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My quick first impressions on day 1 of my beta access.
elocke
Member UncommonPosts: 4,335
Ok, thanks to a fellow guildie/ls member I was able to get a key and get into the beta today.
Where to start.
At first I was annoyed...not so much with the game, more with everything else. It took a few hours to download the client and patch, not that that is any different from FFXI days, hhehe. But then, when going to run it, I kept getting a black screen but the music was playing.
Did some searching, asked the guys in vent and it ended up being an old nvidia driver issue. So I updated and viola, I can SEE. Yay.
So, get in the game, its laggy. I expected this. Trying to use the mouse and keyboard to move around like I do in WoW, Lotro, and EQ2...not so good. Far too much mouse lag and accessing menus seemed to take forever.
So, I decided to plug in my PS3 controller, downloaded the motion joy driver program, remapped the controller to most of the listed controls from SE that they will be using for the PS3. Went in game, and just had a BLAST doing the initial starter quest, starter guildleves, running around the HUGE city and zone, and I mean HUGE. I started to get lost when I was asked to escort this little taru....err...lalafell to this lighthouse WAY down south of the city but thanks to the teleport system I was able to get back safely. But the option to get lost is there and is easy to do, lol.
Combat was FUN and not slow in the least! I wanted to attack everything but I didn't, because I remember doing that in FFXI and eating the floor, a lot! Although, I ran past this mob called a "Roseling" and at first I'm like hmm, ok a flower...which at my approach decided to unfurl and become this nasty looking plant that proceeded to chase me and spit some weird goo at me which killed me in 2 hits. Rofl! Good stuff. Now I know to stay away from those until I am able to exact revenge.
I had to force myself to stop so I don't burn myself out on beta but fortunately, I won't be picking Limsa Lominsa at launch as my starting city, so it's not TOO much chance of burn out.
So, the few things I complained, some video lag and the menu/mouse lag,I truly believe SE is going to fix and patch in the next month and definitely very soon after launch if anything remains. I'm happy, it feels like FF, and it has a ton of stuff to do and that's just for this beta. I can't wait to see what they add with the rest of the game.
For those interested in the games I like, I love FFXI, WoW and Lotro and like to dabble in a slew of the other big ones.
Comments
meh still issues with the keyboard / mouse...not sure why its so hard to fix that.
Yeah, I'm not sure either, but apparently it's something they don't DO in Japan as the Japan testers never mention it, only the rest of the world, heheh.
Thanks for sharing (and admitting that a flower killed you, how pathetic is that ;D).
I am not surprised that it still have lag issues, hopefully will the beta fix that.
How did the graphics run? What are your specs? Got a screenshot?
I found the lag was mostly caused by all the people in the area. Especially at the aetheryte spots.
I didn't ramp my graphics up, but I had it on 1920x1080 resolution. High texture quality and filtering. I didn't use the multisampling, I'll wait till after launch to tweak all that stuff, since that's for refining the graphics anyway.
My specs are
Window 7 32bit
AMD Athlon 64x2 dual core processor 3800+
Nvidia GTS 250 512mb
3 gigs of Ram
Soundblaster external sound card 5.1 channel range or whatever its called.
I'll work on getting a screenie.
I had the same issue in alpha testing. I am surprised its still happening in beta. Since this is also being built for the PS3, it may be a port issue. Most games I have noticed when a game is being developed for a console and at the same time ported over to a PC the keyboard and mouse seem to have a lag issue. But when you plug in a controller to the pc you have almost no lag if any. Nature of the beast?
Nvidia is the product of the devil! I'm not a fan of what Nvidia is producing lately. I did have the beta go smoothly on my end but I put together 2 x 5000's series ATIs on crossfire and it ran smoothly for the first hour then lagged during zoning like I was entering a dynamis zone....
They said they'd be working on the interface issues but wtih beta they get at least some real info on other areas of the game and they'll probably due a final stress test on everything eventually.
Lighting may seem bad here, but it was around dusk in game, so it fits the time of day very well.
Guard at an aetheryte camp. I love the lighting effects on this engine. They change all time as you run around and also with the time of day.
First person view. These look so much better when moving. That thing in the sky, not sure what it was but it moved across the sky at a decent pace. I think it's a type of airship, not sure though.
I got lost here, trying to find my way down to the canyon there. Eventually I found it and was rewarded with an Aetheryte point to save to and teleport from.
