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[Preview] Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn: First Impressions of ARR

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  • ChaosedgeChaosedge Member UncommonPosts: 1
    I agree so much with that! Screw f2p
  • gussymoosegussymoose Member UncommonPosts: 1

    those that say that only people that are into ffantasy will play this game, your dead wrong. myself and my 2 friends (al 3 of us ladies in our 40s ) got betas 2 weekends ago, tomorrow will be weekend 3 for us, we played wow since vanilla, besides other games that are f2p like rift swtor and even runes of magic , and weve all fell in love with the game. the graphics, the stories in the quests, the music, and mostly the other players themselves. we will probably turn off our wow acounts when august 27th comes around because this game is wonderful. i love that once you hit level 10 you can go learn another class. dont wanna fight critters? go level up your crafting skills. youll need them too. there are leves , dailies , and i love the fate system. not to mention the beautiful scaping itself . will there be bumps in the road? sure. every time wow comes out with an x pac there are bumps. its to be expected. i dont want a game that i have to spend money in to get cash items to make my character one up the others.  i want a game that a pay montly and i go and quest and fight and raid and so on and earn what i have and be proud of the achievements etc. 

    i will gladly   give up my other monies being spent on cash shop crap for this games monthly. i say finally. final fantasy is back!

  • FairlyGrimmFairlyGrimm Member UncommonPosts: 11
    I dont really care if its p2p or f2p tho i tend to like the F2p with optional sub the best. My issue is that i have a $1k nvidia GTX 690 and the game does not support SLI and does not run on my computer. The original FFXIV broke my old video card and i fear history repeating itself. With a $1k card i really just dont want to take that chance. They just really dont seem to know what their doing when it comes to working with computers i may just get it for the PS3 so i dont have to worry about it breaking my card. All over the internet i see people complaining about it not running properly on my card and huge lists of like 20 things you need to do to get it to run semi ok on high graphics when every other game it can run max graphics and not break a sweat.
  • MargulisMargulis Member CommonPosts: 1,614
    I was pleasantly surprised and pre-ordered after my beta event last weekend.  I didn't play 1.0 because I couldn't get over the horrid UI similar to FFXI.  It's pretty nice now though and the game was pretty fun.  Subscription model doesn't bother me at all, but we'll see how it works in general. 
  • ElRenmazuoElRenmazuo Member RarePosts: 5,361
    Originally posted by Sxecutioner
    I dont really care if its p2p or f2p tho i tend to like the F2p with optional sub the best. My issue is that i have a $1k nvidia GTX 690 and the game does not support SLI and does not run on my computer. The original FFXIV broke my old video card and i fear history repeating itself. With a $1k card i really just dont want to take that chance. They just really dont seem to know what their doing when it comes to working with computers i may just get it for the PS3 so i dont have to worry about it breaking my card. All over the internet i see people complaining about it not running properly on my card and huge lists of like 20 things you need to do to get it to run semi ok on high graphics when every other game it can run max graphics and not break a sweat.

    It works perfectly with my GTX 660, I even use sweetfx.

  • SeariasSearias Member UncommonPosts: 743
    Originally posted by Sxecutioner
    I dont really care if its p2p or f2p tho i tend to like the F2p with optional sub the best. My issue is that i have a $1k nvidia GTX 690 and the game does not support SLI and does not run on my computer. The original FFXIV broke my old video card and i fear history repeating itself. With a $1k card i really just dont want to take that chance. They just really dont seem to know what their doing when it comes to working with computers i may just get it for the PS3 so i dont have to worry about it breaking my card. All over the internet i see people complaining about it not running properly on my card and huge lists of like 20 things you need to do to get it to run semi ok on high graphics when every other game it can run max graphics and not break a sweat.

    They stated that they will have SLI working by the time the game comes out. I played the original FFXIV and it never broke my hardware. There must have been something else wrong with your system that could have caused this, could be a poor powersupply.

