Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Painfully average.
Final Fantasy 14 isn't a bad game, it's just a game. It's average in every conceivable way. The combat is generic and your standard alt-tab type of situation. The storyline, though interesting at times is convoluted and doesn't flow as well as it probably could. The dialog is... Thine bring about thou destruction. I don't care for it.
FATES are more or less large scale 'events' which generally translates to a lot of the same type of enemy spawning in a single area where everybody runs to in order to kill them. Beyond that I haven't really seen anything very exciting. I was hoping for something a little more like what they had in GW2. Where the fates would lead into larger scale events or be something other then a big fight in a field time and time again.
Questing is just as uninspired. Generic fetch, kill, and talk to people quests. Obviously I didn't expect them to be much more because to date most MMOs fall prey to this kind of thing however it'd have been nice if they put a little more... Effort into the presentation.
Good things - Fantastic soundtrack throughout every area I've been to. (At level 27 so far.) Nice graphics and animations. The in-game cut scenes are nice to see. Especially when facing off with a Primal like Ifrit. Final Fantasy isn't a bad game by any means. It's just average. It's a standard MMO set in the FF universe. I understand that there are a lot of people out there looking for that and I'm glad you managed to find your game. For those of us looking for something fresh, new or for a game whose ideas have evolved over the last few years will probably still be looking for their game in the coming months/years.
Comments
So wrong.
FFXIV may be a traditional themepark mmo but its a very well done game.
Painfully average? lol
I wish you all the best to finding the ultimate mmo of your dreams.
But i doubt any mmo now or the future can meet your expectations.
Haven't we been looking for that game for decades now?
FF XIV reminds me of FF Tactics for some reason. Just wish my character started in school as a kid and had a snowball fight. I also wish it was Time-Based combat (The Bastard Son of Turn-Based)
I think DEs on a large scale like GW2 are a few years out. GW2 did a decent job with DEs but they were not anything like what was advertized. Beyond that I think there are technical aspects to them that has painted ANET into a corner.
That last part is only a guess. But based on how they described the level of advanced coding that went into them, coupled by the fact that it appears that ANET is doing everything it can possibly do to fill in the game around them without actually touching the existing DEs makes me think they can't or are very much afraid to touch them. It's like one of those proverbial complex machines that someone finally gets running but no one can touch it because if it breaks down they are screwed.
I don't recall a lot of games with this kind of progression...
But yeah its a tab target themepark...im not sure the surprise here.
At least it has some depth, character, and uniqueness about it unlike GW2, which you used in your comparison.
In fact now that I think about it...the OP had to leave out a couple major game systems to call the game average in every way. Interesting but not surprising I guess.
"This game has the same formula as other MMOs. Ugh"
"This other game does does things I'm not familiar with. Ugh"
"This 3rd game broke out of the healer/tank/dps mold. Ugh"
Maybe it's not the games. Most video game genres haven't had to re invent themselves year after year. They take innovation in stride as it comes, but Mario hasn't really changed much since Donkey Kong in 1982. The players who like platform jumpers are happy with them. What makes an MMORPG at it's core probably appeals to a much narrower player base than who realize.
Op what are you talking about? This is one of the most intense MMO's ever! The combat is off the CHAIN!
I mean just look at this combat!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfCmSWcBK8w
....um ok, maybe your right.... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Standing in one spot wailing away at your NME is so 2005
------------------------------
You see, every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with their surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You spread to an area, and you multiply, and you multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet.-Mr.Smith
I would agree with Cetra's statement.
It is not innovative in the sense they are pushing a lot of boundaries, but they are doing some really cool things (like the Armory and the crafting) and it is very, very well made and not at all "average."
RIFT was/is an average MMO. As dry and flavorless as can be.
FF has charm, a unique sense of itself.
We'll see how I feel after a month lol I'm already having OMG SO MUCH TO DO overload thinking about leveling up a half dozen classes/jobs and crafting and then housing and PvP and raiding....
