"Almost a year has passed since I last set foot into the games beautiful world of nothingness, and with patch 1.18 spreading its updated code about, and with 1.19 imminent, it seems like a better time than any to head back into Square’s product to see if there is entertainment to had in this title after all."
no offence but i actually just stopped reading at this point 1.19 is imminent but you still go ahead and write the article now already? just another piece written that could go just into the trashbin right away as most of these write ups lately on this site.
Much this^^^
Patch 1.20 was announced to be the patch where billing starts. There is no reason to review now.
There was no reason to review it during open beta
No reason to review it when it launched because the first patch was coming
No reason to review it after the first patch because the second patch was coming
No reason to review it after the second patch because the third patch was coming
Patch 1.20 is going to be the "God patch" that people have been expecting since launch. No point to review now.
This goes on ad nauseum, and will happen again when 1.90/1.20 hits and someone writes about it. When is the appropriate time to review the game? Is a year not a decent timeframe to go back and look at a game? Should we wait until the fans are happy with the state of the game? The fact that the same issues are being brought up a YEAR later speaks volumes, and I'm supposed to believe the game will finally be "ready" come 1.20? GIve me a break.
This was a shortened carbon copy of the previous review, it mentioned nothing new, just some guy playing to rank 20 (which takes 1 day) then saying the whole game is rubbish, whats wrong doesnt your PC have enough RAM to copy and paste the whole previous review.
MMORPG.com, do yourselves a favor and get your reviewers to actually play the game, again this review is saying nothing has been changed since release, because they couldnt be bothered to play past rank 20, the playerbase mainly wanted endgame, seeing as most of the playerbase has multiple rank 50s, so SE are giving them that endgame or the game will have no players, everyone will just say well I'm rank 50 now and theres nothing to do, if they were adding content for the lower ranks.
Also about the UI, the reviewer fails to notice that the game is going to be released on PS3 as well as PC, therefore they need a UI that caters for both, having a UI that was focused around PC would completly lock the PS3 out mainly due to the lack of a mouse.
This is another sub-par review by MMORPG.com that covers nothing seriously it would have taken less than 2 days to get 25 and enter Toto-Rak to see somthing new.
These reviewers are getting money to play games, which alot of people I know would love, but they still cant be bothered to play more than a few hours, oh and incase the reviewer didnt notice the story picks up a bit later on, but you have to get higher than rank 20 to see, so they will never be seen on MMORPG.com, because you will have to play more than 1 day.
I do agree the game still has faults, and alot of that is the server-side UI (which to the reviewer is why it take a lil time for things to regester, if you kept up with the official forums you would know this) crafting and gathering are very mononous, boring and over complicated (see some of the recipies) but crafting is being looked at in 1.19. Combat although was overhauled in 1.18 still needs some tweaks but the algorithms used will be ajusted in 1.19.
But overall the game has come along way since launch, which everyone except MMORPG reviewers and readers fail to notice, maybe because they only get rank 20.
Because most of the focus has been on endgame this review has failed to mention them, making a post patch review that has not even touched the changes is just really stupid.
Sure they need to cater the UI for both. But then again the UI for most MMORPGs that stick around have a certain theme to it that users are just used to. Rift is sucessful because of that. WoW set a standard after many years and patches to have a standard basis on a good UI. So trying to have it suitable for both just doesn't seem like a grand idea. And to be honest, the porting of an MMORPG on a console is just a waste of time. Most of the people who will play an MMORPG will be played on a PC. Consoles are a whole other market. They should either scrap it as a PS3 port and focus on the UI to make it more suitable for todays MMORPG standards, or just do that as a completely different UI for PC only. Its not like SE is hurting for money.
FFXIV is a beautiful game and has the potential to become as big as WoW once was. FF, as always, has a great storyline that even novels and comics could be written for them. WoW also had an actual storyline and history that ranged from books, to comics, short videos. If SE would just take a step back, play the current MMORPGs that actually have a well developed game with a good percentage of subs, they could very well be the best. But that isn't going to happen until they realize this and getting away from trying to make EVERYTHING innovated and new. See what players want and expect. I will wait until a couple of more patches and give it a go. That is all.
I was reading some of the comments on this and one of them stuck out in my mind because I heard the same exact thing months before. When MMORpg.com re-reviewed FFXIV back in July, they released their review like a week or 2 before patch 1.18. One of the commenters was all nerd raged because the site released their re-review right before the patch. They said that patch 1.18 was going to change the game completely and that the review should have been made after that,
Well, here it is in september and there was just another "Look at FFXIV a year later" article. About 4 or 5 comments down? "OMG, Patch 1.19 is going to change the game completely you idiots. You aren't even giving it a chance." Typical retarded fanbois. I bought the collectors edition a year ago after getting really bored sitting around doing nothing one night. The game held my attention for about a week, but then I realized it was basically the same shit I played in OB.