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  • c0existc0exist Member UncommonPosts: 196
    The weird thing to me is as bad of reviews as ffxiv received on release, I still thought it was more fun and a more quality game than 99% of whats out there now.  How's that for blowing your mind.  Any improvements are well received by me.
  • ExiledTyrantExiledTyrant Member UncommonPosts: 69

    I don't get all this f2p garbage. You are getting almost the entire summer to be apart of the beta process, atl east 2 weeks guaranteed open beta access, A main brand triple A title that will be $20 for PC and $30 for Ps3 for the majority of their pre order process before Aug 27, and a much lower sub that can go as low as 12.99 or 9.99 for legacy players.

     

    You take the box price the free 30 days and low sub cost and you basically get a regular games price after 3 months. FFs talk about cheap when people shell out $60+ for 3-12 hour games.

     

    Good article Rob people can argue nonsensical crap all they want over a wrong spell name or whatever about a game you only got a few hours a day to play while juggling work and your family.

    "Do not speak to me of fate!" ~ A fairy tale for the Demon Lord

  • GrakulenGrakulen Staff WriterMMORPG.COM Staff LegendaryPosts: 894
    Originally posted by Sxecutioner
    I dont really care if its p2p or f2p tho i tend to like the F2p with optional sub the best. My issue is that i have a $1k nvidia GTX 690 and the game does not support SLI and does not run on my computer. The original FFXIV broke my old video card and i fear history repeating itself. With a $1k card i really just dont want to take that chance. 

    Nvidia released new drivers in the last few days that correct the SLI issue on their end with FFXIV:ARR.

    It is still busted on the client side though. SE put out a note today on the client launcher stating that they will have this issue fixed before release.

     

  • RaflowRaflow Member UncommonPosts: 1

    F2p and B2p Sux, period.  I played FFXI from day one to present.  I've also played Wow from vanilla to cata ( and it was not f2p or b2p models that killed Wow, it was the constant watering down of the game to appeal to half-wits who couldn't use their brains and then whined about it, tip blizzard- true gamers don't like having their skill trees and game mechanics simplified to pacify some 5 year just because he didn't want to actually learn how to play his level 85 paladin that his friends power leveled for him)  I've also played half of the free to play games out there (swtor- new rift- lotr to name a few). What your getting is cheaply made content for not so cheap prices.   In Swtor, to get anywhere as a f2p'er ( I played both as a sub and f2p'er, so yes i've seen both sides of this) you'd need to shell out atleast 5 to 10 dollars a month (unless your a total cheapa$$ and never did any end game content cause your don't have any purple or higher gear), and your still lacking most of the required content to enjoy the game properly so why not sub and get it all as well as the best game experience.

    2.  FFXIV is not a wow clone.  F.y.i- its a FFXI clone polished over, and hold on to your corn cob pipe- FFXI came out way before Wow. Why is every new game review hit with this?  2 words- "GET REAL" U do realized Wow was a Everquest clone......oh didn't get the memo...sorry....my bad.

    3. Why do you always here this: Its going to upset the console market with a sub??? are you F'king serious.  I got FFXI on ps2 and me as well as several hundred people hung on to their ps2's just to play FFXI.  With all the subs included, usb keyboard....that stuff....yeah...it worked quite well and still does (game still has a descent ranking on this very site).

    FFXIV is not for everyone (and while I do like FFXi, I'm not a fan boy of it or off FF series in general, only played FF1,7,8, 11) but I've done beta, I'm impressed with the mechanics, Ui improvements, stories, game design, and so forth.  While I'm a little disappointed about the lack of voice chat, its not the only game not using voice. Its a sub, and a above average game.  I like good games, and I don't mind paying subs for good games.  My hats off to those who feel the same.  

    For those who don't your entitled to your own opinion, but stop trolling and go play your not truly free to play f2p or more likely b2p game.  They should just rename these reviews "Gamers goats Gruff" (for those 2 belligerent to know the nursery rhyme, look it up then you'll get it)- "What new games coming on my pc/console "Just me FFxiv ,  I'm not a wow clone, if you wanna eat a wow clone, GW whatthefrickever will be coming out soon , and hes much more wow than me, you can eat him".....lmfao.

