BFF Report - Final Fantasy XIV

[Vmpwraith]

Thank you Krenian for the video on this it explained it nicely but I still don't see how this helps the casual player, Ok they aren't out leveled (vertically) as they put it as fast but still they are out classed by a gamer who can level more classes (horizontally) and use their abilities isn't that still the same (or actually a bigger) problem?

Characters at the same level but vastly different skill levels / sets, I like the armory idea don't get me wrong but the fatigue system was meant to level the field but it doesn't seem like it does at all, A casual level 10 and a maniac gamer level 10 will just be oceans apart in versatility and ability,

Anyway hope it improves -- I want to love FFivX but just cant at the moment,

[Ciderhelm]

Very interesting video. And yes, he makes logical arguments which are sound.

Ok, kind of hard to respond to this since I don't particularly care about the fatigue system. It is presented very well. It is factually accurate. The system makes sense.

However, he makes a single argument that I hear -- "the system allows more freedom." The fatigue system does not allow more freedom, since you could do the same thing without capping per-day physical xp.

Again, I don't dislike the system or anything, and the video is good. It's just incorrect to say his argument is logical.

[Darksend]

Thank you Krenian for the video on this it explained it nicely but I still don't see how this helps the casual player, Ok they aren't out leveled (vertically) as they put it as fast but still they are out classed by a gamer who can level more classes (horizontally) and use their abilities isn't that still the same (or actually a bigger) problem?

what it doesn't tell you is that if you had EVERY SINGLE combat and crafting and gathering class at 50, if you were a 50 gladiator and used all your gladiator abilities, they take up so much AP slots that at most you would be able to use 4-5 abilities total from all the other classes combined.

[Eoika]

Again, I don't dislike the system or anything, and the video is good. It's just incorrect to say his argument is logical.

I have to agree with Cider on this, back in Final Fantasy XI there was no fatigue system. You could level "Horizontally" all you want, but you still had to stop, and level the other classes to help support what role your main class was doing at the time. Its definitely not more free - instead your forcing people to level up other classes, at times when they may not want to level another class cause they enjoy their current class to much. I'm not saying this is the best example either, but as far as leveling up as far as you can, its not free.

[Sunanogara]

Although I did find this pretty funny as a review in general (as most of Fony's tend to be) I have to say I was disappointed in the way he went about reviewing FF.
Now before everyone starts kicking be back and forth and calling me a fanboy, I'd like to say I'm not personally a fan of FF and am a huge fan of Fony's reviews. I've been watching them from begining and loved every one of them. However this time it really did seem like he was out with a vengeance. Usualy Fony manages to weigh the pros and cons of the game giving the viewer a pretty good feel for the game and giving them (or at least me) a good indication of weather I really want to spend what little money I have on the game. But for some reason Fony failed to mention anything good about the game besides its graphics. Now I don't have a beta key and so for all I know this game might truly suck beyond anything anyone has ever seen before, however with the fan base it has and the ferocity that some of the fanboys show defending the FF series leads me to believe otherwise.

Now I will be the first to agree that copy and pasting terrain, not being able to move while attacking, and not being able to jump are bad qualities to a game. And while this game may come from a famous title the probability that this game is terrible is quite high.
I do however wish Fony had spent a bit more time on other aspects of the game- aspects that he usualy covers. Be it the multiplayer experience, the dungeon system (if there is one), and even character creation (even if the majority are asian chicks with cat tails).
In conclusion I'm sure I will end up taking Fony's advice and steering clear of this game but I was just wondering if I was the only one that felt like he was hitting this game a bit harder than most?
Thanks!

