fuzzyreactor
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Final Fantasy XIV |OT2| ARR: Phase 4 August.
- Thread starter Jijidasu
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LowParry
Member
After Phase 2, we get character wipes. The same when Phase 3 ends. However Phase 4 (open beta) will carry over into release.
Keep in mind there's going to be a lot added into Phase 3 in terms of combat tweaks, more quests, classes, etc. If you really wanted to judge the game for what it is, I think Phase 3/4 will be it.
Some people are definitely watching this thread, whether anybody tips them off or not. Now, whether they'll do anything about it is another thiing.
also i think limit breaks starts on phase 3, so that's where things get real interesting if it's true
on another note, i've reached level 20, but i'd like to farm a bit more in the 1st dungeon, add me Qvoth Solsoul if you guys wanna run the dungeon together
yesterday night's runs were quite bad for me, couldn't finish at all, at least got 2 loots
on another note, i've reached level 20, but i'd like to farm a bit more in the 1st dungeon, add me Qvoth Solsoul if you guys wanna run the dungeon together
yesterday night's runs were quite bad for me, couldn't finish at all, at least got 2 loots
theSlacker
Member
Even mentioning that you are in the beta is a breach of their NDA.
Technically yes, but they just don't care about you simply telling you're in. It's just a matter of how far you'll go.
Anyway, the NDA will likely be lifted after the current phase (which is kind of crazy with all the changes they're planning to make) if everything goes well.
Oh duh, the same button as the FFXI gamepad conf one lol, in my defence I use kb only on XI
Thanks!
You can check your keyboard settings to in the config menu to see which is the lock on key.
You whaaa !
I played the beta a few hours last night. Thought I'd share some impressions from someone who played FF11 and other MMO's but never FF14.
It's alright so far, I'm enjoying it. It's fun playing a MMO when everyone is still low level and busy, it makes the world feel that much more alive and active.
Game starts stupidly slow though, throwing way too much (uninteresting) text at me. So many written lines and yet so little actual story. I was already playing for an hour, reaching level 3 and unlocking skills before I ever saw a single enemy to kill. I'm now level 8, finished plenty of quests but I still have no idea what is going on in the world because it's so uninteresting. It all revolves around you being an adventurer helping NPC's out with tedious chores.
Game looks great most of the time, but it never looks amazing. Models are excellent but the area looks quite uninspired. I'm enjoying the music though, reminds me of FFXI actually. It's very relaxing. Combat feels too much like every other MMO; click skills in your action bar. I do like that you can 'chain' kills for extra bonus exp. It gives a sense of urgency to the fights. The 'FATE' events have been pretty lame so far, but at least it seems to make people play together a little. Something I miss from FFXI.
In essence the whole game just tries to be too much like every other MMO out there. Plenty of other MMO's already handle most of it better and at the same time it offers nothing new or even anything that made FFXI great back then. I will be playing the beta some more; it's not entirely fair to judge a MMO on its first few hours. However so far there are just better options out there when you consider that this will likely be sold at full price and come with a monthly subscription.
It's alright so far, I'm enjoying it. It's fun playing a MMO when everyone is still low level and busy, it makes the world feel that much more alive and active.
Game starts stupidly slow though, throwing way too much (uninteresting) text at me. So many written lines and yet so little actual story. I was already playing for an hour, reaching level 3 and unlocking skills before I ever saw a single enemy to kill. I'm now level 8, finished plenty of quests but I still have no idea what is going on in the world because it's so uninteresting. It all revolves around you being an adventurer helping NPC's out with tedious chores.
Game looks great most of the time, but it never looks amazing. Models are excellent but the area looks quite uninspired. I'm enjoying the music though, reminds me of FFXI actually. It's very relaxing. Combat feels too much like every other MMO; click skills in your action bar. I do like that you can 'chain' kills for extra bonus exp. It gives a sense of urgency to the fights. The 'FATE' events have been pretty lame so far, but at least it seems to make people play together a little. Something I miss from FFXI.
In essence the whole game just tries to be too much like every other MMO out there. Plenty of other MMO's already handle most of it better and at the same time it offers nothing new or even anything that made FFXI great back then. I will be playing the beta some more; it's not entirely fair to judge a MMO on its first few hours. However so far there are just better options out there when you consider that this will likely be sold at full price and come with a monthly subscription.
Uninspired? May I ask compared to what, or which games look better?
Otherwise, yes it will be subscription based but not sold at full price, 39.99$ I think.
