took me 86 hours and 3 playthroughs to get the PS5 platinum trophy for Trails through Daybreak 2.
Maybe I’ll finish the nightmare playthrough for Trails through Daybreak I so I can get that last trophy but…eh
I play these games on easy mode, sometimes very easy, because I just want to enjoy the story but the combat was altered and quartz set ups were changed with both Daybreak games. The first one I paid absolutely no attention to what I was doing when it came to holo cores and quartz. I just didn’t change much and really had no idea how shard skills worked until I replayed Trails through Daybreak in anticipation for the 2nd game’s release. When I attempted to up the difficulty, I had a pretty difficult time with it until I read up on it. However, my ADHD brain really likes it when things are super easy and obvious. I did not find explanations in Trails through Daybreak easy and obvious especially when it came to trying to have a relatively optimized character builds.
When I played Trails into Reverie I found an amazingly helpful online resource full of character builds which helped me power through Nightmare difficulty in that game but with combat changes for Trails through Daybreak previous experience wasn’t that helpful. I like the way orbments are setup in both Daybreak games now I have somewhat of an understanding of how to get certain skills and found the things that worked best for me and tried to get those on as many characters as I could. I looked for Trails through Daybreak 2 character builds but struggled to find anything and so I thought perhaps I would write up a post about how I built my characters and how these got me through Nightmare difficulty.
The real enemy of the trails series; sweet stealers
There will be other players that no doubt have a better understanding than me and find Nightmare too easy I’m sure, but I am a self-proclaimed idiot and don’t usually find Nightmare mode in the Trails games easy. I find it pretty intimidating and honestly first play throughs of these games I’ve had trouble playing on ‘Normal’ difficulty. I like being completely overpowered and killing things very fast. I don’t mind grinding for levels if its possible to do, I like having the upper hand and I like feeling like I probably won’t die.
I completed Nightmare difficulty on my third playthrough of Trails through Daybreak 2 and this is what my characters looked like at the end of the game. My first playthrough I spent going through the story and experiencing everything as blind as I could and trying to take my time with things, the second playthrough I cleaned up achievements and finished the Marchen Garten additional floors and the 3rd playthrough I virtually skipped everything story related just for the final trophies for the platinum.
Characters I Used the Most
My ‘main’ team was Van as a sort of evasion tank and then Renne, Agnes and Shizuna for damage, Arts and healing. I used Risette a lot too when I could, or didn’t have the option of using the above four, but she was not really optimised. None of the characters were really and even my main four was only losely so because I get distracted and find setting up characters frustrating and tedious. So every other character was pretty much auto-equipped with quartz/gear. I did have everyone’s Onyx Steel weapons but not all of them were fully upgraded.
Van – Evasion Tank (kind of)
I didn’t really intend for Van to have such high evasion but he did so it worked well. For more challenging fights I just had Van stand sort of away from people and use coin bullets and then follow up after a high chain with Vandalise Raid S-Craft. I’d sometimes use a craft to impede an attack but he was there to draw emnity away from others mostly. His evasion was high enough that shielding him wasn’t really an issue because he dodged a lot of attacks. I mostly used Mare – Chaos for his holocore but ended the game with Lapis and didn’t notice much difference. If he had an AT Bonus for Zero Arts I tried to use the new Cetus Phantasma which is new for Trails through Daybreak II. Van’s quartz set up had him using Deadly Lance shard skill which was a follow up finisher for low HP enemies. His attacks would regularly cancel or delay enemies.
Renne – Because I Love Her
Renne was just my non-negotiable character. If I could have her in the party she was going to be there. She has great arts damage, I love her S-Craft ugrade, and used the ‘Hospitable Hostess’ craft for a stat boost as often as I could. She was mostly there for support but that doesn’t discount the damage she could do. I love her. I will always choose Renne. Renne would join in the Cetus Phantasma spam for high chain and high arts damage, had Guardian and Ark Feather/Judgement Feather to follow up with magic attacks.
Agnes – Arts Damage and Healing
Agnes S-Craft can get you out of a pinch, her shield/heal/regen regular crafts are excellent and she does great arts damage. I used Loray to increase arts power and reduce cast time. Her EP Regen craft helped keep her topped up. Basically, just use Cetus Phantasma on all your arts users for high chain and high damage then follow up with a big multihit S-Craft.
