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Beta3 Ongoing Impressions
6/21 -First impressions:
Finally got in! Thankfully a fellow MMORPG.com member had a spare key. I was easily able to download the game after logging into my Square Enix account and entering the code. Install and patch were easy, no complications.
5:00am EST Friday 6/21 - yep, I went to bed early so I could wake up at 5:00am and play for a few hours before work. I slept on the couch so I wouldn't wake up my girlfriend or dog - both of which probably think I'm crazy.
Voice over for the opening cutscene was a little odd. Almost felt too forced. I understand why they didn't just use the absolutely amazing 6+ minute "End of an Era" trailer - the voice over was needed to help explain the world and situation, I was just had to laugh a bit at the VO.
Holy cutscenes Batman!
Takes about 10 minutes of watching cutscenes and dialog before you actually get to play your character. Not a bad thing necessarily, over the course of my 2 - 2 1/2 hour play session I went through it 4 times - twice of Ul'Dah and once each for Gridania and Limsa Lominsa.
Very cinematic, introduction to the region, the local politics, even the major threat. Would be nice to have an option to skip it if you've seen it before. Limsa Lominsa was my favorite. Kind of a English pirates in the Caribbean feel - where as Gridania is the forest elves "nature" realm and Ul'Dah is very, very Middle Eastern city.
Graphics are phenomenal. Amazingly beautiful. That seem feeling of wonder and just "WOW" I got the first time I logged into GW2. Character models are excellent, as are the animations (from what I've seen) - except for the Human (Hyur ) female. Their run animations are that typical anime kind of "cute" arm movement - very dainty.
Those who dislike the JP style are probably going to hate the character models. I saw a LOT of Hyur and Miqo'Te, a few Lalafell, practically zero Elezen or Roegadyn.
Interface is very well thought out and functional, I saw it is customizable to a great degree, haven't play around with that too much yet.
Movement and interaction is as expected, nice that you get a Sprint ability you can use very regularly from level 1, and teleporting around the cities via Aetheryte is a breeze.
Cities themselves were packed with players, good amount of NPC's and movement. Not quite as "alive" feeling as GW2, but certainly a "bustling" city when compared to the likes of say WoW or Rift.
Lots of fedex quests early on, teaching you the ropes, showing you where things are and what is what. All very well done, if not a bit of a bore. Cutscenes and dialog are good - each city has it's own flavor to the NPC's dialect and personalities. The whole thing just bleeds Final Fantasy to me.
Highest character I played was a Miqo'Te female Thaumaturge up to level 4.
I generally play male human characters and usually melee tank or DPS, so I wanted to go outside my comfort zone a bit.
Combat mechanics as well as the Kill/Collect quests tied to them are about as expected. Pace is a little slow at first, like WoW you really only have a spell or two very early on.
Unlike GW2 where you get that almost instant gratification through the more "active" combat, FFXIV:ARR is at least initially very much more methodical and deliberate.
Obviously I can't say much as a level 4 character, but the pacing was good - not too quick and yet not too slow. Didn't mind the GCD at all, definitely felt more "fluid" as a caster early on than as Gladiator/Lancer (also tried.)
Walked into a FATE - helped kill a few mobs, got some Gil and extra XP.
Got access to my Hunting log, seems like something I'll want to save the bonus XP for leveling up other classes/jobs, but I think it is job specific?
Lots still to do and see. Haven't touched crafting or leves or even gotten any new gear I can use.
Best thing I can say now is that I had ZERO desire to log off, hop in the shower, and head to work.
I thought about it while showing, while driving, and decided to write this as soon as I got into the office and got through my e-mail backlog. Definitely left me wanting a LOT more, so that's a good thing.
I have lost all interest in lesser MMOs in less time, that's for sure.
I will update with more impressions as I go this weekend.
See you in Eorzea!
Comments
6-24 - Impressions after the weekend + some time to dwell on it.
I'll first start by simply copy/pasting a "general" feel a wrote in a couple of other threads, than in the next post go into the fine details-
Even though the combat and questing are nothing new, at all, there is something intangibly fun about ARR I can't quite put a finger on.
The characters, the world, the stories, the dialog.. I actually read the quest text, the cut scenes and mini boss battles... the animations and just feel to everything... when you hit with an ability it is just flashy enough to be "impactful" and really feel like it has weight. The sound design is incredible.
