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Do not play this game with mouse and keyboard
Morgaur
Member UncommonPosts: 196
Well after trying the game for a day and a half I have come to the conclusion that this game is not created for use with mouse or keyboard. The reason for this is the horrible menu system. It is obvious that this is a console game. I will try to explain:
The best method to play this game on the computer is by using the following buttons:
WASD = Running around (like the left stick on your xbox/ps3 controller)
IJKL = Looking around (like the right stick on your xbox/ps3 controller)
HOME = Brings up the menu system on the right side with journal, inventory etc etc (Y button on the controller maybe)
ARROW buttons = up, down, lef, right in the menu system, dialoge boxes etc
ENTER = Selects a menu, item etc
ESC = Closes the active dialogue, menu etc
Using the mouse in the game is time consuming and generally a bad bad bad experience. Probably because of the nasty software driver they have implemented, which is sluggish, non accurate and laggy.
So you end up running around with wasd and looking around with ijkl and pressing Home, using arrow keys along with Enter and Escape to exit. To select a target I use the TAB key to select it and press Enter twice to switch to Active mode so I can attack the creature. Cumbersome to say the least.
Now for me who have been playing games like since I was a teenager (Im 37 now) this is totally awkward. I am so used to click on things that this day and a half have been a terrible experience. For me this menu system is in fact game breaking. It is so bad for me that I will not buy the game, if there haven't been some adjustments to the system.
Now this is only my personal feelings. I can guarantee that probably some of you love the system, but for me who have been playing with mouse and shortcut keys its a no go.
Anyone else have some feedback on this? I do not hate this game in any way. This is just my personal take on the control system in Final Fantasy XIV.
I will keep an eye out on the game, but I doub't that I will play it with this system intact.
Shame really 
Comments
Like you said I'm sure there are plenty that like this system (FFIX players are already used to it a bit), but there are also plenty that feel the same way you do. Including myself. You will also get some replies seconds from now stating "You suck because you can't figure out how to play a game that doesn't have controls like 99% of the other PC games out there... ha ha!" People will also suggest trying to use a controller. I haven't tried yet, and will do so shortly. But I don't WANT to be forced to use a controller. I want the option of using a mouse and keyboard like I'm used to.
It's a cumbersome, inefficient, awkward, and user unfriendly interface. So many things could be changed to make it smoother, more natural and easier to use. Not just to "make it like everything else". There are plenty of games that have interfaces unlike everything else. But there's a difference between being different from everything else, and being different AND horribly designed.
This is opinion obviously, but there are enough people complaining about this that it's hard to believe this will some day be talked about in gaming magazines as having "...the best, most innovative, and easy to use interface ever designed!!!"
Well said. The interface turned me off within 5 minutes of trying the OB. It's completely unintuitive. Sad too, such a beautiful game world and so many interesting options for advancement.
in conclusion you QQ
i think you are wow player that wanna all games be equal to wow
anyway your could buy a xbox360 controller, this control is perfect for another games too
or ayou playing weird keyboard fightin games like street fighter????
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
i acutualy like the system. all u have to do is if u fighting use your mouse but if u say crafting use your enter and escape and arrow keys its that simple. just cause u use to a game based soly for m&k dont mean its a bad setup.
if u got time to cry about the configuration of the m and k then take and petition then to remove the dumb stamina sytem(well they do that anyway when they see worse than expected box sells)
I have been using gamepad and iu played todayand tried the mouse/keyboard it acctually was better than the gamepad in ability to interact witht he world.
"Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one ..." - Thomas Paine
Fess up, sschrupp - sephie here is either you or a friend, am I right? I mean, you pointed out so well the person that would say just what sephie did...
Oh well, in regard to the initial post though - I think I misread a potential complaint about using WASD (the standard). Yes, this post offers a little more detail than your average complaint about the controls - but in the end, it is still pretty much just a case of pointing out what most know by now... it is a console port.
It does leave one to laugh though - considering, how many PC games are there that have no issues with mouse controls? Heck, how many console ports are out there that have decent mouse action for the players?
Yeah...the subtext is not easy to overlook for many in regard to SE's thoughts on this.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
Its fairly obvious that the control system for ffxiv is the best possible any gamer could dream to have in his favorite game, its also obvious that the mouse/keyboard system implemented in ff14 is the best since the dawn of pc games, cant think of anything better really
/sarcasm off, in case some random wow hater boy dont realize
pd. on the other side, mouse hardware mod just released unofficially looks promising
I dunno, WASD works just fine for me and when I hold down the right mouse button to move the camera that works fine too. If people are complaining about the fact that they have to point and click through the menu instead of pushing a button that does everything for you then that is being spolied and lazy. I'm not saying people don't have a gripe because it can be better but it clearly is not as horrible as some making it out to be.
