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Beta-Review FFXIV(About a week til Launch)
TheEmpyreal
Member Posts: 65
Foreward: This is a review of the "Open Beta" for FFXIV: For those not in the know, beta is the 2nd step in the development process however the term Open Beta is a misnomer as it is not actually part of the beta phase. It's the tertiary step in the development process, if we were still going by the greek system, it would be known as Gamma Testing but the damage is done and the term is set. " Open Beta," in most instances, is used primarily for only a few things; the first is to stress test a game before release to make sure that the servers can handle congestation, the second is to see how many servers the developers will need on launch day to service their customers and the last being to preview the game(usually the entire game although many developers implement artificial caps to hide the endgame, one that's usually underdeveloped due to the amount of time and effort required for mmo development). With all of that taken into account, mmos tend to see updates regularly well after launch and a launch day patch usually does occur allowing for some of the more critical and easily fixed bugs to be remedied.
Final Fantasy's developers chose to limit "open beta" players options for questing(more on this later) during the free-for-all access period that is open beta. Aside from that and any easily implemented fixes,such as enabling hardware mouse support, you are essentially looking at the 99% completed product and if nothing else, the meat and potatoes of the game. Something the developers feel confident enough to let the public judge for themselves.
On to the review:
FF XIV, The Meta-Review
Lineage:
Final Fantasy XIV is the newest installment of one of the longest running series of games by a company known as Square-Enix. There have been countless spin-off titles but the main line of the franchise is known for it's unwavering commitment to quality role playing experiences, with each title in the series differentiating itself from the previous by story-line, universe and mechanics. The Final Fantasy games are not really sequels, they just borrow elements of the same universe; for example, a large bird named a chocobo may be found in most Final Fantasy games however in one game it may be friendly creature you can ride while in the next it may be a large boss monster that will eat you alive. FF XIV is the second massively multiplayer entry into the series after FF XI. FF XI was a run-away success for an mmo, very few mmo's survive their launch however FF XI is still running many years(eight to be exact) after it's launch. When it launched, FF XI was lauded for being the first mmo to really provide a story in a persistent universe. It didn't hurt that it had challenging gameplay that required a bit of thinking to pull off, fantastic music, good graphics and a great community. The only real strikes against the original generally were aimed at the endless grind it took to level your characters and the unfriendly interface for pc users as the game was created with Sony's Playstation 2 in mind. Both were issues the developers of FF XIV had taken into account for development of this newer interation. FF XIV has some rather large pants to fill. It's developers know this and barring any huge, glaring mistakes, Square-Enix will make some serious bank.
First Impressions Count:
When you first boot up the game, a widescreen window(i.e. not full screen) with the standard log-in screen most mmo games has boots up. This is where we run into the first niggle of FF XIV. After logging into the game and watching some impressive cut scenes rendered with the game's graphics engine, the first thing most pc users are going to want to do is change the game to full screen. You'll try to navigate to the options menu when you hit your first of a series of poor design choices concerning the game. The game's pointer is being run on software instead of the hardware mouse support included in every modern day OS. The reason for implementing this(to avoid cheating via mouse macros) is noteworthy however the implementation leaves you with a mouse that seriously lags. You feel like you are the one wielding a 80 pound axe, not your toon(mmo-speak for the player's character).
Now, as escape does not bring up the standard menu incorporated in most other mmos, you drag your leaden mouse pointer to the icons in the corner of the screen and bring up the menu that contains the options and you flip through a few pages and realize there are no GUI(graphical user interface, how your screen overlay is set up) or graphics options. Many FF XI players could tell you where to find it however most new players are going to be confounded. You have to exit your game and run a seperate program to configure the game(as you had to in FF XI). If you've been playing since windows 3.1 or earlier, you may remember these external programs for customizing your game before you could play, advances in technology have left this type of user configuration in the past. This is when, some 10-30+ minutes in the game that worry should start to set in but you calm yourself, remembering how beautiful the cut scenes were or how great the other Final Fantasy games are. You boot the game back up and you realize that the icons for accessing your menus have not scaled to the larger resolution you set the game to. How am I going to get that sluggish mouse pointer to click on those tiny little icons you think to yourself. You alt-tab to look up how to enlarge or customize your GUI and the game crashes(this seems to happen to most, if not all, users). Slowly, your hopes for this game are being chipped away.
