FFXIV Thread

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

I think it's kind of hilarious people are putting out reviews for this now. All anyone has to do is look at XIs development history and see that XIV is far from a finished product and since noone has hit cap yet they don't know what there is in terms of content. They have been releasing bits of info on lodestone as the playerbase started to hit these milestones. From a journalistic standpoint, I doubt any of these reviewers have gotten past, much less to, level 20.

A little history lesson, when XI was released they had the zones right outside each city, Jeuno was non existent and there was no AH either. If you find the list of version updates the game transformed itself no less than 3 times before we ever touched it here in the west. Now I'm not saying that releasing and unfinished product is right, but every MMO is this way. The game hasnt even been out a month and people are up in arms about shit they're aware of and have been on their table to be addressed. People just need to chill out. An MMO is best graded on their potential and the history of the developers to deliver content.

SE has shown that they can do this. They might not be as prolific as Blizzard but usually they do a good job. I think if anyone is on the fence about the game, they should just wait till PS3 launch before deciding. As it stands I'm enjoying the hell out of the game despite the small fixable flaws, but one man's candy is another man's poison.

I'm not towing the fanboy line, but I have faith in SE and their dedication to this title. They've never shown all their cards before and I'm not expecting meet and greets with their devs on forums daily.

My parting thoughts are that if the game was so terrible then why are all the servers packed to the gills with more people starting every day? I'm sure alot of people will leave once Cata comes out but for every person that bitches about the game ingame, there's several hundred people telling them to STFU and leave. That's my kind of community. :)

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

BTW, that Gamespot review was pretty awful. Has the genre degraded so much that players need to be handheld through everything? Let's bash the interface when it was common knowledge it was designed for a controller. Yes there are design flaws, simple ones that can and will probably be fixed, but I'm sure all the bad press will upset SE shareholders enough for them to abandon their vision of the game and try to convert it to another me-too MMO, which would be a shame, because the genre and the playerbase deserve more than that.

BTW it's obvious that the guy never hit 20, never tried faction leves or continued the storyline past mission 4. And for the record, when our LS does leve-linking, we are out there for 5-6 hours, this doesn't include the 8 local leves that will suck up another 2-4 hours. That's alot of content every day and a half. Most people in groups are having a hard time doing all of them every cooldown. It's also apparent he's from the WoW school of reading comprehension because each guildleve has a story - some of them quite long, that involve NPCs and factions within the game, but alas people find reading in a storyline... Bothersome.

[Sagacious-T]

Tenchi you are a cool guy but face it, the game is bad. If it wasn't called Final Fantasy you wouldn't be playing it.

The same reviewer iirc gave FFXI a 80-90 score

edit: If you review this game and honestly overrate it I'll probably be really disappointed.

[Chronix112]

Servers are always packed in the 1st month for new hyped up big release mmos . Its the second and third month that tell the true story.

[Hathen]

Has the genre degraded so much that players need to be handheld through everything?

I agree, but only to a certain extent. It's bad design when you have to go NPC fishing/look at wikis and crap (Which is exactly what most people are doing right now), but I'm not a fan of how most MMOs just give you a laundry list of tasks to accomplish.

Let's bash the interface when it was common knowledge it was designed for a controller.

I don't think he's writing the review for us so much as for the uninformed customer (Possibly FF fans who have never played an MMO before and such). Given that TERA's coming along with controller support and will probably not have the same issues this game has it's definitely a legitimate complaint.

Yes there are design flaws, simple ones that can and will probably be fixed

I think the whole thrust of his review is that while the game's inside content can be good, the interface and such (Which probably can't be patched) won't be fixed.

It's also apparent he's from the WoW school of reading comprehension because each guildleve has a story - some of them quite long, that involve NPCs and factions within the game, but alas people find reading in a storyline... Bothersome.

Show, don't tell. A lot of guildleves I did had just a huge blurb of text. I have no doubt the game has its share of cinematic storytelling, but the wall o'text that each guildleve gives is at best comparable to the quest text you get from NPCs in WoW (The ones that involve killing snow moose and not the ones that actually have things happening, which is quite a few of them, actually)- personally, I'd think the sheer volume of them in WoW overshadows XIV's a bit.

The same reviewer iirc gave FFXI a 80-90 score

Well actually, like Tenchi said, FFXI was released in the States several patches in, bundled with its first expansion...but to the layman, that impression is what matters. People who played XI will go to XIV and go, "where's all the content?" Also like I said, this game has had something like twice the development/planning time as XI did.