Just to expand on the keyboard and mouse issue, I must say that they're worse than I thought. I found the mouse controls almost unplayable. Just typing to a party member in the UI is a pain in the neck. Don't get me started on engaging a monster... hopefully you like reaching over for the enter key.
I don't understand why I have to press so many buttons to do something. It's really annoying. I was going to upgrade my system so I could run it better, but after having had a hands-on with it I don't really think I want to anymore. It's like they're intentionally making keyboard/mouse control bad for gamepad users. Not to mention the Guildleve timer and the surplus exp.
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"Chemistry: 'We do stuff in lab that would be a felony in your garage.'"
The most awesomest after school special T-shirt:
Front: UNO Chemistry Club
Back: /\OH --> Bad Decisions
Yeah, I'm not sure either, but apparently it's something they don't DO in Japan as the Japan testers never mention it, only the rest of the world, heheh.
I had the same issue in alpha testing. I am surprised its still happening in beta. Since this is also being built for the PS3, it may be a port issue. Most games I have noticed when a game is being developed for a console and at the same time ported over to a PC the keyboard and mouse seem to have a lag issue. But when you plug in a controller to the pc you have almost no lag if any. Nature of the beast?
In Japan console gaming is huge, so it may simply be their gaming culture preference to use a gamepad for gaming because of this. Western market players are used to the PeeCee mouse point and click system of EQ and WoW...this may seem strange at first, but it is understandable, and I think SE will improve mouse before or just after launch...the game design team may not have WoW subs so may not get what people exactly want.I said something long.. but changed my mind and now I see nuffing.
"TO MICHAEL!"
I hope the English version has a sticker on the box " must use a gamepad or controller "
How was the temp/ % usage of your gpu OP?
You have the same gpu I have and this is something I really would like to know.
Thanks
The rest of my spec are different then yours but should be more then enough:
Windows 7 64 bit
6gb ram
Quad Core Q8400 2.66 GHZ
And GTS 250 512 MB :P
damn what fps you getting cause mine runs horribly on a 5870 and a q6600 @ 3.1ghz
Surprisingly, my temp was fine. Fan never kicked into high gear once. Not like it does when I play EQ2, Darkfall, Champions Online. Odd that, but the engine seems to have some shortcuts in making certain graphics not hog so much. Probably the trick they do with the distance, having that faded but detailed look, which boggles me as to how they do it.
Also, I was advised to not turn on Ambient Occlusion as it's a bit buggy with older cards or something. So I decided to be cautious and wait till post launch to try and turn anything else on.
In crowded areas my FPS, according to Fraps, would dip to about 15, which isn't great but is very manageable. In non crowded areas it would go up into the 20s and 30s. Which is pretty much normal. Not spectacular but doable.
I also expect the FPS to go up a bit at launch when they remove the background bug program that SE said is running during beta. That always helps,
At some point in the future year or 2 I plan to get a new pc anyway, to keep with the times. I may even just switch to the PS3 version in the spring as the gamepad is SO comfortable with this game.
Sweet thanks that's good to know since you can play on that high resolution
Actually that's normal in FF and that's a good thing honestly.
Normal mmos give you everything with a reward while FF some quests even some dungeon quests are mostly for the story not to get loot.
Everywhere... Anywhere... you are there to TEST the game not paly it! The content isn't even in yet.
Normal mmos give you everything with a reward while FF some quests even some dungeon quests are mostly for the story not to get loot.
Exactly. Everything he just complained about is in FFXI and isn't for everyone. I didn't mind not getting xp as I wasn't expecting any. It felt more like a normal FF storyline. The reward is the story.
As for not knowing anything or how to use menus, it helps to read the beta forum labeled "Controls" as that tells you what each key does. I didn't find combat targeting hard at all. NPC targeting in the city with other players was a different story. They need an F8 key like they had in FFXI that just targets the nearest npc or monster.
Also, don't expect to be handheld like other MMOs. One of the cool things about FF games, is they give you a ton of npcs to talk to that each have a little tidbit of info important to the world. It helps to actually talk to them instead of a big pointer over there head. You know, like in RL, you have to walk up to people and actually start a conversation to learn anything.
wow I cannot stand the fanboy spew in this forum, it is nauseating.
The only thing I want to comment on is the statement "it feels like an FF game" (paraphrasing), from the OP.
No it does not. It feels nothing like an FF game. It might feel like FF11, but that was a disgrace to the FF franchise, just as 13 was.