The Final Fantasy XIV Thread [Dawntrail - 7.00]

[The Twilight Mexican]

So I just read about that "fatigue" system Mako was talking about. Before I begin ranting, here's the Sankaku articles for anybody who still needs to catch up:

http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/08/24/final-fantasy-xiv-players-only-allowed-1-hour-a-day/
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/08/25/square-enix-on-ff14-players-get-8-hours-a-week/

Hilariously, before clarifying the specifics about it limiting EXP gain to 8 hours a week, SE claimed that the system was a fabrication by overseas publications -- and that statement was made after producer Hiromichi Tanaka and production director Nobuaki Komoto had already verified its existence with Famitsu:

http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/08/25/square-enix-ff14-fatigue-system-fabrication/

Given that this game requires a monthly subscription, this is obviously intended to keep people playing the game indefinitely.

Between shit like this, FFXIII being so limited in scope, FFXIII not getting the promised DLC content after all, and FFXIII not remaining a PS3-exclusive in Japan (also as promised; and while a port alone is not a big thing to get upset over to anyone who isn't a console fanboy, lying to your customers constantly is horseshit, especially when many of those customers will miss out on bonus content included in the port they were told would never exist), the credibility of this company has been completely shot to hell. Not to mention that it all makes Wada and his cronies seem like complete assholes.

 

[Makoeyes987]

S-E is full of shit, just like I've been saying. Had they not released Dissidia 2 I'd probably not give a shit about anything they're doing right now at all.

I'm more than disenchanted at whatever nonsense FFXIV turns out to be. It's a scam at this point, in my eyes. What a crock of shit.

 

[Dark and Divine]

Had they not released Dissidia 2 and announced that they will remake FFV and FFVI to the 3DS, I'd probably not give a shit about anything they're doing right now at all.

Fixxed!

 

[Makoeyes987]

Okay there's that too, but they still are full of shit. It speaks volumes that the only good shit they can make are rehashes of titles from their glory days.

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

So all in all your going to pay around £40 for the game off the get go, and god forbid you want to play more than 8 hours. Surely if you have fans who love your product THAT much then you should be rewarding them, not discouraging them from paying even more money each month for subscription charges let alone any downloadable content you may bring out in the future.

All in all it seems to be a massive watse of time and money for fans that actually like to game.

 

[ForceStealer]

There's just no way this will stick, no way. There's going to be too much backlash. Given that the point of a beta is to fix things, I guarantee you that is going to be EVERYONE'S complaint. There's just no way it'll stand.

How many games are going to have not sell well before they boot Wada's ass out of there? Not that he's necessarily the only problem, but getting rid of him certainly wouldn't be a bad idea.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Here's a way to tell them to fix this.

DON'T BUY THE FUCKING GAME.

Seriously. Just don't support it. Leave it alone.

If more people quit eating at the S-E trough of mediocrity, they'd probably realize they can't pull this shit anymore.

Between them putting out a subpar FF installment, lying about its future content, lying about its exclusivity to Japanese gamers, and basically turning the next installment into a blatant money making scam, I think now's the time to give them the finger.

At the very least, buy all their games used and shit, so they don't get the profits. Until they feel the sting of financial depression, they'll never stop.

 

[Cthulhu]

Actually, it probably will stick to a degree. Here's how it'll go:

* Koreans will get addicted
* They'll remove the 8-hour thing in an attempt to attract more people
* After a while, when users decline, they'll reduce the amount of servers
* They'll switch from monthly subscription to a free game with microtransactions
* It'll shut down

Actually, that last point will not happen for at least a while, see point #1 for why.

 

[ForceStealer]

How could the Koreans have time to get addicted to anything else at this point? Seriously. Between Starcraft and WoW and surgeries to make them look white, when do they sleep?

 

[Makoeyes987]

ITT: Forcestealer's a snarky fucker.

 

[Cthulhu]

How could the Koreans have time to get addicted to anything else at this point? Seriously. Between Starcraft and WoW and surgeries to make them look white, when do they sleep?

Didn't you know? Koreans evolved beyond sleep. They save time playing WoW by buying ready-made level 80 characters / accounts + gold. They can play a dozen games of Starcraft in the time normal humans play one due to excessive APM. They ragequit on a dozen more (again in the same time) when their timings on the initial build is off by a second.

And they can do the surgeries while they play. Without anesthetics, of course, as they influence their game.

 

[Lord Noctis]

So I'm not sure if any of you guys have done this, but I've been messing around with the open beta of FFXIV and thought I may share my thoughts.So far I've tried two characters, a gladiator and a mage (I forget the exact name of the class.)

Its a damn pretty game, better looking than any other mmo I've played, and everyhting seems to run smoothly. The cutscenes are well done and the voice acting is solid as well from what I've seen so far.

The gameplay is servicable but it isn't anything overly special. Near as I can tell there is no auto-attack. You have to select each attack from a list of available abilities on the bottom of the screen. As a result the mage certainly seems more versatile at the start than a warrior class due to having more abilities that do different kinds of dmage. Like I said this system works well enough but it isn't that impressive.

Some quests have time limits on them. As far as I can tell when you are doing these quests your hp does not regenerate over time. This limitation is placed on hunting missions and the like, though whether or not its on all of them I don't know. My brother who's been playing longer assures me that story related missions have no such limitations placed upon them.