[Darksend]

Although I did find this pretty funny as a review in general (as most of Fony's tend to be) I have to say I was disappointed in the way he went about reviewing FF.
Now before everyone starts kicking be back and forth and calling me a fanboy, I'd like to say I'm not personally a fan of FF and am a huge fan of Fony's reviews. I've been watching them from begining and loved every one of them. However this time it really did seem like he was out with a vengeance. Usualy Fony manages to weigh the pros and cons of the game giving the viewer a pretty good feel for the game and giving them (or at least me) a good indication of weather I really want to spend what little money I have on the game. But for some reason Fony failed to mention anything good about the game besides its graphics. Now I don't have a beta key and so for all I know this game might truly suck beyond anything anyone has ever seen before, however with the fan base it has and the ferocity that some of the fanboys show defending the FF series leads me to believe otherwise.

Now I will be the first to agree that copy and pasting terrain, not being able to move while attacking, and not being able to jump are bad qualities to a game. And while this game may come from a famous title the probability that this game is terrible is quite high.
I do however wish Fony had spent a bit more time on other aspects of the game- aspects that he usualy covers. Be it the multiplayer experience, the dungeon system (if there is one), and even character creation (even if the majority are asian chicks with cat tails).
In conclusion I'm sure I will end up taking Fony's advice and steering clear of this game but I was just wondering if I was the only one that felt like he was hitting this game a bit harder than most?
Thanks!

No, you most certainly are not, but anyone who agrees with you is being called an FF fanboi and having their points completely ignored. Also people need to realize this was recorded AT LEAST 4 weeks ago, if not longer. Also. also, no FF game ever has had jump or the ability to jump (unless you count the dragoon ability)

[Kanzer]

NOTHING you said in the above quote was wrong, and in fact 4 is so beyond accurate it makes me cry while leveling when I kill a mob that barely gave me any exp and it respawns as something that should be a mob 3 zones from now (which would be fine but the party SP system is terribly broken). But, ALSO NOTHING you said makes it A BAD GAME. A technically lacking game yes, but I have been playing almost non-stop since Wednesday and I have loved every minute of it.

2) only happens when you play in full screen, windowed mode FTW

3) the menu system only fails if you try using your mouse. When opening a menu from another menu it always puts the cursor EXACTLY where it needs to be and is actually faster then using a mouse.

5) most likely this will be dropped to a 24 hour cooldown, as 36 hours is just moronic to try to keep track of. But you did not mention local crafting leves. These are 3-4 leves per city PER PROFESSION that you can do all of them as long as your crafting for that profession is high enough (you can only hold 8 at a time but unlike battle leves they disappear from the list when you complete it)

6) fishing is so much fun that I almost want to just focus on getting fishing to 50 without doing anything else

7) AGREED click and buy ruined so many peoples credit cards

8) WHO CARES ABOUT COPY AND PASTING!!!!!!!!!!! if you had played this game for months without watching this video YOU NEVER WOULD HAVE EVEN NOTICED. THE ONLY REASON PEOPLE EVEN KNOW ABOUT IT IS BECAUSE OF FONY! sorry but stop QQing over something you never would have noticed.

9) "foreigners" the reason I almost did not buy the game. So insulting to hear that from a major game company

but again, NONE OF THOSE MAKE THIS A BAD GAME.

here I will even add a few more from you:

cullinary is useless because food buffs are either NYI or just bugged and do not update on your character sheet, either way you have no way of telling what the food actually does.

to further the ui debate:

inventory: no way to sort at all, the order you pick things up in is the order they are in forever

synthesis UI: shows everything in your inventory including things that are never used for crafting ever, making you dig through everything you have to find your crafting mats

gear UI: when you select head to equip a head item, instead of just showing you heads it shows you ever single equipable item. repeat for all inventory slots

when typing, you can type like 15 words max and that is 15 very short words before you have to hit enter and continue your sentance on another input box.

NO WAY TO AUTO REPLY TO SOMEONE, if you get a tell, you must type "/tell (persons first name) (persons last name)" to reply to them

your friends list gives you the option to send tells but not the linkshell menu

anima regen is terrible I used 1/2 my teleporting power in 3 days

guardian aspect regen is terrible as well

GLADIATORS DO NOT START WITH A SHIELD




and ya know what, I still love the game and love playing it.

I'm going to have to disagree and say that many of the things above make it a bad game.

