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[General Article] Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn: Review In Progress #2
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Now that some of the issues plaguing the first week's release of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn have been tempered, we continue our series of Review in Progress articles. What did we find in our second week in Eorzea? Find out and then tell us what you think in the comments.
In this week’s review in progress will cover two topics that are central to this incarnation of XIV; FATEs, and the Job system. FATE or Full Active Time Event is a new addition to A Realm Reborn that was not present in XIV 1.0. While FATE may sound like a word that was turned into an acronym to suit SE’s purposes it is actually a welcome addition to Final Fantasy. Most of you are probably aware that over the course of the past few years since 1.0's original release dynamic events have really started to gain ground with the MMO community. While these events can trace their roots back to the earliest of MMOs they really came to prominence with the release of Rift. They have became even more of a gameplay staple with the massive success of Guild Wars 2. Square Enix took note of this trend and made sure dynamic events were a main feature in their relaunched game.
Read more of Rob Lashley's Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Review in Progress #2.
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Comments
Is a man not entitled to the herp of his derp?
Remember, I live in a world where juggalos and yugioh players are real things.
While I agree that FATEs don't feel like simple, rushed additions to the game. Unfortunately, your enjoyment of them will vary. They do not scale well at all. Sometimes they feel like a zergfest. Other times, when you aren't in hugely populated areas, they feel "just right" and co-operation is needed in order succeed.
I kind of agree with Yoshida's assumption mostly, that the 'zergfest' will go away as players spread out. However, with growing emphasis on FATE groups - I wonder if that will actually be the case.
You know, I always say that "reviews" from players are always far too subjective, they don't have enough objective information about the game. It's always "I hate/love this because of this" and objectivity is an afterthought if considered at all. They always seem to be rated a 1/10 or a 10/10. Hard to find a balanced player review.
But this RIP? Honestly, it is TOO objective. Too much "These are the classes, this is what X is."
I'd love to see a bit more of WHY you like or dislike different aspects of the game.
Why the difference between my feelings towards player reviews and the official MMORPG.com review?
I guess I trust your opinion(s) and credibility as MMORPG "experts."
We know about the game - if we aren't playing, we can google the information you are giving us or Youtube it.
WHY does the MMORPG staff writer doing this review like or dislike the game?
What about it bothers you or excites you and WHY?
I guess when you have a bit of credibility as a MMORPG site that does reviews, we need a little more subjectivity to go with the objectivity to give a really "balanced" review piece.
Thanks!
Good point.
I was planning on talking about why I think SE missed the mark on group play by having 4 player groups instead of 5 next week. That will have whys instead of I feels.
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I like the fates for following reason: I am peacefully gathering materials with my miner, then I notice a FATE appears rather close, so I instantly switch to my Puglist or Archer and activate run mode to get there. After the fate is done, I go back to gathering
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This has also allowed me to appriciate auto-attacks, because when you switch from a gathering class to a "dps" class, there is a significant cooldown (maybe 30 s to 1 minute?) where you are unable to use any skill on your "dps" class. Auto-attacks still work though XD and can be used to tag mobs.
The fates do also in this way make my gathering more interesting, since I do not only need to focus on the actual gathering and avoiding auto-aggro mobs (you cannot gather in battle), but also need to keep an eye out for fates
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Great overview, where's the review?
Maybe this should be OIP instead of RIP. Not knocking it i like reading it but so far is reading like an overview the game which is a good thing. People need to know how amazing this game is.
Thanks! I look forward to reading it.
I like the 4 player group - I think it feels like a perfect number, really makes each member of the group feel a little more important to the overall effort.
I've always had this theory on group size and how it relates to difficulty.
Back in the WoW days when I was running and leading 40 man raids, you could have 10+ people AFK or their toons dead or whatever and still have a good shot at downing the boss if your handful of tanks, healers, and top DPS were all playing well.
25 person raids I've seen the same thing, hell in WOTLK Blizzard made a separate achievement set for running the 25 player dungeons in the first tier (Nax, Maly, OS) with 20 people or less.
10 man raiding is really the sweet spot in WoW to me. Losing 1 DPS or healer was a much bigger deal the smaller your group size got, so each person had to play better - which meant the group as a whole was more on their toes.
I loved playing through Ulduar in my 10 group above the full 25 guild group.
I've just always felt like each player in a smaller group is more valuable to the group - which makes you step your game up (or at least it should.) Maybe it's a psychological thing? Like, "Well if I go down there are plenty of other people to pick up the slack."
So in ARR with 4 person groups, you've got 2 dps 1 heal 1 tank, so if a DPS plays poorly, stands in a fire, get's killed you just lost half of your DPS.
Anyway, just a theory. I've always loved the smaller group content and smaller raid sizes, there has always been something more epic feeling about 8-10 sized raid groups to me than the big 25-40+.
So far only one thing in FFXIV that i don't like is that to level other classes/jobs you're going to have to grind like crazy. One in each town is doable because of sidequests but after that is grinding fates, leves and dungeons. Not something i like to do to be honest.
Shainna, just create a new toon for each type...
