Listing a bunch of random adjectives does not make a good review. Tell us why you thought the game was shallow (and deep? that makes no sense). We need actual sentences describing your experiences, not a list of adjectives that describe your feelings.
To sum up my thoughts on this review: Uninformative, biased, irrelevant, condescending, and humorless.
Lets see how our "dead right" review stacks up to this critic's eye:
> There was a time not too long ago when the idea of a console being able to play an MMO was revolutionary to the point that the majority of the people behind the Dreamcast were sure they could do no wrong. So confident that including a modem built in would change the face of gaming it was considered as a sure thing that all the lost money would easily be returned. 2010 and the world has most certainly changed, at least in regards to technology. These days the thought of a console not having internet connectivity is about as absurd as having it was in 1999.
A few technical facts abotu his experiences with Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast bridging its way into great leaps of sweeping personal opinion about the state of the world as he sees it.
> Now some of you reading this may already have hit reply and begun to type up, what you think, to be scathing replies that will certainly change my ignorant mind. That's fine, you're not doing it right if you're not pissing off someone. The rest of you fully understand where this is going and hopefully I won't disappoint.
Pompus dismissing of any value belonging to the inevitable-and-highly-likely critical reception of this review. He knows what he's doing is wrong, but talks himself into forging ahead anyway.
>> Final Fantasy XIV might seem to be selling it's self as a PC MMORPG first and foremost but to think that would be an easy mistake to make. It's hard to argue that it's coming out on PC first, that Square-Enix has stated they want Final Fantasy XIV to take advantage of the PC's offerings, and as of right now I doubt you could find anyone in the PS3 beta. If it wasn't for one small detail this line of reasoning would hold up: Final Fantasy XI.
Completely irrelevant idle speculation not backed up by research found in any other places than the reviewer's imagination. Yes, i doubt I could find anyone in the PS3 beta too, considering I've yet to hear it even started.
>> It's no secret that Final Fantasy XIV is the sequel to Final Fantasy XI and as such it's totally valid to point out that Final Fantasy XIV is a console MMORPG. If you still haven't hit reply so as to explain to me how a noob like me has a mother that is so fat that when she runs she sweats jell-o. Congratulations, you're not a total idiot!
Irrelevant observation about XIV being a sequel to XI (hint: it's in the title) followed by more pompus dismissing of the critical reception he knows he's provoking. A "your mama" joke followed by blasting sarcasm. Classy... to put it sarcastically. He would seem to be mildly afraid of the criticism he knows he's earning by going through with this.
>> Final Fantasy XIV is without a doubt in a strange place, but now that we have context let me go over the points we all know about and try and give a fair measure to them.
>> Gameplay: Deep, slow, shallow, unengaging (not even a word), pretty, uninspired, bland, co-dependent.
>> That's two positive descriptors, four negative ones, and two neutral. So at best Final Fantasy XIV's game play is half bad. What? "But, writer person, this list is totally subjective, has no reasoning, no argument and now I don't know how to reply in a way that explains you use a sock for a toilet!" Well, you know what, if you want reviews spoon fed to you then you should go play WoW.
Why? Apparently just because he said so. After all, there's zero examples from the game used to back this up, because he knows he lacks the wherewithal to level good ones. So, instead, he goes on to explain the gravity of the words he uses. Oh, writer person, don't you know this list is totally subjective, has no reasoning, no argument? Oh, wait, I see you do, you wrote it right there. TMI about what you do with your socks.
>> Graphics: Pretty, copy paste, smart, slightly sexy. (what? doesn't every self-respecting gamer dude love a catgirl? Neko ftw)
>> Looks like the art team is vastly more competent than the Gameplay team as they got two positives, a neutral, and a negative. In short. For a console game it looks great. If you haven't been spoiled by games like Tera or you think Ironforge is the bee's knees then you'll enjoy the views. Also the cut scenes get a special mention as they actually are really good if not quite Final Fantasy XIII good. Oh, and yes, Dear Reader. I do know that Final Fantasy XIV uses real time rendered graphics for the cut scenes where as Final Fantasy XIII used pre-rendered movies. However, that doesn't change the fact that Final Fantasy XIII has the better looking ones, now does it? No it doesn't, that was rhetorical.
Fine, the game is pretty,this much is an observation you can make without having to point out examples. However, he then desperately does everything in his power to turn one of FFXIV's assets into a negative by comparing it to the previous game in the series which (he conveniently seems unaware) had radically different technical expectations due to being an offline single-player design.
>> Grip: I played the beta for about 6 hours. I think I've played Minesweeper for the same amount of time in my life.
