The OP reported two very different problems here. The lag/stuttering is less of a concern, as by tweaking individual settings they should be able to get it to run well.
I do have to agree that FFXIV does a poor job of introducing you to the game systems. Sure, it has a nice movie beginning in each area, but it doesn't help you get started on playing the actual game. This is accessibility people - and this is a huge issue.
I'm sure this type of feedback will be all over the place, as it was the same way in beta. I assume SE will implement a proper tutorial down the road, but probably had to rush the release out the door to make money for Q3 2010 earning statements.
I do have to agree that FFXIV does a poor job of introducing you to the game systems. Sure, it has a nice movie beginning in each area, but it doesn't help you get started on playing the actual game. This is accessibility people - and this is a huge issue.
I'm sure this type of feedback will be all over the place, as it was the same way in beta. I assume SE will implement a proper tutorial down the road, but probably had to rush the release out the door to make money for Q3 2010 earning statements.
If they follow the same way they did with ffxi, there wont be any improvements about this, while i agree it can be a big deal for some, as long as your aware the game lacks deep tutorials, the impact it will cause on you is minimal.
The OP reported two very different problems here. The lag/stuttering is less of a concern, as by tweaking individual settings they should be able to get it to run well.
I do have to agree that FFXIV does a poor job of introducing you to the game systems. Sure, it has a nice movie beginning in each area, but it doesn't help you get started on playing the actual game. This is accessibility people - and this is a huge issue.
I'm sure this type of feedback will be all over the place, as it was the same way in beta. I assume SE will implement a proper tutorial down the road, but probably had to rush the release out the door to make money for Q3 2010 earning statements.
The people who stubbornly refused to...
A) Read the basic user guide SE put together and posted on the beta site,
Refused to ask anyone for help, and
C) Gave up on it without even *trying* to figure it out...
... had a difficult time.
For most, however, it was not that difficult to pick up, at all. The difference isn't some "higher threshold of pain", or "superior intellect". The difference is some of us took the time to familiarize ourselves with it, while others took that time to complain on the forums about it.
For post-launch, pages 27-29 of the official manual have the controls and default key settings nicely laid out.
I agree a tutorial assisting with such things would be helpful, but it's not "absolutely necessary" to learn the game. All the help people could need with the controls in the game, and other aspects, is readily available.
If some people put 1/4th the energy into simply learning and adapting to something new and different as they do complaining about it on forums, none of them would have a problem figuring it out.
"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
Made me wonder the game is not as bad as people claim it is , when people outside of the FFXI fan group and from the other edge of the mmo industry , wow players , are actually moving into ffxiv.
Not me tought i know what ffxiv is and why i like it , just was speaking my mind in general towards the complains about ffxiv.
I think you misunderstand that situation. 'WoW players' aren't really a niche, like many people want to think they are. Blizzard games are immensely popular and attract a wide demographic. WoW players jumping to FFXIV isn't really all that surprisingly. WoW players have jumped to EVERY major MMO that has been released since WoW started making expansions. Why? Because more and more people are tired of WoW. They want to find a new game that can give them the same feeling as WoW did, but just can't seem to find it in newer MMOs.
After playing the FFXIV beta, I'm actually not surprised by this review. I think that, to a large extent, people aren't exaggerating too much with most of the criticisms to the game. I see a lot of people giving this game a lot of slack, for excuses made by the developers. 'The game is emphasising graphics, so it's okay that it doesn't run smoothly' or 'this game doesn't hold your hand, so it doesn't need run smoothly' are examples of this. You can look at games like FarCry (which is also heavily graphics oriented) and see the difference between a game that is just a huge graphics hog, and a game that is just poorly optimized.
I do hope, that over the next month or so, SE is able to remedy most of these issues so people can enjoy the game, regardless of whether their system matches the systems that SE is using in-house. It'll be nice to see what the game is like with all these hurdles removed.
I was surprised to see that i get lower frame rates now than i did in Beta.
The game however feels a lot smoother and i dont experience any big Lag issues.
