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oh god....im starting to like this game...
Kazedarkwind
Member Posts: 11
Wow has my mmo life run dry. I enjoy ffxi for 6 years and then eagerly watch ffxiv till launch only to find my hopes for the game go down the gutter to probably the worst mmo launch of all time (okay tabula rasa was pretty bad). Ive been cynical about every mmo since and SWTOR was the nail in the coffin. boring generic wow clone that had me looking for a new mmo.. well i figured i would give FFXIV another look and see if they fixed anything and to my surprise...not alot
BUT its playable and my interest to keep playing seems to grow with every hour i put into it unlike some MMOS *coughswtorcough*
Things i like about it so far:
Battle system actually works now, less laggy (not entirely lag free) but im not struggling in every combat now
i can level up any job i want and arent limited by the guild leve system anymore, I hate being limited by the developers on how much time i want to spend in the game
Thing i despise still (most fixed with 2.0 hopefully):
The ui is just terrible, i now this game is "better" with a xbox controller but im a pc guy, always have been always will, mouse and keyboard in my blood, i need my drag and drops and multiple action bars.
The graphics engine is still the worst optimized piece of garbage ive ever seen. I played this game at beta and launch on max graphics. came back to find i could only run on medium and low to run smoothly, wtf happened?
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Im glad that its basically becoming FFXI-2 which is what i thought it should of always been. and the "Roadmap to 2.0" is tempting on paper. again ive become very cynical about mmos in this current generation so im hoping to see it become the game it should of been. And giving props to square enix, for not closing the game when all hope was lost.
Comments
I bought this game at launch and was in love with the idea of the game but the execution ultimately drove me away. You should keep this thread updated from time to time and let some of us know (who are still interested) how things are going
I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means - except by getting off his back.
I checked this game out and since i was a square fanboy i almost cried when it came out and it took me an hour just to get out of the first town where i died fighting the first monster out of the gate due to lag and ui problems.
However, even thou their population has supershrunk they are still updating and trying to make it better. I will try to play it again when it launches for ps3. It will definally be worth a second look.
All of the FF14 news site stoped updating regurally except for http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/ ,and even they are full of I am not subscribing treads. If you look most of the poeple that said they are subscribing are using saved up crysta so none of the real veterans are paying out cash money yet. I would like to check on it in a couple months and see exactly who is paying to play this at its current level.
I'm playing currently and the search feature can be used to check how many people are online, and for your information since subscription started the number is bigger then before when game was free to play. I can take screenshots if you don't belive me.
There is a feature that says how many people are on today compared to last month on the same day? That screenshot would be really good for getting people to subscribe. Also Gamerscape did do a survay that said population was down on average 13%
I find it odd that you describe yourself as a longtime FFXI fan, and yet the things you described as your main "problems" with FFXIV are almost copy/pasted from its predecessor. Mouse and keyboard? The mouse was practically worthless in FF11. 2 hands on the keyboard at all times. Action bars? Yeah, none of them in FF11. You couldn't even bind your macros to 1-0. Everything had to have ctrl or alt attached to it. UI? Both games force you to scroll through menu upon menu to execute the simplest commands or interact with NPCs. Graphic optimization? FF11 has a maximum framerate of 29.4, and forces you to use a 3rd party program to adjust even simple settings like draw distance.
I feel like FF11 had a ton of substandard features, but these were *passable* in 2003. Since then, however, expectations have drastically increased. But SE didn't give a crap about the hundreds of improvements other MMOs have made, and they ultimately implimented many of the same features of FF11 in FF14. Only now, often armed with experience in many other MMOs, players tend to see the many horrific, outdated features of FF14 for what they are.
Could be that your computer has gotten slower from all the porn you've been passing your time with in the last year. My framerates got better from beta to launch and to now with same specs, but I've reformatted recently as well.
wow i really wasnt expecting to get flak for starting to like a game, but ill re iterate some points i guess.
UI: FFXI may not have been the most user friendly interface of MMO's but it actually worked, the ui was fast and responsive. It didnt feel like it needed anymore than a few hours taking use to. FFXIV was supposed to be designed with a mouse and keyboard in mind, thats why the mouse "somewhat" works now like WoW or w/e. but it still works better with a controller.
Action Bars: I'm not sure what point your trying to make with the actionbars macros, they werent in ffxi sure but theyre in ffxiv. and only having one bar for actions is dissapointing, yeah i know it scrolls down to 3 but its not very user friendly with it unless your using a controller.(and again i hate controllers lol)
Graphics: i never said ffxi's graphics were optimized either, infact they used the CPU heavily over the graphics card, but when you make a game like FFXIV that is literally, "The most graphics intensive MMO of all time"(at least i havent seen anything better) and make it use the graphics card heavily, you kind of expect it to you know..be optimized to run. Think about it, FFXI was designed for a PS2 in mind. argueably you could say that FFXIV was designed for a PS3 in mind but they even admit in the "Roadmap to 2.0" that it wont be able to run on a PS3 with how intense the graphics are.
Again These were just my problems with the game, not expecting everyone to agree with them, but i mostly wanted to post this to show that even the most disheartend FF gamer is starting to enjoy the game after its catastrophic launch. One thing i really do love about FFXI and FFXIV is the work it takes to be apart of the game. Yes most gamers are going to be very turned off by it. but I love the sense of accomplishment and community that square gives in there games. unlike other MMOs that leave most people waiting. FF mmos have that sense of: This is not my character, This is me,
Ugh. Multiple action bars is something we need to be moving away from, not adding. I hated this sort of thing in WoW and EQ2, and I've been happy so far that I haven't needed quite so many in FFXIV.
Forgive me if my post came off as abrasive. I didn't intend to give you or anyone in particular flak. I'm simply trying to understand how many FFXI players claim they detest features x, y, and z of FFXIV, and yet those same exact features are present in FFXI.
FF14 was almost unanimously criticized by FF11 fans and the general MMO populace alike. Many FF11 players decided to go back to 11 after they tried 14. But every reason that is given for disliking 14 can almost always be attributed to 11 as well, as in the examples I listed above. I'm just struggling to make sense of this. My best guess is that expectations have changed since FF11's release date of 2003, and that Square's systems have not changed with them...at least until the backlash following FF14.
I mean I played 11 for a couple years form 2003-2005 and really enjoyed it for what it was, but I'm definitely not afraid to admit its many flaws. And every flaw that people seem to point out about 14 I saw in 11 as well.
Its No problem at all, FFXI to me was one of the finest examples of MMO's doing something different and succeeding (350k+ population is not something to shrug off) I think what i was expecting and what most people were expecting were there to be some growth in the game. Being able to upgrade from FFXI mindset to a modern day mindset. I would of liked to see the user friendlness of the UI, Graphic engine that is capable of handling at least the highest settings with a highish end rig. instead of being forced down to medium.
about the action bars: im not dissagreeing really about having less to no action bars. I love seeing innovation bloom in the industry. But more action bars, (at least another one below the main one) would help battle immensly. but if they found another user friendly method for abilities then by all means im willing to try it.
about the graphics: i literally have reformatted couple days ago when just installing an antivirus program trashed my computer when i didn't even have a virus. my computers more than capable of having it and have had some of my friends say the same thing about the "de optimization" that seemed to have occurred since launch. Possibly radeon gfx cards have had more luck?
Population 2 years after NA release reached 1.2mil world wide but yes later on was around 350k. I played since day 1 till 2 years ago and was in game every day 5-8 hours playing hardcore.