Everything just feels right, moves right, plays right, looks amazing...
Doesn't reinvent the wheel, but man it is a nice wheel.
In a world of clones, unorignal game design, poor production quality, or just a complete lack of addictive gameplay, FFXIV somehow manages to weave together juuuuuusssttt the right mix to deliver a unique and interesting game I can't wait to spend countless hours in.
I know many will not be able to look past the slower paced combat and kill/collect/fedex questing.
I understand some are just completely tired of it.
But the main story has thus far been worth the price of admission alone.
Throw in housing and grand companies and everything else I haven't seen yet, Guild leves and dungeons and raids are worth the price of subscription to me.
I think lots of people are so hell bent on "something new" and "something different" that they've forgotten what makes these games great. What makes these games worth subbing to.
To me, it's adventure. It's the feeling of awe and wonder and that push to keep going and see what is next, to hit that next milestone.
FFXIV:ARR has soul. It's classic, it's a bit old school, yet it's polished - refined. It's an evolution of the archetype, a step in the logical sequence.
I just need to find a good guild to pal around with. This is the kind of MMO experience best shared with others.
One of my most favorite pics - damn this game is pretty. I hope it looks close to this good on PS3.
I agree with this completely.
It's like, my brain knows that the combat isn't anything too special, but it's fun and that's OK for me.
My brain knows I'm doing kill/collect/fedex quests, the same I've been doing since starting WoW in 2004 - but unlike Rift or WoW recently or GW2 Hearts I got so tired of so fast - I'm actually reading all the quest text in FFXIV, not skipping the cut scenes and dialog (unlike TOR).
Only thing I really dislike is that you can't choose your starting city state, and don't get access to an airship pass till after 15 or so.
I really enjoyed Lancer and Conjurer, but I want to save Limsa Lominsa for launch. Ul'Dah too. Gridania is my "testing" city state as it's my least favorite of the 3.
I hope I get open beta access on PS3.
Thank you so much for your review, I think it's very well laid out and easy to read.
I just wanted to comment on the starting city complaint, while I agree that I do sorta wish you could choose your starting city, I feel it adds a layer of depth to the game when the classes are linked to the cities that their guilds are in. Just my personal feeling.
I feel exactly the same way you do about the quest text.
Again, thanks for your time and effort on the review.
My biggest problem was i tried to store ALL the information in my brain at once and got an overload :P.
I really want to understand Materia and slotting and crafting more,they seem a very important part of the game.I also notice a LOT of change from the release,web sites are mostly out dated now.I usually like to learn everything myself,it tends to stick better but seems changes are steady and might be changed again for launch so i hope some web sites are updated soon.
my next dilemma is a real tough choice,a Free Company ,i need to find one that has 6-8 players that can play the same times and are willing to work together.That part is tough,i don't want to spend weeks on end sifting through Companies.
That is the main reason i never liked questing in games,they are designed to solo and puts players at all different areas of the game.However you could skip most of them as you could easily buy all your gear if you had a group and did hard mode leves and Behests and Fate system.I know some spell/abilities have quests and some of those are imo too tough to solo unless you wait to out level the spell you want.
Once the game goes live i am sure we will see a lot more wares on the AH,as in beta most were just leveling along.There is definitely a LOT to keep us busy,so many class/jobs then AF gear ,Relic weapons,then by time all that is done,probably a new level cap and new jobs lol.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
*Warning- Long Post*
OK - so here's goes the start (will probably break into sections) of the BIG impressions:
Character Creation:
First off I just want to say that I have always loved the Final Fantasy style - I've been a big fan of their characters since first exploring FFXI way back in the day. I am so glad FFXIV keeps the same cast and adds a few more.
I generally don't play small or large races - so that immediately takes both the Lalafell and Roegadyn off the table. Though I am so very happy they are in the game because seeing them about in the world as players and NPCs adds so much flavor to the world. I may not choose to play them, but they are (to me) so very Final Fantasy and the world wouldn't be the same without them.
Same goes with the Elezen - glad they are in game, not a big fan for my own characters. Something about their proportions still just turns me off from rolling one.
So that leaves me with Hyur (humans) and Miqo'te.
I tend to WANT to play Male toons, but almost always end up rolling a Female toon and here is why - there has only been ONE MMO where I feel like they really did the human Male toons in a way that I was really happy about - that would be TERA.