Well said! I agree with every word you wrote. Found it to be very much as you said. Like GQ2, I liked the look but found the gameplay so deeply boring and UN-inspiring. I really wanted to like GW2 but just couldn't... tried a number of the classes (even single classes that I wanted to luv with different races) and just couldn't get "into it", just didn't find the "fun", or inspiration to actually want to play it just as this title. But a warning to anyone daring to say anything negative about this title, I've noticed posts/threads deleted for no obvious reason except they dared to speak con, oh and maybe the adverts covering this site huh.... no, no, of course it couldn't be -that-...
Lol. It is almost as if they were making a conscious decision to not move.
I couldn't agree more OP. Nothing wrong with the game. But you better not be tired of the themepark MMO's of the past 9 years or you will hate this game.
First:
I prefer a game to launch a standard release and then think about to innovate.. that an "innovative game" that end building standard features to not fail.
Second:
I like the combat, i tried Tera, GW2, RaiderZ.. all these "Modern Combat Style" with evasion button rolling in the floor with a full plate armor, or tanking in bikini. FFXIV is fantasy, true but is... like a Realistic Fantasy.. animations are close to real world movements, enviroments are realistic, Tanks seems like a Tank... everything is so realistic that i like everything. And Combat, is not button spam like other games, and that make it more realistic.. Archers dont spam 2 arrows per second like they have infinite stamina, an expert human could attack at that rate in real world... and that make it more realistic. (Of course excluding flashing from skills etc)
And i like this Realistic Fantasy... a lot.
I can understand where the OP is coming from.. when a few friends asked if I thought they should join me my response was "If you're looking to play an MMO, you could do a lot worse but if you have other games you're currently playing, you won't be missing much by skipping this." My first time playing after reading "BEST MMO EVER!!!!11!1!!" topics on here, I was left extremely disappointed with my initial experience. Still decided to buy it anyway seeing how cheap it was and had a blast up until level 13 and now at level 14, it's really starting to drag on.
Despite it being average in a lot of areas though, so far the world looks BEAUTIFUL. The weather effects, the day/night cycles, it all adds up to a world you can lose yourself in.
Combat: I don't find the combat "generic". I believe it's timed very well and the mixing of skills from different jobs is outstanding.
Story: I find the story line to be very engaging, much more so then games I've played recently, such as GW2. I actually find myself getting into the story often.. I felt it has been a strong suit so far. To each their own I spose.
Fates: The fates are ok, I will agree with you there, but they just provide something to do in between heading to locations for questing. The fates in gw2 are no better - actually, I find them to be much worse after you do them once. What I mean by that is; at least in ff14, you only have the one stage of doing something over and over. With gw2, you're gonna due SEVERAL stages of the same boring old shit. I'd rather only repeat the one stage lol.
Questing: It's MMO questing. Not sure what you're looking for here, but you're not gonna find it in a MMO where they need to have stuff to do. Not every quest is going to be important. It can't be... in any game I've ever played. The hunting log is a cool addition also.
As for the good things you mention, I agree.. but Graphics? Nice? Are you kidding me? This is by far the best looking MMO I have ever seen. If you have the system to run it, the game blows others out of the water easily.
I think the dungeons, starting from the lvl 35 one, have great mechanics. Alot of think on your feet stuff and semi puzzles during combat. - The only regrettable thing is that the lower lvl dungeons dont really showcase whats to come, and seem over easy, which dissapoints people, and perhaps leads them to think the whole dungeon scheme is like that.
I do agree that the amount of feed ex quests is tiresome. Even ones requiring you to speak to someone in the same room as the quest giver. I mean come on. wtf. Also I think there is some cultural stuff that doesnt translate well. Fx, rubbing oil on someone, three times, and then massageing it in. - Doesnt seem heroic to me, seems pretty weird is all. But maybe this is something japanese. Perhaps great favor with the gods if one does an oil rub on a stranger? - (J/K - its just odd)
Enjoying the game so far, but I dont like how gated the quest system is. If I am able to kill stuff above my level, and went exploring, why am I not allowed to quest in the area. No I have to do certain quests, main storyline etc, in order to play the next ride in the themepark. I had no idea it was this railed tbh. But whatever.