  • MargulisMargulis Member CommonPosts: 1,614

    If 15 dollars a month really is such a big deal for some people, I truly feel sorry for those people.  15 dollars is like 1 decent meal at a fast food joint, a third of a tank of gas, 3 or 4 tv dinners, 2 video game rentals at blockbuster (even less actually), etc etc.  Go stand at a street corner for probably an hour with a homeless sign and there's you're monthly subscription

  • ArthasmArthasm Member UncommonPosts: 785
    Originally posted by Margulis

    If 15 dollars a month really is such a big deal for some people, I truly feel sorry for those people.  15 dollars is like 1 decent meal at a fast food joint, a third of a tank of gas, 3 or 4 tv dinners, 2 video game rentals at blockbuster (even less actually), etc etc.  Go stand at a street corner for probably an hour with a homeless sign and there's you're monthly subscription.

    15 dollars are big deal in my poor 3rd world country. But, as you said, you can skip some dinners, for me as a smoker, I can pass on few boxes of cigarettes, I can skip 5-10 coffies I drink every morning before going to work and some drinks, make my wife spend her money on anti-baby pills while I save my money spent on condoms... Countless options. And I have Wow sub. In my opinion there are 3 F2P types of people:

    1) Whiny bitchers - They want F2P cause they think it will be p2w cause they can buy powah and own every noob on server. If something is going wrong with their uber skills they'll blame devs/pubs how game sux and how they spent fortune to get game going well. They rarely play P2P games, cause there is no more than 1,2,3 keys in their bra... keyboard.

    2) Selfish bastards - "I want F2P game, but will not spend penny on it, who the F cares if devs needs to eat, there are too many people who will pay (for me), so why I should care and pay. F2P FTW, P2P Sux!".

    3) Normal people - everyone else who only play game, not bitching on forums like us.

  • GranDuxGranDux Member Posts: 70
    Originally posted by Gormok

    I agree with every word that Wicoa typed. I would rather pay a sub and get a good quality game without restrictions. F2P is just a way to nickle and dime players as others have stated before me. Let's take SWTOR as an example, instead of giving meaningful content updates each month. They are always upgrading that dam Cartel Market, which is what a lot of f2p titles do. When they did do a major update they called it an expansion, just because they increased the lvl cap.

     

    On top of that they charged both the subscribers and the free players, the western f2p model is a real scam and money grab. It boggles my mind that people are willing to throw away 100s even thousands of dollars on these games. A sub based game will only run you $180 a year plus the box cost. Were as a f2p game can get up into the thousands of dollars mark before the half a year period. With those numbers I would rather pay a sub any day of the week.

     

    Another problem with western mmo companies, is that they try to cater to everybody instead of trying to find a key demographic to cater to. Or they get hellbent on having a million or two million subs. The market is to saturated to think like that, focus on 300k to 500k and than work from there. It worked in the past when the market wasn't over bloated with mmos, and I am sure it can work today.

     

    They do have a tendency to be aggressive and ham-fist with the million+ sub range. More likely due to quota expectations and probably why most of these western mmo companies keep mentioning WoW like it's the only and greatest MMO on earth <it may have had it's day in the past but like any title, WoW is becoming old and won't be the only mmo title in existence>. The result is that the quality ends in the dumps , and any game that happens to get picked up  ends up becoming short with holes in the process<unless the game was short by design to began with>

    What I like about this FF? Both sides of the demograph get to play and experience the game, and both sides of the fans actually matter. Not so much the driven stake on region 1 and region 2 but more of paying attention to the players and fans that are actually playing the game. Combined. Without region-locks and cultural intolerance seen in other games. :)