The hardware mouse seems to work fine even tho i dont need it i suppose its nice to have it now.
I still get the Direct X crash already got it twice today really was hoping that would be fixed.
Seems as if there are quiet a few new recipes in the game now it was announced but i was skeptic and am happy to see that it was true.
Some areas in the citys r still not accessible which is the biggest minus for me i dont get any excuse why i cant go there now (like with the airships) i just cant enter the zone.That makes me feel like i play a game that is not rdy yet which considered the prize of the CE should not be but maybe it will be fixed in one of the maintenance ill have to wait and see.
Overall i am impressed ok i am a fan so maybe its easy to impress me but it all runs a lot better than i hoped for now just let me enter all Areas and i am happy.
This is the official SE ffxiv tutorial/news/ help/ information/ whatever page, hope it helps, also play around with your ffxiv config.exe to change options.
A) Read the basic user guide SE put together and posted on the beta site,
Refused to ask anyone for help, and
C) Gave up on it without even *trying* to figure it out...
If you have to do A and B in your list just to play a game and understand it, then it is the games failing not the players. Having to do those things shows a game has failed in it's design. If an average gamer can't come in and pick up your game and understand it without being confused after 30 mins of play, you have utterly and completely failed in designing your game. The first 30 mins should always be designed with the asumption that whoever is playing your game has never played a game like this before. It sucks for veteran gamers having to go through that hand holding which is why there's usually an option to skip it.
Blaming the gamers for crap game design is really the absolute lowest possible way to defend your game. You FF XIV defenders are getting hilarious in your zealous crusade to show how great this game is, how you have to be some kind of enlightened individual with incredible taste in games just to play it. Trying to set yourselves up as some kind of elite gamer because you "get it".
I hate to tell you this, but you remind me alot of the defenders and disciples of the battlecruiser games by derek smart. You and that other guy that seems to post in every negative thread on this game are hilarious. I'm sorry but this game has huge glaring flaws, it was released too soon, it's poorly optimized, it's designed for consoles first and pawned off on PC users, it severely lacks any type of content that most MMO players are accustomed to having. Had this game been released shortly after the first everquest it's style of gameplay would have fit right in, but not in todays MMO market.
I still get the Direct X crash already got it twice today really was hoping that would be fixed.
Most likely there is an issue with your system or you need to update something.
That not true.
If you play in full screen and alt tab away you will get a crash error.
If you are watching a cut scene in window mode and click on the start menu you also can get a crash error. It happened to me several times yesterday when I would hit the play button on the main screen and go to the start window to open up Itunes or Vent. The game would try to load the Square Enix splash page and crash with a directx error.
Saying I should just not navigate away from the Final Fantasy window when watching cut scenes is a work around and not a fix.
I have said it before, the PC port of this game is sloppy and very shoddy workmanship on SE’s part. From the patcher, the lack of optimization, crash if you alt tab in full screen, can’t use the maximize button in windowed mode, to the sluggish UI it all adds up . SE should have skipped the PC version of this game and just released it to the PS3.
After reading this review, I'm going to hold off buying this game.
As per the opening poster himself, this is NOT a review and shouldn't be used as a review. Just repeating what he said for clearification, wouldn't want anyone to think he wrote a review of the game and people were actually using it to decide if they were going to play this game. Because he was adamant that this was not what he intended.
(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.)
I wish I read up a bit before buying this game.. Last night was 4 hours of frustration. I really wanted to like the game. I kept plunging forward expecting/hoping things would click and that I could adjust the UI/Camera, etc to work better. No Tractor beam when talking and that I would figure out how to get to the quick ref. keys.. am i missing something or can't you even jump in the game? I cant run off a cliff? Force field?
And to top it all off, if i understand correctly, I have to pay 9.99 per month plus $3 per month for each char? so 3 chars 18.99 per month?
I still get the Direct X crash already got it twice today really was hoping that would be fixed.
Most likely there is an issue with your system or you need to update something.