So far I have a toon for Tanking and a toon for DPS...that way, I dont run out of content all that much.
Tibbz, It feels, at least to me, that questing after the tutorial, quest heavy part, was not intended to be your only means of leveling....actually feels like a smaller part.
It's really the dungeons and story quests that feel the most important to me. Fates are REALLY good exp and Leve's can give you that last little bit you need to get to the next level. The side quests are there if you want to do them...but by no means do you have to do them.
Maybe because this is the only one? (Generic f2p garbage doesn't count)
He said best GAME, not best MMO. . .
And while I don't agree that it is best game, it is definetly in the top 5 so far for 2013
Seven days is pretty reasonable, I think. I mean, Robert, do you want SE to kiss your chocobo's arse for you to make up? Problems are mainly due to ARR being an unexpected smash hit right now, so much so they even stopped selling the game. As for myself I am having fun in-game right now, I like doing all the quests.
Unlike Square's other game FFXi which needs a lot of play time to really grasp the entire game,i truly believe FFXIV can be easily rated in the first week of play .
You can easily see the quality is there,it has your typical systems and cool creatures and large cities.Everything is there and more will come.I feel the very first topic on this game is truly the only topic.That first topic was all about ho hum combat and does it get better as you get higher level and attain more classes and choice.
I think that is the real area players want to know,how much better does combat and your player get say at intervals level 30 then 50 or perhaps when you first start adding sub classes.
The rest of the game is all there and polished,even Square's notorious strangling UI is very good ,well was improved from the initial launch.I think any nit picking would just be personal and not really an indication of how to rate a game because the game offers what most gamer's want aside from housing and gardening and pvp which are all to come.However since they are not there yet,can't really rate the game in those areas.
I think you could rate the game a tad low based on not having all the promised systems in there,but i am extremely confident like 99% confident,if Square says it will be there soon,then it will be there soon.I would not expect housing as good as say EQ2 but i think it will be open world,so maybe more along the lines of Archeage.I am quite positive PVP will be done right,at least imo because i believe in fairness/equality and Square made pvp that way in FFXI.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
It will depend on friends and how many interact within a group.The majority are thinking solo or randomly joining a Fate.
If player so decide they could turn it into a group camp game,they just need to get that other game type thinking out of their minds.Camping is imo more relaxing,also in a set group you meet people and chat.You also choose what you want to kill and how tough you want to make it.Will it happen,probably not,most are in such a rush they stick to one proven method and go with it.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Wow the term grind has really changed its meaning if you think there is any grinding in this game. I am all for grinding I am in the minority that wishes it was in mmorpg's nowadays. It seems like if you have to kill mobs and not get huge boatloads of exp from a quest for doing it its grinding. FFXI was a grind, pounding on the same mob for 8 hours to gain 1/2 a level. Thats grinding. What you are describing is merely playing the game. That being said I am enjoying the game very much so, wish it wsnt so easy to level but other than that its beautiful and immersive.
So far am loving the game. Have my Warrior up to level 43 and the encounter with a certain feathery windy boss is soon approaching.
My biggest gripes so far...tying main storyline into dungeons and forcing players to run dungeons or say goodbye to retainers and mounts. The second one is overall small size of maps. (makes me feel suffocated in the zones).
First gripe is even more ironic after reading what Yoshida wrote for VITA release that players are'nt forced to group and can still progress in game when they can(t find groups or dont want to group. What he didn't mention is that you don't get some of the most basic stuff like mounts and bank space if you chose not to.
Great review, nailed the key aspects of the game. I just hope that with all these recent fast paced action MMOs out there that people stick around long enough to give the game a good go before canning it. Will be interesting to see if a few months down the track when people have a few solid classes maxed if the game turns elitist with min/maxers.
Nice summary. I'm enjoying my time so far with FFXIV. It brings me back to my FFXI days, but with a more enjoyable solo experience. I've purposely had to slow myself down from the leveling plague and enjoy some of the other classes that FFXIV has to offer. So I picked fishing. Nice to relax doing that and see an all call go out in FC chat looking for a couple of people for a quick dungeon run. Switch to gladiator, team up with some guildies and queue a dungeon. Finish that then go back to fishing for a while.
For me personally I don't have issue with a party of four as it harkens back to it's SPRPG roots (FF's original four warriors of light/dawn) So four for me is fine. It makes for a small, personal group. It also makes it easier for everyone to keep a closer eye on the action. And that comes into play when combos and skill links start to factor into winning battles.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
I totally agree with this. The game has quest hubs and the first 15 levels are a bit like a tutorial, but it really doesn't force you. It leads you but it's not that hand holding; you can just follow the story quest and level by other means, like doing logs, fates or just attacking mobs.
I feel that the game is well done and like every other MMO it will grow up with time. I'm still not sure if I'll subscribe after my free time, because I'm not really a Final Fantasy guy nor very much into the Anime style... So, we'll see. But it's a good game, the world is very nicely done and I really enjoy this "old school" pace, like the vanilla WoW or LOTRO (my experiences), where you would unlock features with your progression or open up access to other parts of the world.
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