Evening folks, Chris here again - its time for us to go back to Heavensward to take a look at this awesome raid set in the bowels of a giant robot. I, being a man of exquisite taste love mechs so a raid like this is right up my street. How about you, what did you think of Alexander? Also, don't forget to check out our Displate link if you'd like to pick some plates up with up to a massive 27% off: displate.com/preachgaming?art=619e85e06e135

Most people don't know the _horror_ that was the first set of savage raids for Alexander on release. It changed world populations dramatically with people transferring in hopes of finding a group that could handle it.

I think Mide and her beloved didn't get put into a simulation. They were sent back in time, where they founded the tribe that would ultimately go on to create Alexander in the first place.

"Bosses starts to merge into one" -Preach "Sure" -Wandering Minstrel

That intro is 10/10 lol

I understand what you're saying, but for me Alexander has some of my most memorable raiding moments. Brute Justice and Cruise Chaser in particular.

When Alexander was released the Dev team was heavily criticized that the raids were a jump in difficulty compared to Coils. At the time, classes were still having teething troubles and things like ranged classes being stationary dps, healers having to stance switch and expected to dps to meet enrage timers, still dealing with the attribute system where you allocated points so it was harder to switch class to meet a raid needed role, and in general much less dps divided among more moves. You have to consider that the bar you have at 60 now is about half of what you would of had at 60 then, things were pruned to make bar space for the higher levels and as such in general moves had larger divisions of dps back then. Faust, for example, was a door miniboss that many guilds could not beat a month after the tier's release. They never even got to see the actual boss and kept dying to Faust's dps check. All in all it was really fun tier for me, about ICC level in my opinion, which was impressive considering this was FF14's Burning Crusade.

I love that this raid just drops a closed time loop into the game.

Sooo... what Preach seems to be misunderstanding here about 2.0 raid VS 3.0's is that there technically is no 2.0 normal mode. What Preach is calling 2.0 Normal is actually 2.0 Savage (there was only 1 difficulty at the time). Normal mode in 3.0 was SE's solution for people who wanted the raid stories, but didn't want to be gated by the harder content. And before someone points out 2nd coil Savage. That was an experiment for SE at the time. And was actually harder at the time than what we know Savage to be today. I know it's probably all a bit confusing for newer players to understand. But take it from someone who was there. ^^

I think you'll really like the fights in Omega, that's when they really started to feel free to design wild stuff even on normal and there's some absolutely insane spectacle in savage.

I'd also say that the normal mode fights suffer quite a bit from ilevel creep. Going in at something closer to the ilevel of the time they came out means less skipped mechanics and that the ones you don't skip have much more impact, which in turn helps give the fights character and set them apart.

I so wish they would start voice-acting the raids. They're so worth it.

1:50 ARR raids had no "normal mode". If you're comparing Alex normal to coils there's an intentional significant drop in difficulty so that non-raiders could experience the story without committing weeks of progession to earn clears.

The way preach puts himself in the cutscene is so genius. Keep up the good work

Been waiting for this one! Great to see this so soon.

You’ll notice the same thing in all the raids going forward, Square wanted to make the normal modes accessible enough that any person could clear through to see the story. The Alexander raids are my favorite but that is biased by the fact that it provides the story for my favorite fight I’ve ever played in a game (The Epic of Alexander Ultimate).

I have to admit, I love how much fun you seem to be having with your greenscreen. Those little intro segments are great, thank you for making them.

Also to provide some context to Alexander, it was their first proper attempt at making a raiding scene for ff14, and the biggest issue they were facing was tuning and difficulty, where first it was too easy, then it was too hard but with Creator, the final tier, they've basically hit the golden standard of difficulty that we still have today. Of course doing the raids now will feel different because of stat squishes and potency rebalances though. Also Mide is not stuck in a timeloop, they actually went back in time to form one of the earliest auri tribes, there's a bit of that mentioned in the epilogue of Alexander.