You log onto the forums to find out how to change your GUI to make it more accessible to you, maybe also figure out what's wrong with your mouse while you are at it. Then you get hit with the double whammy: the first being that you have to install a user created patch if you want to actually use your mouse without pulling out your hair and the second being that you cannot customize your GUI with the exception of very basic text box resizing and tabbing. The first problem is so easily remedied that I expect that the developers will implement a fix to the software/hardware mouse issue sometime near launch, it's a shame it's made it this far without changes. The second problem is far more severe, they expect you to play this game entirely on the keyboard if you are a pc user(more on this later).
So you boot back into the game and finally, endeavor to play the game.
Graphics and Performance:
The characters, the world, the enemies, the skyline and the cutscenes are all lovingly rendered. The team the created the textures and models that are used in FF XIV deserve credit for their accomplishments as it is easily the best looking mmo on the market today. However the game is a system hog, their needs to be some serious optimization in the graphics engine as even the most powerful and robust pc can see framerates drop down to 15 fps and lower. If I can run multiple instances of Crysis on my pc at max graphics settings without having my framerate drop to under 30 fps on my gaming rig then this game should be running as smooth as butter. Turning your graphics down seems to ease the frame rate little, the game just seems to run sluggishly no matter what. As I've tested the game on three different machines of varying power, I feel like I can safely say that the slowdown is definitely software based. Hopefully future patches will optimize the engine to make it run smoother.
The environments in FF XIV are nothing spectacular. While they are beautifully rendered they seem too bland, the world doesn't really feel alive as most enemies stand in one place or move in a very limited pattern. There are an awful lot of reused textures and there are very few landmarks that make one part of an area feel different from the next. The zones aren't small for a themepark based mmo (themeparks are quest based mmo's whereas sandbox mmo's are based on user created content), actually they are larger than most other similar-stylized mmo's. This does lead one to notice how often textures are repeated as you can spend 30 minutes running through a zone looking at the exact same textures, crossing the exact same streams, seeing the exact same tree over and over and over again. The world really does look and feel empty.
There are many bugs in the game that can and will crash your system. I have played for 8 hours in a row without a crash and then had 4 crashes in an hour's time. Needless to say, when it comes to system halting bug, FFXIV seems to have a few more than most mmo's at this point in development. On the positive side, it seems the servers are easily as stable if not more stable than most other mmo's approaching a launch date. However, having the game crash on you in the middle of an unrepeatable quest is unforgivable. This is the kind of thing that will improve the longer the game is in existence as developers will continue to patch the game from now until it ceases to be.
Sound and Music:
If you've ever played a Final Fantasy game then you are familiar with many of the songs that are presented in this game. Music is one of those elements that is constantly recycled and reinvented in the series and to good effect. When you hear the crystal theme song at log-in, you will instantly be hit with a huge batch of nostalgia. If it's your first time playing a Final Fantasy game, you'll be taken by how beautiful the music really is. Given that the score is so amazing for the game, you really do wonder why it's not implemented more in the game, you'll spend a good portion of the game in areas where there is no music playing. Still, there is more music in this game than most other mmo's and that's a good thing. Easily one of the most enjoyable soundtracks for an mmorpg ever created.
Sound on the other hand is a mixed bag. While the sounds are crisp they aren't incredibly varied and you'll hear the same grunts, thwacks and clinks over and over again. This is par for the course for a mmo's still remains a little bit of a let-down.
We are given a small taste of the voice acting in the beta and what little we do get is highly enjoyable however the vast majority of dialogue in the game will be delivered in text. As far as mmo's go, we are in a transitional state when it comes to voice acting, many games in development are opting for all voice and as little text as possible(such as GW2) where as most games currently on the market offer only text. FF XIV has decided to take the middle road. While this may not be a huge leap, at least we don't feel like we are playing an mmo from 8 years ago due to the occasional inclusion of voice acting.
