I must say, the only thing that it seems FFXIV has done the best is create the best flame posts. I compltely agree that this game is the worst MMO of all time. This is coming from someone that bought the CE box for $85 the day of release. The great part however is, is that i have saved lots of money by not purchasing any more SE games. FFXIV was such a shockingly bad experience, it has completely killed my romance with SE. That doesn't mean that I can't still remember the days of FFVII that were brilliant. But SE is just a shell of what it used to be. RIP SE, September of 2010. I think Ill go wander around with Prinnies "dood" if i want any of my asian gaming fix, because the Chocobo's have Mad Cow.
I must say I have to agree with you. I'm sure I'll still buy SE games but I'll treat the company like I do any other company: wait for word of mouth and wait for the game to hit the used sections/discount sections at gamestop (or ebay). No more paying 50-90 bucks for their games on day 1.
SE screwed up SP gain in groups,everybody knows that.
Now it's better to solo grind.
Do you even play the game?
Yes, i do. I don't like grinding on exp mobs for hours though, not before and not after the patch.
I do my set of leves with a group of 6-10 people, thrown in some Battlewardens. I then proceed to do crafting leves usually at a camp that has a Battlewarden around my DoW/DoM level and craft while doing a Behest every hour. Thats when i am pretty much done unless we have some event.
On the weekend we use our faction points acquired during the week to do Faction leves, NM leves and world NM.
I don't have a problem with the game at all. I am not bored. I have enough content to keep me busy and enjoy my daily playtime.
Maybe i have lower expectations, or i simply play differently. In any case, i don't understand why everyone is bitching and moaning about a game that is perfectly playable and enjoyable.
If you didn't understand uptil now you will never understand. So don't stress yourself too much. However, the condition of game speaks for itself.
If it was PERFECTLY playable and enjoyable. Tanaka wouldn't be replaced, game won't be free on monthly basis and PS3 version won't be delayed. What i find sad is when Tanaka himself apologises and takes blame for poor state of game while people like you tell everyone its perfectly enjoyable.
I don't stress myself at all, it seems you are however.
Have you ever considered that there are players that don't rush to level cap then burn out. Players that take their time because they have a life outside the game. Players that have as it stands right now, enough content for the next 3 months.
If you say leves are boring, fair enough, i find WoW/LotRO/AOC... style kill X/Y/Z go to next generic town repeat, type games boring. I find leves to be efficient and a good way to level. And don't give me the quest speech because no one reads those dumb ass quest texts, everyone just grabs all the quests form the NPC's with the (!) above their heads then follows the arrow to the location of the 10 Wolfs you have to kill. Very different indeed, i prefer leves.
I admit, there where tons of small issues with the game that bugged me. Now that those small issues are all fixed i do enjoy the game as it is. Besides, i don't see anything better out there right now. Nothing that can even remotely compete with FF14 in terms of graphics, crafting and battle system.
I enjoy a social game in a beatifull environment with my LS, what more can i ask for?
Merry XMAS
The game is still free on monthly basis in case you didn't notice, if whatever you mentioned was working and it was opinion of majority i would understand. But right now it doesn't matter what one or 100 fans of FF think when all you got is 80K or less players left out of 500K.
The day they start charging the player base and PS3 version won't be delayed anymore you won't have to convince anyone that 'game is perfectly enjoyable'. Right now when SE itself lacks confidence in its game, it is hard to take whatever you say seriously.
I logged in yesterday to check the game after two weeks and i noticed that my 4th LS is dead too and i can't be bothered to look for a new one all over again.
I think the correct statement you were looking for was the game was perfectly playable and enjoyable for you. However, right before that statement you wrote "I don't understand why everyone is bitching and moaning" meaning you realize that everyone has complained about the game to the point where they are not playing the game anymore or have gone to the sidelines to see if the game improves for them to come back.
I am not sure why you generalized that everyone is bitching and moaning. It is true some have done that, but others have offered constructive criticism over the game. One could generalize and come to the conclusion that if they look at the MMORPG FFXIV forums, BG forums, FFXIV forums, Eorzeapedia forums, FFXIV ZAM forums, FFXIV Pro forums, Game Faqs FFXIV forums that most of the players (casual hardcore and diehard fans of the series alike) that most of them are unhappy with it and have vocally done so. Some have stayed in the sidelines while others are playing to be ahead of everyone else, but as far as posters saying that the game is sheer chock-full of fun are almost non-existent.
