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Final Fantasy XIV: A First Look
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
In her latest feature for MMORPG.com, writer Carolyn Koh takes on the Herculean task of writing about Final Fantasy XIV. Carolyn readily admits that the article is a 'first look' at the game as the depth of FFXIV will require more time to pen an authoritative review. However, Carolyn has some strong opinions about what she's experienced thus far, even going so far as to call it a 'love hate' relationship. Check out Carolyn's thoughts about Final Fantasy XIV and then add yours on our forums.
Final Fantasy XIV is one of those games that ramp up on a curve of love vs hate. One of those games that are highly hyped, not easy to learn but once you get going, you end up loving it. Some of them turn into a parabola where bugs or rotten AI send you back down the curve into hate. My FFXIV experience might yet turn into a parabola where I descend into “hate” again but I’m not there yet. This is a “First Look” at the game which really is a reviewer’s first impression of the game after a few hours of play.
Read more of Carolyn Koh's Final Fantasy XIV: A First Look.
Comments
I loved FFXI and I definitely understand the old-school feeling and the lure of it. That being said, this game is an embarrassment for a 2010 release. It's like someone got FFXI and improved the graphics, but removed the auction house, the airships, the chocobos, the content, and renamed the races. These are features that should have been there at launch regardless if they come later. It's a step backwards from FFXI (which was a 2003 release) in almost every catagory. Factor this in with the fact SE had the audacity to want reviewers to wait a month is a virtual self-admission that this thing was pushed out the door unfinished. They aren't delaying charging people for it, so the deserve all the horrid reviews coming from major gaming publications. This game will go down in history as a huge black mark on SE's flagship brand.
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You can rotate the character during creation with IJKL (same as the map in-game). When choosing a profession you can actually have them run with WASD.
When you play the game longer you realize that from rank 10 up you need to craft or buy new player made gear or you will be stuck with the starting gear since you can't buy any from vendors. Crafting is a trickle-down setup, meaning you have to be higher rank crafting to make lower ranking stuff. If you choose not to craft, you have to try and buy it. While money isn't a real issue, FINDING the gear is near impossible. Especially for a good price. The market wards (read no AH (for now)) are a real nightmare. Supposedly to be fixed soon with some "organization" (yippie).
If you do choose to craft, expect to spend most of your playing time doing that. You'll have to level your crafting to be higher than your combat class (if you want gear close to your combat class rank). You will sometimes need some special mats that will require higher gathering than your crafting to make certain things AND you'll need to have crafted parts from typically more than 2 (sometimes as much as 4) other crafting professions. SO, you can try to get others to make each part or you will have to level, well, pretty much ALL the crafting classes if you want to be independent, don't have friends or just can't find what you need. On top of that, some items actually require that you have leveled more than one crafting profession. So if you love crafting (and pretty much only crafting) this game might just be for you. Otherwise, expect to spend a couple hours in the market wards slowly browsing zombie NPC player bazaar after zombie NPC player bazaar.
Also, you realize, this game only has 5 zones... that's it. Yeah, they are large, but there are 5 environtments and 4 cities (the 4th you get to at rank 30). It gets boring pretty fast on top of that when you realize how much of the zones are repeated (rubberstamped) sections. Once you've seen a couple sections of the map, you've pretty much have seen it all.
Toss in the fatigue system, limited leves (36 hours), no real life (NPCs) in the environments, rubberstamped zone features, no mounts, no MAIL, no AH etc. It's a very bland and basic game that seems to have been designed moreso to stop RMT than to actually be a fun game.
I hate to say it, but the old FFXI was better at launch (granted it came with the first expansion). I'm thinking of going back to Aion, yeah, AION, after playing this.
I think this pretty much sums it up. FFXIV is good with a couple of flaws. Lets hope tomorrow's update will fix a lot of them ;-)
About the 1st combat, as well as the small icons on the GUI... You'd better use a gamepad. Using one the game plays so much better (at least for me it does). And because you have to configure your gamepad, you already know how to go to "active more" ;-)
And I also had a similar experience... PLaying the "tutorial" you're handed a linkshell egg. (NPC Adventurers) I've searched and searched, but could not find the darn thing. Later on I wondered what that golden glowing circle above my map was, but I could not interact with it. It took me 3 hours before I found out there was a "NPC linkshell" option in the game's menu...