Interface:
As noted before, there are serious issues with the mouse and they've recycled the ungodly keyboard only control system. You are offered little to no customization when it comes to the interface. This is most likely due to the fact that Square Enix is placing most of their eggs in the console basket. But it does get worse, as you advance in levels you will have to master an unfriendly and complex macro system to remain effective. It will take you a few hours to really grasp how to implement the macros you need unless you go online and find some guides.
The menu system is atrocious, you will often have to navigate through a maze of menus to do something as simple as changing your equipment, it reeks of lazy implementation. While this may be the only way to make things work for console controller, it is by no means the way to do something when a pc and mouse offer much more versatility . Shortcut keys are borderline non-existent. Actions accomplished in other mmo's with a single button strike or a click and wave of the mouse can take you 10+ key strokes and 20 times the time. The menu system will infuriate any long-time PC user.
Fighting and targeting likewise involve incredibly burdensome activities to accomplish incredibly simple things. Want to target that npc right in front of you. You have to use the super lag mouse to click on him or cycle through 18 npcs and 12 other players standing behind him, around him or a football yard away in the distance just to get to him. Just make sure you don't tab one too many times or you have to repeat the cycle. Fighting also involve selecting as skill then verifying that it's the correct skill before you use it. Instead of a single click, it takes two. Combat is incredibly slow and suprisingly undynamic. Poor design through and through.
NPCS:
A short note about npcs(non player characters). There are lots of them however what they do is not easily identified. That guy beside you in that stand. He may sell something, he may be important for your main quest, he may offer some sort of service or he may have something incredibly unimportant to say, like "Boy, the market sure is bustling today." Unfortunately, there are no indicators to what this npc does and there are an awful lot of them, the vast majority of which spout non-sequiters like "I want my mommy" or "Meow." I'm not sure why Square-Enix decided they needed an army of static, one line, unimportant npcs to get in the way of questing. They don't really contribute to the atmosphere or anything else really.
Character Creation:
You are not a unique snowflake. While some games take pride in their players being able to create a unique looking character, FF XIV is not that game. There are, to it's advantage, many races to choose from however the options within those races are limited. In some cases only one gender is allowed and in all cases you must choose a predetermined face and set of features. You will not find the wild diversity offered by such games as City of Heroes or Aion. It is, however, much better than WoW and you will usually just run into players who look almost exactly like you as opposed to being your total clones.
Chatting:
Finding groups, talking to strangers and just general chat seems to be something that Square-Enix is vehemently against. The social functions of this game are morbidly absent for an mmo. You will talk to your guildmates but there is little incentive to make friends or talk to strangers. The chat system is designed to discourage general chat, as a matter of fact, the majority of the general chat you see will be gold spammers. That's right, there are already gold-spammers in the beta and they already drown the chat in heavily populated areas, this will only be worse on release day. There are no options profession specific, world or any other kind of chat. There is a really round-about way for getting your own chat channels using linkpearls but unless you are starting this game with your friends, don't expect to use it that often. In FF XI you'd find players who'd help you if you were lost and it was easy to find a group, here you feel alienated due to the poor chat system and it's incredibly hard to find a group to play due to the lack of tools for such.
Shopping:
Npc vendors are few and far between which would probably matter more if they offered goods worth buying. Unfortunately, most do not. So the players are relegated to a player based economy that is extremely underwhelming. There is no auction house, instead you are expected to visit each player's shop and find what you are looking for. What you find is that there is an incredible amount of price gouging and you can spend hours shopping without finding what you need. This system was done away with in all the top tier mmo's a decade ago.
Questing and Leveling:
Questing is really divided into two different categories. Those being your storyline quest and guildleves. The first promises to be a rewarding story to follow with prerendered cutscenes, voice acting and all sorts of unique quests. Unfortunately your character does not speak nor does he really have any character development so you have little influence on this main quest, you are just along for the ride. What little they show us of the main storyline looks interesting. Unfortunately the bulk of your leveling and questing will be completed through something called guildleves. These are quests that you grab at one location, run to another location to activate then run to a tertiary, and perhaps more succeeding, location to complete within a time frame. These are the most boring kill and collect missions imaginable. The text that accompanies these quests are as uninspired as the idea of killing 10 rats(which you will be asked to do, over and over and over and over and over again). Needless to say, questing in FF XIV is like being served a plate that's half full of lobster and half full of tripe. You want and love the lobster but in order to have the lobster, you must eat the tripe. It still remains to be seen if you'll be required to grind after you eat your tripe and lobster as we don't know how much xp and readily available the storyline quests will be. If the open beta is any indication, you can expect to spend more time grinding than questing. And once again, the combat is slow.