1) Fatigue system is unnecessary no matter how you try and slice it or present it. All it accomplishes is pissing people off.

2) I don't want to have to play in windowed mode, and even their windowed mode is terrible. You have to run the config and pre-select your resolution and even then it doesn't fit right. The bottom is still cut off for me and I have to deal with the stupid bar on top to remind me what game I'm playing and a unusable maximize window.

3) The menu system fails when using a mouse, so therefore it fails period. Why? Because the game was released for the PC even before the console version, so it would make sense that people expect it to work with what a majority of players use with their PC, which is: dun dun dunn.... a Keyboard and mouse! Whoa go figure. Better navigation using a gamepad is in no way, shape, or form a justification for their terrible menu system.

4) Yeah I about crapped my pants the first time I attacked a dodo and got smacked for 400 dmg.

5) 36 hours is what they reduced it too after all the complaining, i've seen nothing that leads me to believe it will be dropped to 24 hours, and even then its still dumb. Limiting how many 'quest' you can do per day is just dumb. Like I said, if they actually had some depth, took time to complete, and offered decent rewards I could understand it. But they suck, have no depth, offer randomly generated crap and you can ONLY DO 8 PER DAY! So you make a choice, don't let them control how much time you play and spend endless hours grinding away at mobs, or say "fine" and pay a monthly fee to be restricted. Either way I give a big middle finger to them.

6) No comment

7) No comment

8) I would agree with you normally. But after my grand tour of the entire island that Limsa Lominsa is on, this issue goes way way deeper than simply copying bits of terrain. Theres absolutely no original looking landscape on the entire island, its all green rocky terrain with occasional tunnels leading underground, some of them being equally boring unoriginal 'dungeons' if they can even be called that. Same looking camps with a couple NPCs around a big crystal, uhmm.. different variants of same mobs, yeah, its that bad. Ultimate laziness, next please.

9) They've always been elitist when it comes to gaming.

So yes I'll have to disagree and say everything I commented on indeed makes this a bad game. As well as some of the other things you brought up yourself.

Inventory does suck

Crafting is the most idiotic system I've ever seen in any game. Luck of the draw? You've got to be kidding me.

Tell length is absurd, no auto reply is absurd.

Anima regen is dumb, hell all of their cooldowns are just dumb.

Trust me when I say it pains me to no end to give this game such a terrible review, like I said I'm a FF fanboy and I simply feel like I was screwed over by a company I used to love and support 100% Probably why I'm even going through the effort to write all this, because it pissed me off that much.

In short: There is a big fat line between immersive/challenging/difficult/fun and completely unnecessary, tedious bullshit, and FFXIV is chalk full of the latter.

[Darksend]

Maybe the interface does not bother me as much because in the year of playing ffxi I never once used my mouse and in endgame ffxi if you were looking ANYWHERE but your combat log you were a terrible player. those 2 things must be numbing me to the issues you guys are having because I am absolutely loving the game so far.

as far as the fatigue system, no one in my LS has hit cap yet (one guy is almost there but only hit physical fatigue a few hours ago - and by that I mean 99/98/97 etc % exp vs 100% exp, he is probably getting about 75% exp still). Most of you seem to think that once you hit fatigue you are done, but there is already a level 25 on another server so that just proves you can push at least 8 (you get fatigue 1K into 17 class rank) class ranks past the fatigue system.

NOT SAYING IT IS A GOOD THING, just saying that ATM it is a non issue because we are nowhere close to hitting 0% exp most of my LS is 16-20 with crafting and gathering professions in the 12-18 range and secondary crafting professions in the 5-10 range BECAUSE we like crafting. Fact is all the best stuff in this game will be crafted so it is something we need to do anyway and most of us started long before we even hit 15 let alone surplus because it was a nice break from the tidium of grinding. Sure the RNG sucks, but it is a hell of a lot better then it was in 11, and I hate the wow crafting system, farm mats and push the create all button and gain 20 levels. At least there is some interaction, varying crystal colors that give different odds for each of the types of synth, sure it is a bit dumb when you fail a lvl 1 pattern at 20 (which has happened) but not very often.