If the game is perfectly playable and enjoyable why would Square Enix say that they "deeply regret that the game has yet to achieve the level of enjoyability that FINAL FANTASY fans have come to expect from the franchise, and for this we offer our sincerest of apologies?"
If the game is perfectly playable and enjoyable why would Square Enix delay the PS3 release "until they are confident that the game has reached the level of enjoyability and service befitting the FINAL FANTASY name for users on all supported platforms?" This means that the company does NOT consider this service (FFXIV) currently worthy of having the name Final Fantasy associated with it.
Content:
You said, excluding LS events, that you do your set of leves of up to 10 people and then proceed to do crafting, with behest thrown in every hour or so, and then pretty much you are done. The problem is that for the majority of the players this is not enough content (simple basic content not to be confused with in depth story line content or quests that are considered chain quests) this day and age.
Quests:
It is true that most games have the ! Icon to mark the player that a new quest is available, and in those instances most people just mash the enter button to get it over with. However; for the people that came from FFXI generally this is not the case. All the NPC's did not have the ! marker and on top of that most of them involved in small cut scenes to allow the text to load up in parts (also in part why you couldn't smash the enter key because you needed the text to load before the marker popped up to continue the next sequence) as well as to introduce other NPCs that may be part of the quests. FFXI had a great deal of quests called chain quests and some were simply amazing because you got to know some of the NPCs that way. The game also had not only tons of missions (13 different total storylines - most of these were awesome and most of the people I did them with read them all) but just as important Square Enix had various goals and challenges for the players every few levels and gave them much more options because of it.
You had the sub job at 18 and max those out at 37 for those that decided that particular job was not going to be a main, the Chocobo license at 20, you would usually gather friends to find those Khazam keys in the low 20's to get access to the jungles, Airship Pass when you reached rank 5 (you even had the option of doing all 3 major cities quest lines and not limited to only one), unlock advanced jobs once you reached level 30 and each had a series of quests that took you all the way up to the artifact armor set. And you had events at level 20 30 40 and 50 for example that required a group of 3 or 6 to fight mobs for potential rewards. And most of this could be done or unlocked at 50 or way before level 50.
I would say everyone from FFXI or almost everyone were not expecting the game to come out with 13 different storylines, they were expecting at least some options like the ones I mentioned above. What they got instead in FXIV was A. Grind mobs from 1-50 or supplement that with 8 leves every 36 hours or behests every hour B. Grind a craft/gathering job from 1-50 or supplement that with 8 leves every 36 hours C. Only one main in depth content story from the nation you started out with. And while this may be enough for a few people out there, it wasn't enough for a good portion of FFXI player as well as the casual players (MMO gamers or console gamers) that Square Enix was hoping to try to lure into this game. Also there is still a problem with the leves in that some people will have a connection lost and loose all progress and fail that leve and have to wait till a reset to do them again, in hopes they don't get another connection lost.
I will agree that at this moment no MMORPG game can compete with FFXIV in terms of graphics and the crafting system, but those 2 things are not enough for most people this day and age in part because of all the other options they might have out there. While the diehard fans may stay (assuming more don't continue to leave as the months pass by as they have in the past) Square Enix has their work cut out for them in 2011 to make this game happen and avoid the chance of having server merges to the point that the game is reduced to 3-4 servers like most of the other AAA MMO games have suffered in the past 5 years.
By the way you said you may have lowered your expectations in this game. If in fact this is the case why would you have to lower your expectations for FFXIV (or do you generally have lower expectations on MMO games since you wrote "The whole genre has become a cesspool of unfinished and broken releases. I don't really know what else to say, it is sad but it happens so often I don't really care anymore. There are no real alternatives after all except going back to the highly polished FF11." Since you are interested in GW2 and SWTOR, both games seem very good so far, would you also take that same low expectation towards those games as well?
EDIT: I wanted to reply to Nikkita who posted above me but it seems I did not quote correctly.
I think the correct statement you were looking for was the game was perfectly playable and enjoyable for you. However, right before that statement you wrote "I don't understand why everyone is bitching and moaning" meaning you realize that everyone has complained about the game to the point where they are not playing the game anymore or have gone to the sidelines to see if the game improves for them to come back.
