FFXIV 2.0 - Holy Shit!?

[Esper_Crusader]

The game could surprise with a sound relaunch but I'm not convinced despite the promises. They are obviously working their asses off to pull it out of the fire but I'm still on the fence. As for TOR...the support for the game was SEVERELY lacking and the 'free to play' model just seems like a desperate move to get people to subscribe again because most of the content is pay to play. GW2 got it right as far as I'm concerned. 2 major events already with more coming and I haven't spent a dime past the purchase price. Yeah it's WarCrafty but it's a great MMO and the FFXIV team better gamers a damned good reason to pay to play.

[Akanbe-]

so far the official trailers for the reboot have been lame as hell. my favorite part is when they enter a dungeon then dont attack anything...

What trailers are you talking about? The alpha trailers have just been showing off the zones.

I'm not sure if it was posted on RPGFan, but I believe I know what she is referring to.  There is a segment in one of the videos on the official channel where they run through an area (maybe a dungeon, I don't know) that has mobs.  The mobs just stand there as they run by and don't attack.  I'm assuming that's what she is referring to.

I've picked ver 1.0-1.23b to peices and I've seen and received enough feedback from the alpha to be fairly confident that outside of art assets, you wouldn't recognize the game from its previous iteration. I'm not trying to be a White Knight for the game, but right now it seems like ARR is shaping up to be the successor to FFXI we all hoped to play and then some. Square Enix has way too much already invested to ham fist a relaunch, and I think we all owe the game another spin when it happens. I think most people are looking at it with an air of cautious optimism. When we have an actual release date and the NDA drops, is when the real feeding frenzy will begin.

I pretty much agree.  At this point, I think they'll do pretty much whatever it takes to make it fun.  I love the looks and feel of it, I just hope the gameplay delivers.  I'm curious if they'll make the combat FFXI 2.0 or try something different.  Hopefully we find out soon.

[Parn]

For those of you waiting for a combat video, here you go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N4G854ANo0

As expected, we're looking at standard MMO fare here: kill X monsters at location Y and return for reward Z.

[Taelus]

For those of you waiting for a combat video, here you go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N4G854ANo0

As expected, we're looking at standard MMO fare here: kill X monsters at location Y and return for reward Z.

Womp. Womp.

[Hathen]

While it's a bit disappointing, I'm not sure what I was even expecting all things considered. But it isn't too comforting to imagine that this is their best foot forward.

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

Well quests are genre standard. It's all about the presentation and impact. The video was pretty fast but the quest dialog for the slug quest was pretty heartbreaking. Also lets not jump the gun on judging questing, this is low level content after all. Even though it looks derivative it's pretty well done and beats the pants off guildleves because it actually incorporates storytelling. Lets not forget the FATE events too which are supposed to be more like Warhammer and GW2's area active events. Either way, it beats camping in one spot killing mobs as nauseum.

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

While it's a bit disappointing, I'm not sure what I was even expecting all things considered. But it isn't too comforting to imagine that this is their best foot forward.

What were you expecting? Fully voiced cutscenes like SWTOR? Those are still MMO fetch/kill quests. I've read so many people on the official forums be disappointed in the questing, but nobody seems to have a better solution. Don't forget this is just one aspect of progression gameplay. If you have any alternatives, share them.

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

so far the official trailers for the reboot have been lame as hell. my favorite part is when they enter a dungeon then dont attack anything...

What trailers are you talking about? The alpha trailers have just been showing off the zones.

I'm not sure if it was posted on RPGFan, but I believe I know what she is referring to.  There is a segment in one of the videos on the official channel where they run through an area (maybe a dungeon, I don't know) that has mobs.  The mobs just stand there as they run by and don't attack.  I'm assuming that's what she is referring to.

I've picked ver 1.0-1.23b to peices and I've seen and received enough feedback from the alpha to be fairly confident that outside of art assets, you wouldn't recognize the game from its previous iteration. I'm not trying to be a White Knight for the game, but right now it seems like ARR is shaping up to be the successor to FFXI we all hoped to play and then some. Square Enix has way too much already invested to ham fist a relaunch, and I think we all owe the game another spin when it happens. I think most people are looking at it with an air of cautious optimism. When we have an actual release date and the NDA drops, is when the real feeding frenzy will begin.

I pretty much agree.  At this point, I think they'll do pretty much whatever it takes to make it fun.  I love the looks and feel of it, I just hope the gameplay delivers.  I'm curious if they'll make the combat FFXI 2.0 or try something different.  Hopefully we find out soon.

Ok that was the Tam Tara Deepcroft video. I think that was just a debug video showing off how the dungeon has been instanced. I was hoping to see some of the new combo system in the latest video but looks like pretty standard GCD gameplay. I like the combat music and animations but they need to clean up that combat Ui, its pretty distracting.