[Krenian]

Ok, kind of hard to respond to this since I don't particularly care about the fatigue system. It is presented very well. It is factually accurate. The system makes sense.

However, he makes a single argument that I hear -- "the system allows more freedom." The fatigue system does not allow more freedom, since you could do the same thing without capping per-day physical xp.

Again, I don't dislike the system or anything, and the video is good. It's just incorrect to say his argument is logical.

Well you remember me writing about the system when it came out on the Donor Forums so you know I'm just as against it, but the point was simply that a lot of people don't 'understand' the Fatigue system and immediately get negative feelings about it. Heck, I was the same way when I first heard it and got very annoyed as some people would say. But then one of my RL friends showed me this and yeah, okay, the system does still limit you and it sucks if you don't wanna do it, but I see it as this: With this argument of why SE did it, and how they made the game, they went and tried a different route: Making you want to become more powerful by becoming a jack of all trades.

In a way, you can say WoW is limited due to the fact you can only level one toon with two proficiencies when many of them would actually be beneficial to some classes. Take Tailoring: Pretty useless for most classes but the thread for the cloaks have some really good ones for Melee dps. Could you see a Melee level Tailoring? No, because it doesn't add more benefits, however if he had the option to do it, and I'm not saying WoW should think about letting this happen, but if they did, they would allow more moneysinks in the game and creativity on how to improve the game. It does give you that.

In the end, I view the Fatigue system as a moneysink of sorts: A method which allows the hardcore user to power up their own characters (Let's be honest, I doubt someone can go through 18 classes and hit each class with their fatigue system in seven days, and for that matter, as the video explained, by the time you got to probably the 10th, your first class no longer is close to the barrier..) through limiting progress on every class to a certain point per week.

Like I said: I fully agree the system is pretty weird. But I guess I meant logical in the sense that he shows his proof relatively well about how 'good' the system is compared to the previous poster who said the system is just pure crap. That's what I took offense to.

[Viertel]

Like I said: I fully agree the system is pretty weird. But I guess I meant logical in the sense that he shows his proof relatively well about how 'good' the system is compared to the previous poster who said the system is just pure crap. That's what I took offense to.

That video didn't display any information that hasn't been explained before, and the author explained in the ZAM forums the only reason he did this was to give Square-Enix's PR spin to people in a spoon fed format since they apparently can not read.

Contrary to your opinion, I *do* fully understand how the fatigue system works. I *do* understand it's not real-time hours but instead is more of a pro-rated experience earned per hour. I *do* understand that it takes roughly 2 days to get back an hour of fatigue (which is beans when trying to reach endgame for the first time). I *do* understand hitting the rate at which you hit the fatigue barrier depends on the type of player you are. Do not assume simply because I call it by what I rightfully see it as -- a terrible system imposed on players to cover for slow developing and a rushed release -- that I know nothing about it.

FFXI had the same system in play as far as branching out; this is nothing more than subjobs through a different way of handling them. When they decide to tweak balance they'll restrict abilities to only be used when the main class is selected or an ability will lose effectiveness (usually rendering it not worth the action slot). The difference is, needing to make the decision to spend time leveling those classes instead to support your favorite was enough of method of horizontal progression.

It's the same thing with the system in FFXIV, but they decided to use the fatigue system to put a hard limit on progression. X amount truly possible per week, multiply that by number of weeks needed to hit level cap (depending on how the pro-rated amount extends), and you have a buffer to start working on content. This isn't to 'help' anyone but the developers. They could have just decided to start with a small level cap and increase it every 2-3 weeks and there wouldn't have been anywhere near the 'rumors' and complaints about it. Instead, they push this onto the players stating at first it is to "help" casual players (I have no idea how, and would love to hear the explanation for that one) and then turn around and state this is all to deter RMT (again, you can't deter them).

And please tell me you're not seriously trying to make an analogy between this restrictive experience session and professions. Professions are usually limited in most MMOs, because they're used as either a source of power or money.