When you do level you are given more option on how to outfit your character skill wise and attribute wise. I love this idea however it seems poorly implemented as skills seem to lack balance and most player builds are identical as it's very simple to figure out the optimum build for whatever class you are playing at the moment. Lots of superficial options but in reality there is little versatility.
There is also a fatigue system in place to prevent power-leveling. While the average player who goes about at his own pace and has limited free time will not notice it, a lot of hardcore players are likely to be upset at this system. You are limited at how long you can level a certain profession, luckily you can switch out professions but if the idea of leveling 2 or 3 different professions isn't appealing to you, this system will agitate you. This is an artificial leveling system that probably exists to prevent character farming by gold-farmers(where you pay for a quick leveling service) or to hide a lack of end-game content.
Crafting and Gathering:
Hey, someone finally made crafting and gathering into a mini-game of it's own. Kudos to the developers on this one. If you have the necessary materials, both crafting and gathering are rather fun. Finding what you need to make something worthwhile, that's another story. The brilliance of the crafting system is almost completely overshadowed by the archaic and mind-numbingly bad marketplace.
Final Words:
Some of the major issues with this game are going to improve; the bugs will be fixed, the ui will be improved upon, the engine will be fine tuned to run better and more content will be added. That said, there is not a very solid base to work off of, the combat is boring and uninspired, the world is flat, repetitive and unimaginative and the side questing/leveling is poorly implemented and a complete chore. The game more often feels like it's a test of your patience than something meant to entertain. I would advise to wait for an expansion or two before taking the dive into the game as many features that gamers take for granted are absent from this game and if nothing else, do find a way to try it before you buy it. On to the score:
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 5/10
Music: 10/10
Performance: 3/10
Controls/Interface: 0/10
MMO Social Experience: 1/10
Innovation: 4/10
Crafting/Gathering: 7/10
Questing/Leveling: 1/10
Overall Enjoyability: 2/10
Comments
Someone who finally understands that what we have in open beta will essentially be the same at launch with a few negligible differences like content. We've been playing the core mechanics of the game and that's not something that will change in just two weeks. Meat and potatoes!
FFXIV open beta = demo. That's fact, and people not agreeing with that are rose tinted glasses fanboys. This is what XIV has to offer at launch, and it will be virtually the same in its lifetime. There will be the usual MMO updates with major patches and expansions, but it will, at its core, be the same game.
Exactly. Essentially, a good, well-rounded and comprehensive review by the OP.
A score of 4.1. For FFXIV. The score range is probably, easliy between a 4 and 6. But dont you worry, a mmorpg.com elitist will come along and give it around an 8.0.
Striving for Silver Stars since Gold is so effeminate.
How many elitests do you see posting positive reviews or giving it high scores? I love the game and have been having a lot of fun. Much of the OP's negative don't apply to me at all. Still if it is a 4.X to him that is fine by me. The PC version is a 7.X to me and the PS3 will likely be a 8.X. I don't feel the need for you to enjoy it as much as me though. I just hope there are enough MMO's and enough variety in this genre that everyone can have a MMO to play that is a 8.X or better for them. Then everyone will be happy and maybe there won't be so much negativity.
For me the content makes up about 90% of a game. So thanks for reviewing the other 10%
Core i5 13600KF, BeQuiet Pure Loop FX 360, 32gb DDR5-6000 XPG, WD SN850 NVMe ,PNY 3090 XLR8, Asus Prime Z790-A, Lian-Li O11 PCMR case (limited ed 1045/2000), 32" LG Ultragear 4k Monitor, Logitech G560 LightSync Sound, Razer Deathadder V2 and Razer Blackwidow V3 Keyboard
Less than a week before launch?
Last I checked early start was the 22nd, which is a week from Wednesday, aka, more than a week.
That makes all the difference in the world!
