The Final Fantasy XIV Thread [Dawntrail - 7.00]

[AvecAloes]

So will you try finishing to story levels in the beta as a lancer, or continue manually leveling as a pugilist?

 

[ForceStealer]

I'm pretty sure I'm almost done with the story as Lancer. I might actually be done with the main plotline already, I'm on another storyline involving the Elder Prime Ifrit, I think I'm about to fight him

 

[AvecAloes]

Oooo, cool, let me know how that goes!

 

[Ami]

Getting back onto the beta now I'm done with Mass Effect!

 

[Selphie Tilmitt]

Well I applied. Here's hoping

I heard Costa del Sol and the Gold Saucer are going to be in the game. Really looking forward to that for when the game comes out

 

[AvecAloes]

Well, there's a place called Costa del Sol, but it's not like FFVII's version. I haven't heard anything about Gold Saucer, though.

 

[ForceStealer]

I've been to Costa Del Sol, it doesn't look like VII's or anything, just a tropical beach place (with really powerful enemies). I didn't know about Gold Saucer though. (Edit: Oh, didn't see the new page)

I just did a quest involving the Empire shooting down a prototype small airship that I had to go rescue. The engineers testing it were Biggs and Wedge, and the airship's name was the Tiny Bronco.

I've also officially finished the available story in the beta. (I'm level 22.)

 

[Drax]

ForceStealer made me realize I have less than 7 hours to find all these FFVII references. D:

 

[Roger]

http://na.beta.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/4630595/

So here's me. You don't have to sign up or anything for your character to be in their database, they got everyone. The image seems to be of your last login rather then your last logout though.

 

[ForceStealer]

http://na.beta.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/2094547/

Me.

 

[Mwynn]

Me. Yes. Both are me.

http://na.beta.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/4051732/

http://na.beta.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/3772973/

I'm planning to make a new character again so I can see the 3rd world.

 

[Drax]

There's mine

http://na.beta.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/2656223/

I'm doing really good now with the quests, and seriously thinking of putting my gamefly subscription on hold and playing this for a couple months (I don't like to have too many subscriptions floating around, they build up.)

So has anybody figured out the difference between subscriptions, particularly price? This would be the first time I've paid for an MMO. I looked at the info and pricing here, and I know it's subject to change.

What's the difference between the standard and everything else? Because standard looks like the best deal: $12.99 for 180 days, that's practically free over the course of 6 months and I get the same number of characters as the Legacy. I don't care about having my name in the credits or anything else like that, I just want what the Beta has been giving me. Will the Standard give me that or will I have to pay extra fees for costumes and stuff?

Also, do I have to start with the entry fee, and then work up to the standard?

 

[Roger]

There's mine

http://na.beta.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/2656223/

I'm doing really good now with the quests, and seriously thinking of putting my gamefly subscription on hold and playing this for a couple months (I don't like to have too many subscriptions floating around, they build up.)

So has anybody figured out the difference between subscriptions, particularly price? This would be the first time I've paid for an MMO. I looked at the info and pricing here, and I know it's subject to change.

What's the difference between the standard and everything else? Because standard looks like the best deal: $12.99 for 180 days, that's practically free over the course of 6 months and I get the same number of characters as the Legacy. I don't care about having my name in the credits or anything else like that, I just want what the Beta has been giving me. Will the Standard give me that or will I have to pay extra fees for costumes and stuff?

Also, do I have to start with the entry fee, and then work up to the standard?

$12.99 is the monthly fee, 180 days just means you sign up for 6 months of it.

 

[Roger]

http://forum.square-enix.com/ARR-Test/threads/77221-Beta-Test-Phase-3-Schedule-(07-08-2013)

This Wednesday to next Monday, aw yeah.

 

[Drax]

https://twitter.com/OfficialFFXIII/status/354431561833271297/photo/1

 

[Hisako]

so apparently the ANZ/NZ version goes to EU (as expected) except that version of the FFXIV site was borken for a bit, so I've only got my beta application in like, this morning

 

[Roger]

http://arrstatus.com/

Stuck at work aarg.

 

[Ami]

This new update is a piss take. Either that, or the update may have come undone when I accidentally deleted the beta. I say this now when I thought beta testing was done for good. I want to play ME2 and this is taking forever, so I'm tempted to just download this during the day or when I get in from work instead when I have other crap to do.