I hate to say it, but SE really dropped the ball on this game and what they really should do is take the game outback and put it down like the injured dog that it is. Sure, they can keep trying to make the game better, but to them, making the game better means adding in new content and changing all the current systems into something similar to FFXI. Nevermind the fact that a lot of the issues to be had with this game are core features. They think that if they bandaid shit and just slap together some new content, the game will magically get better. Unfortunately, that's not the case.
I really did have high hopes for the game, I still follow the official forums and see what's changing, but my time on the official forums is getting shorter and shorter. In the 6 months since the forums were opened, I can't really say that anything had really changed save Auto Attack and a few quests. The core problems that cause me to not want to play the game are still there. Seriously, this game just needs to be scrapped and SE should just focus on something else. This time they need to build off prior experience rather than trying to reinvent the fucking wheel.
I was reading some of the comments on this and one of them stuck out in my mind because I heard the same exact thing months before. When MMORpg.com re-reviewed FFXIV back in July, they released their review like a week or 2 before patch 1.18. One of the commenters was all nerd raged because the site released their re-review right before the patch. They said that patch 1.18 was going to change the game completely and that the review should have been made after that,
Well, here it is in september and there was just another "Look at FFXIV a year later" article. About 4 or 5 comments down? "OMG, Patch 1.19 is going to change the game completely you idiots. You aren't even giving it a chance." Typical retarded fanbois. I bought the collectors edition a year ago after getting really bored sitting around doing nothing one night. The game held my attention for about a week, but then I realized it was basically the same shit I played in OB.
I hate to say it, but SE really dropped the ball on this game and what they really should do is take the game outback and put it down like the injured dog that it is. Sure, they can keep trying to make the game better, but to them, making the game better means adding in new content and changing all the current systems into something similar to FFXI. Nevermind the fact that a lot of the issues to be had with this game are core features. They think that if they bandaid shit and just slap together some new content, the game will magically get better. Unfortunately, that's not the case.
I really did have high hopes for the game, I still follow the official forums and see what's changing, but my time on the official forums is getting shorter and shorter. In the 6 months since the forums were opened, I can't really say that anything had really changed save Auto Attack and a few quests. The core problems that cause me to not want to play the game are still there. Seriously, this game just needs to be scrapped and SE should just focus on something else. This time they need to build off prior experience rather than trying to reinvent the fucking wheel.
I try the game from time to time and I come to the same conclusion, the core problems are still there. I re-rolled a Marauder and it was not very fun with auto-attack, the targetting seems weird, the monsters are grottesquely enlarged, they should scale down some of them like the marmots, at least by half.
As for reading the official forums, if you thought its drivel here, its worst on there, I really feel like I don't want to play with these people that think because they stuck with the game they are entitled to everything. One of the thread was about fresh server for the ps3, why would the lvl 50s want to have the new people on their server? So they can exploit them? So they can gouge them with low level armor price? The mistake SE made is keep the game open, they should have closed the server and re-start once done. I still wish they reset everything so they clean the atmosphere.
I agree they might wanna considering scrapping it. Or taking some of that money that SE has and developing an expansion pack that pretty much alters the gameplay, UI, adding more to the landscape , whether it be more towns or whatever. The game can be turned around and be amazing, but I just don't see SE figuring this one out even though us consumers know what we want and constantly point out the things tha drive us away from this game. Like I said. SE just needs to sit their asses down and play some current MMORPGs so they can see what players prefer. Sometimes I just wanna punch the SE dev team.
People seem a bit critical of the writers here. I don't think anyone's forcing you to read the articles, or even more to the point, following the advice in them blindly, not comparing opinions on the countless MMO sites online, then blaming the writers here instead of yourselves.
Personally, I learned that lesson when I read about Aion being worth another look on MMORPG.com's front page. Aion, at least in my opinion, was not worth another look, and I blew 15 bucks to see if the writer was correct. That doesn't mean I'm going to start cussing them out and acting like a 10 year old. Do your own damn research.
That shows nothing on the actual content of the game or play styles game mechanics or anything whatsoever.
It is the CEO's opinion, thats it.
Honestly if you ask me 13 damaged their FF name WAAAAY more. Way more people bought that and didn't like it at all. In fact I've only met one person who liked that game.
/facepalm
FFXIII ruined the FF name waayyy more? Really? I don't recall them doing an entire re-design of XIII, apologizing for it multiple times, the game's producer having to step down, and the game being trashed and slammed universally, by practically everyone but a small handful of die-hards who continue to insist the all is well in XIV-Land.