The manual, or lack of it... We're playing a Final Fantasy game, need I say more?
I know, it's a bad excuse, but SE is known for lack of manuals and her games tending toward "find it out yourself". I think this also points out the niche of the game. Things are not handed to you on a silver plate (though I sometimes I wish things were handed on that nice silver plate...)
The Ugly... Yes, there is lag, and I hope it'll be less in the future. But from what I get from your story, you seem to have a lot more lag than me. I can just cut wood without too much trouble Only thing lagging there is my gamepad not accepting the square button at times (or I don't press good enough). The GUI is lagging a bit as well when changing from menu to menu. I think this should (and must) be fixed. The slow NPC/player I see as a blessing at times. When walking through Gridania I'm pleased that I don't see every player drawn that I cross. It'd take a lot of time to render them all while walking. Here I even suspect SE to have added this "lag" on purpose for that same rendering reason. Too bad NPC's are lagging this same way as well...
2003 release? What are you talking about... if you're going to compare launches compare them correctly...
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-08-24-retrospective-final-fantasy-xi-article
That said, the issues with the game right now are not exactly excusable and should be fixed. But if you really want to compare it to FFXI NA release then you should wait a year...
I personally think there's a lot to like even with the problems. My hope is that those problem get worked out (and by most measures it seems like they are being worked on, though more transparency would be nice).
EDIT: Also on the issue of lag, I think that it really depends on what server you sign up for. I signed up for Saronia and I really very rarely feel the lag. Again, personal connection speed also plays a big role...
At least the servers are fairly stable now... I remember the WoW launch had massively unstable servers for quite a while...
At least the severs are stable? That's how we judge the quality of a game these days? "It's boring as hell, but at least the servers are stable!" Oh boy. No wonder why companies are popping these things out like candy.
And you're right, we should wait a year. I wish I did, but let's hope there's a game when that comes. What will be out in a year? SWTOR? GW2? Cata (obviously). This isn't back when XI was around and there wasn't much choice. Companies have to step it up or die. MMOs come and go so much faster now than ever, and it's just going to get worse as gamers get more and more jaded with each failed release.
With all due respect, I get the release from here...
Regardless when FFXI was released in NA, it was a product worthy of charging money for in terms of polish and content. The same can not be said for FFXIV, a 2010 released MMO which is a skeleton of a game lacking many of the core features its predecessor had.
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I to was a person that started with EQ as my first MMO and had to learn the hard way. SO having to do this again does not bother me to much. Most people how ever did not have to go through this type of learining curve. and to be honest in this day and age. Really shouldnt.
That being said. To learn this game it takes time. This is something that most people in this day and age do not want to do. They want to start, get the basics and go. With FF14 you cant do this. It does take time and you will have to learn. My wife & I did pick this game up, played if briefly during the week and we both agreed that we will have to wait until the weekend to really sit down & figure most of this out. Not a bad thing, but again certainly not the normal for a MMO these days.
As someone said, one can move their character in creating by using the I,j,K, and L buttons.
For me, the more I play the more I like. I can forgive the interface even though there are some ridiculous things. such as...
Once you finish a levequest an Aetherryte node appears and a small balloon with a"!" appears at the top of the screen.
If you click it then it opens your menu at the side where you will see "Aetheryte" at the top of the menu. You click that and it tells you that you completed the quest. You then click that closed and yoiu get another window asking if you want to return, wait or dismiss the node.
Too many steps.
I think that clicking the "!" balloon Should just bring up the Levequest info and at the bottom of that window there should be the questions to "return, wait or dismiss".
but you know, I'm patient and things like this don't make me fly into a rage. That's the way it's done so that's the way it's done.
The game world is beautiful and with the exception of a small amount of interface lag (though I suspect some are getting a large amount?) and the high graphics that cause some to fiddle with their settings a lot (I can't begin to say how much I've fiddled with the settings which entails closing out of the game and signing into it again) Is pretty polished.