Shizuna – Strong, lots of delay, and because she was funny
Shizuna really was there because I am curious about her more than anything, her lines throughout both games were enjoyable and she’s pretty strong. She just kills things. She worked well as a balanced physical damage and arts user, I used her crafts a lot and just kept her doing damage. It was great having her as a playable character for longer in Trails through Daybreak 2.
I feel like the title says everything about this post. I have been playing video games since the PS1 era of video games, so that’s quite a long time at this point but the variety and amount of games or franchises I’ve stuck to has been quite small until the last few years where I have branched out a bit more I suppose. Then in 2023 I got a proper gaming PC and therefore had more access, and towards the end of that year I took advantage of a discord offer which gave me a few months of Xbox Game Pass for free which, despite not using all that much since the start of the year, I am still paying for. I struggle to cancel subscriptions. And that is how they forever trap ADHDer’s into paying for old hobbies.
A small reflection on 2024
2024 as a whole has felt both stagnant and transformational all in one bundle. It’s been a really hard year, and I’ve had to make some pretty tough decisions for myself and my family. I still haven’t moved which is one of the biggest thorns in my side right now. That lack of change which I feel is keeping me in a pretty negative place mentally is completely out of my control because there’s nothing more I can really do at this point to move other than private renting which I don’t want to do because it’s pretty unaffordable and being lucky enough to be in a council property, I am reluctant to give that up.
It’s also the year that I found a very good therapist who over the last few months has helped me figure things out about myself and going forward is going to help me with a lot of trauma I’ve been dealing with for far too long. Achievements wise I get so caught up in what other people are doing that it makes anything I am happy or proud of feel stupid, small and insignificant. However, I have done things this year that make me feel better about myself. I got two tattoos that I absolutely love on areas of my body I’ve felt quite self conscious about for some time. I started Pole Dance classes in May which have been very good for my confidence and have surprised me in what I’ve been able to do. It’s never been about loosing weight or getting thin, it’s been about learning a new skill, getting stronger and finding something to do for me that I have fallen in love with. I also progressed and cleared an older FFXIV Ultimate raid which is also something I never thought I’d do. With everything that has been going on, it’s kind of no wonder I’ve spent so much of my time escaping in video games just to make life a little bit easier.
Video Games I Played 2024
So here is where I’m going to get kinda nerdy because I was thoroughly offended by my PSN account that suggested I was a ‘Sharpshooter’ video game player because my most played game on my PS5 was Cyberpunk 2077. Collectively, I am pretty confident that the genre of games I have played over console and PC are RPG’s. When I first discovered an RPG and realised that was a type of video game that existed, that is what I wanted to play. It was Final Fantasy X so I had high expectations from the start.
Anyway here is a collective list of all the games I’ve played in 2024. I might as well start with the two obvious ones because I haven’t stopped playing them for years and probably won’t stop anytime soon.
TL:DR – In 2024 I played 35 games on PS5 & PC through EA Play, Steam and Xbox Game Pass. I did not finish all of them.
Final Fantasy XIV – I don’t even want to state my play time because I have no idea what it is for 2024, collectively, since I started playing the MMORPG almost four years ago now it’s been thousands of hours at this point. 2024 started weak with XIV waiting for things to do but I felt, hopeful, for it with the launch of Dawntrail in the summer. I have continued to be disappointed yet I have continued to play this game almost every day. I have cleared each new Extreme fight as it was current, progressed the first savaged fight of the raid series but haven’t cleared it and did an ultimate raid which, despite being old content, was one of the better experiences and that really is saying a lot about the state of FFXIV right now. I’m not alone thinking this, but I’m not ready to give up on it yet if not because of the friends I have met and the occasional want to socialise.
The Sims 4 – I have been playing The Sims on and off since The Sims 1. I am never going to not play The Sims at some point and be continuously annoyed by the lack of spiral staircases and auto roof feature not being available. The Sims 4 did actually release two add-on packs I haven’t got yet but will probably buy in 2025, Goth clothes and the ghost afterlife expansion where you can work as a mortician. The Sims has taken up like 25 years of my life at this point giving it up now is not an option.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth – This was by far my most anticipated game, and even though I didn’t spend as much time playing it as I thought I would, or apparently, other games, I was really happy with it. Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll complete the Remake trilogy before I’m 40 but that’s a life goal completely out of my control.