In so many MMOs, the Male toons always look like either 1. children, 2. male models (usually feminine), 3. or just horrendously ugly. FFXIV is no exception with the Hyur.
I was able to make a Hyur that looked a lot like the Warrior from the trailers that was ok, but the Highlanders are all a little too gruff for my tastes and the Midlanders all a bit too childish or feminine.
I decided to stay away from the Miqo'te just because they were/are SO popular - seems 1/2 or more were male/female Miquo'te.
I played around with various toons here and there, but really ended up with what I considered to be a very Final Fantasy looking female Hyur Midlander.
Best pics I have uploaded so far. I really liked how you could preview the "end game" armor of EVERY job. And to me, the male Hyur looked a little too feminine JP Anime for like Bard, Monk, White Mage... so I made a cool looking shorter hair w/ tattoo very FF looking chick and that's probably what I'll roll on release. The armor designs are just SO good thus far, and the female Hyur looked great in all the Job specific armors.
Customization itself was somewhere in the range between like GW2 and Rift, certainly a lot of options but nothing that really made things look terrible or unproportional.
Really liked the sheer number of options for voices - some were VERY anime some a bit more western. A good mix.
As I said before I really didn't like that you can't pick your starting City State (it's based on your starting class) but I understand why - because each City State holds the guild halls of specific classes.
This also is true of crafting and gathering classes. So if you are the min/max type that wants to really focus on powerleveling a specific combo or especially crafting profession, do your homework!
You don't get the ability to pick up other classes till after a main story quest around level 10, and from what I've heard you don't get access to the airship pass for fast travel to other city states until around level 16-18.
That's it for now. So much to write about this game. I'll be continuously updated this post throughout the week as I have time to gather my thoughts, and I'll be uploading more and more pictures.
Lots to come with specifics on how the cross-class skills work, crafting, Hunting logs, FATEs, levequests... story quests, instanced boss battles... lots to come! Hope you check back in with this thread from time to time, leave your comments!
Played-Everything
Playing-LoL
A good read Mr Spock.
I agree there is definitely a strong charm to this game, what should be just another theme park is in fact something quite special.
I agree with the OP and this statement~
I played about 2-4 hours and immediately stopped. My friend that really wants me to play started wondering why I stopped so quickly, and my honest reply was "I have already decided that this game is worth it when it releases, and I don't want to ruin the experience by doing part of it now."
Go SE and Yoshi for putting this game together!
Surprisingly, it does -- I've played it on both my PC and PS3.
The UI is a tad large on the PS3, kinda has to be, but otherwise they look very similar. The UI is very usable both with an Xbox controller on the PC and a Dualshock on the PS3, but, unsurprisingly, a mouse and keyboard is a lot easier to use.
I'll probably end up getting it on the PC just because I prefer a mouse and keyboard setup, but I am impressed with the job they did porting a PC interface to a console (instead of the typical vice-versa).
It'd be nice if Trion could take a good hard look at FFXIV on the PS3 and maybe learn a thing or three about cross-platform UIs.
Yes. This is a very good way to help get the first 10 levels on a new class quite easily.
I think the hardest part for me is going to be trying to level up my "main" class to 30 right away. Then my sub class to 15 to get my main Job.
The temptation to level multiple classes at the same time is going to be VERY strong.
And I have no idea what I want my first "main" Job to be.
I always like being a melee type, usually a Tank... but I had a lot of fun on Conjurer and Lancer and still have to toy around with Marauder...
I love that I can have it all on one character given enough time/dedication!
Feels like it'll be smart to focus on a single Job at first though, especially for the main story play through and then give me a little while to reach my 100 saved levequest allowance for leveling other classes/jobs.
The big post CBT 3 impressions-
I've already discussed Character creation and given my "general" impressions of the game, in a high level overall basis, now for the nitty gritty.
*probably split into a couple of posts*
Interface/ Control
The interface for ARR is surprisingly good and customizable on both PS3 and PC. I've spent probably equal time playing on both PC and PS3, and I actually prefer PS3 in some ways - the controller interface just feels natural.
I haven't felt a need to adjust or resize anything. I kind of wish I could shrink the interface on the PS3 side though, as on my 50-something inch TV at 720p the Cross Hotbar is a little too big for my tastes, in a FATE or dungeon there is a LOT of stuff jammed onto the screen, reminds me of my early WoW days and not in a good way - I much prefer simple/clean interfaces that are very minimalistic.