I am not sure why you generalized that everyone is bitching and moaning. It is true some have done that, but others have offered constructive criticism over the game. One could generalize and come to the conclusion that if they look at the MMORPG FFXIV forums, BG forums, FFXIV forums, Eorzeapedia forums, FFXIV ZAM forums, FFXIV Pro forums, Game Faqs FFXIV forums that most of the players (casual hardcore and diehard fans of the series alike) that most of them are unhappy with it and have vocally done so. Some have stayed in the sidelines while others are playing to be ahead of everyone else, but as far as posters saying that the game is sheer chock-full of fun are almost non-existent.
If the game is perfectly playable and enjoyable why would Square Enix say that they "deeply regret that the game has yet to achieve the level of enjoyability that FINAL FANTASY fans have come to expect from the franchise, and for this we offer our sincerest of apologies?"
If the game is perfectly playable and enjoyable why would Square Enix delay the PS3 release "until they are confident that the game has reached the level of enjoyability and service befitting the FINAL FANTASY name for users on all supported platforms?" This means that the company does NOT consider this service (FFXIV) currently worthy of having the name Final Fantasy associated with it.
Content:
You said, excluding LS events, that you do your set of leves of up to 10 people and then proceed to do crafting, with behest thrown in every hour or so, and then pretty much you are done. The problem is that for the majority of the players this is not enough content (simple basic content not to be confused with in depth story line content or quests that are considered chain quests) this day and age.
Quests:
It is true that most games have the ! Icon to mark the player that a new quest is available, and in those instances most people just mash the enter button to get it over with. However; for the people that came from FFXI generally this is not the case. All the NPC's did not have the ! marker and on top of that most of them involved in small cut scenes to allow the text to load up in parts (also in part why you couldn't smash the enter key because you needed the text to load before the marker popped up to continue the next sequence) as well as to introduce other NPCs that may be part of the quests. FFXI had a great deal of quests called chain quests and some were simply amazing because you got to know some of the NPCs that way. The game also had not only tons of missions (13 different total storylines - most of these were awesome and most of the people I did them with read them all) but just as important Square Enix had various goals and challenges for the players every few levels and gave them much more options because of it.
You had the sub job at 18 and max those out at 37 for those that decided that particular job was not going to be a main, the Chocobo license at 20, you would usually gather friends to find those Khazam keys in the low 20's to get access to the jungles, Airship Pass when you reached rank 5 (you even had the option of doing all 3 major cities quest lines and not limited to only one), unlock advanced jobs once you reached level 30 and each had a series of quests that took you all the way up to the artifact armor set. And you had events at level 20 30 40 and 50 for example that required a group of 3 or 6 to fight mobs for potential rewards. And most of this could be done or unlocked at 50 or way before level 50.
I would say everyone from FFXI or almost everyone were not expecting the game to come out with 13 different storylines, they were expecting at least some options like the ones I mentioned above. What they got instead in FXIV was A. Grind mobs from 1-50 or supplement that with 8 leves every 36 hours or behests every hour B. Grind a craft/gathering job from 1-50 or supplement that with 8 leves every 36 hours C. Only one main in depth content story from the nation you started out with. And while this may be enough for a few people out there, it wasn't enough for a good portion of FFXI player as well as the casual players (MMO gamers or console gamers) that Square Enix was hoping to try to lure into this game. Also there is still a problem with the leves in that some people will have a connection lost and loose all progress and fail that leve and have to wait till a reset to do them again, in hopes they don't get another connection lost.
I will agree that at this moment no MMORPG game can compete with FFXIV in terms of graphics and the crafting system, but those 2 things are not enough for most people this day and age in part because of all the other options they might have out there. While the diehard fans may stay (assuming more don't continue to leave as the months pass by as they have in the past) Square Enix has their work cut out for them in 2011 to make this game happen and avoid the chance of having server merges to the point that the game is reduced to 3-4 servers like most of the other AAA MMO games have suffered in the past 5 years.
By the way you said you may have lowered your expectations in this game. If in fact this is the case why would you have to lower your expectations for FFXIV (or do you generally have lower expectations on MMO games since you wrote "The whole genre has become a cesspool of unfinished and broken releases. I don't really know what else to say, it is sad but it happens so often I don't really care anymore. There are no real alternatives after all except going back to the highly polished FF11." Since you are interested in GW2 and SWTOR, both games seem very good so far, would you also take that same low expectation towards those games as well?