Balders Gate 3 – I love this game. So much so I’ve got it on console and PC through Steam. It has been one of the best videogames I have played and has inspired an interest in learning about how to play Dungeons & Dragons of which has began a collection of many, many sets of dice. It got me watching Critical Role on YouTube which has been a joy to listen to. After several starts, two complete playthroughs, many a mod browsing and guide look up or video recap I have found things I’ve missed and am consistently encouraged to go back and replay. I hope, one day, I can do a multiplayer campaign with friends because I think it would be a lot of fun to do with other people. I loved the story, completing both a ‘good’ and evil playthrough, I like the character creation, I like the variety of classes and races in the game and have just enjoyed playing something so refreshing and new. It’s been a challenge and a learning curve but I’ve loved every part of it.
Disney Dreamlight Valley – this was like Animal Crossing but Disney. It was alright. Kind of one of those never ending farming sim games. Did make a lot of money, finished the main quests but didn’t do any of the DLC stuff and did get a bit boring and repetitive. Also having to wait for unpredictable weather and doing things in real time like “come back in the evening” is difficult for someone that wants to progress. I am not slow and cosy.
Slay the Spire – I think this is something I’ve gone back to because it’s really addictive. This year I was able to actually complete it on each character too, and I am working my way on ascension levels. Just in time for Slay the Spire 2 in 2025…
Trails in the Sky – I replayed the first game after playing Trails through Daybreak and have the desire to continue through Sky SC and 3rd now I know what I know from the games that came after. This series is wonderful and has become pretty dear to me in the last few years for many reasons but it is difficult to remain enthusiastic for the future of the story and what is to come with what appears to be no real tangible conclusion right now. Going back to playing as Estelle and Joshua at the very start of this game and seeing the story in its roots was really nice.
Trails Through Daybreak – Finally got to Calvard to explore and meet a new cast of characters. Enjoyed, played through in full maybe twice, or maybe three times? I can’t remember.
Persona 3 Portable – This was thanks to Game Pass on PC but because Persona 3 Reload was coming out I didn’t have much time to actually play P3P and therefore wasn’t able to finish it.
Persona 3 Reload – I feel like I would have enjoyed this more had I not tried to rush through P3P and not finish it, and if the stuff from P3P was included, like, say, a Female protagonist…I might have enjoyed it more. However, the music from the final battle remains one of my favourite tracks from the entire Persona series.
Persona 5 Tactica – Started and never finished, struggled with mouse and WASD controls on keyboard so it put me off. Was fine for what I played but I didn’t get that far. Might go back to it one day.
Persona 5 Strikers – Started and never finished. Hack and Slash quick combat Persona game. Will probably go back to it eventually. Was fun but was also kind of a game I was just playing for the sake of playing something.
Persona 3, 4 and 5 Dancing games: Started but didn’t finish. I think I played through Dancing in Starlight the most. I started the story mode for 4 but didn’t really get very far. I think I was kind of done with Persona games at this point but it was nice to hear some of the music again.
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance – Was good for combat, enjoyed it enough whilst I was playing it but can’t say it’s been particularly memorable and don’t have much of a desire to replay. Some of the navigation in some of the maps frustrated me. Agrat was the best thing in this game. She was cute and very, very strong in my final line up of demons I fought. Plus it had a fairy kingdom which is always a plus for me.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon – I strictly played this because someone else was and I wanted to know WTF they were talking about. It was on Game Pass during the free trial so didn’t have much to loose. I got curious after being sent a trailer for Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth and seeing many memes comparing certain scenes to FF7 Rebirth. It was weird but I liked it enough to continue playing other games with very minimal context of the previous Yakuza games.
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name – Felt it appropriate to play if I was going to play Infinite Wealth and again, copied said friend from above who went on to play this too. Enjoyed it for what it was.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth – According to PSN this was my 4th most played game on console with 98 hours and many trophies. Mostly, I liked trash island animal crossing mini game the best. It was kinda fun making a sleazy island resort and getting a lot of money from it. I did play the rest of the game too, and made friends with many animals.
Octopath Traveller – Started but didn’t finish or get very far, so don’t really have all that much to say. Think I was waiting for other games to release.
Deep Rock Galatic – Started, didn’t get far. Lot of people were talking about it and enjoying it, I tried it but probably not my sort of thing long term.