FFXIII was "so horrible" that not only does it have a sequel coming out, but a spin-off as well (Versus). Yeah... it totally did more damage to the franchise than XIV.
Compared to FFXIV which has been a rolling trainwreck since it launched... even before if you consider all the backlash they got at release echoed things they were told - and ignored - in Beta.
Come on, man. You're seriously stretching it here.
Yes... The CEO of the company who created the franchise and released every title for it. The CEO is the person who has the big-picture of how well the franchise is doing and how it's being perceived overall. The CEO is the person who hears about all feedback from all sectors in all parts of the world that the games are released.
But you say it's "just his opinion?" Are you out of your mind?
Tanaka, the man who led the development apologized, at least twice that I recall, for the state of the game, and was removed from his position as Producer.
A year on, they're still apologizing, acknowledging that the game isn't up to snuff.
They've acknowledged that they have to get back the trust of the players which they realize they've lost by releasing such a shoddy, under-developed game.
The sales and overall impressions of the game - by people who have played it - tell the story on their own.
They are scrapping or otherwise completely overhauling entire core elements of the game's design because they were ill-conceived and/or poorly implemented.
The CEO of the company states that the trainwreck that is FFXIV has damaged the FF franchise overall...
There is not one single sign that points to any other conclusion than: FFXIV is a complete and total mess, an utter failure to produce a successful, solid or enjoyable game to more than a relative handful of players.
FFXI's population at 1 year into its service eclipsed FFXIV's. Even now, after 8+ years in service FFXI's population still eclipses FFXIV's. Incidentally, people can stop using the "oh, but FFXI had a year to develop before the Western market got it" cop-out. FFXIV has now had a year, and it's still a train wreck.
I mean if folks enjoy the game, then great.. they enjoy the game.
But good grief.. take off the blinders and let's start acknowledging reality here. FFXIV was a trainwreck by all objective measures. It's still a trainwreck and it will continue to be a trainwreck for the foreseeable future.
Even after they've implemented all those miracle patches and everything.. there's still no guarantee that they'll be able to turn it around.
If it wasn't for SE being self-funded and they had to depend on an outside publisher/investor to keep this game going, it would have been taken offline a long time ago.
Some folks really need to wake up and smell the reality.
Seriously... I wonder if people are trying to spam Wada's in-box as we speak with emails telling him "It's just your opinion, man", calling him a hater and everything else because he dares say such a negative thing about "their" game.
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
FFXIII ruined the FF name waayyy more? Really? I don't recall them doing an entire re-design of XIII, apologizing for it multiple times, the game's producer having to step down, and the game being trashed and slammed universally, by practically everyone but a small handful of die-hards who continue to insist the all is well in XIV-Land.
FFXIII was "so horrible" that not only does it have a sequel coming out, but a spin-off as well (Versus). Yeah... it totally did more damage to the franchise than XIV.
Compared to FFXIV which has been a rolling trainwreck since it launched... even before if you consider all the backlash they got at release echoed things they were told - and ignored - in Beta.
Y'know what? I forgot about how bad 13 was. You are absolutely right, this franchise has been in a downward spiral since FF12 was released. FFXIII was a big risk and it didn't do as well as planned. Same with 14 online. Many view VII as the magnum opus and everything has stank from there. But I tend to think that 11 was the culmination of all the years of success that the franchise had.
Now that I have my new computer (and the benchmark actually will run!) I've been wanting to try this again, but there is no digital download that I can find. I guess I'll have to go to amazon or something and order a box. SE does seem committed to this game in order to rescue the IP. Lots of changes coming.
1.19 wil come out on October 4th. At the same time..............
FINAL FANTASY XIV will celebrate its one-year anniversary on September 30th!
To celebrate FINAL FANTASY XIV’s one-year anniversary, we are presenting “Letter from the Producer LIVE,” a special live edition(*) of the Letter from the Producer on YouTube Live.
During this live broadcast, Producer/Director Naoki Yoshida will be answering various questions sent by players around the globe. Be sure not to miss this special opportunity to hear the words on the future of FINAL FANTASY XIV straight from the producer’s mouth!
More specific details will be announced at a later date.
* “Letter from the Producer LIVE” is scheduled to air on October 4th, 2011 at 5:00 PDT.
This has been the same deal w/ the same redundant posts for over a year now.
The Re-Reviewer went into this with an open mind expecting significant change. Should anybody expect anything less when a developer has over a year to fix the terrible design of this game? Unfortunately, what he found was the same nonsense people complained about from the Beta and Launch:
-Slow, clunky user-interface
-Boring gameplay
Tiresome crafting
-etc... etc...
