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How does FF XIV compare to these games?
flguy147
Member UncommonPosts: 507
Hey everybody, i was just wondering how you would rank FF XIV compared to these games: Aion, Lotro, and AOC. These are the last 3 games i have played so was wondering where you would rank it compared to these as in better or worse. i know its all opinion but just trying to get a feel from people that have played beta so far. thanks
Comments
Before anyone can give an accurate answer to your question, we're going to have to wait a bit... Can't really compare a game in beta to ones alread released. I can tell you that I played Aion in beta, and wasn't terribly impressed. Played FFXIV in beta, and so far it's beta is much better than Aions was.
Apples and oranges. Play it and find out. Personally, I think it's a terrible game, but you may really enjoy it. Don't let these forums influence you.
edit: Aion had the smoothest beta I've ever played... by far.
"World of Warcraft, Age of Conan, and Aion Online - how do they compare to Final Fantasy XIV?" is a bit like asking "Canada, Brazil, and Afghanistan - how do they compare to England?" It would leave even a 250 IQ historical major in each country boggling for lack of any idea what you expect them to say, although it might attract some idiots who exclaim, "I HATE FRANCE" in reply.
So, considering this, I guess I'll just throw some generalizations at you:
In general, FFXIV has a different interface than any of those games, which are somewhat World of Warcraft (Age of Conan, less so). FFXIV, like FFXI, is built to be gamepad friendly, and that may rub you the wrong way if you love your fancy-pants point-and-click interfaces more than anything else.
In general, FFXIV is more hardcore than those games... except for Aion, which is a massive mercilous grind.. actually, Final Fantasy XIV is considerably less hardcore than Aion in all respects other than the completely player-driven economy, as crafting is like a wrestling match with Greek Titans and putting items up for sale like throwing a [bottle] with a message in it into the ocean and hoping somebody picks it up.
Final Fantasy XIV is prettier than every game on that list, best looking MMORPG ever made. [You] might disagree with that stylistically, beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all, but technically speaking the engine does things that no MMORPG engine has done before it, like have every single earring and ring visible on your character model.
So, there you have it. If you were expecting something in particular, you should have specified.
"In general, FFXIV is more hardcore than those games... except for Aion, which is a massive mercilous grind.. actually, Final Fantasy XIV is considerably less hardcore than Aion in all respects other than the completely player-driven economy, as crafting is like a wrestling match with Greek Titans and putting items up for sale like throwing a battle with a message in it into the ocean and hoping somebody picks it up."
Aion has really fixed all the grinding issues with the introduction of solo instances, increased XP rates and ganking fixes in the Abyss during patch 2.0. It's much more user friendly now. If you were trying to write an "Objective" review like you've been wanting from other reviewers, saying such things is not the way to go.
"Final Fantasy XIV is prettier than every game on that list, best looking MMORPG ever made. Your might disagree with that stylistically, beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all, but technically speaking the engine does things that no MMORPG engine has done before it, like have every single earring and ring visible on your character model."
That's really up to opinion honestly. While FFXIV is a pretty game, its character customization is still lacking. It doesn't feature the robust character customization of Aion, which is up in the top 10 games as far as Character Customization goes. Also, the CryEngine isn't something to be knocked. It is still a powerful engine that continues to awe even to this day.
~Miles "Tails" Prower out! Catch me if you can!
Come Join us at www.globalequestria.com - Meet other fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic!
Agreed with every word of this, including about Aion beta (though I didn't end up staying with that game beyond the free 30 days).
If I had to draw some comparisons, I'd say it's slower paced than any of those games, with less emphasis on action and more on community (besides maybe lotro in some ways). Also, no PvP in FFXIV (yet).
As a Beta the gameplay is nice, the interface is a little clunky. They did state that release version would have hardware mouse capability and a better interface along with plenty of other features. Because of that Beta needs to be uninstalled from peoples computers, unlike Aion etc where you could just patch the beta client to the retail because there is not much change.