Have you noticed, that although there are those complaining about the stamina system (which in of itself is pretty damn stupid and another reason to avoid this game like a disease plagued pre-op transsexual offering you a happy ending)...the vast majority of complaints are on the control system.
In the end, it may not be a bad setup - the problem exists in the "here" and "there" of it all. There is no easing into it. There is no progression. Although not all change is good, change is generally good. Yet, in most cases, it is a case of a gradual movement toward that change along some familiar path.
Lotus 1-2-3 is a fine example. Back before the mouse, everybody sported all their hotkeys and macros. With the arrival of Windows (the increased use of the mouse), they did not drop that support. They continued to allow users to make use of what they were most comfortable with - seeing one of those guys in the late 80's zip along, they smoked folks using a mouse at the time. They laid out a path though...
So in the end, right now it is a bad setup - thoughtless, careless, and all those things that will mean less box sales...
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
No matter how you defend the game, the mouse implementation is inexecuseable. In this day and age they have implemented a software driven mouse that only updates with your framerate, it is laggy, it is imprecise and it is pathetic. There is zero reason it has to be this way other than lazy implementation and a lack of desire to support a keyboard/mouse interface with any real interest. Which is a shame, as it'll add FFIV to the list with FFXI that /could've/ been more popular on the PC if they had just bothered with a tiny bit of interface programming to make the experience more enjoyable.
Before anyone jumps down my throat, I did switch to a controller, basically out of necessity. Folks are right, if you want a hope in hell of really enjoying the game, you'll need to wire up a controller. After that it's just a lessone in somewhat unintuitive game controls for your average PC gamer. On the upside they've made an attempt to standardize combat around a 3 hot-bar scheme which is good. On the downside so many standard "one-click" interface items for an MMO are once again, like FFXI, buried under several menus. Want to read specifics on a quest? That's open the side bar menu, scroll down down "journal" and open t hat, scroll down to your quest, then open that. Something in a standard MMO that is either already visibile with a quest tracker or at the very least one hotkey and one click away. Organizing your hotbar is a somewhat unexplained an unintuitive mess too. It's silliest fault being that new skills you learn as you level up aren't even visible on the abilities tab until you finagle the controller to the option for choosing your class/job, to get the list of abilities. The UI doesn't support drag/drop functionality so you really are better off using a controller to select hotbar entries then items. It functions, but it makes ZERO sense when you have a mouse keyboard right there that would make using such options so much easier if they were supported.
The list of incongruities goes on. Granted if you're familiar with FFXI, then FFXIV does make more concessions for keyboard/mouse input and using combat abilities is a helluva lot more streamlined. Ultimately however, this will be a game liked by those who love FFXI, the final fantasy series or pride themselves on being fans of "something different". I'll be impressed if they bother to support the PC community much at all. So much of it seems to be "well it worked for FFXI so why do we need to change?" without acknowledging that times have changed. In Japan, on a PS3 I'm sure this will be a shockingly popular game. Afterall there is a dearth of good Massively Multiplayer games on the consoles (a shame really) and this will be a shining star in that category. As for PC MMO's go, this game will probably be no better or worse then the speed bump that FFXI is, a novelty, a note, an interesting point for those looking from something else. Which is frustrating, becuase so much of FFXIV core game design appeals to me, it's reliance on classes, it's heavy reliance on community and group mechanics etc.
I appreciate it that it is the fanboys that are incapable of forming coherent sentences without the use of over-used cliches and stereotypes.
The controls are the main reason I'll probably end up not playing it that long. I have two real life friends that used to play FFXI that were planning on getting it (I had four more that no longer have systems that can run it), but with the graphics not allowing our other friends to play, and the controls being so awkward they said that they probably won't stick around after the first month.
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Front: UNO Chemistry Club
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I agree that the controller is better suited for this UI but explain in detail how the controls are awkward because the only gripe I can see it the fact those who use a mouse will have to point and click through the menus. Combat is relatively easy with the mouse too. To me is sounds like people are expecting it to have a UI like WoW where all you do is just push a button and it does everything for you. I'm sorry but not every developer dumbs down their game just to please the simpletons of the world.