I think the disconnect here is that everyone has a different opinion of what is "Average". Though in my case, an MMO that has nearly every feature (or will have) of the last 15 years or so is far from being Average. Even in it's adoption, it iterates upon each system thoroughly and pays attention to storyline, story quests and making it a JRPG experience first and foremost before it does an MMO. This includes the little touches that are scene everywhere (such as the amazing Weather effects; just standing in the forest during a Lightning storm is awe-inspiring with the Lighting Engine... Seeing lightning crash down, the thunderous roar, and the immediate area in which it strikes flash quickly two times... or watching it in the distance and seeing it light up in the distance, but not envelope your area).
It's a Final Fantasy game first and a MMO second in a lot of ways; there are dozens if not hundreds of storyline quests per level as your bar increases more and more (though I hear there are so many story quests 40+ that it almost gets tedious with the amount of cutscenes and story elements it has). There are too many things to do at any one time once you reach level thirty (So many systems and subsystems and currencies and advanced job and prerequisites for unlocks and logs and Grand Company activities and Fates and dungeons / leves / locations unlocks, Aetheryte Crystal locations, chocobo locations, classes to level for cross abilities, side quests, class quests, guildhests, GC Promotions, gear unlocks, etc.) that it almost becomes overwhelming, and most of the stuff it doesn't tell you anything about it -- you just have to explore and find it on your own (especially how to train your chocobo in combat). It's definitely one of the first of it's kind to have main story without any kind of grind (SWTOR and GW2's "get to level 16 for this next mission when level 9 ordeal). Granted though not every story quest will have some grand reveal or plot twist, but rather be like an investigation of sightings that may yield evidence or not, or keep you hot on the trail of a bad guy.
Not to mention it drastically increases in difficulty with a good chunk of classes post 20 (a good past time is to find out where Arcanist quests take place, and stand there to watch people come back from it on the ground as they got beat silly), whereby one mistake will cost you the entire quest (or some bad luck). When it comes to the FATES, they only increase in difficulty 35+ as you will start seeing people asking for more people and more help. FATES are easy to fail, and once objectives are down, they aren't revivable. The Tank / healer / DPS / support classes in the game also allow for a constant flow of 50-100+ mobs at once at times and at places and it becomes a hectic battlefield with spells flying, heals being cast, and people moving inbetween battle. As an Avid WoW fan (I've a history of defending it), this game really is above and beyond it in a lot of ways, especially in the spike of difficulty and the things you have to do. It has a lot of hand holding at the start, but really breaks you off in a lot of ways to find out the many systems and things you have to do and unlock. There is even a chance you could get to 50 without ever getting a chocobo or teaching it how to fight, for example (as you just have to stumble upon it or ask in chat, of which they are usually very nice in response on my server).
Then you have the crafting, which treats it as classes of their own. Same with the gathering; they have gear and progression and story of their own. While the "average" MMO will make crafting an after thought, it isn't so here. In addition, players are able to repair each other's gear and meld materia into their gear as well. This gives increased importance to community, crafters and finding a group of players you enjoy playing the game with (as each craft is able to meld into different items). To further add into the little things (just as a side note and not as something everyone is bound to find interesting), you are practically able to sit anywhere in the world (bench, wood, chair, etc), in addition to having an animation for climbing into your bed and falling asleep. This will likely be employed in the Player Housing and Guild Housing that exists (or will exist) in the game.
It just seems inconceivable that "painfully average" is an appropriate term here (as having everything of the past 15 years is anything but average as people try to spin off a single innovation to sell a product and then neglect other aspects, as we have seen in recent years; people get fooled into thinking it's new but realize it's not, and that it's missing vital features). Though I would agree that if people don't like JRPGs or Themeparks, then this won't be their cup of tea.
+1 on my feelings as well. Though I'm just somewhat happy that the Main Story quests don't stop and that you can practically level just off of them all the way to fifty starting from when you beat Ifrit at level 20.
you run of of quest pretty fast after your first class and really the only thing oyu have to do is the main story the other quest can be ignored
^This