Admission to having barely played the game long enough to generate a comprehensive first impression, let alone a "review," being justified by a lack of means to appreciate it. Any reviewer who isn't full on themselves would not say, "I hated the first 5 minutes of the movie and walked out, knowing all 120 minutes of the movie are bad" or "I only like action movies, this was a drama, therefore it's awful."
>> While I did like the "all classes in one" approach and I quite enjoyed the thought of having a character that could learn how to cook, fish, mine, etc; and then later pick up a rifle and have at it with all the benefits of higher stats and more cash to spend on better gear. They've taken an awesome system and hamstrung it for the simple reason of trying to get people to play the game longer. Oh sure, they cleverly say "we want the game to appeal to a casual audience who doesn't have the time to grind all day long." Except what they don't tell you is that you're going to be grinding even more than ever since you'll be swapping classes and running out of quests.
>> It's lazy design 101, and I quote from The Lazy Book on Lazy game design, "The more of the game you make your players create the less of the game you have to create. Be warned of flying penisi armies and worse. See: Second Life." If you love the game, you're going to play it a lot more than if you are looking for something that starts with a bang and gets better.
First thing he actually said about the something to be found in game besides "it's pretty." It's mostly a bunch of armchair game design which mostly reflects a fundamental lack of qualification in that it seems he regards anything one than the one kind of game mechanic he knows, perhaps rigid class-based structure, as "lazy design."
As the closest thing to a legitimate critique here, I actually could sympathise with an argument that making cross-classing so easy could be looked at as lazy. However, what makes or breaks such a system would be the details, not the generalization, and the way the argument is presented here is without any of those details, which shouldn ot be too surprising considering it was only played for 6 hours.
>> So, in conclusion, Final Fantasy XIV is not a bad game if you are either sick to death of every other MMORPG out there (in which case you probably just hate MMORPGs), love Final Fantasy XI warts and all, don't feel like waiting until 2011 (when all these new awesome MMORPGs are coming out), or only have a console on which to play MMORPGs. For everyone else? There's nothing to see here, move along.
>> PC: 6/10*
>> PS3: 8/10*
The asterick being "unless you like FFXIV in which case it's 10/10." This one move alone is probably why he decided to title it "dead right" since he figured he covered all his bases. Rather surprising he scored it 6/10 PC considering he did nothing but pan the game, and 8/10 PS3 considering nobody even played the thing yet.
So, in conclusion, this review is nothing more than a thinly disguised trolling where he comes to the FFXIV boards, slams the game, says anyone who disagrees with him is dumb, and then somehow admits grudging respect for the game without mentioning a single reason why other than "it's pretty." Considering trolling is supposed to be against the rules around here and I've done a critical assessment of what he wrote that indicates this is more troll than substance, this reviewer is lucky I'm not a moderator here. D- (at least his punctuation and sentence structure was good) see me after class.
Why do people spend so much time writing something on a forum purely to piss people off? I'm all for trolling for an arguement, which by-the-way is what trolling used to be. I won't however go out of my way to produce a post designed to piss off anyone who reads it, wasting both our time .... so I can bounce in my chair with joy when I "Trolled" someone?
Anyone care to explain it to me? =/
Wanna-be writer looking for reviewers job at a contrarian -positioned game magazine.
The trend is the most controversial writers get more page views. USAs mainstream media is doing this also. Not exactly quality journalism. More like 21st century tabloid trash.
Ken Fisher - Semi retired old fart Network Administrator, now working in Network Security. I don't Forum PVP. If you feel I've attacked you, it was probably by accident. When I don't understand, I ask. Such is not intended as criticism.
Fun fact: I have yet to see 1 thread with an overly positive review about this game
Fun Fact: It's pretty much the same for every other MMO on MMORPG.com
Agreed!
Ken Fisher - Semi retired old fart Network Administrator, now working in Network Security. I don't Forum PVP. If you feel I've attacked you, it was probably by accident. When I don't understand, I ask. Such is not intended as criticism.
Fun fact: I have yet to see 1 thread with an overly positive review about this game
Fun Fact: It's pretty much the same for every other MMO on MMORPG.com
That's not true. I'm sure you can find lots of overly positive reviews whose very existance necessitates it was written by complete drolling fanboys whose complete ignorance of how the game compares to other games permits such a review to exist. It just seems Final Fantasy XIV seems to have a general lack of these for some reason. Oh, poor Final Fantasy XIV, apparently being played by such droll seasoned MMORPG veterans, what will the neighbors think?