Targeting was/is a little tricky with the gamepad, but once I figured out you can "stick" to a target with X so that you can cycle target to use an ability, then it'll return you to your "stickied" target. Made healing so much easier, and made it possible to pick up and DPS down adds in boss fights without pulling all your hair out.
The filtering using L1 + O/X/^/[] for enemy/friend/party/all is quite useful as well. It's a hard adjustment for a 13+ year PC MMO player, but once you get used to it it is fantastic. The pace of combat is perfect IMO for a controller, my only ongoing issue is as a Lancer I was sometimes too close to register being behind or besides a target, so you have to back up and get in proper range, as point blank seems to be considered "front."
There is just no good way to walk backwards with the controller, but a quick thumb movement to reestablish proper range isn't so bad.
Story / Questing
FFXIV is a game about story. Plain and simple. ARR is not afraid to bring more adult topics into the storyline, the characters are equally whimsical and cheeky fun as often as they are serious and foreboding - given the circumstances that led up to ARR (the Calamity.)
ARR is also apparently not afraid of sexual innuendos, religious overtones, and other such topics I wouldn't expect to find in a Western made MMO. At times, it can be a little ridiculous and a little too much, it's almost that high-school movie level understanding of Western culture come across from our friends in the East.
But the story works. The characters are likable and sometimes their tragedies are truly heartfelt.
One thing I love, is that the game forces you into group content as part of the main story. Some are going to absolutely hate this. But level 15-17 the entire story is done in 3 different back to back 4-person "Light Party" dungeons.
I actually haven't been able to find any regular "side" quests anywhere in the level 15-19 range. I really think they expect for everyone to spend about level 15-20 in the dungeons. The Duty Finder is simple and easy to use (even if some of the interface hasn't been translated to English yet) and the wait time even as a DPS wasn't that high.
I do worry that months from now when a lot of people have out leveled the content, it'll be harder/longer to find groups. But with every class restarting at level 1, and the fact the Duty Finder is global and has no language barriers (unless you want it to) it may still be easy to find groups at all times.
I wasn't able to test much further past that, so I really don't know if the game goes back to how it was before level 15 - where there are tons and tons and TONS of side quests to compliment the main storyline.
For the quests themselves, they are generally your typical kill/collect/fed-ex type. Nothing really new and innovative here. Participating in FATEs breaks ups the quest grind a little bit, as does just killing MOBs for your Hunting log, but one thing I did notice is that while they are logical "hubs" for a lot of quests, towns and villages and the likes, it does NOT feel like the WoW-style of quest-hub grinding.
I would describe the WoW-stlye as "you get 3-4 quests, go complete them all in the immediate area, then come back to the hub and turn them all in, and get 3-4 more" rinse repeat. In ARR, there seems to be a lot of running back and forth. It works though, as you get a Sprint ability and lots of options for fast travel including teleports, a hearthstone like feature, chocobo rentals and chocobo porters (which are like the Flight Points in WoW.)
I never felt like I was running around aimlessly no for reason. The map works well enough once you figure out a couple of the tricks to it.
The single greatest part of the questing/story to me though is the private, instanced boss battles.
You even get that typical Final Fantasy music and screen blur/shake as you fade into the combat like the single player titles of old. Some of the fights have been quite challenging, you get nice intro and usually outro cut scenes. It really, really works and is such a cool throw back to the RPGs of old and they make it fit perfectly into the MMO world.
I honestly hope they DON'T add voice acting to the main story for launch / OBT. I like reading the text and in my mind assigning the characters a voice. I think that is the personal preference and imagination of an avid reader though, as I'm sure many of the "why read the book when I can watch the movie" generation will disagree with me.
More to come...
So how's it all going now, at the start of the official launch? You've been playing for some time now and I'd like to know if the standard boredom is hitting in? I've seen you getting quite excited a few times about a mmorpg but the drop of interest can come quite sudden.
I'm not blaming you though, it has happened to me too so many times. You feel like all is well and the game is great, and two days later it's hard to log in and you're trying to figure out how to inform guildies that this just simply isnt going to work heh.
I've been charging my mmorpg batteries for quite some time and not sure if I want to unload that energy into this one now that it seems like everything else is being pushed into god knows how far into the next year.