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Does this game have a chance?
Rzep
Member UncommonPosts: 767
To begin with I would like to say that FFXIV is not a game that I followed as closesly as lets say Rift so I am not all knowing when it comes to what the open beta is and how it differs content wise for example from the final release. So when I whine about a feature missing that is said to be included in the final release, its simply becouse I am not aware of this fact.
After days of downloading the client, which is an experiance I will never forget I think (Devs, dont ever use torrent)...I have finally been able to put some hours into the Open Beta. My impressions are very mixed, but one thought that kept nagging me was, does this game have any chance of finding an audience that is not FFXI vets. There are so many things done well here. The presentation is amazing. There are many unique races, and plenty of classes to choose from. There are 3 starting zones a feature that I always love to see in a game. Since this is a PvE game its understandable that these elements stand at a very high level, but I was still surprised at the cutscenes and basically the fact that this does feel like a Final Fantasy game.
So from the striking graphics to the sound its all well above par, but everything that is good about this aspect is brought down by another facet of it. For example the character models are beautiful. They are detailed, they are mildly stylized and remind me of the characters from FFXII, but character customisation is a joke. When I say customisation I of course mean the look of the character not race/class becouse these are actually great. The options we get to make our avatar look different are on the level of a f2p game, which is very disapointing. The world itself is a beautiful place. Some people like to use a games water to gauge its quality in the first hours of playing, I prefer to look towards the sky and FF leaves me quite satisfied.
The problem I have with the environments is actually tied to the often discussed lack of jumping in the game. I initially when reading on the game thought its a wierd choice, but its not the first game to lack jump so its cant be all bad. And its not, but....the first quest I got starting at Limsa Lominsa was to hunt down some plague rats. A usual starter quest made annoying by the fact that the terrain in this part of the world is very...lets call it tierd and I really felt the lack of jump. This is something I got used to though so I suppose it can be called an inconviniance rather than a problem, but thats just me.
The quests themselves are very standard PvE mmo fair, with the difference that most games begin very easy and only get more difficult after many levels. FF seems to start pretty hard and steadily ramp up the diffuculty. Its a breath of fresh air really after all the games that make the first levels seem completely pointless by the lack of difficulty.
Difficulty is also an oft discussed topic. To me the game by design is hard but there are things that make the game harder than it should be. Controlling the game with m/kb is a chore. The software mouse is sluggish, the menus annoying and cumbersome. The WASD movent is actually fine, alot better than I remember FFXIs. the biggest problem here is the badly designed interface and everpresent menus. There is a ton of them and navigating these things is just so far away from todays standard I have to question the Devs choices to include such a thing, since going through them I saw nothing special that would make other UI options out of the question.
Playing with a gamepad feels better really, something that bothers me becouse while I do have all the consoles and most of the FF games, that does not mean I want an exactly the same experiance on PC. If you make a port to the PC you have to make it up the the PC standard and not ask players to buy gamepads...I will never understand the softmouse. Also using a pad does not solve the problem of the terrible menus, mouse or pad navigating them always feel sluggish and unintuitive. Another thing is that while I appreciate the macro options built into the game, I just dont see myself going to the trouble of setting them up on a pad.
...Setting up the pad...That was a surprise. I am not sure whether this will change or maybe its a bug or something but there are no default control schemes for the pad. Maybe there are for the better known gamepads I dont know I use a pretty cheap Saitek one.
When talking of settings (ah the fluid transition) I have to ask what is up with Full screen not being an option for some of the higher resolutions? I had to choose to either play in windowed mode, which I hate or use a resolution well under what I usually play at. I hope this is something that will be fixed in the final version.
After that lengthy but most likely uninformative review of my early thoughts of the game I go back to the question whether this game has a chance of success. My experiance overall is positive but still there is the feeling that little to no effort was put into westernizing the game, aside from translating it of course. The games controls seem out of place at a time where more and more mmos these days are going for a very responsive action game feel and the UI is a complete mess. I mean its very much like FFXI but that is not a good thing...That is an old game and usually devs are supposed to learn and improve on the previous game. I see very little of that here to some that will of course be a good thing, but I feel that for most this alien feeling of the game will make the try the trial (if there is one) and never look back. Its odd really. Run of the mill korean mmos seem to put more effort into preparing their games for the western market, why did SE choose to do so little to help the game along outside of Japan.
Comments
The whole problem is that all people expect something to cater anyone or claim stuff to be outdated. Like for example because we have now real time strategy games nobody must want now not to play turn absed strategy games.
As for chances tehre sure are people that will play it, like me for example. Add to this that most that like this game just not spend time to post here. A pretty good example are Blizzards forum about their game. Considering them it is since years totally doomed.
What I would advice just ignore all comment play a game by yourself if you can effort if and stay with it if you like it and not stay with it when you not like it. Buut sadly most people seem to think that their critic is worldchangeing here which elads to the many negative post that actually say the same thing over and over again. Like sure a thousamnd time people complained in seperate topics the Userinterface.
I do not expect a game to cater to my needs, but I do expect it to be in line with some standards. Things recognized as the standard for a good reason. You made an odd comparison using rts and turn-based strategy. These are two very different genres that both have their fans and standards that they meet. I will make my own point using other genres. So for example if I critisize the controls as feeling sluggish and out of place in todays mmo market and someone says, well its what makes the game more challanging. To that I would ask him whether he believes that for example in a racing game sluggish or overly sensitive controls are what makes a game challanging. To make use of a recent game that sparked a debate, APB. Driving in this game is cumbersome due to the nature of it being serverside and the delay caused by this fact. Some say this is what makes it challanging, others that its complete rubbish. To me somethings difficulty has to be by design. Driving can be difficult becouse its realistic for example not becouse of a bad design choice leading to delayed reaction times to input.
Also why shouldnt players comment and complain about the UI, which is clearly badly designed? You can struggle with a tough boss, but the interface should not be an obstacle just as controls should not be something that a player has to struggle with. There is a reason that many games have UIs look similar to lets say WoW. Thats becouse the UI in that game is simple, easy to understand and accesible. It makes it easy to enjoy the actual game instead of fighting with menus.
It is nothing wrong to complain about the UI, but it needs not several dozends threads, that again and again talk about the UI.
this game will succeed.no doubt about it in my mind.
but i do think they are rushing it out too fast.
instead they should be keeping the open beta going for 2-3 more months while working on better mouse/gui/drivers before they release it in my view.
This game will sink faster then Age of conan.
Dont hate me for saying the truth plx.
On PC this game will get 4/10-Reviews from most PC-Reviewers and for good reason, there are many, many better MMOs out there for the PC even the most F2P-MMOs are far better (except graphics). The only thing this game has going for it are it's graphics but then again, the rig required to run this on decent looking settings is such that only appr. 5%-10% of the peer-group have such a computer.
On PS3 however it's a whole different matter. On this plattform FF XIV will be the ONLY MMO and it will stay that way probably for a very long time. Second the whole UI/Gamepad Issue is not a problem on Consoles. Third: They will use the PC-Community a paying Beta-Testers and will have a better Product in half a year when the PS3-Version comes out.
FF 11 had a staunch following and still does. This game will go and survive. I am thinking that I will enjoying playing it for several years to come (of course I won't NOT play other titles when they make it to market). I think that aside from a learning curve, this will be a good game particularly over time. I use to play MUDs (text based games) and while the mouse usage was minimal, having to know/type text commands was far more than any GUI good or bad, could ever be.