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums: Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
I think anyone playing a beta MMORPG and only played for 6 hours thinks they can give a reasonable review of game, is (putting it nicely) fairly ignorant of the genre. Secondly some has an unused account to review a game, I think another agenda is on view here.
I am not saying whether I agree with this review or not, but I find it laughable that people can discount someone's opinion of an MMO because they 'didn't play it long enough.' Do you realize those first 6 hours could be the most important 6 hours that make or break the game for some people? A lot of people won't be thinking, "Well, I just haven't invested enough time, I just need to play more." That initial impression of the game can be crucial.
Also, this may still be beta, but live starts in 9 days. How much is the game going to change in barely over a week?
Six hours is pretty thin if you ask me. I am a self recognized SE fanboi. I havn't been a fan of their recent work (FFXII, FFXIII) but loved pretty much everything before that, including FFXI.
In six hours, to be fair, you can probably try out the leves, craft, fish, fight, etc etc. But, this is an mmo where you don't have access to 80% of the games areas, dungeons, story, etc. Also, in six hours, you either focused on one class, or you only got to lvl 2 or 3 for the rest of the classes.
Can you really judge the merits of the game when you only experience ONE ZONE, one ONE class, or multiple classes at lvl 3? The games cap, currently, is 50.
Everyone here, go back to your favorite mmo and try to review the game based solely on the first six hours. That includes WoW, Aion, LotRO, Warhammer, Aoc, etc. You can't talk about anything else other than what you saw or did.
For wow, it would be like talking about the games' mechanics using a lvl 5 warrior in Goldshire. To add insult ot injury, this game isnt' even released yet. From my personal experience, i've witnessed huge gains in performance and lag from the first day of open beta to yesterday. If they can make those types of strides in one week, then they can do a lot more for release.
I believe the majority of the game is there, but to "review" a game before it's even released is obsurd!!! All of you can make the argument that "open beta = release because it's a week from release." But, what makes you think that the open beta version is the release version. Maybe the open beta version was primarily for getting a "taste" of teh game and primarily for stress testing. You may be right that open beta is 90% of what the release would be, but it doesn't change the fact that all your "reviews" are GUESSES. When the game releases, you can copy and paste your reviews and then say "I told you so." Until then, either call your reviews more appropriately PREVIEWS, or don't post them at all.
There is sooo much misinformation on these forums and so much hate for a game that it's really ridiculous. It's like some of you are on a mission to destroy this game only because it didn't meet your unrealistic and SUBJECTIVE expectations.
I won't write a review, but I will say this. A year from Sept. 22 in the year 2011, FFXIV will have over 600k subscribers (worldwide, minimum). Make a list of MMO's that can claim that a year after release.
There's a niche for this type of game. IF you don't fall into the niche, move on and save yourself the heartache.
Frankly, I stopped taking the OP seriously when he discussed - not to mention later scored - the PS3 version which won't be out for over 6 months from now.
It's pretty much a lot of what others have already stated on these forums, multiple times, dressed up in superfluous word-play that only makes it take longer for him to get to the point.... that he doesn't like XIV.
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
I think most people just sort of ignore all of the posts after the TC and write something. Honestly, I sit here and read the same idiocy repeatedly, even after addressing it for those who are painfully ignorant. It's funny and sad simultaneously.
I actually got a warning for trolling in another thread, although it seems no one is accountable and so flaming, aka: being bombastic, gets called trolling. Not that I even think being bombastic should be an e-crime, however...
For you noob moderators, trolling is when you post something and then later once you get a lot of replies, you change your original post to something totally normal and not incendiary at all. Very dissapointed in the moderation team so far, it's a lot like getting a touchdown and getting called on a incomplete pass by corrupt officials. Lame.
Anyhow, I'm glad my avant-guarde style of posting topics (replies are a diffrerent story and do not get much thought put into them) is provoking discussion on both sides. I'm a bit dissapointed to see so many people fail to get the joke as I actually thought the internet was more intellegent than that. I won't explain the joke, but whatever. I'll be here till I'm banned and then you're all SoL when it comes to tailored entertainment. And, considering everything, you can bet someone will pay a moderators fee to have me banned shortly.
Capitolism in pure free market space, gotta love anarchy.
There was a time not too long ago when the idea of a console being able to play an MMO was revolutionary to the point that the majority of the people behind the Dreamcast were sure they could do no wrong. So confident that including a modem built in would change the face of gaming it was considered as a sure thing that all the lost money would easily be returned. 2010 and the world has most certainly changed, at least in regards to technology. These days the thought of a console not having internet connectivity is about as absurd as having it was in 1999.
