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[Effect]

The User Interface is the only update I'm looking for that will have any significant influence in determining if I continue with the game or not. Everything else for me is secondary. I can deal with content coming later or even the insane time sink that is crafting and the limiting quest structure. I can even deal with game crashes though I haven't had any or not being able to run the game at higher settings. The UI covers all the major issues I'm having with the game. Chat system, overall responsiveness, issuing of commands in battle, targeting of enemies (npcs and players as well), inventory management, multitasking, control of character, keyboard key mapping, etc all fall under the umbrella of the UI. It impacts everything else in the game I believe. This really is a deal breaker for me and not something I'm willing to put up with.

If there is another update coming next week I'll hold off on uninstalling the game until then. That's it though. I'll go into watch mode on the game after that and it would take something extremely significant to get me to give the game another shot.

 

[Projectjustice]

I'm probably going to go back to that one between my one month of FFXIV going up and Cataclysm hitting. The game has an awful crafting system, no meaningful economy to speak of, but it's fast, ridiculously fun, and has an awesome community with no silly server divisions to separate people artificially.

I bet there's been some huge improvements in the months since I last played, too. It'll be a huge leap forward from the plodding pace of this game.

This is why I love the game so much. Its just fun, fast action, awesome community, and the best character creation of all time. You heard that Square, fun!!! Remember that from the 90s?

Theres been huge improvements for the past few months. Concept characters are more viable and melee is actually good now.

 

[Projectjustice]

That's huge for me. I was playing a character with a single-blade focus, that I ended up having to add all these ridiculous ranged skills to because I couldn't keep up in parties.

I'll probably PM you or something when I get back online after I finish this month of FFXIV out.

Yea Im leveling a Might (31) character at the moment and I can take on way more and survive a lot better than my munitions character I leveled to 40 with. Im having a blast! Hit me up on AIM too, Projectjustice77.

Its too bad that FF14 end up like this. I have to admit, I upgraded my PC to give this game a try. Upgraded 4GB of ram to 8GB, and I upgraded my 9800GTX to a 460GTX. Hopefully Square gets their shit together in the next few months. I was really in the mood to get back into a MMO with swords and magic. Im done with WOW, I played it for 5 years. I cant go back to it.

 

[kitzkozan]

Thank god people aren't blind by the Square-Enix seal of approval.

The game was so bad,I didn't even care to bother with the open beta more than 2 days. :lol It felt like one of the worst mmorpg I had played and I won't be surprised when this stinker become free to play while FF XI still manage to make a profit.

 

[HappyBivouac]

Thank god people aren't blind by the Square-Enix seal of approval.

The game was so bad,I didn't even care to bother with the open beta more than 2 days. :lol It felt like one of the worst mmorpg I had played and I won't be surprised when this stinker become free to play while FF XI still manage to make a profit.

The game is weighed down by a plethora of small issues. It is a great game at its core. It won't take them long to pick off all of the small issues that are currently ruining it.

 

[Road]

Vanguard ended up being (kinda) profitable in the end, so anything's possible. I can't imagine SE spent huge amounts of money developing the game either considering the state it's in.

I don't see them coming close to matching the revenue of ffxi, though. Ffxi pulled in over 115 million dollars in profit last year - SE would be lucky to get half (or even quarter?) that. Retention rates past the first 30 days are going to be horrific.

Do you have a source for that? The most the online games division ever generated in operating income was 6.9 billion yen in 2006 (83 million dollars with today's currency). I find it surprising that, after falling in 2007 and 2008, it generated more profit than ever in the 2009 fiscal year.

Unfortunately SE decided to merge again online with the rest of the game business in their reports. We won't know how profitable FFXIV will be for now, besides vague PR comments (not that we would know, anyway, since it would be merged with XI in reports).

 

[twofold]

Do you have a source for that? The most the online games division ever generated in operating income was 6.9 billion yen in 2006 (83 million dollars with today's currency). I find it surprising that, after falling in 2007 and 2008, it generated more profit than ever in the 2009 fiscal year.

Unfortunately SE decided to merge again online with the rest of the game business in their reports. We won't know how profitable FFXIV will be for now, besides vague PR comments (not that we would know, anyway, since it would be merged with XI in reports).

I suck. It was 117 million in revenue, not profit.

Source is Forbes - http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/10/warcraft-farmville-netease-technology-online-games_slide_11.html

 

[TurtleSnatcher]

So the random SP system is still in ?

FFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

 

[Kittonwy]

Vanguard ended up being (kinda) profitable in the end, so anything's possible. I can't imagine SE spent huge amounts of money developing the game either considering the state it's in.

I don't see them coming close to matching the revenue of ffxi, though. Ffxi pulled in over 115 million dollars in profit last year - SE would be lucky to get half (or even quarter?) that. Retention rates past the first 30 days are going to be horrific.

It depends how big the team was and how long they worked on the game, shitty quality doesn't mean they didn't have to pay for all those man-hours, it just means they might not have gotten their money's worth, while I don't think FFXIV tanking will sink SE, it will put a pretty big hurt on them.

 

[Road]

I suck. It was 117 million in revenue, not profit.

Source is Forbes - http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/10/warcraft-farmville-netease-technology-online-games_slide_11.html

Thanks. That makes more sense. hehe

 

[Soroc]

The User Interface is the only update I'm looking for that will have any significant influence in determining if I continue with the game or not. Everything else for me is secondary. I can deal with content coming later or even the insane time sink that is crafting and the limiting quest structure. I can even deal with game crashes though I haven't had any or not being able to run the game at higher settings. The UI covers all the major issues I'm having with the game. Chat system, overall responsiveness, issuing of commands in battle, targeting of enemies (npcs and players as well), inventory management, multitasking, control of character, keyboard key mapping, etc all fall under the umbrella of the UI. It impacts everything else in the game I believe. This really is a deal breaker for me and not something I'm willing to put up with.

If there is another update coming next week I'll hold off on uninstalling the game until then. That's it though. I'll go into watch mode on the game after that and it would take something extremely significant to get me to give the game another shot.

This cannot be stressed enough! This is the biggest gripe I have right now and the reason I'm only jumping on and playing 1 or 2 days until things get fixed.

There is just way too many clicks/menus to sift through to do the most mundane tasks. Its really grating and unimaginable that this is what they thought worked well.

I'm still holding out hope that a lot of the issues will be fixed, the real question is how long will it take before they finally get to the UI.

 

[Pooya]

old?
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/review-hd-final-fantasy/705893
Score: 4.2/10
yup

 

[DarkKyo]

I think I like FF11 a ton more than 14 and that's just wrong.

 

[Effect]

old?
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/review-hd-final-fantasy/705893
Score: 4.2/10
yup

Thanks.

Added this to the opening post.

GameTrailers - HD - http://www.gametrailers.com/video/review-hd-final-fantasy/705893
SD - http://www.gametrailers.com/video/review-hd-final-fantasy/705892?type=flv

Overall score: 4.2 out of 10.

Story: 5.7
Design: 3.2
Gameplay: 3.9
Presentation: 4.2

Final Fantasy 14 falls flat at almost every turn.

The interface is atrocious.

FF14 is in no way, shape or form ready for commercial release.

 

[Vespene]

It's like an Ed Wood movie, so bad its good. But in this case even then its still bad.

 

[dreamer3kx]

GT bashes it pretty good, just watching video of the game it looks great, guess not.

 

[Zomba13]

Thanks.

Added this to the opening post.

GameTrailers - HD - http://www.gametrailers.com/video/review-hd-final-fantasy/705893
SD - http://www.gametrailers.com/video/review-hd-final-fantasy/705892?type=flv

Overall score: 4.2 out of 10.

Story: 5.7
Design: 3.2
Gameplay: 3.9
Presentation: 4.2

What does Graphics and Sound come under? Is is presentation? And is design just things like interface and layout?
The game is fantastic looking and has some great pieces of music. 4.2 is too low a score to give to presentation (if that is graphics and sound).

 

[Dorga]

The only responsible thing Square Enix can do at this point is give everyone at least 30 additional days of free play time. Not only would it be an honorable move, it would also encourage current players to stick around as fixes come in, increasing the likelihood that that they'll keep subscribing as they invest more time into their characters. But who am I kidding? It's fucking Square Enix.

 

[Conceited]

Who would have thought an FF game would be reviewing under 5/10?

Just doesn't seem possible.

 

[Velion]

What does Graphics and Sound come under? Is is presentation? And is design just things like interface and layout?
The game is fantastic looking and has some great pieces of music. 4.2 is too low a score to give to presentation (if that is graphics and sound).