 

[Marcus]

I would play the Beta but I'm at work all week until Saturday and even then the weather is meant to be stunning, so going against everything us gamers stand for, I will try to spend some time in the sun.

 

[Selphie Tilmitt]

OMGGGGGGGG!!!!

It's ... HAPPENING!

I've been accepted. Just received the email there. I was beginning to give up hope but

Should I start with Windows or PS3 version, where is everybody ;D

Though Square Enix seems to be down for maintenance now ... I'm like wat

 

[ForceStealer]

Windows and PS3 play together, so it doesn't matter where anyone is

 

[Hisako]

SO I GOT ACCEPTED WOO.

So here goes the tale of satsugaikaze and his really boring epic adventure into FINAL FANTASY FOURTEEN A REALM REBORN /dance

Let's jump right into this

son of a bitch

This update thing jumps between 700 minutes to 20 minutes to 300 and I DON'T EVEN KNOW

/flailing

 

[Roger]

Advice: Don't buy anything, avoid get articles of clothing that you already have as questr rewards or for Classes you're not. There is an NPC you can talk to about going from 10 straight to 15 for a certain price.

 

[Selphie Tilmitt]

Thanks for the info/advices

Congrats/welcome to FFXIV satsu

So I've created a character and have been running around getting started in the world. For character creation it wouldn't let me use the names Aerith Gainsborough, Aeris Gainsborough, Flowergirl Aerith or Flowergirl Aeris Either Aerith is a pretty popular name for people to snag or this means something

I was trying to make my character, I went for a human like female type, kind of look like Aerith but I think I got her height and bust size wrong I feel a bit disportional while running around I went for as close to Aerith's birthday as I could get, selected Conjurer as my class and picked the nature/earth type god as my diety

So it's all in the details right? Well nice to see Square Enix is still staying "classy" By this I mean while jamming the camera around I discovered my character is wearing white panties. Then I saw someone's character running around wearing nothing but what looked like bra and panties. I was like oh you guys

Edit - Oh, oh how could I forget!? My character is wearing stockings and garters too! <__<

I want to be a White Mage. Apparently I want it so much that when I finally crashed for some sleep I had a dream that my character was some sort of chosen one, the reincarnation of one of the White Mages of old, apparently the White Mages had been corrupted or something, and I had been one of the most powerful, and one of the few remaining to the light, but someone killed my love, while I was standing by his body in grief a dark lord came, and in my vulnerability convinced me to destroy everyone and everything, so clasping hands, our powers of light and darkness appeared as beams of light, etc in the sky, spreading across the lands, my powers being corrupted as such as they raised an undead army which pillaged the land, and we were also blowing stuff up with our fancy lights. I was still full of grief and rage, then the dark lord lifted me in front of him on his horse, got on, put his arms around me and rode away. Looking back I saw the body of my lover surrounded by some other guys who I realized I knew also. Since I was aware I was dreaming, I was kind of confused by this stage, I was like wait do I/did I have more than one love or something? Forward in time the person was telling this story to the reincarnated version of who I'd been before, well as much of it as they knew, apparently there had been a group of us, each representing an element, the guy whose death had sent me over the edge was Earth, the other guys were Fire, Wind, etc. So I was White, then there was the dark lord

It was pretty interesting, I was trying to have a conversation with the storyteller about the sanctify of life, and she was trying to explain about how certain White Mage powers had been lost and what would I do if I had the power of life, would I use it to disturb the peace of the dead, then she told me the story of the past. I was also trying to find out what the deal with the dark lord and all the guys was all about, was the dark lord completely evil, why was he being kind of protective/tender with me at the end, did all those guys love me, did I love them or something? In the dream I knew I really loved the guy whose death had been the last straw and I really wanted to find him again. From there the dream went on to me trying to find the reincarnations of the others, trying to find out what the hell this was all about ... of course I had to wake up eventually <.<

 

[Hisako]

So, the client somehow has disabled Printscreen to avoid people taking pictures, eh? HAHAHA SNEAKY SQUARE ENIX. CURSES I HAVE BEEN FOILED AGAIN.

So immediately my first thought upon starting the game up is "well, holy fuck, this ain't a great start." I crash to desktop on the opening screen that asks me to configure a controller. I decide that, no thanks, Square Enix, I am inherently a keyboard warrior and thus will take my chances with the great foreign and unknown.