Now some of you reading this may already have hit reply and begun to type up, what you think, to be scathing replies that will certainly change my ignorant mind. That's fine, you're not doing it right if you're not pissing off someone. The rest of you fully understand where this is going and hopefully I won't disappoint.
Final Fantasy XIV might seem to be selling it's self as a PC MMORPG first and foremost but to think that would be an easy mistake to make. It's hard to argue that it's coming out on PC first, that Square-Enix has stated they want Final Fantasy XIV to take advantage of the PC's offerings, and as of right now I doubt you could find anyone in the PS3 beta. If it wasn't for one small detail this line of reasoning would hold up: Final Fantasy XI.
It's no secret that Final Fantasy XIV is the sequel to Final Fantasy XI and as such it's totally valid to point out that Final Fantasy XIV is a console MMORPG. If you still haven't hit reply so as to explain to me how a noob like me has a mother that is so fat that when she runs she sweats jell-o. Congratulations, you're not a total idiot!
Final Fantasy XIV is without a doubt in a strange place, but now that we have context let me go over the points we all know about and try and give a fair measure to them.
Gameplay: Deep, slow, shallow, unengaging (not even a word), pretty, uninspired, bland, co-dependent.
That's two positive descriptors, four negative ones, and two neutral. So at best Final Fantasy XIV's game play is half bad. What? "But, writer person, this list is totally subjective, has no reasoning, no argument and now I don't know how to reply in a way that explains you use a sock for a toilet!" Well, you know what, if you want reviews spoon fed to you then you should go play WoW.
Graphics: Pretty, copy paste, smart, slightly sexy. (what? doesn't every self-respecting gamer dude love a catgirl? Neko ftw)
Looks like the art team is vastly more competent than the Gameplay team as they got two positives, a neutral, and a negative. In short. For a console game it looks great. If you haven't been spoiled by games like Tera or you think Ironforge is the bee's knees then you'll enjoy the views. Also the cut scenes get a special mention as they actually are really good if not quite Final Fantasy XIII good. Oh, and yes, Dear Reader. I do know that Final Fantasy XIV uses real time rendered graphics for the cut scenes where as Final Fantasy XIII used pre-rendered movies. However, that doesn't change the fact that Final Fantasy XIII has the better looking ones, now does it? No it doesn't, that was rhetorical.
Grip: I played the beta for about 6 hours. I think I've played Minesweeper for the same amount of time in my life.
...
While I did like the "all classes in one" approach and I quite enjoyed the thought of having a character that could learn how to cook, fish, mine, etc; and then later pick up a rifle and have at it with all the benefits of higher stats and more cash to spend on better gear. They've taken an awesome system and hamstrung it for the simple reason of trying to get people to play the game longer. Oh sure, they cleverly say "we want the game to appeal to a casual audience who doesn't have the time to grind all day long." Except what they don't tell you is that you're going to be grinding even more than ever since you'll be swapping classes and running out of quests.
It's lazy design 101, and I quote from The Lazy Book on Lazy game design, "The more of the game you make your players create the less of the game you have to create. Be warned of flying penisi armies and worse. See: Second Life." If you love the game, you're going to play it a lot more than if you are looking for something that starts with a bang and gets better.
So, in conclusion, Final Fantasy XIV is not a bad game if you are either sick to death of every other MMORPG out there (in which case you probably just hate MMORPGs), love Final Fantasy XI warts and all, don't feel like waiting until 2011 (when all these new awesome MMORPGs are coming out), or only have a console on which to play MMORPGs. For everyone else? There's nothing to see here, move along.
PC: 6/10*
PS3: 8/10*
*if you really loved Final Fantasy Xi then it's a 10/10
I know, it's looking like 2011 is going to go down as the year of the PC MMO! Tera, TOR, GW2, TSW. Something for just about everyone. Sadly it seems as if the post cyber-punk genre is yet to really take off. I just find FF14 facinating. It's really a fish out of water on PC's and other than just pure love from devoted fans I can't say they do anything that another game isn't going to do better in the next 6-8 months.
You know what though, if they actually had developed a PC specific UI and polished up all the rough edges in FF14 it would easily make it a 7/10 or an 8/10 game. I really enjoyed my time as a neko learning how to cook and the slow pacing of the game to an extent. However, the akward combat really doesn't mix well with the relaxing and enjoyable crafting. I did find it hard to look past the inherent flaws that are present because it is intended to run on consoles. Considering I probably own over 30 games in the 360 library and I started gaming on consoles, well... it's just one of those game genre's that work better on PC.