There are a few instances where a mob you are fighitng takes damage but your character doesn't do its animation. Again, I think some might be really pissed at that but I take that type of stuff in stride.
Given what Square Enix did with the first Final Fantasy MMO I don't believe that this game will lack for content. At the moment I can see where some players might find it sparse but for me, just exploring, killing mobs and "yes" even learning some crafting (as I just can't find anything cheap enough to buy) has kept me very entertained.
There is also a great amount of whimsy to the game and this also shows in the cut scenes. Of course I can see where players might not find that amusing as it's an "mmo" and not a movie, but for me this helps flesh out the timbre of the game world and lends to my enjoyment of the game as a whole.
For some reason this appears with paragraphs but in the small "posts" all of them are missing. So apologies for wall of text.
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You forgot about the awful, unintuitive UI.
Important facts:
1. Free to Play games are poorly made.
2. Casuals are not all idiots, but idiots call themselves casuals.
3. Great solo and group content are not mutually exclusive, but they suffer when one is shoved into the mold of the other. The same is true of PvP and PvE.
4. Community is more important than you think.
Mob types, redundant mission types, horrible grouping experience, repeative skills in the armory system, level disparency in crafting items.
A first look is too kind of a title for this. A glance is more like it.
" Lush, graphically detailed landscapes and character models"
I'm going to call the reviewer out on this one, which was listed under "the good."
Character models are awesome, I don't think anyone will deny that. As for "lush, graphically detailed landscapes?" For every person that claims this, there are three that would use words like "barren," "repetitive," "stagnant," and "uninteresting." The landscape is lacking in any outstanding landmarks or features. After 30 minutes spent in one of the three different areas, you've pretty much seen all that area has to offer, and you will spend the rest of your time seeing more of the same.
I respect your opinion on the graphical quality, however I very much disagree with it. And if that is taken out of the "good" section, the game really has very little to stand on.
Really what it is is FFXI from 2001 at JPN release with improved graphics, and the exact same set of circumstances. It mirrors the situation entirely, JPN release taken terribly (hardly any content) and one year later at global release the game has been polished tremendously. SE has promised a series of content patches bringing everything you say the game is missing, and more, but the sad part is this is not 2001, what people accepted then is not what people will accept now. People want FFXI content level in 2002 for FFXIV 2010, but I am telling you right now, you are going to get that till 2011. If SE had had the balls to say, "We are releasing the game early for PC for those who are eager to play it but the complete product won't arrive till March 2011 for the PS3 release." I think a lot of people would be more understanding, because that is what is happening.
Its funny at first I loved FFXIV and now I just shake my head saying "I wish I hadn't spent my money on it." Some people are claiming that FFXIV is a sandbox style game, in my opinion it is but its a sandbox without sand. To make things even more interesting I actually resubscribed to EVE online because I decided I wanted a deep and rewarding sandbox... and there you have it.
FFXIV is going to need a lot of work before its a solid MMORPG in my opinion. I'm guessing SE thinks this is a "soft launch" and the "real launch" will be with the PS3 version.
This is a good review of a great game. I know there are tons of people that hate this game but the review points out the flaws and that fact that this is NOT for the power gamer. It was made looking in the opposite direction. I think it is a good game now and with tweaks and additions I look forward to playing it for a while. Also this is my first FF game and I am going back and getting all the other ones I can.
Pretty much agree with the whole article. Granted my experience from open beta, but graphics were really nice and UI was pretty horrible. They really should fire the UI lead.
And agree with the "wait another year for content" from some posters. The MMO market is more competitive now, and stuff like no auction house, etc should go the way of the dodo ...
Well now, i'm confused. Is this game for the "power gamer," or the "casual gamer?" I don't think even SE knows the answer to this question. They have conflicting design decisions. On the one hand, "casual gamers" aren't inclined to spend their gaming time reading out of game wikis, guides, forums, etc to learn crafting recipes and how to function in a game that doesn't even offer tooltips. Based on this, i'm inclined to think that the game IS in fact designed for the "power gamers."