I will not say now that i can say for sure its not my system but it is unlikely i keep my drivers up to date and all other games run without any trouble.
I also am not the only one having this issue lots of my LS mates have the same problem and from what they say they also dont experience this prob in other games.
However it happened twice and i played quiet a long time (about 12hrs) so its not that big of a deal....its annoying tho since the game seems to wait till i start a Leve to crash on me lol (both times i crashed in the middle of a Leve)
Anyway maybe its really my system any advice what to try to fix it?
Great game, tons of fun, well worth the money. Buy it!!
(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.)
A) Read the basic user guide SE put together and posted on the beta site,
Refused to ask anyone for help, and
C) Gave up on it without even *trying* to figure it out...
If you have to do A and B in your list just to play a game and understand it, then it is the games failing not the players.(actually its the players fault imo. they have the user guide there for a reason. the game has hundreds upon hundreds of commands. to be effective you should make macros, learn the hotkeys on the keyboard. learn how to program it on gamepad if your using that.) Having to do those things shows a game has failed in it's design. If an average gamer can't come in and pick up your game and understand it without being confused after 30 mins of play, you have utterly and completely failed in designing your game.(i was told to always dedicate at least 4 full hours to any mmo learning the basic controlls and getting a feel for the ui, and mechanics. 30 minutes isnt enough time to do anything in a ff game. let alone in a mmo. hell, even 4 hours might not be enough. i would say give it a learning curve of 6 hours.) The first 30 mins should always be designed with the asumption that whoever is playing your game has never played a game like this before.(i disagree) It sucks for veteran gamers having to go through that hand holding which is why there's usually an option to skip it.( veteran gamers might be smart enough to actually read the game manuel for this game, or play through the tutorial. ITS THERE FOR A REASON! its there because its not an easy game to understand, and why should it be?)
Blaming the gamers for crap game design is really the absolute lowest possible way to defend your game. You FF XIV defenders are getting hilarious in your zealous crusade to show how great this game is, how you have to be some kind of enlightened individual with incredible taste in games just to play it. (not true, you just have to have patience, have an open mind, and be competent. not to beat a dead horse, but this game is not easy like alot of other mmo's. it was designed that way. if you played ffxi, then you can appreciate the design of this game. there will probably be people who played ffxi and not like ffxiv. its bound to happen.) Trying to set yourselves up as some kind of elite gamer because you "get it".( if you dont get it, doesnt that make you fail? or is it you just dont want to try because its not you cup of tea. thats also ok, but dont bash the game because its not to your liking. this is what brings out us "FFXIV Defenders" as you call us.)
I hate to tell you this, but you remind me alot of the defenders and disciples of the battlecruiser games by derek smart. You and that other guy that seems to post in every negative thread on this game are hilarious. I'm sorry but this game has huge glaring flaws(all mmo's do at first), it was released too soon(based on what?), it's poorly optimized(because it requires people to have a decent comp to run it? just because your comp can run wow at max settings, or aion, or age of conan, dont think it will be like that forever. ), it's designed for consoles first and pawned off on PC users(i dont remember the devs ever saying this), it severely lacks any type of content that most MMO players are accustomed to having( can you expand on this? what content are "most mmo players" looking for?). Had this game been released shortly after the first everquest it's style of gameplay would have fit right in, but not in todays MMO market.( another personal opinion, although i disagree. its fine in todays market.)
red is my response.
p.s the min system requirements for ffxiv will soon become the min req for alot of new mmo's. i think tera is one of them.
Great game, tons of fun, well worth the money. Buy it!!
Ditto!
ditto, just no need to get the collectors. if you on the fence, just wait till the official release on the 30th and then buy it, or try to get a buddy pass. although u need some1 with the cd's to play.
just saying...it took me 3 hours to get all the keybinds fixed so i can play this game with only my left hand. No thats not 'learning curve' thats me setting up my keybinds (NOT THROUGH FF14) then cursing out WHY THE FRAK ITS EASIER TO JUST PRESS ENTER -> LEFT/RIGHT TO SELECT THE RIGHT ATTACK -> ENTER TO ATTACK STUFF INSTEAD OF 1->2->1->3 etc x.x
Not that I minded it was good practice for my left hands dexterity. Attacks, Commands, movement, camera, everything on the left hand o.o
The controls just werent intuitive lol using the mouse was a total pain and using the hotkeys for attacks were a total pain.