Wytchwood – Started, haven’t finished yet but do intend to because I quite like it. Indie game I was following for a little bit, Witch lives in the woods and wants to break a curse, slow and cosy type of game so feel like I need to be in the mood to go back to it.
Cat Cafe Manager – Completed it and had an amazing cafe with lots of money and lots of cats by the end. It was cute, quick and fun.
Cyberpunk 2077 – According to PSN was my most played console game which gives me the ‘Sharpshooter’ gamer profile and I think that is wrong and what inspired this very long list and research. I did really, really like it though. I got a cool raincoat, I played through multiple endings, I almost got the platinum for it and I tried two different characters with different skills and abilities. Feel like I got a lot of playtime from it and really was engrossed. Quickhack exploded a lot of grenades, and therefore, people. Also rewatched Edgerunners whilst playing which gave me a new appreciation for Night City and the people that live there and just how fucking dire it all is.
The Witcher 3 – Remember starting this years and years ago on PS4 I think, doing the very start tutorial and then never really going any further. Downloaded the free PS5 upgrade version and played through, very much enjoyed it. Had some knowledge of the game from friends and the universe from the books and TV show. It was good, I did alright with it I think, and will be excited to play The Witcher 4.
Untitled Goose Game – cause turmoil and terror to others as a goose. You could honk at things. It made my son laugh. I didn’t get passed the first area.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 – Probably my biggest disappointment after how much I enjoyed the first game and felt let down preordering it. Would like to go back to it again and play through it properly but we will see. I don’t have a desire to do so anytime soon.
Digimon World: Next Order – Started but didn’t finish, bought out of nostalgia if anything and because it was on sale. Fond memories watching Digimon after school when I was younger and did begin my interest in Japan and Japanese culture but I wasn’t in the mood to learn how to play it properly and it felt overly complicated for no reason. Plus I think I picked the wrong egg to get the actual digimon I wanted so that was automatically frustrating.
Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir – Played through every character but didn’t finish the last book. Had wanted to play it for the longest time. It’s visually very pretty and you get to eat snacks to level up which I can get behind. Liked some of the characters more than others but I think I wasn’t captivated quite enough to grind levels and abilities for the last epilogue or ‘true ending’ book.
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim – Again, played it because a friend was playing it at the time and I was nosy. Got the platinum for it because it wasn’t hard. Read a lot about the combat being difficult but I found it relatively enjoyable.
Tales of Vesperia – Was a filler game whilst waiting for FF7 Rebirth so it was not the best decision to make to start something. Might go back to it, enjoyed it enough I think but I don’t really remember much about it now.
Mass Effect Legendary Edition – Played Mass Effect 1-3 for the first time with very little context and had to use mouse and keyboard controls so it took me a long time to get into it but I did and I stuck it out and did enjoy it. I think ME2 was my favourite of the three.
Dragon Age Origins – started but struggled with keyboard and mouse controls again so I didn’t get very far. Maybe I’ll try again in the future.
Dragon Age The Veilguard – Currently playing so I won’t finish it this year but I am enjoying it at least! It has a photo mode and I found this tree with legs.
FFXIV UWU – The Weapon’s Refrain Ultima Weapon has been cleared by your local Lizard Lady. I did it! I cleared an ultimate raid in Final Fantasy XIV and I am feeling pretty damn proud of myself. It may not be the current or even a recent FFXIV Ultimate but it’s still an Ultimate. My experience of progressing this fight and eventually getting that all important first kill is a pretty positive experience all around. I am super grateful for the team that had me join them and come along despite the many memes and deaths along the way. I did manage to film the clear and have uploaded that onto YouTube.
The Weapon’s Refrain: Ultima Weapon
Currently there are six Ultimate raids in FFXIV and The Weapon’s Refrain: Ultima Weapon (frequently shortened to UWU) was launched in the Stormblood expansion with patch 4.31. It’s an eight player raid that is level and gear synched to level 70. You need to first clear the Savage Sigmascape V4.0: Kefka (which you can do these days unrestricted for very low effort) to be able to unlock Ultimacy in Kugane via The Wandering Minstrel. You can then recruit other players via Party Finder or form a static group of 7 other people that also want to progress, clear and potentially farm the fight. As a reward you get the achievement Ultimatum which grants you The Ultimate Legend title, and with every kill you get an Ultima totem which can be exchanged in Rhalgr’s Reach or Kugane for a weapon. There are a total of 15 weapons available for UWU, so to have them all, you need 15 kills.
