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Waited a long time to play this
xS0u1zx
Member Posts: 209
Well I was completely taken off guard with how fantastic the starting feel of Final Fantasy 14 gave. I had been meaning to play the game since I got a beta invite last year but never had the hardware for it until recently. I had seen many reviews about the game and those reviews alone almost made me not play but knowing the IP as well as I do I had still been curious
On any note. There is a current deal right now with square enix, $13.99 and you can get your own copy of the game as well. The only downside is that the subscription comes from having to pay monthly for your character which is like $3 a month per toon and the first month is free so it's not too bad.
Anyway, I started playing the game and I was taken completely by surprise with how fantastic they had made the entry cinematics and with the detail they had done them. So far it has a true feel of a single player game when you start, which in my opinion is great as it gets you more involved personally in the lore and the game itself and naturally upon adventuring you would meet people and grow from there. The beginning tutorial isn't very in-depth but it does get you to understand your controls quickly and easily although combat does take some getting used to at the start as you can attack while moving and must have patience with getting hot keys to work and keeping your target. There is a bit of room for improvement but I am completely satisified so far with the game.
I'm sorry I couldn't write an extensive review as I only got a few hours of gameplay in but I can tell you that so far the game really pulls you in and makes it feel like you are playing a game you can get truly involved in. Unlike wow that kind of slams you in the middle of a bunch of chaos, hands you a sword and says. "Here, go kill something and level up then figure out what you need to do from there." FF14 places you in a starting zone with a little bit of a cinematic to get you involved softly and tries to give you the urge to discover your purpose in the game and where you want to be. Levelling isn't super fast like leaving a zone then "DING", honestly I didn't even notice or care for my character's level. I was far too distracted with the story and the gameplay itself and trying to master how to move my character and attack with precision while role playing my archer class and actually moving and having strategy an archer would have. Not just stand at x location and spam your buttons, but run around, hide behind trees and do what you can to survive while staying far from the target.
Anyway I've typed far too much, I hope others find this game as awesome as I do so far. As long as you got a bit of patience to understand the game and it's mechanics, I see no reason why it can't be loved.
Comments
Hmmm...
Combat. You leave your starting city and goes to the first camp, do some leves, then repeat the EXACT SAME leves. Over and over again. When ready, proceed to next camp, do the same leves even more times, over and over again. And so on. This is worse than in other games, because there's almost no variations, just a repeated grind. You compare this to wow - imo, wow is far better, at least you don't do the same quests over and over right from the start.
"I was far too distracted with the story..."
Not many games are more shallow than this one when it comes to stories/lore. You have the intro/tutorial, then there's another series at lvl 8. After that, it's just bits and pieces.
i am going to agree with OP. The game isnt really that bad anymore. They have really fixed a lot of the issues and its enjoyable. Also you dont do just leve quest rinse and repeat you are playing the game wrong. You can do behests, travel to other cities, group up, new dungeons, ifrit and moogle battles, NM's, tons of crafting and gathering, switching classes on the fly, Grand Companies, camps, there are tons of stuff to do its just a little difficult to find these things because the game doesnt really hold your hand. The first 15 levels can be pretty slow and very scary and confusing because you arent given much direction but once you get a hang of things its very enjoyable. The next patch is going to be brining i believe 5 new classes each with its own story and quests that need to be completed to unlock them. If you are not a fan of the themepark style game this game in its current state should not be ignored anymore. Square screwed up huge on launch, but the changes are very satisfying and the plans for the future seem to be even better. Enjoy
Hello 2010, this is 2011. Who does guildleves unless they are dying of boredom? Oh right you probably either never played the game or quit last year and that explains your outdated trolling.
Guildleves are not story, though I would argue WoW quests are no better than guildleves. Story/lore is delivered through the Main storyline (which still sucks gameplay wise because it hasn't been revamped to get rid of the original intention of including DoL/DoH in it which meant "combat" in them is a joke afterthought, however the story is quite good for a MMO), and Grand Companies.
There are also quests which introduce you to the materia system, classes etc. Quests that serve a purpose but also try and inject some story if you are a lore freak. There are sidequests for people who want to play the game like a quest grinder, but you can level very easily and much faster actually doing things rather than running from point A to B and killing X or handing B an item from A.
The XP system through linking and chaining is awesome. Anyone who feels it is a prohibitive grind likely is terrible because you can max out any class too quickly with even just a decent group.
http://xivpads.com/?1595680
http://guildwork.com/users/murugan
I just finally bought it myself (getting tired of waiting for PS3 release). Don't really know much about this FF MMO but have played FFXI on and off (mostly on) since PS2 release. Don't know what server is good to start on or anything but it looks amazing from what I seen and looking forward to getting on and playing.