Uninspired might be a bit too harsh, the game looks more than fine. It's just that I hoped to see something a little more imaginative/creative than your default forest area. It doesn't have much atmosphere or mood and lacks any landmarks to make anything stand out. The only unique thing seems to be the large crystal in an otherwise somewhat bland looking town. So like I said, I think the character models look a lot better than the starting area does, but of course it is far from ugly. For example I remember that FFXI starting area's/towns had much more personality.
Also, $39.99 is pretty much full price.
Relaxed Muscle
Member
Uninspired might be a bit too harsh, the game looks more than fine. It's just that I hoped to see something a little more imaginative/creative than your default forest area. It doesn't have much atmosphere or mood and lacks any landmarks to make anything stand out. The only unique thing seems to be the large crystal in an otherwise somewhat bland looking town. So like I said, I think the character models look a lot better than the starting area does, but of course it is far from ugly.
Also, $39.99 is pretty much full price.
I disagree and you'll see why once you start exploring more zones.
Well the bolded part was in reference to start area and not the whole game, but I am definitly more interested in seeing the other area's now. I do hope I can agree with you in the future.
Well the bolded part was in reference to start area and not the whole game, but I am definitly more interested in seeing the other area's now. I do hope I can agree with you in the future.
I thought East shroud was quite unique looking with the little huts dotted about, and Camp tranquil is quite different, but mostly it is just standard buildings like you say, there is a Garlean stronghold in East shroud also, they plan to add golden saucer at some point also which should be an interesting land mark, plus we will have the crystal tower.
There is a lack of destruction though considering what happened at the end of 1.0, we haven't seen West Shroud yet though so I am hoping that is the dead forest area they showed in concept pictures a while back.
Relaxed Muscle
Member
I like the different nuances in the settings and atmosphere within each zone also even in the same zone too.
Alex
Member
The only thing staunchly Final Fantasy about the original FFXIV to me was the Uematsu music, and isn't most of that gone now? To me, Square no longer has the staff to make an actual Final Fantasy game anymore, but that isn't to say they can't make an attractive or fun game. But, if this is another lukewarm attempt at the Blizzard model, of which they'll never be able to maintain, my interest is down, a lot.
I wouldn't say the Uematsu music in 1.0 was particularly Final Fantasy like, but I suppose if you look at the game and see a WoW clone that is all you will see.
Personally I look at it as a standardised theme park MMO with Final Fantasy flavour.
cpp_is_king
Member
Edit:
Got a few hours of this in last night as well and it was fairly enjoyable.
Lost interest in the "stories" behind the quests almost immediately, really found it added nothing to the experience for me, so by about the 4th quest in I was spamming through the text just to get it started.
Speaking of the quests, I realize it's just the starting zone and I was still low level, but I really hope things become a lot more group-oriented as you get higher up there. That's not to say I didn't enjoy grinding quests in order to get more familiar with the game mechanics, but at the end of the day I'm playing an MMO so I can play with other people. Hunting log is a cool idea, but I'm not going to worry about completing that sort of thing until I have an un-wipeable character going.
I actually like the combat and think it could be really fun at higher levels once you have several abilities opened up to you. It reminded me a little of the combat from FFXII (which I loved), but MMO-style, if that makes any sense. Really looking forward to see how Phase 3 fleshes things out in that area.
It may sound strange, but aside from the focus of group-oriented play in FFXI, the other thing I had REALLY missed in the other MMOs I played since was the ability to do everything on one character, instead of having to start new ones if you wanted to play a different class. I dunno, I just found that gave me such a better sense of progression/accomplishment and kept me more engaged in the game, so I'm glad to see they've stuck with that system here.
Once more details of group-play and the combat tweaks are revealed, I could easily see myself subbing to this at launch.
One question which may not be able to be answered at this point: If I'm planning to play a Bard at launch, would I want to start off leveling a conjurer (healer?) to be able to sub when I open up the Bard job?
Lost interest in the "stories" behind the quests almost immediately, really found it added nothing to the experience for me, so by about the 4th quest in I was spamming through the text just to get it started.
Speaking of the quests, I realize it's just the starting zone and I was still low level, but I really hope things become a lot more group-oriented as you get higher up there. That's not to say I didn't enjoy grinding quests in order to get more familiar with the game mechanics, but at the end of the day I'm playing an MMO so I can play with other people. Hunting log is a cool idea, but I'm not going to worry about completing that sort of thing until I have an un-wipeable character going.