And idk what you guys mean by 'a lot to do' there really wasnt much when I tried o.o
it was Grind/craft/leves and thats all o.o story but yah you have to be solo for that
A) Read the basic user guide SE put together and posted on the beta site,
Refused to ask anyone for help, and
C) Gave up on it without even *trying* to figure it out...
If you have to do A and B in your list just to play a game and understand it, then it is the games failing not the players.(actually its the players fault imo. they have the user guide there for a reason. the game has hundreds upon hundreds of commands. to be effective you should make macros, learn the hotkeys on the keyboard. learn how to program it on gamepad if your using that.) Having to do those things shows a game has failed in it's design. If an average gamer can't come in and pick up your game and understand it without being confused after 30 mins of play, you have utterly and completely failed in designing your game.(i was told to always dedicate at least 4 full hours to any mmo learning the basic controlls and getting a feel for the ui, and mechanics. 30 minutes isnt enough time to do anything in a ff game. let alone in a mmo. hell, even 4 hours might not be enough. i would say give it a learning curve of 6 hours.) The first 30 mins should always be designed with the asumption that whoever is playing your game has never played a game like this before.(i disagree) It sucks for veteran gamers having to go through that hand holding which is why there's usually an option to skip it.( veteran gamers might be smart enough to actually read the game manuel for this game, or play through the tutorial. ITS THERE FOR A REASON! its there because its not an easy game to understand, and why should it be?)
Blaming the gamers for crap game design is really the absolute lowest possible way to defend your game. You FF XIV defenders are getting hilarious in your zealous crusade to show how great this game is, how you have to be some kind of enlightened individual with incredible taste in games just to play it. (not true, you just have to have patience, have an open mind, and be competent. not to beat a dead horse, but this game is not easy like alot of other mmo's. it was designed that way. if you played ffxi, then you can appreciate the design of this game. there will probably be people who played ffxi and not like ffxiv. its bound to happen.) Trying to set yourselves up as some kind of elite gamer because you "get it".( if you dont get it, doesnt that make you fail? or is it you just dont want to try because its not you cup of tea. thats also ok, but dont bash the game because its not to your liking. this is what brings out us "FFXIV Defenders" as you call us.)
I hate to tell you this, but you remind me alot of the defenders and disciples of the battlecruiser games by derek smart. You and that other guy that seems to post in every negative thread on this game are hilarious. I'm sorry but this game has huge glaring flaws(all mmo's do at first), it was released too soon(based on what?), it's poorly optimized(because it requires people to have a decent comp to run it? just because your comp can run wow at max settings, or aion, or age of conan, dont think it will be like that forever. ), it's designed for consoles first and pawned off on PC users(i dont remember the devs ever saying this), it severely lacks any type of content that most MMO players are accustomed to having( can you expand on this? what content are "most mmo players" looking for?). Had this game been released shortly after the first everquest it's style of gameplay would have fit right in, but not in todays MMO market.( another personal opinion, although i disagree. its fine in todays market.)
red is my response.
p.s the min system requirements for ffxiv will soon become the min req for alot of new mmo's. i think tera is one of them.
I believe TERA uses the unreal engine. Not very high requirements for that but looks fantastic and runs great because its well optimized, which FFXIV is not. Don't assume that because people get low FPS that their PC isn't good enough. FFXIV runs worse than Metro 2033 for me and Metro looks a damn sight better than FFXIV. Its horribly optimized, high requirments for such little in return.
It's an all-around improvement from open beta. Nay, not perfect, as things wrought by human hands are bound to be, but considerably more comfortable, better balanced, and with no more non-translated sequences to be found.