XI was comparatively a good MMO when it was released. Skip several years forward, I can't see anything about XIV that's remarkable compared to other MMOs in the market, or even their previous one.

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

I'll try not to disappoint you guys when I do review it, but it won't be till I reach cap. Anything before that would be speculative. The game has issues, but anyone who has played MMOs will realize most things can be changed. FFXIV is not limited by outdated hardware like XI, so there's no technical limitation. I will admit the game isn't perfect but the potential is there. Guildleves in their base form do get repetitive, but after helping on a faction leve, I found it gets better (actual instanced NPCs in addition to mobs within the context of that faction.)

I guess I'm just tired of people expecting the second coming of Christ when a new promising MMO comes out, and the backlash when it doesn't meet the expectations. MMOs as a genre are works in progress, and casting judgement, especially when you don't know what content is actually there just silly. Anyone who has played XI knows this. Your milestones in XI didn't start till 18-20 and you really didn't get into the meat of the content till 30+, so when I hear people whine about not having content at level 10 (which is crap BTW) that I just want to go stabby rip stab stab on them. It doesn't help that the party who is defending the game are rabid fanboys instead of rational gamers. I just wish people would be patient and try to see what will be possible in this new world. Instead we have an MMO culture that expects games to play for themselves, have no sense of accomplishment because the level of commitment is non-existent. Lets not forget that these things are more fun in a group, but I'll guarantee most people who are complaining aren't doing it with a good group of people, if they're even grouping at all.

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

Tenchi you are a cool guy but face it, the game is bad. If it wasn't called Final Fantasy you wouldn't be playing it.

The same reviewer iirc gave FFXI a 80-90 score

edit: If you review this game and honestly overrate it I'll probably be really disappointed.

I'd be playing the game if it was still called Rapture. Branding doesn't do much for me, because sequels usually suck. I've complained enough about FF13 to prove I'm not a brain dead SE sycophant, so don't assume I am. I've played alot of MMOs that were hyped more than this, and some I couldn't stand after two days (AoC, Warhammer), some I still play on occasion (Aion, WoW, XI). In  all honesty there was very little hype and PR for this game outside of the dedicated fan sites. Calling the game bad is your opinion, it's not fact. There are plenty of people playing who are enjoying the game and will stick with it after the first month. Also, if you hate the game, no score I give it will be acceptable for you, so don't think your disappointment will shatter my world. I will endeavor to give the game a fair run through before I do though. I won't be whining about shit that could be managed with simple reading comprehension though. I mean come on, if making an account was so arduous there wouldn't be 15 servers stuffed with 5k people each server

[Hathen]

His complaint has more to do with the fact that 5-6 hours into the game, he still wasn't having fun because of how unintuitive the UI is compared to other MMOs. If you don't get the basics right, it's not going to matter how great the story, lore, and possibly even actual gameplay is.

Also I don't get why a lot of people that defend the game say that it's still easy to register an account, interact with UI "if you stick with it", when the whole point of the opposite argument is that it's bad comparatively to other MMOs. Just seems like there's some strawmen going up on both sides, as per usual whenever people are arguing.

[Dios GX]

compared to other MMOs.

Putting the second definition as well, in case some of you brain dead idiots can't figure it out on the first try.

com·pare
v. com·pared, com·par·ing, com·pares
v.tr.
1. To consider or describe as similar, equal, or analogous; liken.
2. To examine in order to note the similarities or differences of.

re·view
v. re·viewed, re·view·ing, re·views
v.tr.
1. To look over, study, or examine again.
2. To consider retrospectively; look back on.

As you can see, class, a Review, and a Comparison are two different things. We can use this thing called Common Sense to determine that the current Metacritic rating is not based on Reviews of FFXIV, they are based on random nitwits posting twitter-quality Literary Abortions on the internet saying nothing more than:


WHY ISN'T THIS GAME LIEK WORLD OF WARCRAFT   QQ



The reason the Metacritic review isn't higher is because all the people who aren't idiots are playing the game to write accurate REVIEWS. See, I used bolds and italics interchanging there. That's how we do it in SoCal bitches.

[Hathen]

Games don't exist in a vacuum. I'm not sure how I can put it any simpler than that for you.

[Parn]

There may be a wealth of content, but the game does not do a good impression of presenting it to you.  Quite frankly, when one of your tier 3 level 20 guildleves is killing 9 squirrels, I argue that we've got problems with content.  Crafting is the one thing they've got right even though I bitch about the interdependencies, but said bitching is because there isn't a decent marketplace system to allow for the exchange of goods.  There's merely a time-consuming one.