Presentation was pretty much:

• Good Graphics, if you have a machine that will run it on highest settings.
• "Extensively Re-used" Environments.
• Long load times for on-screen objects.
• Good music, Bad Sound effects with little options.
• Dreadful Voice Acting.

Just having eye candy alone doesn't get ya a high score there.

 

[Kikujiro]

I think it will be a good thing if the game fails, at least S-E will be forced to do something and maybe they'll understand that they made some serious mistakes.

 

[TheYanger]

The game is weighed down by a plethora of small issues. It is a great game at its core. It won't take them long to pick off all of the small issues that are currently ruining it.

Seriously?
I think a lot of FF fanboys have missed the last 9 years of forward movement in MMO design. Even the koreans make more playable games than FF14. Sure, it could be a good game, if they completely overhauled the interface, the entire quest/leve system, the combat system, the experience system, the 'market' system (Not counting that as interface), portions of the crafting systems...these aren't 'good game' traits underneath a bad UI, there are deeply rooted design flaws in the game. It's as if they stuck their heads in the sand for the last decade and just sat around high fiving each other because they liked FF11. Then made it worse. That's FF14.

I'm sure plenty of people in this thread dislike wow or are bored of wow and its clones, but to say 'all MMOs launch as terrible games' is just an out and out fallacy that some people here are deluding themselves with. WoW had stability issues because it was too popular, everything else was just minor bugs, it's LIGHTYEARS ahead of this shit. AoC and Warhammer had genuinely engaging gameplay, but systems that only proved broken once you got farther in and lacking content. They were both superior games to FF14 at launch. Hell, Everquest 1 was more fun than this at launch, and that's the granddaddy basic MMO game of all time.

 

[gillty]

Seriously?
I think a lot of FF fanboys have missed the last 9 years of forward movement in MMO design. Even the koreans make more playable games than FF14. Sure, it could be a good game, if they completely overhauled the interface, the entire quest/leve system, the combat system, the experience system, the 'market' system (Not counting that as interface), portions of the crafting systems...these aren't 'good game' traits underneath a bad UI, there are deeply rooted design flaws in the game. It's as if they stuck their heads in the sand for the last decade and just sat around high fiving each other because they liked FF11. Then made it worse. That's FF14.

I disagree.

Want to guess what two games I have played the most during the past decade?
World of Warcraft and EVE Online

Just because you don't like the combat or the questing system doesn't mean its shit. The people you are calling fanboys are the same people who have been complaining to SQE for months through beta forums and the beta thread on GAF about the Interface, Auction House, and lack of content.

 

[elwes]

I took a break from FFXIV when DR2 came out. I went back online tonight to give things a go, but just ended up feeling disappointed again. I think I'm going to sit on this game for awhile and check back in a few months to see how it's faring. That worked for FFXI, so it might work for FFXIV too.

 

[Mairu]

The game is weighed down by a plethora of small issues. It is a great game at its core. It won't take them long to pick off all of the small issues that are currently ruining it.

Do you really believe that? A lot of the issues with FFXIV sound like issues with the fundamental game design rather than small issues. Marketplace system, fatigue system, world design; These aren't "small issues" these are major issues that shouldn't be present in an MMO released in 2010. I think people would be more forgiving if FFXIV launched alongside EverQuest in 1999, but not in 2010.

 

[Cmagus]

Bottom line its obviously an unfinished product right now the state the game is in feels like this is beta.I must say I dropped the money on the collectors edition and for the price its very disappointing. Gametrailers review nailed it on the head spot on I won't continue my monthly till stuff starts to happen it'll be great when they add an auction house but I want more than that.

After reaching a higher level the game has become completely boring as all hell I just find myself wandering around looking for something to do all the time and unfortunately it's rarely ever there.Also they need to lose the anima shit running around is tiring as all hell I jump on to play for an hour spend half if not more running everywhere.

 

[Kintaro]

Do you really believe that? A lot of the issues with FFXIV sound like issues with the fundamental game design rather than small issues. Marketplace system, fatigue system, world design; These aren't "small issues" these are major issues that shouldn't be present in an MMO released in 2010. I think people would be more forgiving if FFXIV launched alongside EverQuest in 1999, but not in 2010.

Marketplace system can work with some extra work put into it. If not, they can just put in an AH and move on.

Fatigue System is a non factor.

World Design is fine right now. People just look at the map was bitch without actually exploring what is presented to them. It needs work but it will expand and get better. Just like every MMO gets better in its world design.

 

[ULTROS!]