Chomping at the bit for them to complete this scheduled server maintenance. That's been the one major downside: the game is absolutely flooded with players, they actually had to shut down creation of new characters on my server because there were so many. World population was well over 2000 last night on Selbina, and no doubt there will be even more players coming in soon.
It's an all-around improvement from open beta. Nay, not perfect, as things wrought by human hands are bound to be, but considerably more comfortable, better balanced, and with no more non-translated sequences to be found.
Chomping at the bit for them to complete this scheduled server maintenance. That's been the one major downside: the game is absolutely flooded with players, they actually had to shut down creation of new characters on my server because there were so many. World population was well over 2000 last night on Selbina, and no doubt there will be even more coming in soon.
That does beg the question, if their servers can only handle 2000... did they only want around 20,000 players across all worlds at once?? Granted all of those are played at different times, so maybe 100,000 subscriptions?
And couldn't they see from the number of CE sales that maybe there would be a HUGE number of people logging on at the same time?! That they should improve the servers a tad to handle the number of sales?
/end rant about this consistant MMO problem that bran new MMO's seem to have...
It's an all-around improvement from open beta. Nay, not perfect, as things wrought by human hands are bound to be, but considerably more comfortable, better balanced, and with no more non-translated sequences to be found.
Chomping at the bit for them to complete this scheduled server maintenance. That's been the one major downside: the game is absolutely flooded with players, they actually had to shut down creation of new characters on my server because there were so many. World population was well over 2000 last night on Selbina, and no doubt there will be even more coming in soon.
That does beg the question, if their servers can only handle 2000... did they only want around 20,000 players across all worlds at once?? Granted all of those are played at different times, so maybe 100,000 subscriptions?
And couldn't they see from the number of CE sales that maybe there would be a HUGE number of people logging on at the same time?! That they should improve the servers a tad to handle the number of sales?
/end rant about this consistant MMO problem that bran new MMO's seem to have...
What you say is true. This is one of the problems with new MMO's coming online-servers crashing or not enough of them.
It's an all-around improvement from open beta. Nay, not perfect, as things wrought by human hands are bound to be, but considerably more comfortable, better balanced, and with no more non-translated sequences to be found.
Chomping at the bit for them to complete this scheduled server maintenance. That's been the one major downside: the game is absolutely flooded with players, they actually had to shut down creation of new characters on my server because there were so many. World population was well over 2000 last night on Selbina, and no doubt there will be even more coming in soon.
That does beg the question, if their servers can only handle 2000... did they only want around 20,000 players across all worlds at once?? Granted all of those are played at different times, so maybe 100,000 subscriptions?
2,000 players (online concurrently) per server is very common in MMORPGs that don't do a lot of instancing. Funny thing is, f you have 100,000 subscriptions, you're probably only going to need to handle about 15,000 players (give or take) at a time because it's not like everybody's likely to all log in at once.
To explan that a bit better, most people only log in 1-3 hours a day, and FFXIV (like FFXI) is unsual in that their servers operate internationally (if you're on at 3am PST you'll likely have Japanese, Australian, or Euorpean players to play with). That's a pretty good saturation. Given that the server is up 24/hrs a day, a roughly 2000 player limit could reflect up to about 14,000 online users comfortably. By the time you're up to 19 servers, you're ready for roughly 250,000 players. Then you throw in that a great deal of players may choose not to play that day, and the count of players it could accomodate gets driven up even higher. You can trace this all the way back to text-based MUDs which might have tens of thousands of characters in the database, but only a few hundred players are able to be logged in at once.
Games which heavily use instancing are a different scenario because what they basically do is merge all the servers and dynamically allocate server space to additional zones, forcing the players into these copies of zones as needed, limiting those zones to 100 or so players at a time. Final Fantasy XIV doesn't do that due to the impact on immersion this has.
It's an all-around improvement from open beta. Nay, not perfect, as things wrought by human hands are bound to be, but considerably more comfortable, better balanced, and with no more non-translated sequences to be found.