I actually like the combat and think it could be really fun at higher levels once you have several abilities opened up to you. It reminded me a little of the combat from FFXII (which I loved), but MMO-style, if that makes any sense. Really looking forward to see how Phase 3 fleshes things out in that area.
It may sound strange, but aside from the focus of group-oriented play in FFXI, the other thing I had REALLY missed in the other MMOs I played since was the ability to do everything on one character, instead of having to start new ones if you wanted to play a different class. I dunno, I just found that gave me such a better sense of progression/accomplishment and kept me more engaged in the game, so I'm glad to see they've stuck with that system here.
Once more details of group-play and the combat tweaks are revealed, I could easily see myself subbing to this at launch.
One question which may not be able to be answered at this point: If I'm planning to play a Bard at launch, would I want to start off leveling a conjurer (healer?) to be able to sub when I open up the Bard job?
Not sure I got your question but I'll try answering anyway.
We don't fully know how the job system will change in ARR yet (even though it isn't supposed to change much), but you'll want to level up Archer whose corresponding job is Bard. During ,1.x, Bard was limited to cross-class actions from Conjurer and Thaumaturge, but the way it's handled might (or might not) change in ARR. BRD being an hybrid support/DD in FFXIV, it's rather safe to assume you'll still be able to equip some actions from CNJ.
Hmm they did mention that only Discipline of Magic classes can equip magic abilities now, DoW will be able to equip enhancement spells though, this could leave Bard quite limited if true.
True, though IIRC they only mentioned offensive spells (Stone, Aero, Fire, Thunder and so on) which were not very useful for Bard anyway. The only spells BRD used on a semi-regular basis were Cure, Raise and Stoneskin. The first two will most likely remain cross-class actions and Stoneskin's fate is up in the air at this point.
I really hope that classes like LNC become more varied as you level up. I got to 16 and it felt like the majority of my abilities all did the same thing. The idea of comboing certain abilities just did not seem all that fun to me. On every mob I felt like I was just spamming True Thrust into Vorpal Blade over and over.
Relaxed Muscle
Member
I feel most of the problems with the battle system will be "fixed" once more abilities open up and enemies gets more difficult.
Riposte
Member
I don't get the problem.
I don't know, to me a WAR with a pointy hat and a robe is just wrong.
It needs more variety and more movement. Hopefully some of the combos that required positioning will come back from 1.0 (though they didn't work well in 1.0 because of the lag). Enemy attacks that are dodgeable would make a huge difference too. I have no problem with GCD timers or the way TP is used.
It's not that I hate the combat, I'd happily subscribe if the combat stays the same. But as a sub-based MMO I think reviewers would rip the game to shreds if combat stays as it is and that means less chance of this game succeeding as a sub-based game (which I desperately want it to do as I think the community and updates would greatly suffer if it went F2P).
Riposte
Member
It is, but not because some divine decree that people with axes shall not wear pointy hats.
Honestly, while the lag was a big problem, positioning in combos was never so bad that I would want to see them removed. It worked well enough given the system it was built on (accepting that you can/will miss things and not because of dice rolls) and it was a tangible, immediately visible way to separate player skill. I missed it while playing the Alpha (can't be bothered with the Beta until they open it up). All in all, I'm pretty pessimistic about the game's combat design. I'm sure they will make competent combat scenarios, I mean every MMO likely has a few of those, but I get the feeling it will be experienced through a combat system that I find uninteresting in itself and unfortunately too familiar for its own good. A weird combat system that plays out in its own way is a strong hook for me, even if it is buried under a terrible game (a MMORPG, by definition) which I'm mostly playing for aesthetics and some oddities. I wouldn't mind being surprised though.
theSlacker
Member
Same. I've quit or disregarded better games for being/going f2p.
The combat is a problem, and it is the lack of variety that is killing it. Something that may get solved later in the game though. Weeks ago I claimed that lancer got fun when you got a few more skills, but even that just turned into doing the same combos over and over. Maybe with the job skills later you will have enough other things to mix in, I don't know. Gonna suffer from too many buttons though. Doesn't help that there is going to be 4 buttons or so that are just "next damage attack in the combo" with no reason to ever use them without first doing the move before it.
I was actually the same way with the original FFXIV, but the main plot quests really helped boost my interest in the game. I think when those are implemented (I'm guessing either Phase 3 or 4). Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the main storyline quests are in the game yet, or at least not the cutscenes.