Glad you're enjoying the game. But I feel you miss a part of the story here. He turned himself off because he knew he would end up destroying the world once he's "saved" it. He is a primal after all. And primals sap the life (aether) out of everything around them to sustain themselves.

Preach doing FFXIV content is such a win, I can't get enough of this man's content.

Loving the production on these new videos! The Preach team putting in work at the new studio

Glad you enjoyed the Alex raids. Just a few pointers to keep in mind, although I'm sure people have already pointed it out. 1: Do *NOT* rush through the quests, even if you have people waiting. Us FF14 vets can (and more importantly, *will*) wait for you. We don't mind. "Haste makes waste" afterall. 2: While the normal mode Alex raids might seem easy, please bear in mind that because it's not current content you are most likely overgeared for it. What will also make things easier is the fact people may still remember how to do the mechanics for each fight. When Alex was on-content, while it's easy compared to the Savage modes the normal modes were no slouch either. 3: If you still think normal mode Alex raids still feel easy, I highly suggest level sync + minimum item level. That's as close to "on-content" as you can get.

Wow! That intro is lit AF! 🔥

Gotta love the references in the Brute Justice fight, reference to combining mechs in general, and the localization adding the reference to the Combaticon team of Transformers.

That new green screen made you way too powerful

YOOOOO that intro was sick.

One thing about those 15 to 20 minutes of cs between raids those were probably between A4-A5 and A8-A9 since the raid release in groups of 4 for a total of 3 tiers 1-4, 5-8, 9-12. Basically those CS were the intro and ending story for each raid tier at the time which were spread out across a year and a half.

These intros are killing me lol. Can tell y'all are having a ton of fun with the new office.

Been wating for this! This is also a nice refresher for old players as well

Me: sees a new PG video Also me: hits like before even watching

Dude, you video production is really starting to take off! Nice.

That intro was amazing

"The 20 min gaps between the fights, cause you wanna see the story" Well Normal Mode was meant to be the - Pardon my phrasing...its no where near as bad - LFR version of the encounters. Where you go in with the Duty Finder on your own and do it as your own pace. Savage Mode is meant to be done with your friends / static group.

These intros are fucking AMAZING MIKE!

Dude... came for the opinions of the story and stayed for the high quality videos... keep it up :D

One thing that helped alot with the monotony of the aestetic and all bosses being robots was the fact that it was 6 months between each set of 4 bosses, and between were the primals, demons of the 24 man raid etc which certainly helped aleviate the monotony, the raids in 14 in general arnt designed to do 12 fights with 20 min cutscenes in between in an evening, but rather in sets of 4 over 2 years :)

that brute justice theme is 10/10

I really need to go back and watch all the cutscenes for the Alexander raids. I cleared these things years ago in one of those "come get your clears and achievements" groups where everybody raced through as quickly as possible and skipped cutscenes in between. Big mistake on my part, and one I did not repeat in future content.

…a okay, Preach. I was intrigued before, but now you’ve got my subscription

great video Mike

I will say... my favourite part of the prime fight was going into the time portals and seeing yourself on the platform below frozen with a big ol beam charging up to kill you... and BEING THE REASON YOU DON'T DIE IN THE CUTSCENE PRIOR TO THE FIGHT. Like that was SO FUCKING COOL. The entire time I was smacking a robot's arse I was going HOLY SHIT THIS IS SICK.

From Alexander onwards, savage is the starting point for boss design then normal is scaled back on those mechanics to be more like tutorials for what's to come in full savage. Normal coils is essentially savage mode on its own in rough difficulty scale.

I can't wait for preach to get to the stormblood raids c:

Pretty cool tshirt dude, my older brother loved knightmare! :D

Brute justice is still my all time favorite orchestra roll. I always have it jamming in my house or inn when I'm dealing with retainers or glamor plates.

Thank you Chris!

I love all these intros

It's weird seeing this AFTER your video on the Omega Raids but at least it seems you did do these raids first and the other video was just ready to come out earlier.

Seems like the detail that when you kill the ads in a12 where channeling the time freeze from an earlier cutscene, so you canonically save yourself.

I love TEA. The 4 months we progged it will always be special to me. Haven’t don’t the regular ones on savage either.

Brute Justice is still one of my favorite fights to this day. Such fun and I love the Sentai theme.

These intros are so dope

I kinda feel the same here with the steam punk sensory overload, after a while it's all brass and bronze. Brute Justice and Alexander are chef's kiss tho.

That intro was so true... Just take me Alexander

I need to go back and watch all of the cutscenes for the Alexander raids, as I cleared them years ago in one of those "come get your clears and achievements" groups where everyone raced through as quickly as possible, skipping cutscenes in the process. Big mistake on my part, and one I won't repeat in future content.

The intro is gold LMAO

cant wait for you to do the omega raids

Alexander Savage was very hard. Alexander started the accessibility pass for Savages and paved the way for Ultimates to compensate for the Savages being made more accessible.

I've seen a few people mention, but savage 3.0 fights and beyond are the equivalent of normal Coils. Also back in HW there was a great deal more Job mechanics to deal with, like actual aggro management (from tanks, but also other roles) and TP and just other general buffs that needed coordinating. You could still clear without, but it could really suck.

I wish you would mention the music! That is the most memorable to me!

These intros are killing me and giving me life xD

Another thing that I want to point out is the music is sooooo damn good it enhances the raiding experience

Godlike Intro

Fun fact: The music in the time travel area in the final boss fight where you had to travel back in time to save yourself was Exponential Entropy from the previous boss, Cruise Chaser. Albeit, recorded from outside the place it was being played to give it that muffled sound. They really went the extra mile and had a intern stand outside to record them playing that song just for a short section.

Not sure preach but if you want to skip cutscenes because friends are waiting etc. I am sure you can replay them in you're mog house or at a NPC. Love the videos of FFXIV keep them rolling.

Savage is so damn great. Im currently do them and we are currently the first roadblock A8S

I think Alexander set the standard of having a relatively casual "normal mode" raid experience. Once I got over the performance anxiety of being in a raid, I found it was really easy to queue up, PUG it, take time with the story, then queue up for the next. Between the Roulettes and Khloe's Wonderous Tales encouraging replay, it didn't take all that long to jump in to these, even during late Shadowbringers. Even now that I'm doing at-level raiding, I got dragged into the first two Pandaemoneum raids as the roulette, and managed to pug them without a wipe as the off-tank. I love it. It allowed me to bring a couple friends who are not hard-core players through the Omega raids before they finished Endwalker.

Ah Savage will be fun for you to do. You won't get the soul crushing experience we had when it was current (we were all really bad at the game back then). Maybe some day you'll do The Epic of Alexander Ultimate. Such a great fight.

Whoever edited that opening deserves a raise lmao

Weird to cut off half of Mikes hand in the vid. That being said, Great vid.

I for one can't wait until Preach starts doing Ultimates.

I think he will love the Omega Raids

Amazing intro as always, I agree the story is amazing but indeed a bit too much text for my liking as well. Something I really hope they do is make a few important scenes voiced.

I agree 100% that trash adds context and scope... something sorely missed in SB onwards, which essentially becomes 12 trials, rather than feeling like an exploratory raid.

I can't wait for Preach to do the Stormblood raids. Those are some of the best raids i've done.

7:15 "and hopefully not for eternity, because that'd probly suck" fyi, after the questline it's revealed (I believe through a journal) that they went back in time and they were the ones who started the Hotgo tribe of Xaela in the Azim Steppe. So they get a happy ending, though lore-wise by the time the player gets to the Steppe, the Hotgo tribe's been entirely wiped out by the Dotharl (aside from ones that weren't there when they all got murdered).

The normal modes are meant to be able to do them consistently in duty finder. That tier of savage raiding broke a lot of static groups.

The Alexander Raid was the moment where I 100% fell in love with the game.

3:40 I fully agree, getting to see the scope of the city inside Alexander is why I was sad they removed trash in later raids, because they perfectly nailed the story/savage distinction by simply REMOVING trash with having Savage just be the boss arena with Alexander. In Stormblood onwards, that trash and travel is gone, so every fight is just boss arena, and generally speaking less memorable on the whole (I can't remember more than half the Eden raid landscapes)

All fair nice to see you do em 😘

When I did the Alexander Prime battle, I was speechless how epic it was. Alexander is my favorite Esper/Summon/GF/Primal to this day and I was really hoping they give him an awesome trial. It was way better than I could ever expect. The idea that he created all the plot only to save everything by stopping the Ilumminati and freezing himself in a single moment for the eternity made me cry. And how he was able to recreate Mide and her beloved's bodies and release them in the past proved me one thing I aways knew: Alexander is not evil. I aways saw him like a "mechanical Paladin" of sorts. By the way, if you liked him on this FF, you should try FFIX. He got maybe the most badass moment of this game!!

I love the Alexander raid it is second to my favourite form of Alexander in FFIX.

"Forward and back and then forward and back and then go forward and back and put one foot forward!"

Completely agree with preach. Unfortunately that feeling doesn't disappear with savage, I would definitely recommend doing A8s and A12s though as they have a few iconic mechanics that people should try out

Alexander was great, i personally im in to stories more then bosses etc and that story was awesome GG PG Team

I actually really like that Alexander set a precedent for primals. Which was that they are summoned in service of the wish that brought them to life. Prior to him a lot of them would have the general goal but would have a self preservation instinct that would often trump that. Alexander realized the threat he posed and knew his existence was a threat to all life. The entire raid is basically his convoluted way of committing suicide for the greater good.

Holy shit that intro.

big circle boss rooms. very epic

Alexander raids are the ones that many feel bad about getting in roulettes. It only gets better in the future

love that raid so much

I was having a lot of trouble with queue times with the later raids. My friends in my FC helped me get through it for faster queues and I was always really apologetic because I was taking forever reading through the story, but they were always like "No, take your time and enjoy the story. We'll wait :) ).

it should be noted that the story team did get one over people who skipped the story when they first released TEA and the world first raiders were trying to complete it, since there were mechanics that only made sense if you played the raids story

I like to believe that Mide and her Lover became the Dusk Mother and Dawn Father of the Steppe since they traveled back in time. It would be kinda cool if the whole tribe is their descendants!

Having done Alexander on savage the fight it’s self is great but preach I think what you are really going to enjoy is Tea I feel that will give you the game play your striving for.

I have a soft spot for Alexander because he's a recurring summon in FF games, so having HIM be the dungeon we're invading is super cool. Then the second reason is because Cruise Chaser is based on Ark, my favourite summon and a namesake of mine since I was a kid.

How do I get the black cat minion?

I totally get the difference, Mike, but don't worry, you're correct. From 3.0 on, our normal modes are designed for more casual players to see the raid story and basic encounter designs compared to the (generally) single harder difficulty for how Coils were made. You're right where Savage is where the meat and potatoes are and they are indeed very enhanced. Keep in mind of course you're also probably doing most of the floors all back to back so the robots do blend together. When we were progressing these fights 4 at a time way back when, including the comparatively super hard at the time A3-A4, trust me, each of the fights were very memorable.

YOU FOUND THE BEST MINION! THE CAT (we called him Mr. Boom-booms)!

Ah yes, Aleksander was the first time I attempted Savage raiding. After several painful weeks of attempts my group was still stuck on A1S and disbanded. I went full casual afterwards and stopped raiding Savage until A9S, then went on to clear the tier just before they unlocked the weekly clear restrictions. Man this was a trip.

Didn't Alex almost kill raiding for 14? Just going off a happy vid and personal experience.