TBQH, the soundtrack is fantastic, reminiscent to FFX and pre-FFX games.

 

[TheYanger]

The people you are calling fanboys are the same people who have been complaining to SQE for months through beta forums and the beta thread on GAF about the Interface, Auction House, and lack of content.

Yet come into this thread thinking these things are easy fixes and it'll be a totally different game in 6 months? that's not how these things work. Not to mention the fact that if you played this pile in beta, KNEW it was bad, and gave them your money anyway, you're sending the exact WRONG message to publishers about what the gaming public should be subjected to. It's downright shameful.

 

[Swag]

old?
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/review-hd-final-fantasy/705893
Score: 4.2/10
yup

Damn just watched this, they shat on the game so hard.

 

[Spire]

The game is weighed down by a plethora of small issues. It is a great game at its core. It won't take them long to pick off all of the small issues that are currently ruining it.

Not really. It's a stale, mediocre game at it's core. It brings nothing new to the genre, assuming all the technical and design issues are fixed and game is given a huge boost in content (which won't happen any time soon), it'd just be a typical, run-of-the-mill MMORPG. FFXI's harsh solo environment at least created a unique atmosphere, FFXIV doesn't even have that going for it. It's a dull, boring game smothered underneath a mountain of terrible design choices, technical problems, and missing content.

 

[twofold]

That Gametrailers review was spot on. Rather amusing to watch too.

It'll be interesting to see how the apologists react to the 25+ grind. A number of my old ffxi guildmates have gotten that far and are on the verge of giving up due to the fact that it takes 10+ hours of straight grinding to hit the next level. God knows how bad it's going to be in the 30s and 40s.

 

[CTLance]

Looks like a stinker, huh. Well, I didn't expect much, to be honest, but this is still quite amazing.

Also, Jeebus, this thread. I can understand being a fan of a certain game even despite glaring flaws, but some of you guys clearly go above and beyond my most hardcore masochistic tendencies. (I'm obviously completely unbiased.)

 

[scitek]

It depends how big the team was and how long they worked on the game, shitty quality doesn't mean they didn't have to pay for all those man-hours, it just means they might not have gotten their money's worth, while I don't think FFXIV tanking will sink SE, it will put a pretty big hurt on them.

So you're saying they should have just made another movie with all that money instead.

 

[Cmagus]

Good thing about all this is SE has to be sweating bullets so maybe this will get a fire under their asses to fix stuff.For me if they get an auction house and a faster way for me to get around the environments I would renew for another month.

 

[TurboLibre]

old?
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/review-hd-final-fantasy/705893
Score: 4.2/10
yup

Why can't I ever get the videos to work on Gametrailers? The commercials work fine but the main video always gets stuck at "initializing media".

 

[Wiktor]

I can't imagine SE spent huge amounts of money developing the game either considering the state it's in

Nah, I'm sure it's one of the most expensive games Square has ever made. It did share the engine, but that engine is a nightmare to work with so that actualy probably increased the costs. Even taking into consideration that the rumors about a large part of development being outsourced to China it still is a high-end MMO, no matter the state it's in, such games always cost couple dozens of millions of dollars.

 

[ZoddGutts]

Oh man this game: :lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La9nLBfH44c&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA7GGnyNwEs&feature=related


Square Enix being lazy.

 

[Londa]

Show me a game that doesn't have copy and paste terrain. You can't.

"the best way to get things fixed"

If that man believes SE is going to rework the map because people are ignorant to the fact that most games have copy and paste terrain he will be waiting forever on that one.

 

[Orin GA]

Oh man this game: :lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La9nLBfH44c&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA7GGnyNwEs&feature=related


Square Enix being lazy.

OMG :lol

 

[Moobabe]

Show me a game that doesn't have copy and paste terrain. You can't.

"the best way to get things fixed"

If that man believes SE is going to rework the map because people are ignorant to the fact that most games have copy and paste terrain he will be waiting forever on that one.

There's copy paste terrain then there's this.

 

[Londa]

There's copy paste terrain then there's this.

as in? explain to me what you mean?

you can not show one game that doesn't copy and paste and recolor shit.

 

[LaneDS]

World Design is fine right now. People just look at the map was bitch without actually exploring what is presented to them. It needs work but it will expand and get better. Just like every MMO gets better in its world design.