Once you’ve found a committed group of people that want to go for it or if you feel confident to clear in party finder with randoms it’s just a case of planning time to go and do it. For some people this could be a few hours and for others it can be weeks. There’s no real time to say exactly how long it will take you to clear. The group I was progressing with got their first clear during week 9 after 2 or 3 weekly 2 ish hour sessions. The two biggest blocks were Titan Gaols and getting the positioning for those right alongside Ultimate Suppression which is a non-dps mechanic of the fight close to the end which requires each player to do their thing consistently well, but it’s RNG based so knowing what to do with which debuff, marker and dealing with all of the AOE chaos at the same time is a lot. I really struggled with this mechanic in particular so I’m very grateful for the patience of the party I cleared with. These two guides are particularly helpful to see the entire fight and each phase. I referenced them a lot to help me learn the fight.
Gear and Party Composition for UWU
I didn’t have BiS gear for a Machinist during this fight because I couldn’t be bothered to farm it. I used Dawntrail raid buffs such as Grade 8 Tinctures of Dexterity for my potions and Moqueca raid food because that is what I had available to use. I used potions twice in the fight I think, at the start of Ifrit and at the start of Ultima. You can probably line these up more but I didn’t really care to do that. Those two phases were the easiest to use potions for.
Below is a picture of my current MCH Dawntrail gear which is not BiS for anything because I’m not currently doing savage raiding. These were my MCH stats and attributes of the gear I used at the time of my first clear on 16th December 2024. The Balance discord probably has the BiS gear if you want to go for that. I read that the BiS weapon was the Shadowbringers relic with your chosen jobs optimal substats but I didn’t use it. I started progression with the Skyruin Extreme trial weapon and then changed to the tome weapon when I could buy it. You are synched down to 375 for the level 70 raid and it helps to know your jobs level 70 rotation very well. The level 70 alliance raids are a good way to practice this because, despite their being some downtime between boss fights, the length of the alliance raid and the level sync will solidify that rotation in your mind. Also they are without a doubt the best alliance raids in FFXIV with no exceptions.
In terms of party composition you need one player per job and you absolutely must have a caster DPS and a Melee DPS for the beyond limits LB phase. This is for the caster to take care of magitek bits with Caster LB3 and for the Melee to take care of Lahabrea when he appears. It is helpful to have a second ranged player to deal with certain mechanics like eruptions during Ifrit and Ultima phases of the fight. I played Physical Ranged DPS because that is what I have played in most difficult content and is the job I am most comfortable with at level 70. Red Mage would have been the other DPS I might have considered playing but I enjoy playing MCH a lot more so it made more sense. I can’t say what the most optimal jobs are for UWU because I don’t really pay much attention to it (Its not going to be MCH) but having two different tanks offering their unique partywide mitigations – Shake it Off from WAR is a very nice help for healers and giving shields to avoid Vulcan Burst knockback during Ifrit phases and two unique healers – A Regen and a Shield healer will just help keep the party protected and alive during heavy hitting raidwides. That is pretty standard practice for most raids in FFXIV anyway.
Is UWU an easy fight?
This is completely dependent on personal experience and what you, as a player, find easy or challenging. I’m sure when it was current it was much tougher and trickier and took a while to clear and clearing in 7.1 is likely a very different experience. UWU is still an ultimate raid so whilst it may be the ‘easiest’ of the six ultimate raids currently available in FFXIV mechanics still need to be respected. Raidwides and mistakes will kill you. It is a very fast fight and takes alot of mental energy to learn, progress and eventually clear. As I said above for some players this will likely be done in just a few sessions depending on how confident you are at your job, your ability to determine safe spots fast and retain mechanic information for the entire fight. For others it will take longer. The fight itself mechanically, I think, feels more like an extreme, but faster. The difficulty for me came from the length of the encounter with no down time. It is more a test of endurance, and, your reflexes, you might say, than having the absolute best DPS. I would know, because I play a job with considerably weak DPS and no ability to buff anyone. I am selfish and I will continue to be selfish in FFXIV until I unsubscribe.
Doing an Ultimate raid was never really something I planned to do, it was on the off chance that other people were going to try it and they needed an 8th person to fill in. I wasn’t sure if I would last but I did and I have two lovely new weapon glamours to show off.