Chomping at the bit for them to complete this scheduled server maintenance. That's been the one major downside: the game is absolutely flooded with players, they actually had to shut down creation of new characters on my server because there were so many. World population was well over 2000 last night on Selbina, and no doubt there will be even more coming in soon.
That does beg the question, if their servers can only handle 2000... did they only want around 20,000 players across all worlds at once?? Granted all of those are played at different times, so maybe 100,000 subscriptions?
2,000 players (online concurrently) per server is very common in MMORPGs that don't do instancing. Funny thing is, f you have 100,000 subscriptions, you're probably only going to need to handle about 15,000 players (give or take) at a time because it's not like everybody's likely to all log in at once. Most people only log in 1-3 hours a day. Given that the server is up 24/hrs a day, and is an international server that services everyone ins the world, that's a pretty good saturation.
You can trace this all the way back to text-based MUDs which might have tens of thousands of characters in the database, but only a few hundred players are able to be logged in at once.
It's all about what they can handle at peak hours. People that can't get online at 5-8 pm are going to be sad pandas.
Do these servers really only carry 2000 players at a time?
Comments
The OP reported two very different problems here. The lag/stuttering is less of a concern, as by tweaking individual settings they should be able to get it to run well.
I do have to agree that FFXIV does a poor job of introducing you to the game systems. Sure, it has a nice movie beginning in each area, but it doesn't help you get started on playing the actual game. This is accessibility people - and this is a huge issue.
I'm sure this type of feedback will be all over the place, as it was the same way in beta. I assume SE will implement a proper tutorial down the road, but probably had to rush the release out the door to make money for Q3 2010 earning statements.
If they follow the same way they did with ffxi, there wont be any improvements about this, while i agree it can be a big deal for some, as long as your aware the game lacks deep tutorials, the impact it will cause on you is minimal.
At least is my opinion on the subject.
The people who stubbornly refused to...
A) Read the basic user guide SE put together and posted on the beta site,
C) Gave up on it without even *trying* to figure it out...
... had a difficult time.
For most, however, it was not that difficult to pick up, at all. The difference isn't some "higher threshold of pain", or "superior intellect". The difference is some of us took the time to familiarize ourselves with it, while others took that time to complain on the forums about it.
For post-launch, pages 27-29 of the official manual have the controls and default key settings nicely laid out.
I agree a tutorial assisting with such things would be helpful, but it's not "absolutely necessary" to learn the game. All the help people could need with the controls in the game, and other aspects, is readily available.
If some people put 1/4th the energy into simply learning and adapting to something new and different as they do complaining about it on forums, none of them would have a problem figuring it out.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
I think you misunderstand that situation. 'WoW players' aren't really a niche, like many people want to think they are. Blizzard games are immensely popular and attract a wide demographic. WoW players jumping to FFXIV isn't really all that surprisingly. WoW players have jumped to EVERY major MMO that has been released since WoW started making expansions. Why? Because more and more people are tired of WoW. They want to find a new game that can give them the same feeling as WoW did, but just can't seem to find it in newer MMOs.
After playing the FFXIV beta, I'm actually not surprised by this review. I think that, to a large extent, people aren't exaggerating too much with most of the criticisms to the game. I see a lot of people giving this game a lot of slack, for excuses made by the developers. 'The game is emphasising graphics, so it's okay that it doesn't run smoothly' or 'this game doesn't hold your hand, so it doesn't need run smoothly' are examples of this. You can look at games like FarCry (which is also heavily graphics oriented) and see the difference between a game that is just a huge graphics hog, and a game that is just poorly optimized.
I do hope, that over the next month or so, SE is able to remedy most of these issues so people can enjoy the game, regardless of whether their system matches the systems that SE is using in-house. It'll be nice to see what the game is like with all these hurdles removed.
I was surprised to see that i get lower frame rates now than i did in Beta.
The game however feels a lot smoother and i dont experience any big Lag issues.
The hardware mouse seems to work fine even tho i dont need it i suppose its nice to have it now.