Call it what you want, but I don't have to praise a game that does nothing special, works against it's self, is blatently filled with incompetent design due to platform choice, shoe-horned, and user unfriendly. I'm sure the people who made the game are all very nice people, but honestly, I could care less how nice they are. I'm a gamer, not a politician.
This is a solid review on FF14 that is not even out yet and that does not even matter. Now this is my message I sent to someone by way of PM that is a fan of FF and this is what she thinks about FF14!!!
Private Message - Re: FF14
From: (09/13/10 06:37)
Message 1 Return Next
----Original Message----
Is boring as hell... seriously WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it puts me to sleep at my damn desk,wake up at the sound of my head vs desk, makes me drool at certain points just to turn to see my wife staring at me O.O! and makes me randomly get angry because of the slow slow pace.... this is my mind on a stress giving game. FF14 has no chance vs the others sorry, it is like a major hidden grind with slave like mechanics!!!!!!!
It is designed to be a sink hole of time and money. There is only enough FF elements in it to make people believe it is an actual game. FF went to the toilet the minute it was decided to make it a churning cesspit of rabit fanbois. Furthermore I'm not convinced half these so called fanbois aren't SE and game industry henchmen with an agenda to protect the millions of dollars at state with MMO's in 2010-2011.
I think anyone playing a beta MMORPG and only played for 6 hours thinks they can give a reasonable review of game, is (putting it nicely) fairly ignorant of the genre. Secondly some has an unused account to review a game, I think another agenda is on view here.
I am not saying whether I agree with this review or not, but I find it laughable that people can discount someone's opinion of an MMO because they 'didn't play it long enough.' Do you realize those first 6 hours could be the most important 6 hours that make or break the game for some people? A lot of people won't be thinking, "Well, I just haven't invested enough time, I just need to play more." That initial impression of the game can be crucial.
Also, this may still be beta, but live starts in 9 days. How much is the game going to change in barely over a week?
First impressions of a game are extremely important. Why would I continue to play something I am not enjoying? I know if I like a game before the 1 hour mark. Any other surprises past that (additional cool game mechanics or features) just reinforce how much I like the game. Things that annoy me right away about the game will discourage me from continuing to play. Every aspect I don't like piles up, until I say "that's enough", and I quit and uninstall the damn thing.
That's just me though. =D
EDIT: FFXIV also wins the award for "Longest Uninstall Time Ever Seen for a PC Game"
Comments
Listing a bunch of random adjectives does not make a good review. Tell us why you thought the game was shallow (and deep? that makes no sense). We need actual sentences describing your experiences, not a list of adjectives that describe your feelings.
To sum up my thoughts on this review: Uninformative, biased, irrelevant, condescending, and humorless.
Lets see how our "dead right" review stacks up to this critic's eye:
> There was a time not too long ago when the idea of a console being able to play an MMO was revolutionary to the point that the majority of the people behind the Dreamcast were sure they could do no wrong. So confident that including a modem built in would change the face of gaming it was considered as a sure thing that all the lost money would easily be returned. 2010 and the world has most certainly changed, at least in regards to technology. These days the thought of a console not having internet connectivity is about as absurd as having it was in 1999.
A few technical facts abotu his experiences with Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast bridging its way into great leaps of sweeping personal opinion about the state of the world as he sees it.
> Now some of you reading this may already have hit reply and begun to type up, what you think, to be scathing replies that will certainly change my ignorant mind. That's fine, you're not doing it right if you're not pissing off someone. The rest of you fully understand where this is going and hopefully I won't disappoint.
Pompus dismissing of any value belonging to the inevitable-and-highly-likely critical reception of this review. He knows what he's doing is wrong, but talks himself into forging ahead anyway.
>> Final Fantasy XIV might seem to be selling it's self as a PC MMORPG first and foremost but to think that would be an easy mistake to make. It's hard to argue that it's coming out on PC first, that Square-Enix has stated they want Final Fantasy XIV to take advantage of the PC's offerings, and as of right now I doubt you could find anyone in the PS3 beta. If it wasn't for one small detail this line of reasoning would hold up: Final Fantasy XI.
Completely irrelevant idle speculation not backed up by research found in any other places than the reviewer's imagination. Yes, i doubt I could find anyone in the PS3 beta too, considering I've yet to hear it even started.
>> It's no secret that Final Fantasy XIV is the sequel to Final Fantasy XI and as such it's totally valid to point out that Final Fantasy XIV is a console MMORPG. If you still haven't hit reply so as to explain to me how a noob like me has a mother that is so fat that when she runs she sweats jell-o. Congratulations, you're not a total idiot!