The music is good as one should expect, and generally matches whats happening on screen. Nobuo Uematsu is the one who did the soundtrack for this right?

The character creation works well. You select a race, then a subdivision of that race, such as midlander highland etc. From there you customise your looks. There are quite a few options here, and it allows for a far wider range of character appearances then FFXI did. Then you select what type of character you want, such as an art of war or art of magic character, and a list of appropriate classes comes up and you choose which you want. From there you pick one of three cities to start in. Each has a unique cutscene. One has you on a ship being attacked by jelly-fish things. One has you being chased by a treant in the forest, and the last has you enterig into a city in the desert.

Levelling is a bit different from the norm, being closer to FFTactics than your average FF. Your character has a physical level and a class rank. You can change class simply by equiping specific gear. As a result you can try multiple classes without having to constantly reroll your character.

In the open beta you only have three character slots, however I blieve the final relase of the game will have more.

Overall I'm having fun with it so far. I haven't run into any problems with the fatigue system so far, but I don't thinkI've played long enough to trigger it yet, so maybe that will change.

 

[Cthulhu]

[snip]

I'm missing two answers in your mini-review:

1. Is it fun?
2. Is it grind?

Note the answers can only be 'no no', 'no yes' or 'yes no' - there is no such thing as 'fun grind'.

 

[Lord Noctis]

I'm missing two answers in your mini-review:

1. Is it fun?
2. Is it grind?

Note the answers can only be 'no no', 'no yes' or 'yes no' - there is no such thing as 'fun grind'.

It is fun.

There is some grinding, but not as muchas other mmos I've played.

 

[Cthulhu]

It is fun.

There is some grinding, but not as muchas other mmos I've played.

...yet, . I'd like you to report in again when you're a higher level.

(Yes, I'm pessimistic about MMO's. They're still potentially the most entertaining games out there, but realistically all boil down to grind)

 

[Lord Noctis]

I'd like to expand on my previous statements.

The ost continues to be the best part of this game, with each bit of music hitting exactly the right tone to whats happening. It ranges from dark and ominous to light and goofy, and can make you feel like an epic badass when all your doing is killing mushrooms. Not many soundtracks can make mushroom killing feel epic.

The surroundings and enviroment are also fun to look at, as each new place I see looks truly gorgeous in its own way.

In addition I still haven't encountered much of a grind. What I have encountered is a lack of imagination. The plot has had me running back and forth across a forest for at least an hour without any real action trying to convince the elementals that I am eco friendly, so to speak . One part of this quest involves getting a bunch of children to teach you a dance that you need to preform in a festival to appease the elementals. In order to do this you talk to each kid, whose dialogue will havea clue as to which emote you need to use. Then you target them and use the emote, and if you use the right one you learn a new bit of the dance.

The problem is that not only is this boring, but the clues really don't match the emote you need to use on each child.

While the game seemed striking and fun at first, it has gotten boring. Not really boring, but kinda boring. I'm still pretty early in the game so I'll go a little further and see whats what.

 

[Vendel]

Spoony rips into SE at PAX. And blasts the game itself.

http://spoonyexperiment.com/2010/09/13/pax-coverage-final-fantasy-xiv-guild-wars-2/#disqus_thread

Also....
1. Is it fun?
2. Is it grind?
3. Is it safe?

 

[Makoeyes987]

There we go, Spoony's actually making sense and having a logical argument again!

FFXIV's gonna be shit. Calling it right now.

It'll be grind. But it's gonna be worst because it's going to be grind with the fatigue system breathing down your neck, making your play experience short, monotonous, and rage inducing.

If I were S-E, I'd be so fucking embarrassed right now. They look laughably out of place and ancient now. Jesus. What the hell are they doing to themselves? Did they not see the excitement and interest Guild Wars 2 had, and not think "gee, what is it that we're missing?"

God. They have learned nothing. There is no evolution in their gameplay at this point. It's seriously heart breaking to see this company cling to such antiquated gameplay models and design. They will literally become extinct at this point.

 

[Vendel]

There we go, Spoony's actually making sense and having a logical argument again!

Oh my. We jump back on the Spoony bandwagon so easily don't we?

 

[Makoeyes987]

Oh my. We jump back on the Spoony bandwagon so easily don't we?

No bandwagon, bro. Just when Spoony's right, he's spot on right. When he's just being dumb, he's dumb. I respect him and his opinion when he actually makes sense, that's all. And he hit the nail right on the head with this.

 

[Lord Noctis]

Much as I don't want to I have to agree with Spoony. The fun is really starting to wear out of it.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Put FFXIV next to World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2, or any other modern MMORPG and try to keep a straight face.

I fucking dare you to.

You'll either laugh at the embarrassment of them working on this game for 2+ years, or you'll cry at the ineptitude.

FFXII looked more exciting than this.

 

[Lord Noctis]

Put FFXIV next to World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2, or any other modern MMORPG and try to keep a straight face.

I fucking dare you to.

.

I dunno, DDO was pretty bad.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Well now you've compared a turd, to a runny turd. Congratulations!

 

[Lord Noctis]

Well now you've compared a turd, to a runny turd. Congratulations!

Now I'm curious. Which is which?