Uh, I disagree wholeheartedly. There are only a few zones in the game, all of which are gigantic, same-y, and empty. The "dungeons" that are connected to the three starting zones are equally bland and uninteresting. There's next to no point in exploring because you're sure to stumble on a similar looking area with no point to it. Sometimes you'll find something remotely interesting in the environments, like say a tower, but as of now it serves no purpose.

Sure it's pretty, but man if it isn't lifeless. It doesn't help that many areas are poorly laid out in terms of enemy placement too. There are stretches where you encounter nothing at all for minutes at a time, making the bland environment somehow even more bland.

The copy and paste sections (which I think are few and far between... mostly limited to Gridania if not completely) are one of the smaller problems at play here.

Edit: Wow, watching those videos, I take it back about Gridania being the only area where it's a problem. That's worse than I thought.

 

[Zomba13]

Show me a game that doesn't have copy and paste terrain. You can't.

"the best way to get things fixed"

If that man believes SE is going to rework the map because people are ignorant to the fact that most games have copy and paste terrain he will be waiting forever on that one.

This. WoW has copy and pasted caves (at least in the normal world areas, don't know if this will change in cata, I don't play it any more)

Also, Hands up people who play this game and have actually noticed any of that? And I mean apart from the rivers in gridania as there really isn't many ways to make a tiny crossing part different each time, especially in a forest with loads of streams.

 

[Moobabe]

as in? explain to me what you mean?

you can not show one game that doesn't copy and paste and recolor shit.

This. WoW has copy and pasted caves (at least in the normal world areas, don't know if this will change in cata, I don't play it any more)

How many zones did wow have at launch? Because this only has 5 and if the terrain in each zone is, as the video demonstrates, copy/pasted then surely that's pretty lazy?

 

[VGChampion]

I haven't played 14 so I don't really have an opinion yet (besides wishing it was great as it was my most anticipated) but I do know WoW copy and pastes those little caves over and over again. The one outside of Orgrimmar is used throughout. It doesn't bother me though so I'm not sure if this would bother me.

 

[LaneDS]

This. WoW has copy and pasted caves (at least in the normal world areas, don't know if this will change in cata, I don't play it any more)

Also, Hands up people who play this game and have actually noticed any of that? And I mean apart from the rivers in gridania as there really isn't many ways to make a tiny crossing part different each time, especially in a forest with loads of streams.

In fairness, I never noticed the copy paste terrain for Ul'dah or Limsa until that video. Still, it's lazy. You can mention the caves in WoW, but the WoW zones are all very much full of character and pretty varied. And there's stuff going on in different sections of any given zone, something XIV does not have going on whatsoever. This was true, by the way, even of vanilla WoW at launch... the newer zones are like theme parks in terms of the amount of stuff going on in them. Whether you like or dislike that is of course personal preference, but I'd say they trounce the vast repetitive and boring landscapes of XIV pretty easily.

 

[Londa]

Its like, once the ball gets rolling any and everything begins to be picked on. Even if its minor and doesn't make much sense to put focus on it.

Copy and paste issue is a non issue and if you think the dev's are going to rework the whole game to your liking you better just wait for cata or whatever game you like over this one. Ever think the game isn't for you if you hate more than 85% of it? Why put yourself through so much frustration?

 

[Moobabe]

Its like, once the ball gets rolling any and everything begins to be picked on. Even if its minor and doesn't make much sense to put focus on it.

Copy and paste issue is a non issue and if you think the dev's are going to rework the whole game to your liking you better just wait for cata or whatever game you like over this one. Ever think the game isn't for you if you hate more than 85% of it? Why put yourself through so much frustration?

Despite the host of problems that other people have with the game this is the only one that seriously bothers me. I can put up with a LOT of shit from an mmo as long as the world is interesting, diverse and fun to explore - that's just my preference.

It isn't a non issue at all. It might be for you but for those of us that appreciate the diversity of other mmos - and you can "accuse" people of playing wow or whatever makes you feel comfortable - but this is the worst example I've seen in a big budget, mainline mmo.

 

[Londa]

How many zones did wow have at launch? Because this only has 5 and if the terrain in each zone is, as the video demonstrates, copy/pasted then surely that's pretty lazy?

Thats the thing, I didn't play WoW. But any game, I mean any game has copy and paste. Look at Super Mario Brothers, Twilight Zelda, Radiata Stories, Monster Hunter Tri.

I've seen screens of WoW though. The textures are copying and pasted to hell and back but whatever lets turn a blind eye because its WoW.