The biggest problem with the system is the fact that people are paying to play. If this were a F2P with microtransactions (which SE stated they plan to do anyway as a source of revenue), it would have gotten a raised eyebrow and nothing more.

Although I did find this pretty funny as a review in general (as most of Fony's tend to be) I have to say I was disappointed in the way he went about reviewing FF.
Now before everyone starts kicking be back and forth and calling me a fanboy, I'd like to say I'm not personally a fan of FF and am a huge fan of Fony's reviews. I've been watching them from begining and loved every one of them. However this time it really did seem like he was out with a vengeance. Usualy Fony manages to weigh the pros and cons of the game giving the viewer a pretty good feel for the game and giving them (or at least me) a good indication of weather I really want to spend what little money I have on the game. But for some reason Fony failed to mention anything good about the game besides its graphics. Now I don't have a beta key and so for all I know this game might truly suck beyond anything anyone has ever seen before, however with the fan base it has and the ferocity that some of the fanboys show defending the FF series leads me to believe otherwise.

Now I will be the first to agree that copy and pasting terrain, not being able to move while attacking, and not being able to jump are bad qualities to a game. And while this game may come from a famous title the probability that this game is terrible is quite high.
I do however wish Fony had spent a bit more time on other aspects of the game- aspects that he usualy covers. Be it the multiplayer experience, the dungeon system (if there is one), and even character creation (even if the majority are asian chicks with cat tails).
In conclusion I'm sure I will end up taking Fony's advice and steering clear of this game but I was just wondering if I was the only one that felt like he was hitting this game a bit harder than most?
Thanks!

Welcome to Tankspot, by the way : )

Here's the sad thing about FFXIV that a lot of people get confused over, with this versus his other reviews: there is a horribly, bad ratio of bad to good.

The graphics are top-notch, even if I don't agree with the color palette. But even in the graphics you have the whole CPed terrain issue, as well as the fact that all of the zones so far are nothing more than HD versions of other zones in their past MMO. The races are reused, and the same moronic restrictions are used again as well (nevermind that Japanese players have been clammoring for male Mithra for longer than NA have played the game). I've heard mixed comments about the very, very minor storyline so far: it's usually either "It's great!" with no examples given, that it's merely OK, or that it's just the same rehased plotline SE is known for lately.

That's about it, sadly. There really isn't much good about the game. The controls are awkward, UI is horribly lain out, combat is still utterly boring, mobs are just dropped in the world without thought or plan, the land is barren of life (and largely unused), and there's no viable method of establishing an economy. The graphics are nice, but the models all look like plastic dolls. Guildleves are horribly boring, stale, and too few to really be of any value.

The soundtrack.... this is a problem. I've always liked Nobuo Uematsu's work, and the soundtrack for FFXIV is incredible. The problem, however, is that the soundtrack doesn't fit the game -- at all. It was finished well before the game even hit alpha stage, and the overall feel of the OST is completely different from what is actually in the game. The typical FF Nobuo sound he's famous for just doesn't fit in with the decidedly boring and "realistic" style of world they used for their MMOs.

Multiplayer doesn't really exist at the minute. Oh, sure, you can group up, but EXP/Skill points are determined with what you DO, and in a group a lot of people are just left out in the cold. There isn't a boost to EXP, really, compared to say doing a Guildleve. Plus, at a certain threshold the monsters become essentially raid bosses and become impossible to kill due to poor scaling mechanics. You can't just click on party members' portraits to heal them, nor do the function keys work in that fashion. Drops are also handled in quite possibly the most stupid method I've ever seen: Instead of having a pool or (heaven forbid realism!) loot the corpse, items are automatically, randomly assigned to a player's temporary item list who then has to deal with assigning what he was given to someone else if they need it.

Dungeons, since you asked, pretty much don't exist. There's parts of the world that are underground (think of a massive grotto), but that's about it.

As one sided as it sounds, Fony did try to put in as much positive as he could. It simply isn't there.