So like stated before you cant go off anything right now till Final Fantasy 14 hits release and that released version gets reviewed.
Aion didn't really have a beta. They gave us the live Korean code to play around in, which had been retail for 1.5 years. While the game itself was polished, it's the worst beta I've been in. As there was nothing to test. Westernised code wasn't pushed until the last moment.
FF XIV doesn't have any community development features, other than for crafting. From what I've seen (at least here) a high percentage seem to be arrogant and elitist. In game, next to nobody speaks to anyone. It is not community focused, at all, beyond forced grouping to get any decent XP from leves. At its heart, its a grinder. So the most similar out of that list is Aion, although that has much more content, and varied mechanics.
Listen, Tails, I don't know what Sonic has been telling you about reviews - I know that hedgehog likes to live hard and fast - but you shouldn't hold somebody to "objective review" standards unless they actually mention it's supposed to be a review at some point. I know you're just a little fox, but you're smart as a whip, so try not to let that smartness end up making you sound like a trigger-happy Aion Online apologist.
Also, it's not necessary to point out something is opinion when the thing you're agreeing with has already said it is an opinion. What would Sonic say? "That's mighty slow of you there, Tails... maybe I'll go see if Marine wants to be my sidekick." Then he would get all the Chaos emeralds and go completely super saiyan before explictably losing them because that's just how he rolls.
I played xi for ~ 7 years. (Ballista Junky)
I played WAR for 6 months... was fun while it lasted.
I played Aion since N/A launch and it's really sad that NC soft self-destructed their servers by giving the PLAYERS the freedom to go wherever they wanted after server merges that didn't even make sense in the first place. It was a beautiful game that had a lot of potential to keeps subs for many years. The community is horrible, trolls everywhere.
I look forward logging into XIV next Wednesday and spread some "you don't need a reason to help people" attitude. I will miss flying around and gliding the most out of anything in Aion, it was refreshing and a lot of fun.
Hopefully I'll play XIV more than 7 years!!! I just hope SE makes some haste putting in those pvp mini sport games.
I'm done with "WoW" clones UI copycats from EQ style etc... It seems like the communities in games where they have this UI just ruin the game and servers by themselves... Maybe this is just the cycle of those pvp faction oriented games' life span?
Hopefully XIV will grow some legs and I can sink some years into it. It always helps when your family members and old friends want to start fresh, it's exciting!
I just assumed after reading your other posts about how you are itching for more objective reviews that you yourself would follow those same guidelines. I apologize.
As far as Sonic goes? I've been his side-kick for years! He still can't swim, you know. He may get all those fancy powers with the Chaos Emeralds, but drop him in water and it's "Tails! I'm drowning!". Even though he refuses to take me on his newest adventures, I know he wouldn't drop me off somewhere like a moldy chili dog!
Also, I admit. I'm a bit tired after E-123 Omega's Tune-up. Shadow is way too pushy and Rouge is so annoying! Can't turn my head without her trying to stuff a Chaos Emerald in her clothes. *sigh*. They don't pay me enough for this! *munches on mint candy*
~Miles "Tails" Prower out! Catch me if you can!
Come Join us at www.globalequestria.com - Meet other fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic!
out of those 3 games, i've only played LOTRO and i liked both LOTRO and the beta of ff14.
LOTRO is a quest-and-hotbar mmo a la wow, though i like the crafting a lot better in LOTR than in wow. FFXIV is not that kind of game. It's got more of a "world simulation" aspect to it than LOTRO does. 14 is not exactly a "sand box" as is UO or eve, but it's got elements of them. gear acquisition will be a LOT more crafting oriented than in most other games.
in ff14 crafting is a daunting undertaking and not something to just supplement your combat class, as it is in LOTRO. you can fail combines in ff14 whereas you can't in lotro (although you can "critical success" a craft in both games).
in LOTRO the interface is kind of second-nature, whereas in 14 you'll have to take time to learn it, unless you also played ff11 in which case it'll be familiar.