  • torvaktorvak Member Posts: 1
    I was hoping for a tough game like FFXI was in its early years, i wanted to camp dragons for days and use skillchains and magic bursts to take down mobs. I wonder if there is any emergent gameplay to be found or even alternative tactics to be found by players. Like 5 black mages and a bard. I wanted to pull mobs to camp and have to choose that camp wisely. Most of all i'm hoping it makes every job feel worthwhile in a party.
  • PrecusorPrecusor Member UncommonPosts: 3,589
    Originally posted by Brialyn

    I can't help but HOPE that this game shows the sub model is still viable.  I loathe the F2P model, it just feels so used car salesmen like.  Want an extra bag? Got the game currency to buy one?  Great! Pay us real money first so you can buy an extra bag slot. Oh and btw we're going to sell our gems, zen, cartel credits, coins,  insert name here, in sums where you will never be able to zero out.  You'll always have some left over and it will always be close to the price of something.  Just uhg.  I understand some games aren't this bad, Tera, makes their F2P more palatable. The majority though....not so much. 

    B2P like Guild Wars was one thing, for the most part the things they sell are cosmetic or ways to level quicker. Nothing in it is an unlock to features of the game. 

    I can't really explain why I'm happy to give 15 bucks a month for a sub but spending the same amount of money a month in a F2P game makes me cringe.  As long as I'm getting patches with a fair amount of content I'd rather pay a sub for a good game. 

    Well said.

  • blohm86blohm86 Member Posts: 43

    I assume mmorpg.com for once will do their job and follow this game accordingly. This is one unique chain of events that no other game has gone through.

    Or do they have to buy the publicity?

  • aionixaionix Member UncommonPosts: 288

    So the end of the article says there is only one AAA mmo left with a sub.....so EVE's 500k subscribers don't count?  If there was one game that could truly be called a AAA MMO it would be EVE with all the features and longevity it provides.....just saying.

     

    As for ARR, I'm super glad they are remaining sub.  Yoshi-P already perfected stated why they are doing this.  Goggle it if you would like to know more on the why.  I am in full support.  I'm done with B2P/F2P heavy RNG bullshit games.

  • PandeamoniaPandeamonia Member Posts: 1
    I think you also have to look at the cross platform of the game, being able to play a game on my PS3 from the comfort of my couch and easy access to the kitchen but still playing with friends on PC is a great bonus :)
  • citadellicitadelli Member Posts: 36

    I'm surprised this review had so many responses tbh. To me the only logical game model as earlier mentioned is not FTP or PtP, as people state. 

    But I do think ANet nailed it with GW2. Buy the box and play for free - no limits. Difference being in other "ftp" mmos is you're not being constantly shoved down the throat with real money purchases. It's there yes kind of if that - almost lacking, but the other ftp MMO's have constant in game pop ups, and seem to dev or market more around micro transactions than the actual game. Annoying.

    But the game keeps growing and the updates are constant, something good is going on there ;-)

    Hollow

     

  • AzphelAzphel Member UncommonPosts: 27

    Nice article. A small bit of your info was incorrect though. You can get more then 3 skill slots to use other classes abilities with your own. You get another slot every 5 levels up to a point I think. Not sure when it stops but when I was 21 on my THM last beta session I noticed I had a 4th slot.

     

    Also I don't believe FFXIV will have to worry at all about going free to play. All these AAA MMO's that have gone free to play in recent years have all had one thing in common. they all had investors they had to pay back as quickly as possible and when they found they couldn't pay them back quick enough with a P2P model they were forced into F2P. I only know of 2 companies that don't have to worry about this. Blizzard and Square Enix. SE has been using their own money in the making and continued development of FFXI and are doing the same with XIV.  With this in mind SE does not need millions of players to keep their game going for a long time. all they need is a consistent player base.  Despite how bad 1.0 was they actually did still have a player base. ARR is considerably(Putting it lightly) better then 1.0 and will retain a larger player base in my opinion. An MMO doesn't need to be a "WoW Killer" to be successful.