EDIT: I wanted to reply to Nikkita who posted above me but it seems I did not quote correctly.
Great Post! I agree with you on all points.
I started FF11 at NA release and played for ~10 years.
Yes i have lowered my expectations, but not for FF14, i started to lower them after my 2 month adventure in WoW. If that was a sign of "casual with mass appeal" then i would not be playing many new MMORPGs. Then came one disaster after the other. D&D, Vanguard, B&W, Huxley, WAR, AOC, STO, City of XYZ, LOTRO, Darkfall, APB, Fallen Earth etc.
None of them really changed anything or invotated. All of them where broken at release to varying degrees. None delivered at all, just hot air.
You may ask, why did i choose to play FF14 since it is clearly in the same league of broken releases. Simply because it has a few points that are really unmatched. Namely: crafting, graphics and huge potential.
Graphics i don't need to explain, although some will disagree and cite the famous copy and paste argument. I don't mind 'cause i have better things to do than look for repetition or inspect every texture at closest range.
Crafting is the best ever released for a MMO, hands down. complexity, difficulty and social aspects. It's perfect (not saying it could use some fine tuning).
Potential is entirely my personal opinion. I know what they did to FF11. It was just a small MMO back 10 years ago with not much content. Now, it has more content and end game variations than all MMO out there combined. That is where i see potential for FF14.
TL;DR
FF14 has problems right now. But it has the best graphics, crafting and the highest potential to become truly epic in size considering FF11 started off pretty much the same. If anyone can pull it off, then SE can.
Merry Xmas
"Give players systems and tools instead of rails and rules"
Wow that is pretty amazing almost 10 years in FFXI that makes you a super veteran! FFXI is also my longest MMO experience about 3.5 years. I always give any MMO I try my 120 days trial period to give it a chance as well as to see for myself if I am going to stick around for the long haul and ultimately give it my seal of approval. I have tried AOC, EQ II, WAR, WOW, LOTRO and all of them didn't pass my 120 trial period. The only exception was LOTRO, I tried that game one day and then uninstalled it for some reason I cannot remember, it was almost like a knee jerk reaction. I have to say that the Tortage area of AOC was probably the most fun I ever had in any MMO experience, so much that I created another character just to go through the rollercoaster ride again. The music is some of the best I have heard in a video game and I actually have the CD for it. It is such a shame what was waiting for us after that.
The only two games that passed my trial period were Aion which lasted 6 months and FFXI which lasted 3.5 years. Aion was a lot of fun but some of the major problems was that for the 1st 6 months there weren't any updates besides what they called "text updates" and the other being the rampant presence of RMT as well as people just botting all over the place. I remember two weekends in a row in Theobomos region where everyone was paired up in two's, one healer and the other a damage dealing class and they were running sharp zigzags all over the place killing mobs. I walked around the entire lower level zone region and only found myself not being either RMT or using those bot programs, which just took the life out of the game for me. Also being in 5 large different legions that eventually became ghost towns did not help the situation coupled with the continuing dwindling of the population. It came to be that the NA servers that started at 16 or 18 went down to 4 in about a year or so.
I do agree with the three points you listed about FFXIV. The graphics are very nice including the animations that the jobs have, especially the Pugilist and Archer classes. I love the different stances they take when in combat and they look pretty cool when they do the critical hit animations. I like crafting very much so far, you actually feel like you are making something with all the different tools you visually see as well as the animations that accompany them. As far as potential I saw what they did with the grand finale to the Wings of the Goddess expansion which was updated about two weeks ago (the last of the 13 major storylines that was introduced to the MMO).
The ending was simply amazing and emotional to me and considering that Square Enix was able to deliver this to a game that is almost 10 years old is exceptional. I do hope three things happen. 1. That the team is able to come out with updates fast enough but not rushed in 2011 that adds content that most fans have been asking for. 2. That Wada gives this team at least the entire year to implement those changes and not be pressured by investors/board members to make premature changes to the core management/design team. 3. And last being of paramount importance is if the changes and additions (to a great extent) are implemented next year that "hopefully" the fans that left as well as casual and hardcore gamers from other MMOs and consoles return and gives this game another chance.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone here on the FFXIV forums!
