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Can someone explain to me why FFXIV is so popular.
Lazzaro
Member UncommonPosts: 548
Don't get me wrong, Yoshi P has done an excellent job from bring it back from the dead, but I honestly don't get how it's so popular.
Now this is my 'opinion' but it does nothing new, it's a theme park gear grind with a FF skin and to me the worst thing is everything has zone lines, even the city from one end to another you zone, this to me kills any sort of immersion or exploration in an MMO. Even WoW has nice seamless zones.
Everything I read or watch is just about raiding dungeons, is there anything else to do but dungeons? I know there casual PvP and some crafting, but besides that it just seems like all people do is just run dungeons. I get a lot of people love that gear grind, but it just seems so boring repeating it over and over.
I know I'm not the audience they're attracting, but people who play besides Combat what else is there to do if you don't want to run dungeons or craft?
Comments
I had fun once, it was terrible.
Some people enjoy theme park gear grinds and the FF skin is something that makes the game for them.
Also, some folks just aren't that hung up on zone lines or "immersion", they play it if it's fun and don't let inconsequential issues (to them) spoil their enjoyment.
Heck, I am still trying to figure out what's wrong with all the people who don't like EVE, something just has to be "wrong" with them.
We all have different tastes, this is well made game that appeals to many fans of the IP, doesn't need to be any more than that.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
A game doesn't have to be new to be good ("good" in this case being "fun")
Raiding dungeons might be the only thing for the most part (more accurately, "PvE"), but sometimes a game doesn't need more. In a Super Mario game, the only thing you do is platforming. Without even any of the RPG elements like levelling your character or playing different alts. It's still fun. In Bayonetta or God of War, all you do is 3D Action Combat (and some platforming). It's still fun.
FFXIV's combat might not be as visceral (I think that's the word?) as Super Mario platforming or God of War fighting, but it (possibly, depending on your point of view) makes up for it with group interaction and strategy, etc.
And decent carrots on a stick. Along with an FF skin for those who like that sort of thing (even I feel all giddly when I see chocobos)
People say Wildstar failed because it was the same old theme park. But considering how many other theme park MMOs didn't fail THAT fast, and some, like FFXIV, are actually thriving, sometimes a game fails not because it wasn't innovative, but simply because it screwed up somewhere. Heck, not just Wildstar but the original FFXIV screwed up somewhere (LOTS of where's, actually) at first, but the re-done version is much better. In the end, contrary to what some might say, a game being good isn't entirely subjective and isn't just down to matter of preference and innovation (compare old FFXIV to new FFXIV).
"Final Fantasy".
Much like Warcraft has a loyal fanbase that grew up with the franchise, so does Final Fantasy.
Beyond me? it has a huge amount of fetch me quests worse than Tera without Tera's excellent combat
It's not innovative and YoshiP would be the first to tell you that. Here's why it's thriving, in my humble opinion.
-Gigantic Content patches every 3 months so you see where your money is going. Things arn't just added. EVERY SINGLE new mechanic or content has a back story and quest line.
-Though zones are instanced, the world is very immersive based on quests/story/npc dialogue etc.
-The content that is released is polished to a spit shine. Very few bugs.
-The Music.
-The Story.
-Great graphics and artistic design for most people.
-The PvE encounters are designed very well. Including having their own back story, their own music, etc.
-Clearly defined party roles with holy trinity. Many people LOVE this.
-Offers variety of options for leveling (Dungeons, Fates, Challenge Log, Hunting Log, Quests, Levequests, Beast Tribe Quests).
-Offers different activities that cater to very different play styles (Gardening, Hardcore Crafting, Chocobo Raising, Chocobo Dying, Housing both free company and personal).
-Offers variety in the way you look. You can customize your appearance and the customization is tied to crafting.
-It doesn't require 39 other people to raid. Raids don't last 4 hours a night nor do they require 4 nights a week. All of the flufff (trash mobs) are taken out. If you have little time, you can get a lot done.
-It's Final Fantasy and does the brand proud, unlike recent games (FFXIII)
-It can be played on PS3, PS4 and PC all on the SAME servers.
-The Devs and YoshiP have open lines of communication. Community input is taken into consideration.
-The community, on average, is very good with few douche bags here and there.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head.