[Fatetaker]

Okay let me drop the disclaimer bomb before I start...

I am not a FF Fanboi. Unless we are referring to FFVII which made the FF series popular around the world in a mainstream way. I played EQ for 7 years(So I know grind) and I played WoW for about 4 years (Check my armory for history). I have been hardcore I have been casual. I also have played almost every current MMO on the market free or paid. I also played FFXI for 3 months during launch (I hated it).

FFXIV is a decent launch title no matter how you look at it. Compared to all other launches this year and prior. OMG it crashes, like WoW still doesn't on occasion? All you fanboi's whether FF or WoW need to get off your pony's.

Every current popular MMO, has grind and copy pasta terrain.

FFXIV isn't perfect but it does seem to blend some current MMO's into an interesting and challenging bowl of entertainment. Crafters provide almost all gear currently (Ala Eve Online), Crafting is active based (Ala EQ2), Large unrestricted parties (Ala WoW raids minus xp and quest pen), Cutscene story quests (Ala FFXI & Wotlk), Open World(Ala WoW era), In depth gear equip (Ala WAR) and more I'm sure I'm missing.

Graphically the game is undeniable the most rich game above even AoC. Their is still alot of content being added to the game as it is a launch title and its no different then any of the games any of you play now at launch. The opinions in this video blog are just opinions of the blogger and do not reflect upon the many players currently playing and bogging down the servers of the game.

If you want a reason not to like the game feel free to take this bloggers opinions on them, they are no more misleading than someone who has reasons to like the game. Yes the UI is a little clunky, but all current popular games that are played by those watching had clunky UI's at launch. What game do you play that still doesn't have grammar errors, hell and your games are made for English speakers lol.

After running to your first quest activation hub, you can teleport there. and when your done with a quest you can teleport for free back. O gawd such long runs...ffs. You can grab all the quests for the area before leaving so you don't have to run back/teleport back to town. You can play in a group and early combat with 1 ability or 2 depending on class goes quickly. Soon you'll have more abilities than you can equip. I mean there is just so much more than what this horrible blogger is mentioning.

If you want a game that challenges you, doesn't give handouts and looks ridiculously good vs all current MMO's. Then FFXIV is worth giving a try. If you don't have patience and want all your epics(well they aren't so epic anymore lol welfare epics) handed to you stick with WoW. I for one am bored and FFXIV is a refreshing change...for now, cause I am not going to speculate what endgame has in store.

Flame away
NOM NOM NOM your tears ^;..;^
So delicious

[Krenian]

I've tried to like this game. I played it as much as I can, finished my first eight guildleves and tried my hand at crafting. I did mining. I explored the world.

This game just feels terrible. And this is coming from a person who has tried every single final fantasy in the game and has defended SE's decision to the very last.

I have cancelled my Subscription, only four days into the CE, and will most likely bar a HUGE change, not renew. The game just holds no appeal.

The Crafting system is shoddy, and so dependant on the other crafts that you're spending half your time dealing with other areas and running around with your head cut off to do any good. Furthermore, if you fail, you lose all of your materials in a shot. Risk vs Reward is too high. It just makes little to no sense.

The fighting system is alright, and I don't mind it at all. The fights were fun but then after you were locked up for doing 8 guildleves, you were done. It was grind away on mobs that hit you harder than your Leve and get about the same xp. Grinding is therefore quite annoying and is one of those things that make you cringe at the idea of having to do.

The gathering process is actually kinda ridiculous if you think about it. Here's a minigame. Guess where you gotta hit. if you hit it right, hit that area again and you win! If not, you wasted 45 seconds of your mining for...Nothing!

If in four days I feel this annoyed with the game, there ain't much hope for this game in my opinion for me liking it. It is by far one of the worse FFs I've had to play and has severely hurt my liking for SE in the video game department. As of this time, due to what I saw in FF11 and now this, they just don't get it and I will not jump at another MMO made by them.

/sigh.

Cause I really really tried to give this game a shot and it just..doesn't resonate with me at all.