3. And last being of paramount importance is if the changes and additions (to a great extent) are implemented next year that "hopefully" the fans that left as well as casual and hardcore gamers from other MMOs and consoles return and gives this game another chance.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone here on the FFXIV forums!
Aww man, I SO don't see that happening. I don't think there is anything XIV can do that'll pull me away from GW2 and SWTOR.
Who knows, maybe the new devs can put their minds together and deliever something that seems to surpass GW2 and SWTOR. And when they do, I'll be sure to check XIV again. But until then, I hope they can keep up with the financials
3. And last being of paramount importance is if the changes and additions (to a great extent) are implemented next year that "hopefully" the fans that left as well as casual and hardcore gamers from other MMOs and consoles return and gives this game another chance.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone here on the FFXIV forums!
Aww man, I SO don't see that happening. I don't think there is anything XIV can do that'll pull me away from GW2 and SWTOR.
Who knows, maybe the new devs can put their minds together and deliever something that seems to surpass GW2 and SWTOR. And when they do, I'll be sure to check XIV again. But until then, I hope they can keep up with the financials
The assumption here beeing that both GW2 and SWTOR don't follow the pattern of failed MMOs. Not saying they will, i am blissfully oblivious even about the deteails of both games just to give me a fresh ~ OMG this is amazing ~ experience and not the usual ~ But they said this and that and the other is going to be in the game ~ one.
I doubt that GW2 will be a disaster though. The first one is still, although not a real MMO, a very solid game.
"Give players systems and tools instead of rails and rules"
Yes. You can read posts in this forum and see the same flawed logic being posted by the same people over and over yet everything the critics have said has been the truth and every prediction people have made about the game and the developer has also come true. More than that, the CEO himself has doomed the game by declaring it a failure. That is suicide in the business world. The CEO agrees that for the company to survive they need a total restructuring and rebuilding of their entire approach to how they do business. That is a smart thing to consider but he should have though about that before he spent millions of dollars and wasted 5-6+ years of development on games that both make people despise the company and are not any fun to play. If DX is less than an amazingly groundbreaking game, the core group of supporters of the company are going to pick up pitchforks and torches and storm the castle. Somehow with the track record the company has shown over the last few years I don't think DX is going to be breaking any fun factor records.
Do you think, honestly, that the part in blue was what they intended to do? Do you think that the CEO, Tanaka and their top people had a boardroom meeting where the topic was "We've had a long run as a successful, award-winning game developer... We need to get away from all that and make a crappy game that's going to fail miserably and greatly reduce the standing we have with the media and with long-time fans"?
People seem to jump to the conclusion that "oh, they want the game to fail", or "they deliberately made the game the way it is even though they knew no one would like it". While that's not specifically what you're saying, GetReal, it follows the train of thought that your blue highlighted statement seems to convey.
They didn't know no one would like it and didn't get any such feedback - based on actual hands-on gameplay, rather than suppositions and theories - until after people got into Alpha or Beta and then into live launch.
Can they be faulted for not acknowledging the issues in alpha/beta, delaying the release for several months at least, and getting things sorted out before launching it? Sure. Absolutely I'd agree with that. That's where the issue lies and that's what they now have to fight up-stream to get past.
But to convey this idea that they knowingly spent years and who knows how much $$$ to deliberately put out a game people would hate and would be slammed by players and the media is absurd. People don't go into business intending to produce failing products. They certainly don't stay in business by doing so.
What SE was doing is what SE always does... trying something different, instead of doing a complete rehash of what they've already done, or taking the safest path by sticking with the "tried and true". It's worked out for them in the past and, so, they took the chance that it would work out for them again. Unfortunately, they didn't pay enough attention to what was going on in the MMO scene in the years since XI launched and, more disappointingly to me, they didn't pay enough attention to what they did that worked in XI itself. Instead of enhancing or improving them, they threw things that worked great in XI right out the window.
I'm really wondering how they're gonna turn this around and agree it's a rolling train-wreck. But it's going too far to imply that they knew all throughout development that people wouldn't like what they were making... but made it anyway. Again, the first real feedback of that nature didn't come in 'til Alpha or Beta, which is already quite late in development.
Just putting some perspective on it.