----------
"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
Im just stating...this guy did enough research to give a whole "Lineage" section of the game, but doesn't know the release date? Fail, imo.
Perhaps since he's not going to play keeping track of the launch date is, you know, sort of irrelevant?
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Lol, but felt the need to write a whole essay on here!
Core i5 13600KF, BeQuiet Pure Loop FX 360, 32gb DDR5-6000 XPG, WD SN850 NVMe ,PNY 3090 XLR8, Asus Prime Z790-A, Lian-Li O11 PCMR case (limited ed 1045/2000), 32" LG Ultragear 4k Monitor, Logitech G560 LightSync Sound, Razer Deathadder V2 and Razer Blackwidow V3 Keyboard
Well I've been playing and its the best ever mmo out there 10/10!
Haha.. ok no really I agree with most the 1st poster said. Dont ask why but the min I turned on AA the mouse was alot better. Thats the only part that LAGS for me. Beta yes.. still has bugs. Tiny bugs like "should is shuold". Or I had one of those time quests, started it.. something flashing on my map.. game crashes. Restart.. I have the quest but no time now and cant restart, I dont know how to delete it.
The quest thing for some I guess is easy but me.. wow SOOOOO lost. Dont know where to start, go. I dont mean I want everything handed to me but its very confusing. The cut scenes are beautiful and the starting scenes have voices but once you start to play no more voices ever ..well for so far. After all these years you would think MMO's would bring more life to NPC's. For me this is no upgrade (so to speak) from the last one at all. It wont be a huge hit thats for sure. If you love it great.. for me and this is very sad to say.. wow as wow is NOW ..is more fun.
One correction OP. Beta is not the second development stage.
You have multiple development stages that don't use the Greek system. You have pre-production, then production phase with mutliple milestones which include Alpha and Beta versions of the game. You also have a post-production phase (in a MMO you'd be putting out new content and fixing bugs during this phase). Beta could actually be the hundredth build of that game. Beta is actually the final stage of testing when the game is most feature complete and should be ready for release.
Brilliantly accurate review! I don’t believe there was a single section or even sentence I disagreed with. Your “First Impressions Count” section reflects my experiences exactly.
pretty well thought out review although i'm sure people will disagree on certain points. I stopped playing the beta after about 20 hours played, and honestly I tried to like it since it's really the only AAA mmo to come out till next year.
Bottom line for me was the combat wasn't enjoyable at all, and in a game where you know there will be a fair bit of grinding this is a deal breaker. I really just don't understand how in the year 2010 an mmo can have this sloppy combat in it, especially from a game like final fantasy.
Only 2 things that bother me, 1) menu lag and 2) No AH. I have heard that they will have an AH at some point, but I dont have a statement from from SE on this. I just have to cross my fingers.
Waiting for:EQ-Next, ArcheAge (not so much anymore)
Now Playing: N/A
Worst MMO: FFXIV
Favorite MMO: FFXI
So anyone should only write a review if they think a game is great? Nay. The puprose of a review is to, objectively as possible, comment on the merits and faults of the game, which he likely set out to do before determining the game was bad enough that he wasn't going to buy it. Upon determining that, should he have just deleted his review? No. Intead he likely now feels passionately disappointed with the game (as I, someone who was looking forward to FF14, do), and wishes to explain just why the game is disappionting in hopes of warning his fellow gamers.
This review was more subjective than objective.
Waiting for:EQ-Next, ArcheAge (not so much anymore)
Now Playing: N/A
Worst MMO: FFXIV
Favorite MMO: FFXI
I have to admit, I agree with the OP. I was really looking forward to playing in the world of FFXIV. There were so many things that dissapointed me about the game. For one, the lack of options that would allow a user to change things to fit their playing style. Stuff like not giving you an option to key bind all the controls. There was a complete lack of real mouse controls and that godawful way you had to keep going to the main menu to do anyhting, there really should have been better programing to allow short cuts to these sections. I loved the look of the game, it is beautiful, but appears soul less in the sense that there is this fast open world, and yet you can't jump off a cliff without running along some invisable wall.