O-only because there's more content! I've never played FFXI and I am fucking SCARED of the amount of shit in that game, let alone if I miss stuff. I'm the kinda guy who likes doing all of the quests in an RPG, and I don't even know what types FFXI has besides the main ones and ones in each area. Does it have class storylines like XIV does?
SnakeLinkSonic
Member
You're gonna be busy for quite a while if you go back and don't have dedicated linkshell or something in place. I'd rather start from 'scratch' so to speak with ARR again.
Goodacre0081
Member
does SE send out invites every week or only when the new phases begin?
Wasn't the best helm for damage users in FFXI an ugly mage hat? Lol. I agree, though, it's pretty stupid.
This weekend is the first time I've messed with the game since beta. I never thought I would even look at this game again. It's still early, but it's impressive what they've done.
SnakeLinkSonic
Member
There's a thread on the forums for the testing schedule.
Alex
Member
Oh I thought it was pretty good. There was a lot of good stuff on there. My ideal for the franchise would be a total Mizuta and Uematsu mashup, though. So far I've been a little disappointed from what i've heard of the new music, although that part of the Gridania track that apes from Windurst was cute.
I haven't played the new iteration, so I can't say how I'll feel about it in the end, but a lot of things I've heard from round the ways hasn't been very kind. Still, it's apparently early into the beta and I've got the game anyway so it's not like I'm not going to play it myself! I wish I could give the beta a shot, even though I have no time for it, nostalgia for lucking out on that old FFXI PS2 beta that they gave you the free HDD and game with, that was such a neat thing.
I most would deffo say the "standardized" MMO setup right now is an overbudget, underbaked WoW clone. Trying to out-WoW WoW is a huge genre killing poison at the moment. Blizzard has the money, experience and talent, and right now the competition always seems to have...a nine digit budget and a dude who has played WoW.
Although, it's not like I'm really needing some pure originality, FFXI was basically an EQ clone, hell, that's why the game existed, because Sakaguchi was sweet on EQ, but it was in an era where we had more diversity and the genre was still fledgling. This exact model is just a bit rough after all these years. But yeah, I haven't played it so I'm not making any real comments. I'll just be a bit sad if it's not doing much of anything to have it's own identity.
malboroking
Banned
So I finally got into the beta and this was my first weekend playing and I have to say that I really am enjoyed what I've played so far. The UI is pretty slick, and I love the look of the interface.I thought that the zones looked great and can't wait to get out and see more.I can't believe some people are saying that the graphics are just OK, I really think that the art direction is the games strong point and is what really attracts me to the game.
I thought the battle system was pretty good. Whiles its certainly nothing revolutionary, that's OK in my opinion. I don't think that they need to reinvent the wheel and I can see where it could be more strategic at higher levels and in group content. I also like the new quest system. Its pretty much carbon copy from WoW with the exclamation points over the quest givers head, but for some reason the fact that it goes into a conversation bubble instead of just the quest menu makes me actually read the text. The writing is really good too, though I wonder how many different variations there can possibly be for a fetch quest =P.
All in all I really liked what I played and can't wait to get the full version!
I thought the battle system was pretty good. Whiles its certainly nothing revolutionary, that's OK in my opinion. I don't think that they need to reinvent the wheel and I can see where it could be more strategic at higher levels and in group content. I also like the new quest system. Its pretty much carbon copy from WoW with the exclamation points over the quest givers head, but for some reason the fact that it goes into a conversation bubble instead of just the quest menu makes me actually read the text. The writing is really good too, though I wonder how many different variations there can possibly be for a fetch quest =P.
All in all I really liked what I played and can't wait to get the full version!
Mr. Bubble
Member
Had the opportunity to play the beta this past weekend and I stopped playing after an hour.
My most interesting experience in the beta was seeing people in chat talk about how "WoW sucks". Ironic because FFXIV is now a WoW clone.
My most interesting experience in the beta was seeing people in chat talk about how "WoW sucks". Ironic because FFXIV is now a WoW clone.
LowParry
Member
That talk happens with just about any MMO that's not WoW in chat. It's just people trying to get a rile out of players.
i had to stop playing the beta as well because i couldn't stand listening to the people in there talk. i don't know what it is about betas that attract these people, outspoken square-enix loyalists. i never played the first FF 14 beta but i wouldn't be surprised if that was a contributing factor for them thinking the game was OK to release.
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