I still get the Direct X crash already got it twice today really was hoping that would be fixed.
Seems as if there are quiet a few new recipes in the game now it was announced but i was skeptic and am happy to see that it was true.
Some areas in the citys r still not accessible which is the biggest minus for me i dont get any excuse why i cant go there now (like with the airships) i just cant enter the zone.That makes me feel like i play a game that is not rdy yet which considered the prize of the CE should not be but maybe it will be fixed in one of the maintenance ill have to wait and see.
Overall i am impressed ok i am a fan so maybe its easy to impress me but it all runs a lot better than i hoped for now just let me enter all Areas and i am happy.
http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com/
This is the official SE ffxiv tutorial/news/ help/ information/ whatever page, hope it helps, also play around with your ffxiv config.exe to change options.
If you have to do A and B in your list just to play a game and understand it, then it is the games failing not the players. Having to do those things shows a game has failed in it's design. If an average gamer can't come in and pick up your game and understand it without being confused after 30 mins of play, you have utterly and completely failed in designing your game. The first 30 mins should always be designed with the asumption that whoever is playing your game has never played a game like this before. It sucks for veteran gamers having to go through that hand holding which is why there's usually an option to skip it.
Blaming the gamers for crap game design is really the absolute lowest possible way to defend your game. You FF XIV defenders are getting hilarious in your zealous crusade to show how great this game is, how you have to be some kind of enlightened individual with incredible taste in games just to play it. Trying to set yourselves up as some kind of elite gamer because you "get it".
I hate to tell you this, but you remind me alot of the defenders and disciples of the battlecruiser games by derek smart. You and that other guy that seems to post in every negative thread on this game are hilarious. I'm sorry but this game has huge glaring flaws, it was released too soon, it's poorly optimized, it's designed for consoles first and pawned off on PC users, it severely lacks any type of content that most MMO players are accustomed to having. Had this game been released shortly after the first everquest it's style of gameplay would have fit right in, but not in todays MMO market.
Most likely there is an issue with your system or you need to update something.
After reading this review, I'm going to hold off buying this game.
That not true.
If you play in full screen and alt tab away you will get a crash error.
If you are watching a cut scene in window mode and click on the start menu you also can get a crash error. It happened to me several times yesterday when I would hit the play button on the main screen and go to the start window to open up Itunes or Vent. The game would try to load the Square Enix splash page and crash with a directx error.
Saying I should just not navigate away from the Final Fantasy window when watching cut scenes is a work around and not a fix.
I have said it before, the PC port of this game is sloppy and very shoddy workmanship on SE’s part. From the patcher, the lack of optimization, crash if you alt tab in full screen, can’t use the maximize button in windowed mode, to the sluggish UI it all adds up . SE should have skipped the PC version of this game and just released it to the PS3.
As per the opening poster himself, this is NOT a review and shouldn't be used as a review. Just repeating what he said for clearification, wouldn't want anyone to think he wrote a review of the game and people were actually using it to decide if they were going to play this game. Because he was adamant that this was not what he intended.
(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.)
I wish I read up a bit before buying this game.. Last night was 4 hours of frustration. I really wanted to like the game. I kept plunging forward expecting/hoping things would click and that I could adjust the UI/Camera, etc to work better. No Tractor beam when talking and that I would figure out how to get to the quick ref. keys.. am i missing something or can't you even jump in the game? I cant run off a cliff? Force field?
And to top it all off, if i understand correctly, I have to pay 9.99 per month plus $3 per month for each char? so 3 chars 18.99 per month?
This is the last time i buy a Square Enix game.
Klar
I will not say now that i can say for sure its not my system but it is unlikely i keep my drivers up to date and all other games run without any trouble.
I also am not the only one having this issue lots of my LS mates have the same problem and from what they say they also dont experience this prob in other games.
However it happened twice and i played quiet a long time (about 12hrs) so its not that big of a deal....its annoying tho since the game seems to wait till i start a Leve to crash on me lol (both times i crashed in the middle of a Leve)
Anyway maybe its really my system any advice what to try to fix it?