After playing for most of the day my only issue thus far is the windowed mode. Seriously I don't play fullscreen in any MMO I play but right now I feel forced to because with windowed mode it's either over fits the screen or cuts off stuff. Love the game but this is a major problem for me.
This will solve your problem with windowed mode:
http://www.ffxivcore.com/topic/14092-run-game-in-windowed-fullscreen-mode-instructions/
They are merging the low population servers in early January so I guess it doesn't matter so much now, but currently Selbina is the most populated/best server to be on (if you like grouping and are an XI vet as most Selbina people are).
http://xivpads.com/?1595680
http://guildwork.com/users/murugan
Awesome thanks. Just made a character on Selbina name is Lexin Pansura would be great to get a ls.
xivpads or xivpro are good resources to find a linkshell, there are many on Selbina which are openly recruiting at the moment. I do have a social LS which has open recruitment, but it is primarily for "PST+" players (7 PM to 7 am PST) including Oceanic, Asian and late night NA players.
http://xivpads.com/?ls/1990165
http://xivpads.com/?1595680
http://guildwork.com/users/murugan
Well this game was fun for a few days but lack of parties and searching hours for chain spots has taken it's toll on me. I don't feel like grinding low level mobs because it takes forever to get exp when you can't chain. Great MMO but don't think I am going to make it through my free 30 days atm.
For lack of parties how are you searching? Are you traveling to Ul'dah to form parties quicker?
As for chain spots if you give me your level I can recommend some good locations.
http://www.ffxiv-db.com used to have a leveling map but I think they are currently in the process of updating it for the latest patch. http://ffxiv.yg.com/ has been updated but I don't know if mob locations are all 100% accurate. Until a tool is updated, or you find an updated resource on the official lodestone forums (either in general discussion or new player help), your best bet for quick help would be to ask LS members for recommendations of good leveling spots at your level.
http://xivpads.com/?1595680
http://guildwork.com/users/murugan
Here's the thing about this game, and please, I am glad a lot of people are enjoying it so no nasty response is necessary.
I don't critisize anyway or judge anyone, to each their own. I've played a ton of MMO's, I started playing way back with eq1 came out. I tried this game before all the fixes, so I'm not sure if a lot of the things that bothered me about it are still there today.
But I specifically remember this one thing. I'm playing SWTOR now and I like to explore. So I start climbing this mountain and found a faster route to this one place. It gives you the sense (although artificial) that you can go where you like. Climbing over the mountain instead of around it. It's all about choice and I was able to make one. Most of which could not be accomplished if there was no 'jump' function in the game.
I remember in FF, it took me a while to get to the top of this mountain for a quest simply because there was no jump feature. So you had to go around and around and around till you made it to the top. It was so annoying it was the straw that broke the camels back and I quit playing. I mean, 2011 and no jump feature. Now I love GW1, and there is no jump feature in that game. Why do I love it then as compared to FF, because in GW1, you don't miss the jump feature. It's done so well, you don't even need it.
So, I think if you are going to design a game the primary focus should be, fun to play. FF was not fun to me, it was work, hard work, between the UI was insanely complicated and other crazy stuff, I was exhausted when I played it. That, to me, is not fun, it's simply uncessary. If this all changed, then I would be glad to try it, but I have not heard anything convincing that the game is fun.
But I'm glad you are all enjoying it. Have fun with it!!!
Currently lvl17.
high teens/low 20's (especially light parties) one good spot are crabs East of gullpearch tower by where slippery sykes spawns. (especially if you have magic DD in the party)
At low 20's with a party you can also fight mitelings by nophica's (slightly north of the node I believe is a camp), or cactuars around the pits west of Horizon.
Or if you have a full party the crabs north of bloodshore (lower level just north, slightly higher level ones a bit further north by 35, 14 east of the kobald encampment on the map).
There are other camps as well, these are just some off the top of my head. Ask your LS in game or if you are on selbina send me a tell and I'll ask around for you.
You have to engage the community it will solve most of your issues I think.
http://xivpads.com/?1595680
http://guildwork.com/users/murugan
I respect you feel that way. And thank you, I am having fun.
I just wanted to say, if you haven't played in a long time, I wonder if you left before they lifted a lot of the collision feature. It's possible to walk up and down a lot of the smaller terrain that previously you had to go around. Personally, I thought they lifted it a little too much because you can walk through some of the fences on the road too.
They also are implimenting a jump, although there is no word on how long it will be until we get it. Yoshi-P wanted it, so we are getting it. Producer's prerogative. lol
I'm not saying that because of that, you will enjoy the game now. I don't know what features you are looking for. I just wanted to point that out. If you haven't seen the 2.0 roadmap and/or read the Producer's Letters on the Lodestone, then you might want to before writing the game off altogether.
Other than that, Happy gaming to you and Godspeed.
Well after getting past that bump really enjoying it again currently 24 so tomorrow get to join a GC and start my Chocobo quest. /psyched