[Akanbe-]

As expected, we're looking at standard MMO fare here: kill X monsters at location Y and return for reward Z.

Pretty much what I was expecting.  Granted, it is Alpha and not set in stone, but it seems decent.  There seems to be less standing around waiting for shit to happen than regular FF14.  Still interested.

[Agent D.]

I don't know about anyone else here, but that "typical mmo fare" seems better than anything else I'm playing right now. Quests offering actual rewards, who would have thought it.

[Taelus]

While it's a bit disappointing, I'm not sure what I was even expecting all things considered. But it isn't too comforting to imagine that this is their best foot forward.

What were you expecting? Fully voiced cutscenes like SWTOR? Those are still MMO fetch/kill quests. I've read so many people on the official forums be disappointed in the questing, but nobody seems to have a better solution. Don't forget this is just one aspect of progression gameplay. If you have any alternatives, share them.

My alternative is for someone to ditch this stale genre and stop rehashing it "because it kinda works." The excuse of "well, do you have a better idea" doesn't fly with me-- we aren't developing the game, we're paying for it. The onus is on THEM to make something good and creative. Making the game FUNCTIONAL is all well and good (and a nice gesture for people who already bought in), but as we've seen with basically every MMO released in the last year or two, copying WoW and having that god fucking awful "go kill 5 monsters" design for the early levels and then the "go do raids where you kill bigger monsters with more people for more loot" is so played out.

And as Rob said on the podcast, what would be fucking fantastic is for developers (especially J-devs) to realize that combat being the ONLY form of interaction with a world is incredibly tedious and seriously wearing thin on my nerves. And let's be real-- I read the dialogue for those quests. It's completely generic filler "well X thing happened which necessitates you finding/killing/using an item on and them killing Y," so that isn't going to carry the experience. I don't doubt they could come up with something compelling for later content, but why is it that every MMO has to be stuck in this paradigm of "okay do this boring shit for 50 hours... okay now you can do something mildly interesting."
 
Just the thoughts of someone VERY sick of the MMO genre.

[Parn]

The gist of it is that, we will forever be in a rut until someone creates an MMO that empowers players to create their own content... the Minecraft of the MMO world, if you will.  Flawed attempts have been made (Second Life comes to mind), but eventually someone will hit the right formula.  As it stands, we're just going to see derivatives of the Everquest formula for years to come.

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

A player content driven MMO would be very cool, but i'm not sure how much "original" content you'd actually see. I'm not sure how you'd integrate something like that into a persistent world without jacking up the lore etc. Been following some of the discussions on the topic on the official forums and some folks have actually put forth some interesting ideas to break out of the same-old quest design. One suggestions was to use a similar structure as Secret World where you have to actually use your knowledge of the game world/real world to solve certain puzzles - which I thought would be kind of cool in relation to getting to know the lore of Eorzea. Another suggestion was to actually make the quests a more lengthy chain of events that see you using skills of exploration, observation and memory in order to progress. Also, the ability to fail quests permanently. I'm not a fan of having to use a wiki for every obstacle, but if a game actually has me writing things down, I feel more invested in completion.

I guess what it boils down to is that players want to feel invested in the content they're participating in, be it self-created or not. I don't think we've really seen anything in the game thus far that would qualify as engrossing, but again the game is being built specifically to be FF fan service and being a part of that world. I think SE's main goal is to create something that fans of the series will enjoy because of that FF feel, which is basically what the main storyline missions are known for. In regards to player activities and content, I believe they're aiming for the industry standard which is what so many players were complaining about. There was a fundamental lack of functions and options in 1.0 that players expect that of course we were going to see them in 2.0, quests included. Personally, I'm somewhat indifferent to these kinds of quests - they are a means to an end. As long as the gameplay is great, they honestly don't bother me. Sure i'd love them to be more engaging, but that's what the Missions are for. As much as you guys really can't stand this aspect of the game, there's alot of people who love the idea of seeing FFXIV develop into something as accessible and functional as WoW.


P.S.A.
The next batch of alpha invites just went out (I got in), next batch is on Dec 10th.

[Raze]

 That combat does look bad, but it could just as much be the player. He just kind of stands there, slooowly moving his mouse over and clicking skills. Most noticeable with the caster where the question becomes 'Can you not kite? Or are you just not trying?'

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

That combat does look bad, but it could just as much be the player. He just kind of stands there, slooowly moving his mouse over and clicking skills. Most noticeable with the caster where the question becomes 'Can you not kite? Or are you just not trying?'

He's going slow cause he's giving you time to read the mouseover for the spells.