     

    There are a ton of things to do in XIV. Lots of ways to spend time in the world to strengthen your character. Leveling one character to 50 doesn't automatically mean your down optimizing your character because there are a lot of skill you can pull over from other classes to improve your main class so you need to level other classes as well. A fun crafting system that I'm for the first time ever in my MMO history, interested in. It's like it's own mini game being classes of their own and having to level them up. they have their own skills to better crafted quality, speed, and more. Gathering is no different in the variety of things they have to work with.

     

    I personally support the P2P model because I believe it delivers a more steady and higher quality of content. Of course this all depends on how the company handles it as well of course. And with how Yoshida-san has been handling things I don't think I've cause for worry. It's also better for the developers in the long term. I can already hear people screaming at me that F2P makes way more money. Both type have potential to be better in that regard. Can F2P Make a ton more money then P2P? Of course it can. But the problem is it's not consistent. A company can make thousands of dollars in a single months from cash shop purchases while the next month they make maybe a quarter of  that same amount because no one buys.

     

    Because of the inconsistency of revenue they cant keep a large development staff and they cant plan ahead for real quality content because they never know what their budget will be from month to month. This is why F2P games (excluding games that were built around F2P to begin with like GW2) often rehash old content. SWTOR is a prime example of this.

     

    Any way I've talked enough. These are just my thoughts on the subjects above.

     

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  • AzphelAzphel Member UncommonPosts: 27
    Originally posted by archy1985
    it was the WORST combat mechanic i ever experienced. you can go to sleep after pushing one skill and wake up in time to push the second one. soooooooooooo sllloooooooowwwwwwwww
     

    If you've ever played a Final Fantasy game before you would know that the series has always been about slower tactical combat. There wont be a ton of things to do a the begining because it's about learning how to play your character and getting comfortable with it. The hard stuff comes later in the game.

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  • darkrain21darkrain21 Member UncommonPosts: 383
    Originally posted by wowclones
    Originally posted by DMKano

    I think that 2-3 months post launch it will be painfully obvious to Square Enix how P2P is not a good model in the western markets anymore. That is where you see significant sub dropoff at the end of there 2nd month, and then due to low influx of new players you are left in a tough position.

    Decent game, but not strong enough to thrive as a P2P title in F2P market.

    Just my opinion, it will be interesting to see how this goes.

     

    Couldn't have said it better. If people are able to max level before the 30 days of free play, this game is doomed. Going to be interesting to see a AAA title try subscription again. I am sure they already have the future plan laid out to go F2P when subs get low and box sales dry up.

     

    I couldnt disagree more, P2P is still the best way IMO due to the fact that there is no price gouging and when they say new content they mean new content not shit they just added to the Item Mall. I hate F2P and seeing as how there still isnt a f2p game doing better than wow and the fact that since we share these servers with Japan and Europe there is no way of saying which is better 11 is still P2P and still making them money so dont expect F2P with 14 ever.

  • ElandrialElandrial Member UncommonPosts: 179
    Originally posted by DMKano

    I think that 2-3 months post launch it will be painfully obvious to Square Enix how P2P is not a good model in the western markets anymore. That is where you see significant sub dropoff at the end of there 2nd month, and then due to low influx of new players you are left in a tough position.

    Decent game, but not strong enough to thrive as a P2P title in F2P market.

    Just my opinion, it will be interesting to see how this goes.

     just ask wow how the p2p goes,yes a lot of games have gone f2p.depends on how they do it. if they become  p2w than they die out,ie atlantica online,very good game,but it is p2w,teh econmy is so wrecked you have to pay to even compete.

    loto on the other hand,is about cosmetics buys  and new maps,you do not need to buy much,it sells the new maps and give bonuses.if the game does well it may well stay p2p.but that willbe the market that dictates not your belief.i may give it a try,i am in the beta and it looks very good.