Japan has missed the boat. Western MMO design is lightyears ahead of anything Japan can muster up these days. If SE wants to make this game correctly, start hiring Western Thinkers -- CAPCOM... you should listen just the same.
Fanboys will continue to love this game until it flatlines. This game may be the biggest let-down in history... @SquareEnix -- You want loyalty again? Refund my hastily wasted $$$ on my FFXIV Collector's Edition. Over one year ago... the only positive thing I received from that box of garbage was an authenticator.
Could not agree more with op. If they want to make money out of this game only solution is to dump completely this trash and start reprogram from scratch. I loved all from Sqare up to this monstruosity. And things will never ever be the same. Saddly.
I'd have to agree. But I'd also like to point out that most games after Huge content patches are best reviewed by players who have never played them before. This title was broke on release. If there is someone at MMORPG that hasn't ever played this game and isn't afraid of a ......different UI have them write a fresh perspective review. This article is tainted with the old feelings of dissapointment and dislikes from a failed launch.
I wish FFXI and FFXIV had to included offline gameplay option because I can't be online all the time since everybody have things to do, plus many new games come out to play them. Unforutenly I'm retired play Final Fantasy Online both of them. It's disppoint for me. I applaud on Phantasy Star Univerise had Offline game though.
I never saw the need for an Auction House. I saw that as a red herring. Nothing dropped ready to use in the game and everything craft related was so obsulutely random you could spend weeks just assembling parts for something, forget the actual item. Spend 20 minutes on a radar based ping system to find a simple tree, then end up getting branches and feathers and nuts and resins and all you wanted was a stinking log. Have 80% of it gathered by some strange miracle and find out you needed a crafted itme from a crafting class you havent even started. The convoluted nature of the crafting in the game was indemic of the entire thing. That all being something you use to escape the never ending marmot slaughter. The game was just not thought out.
"Almost a year has passed since I last set foot into the games beautiful world of nothingness, and with patch 1.18 spreading its updated code about, and with 1.19 imminent, it seems like a better time than any to head back into Square’s product to see if there is entertainment to had in this title after all."
no offence but i actually just stopped reading at this point 1.19 is imminent but you still go ahead and write the article now already? just another piece written that could go just into the trashbin right away as most of these write ups lately on this site.
Much this^^^
Patch 1.20 was announced to be the patch where billing starts. There is no reason to review now.
There was no reason to review it during open beta
No reason to review it when it launched because the first patch was coming
No reason to review it after the first patch because the second patch was coming
No reason to review it after the second patch because the third patch was coming
Patch 1.20 is going to be the "God patch" that people have been expecting since launch. No point to review now.
This goes on ad nauseum, and will happen again when 1.90/1.20 hits and someone writes about it. When is the appropriate time to review the game? Is a year not a decent timeframe to go back and look at a game? Should we wait until the fans are happy with the state of the game? The fact that the same issues are being brought up a YEAR later speaks volumes, and I'm supposed to believe the game will finally be "ready" come 1.20? GIve me a break.
If the game is on the shelves, it should be open for review. Not really a difficult concept? The game was sold as complete, and should be reviewed as such. Future developments are always just that: future developments. People should know the game sucks, and they should also be wary that while Square is adding a bunch of content over the horizon, core issues are not being properly addressed. Granted there are people who enjoy the game, but there are a few people who enjoy watching the Mets play. There is no accounting for taste.
I'm not sure what everyone was expecting from FF14, but it sticks true to the Final Fantasy franchise. Some of the "problems" mentioned by people I actually like, and was expecting, since it's been that way since FF1.
This ^^
I think this is a big part of the problem. Everyone's expecting 'WoW-ified' MMO's these days. I've recently returned, which isn't hard as it's still F2P, and am enjoying a complete change of pace.
Everything's in the wrong place, the menus, it all feels very odd. But, that's only because I've been playing WoW for so long. It feels like no other MMO out there, however thinking back to my younger years, *ahem*, it does play like Final Fantasy. You have change your mindset when you start playing.
Maybe everyone is stuck in an MMO rut. Of course with SWTOR out in Dec, you'll all feel right at home, another 'WoW-ified' MMO, great, just what we need... *yawn*
Just a heads up, folks. We'll be running a piece on 1.19, in hopefully a much timlier manner before NYCC and BlizzCon hog the spotlight. As in the 2nd week of October absolutely.
And again, the point of this was not to drum up hatred on poor Adam (it's his birthday!). He's just speaking his mind on the state of FFXIV, and you're free to disagree, just try and keep it civil.
Please FFS take your time and do a proper re-review. Have someone actually play the game for at least 4 months. I can understand cranking out shallow launch reviews, but if youre going to revisit an mmo, at least have the common sense to have the reviewer be fluent in all aspects of the game. Whats the point of taking glances at the same game over and over? Youre not going to offer any better insight than anybody that has a free afternoon to check out a free trial. Step it up around here, and prove that youre actually worth reading.