[Kanzer]

Sounds like we had the exact same experience Krenian. Its been awhile since a game has had me cursing at it for the sheer stupidity of its mechanics. (I need to clarify that because I've yelled at games like HoN recently but for completely different reasons!)

That alone spelled plain as day to me: "Not worth it."

[Einlanzer]

Hey, Square, why don't you just take the damn battle system from Dissidia, stick it in FFIV, and we'll all cream our jeans in delight. You already have a fun battle system in a game you already own. Just copy/paste that into this damn game, craft a story line to go around it, stick it online, and everyone would play it. Or god, if you can't pull that off, throw in Crisis Core's battle system instead. Both of those are fun, solid battle systems and are a good example of how to take old school game mechanics and modernize them for the ever changing world of RPG's. Get on it already, and I'll give you my money.

[Spiritus]

I just can't fathom someone, outside of a person who just loves the FF genre (nothing wrong with that), actually walking away with a positive experience with this game after a few hours play.

It isn't the grind that bothers me. I played vanilla EQ. That was nothing but grind.

My major thoughts after testing:

(1) How many buttons does it take to cast one spell?
Apparently 5,000. Ok, more like 2 or 3, depending. Still, I want a responsive UI. I want to click on a mob, press a button, and after the spell's designated cast time, have magic sparkles go boom. In FF14, I have to double click a mob, press a hot key [or click the icon] and then press enter to actually start the cast time on the spell. When I last played, I couldn't change the hotkeys, that means the two buttons I need to press to cast a spell are about as far apart on my key board than they could possibly be:

*1*************************
***************************
**********************ENTER
***************************

This is bad design.

Furthermore, the range on spells is silly. In WoW terms, the range of your average FF14 spell is 15yards.

(2) Levequests
You are a brave hero that just went through this awesome quest line with cool cut scenes! You are now ready to embark in a world of adventure where you will confront the ultimate evil! But first! Kill 5,000,000 marmots 3 at a time.

Now, I said that grinding isn't my beef. It isn't. I really don't mind it. My problem is in EQ, when I created my character, I was joe-blow level 1. I've got just enough moxie and skill to venture out into that newbie zone and help the town guard with the rat problem plaguing the city. I can get on board with that.

However, what SE did with the opening sequences is give you this feeling of epicness to come! This is awesome for a game like, say, God of War where you can script the entire journey of the player so they never feel like Kratos is pissing time away gaining levels before the ultimate battle.

Take GoW2 Bam! Opening sequence! Zeus! ZOMG, already?! Our hero engages in a battle where things happen and now he must accomplish a series of tasks in order have the confrontation he desires. They have specific purpose. They feel visceral and woven into the story.

Now FF14, epic intro story! Great evil in the world! Amazing creatures and political intrigue. Sweet cutscenes. It is your destiny to save the world!.... but first the prairie dog population is just too much to handle.

In short, you set up for a disappointing experience when you build up so much intrigue for the player, and then dump them out in "hi, I'm joe-blow level 1" land.

Solution? Oh hai Blizzard! Interestingly enough, Blizzard has taken the two concepts and merged them into one. You start out as joe-blow level one, but you now will follow a somewhat linear story progression with the ultimate confrontation being Deathwing. Unlike Kratos, however, the reason you don't go punch Deathwing in the face right now is... you are level one joe-blow, not that you have a series of tasks to complete before you have the opportunity.

SE only needed to build their story line along with the leves. Give me another piece of the puzzle! Why is this stuff happening? Maybe I need to bribe someone for info? Maybe there is a bunch of low level bandits that were seen involved with the plot?....

No? Kill marmots b/c its good for you? Sigh....okay.

(3) Fantastic character models completely lost in a world of bad collision.
Nothing sucks me out of immersion like not being able do something that I, a normal real world human being, could do. For instance, I can jump off a two foot ledge. I know, an amazing feet of dexterity. My BA FF14 avatar? The one that is level 1,000 and has slain the greatest evil the world has ever known? Not so much.