     

  • Snowdon_CloudripperSnowdon_Cloudripper Member CommonPosts: 584
    Originally posted by Ryahl
    Originally posted by Murugan
    Originally posted by Grakulen
    @Murugan take off the tin foil hat partner. I'm not shilling for anything. I prefer sub based games and said as much. I also refuse to call microtransaction based games F2P. Not once did I use that term. I hope the game does well in the sub model. Due to the fact all these games have real people working on them and depend on them for their livelyhood I wish they could all do well. Even SB.

    I'll respond to more of the questions tonight and talk about how Square Enix is a publicly traded company and regardless of what he tells you they do have investors to answer too. For tje record so does Activision/Blizzard.

    Then why devote nearly half of your article to your speculation on whether it can really justify a subscription in this era of the "the western microtransaction surge".

     

    Did you not read Ryahl's article last week?  How about the comments, did you see all the people saying "Wow please more articles about the subscription fee, and the business model's plausability".  Nearly every comment supports subscriptions, those that don't are clearly aware this game will have a sub by now.

     

    Maybe devote more of the article to the game next time, you have all covered the topic of the fee enough.  I swear if you devoted as much time into analysis of the value of cash shops in the myriad of F2P and B2P MMO's you all report on no one would dare use the term "free to play" any longer.

     

    You are trying to create a controversy here, where there is none.  You are told this repeatedly and both you and Ryahl have to resort to defending your article and the fact that you "really do love subscription models!!!".  So the next article from you what percentage of that will be about the payment model? 

     

    I can't wait to see what new speculations you will have for us based upon your extensive business model testing in phase 3.

    To be fair, my article wasn' t last week, it was yesterday.

    It wasn't 50% F2P, it was one paragraph in which I observed it was one issue that would polarize people's opinions.  

    One paragraph at the end of the article, following four sections which were, I think, very positive about the game and its direction.  My F2P paragraph even included the statement "and I respect his decision."  I do note that "I wonder if that market segment has come and gone," but that's not a commentary on FFXIV as much as it is based on my 20-Aug, 2012 analysis of the MMO market segment.  

    The sub-only MMO segment appears to have a relatively fixed population of about 2mm + WoW.  Gains to one title's subs seem to come as a loss from another's subs.  Other than WoW, the sub market went stagnant in 2004.  Is it a niche market that has recently lost some of its over-congestion (which would still justify the FFXIV strategy) or it a segment that can be genuinely grown and cultivated?  I don't know that answer, but I am intensely curious to find out.

    Robert's article is structurally similar to my feature from yesterday in this regard, one paragraph which focuses entirely on the industry direction and includes the statement "I find it refreshing to play a MMO that requires a subscription."  

    Regarding the "F2P shill" accusation, I would have to refer you to my Internet defender, Mr. Inigo Montoya.

    Granted, that's the paragraph that the comments took off about in my article and it's the paragraph that bothered you quite a bit in this article.  Billing models are a contentious topic in the industry right now and any broad discussion of any upcoming MMO probably needs to include some comments about the business model.  

    That's the thing, it's a thing to talk about.  Yoshi's taking a position on this issue, it's a position that's not in-line with where the industry has been migrating.  Yoshi's decision to keep FFXIV sub-based is clearly a differentiator for this game.   It's a position that won't work for some customers, but will appeal to others.  I'm not opposed to the position he's taking, I think it might work and I think there is room for a sub model if your business is built around realistic expectations for the size of a sub model game.

     

    Way to quote me :p

    http://absoluteretribution.enjin.com/ Guild Website and Recruitment link

  • lifesbrinklifesbrink Member UncommonPosts: 553
    What the hell is wrong with everyone and their crazy support of Subscription models?  So what if a lot of F2P games suck.  So do a lot of subscription games (WoW especially, comes to mind).  I have played Lord of the Rings online for ages, and I have noticed a huge drop in price for playing the game.  Before, the game cost you $150 a year.  Now, you can pay $150 and buy the entire game without worrying about paying for anything until an expansion comes out.  How is that more expensive than subscription?

    My blog is a continuing story of what MMO's should be like.

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