Irrelevant observation about XIV being a sequel to XI (hint: it's in the title) followed by more pompus dismissing of the critical reception he knows he's provoking. A "your mama" joke followed by blasting sarcasm. Classy... to put it sarcastically. He would seem to be mildly afraid of the criticism he knows he's earning by going through with this.
>> Final Fantasy XIV is without a doubt in a strange place, but now that we have context let me go over the points we all know about and try and give a fair measure to them.
>> Gameplay: Deep, slow, shallow, unengaging (not even a word), pretty, uninspired, bland, co-dependent.
>> That's two positive descriptors, four negative ones, and two neutral. So at best Final Fantasy XIV's game play is half bad. What? "But, writer person, this list is totally subjective, has no reasoning, no argument and now I don't know how to reply in a way that explains you use a sock for a toilet!" Well, you know what, if you want reviews spoon fed to you then you should go play WoW.
Why? Apparently just because he said so. After all, there's zero examples from the game used to back this up, because he knows he lacks the wherewithal to level good ones. So, instead, he goes on to explain the gravity of the words he uses. Oh, writer person, don't you know this list is totally subjective, has no reasoning, no argument? Oh, wait, I see you do, you wrote it right there. TMI about what you do with your socks.
>> Graphics: Pretty, copy paste, smart, slightly sexy. (what? doesn't every self-respecting gamer dude love a catgirl? Neko ftw)
>> Looks like the art team is vastly more competent than the Gameplay team as they got two positives, a neutral, and a negative. In short. For a console game it looks great. If you haven't been spoiled by games like Tera or you think Ironforge is the bee's knees then you'll enjoy the views. Also the cut scenes get a special mention as they actually are really good if not quite Final Fantasy XIII good. Oh, and yes, Dear Reader. I do know that Final Fantasy XIV uses real time rendered graphics for the cut scenes where as Final Fantasy XIII used pre-rendered movies. However, that doesn't change the fact that Final Fantasy XIII has the better looking ones, now does it? No it doesn't, that was rhetorical.
Fine, the game is pretty,this much is an observation you can make without having to point out examples. However, he then desperately does everything in his power to turn one of FFXIV's assets into a negative by comparing it to the previous game in the series which (he conveniently seems unaware) had radically different technical expectations due to being an offline single-player design.
>> Grip: I played the beta for about 6 hours. I think I've played Minesweeper for the same amount of time in my life.
Admission to having barely played the game long enough to generate a comprehensive first impression, let alone a "review," being justified by a lack of means to appreciate it. Any reviewer who isn't full on themselves would not say, "I hated the first 5 minutes of the movie and walked out, knowing all 120 minutes of the movie are bad" or "I only like action movies, this was a drama, therefore it's awful."
>> While I did like the "all classes in one" approach and I quite enjoyed the thought of having a character that could learn how to cook, fish, mine, etc; and then later pick up a rifle and have at it with all the benefits of higher stats and more cash to spend on better gear. They've taken an awesome system and hamstrung it for the simple reason of trying to get people to play the game longer. Oh sure, they cleverly say "we want the game to appeal to a casual audience who doesn't have the time to grind all day long." Except what they don't tell you is that you're going to be grinding even more than ever since you'll be swapping classes and running out of quests.
>> It's lazy design 101, and I quote from The Lazy Book on Lazy game design, "The more of the game you make your players create the less of the game you have to create. Be warned of flying penisi armies and worse. See: Second Life." If you love the game, you're going to play it a lot more than if you are looking for something that starts with a bang and gets better.
First thing he actually said about the something to be found in game besides "it's pretty." It's mostly a bunch of armchair game design which mostly reflects a fundamental lack of qualification in that it seems he regards anything one than the one kind of game mechanic he knows, perhaps rigid class-based structure, as "lazy design."
As the closest thing to a legitimate critique here, I actually could sympathise with an argument that making cross-classing so easy could be looked at as lazy. However, what makes or breaks such a system would be the details, not the generalization, and the way the argument is presented here is without any of those details, which shouldn ot be too surprising considering it was only played for 6 hours.
>> So, in conclusion, Final Fantasy XIV is not a bad game if you are either sick to death of every other MMORPG out there (in which case you probably just hate MMORPGs), love Final Fantasy XI warts and all, don't feel like waiting until 2011 (when all these new awesome MMORPGs are coming out), or only have a console on which to play MMORPGs. For everyone else? There's nothing to see here, move along.