Who are you kidding? No reviewer has the time to devote 4 months to playing a game for a review. Besides a week in a game can give you a very decent feel for it, unless of course you are doing an article about end game. It is not rocket science figuring out even this game, and yes the UI is as bad as people say it is. Combat lag is bad also, still waiting for a fix for that. I just hope SE has the patience to continue to fix this game, it eventually could be very good.
I played the game till Rank 50 Glad, 25 Conj, 35 GS, and a bunch more I don't want to remember. It didn't take me that long after starting to realize the game was shoddy either. But I played it for nearly a year hoping it would get better. I finally gave up in disgust.
When I did play another MMO it was like a spash of ice water in face by comparison. I jumped on Guild Wars and Champions. And while these games are probably not up to snuf for other gamers, by comparison they were like being dropped in a wonderland. There was actualy story and things to do BESIDES run leves, fight the same stupid birds till max level in the same basic three areas, and mindlessly run in circles to gather resource points.
I have played every Final Fantasy game in the series. So I can safely say I was a fan. But FFXIV honestly disillusioned me so badly that I doubt I will ever mess with it again. And after 18 updates that supposedly might, ONE DAY fix the game, Call me skeptical, but I have a hard time swallowing that 1.19 will be some miracle pill that will suddenly add ENgaging Story, Interesting Game play and Depth to a game that had ZERO at launch outside of the first cutscene.
Me? Yea, Someone like me probably couldn't give it a good review because I'm just kinda pissed at the game and devlopers at the moment. And you could definitely call me Jaded.
But the Review I read by Adam seemed pretty darn fair, even by the standards of the few I know that still play the poor broken thing from time to time. You can easily get the feel of the game after a few days of playing it. And Honestly, a game should catch you, hold you, and absorb you so that you DON't realize its only been a few days.
A solid game should give you the 'OMG I have been playing this solid for two weeks. NOT, 'Ok let me see if I can find anything else about this game that might have improved." If your having to search high and low in a game for engaging content... then its not where it should be yet. Plain and simple.
FFXIV is missing what made FXI such an amazing experience.
In ffxi you had to have a group in order to survive combat. This made combat much more engaging because people were counting on you playing well. This tied into skillchaining working together to bring down mobs and get chains.
I played the game till Rank 50 Glad, 25 Conj, 35 GS, and a bunch more I don't want to remember. It didn't take me that long after starting to realize the game was shoddy either. But I played it for nearly a year hoping it would get better. I finally gave up in disgust.
When I did play another MMO it was like a spash of ice water in face by comparison. I jumped on Guild Wars and Champions. And while these games are probably not up to snuf for other gamers, by comparison they were like being dropped in a wonderland. There was actualy story and things to do BESIDES run leves, fight the same stupid birds till max level in the same basic three areas, and mindlessly run in circles to gather resource points.
I have played every Final Fantasy game in the series. So I can safely say I was a fan. But FFXIV honestly disillusioned me so badly that I doubt I will ever mess with it again. And after 18 updates that supposedly might, ONE DAY fix the game, Call me skeptical, but I have a hard time swallowing that 1.19 will be some miracle pill that will suddenly add ENgaging Story, Interesting Game play and Depth to a game that had ZERO at launch outside of the first cutscene.
Me? Yea, Someone like me probably couldn't give it a good review because I'm just kinda pissed at the game and devlopers at the moment. And you could definitely call me Jaded.
But the Review I read by Adam seemed pretty darn fair, even by the standards of the few I know that still play the poor broken thing from time to time. You can easily get the feel of the game after a few days of playing it. And Honestly, a game should catch you, hold you, and absorb you so that you DON't realize its only been a few days.
A solid game should give you the 'OMG I have been playing this solid for two weeks. NOT, 'Ok let me see if I can find anything else about this game that might have improved." If your having to search high and low in a game for engaging content... then its not where it should be yet. Plain and simple.
then the problem it not the game but that you didnt realize that the game wasnt ready to play it and enjoy it my friend ... its normal to feel like this lol wrong time to spent time there , its your fault the best thing that you have to do was to wait and look every patch if has the fixes for those things that you didnt like the days that you play
and spent your time to another game until is ready for you havce a nice day
Comments
There was no reason to review it during open beta
No reason to review it when it launched because the first patch was coming
No reason to review it after the first patch because the second patch was coming
No reason to review it after the second patch because the third patch was coming
Patch 1.20 is going to be the "God patch" that people have been expecting since launch. No point to review now.