"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
Comments
I must say I have to agree with you. I'm sure I'll still buy SE games but I'll treat the company like I do any other company: wait for word of mouth and wait for the game to hit the used sections/discount sections at gamestop (or ebay). No more paying 50-90 bucks for their games on day 1.
The game is still free on monthly basis in case you didn't notice, if whatever you mentioned was working and it was opinion of majority i would understand. But right now it doesn't matter what one or 100 fans of FF think when all you got is 80K or less players left out of 500K.
The day they start charging the player base and PS3 version won't be delayed anymore you won't have to convince anyone that 'game is perfectly enjoyable'. Right now when SE itself lacks confidence in its game, it is hard to take whatever you say seriously.
I logged in yesterday to check the game after two weeks and i noticed that my 4th LS is dead too and i can't be bothered to look for a new one all over again.
Merry Xmas to you too.
Bite Me
how about this we drop the subject ^_^. this flaming is geting old
.....
The Perfect Game:
I think the correct statement you were looking for was the game was perfectly playable and enjoyable for you. However, right before that statement you wrote "I don't understand why everyone is bitching and moaning" meaning you realize that everyone has complained about the game to the point where they are not playing the game anymore or have gone to the sidelines to see if the game improves for them to come back.
I am not sure why you generalized that everyone is bitching and moaning. It is true some have done that, but others have offered constructive criticism over the game. One could generalize and come to the conclusion that if they look at the MMORPG FFXIV forums, BG forums, FFXIV forums, Eorzeapedia forums, FFXIV ZAM forums, FFXIV Pro forums, Game Faqs FFXIV forums that most of the players (casual hardcore and diehard fans of the series alike) that most of them are unhappy with it and have vocally done so. Some have stayed in the sidelines while others are playing to be ahead of everyone else, but as far as posters saying that the game is sheer chock-full of fun are almost non-existent.
If the game is perfectly playable and enjoyable why would Square Enix say that they "deeply regret that the game has yet to achieve the level of enjoyability that FINAL FANTASY fans have come to expect from the franchise, and for this we offer our sincerest of apologies?"
If the game is perfectly playable and enjoyable why would Square Enix delay the PS3 release "until they are confident that the game has reached the level of enjoyability and service befitting the FINAL FANTASY name for users on all supported platforms?" This means that the company does NOT consider this service (FFXIV) currently worthy of having the name Final Fantasy associated with it.
Content:
You said, excluding LS events, that you do your set of leves of up to 10 people and then proceed to do crafting, with behest thrown in every hour or so, and then pretty much you are done. The problem is that for the majority of the players this is not enough content (simple basic content not to be confused with in depth story line content or quests that are considered chain quests) this day and age.
Quests:
It is true that most games have the ! Icon to mark the player that a new quest is available, and in those instances most people just mash the enter button to get it over with. However; for the people that came from FFXI generally this is not the case. All the NPC's did not have the ! marker and on top of that most of them involved in small cut scenes to allow the text to load up in parts (also in part why you couldn't smash the enter key because you needed the text to load before the marker popped up to continue the next sequence) as well as to introduce other NPCs that may be part of the quests. FFXI had a great deal of quests called chain quests and some were simply amazing because you got to know some of the NPCs that way. The game also had not only tons of missions (13 different total storylines - most of these were awesome and most of the people I did them with read them all) but just as important Square Enix had various goals and challenges for the players every few levels and gave them much more options because of it.
You had the sub job at 18 and max those out at 37 for those that decided that particular job was not going to be a main, the Chocobo license at 20, you would usually gather friends to find those Khazam keys in the low 20's to get access to the jungles, Airship Pass when you reached rank 5 (you even had the option of doing all 3 major cities quest lines and not limited to only one), unlock advanced jobs once you reached level 30 and each had a series of quests that took you all the way up to the artifact armor set. And you had events at level 20 30 40 and 50 for example that required a group of 3 or 6 to fight mobs for potential rewards. And most of this could be done or unlocked at 50 or way before level 50.