The questing set up bothered me a lot, certain things like limitations to the amount of quest within a 24 hour period was utterly stupid. The UI was the worst I'd ever seen. So little did it offer, that you truly feel the console effect of the game. When I look at games like LOTR, Everguest, Vanguard and whatnot, I can't understand why the people at SE thought to blend the Console/PC game idea. Someone clearly didn't understand how PC players do their games with keyboards. I understand the FF fans defending their game, everyone once thier game to do well, but for so many reasons, this game lacks a certain MMORPG feel to it. I guess it's more along the lines of a Coors lite, as apposed to a Samuel Adams. After playing the game in OB, I can't help but wonder how it made it to this stage without the simple changes I think it needs.
I really hope they consider redoing their UI, and adding a MUCH needed key mapping option, otherwise just release this game on console and be done with it.....So sorry to say. Anyways, don't mean to hurt anyones feelings, but I'm really sorry that the game didn't do a better job for me, like I said I was really looking forward to it, but now......pass.
Tired of all the people that keep saying, "the mechanics wont't change the mechanics wont change the mechanics won't chnge" 99.9% of the people who have followed this game and been in the cb and ob know the mechanics wont change, but we do know that alot of the quest content is not in yet because SE do not want ppl to experiance everything in ob and burn out. all they want us to do, is play around with the game, test the mechanics and stress test. Stop telling everybody mechanics wont change we already freeking know.
A really great beta review. I think with a few pictures thrown in it could have been published in a gaming mag.
Guessing and hoping that a majority of content was left out of open beta is preposterous.
no it couldnt. or yes it could, because then it could be followed up by one of those "reviewer only played for 20mins" stories like darkfall on eurogamer. The UI, whilst it is laggy and needs to be improved works fine if you use a controller. Yes they should make it easier for keyboard players but if you just research a little and play a little then you know this game was designed for controller use. Sound, music animations and graphics are ll top notch and nobody can argue that, though i agree the client needs optimising. yup some areas use the same texture and tile assests but so do all games. Combat is fun once you have more than one skill, and is challenging on hrder mobs. Chat in this game is horrible, global, lfg and trade channels all need adding. The method of using retainers in the market wards would work much better if we could have sentance strings above ech retainer so we can get a general idea of what each one is selling. Guildleves, are a nice way of being able to log in, get a couple of quests done alone or with a group and progress when you only have limited time. more quests from npcs will be in from launch that are more time consuming, along with the main story. Crafting is difficult to learn, and somewhere to remember what recipes you have learnt, or previously made would be nice, instead of having to remember. Party play needs more incentives, at the moment there doesnt seem much point, but with harder quests and tweaks to xp gain etc im sure this will be fixed. That was just a few things of the top of my head. The game isnt perfect by a long stretch but its nowhere near as bad as people make out. UI lag is a genuine complaint, and the need for a few tutorials is too, but most other complaints are from people who can't be bothered to learn how to play, adapt to a new way of playing or don't like not being rewarded every time they spell there username correctly.
Its not prepostreus(lol i cant spell that either) shadow, its exactly what the devs have stated. a lot of quests, items etc are simply not in the ob client. how everything works is going to stay the same ofcourse it is, so if you dont like the combat, or questing then sure dont buy the game, but if your complaing because of lack of things to do quest wise etc, this is why.
Good review that has reported game issues that I have been reading about. I was ready to drop momey on a new PC but have changed my mind considering past experience with other game releases. Gaming has become a great hobby for me but I am not willing to spend time researching on how to run programs, how to find information and/or rerig my system in order to play this game. I wonder just how many other people are willing to do so and how it will effect the population of the game the first year of release. Thanks for the review OP
Quote it and educate all of us where they say that non story quests are bein left out.
Of course the fanboiz are in denial once again. They can't accept the fact that someone doesn't like the game and thus it must be:
1) Troll
2) Too used to WoW
3) It's only beta and going to be oh so drasticlly different at launch (good luck with that.)
4) It's actually more than a week away.. like a week and half because that really matters.
I feel bad for those that just can't accept reality. Of course I am talking about those of you that use the above reasons.
If you played the game and really do enjoy it, that's understandable. I'm sure there are a bunch of people that simply love this game. But using the above excuses is a sad attempt at justifying anything.