>> PC: 6/10*
>> PS3: 8/10*
The asterick being "unless you like FFXIV in which case it's 10/10." This one move alone is probably why he decided to title it "dead right" since he figured he covered all his bases. Rather surprising he scored it 6/10 PC considering he did nothing but pan the game, and 8/10 PS3 considering nobody even played the thing yet.
So, in conclusion, this review is nothing more than a thinly disguised trolling where he comes to the FFXIV boards, slams the game, says anyone who disagrees with him is dumb, and then somehow admits grudging respect for the game without mentioning a single reason why other than "it's pretty." Considering trolling is supposed to be against the rules around here and I've done a critical assessment of what he wrote that indicates this is more troll than substance, this reviewer is lucky I'm not a moderator here. D- (at least his punctuation and sentence structure was good) see me after class.
Fun fact: I have yet to see 1 thread with an overly positive review about this game
Fun Fact: It's pretty much the same for every other MMO on MMORPG.com
Wanna-be writer looking for reviewers job at a contrarian -positioned game magazine.
The trend is the most controversial writers get more page views. USAs mainstream media is doing this also. Not exactly quality journalism. More like 21st century tabloid trash.
People are used to negative reviews around here. I find them amusing, even without the popcorn.
This is just a PC > Console thread in disguise.
Agreed!
That's not true. I'm sure you can find lots of overly positive reviews whose very existance necessitates it was written by complete drolling fanboys whose complete ignorance of how the game compares to other games permits such a review to exist. It just seems Final Fantasy XIV seems to have a general lack of these for some reason. Oh, poor Final Fantasy XIV, apparently being played by such droll seasoned MMORPG veterans, what will the neighbors think?
Lol. You know what, maybe you have a point there. Let me do a quick 2-3 min search to see if I can remedy that
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
I am not saying whether I agree with this review or not, but I find it laughable that people can discount someone's opinion of an MMO because they 'didn't play it long enough.' Do you realize those first 6 hours could be the most important 6 hours that make or break the game for some people? A lot of people won't be thinking, "Well, I just haven't invested enough time, I just need to play more." That initial impression of the game can be crucial.
Also, this may still be beta, but live starts in 9 days. How much is the game going to change in barely over a week?
Six hours is pretty thin if you ask me. I am a self recognized SE fanboi. I havn't been a fan of their recent work (FFXII, FFXIII) but loved pretty much everything before that, including FFXI.
In six hours, to be fair, you can probably try out the leves, craft, fish, fight, etc etc. But, this is an mmo where you don't have access to 80% of the games areas, dungeons, story, etc. Also, in six hours, you either focused on one class, or you only got to lvl 2 or 3 for the rest of the classes.
Can you really judge the merits of the game when you only experience ONE ZONE, one ONE class, or multiple classes at lvl 3? The games cap, currently, is 50.
Everyone here, go back to your favorite mmo and try to review the game based solely on the first six hours. That includes WoW, Aion, LotRO, Warhammer, Aoc, etc. You can't talk about anything else other than what you saw or did.
For wow, it would be like talking about the games' mechanics using a lvl 5 warrior in Goldshire. To add insult ot injury, this game isnt' even released yet. From my personal experience, i've witnessed huge gains in performance and lag from the first day of open beta to yesterday. If they can make those types of strides in one week, then they can do a lot more for release.
I believe the majority of the game is there, but to "review" a game before it's even released is obsurd!!! All of you can make the argument that "open beta = release because it's a week from release." But, what makes you think that the open beta version is the release version. Maybe the open beta version was primarily for getting a "taste" of teh game and primarily for stress testing. You may be right that open beta is 90% of what the release would be, but it doesn't change the fact that all your "reviews" are GUESSES. When the game releases, you can copy and paste your reviews and then say "I told you so." Until then, either call your reviews more appropriately PREVIEWS, or don't post them at all.
There is sooo much misinformation on these forums and so much hate for a game that it's really ridiculous. It's like some of you are on a mission to destroy this game only because it didn't meet your unrealistic and SUBJECTIVE expectations.
I won't write a review, but I will say this. A year from Sept. 22 in the year 2011, FFXIV will have over 600k subscribers (worldwide, minimum). Make a list of MMO's that can claim that a year after release.
There's a niche for this type of game. IF you don't fall into the niche, move on and save yourself the heartache.
Frankly, I stopped taking the OP seriously when he discussed - not to mention later scored - the PS3 version which won't be out for over 6 months from now.