I would say everyone from FFXI or almost everyone were not expecting the game to come out with 13 different storylines, they were expecting at least some options like the ones I mentioned above. What they got instead in FXIV was A. Grind mobs from 1-50 or supplement that with 8 leves every 36 hours or behests every hour B. Grind a craft/gathering job from 1-50 or supplement that with 8 leves every 36 hours C. Only one main in depth content story from the nation you started out with. And while this may be enough for a few people out there, it wasn't enough for a good portion of FFXI player as well as the casual players (MMO gamers or console gamers) that Square Enix was hoping to try to lure into this game. Also there is still a problem with the leves in that some people will have a connection lost and loose all progress and fail that leve and have to wait till a reset to do them again, in hopes they don't get another connection lost.
I will agree that at this moment no MMORPG game can compete with FFXIV in terms of graphics and the crafting system, but those 2 things are not enough for most people this day and age in part because of all the other options they might have out there. While the diehard fans may stay (assuming more don't continue to leave as the months pass by as they have in the past) Square Enix has their work cut out for them in 2011 to make this game happen and avoid the chance of having server merges to the point that the game is reduced to 3-4 servers like most of the other AAA MMO games have suffered in the past 5 years.
By the way you said you may have lowered your expectations in this game. If in fact this is the case why would you have to lower your expectations for FFXIV (or do you generally have lower expectations on MMO games since you wrote "The whole genre has become a cesspool of unfinished and broken releases. I don't really know what else to say, it is sad but it happens so often I don't really care anymore. There are no real alternatives after all except going back to the highly polished FF11." Since you are interested in GW2 and SWTOR, both games seem very good so far, would you also take that same low expectation towards those games as well?
EDIT: I wanted to reply to Nikkita who posted above me but it seems I did not quote correctly.
Great Post! I agree with you on all points.
I started FF11 at NA release and played for ~10 years.
Yes i have lowered my expectations, but not for FF14, i started to lower them after my 2 month adventure in WoW. If that was a sign of "casual with mass appeal" then i would not be playing many new MMORPGs. Then came one disaster after the other. D&D, Vanguard, B&W, Huxley, WAR, AOC, STO, City of XYZ, LOTRO, Darkfall, APB, Fallen Earth etc.
None of them really changed anything or invotated. All of them where broken at release to varying degrees. None delivered at all, just hot air.
You may ask, why did i choose to play FF14 since it is clearly in the same league of broken releases. Simply because it has a few points that are really unmatched. Namely: crafting, graphics and huge potential.
Graphics i don't need to explain, although some will disagree and cite the famous copy and paste argument. I don't mind 'cause i have better things to do than look for repetition or inspect every texture at closest range.
Crafting is the best ever released for a MMO, hands down. complexity, difficulty and social aspects. It's perfect (not saying it could use some fine tuning).
Potential is entirely my personal opinion. I know what they did to FF11. It was just a small MMO back 10 years ago with not much content. Now, it has more content and end game variations than all MMO out there combined. That is where i see potential for FF14.
TL;DR
FF14 has problems right now. But it has the best graphics, crafting and the highest potential to become truly epic in size considering FF11 started off pretty much the same. If anyone can pull it off, then SE can.
Merry Xmas
Wow that is pretty amazing almost 10 years in FFXI that makes you a super veteran! FFXI is also my longest MMO experience about 3.5 years. I always give any MMO I try my 120 days trial period to give it a chance as well as to see for myself if I am going to stick around for the long haul and ultimately give it my seal of approval. I have tried AOC, EQ II, WAR, WOW, LOTRO and all of them didn't pass my 120 trial period. The only exception was LOTRO, I tried that game one day and then uninstalled it for some reason I cannot remember, it was almost like a knee jerk reaction. I have to say that the Tortage area of AOC was probably the most fun I ever had in any MMO experience, so much that I created another character just to go through the rollercoaster ride again. The music is some of the best I have heard in a video game and I actually have the CD for it. It is such a shame what was waiting for us after that.
The only two games that passed my trial period were Aion which lasted 6 months and FFXI which lasted 3.5 years. Aion was a lot of fun but some of the major problems was that for the 1st 6 months there weren't any updates besides what they called "text updates" and the other being the rampant presence of RMT as well as people just botting all over the place. I remember two weekends in a row in Theobomos region where everyone was paired up in two's, one healer and the other a damage dealing class and they were running sharp zigzags all over the place killing mobs. I walked around the entire lower level zone region and only found myself not being either RMT or using those bot programs, which just took the life out of the game for me. Also being in 5 large different legions that eventually became ghost towns did not help the situation coupled with the continuing dwindling of the population. It came to be that the NA servers that started at 16 or 18 went down to 4 in about a year or so.