Why nitpick this? Because the game is a 2010 release. Its sloppy design.

Now, on a completely subjective note, I felt like the terrain and the world to be very "glassy." This may be just me. Maybe it was too clean? Maybe it was the bad collision? I really can't put my finger on it. Just an opinion that could be wrong.


(4) Different Culture is different.
SE developed FF14 for Japan. Why is there a fatigue system? Because excessive video gaming is an actual political issue in Japan. This system is meant to placate the PC. Think of McD's salads. Its saving face at the most basic.

Also, Japan is a collectivist culture. They are use to an authoritarian deeming what is "good" for a group [nothing wrong with this, just a statement of fact]. Notice in the video the narrator tells the listener the system is a "very fair compromise." He does not say that "our focus groups found in to be" or "our play testers found it to be" or "we think it is," but flat out telling you it is a "very fair compromise." But who was doing the compromise? Oh, yeah... SE developers. Of course they are going to like it. They made it up.

Again, this is a culture clash. The reason why so many in the United States do not like it is because SE did not bother to change the way they presented their information or develop their game for a U.S. audience. That is 100% their prerogative.

==========================================

Gonna stick with my top 4 from my experience. All in all, it was a game I wanted to love, but pretty much disappointed me at every conceivable turn, with the exception of character models.

[Kurgen]

Yeah no, thanks for playing. A turd wrapped in pink tinfoil is still a turd. FFXIV will go down as the worst launching MMO of the entire genre -- beating out Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. That requires a tremendous amount of fail in order to pull that off.

I haven't single a single piece of "wrong information". You can parade around, sticking your fingers in your ears, and ignoring every single thing wrong with the game like the rest of the fanboys. Or, you could actually wake up, and realize this is the biggest waste of purchase we've seen in the gaming history in a long, long time.

The fatigue system is terrible. Period. End of story. Trying to defend it causes you to lose any shred of credibility in an argument.



That's the funny thing. I've seen die-hard anti-WoW people on FFXI/FFXIV forums, and even *they're* admitting they might as well purchase Cataclysm when it comes out because there's no point in sticking with FFXIV. There's just too much wrong with it:

So if someone disagrees with your or has another opinion, they have no credibility. Sounds like our Congress . So you can rage against it but it reflects on you. Its definitely not your cup of tea, and maybe not mine, but it will fill in what is wanted for some. You don't need 5million US/EU and 10 million Chinese to be considered a success. I still think that trying the gating system can work, since you have so many jobs to do and mixing and matching is the whole theme of the character system. If it helps eliminate a huge xp curve that's sweet. Of course that doesn't work in a single character single class system.

Hopefully with Cataclysm old world refresh will rejuvenate the leveling pace. No one enjoys the world Now its ignore the world and grind to end game within 2 weeks, I was end game raider till recently, and have ground out a *cough* few *cough* alts to raid on off nights. I have begun to hate the race to end game, so the fatigue system is a plus to me.

[Orthien]

I am an FF Fan and I hate this game. I brought the collectors edition and I am having to force myself to play.
As everyone else had said this just seem a unfinished yet beautiful game that has been designed with the Japanese PS3 market in mind.
This really makes me dishearted in SE and their future products.

The thing that confuses me the most is that they said that they were looking at WoW and other MMO's to get idea on how to improve their game, I see no evidence of that anywhere. It's like they got a report from wikipedia and never looked at the games themselves for what makes them good.

[Delicatesse]

Flame away
NOM NOM NOM your tears ^;..;^
So delicious

Someone from SE registered to defend their horrible game?

[Viertel]

I have begun to hate the race to end game, so the fatigue system is a plus to me.

I fail to see how playing the game with a class you really like, and the game suddenly saying "No Joe, that's enough Archery for you. Go do something else." is a plus to you.

"Sorry, but you've had too much fun playing this class!"

[Viertel]

Someone from SE registered to defend their horrible game?

Pretty much. All I read were pretty much the standard, blind fanboy argument.

I swear, there must be a FFXIV forum post somewhere that they all copypasta this from.