Oh please, enlighten me, in what way does having to push 5 buttons to open your inventory enhance your gameplay experience in comparison to just pressing "b" or "i" or whichever button you choose in games with real PC support where you can even remap(!) controls to whichever buttons you like?
Funny, I didn't think making the controls and UI more responsive and efficient was considered dumbing down, to be honest I think what they currently did to the controls and UI is considered dumbing down, dumbed down for console use. I mean thats like saying a new Lamborghini model thats twice as fast is considered dumbed down.
PS. They don't have to replace the current controls and UI, you woudln't be able to play it on console without it, all people are saying is a second set for PC players to use would be nice.
You sound like a crotchety old man talking about automobiles and that fandangled contraption they call the internet.
I'm trying to picture this UI in WoW where all you do is push a button and it does everything for you. The UI in WoW is pretty much the standard UI from games before and after WoW. You can either click items or use a hotkey for them. Kind of like, Windows.
That's it... sound like one of those DOS users complaining about this garbage called Windows that will never take off...
If it had not been the comparison to WoW and what followed, you may have been able to get a better explanation from people (not that those explanations are not quite literally littering the boards in a plethora of threads)...rather than just towing the typical fanboi line by calling them simpletons.
Cause that falls into the whole violation of the RoC...you know?
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
Because the mouse implementation is horrible. Do you know what a software cursor is? It relies on t he game code to render and control mouse position, something that hasn't been necessary in windows development (or Mac OS) for over 12 years. You can let the hardware render it. As a result, the mouse position and detection are only updated with the games rendering framerate. So unless you get 100fps (mind you mice can update thousands of times in 1 second so even thi sis a concession) your mouse is going to move aorund the screen like it is moving through molasses. precision is near impossible with the mouse in FFXIV. It makes clicking on the tiny icons for "quest npc nearby" or "menu" a serious chore. And forget trying to select a target in combat.
As already said, aside from that (which is a huge glaring problem for mouse users) none of the menus or game systems have native mouse support. You can't drag and drop abilities onto your hotbar (or reorganize them), you can't drag and drop inventory items to/from your paper doll. Dozens of standard mouse UI conventions are ignored. The menus 'work' for controller schemes but completely ignore mouse conveniences. Right-clicks aren't supported etc. As such, you will be even more frustrated using a mouse because doing things is counter-intuitive.
And for the record, expecting a clean UI that works well is not "dumbing down" the game. Asking for basic mouse features to be supported, asking for a mouse cursor that doesn't drive you insane, is not a crime, it's standard programming UI for computers 101. I know the game is a console port, but many many console ports have gotten this right and been very successful on PC's. I have not p layed a console port on my PC in the last 5-6 years that has had these kinds of mouse control issues.
For those of us that have played games since the 80's there have been numerous control schemes that we have had to learn and adapt to. Do you not remember when you were first picking up pc gaming and learning to play different games like MMO's or FPS's?
It took me 3 months to really nail down Counter Strike back in the day. Now I can pick up an FPS in a matter of seconds. I almost wish someone would innovate so I could learn again. Is learning something new really that horrible? Does everything have to conform to the same crap for all eternity just so that you can pick it up and play without learning anything new?
Do you realize what you are asking for?
Do you realize the type of people you're talking to?
Nobody is arguing against forward progress...
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
This is why I'm going to wait to play this game on my PS3.
I wanted to play this game on my PC, because PC games always give you more options (Mass Effect 1 & 2). However, SE has done away with those options, so the PC version will be no different than a restricted PS3 version.
I can understand how people don't want to play an MMO on a console, and I'm as disappointed as they are, but I still like my PS3.
When it comes to this game, the only thing a PS3 beats a PC on, is that it won't have to be upgraded (hardware), or be configured to play well.
Ahahahahahhaha. I love you. =3
This UI works exactly like a windows operating system does except there is no optional function that lets you make a shortcut. If that was was such a bad thing then Microsoft should have a ton of complaints since the day they created windows. The controller is more responsive to how the UI works I agree but in no way does it hamper gameplay when using a mouse. Some of you just want it on a silver platter all the time. A little extra point and click is not going to hurt the brain but sometimes it makes me wonder.
The game being less frustrating is nowhere close to wanting it to be on a "silver platter". Have you ever wondered why 99% of the video games on pc use shortcuts? I'm sure you haven't.
No one is begging you to play. So once you have decided its not for you, do us a favour and vamos.
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I love every kinda snail.
I just want to hug them all, but I cant.
Cant hug every snail.
The day you realise that you won't always hear things the way you want them to be is the day you will grow up son.