This goes on ad nauseum, and will happen again when 1.90/1.20 hits and someone writes about it. When is the appropriate time to review the game? Is a year not a decent timeframe to go back and look at a game? Should we wait until the fans are happy with the state of the game? The fact that the same issues are being brought up a YEAR later speaks volumes, and I'm supposed to believe the game will finally be "ready" come 1.20? GIve me a break.
Sure they need to cater the UI for both. But then again the UI for most MMORPGs that stick around have a certain theme to it that users are just used to. Rift is sucessful because of that. WoW set a standard after many years and patches to have a standard basis on a good UI. So trying to have it suitable for both just doesn't seem like a grand idea. And to be honest, the porting of an MMORPG on a console is just a waste of time. Most of the people who will play an MMORPG will be played on a PC. Consoles are a whole other market. They should either scrap it as a PS3 port and focus on the UI to make it more suitable for todays MMORPG standards, or just do that as a completely different UI for PC only. Its not like SE is hurting for money.
FFXIV is a beautiful game and has the potential to become as big as WoW once was. FF, as always, has a great storyline that even novels and comics could be written for them. WoW also had an actual storyline and history that ranged from books, to comics, short videos. If SE would just take a step back, play the current MMORPGs that actually have a well developed game with a good percentage of subs, they could very well be the best. But that isn't going to happen until they realize this and getting away from trying to make EVERYTHING innovated and new. See what players want and expect. I will wait until a couple of more patches and give it a go. That is all.
Getting too old for this $&17!
I was reading some of the comments on this and one of them stuck out in my mind because I heard the same exact thing months before. When MMORpg.com re-reviewed FFXIV back in July, they released their review like a week or 2 before patch 1.18. One of the commenters was all nerd raged because the site released their re-review right before the patch. They said that patch 1.18 was going to change the game completely and that the review should have been made after that,
Well, here it is in september and there was just another "Look at FFXIV a year later" article. About 4 or 5 comments down? "OMG, Patch 1.19 is going to change the game completely you idiots. You aren't even giving it a chance." Typical retarded fanbois. I bought the collectors edition a year ago after getting really bored sitting around doing nothing one night. The game held my attention for about a week, but then I realized it was basically the same shit I played in OB.
I hate to say it, but SE really dropped the ball on this game and what they really should do is take the game outback and put it down like the injured dog that it is. Sure, they can keep trying to make the game better, but to them, making the game better means adding in new content and changing all the current systems into something similar to FFXI. Nevermind the fact that a lot of the issues to be had with this game are core features. They think that if they bandaid shit and just slap together some new content, the game will magically get better. Unfortunately, that's not the case.
I really did have high hopes for the game, I still follow the official forums and see what's changing, but my time on the official forums is getting shorter and shorter. In the 6 months since the forums were opened, I can't really say that anything had really changed save Auto Attack and a few quests. The core problems that cause me to not want to play the game are still there. Seriously, this game just needs to be scrapped and SE should just focus on something else. This time they need to build off prior experience rather than trying to reinvent the fucking wheel.
I try the game from time to time and I come to the same conclusion, the core problems are still there. I re-rolled a Marauder and it was not very fun with auto-attack, the targetting seems weird, the monsters are grottesquely enlarged, they should scale down some of them like the marmots, at least by half.
As for reading the official forums, if you thought its drivel here, its worst on there, I really feel like I don't want to play with these people that think because they stuck with the game they are entitled to everything. One of the thread was about fresh server for the ps3, why would the lvl 50s want to have the new people on their server? So they can exploit them? So they can gouge them with low level armor price? The mistake SE made is keep the game open, they should have closed the server and re-start once done. I still wish they reset everything so they clean the atmosphere.
I agree they might wanna considering scrapping it. Or taking some of that money that SE has and developing an expansion pack that pretty much alters the gameplay, UI, adding more to the landscape , whether it be more towns or whatever. The game can be turned around and be amazing, but I just don't see SE figuring this one out even though us consumers know what we want and constantly point out the things tha drive us away from this game. Like I said. SE just needs to sit their asses down and play some current MMORPGs so they can see what players prefer. Sometimes I just wanna punch the SE dev team.
Getting too old for this $&17!
People seem a bit critical of the writers here. I don't think anyone's forcing you to read the articles, or even more to the point, following the advice in them blindly, not comparing opinions on the countless MMO sites online, then blaming the writers here instead of yourselves.
Personally, I learned that lesson when I read about Aion being worth another look on MMORPG.com's front page. Aion, at least in my opinion, was not worth another look, and I blew 15 bucks to see if the writer was correct. That doesn't mean I'm going to start cussing them out and acting like a 10 year old. Do your own damn research.