On the other hand, they limit your upward progression, they make you grow horizontally, and limit how fast you can progress through the content. They have explicitly stated that this is to prevent "power gaming." You see? I don't think the game has any specific identity, it has elements that appeal to both sides, yet contradict each other to the point of being exclusive.
Edit: Had to rearrange the order a bit, apparently it only made sense in my head.
It's for furries, graphic fiends, and the masochist.
Power gaming gets hindered by all kinds of rules and spare content. Casual gaming gets hindered by a crappy UI and nothing really to do.
I am really enjoying this game. I've tried crafting a bit, but honestly I'm not really into it, but by selling the crystals and shards I get from combat I have made plenty of money to keep my character in gear that is from 5 to 10 ranks higher than my actual class rank. Finding stuff isn't easy, but it's not all that difficult.
I'm beginning to wonder whether those in the industry are simply at an impasse, and can't find which direction will please the current MMO crowd. On one side you have the type of player who loathes directed content, wishes everything had to be learned as you play, as well as wants no directed focus breaking up the possibility of grouping and community focus. This would seemingly be the group that FFXIV was developed for.
On the other side you have a large segment of players. Who expect a focus on teaching the player the ins and outs of the game, as well as content that guides them through the world, with a hand in hand approach. These players expect a guided chore at every turn. They do not grasp or wish to grasp the idea of player to player based content.
The rest of us just fall some where in the middle of these two extremes.
Personally I look at it like this, if I were to buy an MMO I would pay the same price as I would for a single player game. The difference in the amount of content you're getting, and at the same price is staggering. The typical singler player experience is at best two weeks or so of game play. Hardly do I find a SP game I'm still playing thrity days later. MMO's at their box price are the best value in gaming IMO.
IF I don't wish to continue after thirty days, I don't have to, which doesn't cost me a dime extra. On the other hand if I do, I get thirty more days of game-play for fifteen bucks. As opposed to SP games costing 50-60 for another two weeks or so of fun. WIn win IMO. FFXIV sounds worthy of thirty days from me so far. By the time it hits PS3 I'm sure it will be a much better value, considering this I'll wait.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I don't think the person reviewing this knows what a parabola is. If you are going from hate to love and then regressing to hate wouldn't it be graphed linear. a parabola would imply that you would go from hate to love and then back to hate but you would forever stay in hate at that point.
Upgrade PC, buy a controller, spend hours researching other sites to learn to play the game, fight the lag and UI...all for eye candy? I think not, at least not for me. Every time I read a post it seems I find a differnt type of gamer attracted, not the casual, not the hardcore nor any of the newer terms that keep popping up to identify the player who would enjoy playing.
I wanted to love FFXIV, but Square learned nothing from the 8 years they've been hosting FFXI. I do enjoy seeing FFXIV reviews like Gamespot's and Gametrailer's. I can only hope SE learns they really made a mistake in rushing this game out with all these asinine design choices.
The reason for the lag is obvious, the servers are still in Japan, just like FFXI. The lag WILL NEVER CHANGE unless there's some magical technology discovered that's better than optical fiber. That's one of the many things that 'sold me' on NOT purchasing this game. Though I realize they can improve their server technology so congestion is less of a problem, the distance latency can never change. It was fine back on dial-up with FFXI, but not anymore.
I was keeping track of everything I discovered while playing OB (bugs or design flaws), if you want to see it, check here: http://forum.daow.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=23 (some vulgarity)
Posted mainly because I just wanted to point out their server hosting.
hmm makes me want to try this even more than all the negativity...I like a challange
I think it's more of a dare than a challenge.
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The reason for the lag has nothing to do with servers being in Japan. I never lagged in XI, which were also all in Japan.
The reason is, in SE's infinite wisdom to stop cheating and rmt, they created a UI and system that checks everything you do and requires an "ok" from the server before proceeding. Once again SE's solution to a problem is to punish everyone.
All in all, XIV is one of, if not the worst MMO i've ever played. This game was the first beta that made me want to log off after 2 hours of play.