The fact that you can't sort your inventory speaks volumes.  Even selling items to a vendor can sometimes be an exercise in frustration.  It's one thing to launch an MMO and not expect the second coming, but it's another to launch an MMO that clearly needed more time in development before being released.  I have no intentions of quitting in the interim, but I cannot ignore such stupidity as having to click the map button specifically in my journal to see a marked story quest location as opposed to the normal map you use through the map option on you main menu all the time... or that I have to click each and every equipped item to try to figure out which one is busted so I can repair it.  Surely I'm not the only one annoyed that I have to repair my fucking underwear all the time.  Since you can't repair it while worn, better have an extra set all the time!

[Hathen]

I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around why people think making things more tedious is an evolution of the MMO formula.

SWTOR having single-player storylines and full voice acting is an advancement.

Guild Wars 2 scaling world events is an advancement.

Fighting rats and moles and needing to go into sub-sub-sub menus and going NPC fishing is about a mile backwards on the road.

[Dios GX]

Games don't exist in a vacuum.

You could try doing so in fucking English.

This entire thread is a joke. It amounts to a bunch of losers complaining their shitty computer can't run this game. Bitch about the UI all you want, none of you have discussed how this game even functions because you're too busy worrying about shifting your opinion to fit with the previous poster.

"Waaah you guys made this look SO GOOD IN THE BETA HOW DO I FORM MY OWN OPINION!!??"

I'm gonna be glad when you losers get off my game.

[Hathen]

yeah man we're not supposed to compare games to other games fuck wow it has gay cartoony graphix i dont like that shitty western game who wants good controls anyway i like going in subsubsubsubsubsub menus to do basic actions like putting on my clothes i like having to scroll through my entire inventory if i want to wear that pair of underpants buried somewhere in there why encourage game developers to look at each others' games and improve on the ideas when you can take about a 5 year step back in advancements so the players will be stuck inside their menus and trying to figure out how to fuckin control the game instead of actually playing it i feel like i am totally adventurin man japan 4eva

[Sagacious-T]

Has the genre degraded so much that players need to be handheld through everything?

Let me start off by saying I am NOT a player that has to be handheld through everything. I've played Shadowbane, EVE Online, Led Raids in World of Warcraft. and I generally consider myself to be a good gamer. I don't mind a difficult game at all, but some things are unpractical. Like recipes not being saved after you discover them, or the abysmal UI, or terrible optimization.

Let's bash the interface when it was common knowledge it was designed for a controller.

Oh come on. It's an MMO on PC where every single user has access to a keyboard and mouse. It is not hard to optimize an interface for KB/M, I don't care if the game was designed with a controller in mind, I am playing it on a PC, I want to be able to use more than 12 buttons on the Xbox 360 controller while playing. I want hotkeys to quickly open and sort through different menus. This is 2010, this shit won't fly with the PC MMO community.

I guess I'm just tired of people expecting the second coming of Christ when a new promising MMO comes out, and the backlash when it doesn't meet the expectations. MMOs as a genre are works in progress, and casting judgement, especially when you don't know what content is actually there just silly.

I of all people did not expect FFXIV to be the second coming of Christ, or a 'WoW Killer'. I went in, never playing FFXI, with expectations that an experienced developer like Square-Enix could make a good game. I'm not the pickiest gamer, if the game has decent gameplay I can usually get hooked easily, at least for a while.  The Backlash isn't because the game isn't perfect, it's because people see the game as just see the game as bad.

Games don't exist in a vacuum. I'm not sure how I can put it any simpler than that for you.

I agree with this. Games naturally grow off one another. From Doom to Unreal Tournament 2k4 to whatever, there is a natural evolution that is distinctly different from the game's unique design. FFXIV is simply a step back in that regard.

Here's a fun fact: Nobody wants another WoW Clone. That is why so many WoW players want to find another MMO, because they are tired of WoW's design.

Words, Maps, Inventory

Parn said it good enough for me.

[This entire thread is a joke. It amounts to a bunch of losers complaining their shitty computer can't run this game. Bitch about the UI all you want, none of you have discussed how this game even functions because you're too busy worrying about shifting your opinion to fit with the previous poster.

"Waaah you guys made this look SO GOOD IN THE BETA HOW DO I FORM MY OWN OPINION!!??"

I'm gonna be glad when you losers get off my game.

[/quote]

Fuck you. I still have weeks of playtime left and I have no intention to play "your" game. My computer can run Crysis maxed out at 40 FPS at 1600x1200 and FFXIV runs like a piece of shit. For gods sake Anti-Aliasing INCREASES the framerate. It's a technical monstrosity.