/facepalm
FFXIII ruined the FF name waayyy more? Really? I don't recall them doing an entire re-design of XIII, apologizing for it multiple times, the game's producer having to step down, and the game being trashed and slammed universally, by practically everyone but a small handful of die-hards who continue to insist the all is well in XIV-Land.
FFXIII was "so horrible" that not only does it have a sequel coming out, but a spin-off as well (Versus). Yeah... it totally did more damage to the franchise than XIV.
Compared to FFXIV which has been a rolling trainwreck since it launched... even before if you consider all the backlash they got at release echoed things they were told - and ignored - in Beta.
Come on, man. You're seriously stretching it here.
Yes... The CEO of the company who created the franchise and released every title for it. The CEO is the person who has the big-picture of how well the franchise is doing and how it's being perceived overall. The CEO is the person who hears about all feedback from all sectors in all parts of the world that the games are released.
But you say it's "just his opinion?" Are you out of your mind?
Tanaka, the man who led the development apologized, at least twice that I recall, for the state of the game, and was removed from his position as Producer.
A year on, they're still apologizing, acknowledging that the game isn't up to snuff.
They've acknowledged that they have to get back the trust of the players which they realize they've lost by releasing such a shoddy, under-developed game.
The sales and overall impressions of the game - by people who have played it - tell the story on their own.
They are scrapping or otherwise completely overhauling entire core elements of the game's design because they were ill-conceived and/or poorly implemented.
The CEO of the company states that the trainwreck that is FFXIV has damaged the FF franchise overall...
There is not one single sign that points to any other conclusion than: FFXIV is a complete and total mess, an utter failure to produce a successful, solid or enjoyable game to more than a relative handful of players.
FFXI's population at 1 year into its service eclipsed FFXIV's. Even now, after 8+ years in service FFXI's population still eclipses FFXIV's. Incidentally, people can stop using the "oh, but FFXI had a year to develop before the Western market got it" cop-out. FFXIV has now had a year, and it's still a train wreck.
I mean if folks enjoy the game, then great.. they enjoy the game.
But good grief.. take off the blinders and let's start acknowledging reality here. FFXIV was a trainwreck by all objective measures. It's still a trainwreck and it will continue to be a trainwreck for the foreseeable future.
Even after they've implemented all those miracle patches and everything.. there's still no guarantee that they'll be able to turn it around.
If it wasn't for SE being self-funded and they had to depend on an outside publisher/investor to keep this game going, it would have been taken offline a long time ago.
Some folks really need to wake up and smell the reality.
Seriously... I wonder if people are trying to spam Wada's in-box as we speak with emails telling him "It's just your opinion, man", calling him a hater and everything else because he dares say such a negative thing about "their" game.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Y'know what? I forgot about how bad 13 was. You are absolutely right, this franchise has been in a downward spiral since FF12 was released. FFXIII was a big risk and it didn't do as well as planned. Same with 14 online. Many view VII as the magnum opus and everything has stank from there. But I tend to think that 11 was the culmination of all the years of success that the franchise had.
Good call.
I'd like to try this game but from what people have posted its not worth it until the 1.19 super patch is out, so when is this out?
yea i stop reading were the point of 1.19 is.............>.>
Now that I have my new computer (and the benchmark actually will run!) I've been wanting to try this again, but there is no digital download that I can find. I guess I'll have to go to amazon or something and order a box. SE does seem committed to this game in order to rescue the IP. Lots of changes coming.
1.19 wil come out on October 4th. At the same time..............
FINAL FANTASY XIV will celebrate its one-year anniversary on September 30th!
To celebrate FINAL FANTASY XIV’s one-year anniversary, we are presenting “Letter from the Producer LIVE,” a special live edition(*) of the Letter from the Producer on YouTube Live.
During this live broadcast, Producer/Director Naoki Yoshida will be answering various questions sent by players around the globe. Be sure not to miss this special opportunity to hear the words on the future of FINAL FANTASY XIV straight from the producer’s mouth!
More specific details will be announced at a later date.
* “Letter from the Producer LIVE” is scheduled to air on October 4th, 2011 at 5:00 PDT.
This has been the same deal w/ the same redundant posts for over a year now.
The Re-Reviewer went into this with an open mind expecting significant change. Should anybody expect anything less when a developer has over a year to fix the terrible design of this game? Unfortunately, what he found was the same nonsense people complained about from the Beta and Launch:
-Slow, clunky user-interface
-Boring gameplay
Tiresome crafting
-etc... etc...
Japan has missed the boat. Western MMO design is lightyears ahead of anything Japan can muster up these days. If SE wants to make this game correctly, start hiring Western Thinkers -- CAPCOM... you should listen just the same.