I do agree with the three points you listed about FFXIV. The graphics are very nice including the animations that the jobs have, especially the Pugilist and Archer classes. I love the different stances they take when in combat and they look pretty cool when they do the critical hit animations. I like crafting very much so far, you actually feel like you are making something with all the different tools you visually see as well as the animations that accompany them. As far as potential I saw what they did with the grand finale to the Wings of the Goddess expansion which was updated about two weeks ago (the last of the 13 major storylines that was introduced to the MMO).
The ending was simply amazing and emotional to me and considering that Square Enix was able to deliver this to a game that is almost 10 years old is exceptional. I do hope three things happen. 1. That the team is able to come out with updates fast enough but not rushed in 2011 that adds content that most fans have been asking for. 2. That Wada gives this team at least the entire year to implement those changes and not be pressured by investors/board members to make premature changes to the core management/design team. 3. And last being of paramount importance is if the changes and additions (to a great extent) are implemented next year that "hopefully" the fans that left as well as casual and hardcore gamers from other MMOs and consoles return and gives this game another chance.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone here on the FFXIV forums!
Merry Xmas and happy new year!
I wanna say thank you everyone for following my thread! I am very happy with the "savoir vivre" of the FF community and MMORPG.com nation.
See you next year (few days) and wish the best to everyone... oh yeah and SE!
May XIV transform into XI !
PEACE!
FF FANBOY Bolt!
Aww man, I SO don't see that happening. I don't think there is anything XIV can do that'll pull me away from GW2 and SWTOR.
Who knows, maybe the new devs can put their minds together and deliever something that seems to surpass GW2 and SWTOR. And when they do, I'll be sure to check XIV again. But until then, I hope they can keep up with the financials
Guild Wars 2's 50 minutes game play video:
http://n4g.com/news/592585/guild-wars-2-50-minutes-of-pure-gameplay
Everything We Know about GW2:
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/287180/page/1
The assumption here beeing that both GW2 and SWTOR don't follow the pattern of failed MMOs. Not saying they will, i am blissfully oblivious even about the deteails of both games just to give me a fresh ~ OMG this is amazing ~ experience and not the usual ~ But they said this and that and the other is going to be in the game ~ one.
I doubt that GW2 will be a disaster though. The first one is still, although not a real MMO, a very solid game.
Do you think, honestly, that the part in blue was what they intended to do? Do you think that the CEO, Tanaka and their top people had a boardroom meeting where the topic was "We've had a long run as a successful, award-winning game developer... We need to get away from all that and make a crappy game that's going to fail miserably and greatly reduce the standing we have with the media and with long-time fans"?
People seem to jump to the conclusion that "oh, they want the game to fail", or "they deliberately made the game the way it is even though they knew no one would like it". While that's not specifically what you're saying, GetReal, it follows the train of thought that your blue highlighted statement seems to convey.
They didn't know no one would like it and didn't get any such feedback - based on actual hands-on gameplay, rather than suppositions and theories - until after people got into Alpha or Beta and then into live launch.
Can they be faulted for not acknowledging the issues in alpha/beta, delaying the release for several months at least, and getting things sorted out before launching it? Sure. Absolutely I'd agree with that. That's where the issue lies and that's what they now have to fight up-stream to get past.
But to convey this idea that they knowingly spent years and who knows how much $$$ to deliberately put out a game people would hate and would be slammed by players and the media is absurd. People don't go into business intending to produce failing products. They certainly don't stay in business by doing so.
What SE was doing is what SE always does... trying something different, instead of doing a complete rehash of what they've already done, or taking the safest path by sticking with the "tried and true". It's worked out for them in the past and, so, they took the chance that it would work out for them again. Unfortunately, they didn't pay enough attention to what was going on in the MMO scene in the years since XI launched and, more disappointingly to me, they didn't pay enough attention to what they did that worked in XI itself. Instead of enhancing or improving them, they threw things that worked great in XI right out the window.
I'm really wondering how they're gonna turn this around and agree it's a rolling train-wreck. But it's going too far to imply that they knew all throughout development that people wouldn't like what they were making... but made it anyway. Again, the first real feedback of that nature didn't come in 'til Alpha or Beta, which is already quite late in development.
Just putting some perspective on it.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops