Final Fantasy 14 players have been wrestling with the new 48-player dungeon called Forked Tower, bundled with the field operation mode Occult Crescent. While the dungeon itself has its fans, including myself, the process to get into it has felt like a bit of a wild goose chase.
Between trying to line up several eight-player groups into a single instance, waiting for specific weather conditions, and then crossing your fingers that no one in your group bails during the dungeon’s entry lottery, the whole experience has felt artificially difficult. It’s as if the developers threw in extra hurdles where none were needed, turning what should be a fun challenge into a logistical headache.
Square Enix is aware of these issues and has started making changes to simplify the entry process. Some fixes were fast-tracked earlier this month to help players avoid spending half an hour stuck in what some have called “instance gacha.” But despite these efforts, Forked Tower still demands a lot of planning and coordination, which can be a big ask for random groups crossing paths in the moment.
Naoki Yoshida, the director and producer of Final Fantasy 14, recently admitted in an interview with RPGSite that the team missed the mark with this dungeon. He said, “We made it too difficult for players to even get into the raid in the first place.“ He described Forked Tower as a misstep, clarifying that it wasn’t intended to be hardcore content. The idea was that it might start off challenging but eventually become more approachable as players got used to it.
Yoshida also touched on how the dungeon places a lot of responsibility on each player, and if someone slips up, it can quickly snowball into a failed run. That’s a tricky balance to nail, and it seems the team is revising their plans to incorporate player feedback into upcoming field operations with Patch 7.5.
I find it a bit ironic that Yoshida doesn’t consider Forked Tower hardcore. Sure, it’s not on the savage raid level, but you can’t just coast through it either. There are moments where a single mistake can wipe out your entire group, which means you need to stay sharp and coordinated.