It's pretty much a lot of what others have already stated on these forums, multiple times, dressed up in superfluous word-play that only makes it take longer for him to get to the point.... that he doesn't like XIV.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
I think most people just sort of ignore all of the posts after the TC and write something. Honestly, I sit here and read the same idiocy repeatedly, even after addressing it for those who are painfully ignorant. It's funny and sad simultaneously.
To all "reviewers", i dont give a crap if you like the game or not, I'll make my own decisions.
When I said i had "time", i meant virtual time, i got no RL "time" for you.
I actually got a warning for trolling in another thread, although it seems no one is accountable and so flaming, aka: being bombastic, gets called trolling. Not that I even think being bombastic should be an e-crime, however...
For you noob moderators, trolling is when you post something and then later once you get a lot of replies, you change your original post to something totally normal and not incendiary at all. Very dissapointed in the moderation team so far, it's a lot like getting a touchdown and getting called on a incomplete pass by corrupt officials. Lame.
Anyhow, I'm glad my avant-guarde style of posting topics (replies are a diffrerent story and do not get much thought put into them) is provoking discussion on both sides. I'm a bit dissapointed to see so many people fail to get the joke as I actually thought the internet was more intellegent than that. I won't explain the joke, but whatever. I'll be here till I'm banned and then you're all SoL when it comes to tailored entertainment. And, considering everything, you can bet someone will pay a moderators fee to have me banned shortly.
Capitolism in pure free market space, gotta love anarchy.
PerfectLife,
LOOK! TERA!
TRUST THE COMPUTER! THE COMPUTER IS YOUR FRIEND!
Stay Alert! Trust No One! Keep Your Laser Handy!
Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues!
Yawn... Whatever you say bud.
Except for conflicting adjectives, seems spot on.
He who keeps his cool best wins.
Perhaps you could isolate some specifics for us?
Originally posted by heavyhebrew
PerfectLife, LOOK! TERA!
I know, it's looking like 2011 is going to go down as the year of the PC MMO! Tera, TOR, GW2, TSW. Something for just about everyone. Sadly it seems as if the post cyber-punk genre is yet to really take off. I just find FF14 facinating. It's really a fish out of water on PC's and other than just pure love from devoted fans I can't say they do anything that another game isn't going to do better in the next 6-8 months.
You know what though, if they actually had developed a PC specific UI and polished up all the rough edges in FF14 it would easily make it a 7/10 or an 8/10 game. I really enjoyed my time as a neko learning how to cook and the slow pacing of the game to an extent. However, the akward combat really doesn't mix well with the relaxing and enjoyable crafting. I did find it hard to look past the inherent flaws that are present because it is intended to run on consoles. Considering I probably own over 30 games in the 360 library and I started gaming on consoles, well... it's just one of those game genre's that work better on PC.
Call it what you want, but I don't have to praise a game that does nothing special, works against it's self, is blatently filled with incompetent design due to platform choice, shoe-horned, and user unfriendly. I'm sure the people who made the game are all very nice people, but honestly, I could care less how nice they are. I'm a gamer, not a politician.
This is a solid review on FF14 that is not even out yet and that does not even matter. Now this is my message I sent to someone by way of PM that is a fan of FF and this is what she thinks about FF14!!!
Private Message - Re: FF14
From: (09/13/10 06:37)
Message 1 Return Next
----Original Message----
Is boring as hell... seriously WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it puts me to sleep at my damn desk,wake up at the sound of my head vs desk, makes me drool at certain points just to turn to see my wife staring at me O.O! and makes me randomly get angry because of the slow slow pace.... this is my mind on a stress giving game. FF14 has no chance vs the others sorry, it is like a major hidden grind with slave like mechanics!!!!!!!
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It is designed to be a sink hole of time and money. There is only enough FF elements in it to make people believe it is an actual game. FF went to the toilet the minute it was decided to make it a churning cesspit of rabit fanbois. Furthermore I'm not convinced half these so called fanbois aren't SE and game industry henchmen with an agenda to protect the millions of dollars at state with MMO's in 2010-2011.
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MMORPG.COM - Your headquarters for massive multiplayer online role-playing games!
Get your free @mmorpg.com e-mail address today! http://www.mmorpg.com
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First impressions of a game are extremely important. Why would I continue to play something I am not enjoying? I know if I like a game before the 1 hour mark. Any other surprises past that (additional cool game mechanics or features) just reinforce how much I like the game. Things that annoy me right away about the game will discourage me from continuing to play. Every aspect I don't like piles up, until I say "that's enough", and I quit and uninstall the damn thing.
That's just me though. =D
EDIT: FFXIV also wins the award for "Longest Uninstall Time Ever Seen for a PC Game"