Edit: It's not any one thing in particular... but a combination of all of the above depending on the person. That's why it's thriving one year after its release. It's probably the second most successful mmo out right now after WoW (opinion).
I can easily compare it to the most popular game and that alone would justify it being even more popular than it is.
What are players doing inside of Wow to make that game so popular?Repeat dungeon grinding whilst already at max level,why even bother at that point,other than to justify subbing and hanging around in Wow for multiple years.FFXIV just as i have said in the past about EQ2,does everything Wow does and looks a hell of a lot better than Wow.
If you want to justify a game that actually resembles a true mmorpg,then you might wonder why games like FFXI or EQ1 and a few others were not more popular.Obviously judging by numbers alone although that does not tell the whole story,there is a large number of players who are satisfied repeating the same content over and over just to get an item drop.Sounds lie ka pretty shallow reason for gaming but numbers don't lie.
To prove a point,i actually quit FFXIV because it does the same thing as Wow,repeat instance grinding is not mmorpg gaming and definitely not something i enjoy even if you want to remove the mmorpg tag and just call it gaming in general.
If i was to use some judgment and try to justify numbers,i would say FFXIV has some loyal FF fanbase as well as some former WOW who finally got tired of the same old face and a small number of game hoppers that try every new game until they find some decent friends to hang with.
FFXI is every bit the game Wow and FFXIV are to this day and then some,so it is obviously not about the game and it's content nor is it about the graphics as Wow proves that,so there are a plethora of other reasons to which i could name several and all would be correct.
So to answer the main question,is it really that popular since it has 10x LESS players than Wow does the same thing and looks better doing it,i would say it is not popular enough.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
The poster above me summed it up nicely, however...
The fact the devs don't spit in their customers' faces by making the Western playerbase wait half a year for the same content to be added... A massive plus no matter how you look at it. The game is an import in all respects but unlike Korean games SE actually gives a damn about giving the Western players a quality product.
Korean games are full of bad localization, ARR has an amazing loc team that does justice to the excellent lore and storylines they pump out every single patch (every patch has the same amount of dialogue as a mainline Kingdom Hearts game). In fact the English loc team gets the say in how dialogue and such is presented, it's not a simple JP > EN translation process.
Hmm, a few of the things I like about the game. Not currently sub'ed, but probably will be soon.
LOL I do not get it either.
I've tried on both the pc and the ps4, and just don't get it.
zones arent instanced only your story stuff is and the dungeons
Playing - FFXIV, ESO
Played - FFXI, WoW, Lineage 2, Guild Wars, Aion, SWToR, LotRO, GW2, TERA, Rift, ArcheAge, TSW
Played-Everything
Playing-LoL
Come on, Wizardry. Did you really go there?
WoW's popularity is, has been and will continue to be an anomaly, not the norm. It's the exception, not the rule.
So, to say "ARR isn't that popular because WoW" to downplay how well ARR is doing, is kinda weak.
Compared with other MMOs of its actual ilk (AAA themepark MMOs that are not WoW), ARR is doing damn well and can't fairly be called anything but a success.
Early on, I would have agreed 100% with your "doing what WoW does" argument. Hell, I made that same argument at one point. However, now? No way. It shares a lot in common with WoW, still.. but it also does a number of things that WoW does not do.
^This, and the community is great.
Well, it now does have a cash shop. A Vanity-Only, not Pay-To-Win Cash Shop... but a cash shop nonetheless. I'm not thrilled about that, at all. I've decided I can live with it, but I'm not a fan of it at all.
I can't speak for everyone. But for me, I don't wanna any new things from developers. I just want them to give us same old shit. It's not important that it is new or not. The important thing is the quality of the game. FFXIV give us the same old shit with a very high quality. When you see the story, details, art style, music and the quality content in the game, you just wanna say waow that's all. I played a lot of mmorpgs and before FFXIV, I was playing Guild Wars 2. I'm not talking about pvp but in terms of pve I've never played anything as good as FFXIV since TBC.
Btw in terms of pvp I still couldn't find anything as good as Warhammer Online. Sigh...
These "explain to me" threads never turn into more than arguments.
In the end, to me, I prefer the method of storytelling, atmosphere, combat and animations, primal fights/big boss battles in the game, and the quality of such being beyond any other game in terms of my own preferences.
There is no explanation. You either like it, or you move on. Period.