After a few more CTDs it occurs to me that on the beta registration I said I used Windows 7 Ultimate, 64-bit version. Well, turns out I'm A HUG IDORT and installed it using my Windows XP operating system (where most of my stuff is installed atm.) So switching to Windows 7 thankfully doesn't require me to go through the whole 10 hours of reinstalling shit, which is nice I guess.

Opening cutscene was basically that awesome trailer, edited a second time and minus most of the fucking awesome music. Susan Calloway had been eschewed for some random voice over guy who seems to have taken an apprenticeship in doing voice-overs for television ads. Booooooo. Still, he said a few important lore things, which helps give those original trailers some context behind them, but honestly I preferred Susan Calloway crooning those Uematsu lyrics straight to my heart. Or my groin, I don't know which. Look, Uematsu's music gives me a musical boner, okay?
Also, I wanted them to hurl that victory theme rendition at me again, but to no avail. Nah, I'm just nit-picking gaiz

Character creation is robust, imo. Perhaps not as robust as I was lead by the hype to believe. It's no EVE Online, and it's certainly no APB: Reloaded (which you must see for yourself - it's possibly the most in-depth character creator of any game I've ever played, let alone an MMO), but there are a fair amount of options for every race and a couple of pleasing sliders, as well as a decent color-picker for plenty of the color options.
Having recently picked up a soft spot for Final Fantasy Tactics, I decided to go for an Agrias-Oaks-looking sheila, nothing too fancy. Just a tall blonde with long hair and a Gladiator, which I'm hoping later on I can put some points into Thaumaturgist as well. As I do the typical character creator thing and put like a bajillion hours into this shit that no-one will really ever notice in the heat of battle, I get a preview of some of the environments to expect and it's all very nice and shiny.

I pick the Behemoth server because apparently that's where the bitches are at, and then Anaea Oaks does a little jig on the spot for my efforts in bringing her into existence, which is cute, I guess.

So once I start the game, I immediately get sucked into a GIANT BLACK HOLE OF DOOM and FFXIV immediately flaunts how much of a narrative it has by showing me an utterly incomprehensible scene where my character is in the middle of the fucking universe or something and suddently decides that creepy hooded and masked dudes (the worst kind of dudes!) should be dealt with by turning into some paladin and piercing the heavens with a drill or whatever.

Then it turns out that it was all just my character tripping balls inside a horse cart, although whether or not it had worn off when she woke is a different question entirely, as everyone is projecting voices into each others heads. I don't really have a problem with silent talking though, although I may have been spoiled a little bit by the fully voice-acted shenanigans of The Old Republic. Maybe I love Bioware a bit too much.
In any case, the "grizzled passenger" tells me that I'll get used to tripping out and having incomprehensible shit in my dreams, which makes it A-Okay (tm). Some rude fuckers stop and search the carriage but apparently their narcotics bust is interrupted by some other rude fuckers who are giant, half-naked black animals, oh dear.

Then this peddler (who the game says is Brendt, I must have missed that) asks me personal questions. When he asks me my motivations for adventuring, I pick the "..." option, not because it's apparently a secret that my character doesn't feel like divulging, but because none of the above options actually felt befitting. But apparently the "..." means I'm a super secretive person. Brendt is fine with it, probably because he's a shady character himself and I'm glad to be rid of his narcotics. At this point I notice how fabulous my "rugged" adventurer is (and her thigh-highs, lawl) and the game rewards my perception with a subdued upskirt. Classy.

Some rude jerk in teashades calls me a noob, says his name is Wymond and that essentially his job is to be intrusive and nosy and to give tutorials to noobs. In his infinite intelligence and wisdom, he refers me to someone else for a tutorial, and the game calls it a quest. YAY SATSU NUMBAH ONE PVE
A lively Lalafell called Momodi tells me about the things that happened in the opening cinematic, and proceeds to school me on actual tutorial material.

Overall so far my impressions have been good. UI is intuitive enough, although it's taking me a while to get the nuances of the map. The fonts are clean and the skill hotbars are clear, even at a smaller resolution (for me, about 1280x800 windowed). Movement is at a decent but relaxed pace, and so far there's enough interesting things distributed throughout areas to prevent going from A to B a chore.