Terrible game, waste of money. Stay away from it!
Great game, tons of fun, well worth the money. Buy it!!
(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.)
Ditto!
red is my response.
p.s the min system requirements for ffxiv will soon become the min req for alot of new mmo's. i think tera is one of them.
ditto, just no need to get the collectors. if you on the fence, just wait till the official release on the 30th and then buy it, or try to get a buddy pass. although u need some1 with the cd's to play.
just saying...it took me 3 hours to get all the keybinds fixed so i can play this game with only my left hand. No thats not 'learning curve' thats me setting up my keybinds (NOT THROUGH FF14) then cursing out WHY THE FRAK ITS EASIER TO JUST PRESS ENTER -> LEFT/RIGHT TO SELECT THE RIGHT ATTACK -> ENTER TO ATTACK STUFF INSTEAD OF 1->2->1->3 etc x.x
Not that I minded it was good practice for my left hands dexterity. Attacks, Commands, movement, camera, everything on the left hand o.o
The controls just werent intuitive lol using the mouse was a total pain and using the hotkeys for attacks were a total pain.
And idk what you guys mean by 'a lot to do' there really wasnt much when I tried o.o
it was Grind/craft/leves and thats all o.o story but yah you have to be solo for that
I believe TERA uses the unreal engine. Not very high requirements for that but looks fantastic and runs great because its well optimized, which FFXIV is not. Don't assume that because people get low FPS that their PC isn't good enough. FFXIV runs worse than Metro 2033 for me and Metro looks a damn sight better than FFXIV. Its horribly optimized, high requirments for such little in return.
It's an all-around improvement from open beta. Nay, not perfect, as things wrought by human hands are bound to be, but considerably more comfortable, better balanced, and with no more non-translated sequences to be found.
Chomping at the bit for them to complete this scheduled server maintenance. That's been the one major downside: the game is absolutely flooded with players, they actually had to shut down creation of new characters on my server because there were so many. World population was well over 2000 last night on Selbina, and no doubt there will be even more players coming in soon.
That does beg the question, if their servers can only handle 2000... did they only want around 20,000 players across all worlds at once?? Granted all of those are played at different times, so maybe 100,000 subscriptions?
And couldn't they see from the number of CE sales that maybe there would be a HUGE number of people logging on at the same time?! That they should improve the servers a tad to handle the number of sales?
/end rant about this consistant MMO problem that bran new MMO's seem to have...
Taru-Gallante-Blood elf-Elysean-Kelari-Crime Fighting-Imperial Agent
What you say is true. This is one of the problems with new MMO's coming online-servers crashing or not enough of them.
2,000 players (online concurrently) per server is very common in MMORPGs that don't do a lot of instancing. Funny thing is, f you have 100,000 subscriptions, you're probably only going to need to handle about 15,000 players (give or take) at a time because it's not like everybody's likely to all log in at once.
To explan that a bit better, most people only log in 1-3 hours a day, and FFXIV (like FFXI) is unsual in that their servers operate internationally (if you're on at 3am PST you'll likely have Japanese, Australian, or Euorpean players to play with). That's a pretty good saturation. Given that the server is up 24/hrs a day, a roughly 2000 player limit could reflect up to about 14,000 online users comfortably. By the time you're up to 19 servers, you're ready for roughly 250,000 players. Then you throw in that a great deal of players may choose not to play that day, and the count of players it could accomodate gets driven up even higher. You can trace this all the way back to text-based MUDs which might have tens of thousands of characters in the database, but only a few hundred players are able to be logged in at once.
Games which heavily use instancing are a different scenario because what they basically do is merge all the servers and dynamically allocate server space to additional zones, forcing the players into these copies of zones as needed, limiting those zones to 100 or so players at a time. Final Fantasy XIV doesn't do that due to the impact on immersion this has.
It's all about what they can handle at peak hours. People that can't get online at 5-8 pm are going to be sad pandas.
Do these servers really only carry 2000 players at a time?