first couple hours- botanist

itchmon

Finally (!) got game patched downloaded, etc and had the chance to play it for a bit before it got too late and it was bed time for itchmon (after i write this, at least),

 

Made an elvaan (or whatever they're callin them these-a-days) botanist.  I know i'll make a taru/lala at launch so i wanted to make a different caracter.

 

character creation was overly "ceremonial" with the character cheering me on as i created him from the aether but it got the job done.  i coujld have done it in 10 secs but i like to fiddle with my characters to see how i can make them look.

 

*negative point* they list the attributes/stats of each race and clan (good thing) but then don't tell you what they affect or what class/job needs which stats.  BAD JOB!!*

 

I enjoyed the opening scene quite a bit.  the opening quest and the ensuing level were fine.  They were not a "walkthrough while holding hand" but they werent the "here you are, go!" experience that eve, for example, was (i'm a jan 2007 eve player; i hear the opening tutorial has gotten softer since then/grin)

 

ITCHMON SCALE OF TUTORIAL quest

 

0                                    5                                      10

eq2       wow                               ffxiv    ffxi             eve

too e-z                  aprox correct                           eve (too diff)

 

 

i hope the above explains how easy/diff it is to begin in ff14.

 

I like the fact that there's a small minigame to gather.  i hear there are more involved ones for crafting.  as i wandered about getting my bearings, the chat window kept getting pinged with "so and so failed synthesis" messages.  Gasp!

 

I am a botanist so far, so i didnt fight anything.  only things i did were use the gathering abilities to locate trees (*bad point: Dumb dumb dumb made-up names for distance, because just using "yards" would have been too simple.  how many yalms must a man walk down?*).  not to mention try to learn the interface's intricacies.

 

*side note/rant*  I don't see why people are complaining about the mouse controls.  you can hold rt mouse button and you mouselook around, just like in wow but a step slower (the whole game is a step slower tho).  you can hold down "w" and move mouse with rt mouse held and you walk around just like in most MMOs.  I'm not saying it should win the nobel prize for interface design but it's not the end of the world or anything. *end rant*

 

I leveled up a few times and got to assign stat points!  that's a nice bit of customization that is lacking in many games.  I was happily surprised to see that.  but again WHAT STATS DO I NEED AS A BOTANIST BECAUSE THEY DONT GIVE U AN IDEA/CLUE!! (better now)

 

after my initial leve, i went exploring for the remaining time i played, collecting from trees along the way (i dont have the stuff needed yet to  harvest from shrubberys)- ended up with a nice pile of mats that i assume someone else can use (or i can use if i decide to choose a crafter as a multiclass).

 

again this is from a limited sampling but to me the game seems like ff11 with a good amount of stupidity removed (for example, i noticed there are ways to fast travel to an aetherite.  fast travel in ff11 was waiting for a whm to teleport you to a nice convenient location a mere 15 minutes walk from where you actually want to go.  also, you can move and resize the chat window and there is a separate partition for combat text., and the chat windows are scrollable!)  well, i played ff11, stupidity and all, for years, and hard games dont bother me (did i mention i'm a 2007 eve player heh), so maybe i'm the target audience for the game.

 

overall, i didnt wet myself with excitement, but i'm certainly still keeping my preorder, and looking forward to developing my character when the game goes live. 

 

see you folks on Selbina.