in LOTRO the servers are all english speaking (EU LOTRO has EU language servers) whereas in ffxiv there are jpn and etc ppl on the same servers as USA folks. there's an auto-translate function built in to help communicate when you need to. many linkshells (kins) acutally allow multiple langs in the group, though i would say most are jpn speaking only or engl only. it takes a while to get used to the fact that there are some random language barriers out there but you get used to it and frankly, JPN is a lot of hours behind most US timezones so our primetime is off from theirs. a neat benefit is that if you happen to logon during an offtime chances are it's primetime JPN and you'll have folks to run with (i'm a chronically early riser and i used to know some late nighters from JPN in ff11 that i partied with from time to time)
both games are graphically great, though i like 14's character models more. i think lotro's graphical weakpoint is its character models.
lore-wise, the FF series is strange in that, although one entry in the series does not directly lead to the next, there IS a certain thematic string that rns through the FF games. I would be inclined to state that SqE is probably MORE adherent to the "ff mythos" than turbine is to the tolkien legacy. they are, in fact very careful of their thematic and stylistic elements and the game feels very coherent and VERY final fantasy. LOTR feels coherent and well made and realized but it feels more like something loosely based on middle-earth than based entirely on M-earth.
there is a certain genre blending in ff games (over time) and i would say the ff14 feel is that of high fantasy mixed with a decent amount of steampunk. there are airships you'll see in 14 that practically define the term "steampunk". i would say that these 2 genre of speculative fiction have even more of a thematic sway over the game than the "anime" thematic elements do.
honestly LOTRO is one of my 3 fav mmos ever (eve and eq1) but i am not counting ff14 in that ranking because it's not out yet. it certainly has potential to be on that list; it's very good for the kind of game it is.
in conclusion both games are good in their own way and altough the 2 games are fairly different, there's no reason you cant like both (as i do).
ty for reading hope this helps. as you might gather i personally recommend both games and if it werent for my undying love of eve i'd sub to both. (as it is i think i'll remin subbed to eve and also sub to ff14).
itch
edit- noticed 3 spelling phailz
RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.
Currently Playing EVE, ESO
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
Dwight D Eisenhower
My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.
Henry Rollins
QFT, I've felt that way too, all of the sudden something reminds you of elements from other FF series.
This person obviously did not get accepted into any linkshells while they played in Beta. The shortcomings of one individual does not make an entire community. In any game, this one or any other, if you are anti-social and intraverted, you will most likely be left on your own unless someone goes out of thier way to put you under thier wing and coddle you. Comments like 'nobody speaks to anyone', 'forced grouping', 'grinder', and calling everyone 'arrogant and elitist' should be a dead give away as to this posters true mental standing, Intraverted and anti-social. This view of the game is based entriely on the situation this poster created. Feeling left out, alone, and doing nothing on your end to avoid that, merely cowering in the corner and calling everyone big meanies will do nothing but leave you alone in the corner. This is not the fault of the game, but the player.
In open Beta, each of my characters had at least 5 linkshells that were all very active, both in grouping for fun, exploration, help, or just role-play or BS chat. Everyone in them had a ball. There was no 'forced' anything in this game, and if you think everything that isn't handed to you is a grind, well then yeah its a grind. Personally though I dont think you need to have someone tell you to live your life (quests) in order to go live your life, some do. To them though, I know of many other games out there more than willing to take your hand and guide you through your life every minute of every day. And if saying that makes me arrogant and/or elitist, well then whatever, I view it is self sufficient.
(DISCLAIMER - The use of the word YOU in the above post is not directed at any one person in particular, but towards those who fall into the category itself - there is no personal attack here, neither intentional nor implied.)
You will never know what FFXIV is like unless you hurry and try the open beta.
It's something you have to experience to know whether it's "your" type of game.
It's nothing like those games. IT doesn't play like any other game other than FFXI.