Fanboys will continue to love this game until it flatlines. This game may be the biggest let-down in history... @SquareEnix -- You want loyalty again? Refund my hastily wasted $$$ on my FFXIV Collector's Edition. Over one year ago... the only positive thing I received from that box of garbage was an authenticator.
Could not agree more with op. If they want to make money out of this game only solution is to dump completely this trash and start reprogram from scratch. I loved all from Sqare up to this monstruosity. And things will never ever be the same. Saddly.
I'd have to agree. But I'd also like to point out that most games after Huge content patches are best reviewed by players who have never played them before. This title was broke on release. If there is someone at MMORPG that hasn't ever played this game and isn't afraid of a ......different UI have them write a fresh perspective review. This article is tainted with the old feelings of dissapointment and dislikes from a failed launch.
I wish FFXI and FFXIV had to included offline gameplay option because I can't be online all the time since everybody have things to do, plus many new games come out to play them. Unforutenly I'm retired play Final Fantasy Online both of them. It's disppoint for me. I applaud on Phantasy Star Univerise had Offline game though.
If the game is on the shelves, it should be open for review. Not really a difficult concept? The game was sold as complete, and should be reviewed as such. Future developments are always just that: future developments. People should know the game sucks, and they should also be wary that while Square is adding a bunch of content over the horizon, core issues are not being properly addressed. Granted there are people who enjoy the game, but there are a few people who enjoy watching the Mets play. There is no accounting for taste.
This ^^
I think this is a big part of the problem. Everyone's expecting 'WoW-ified' MMO's these days. I've recently returned, which isn't hard as it's still F2P, and am enjoying a complete change of pace.
Everything's in the wrong place, the menus, it all feels very odd. But, that's only because I've been playing WoW for so long. It feels like no other MMO out there, however thinking back to my younger years, *ahem*, it does play like Final Fantasy. You have change your mindset when you start playing.
Maybe everyone is stuck in an MMO rut. Of course with SWTOR out in Dec, you'll all feel right at home, another 'WoW-ified' MMO, great, just what we need... *yawn*
Who are you kidding? No reviewer has the time to devote 4 months to playing a game for a review. Besides a week in a game can give you a very decent feel for it, unless of course you are doing an article about end game. It is not rocket science figuring out even this game, and yes the UI is as bad as people say it is. Combat lag is bad also, still waiting for a fix for that. I just hope SE has the patience to continue to fix this game, it eventually could be very good.
I played the game till Rank 50 Glad, 25 Conj, 35 GS, and a bunch more I don't want to remember. It didn't take me that long after starting to realize the game was shoddy either. But I played it for nearly a year hoping it would get better. I finally gave up in disgust.
When I did play another MMO it was like a spash of ice water in face by comparison. I jumped on Guild Wars and Champions. And while these games are probably not up to snuf for other gamers, by comparison they were like being dropped in a wonderland. There was actualy story and things to do BESIDES run leves, fight the same stupid birds till max level in the same basic three areas, and mindlessly run in circles to gather resource points.
I have played every Final Fantasy game in the series. So I can safely say I was a fan. But FFXIV honestly disillusioned me so badly that I doubt I will ever mess with it again. And after 18 updates that supposedly might, ONE DAY fix the game, Call me skeptical, but I have a hard time swallowing that 1.19 will be some miracle pill that will suddenly add ENgaging Story, Interesting Game play and Depth to a game that had ZERO at launch outside of the first cutscene.
Me? Yea, Someone like me probably couldn't give it a good review because I'm just kinda pissed at the game and devlopers at the moment. And you could definitely call me Jaded.
But the Review I read by Adam seemed pretty darn fair, even by the standards of the few I know that still play the poor broken thing from time to time. You can easily get the feel of the game after a few days of playing it. And Honestly, a game should catch you, hold you, and absorb you so that you DON't realize its only been a few days.
A solid game should give you the 'OMG I have been playing this solid for two weeks. NOT, 'Ok let me see if I can find anything else about this game that might have improved." If your having to search high and low in a game for engaging content... then its not where it should be yet. Plain and simple.
Diffinitely not a game for generation ADD.
FFXIV is missing what made FXI such an amazing experience.
In ffxi you had to have a group in order to survive combat. This made combat much more engaging because people were counting on you playing well. This tied into skillchaining working together to bring down mobs and get chains.
pls delete this post thanks and sorry
i was writing a wrong things , missaderstood something . thank you
then the problem it not the game but that you didnt realize that the game wasnt ready to play it and enjoy it my friend ... its normal to feel like this lol wrong time to spent time there , its your fault
the best thing that you have to do was to wait and look every patch if has the fixes for those things that you didnt like the days that you play 
and spent your time to another game until is ready for you
havce a nice day 