FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot and other reviews & hilarious discoveries about FFXIV

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

I think 10 man encounters, as provided by Blizzard, are probably going to be the best compromise between large group raids and single group romps. I personally enjoyed 10 man raiding far more than 25/40 man in WoW and 60+ in EQ. There was more of a focus on the individuals knowing and performing their roles as opposed to 16 people carrying through 9 utter morons (very optimistic figure) in the 25 man raids. The only problem is when you have an encounter tuned to 10 players you invariably end up with classes/specs that are simply undesirable until the content has been made trivial by everyone else gearing up in it but when it's a small group of friends I'd hope most people would be less likely to adopt a min/max approach.

The smaller the group, the less need for min/maxing and the less need for an overwhelming number of classes.

Class changes aren't uncommon in other online RPGs these days. Phantasy Star Portable 2 just has four classes and you can actually customize them to encompass other skills. I can be a Ranger that can equip wands or mags to do Techs usually reserved for a Force, it just comes a greater cost to allocate skill points to something outside of my class.

And if I want to change, I can always reallocate them.

Monster Hunter lets you change class by changing your weapon

Hell, I think the reason Diablo III's "new" classes are more or less reskins of old ones is to keep it things simple so one class doesn't fall into neglect.

MMOs always want more, more, more jobs. That may actually be why FFXIV veered away from iconic classes, so they didn't fall in that trap like they did with FFXI. There is such a thing as too many weapon types, though.

People are already pointing out things like knives, whips, katanas and all sorts of stuff that could risk making the system too complex.

[Grizzlebeard]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

Until they begin to move away from alliance-focused endgames and make it more inviting to smaller groups, I could care less.

I think 10 man encounters, as provided by Blizzard, are probably going to be the best compromise between large group raids and single group romps. I personally enjoyed 10 man raiding far more than 25/40 man in WoW and 60+ in EQ. There was more of a focus on the individuals knowing and performing their roles as opposed to 16 people carrying through 9 utter morons (very optimistic figure) in the 25 man raids. The only problem is when you have an encounter tuned to 10 players you invariably end up with classes/specs that are simply undesirable until the content has been made trivial by everyone else gearing up in it but when it's a small group of friends I'd hope most people would be less likely to adopt a min/max approach.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

Blizzard also just PR'd their 12 million subscribers announcement and I'm not really sure if it was to help on the "beat down" of FFXIV or if that was just totally coincidental. I'm sure the subscribers will go down after Cataclysm is released but Blizzard is already working on their follow-up MMO title.

I think Blizzard is making a huge mistake with Cataclysm - you never fuck with the mythology. Cataclysm content could have been done similar to how FFXI did WotG and that would have been fine.

Reshaping the entire world with no ability for newcomers to see the world as it once was? Bad idea.

Not that it matters, I've reached the conclusion that no matter what the MMO, I'm just going to end up dealing with the same kind of bullshit at endgame as any other. Until they begin to move away from alliance-focused endgames and make it more inviting to smaller groups, I could care less.

Sorry, but playing a game should not be like going to work. If I want to endure middle-management sorts of bullshit - that's what a real job is for.

I'm starting to favor stuff like Phantasy Star, Monster Hunter and Diablo again. The P2P RPGs have started to come full circle and have overcome a lot of their past problems, particularly areas where MMOs once held an advantage. I particularly like the freedom from having to commit to some big group to get things done and not having to deal with the drama. I just jump online and play. No waiting, no bullshit, no drama.

[Icemage]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

Likewise, I hate it when that happens.

Gawd, that GT review was brutal. They hardly even gave the story or graphics credit.

They did mention the storyline being one of the better elements. And they did mention that the graphics were nice. The presentation score was far higher than the other scores, but honestly, there is nothing inaccurate about the review whatsoever.

I said it before in my last post - Square-Enix is expecting the first adopters to be paying beta testers, and I don't like it one bit. And as MrMageo says, they have a track record of not listening to the player base when there are severe problems - which there ARE. The beta should have been plenty of proof of that, if nothing else.

That 4.2 from Gametrailers is completely deserved, and they're absolutely right. There are dozens of MMOs out there, INCLUDING FFXI. While there is new content to explore in FFXIV, you'd better be prepared to put up with a ton of BS and irritation if you want to experience it.


Icemage

[Fliegar]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

I was honestly expecting this, what with the early release in comparison to when I thought we'd see the game. I'll be sticking around, I only play casually due to school anyways.

[Raydeus]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

Makes me wonder how many people will stick with XIV after their paid trial is over.

It certainly can't fail before the PS3 release, right? ...right? <_<;

---------- Post added at 06:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:25 PM ----------

PS > What's their return policy for Crysta again?

[Taskmage]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

Sorry, but I had to laugh at "Fuck you SE! I'm only going to give you $13/mo instead of $20 now!" or whatever the fees work out to. Just saying.

[Aeni]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

On top of all the other bullshit, no, screw it, I'm sticking with XI until this shit is fixed.

They said it will be fixed in the next patch but you're not alone. I had a couple of friends who had that happen to them several times and they just completely gave up and are playing that new Civ game.

[Malacite]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

Right, fuck this game.

That was the last straw just now, doing a Rank 20 Botany leve with Guardian Aspect on, 25+ min left on the clock and the crappy ass unstable server disconnects me. So I log back in right away, only to discover that I have automatically failed the leve because I DC'd.

FUCK YOU SE, THAT'S RIDICULOUS! On top of all the other bullshit, no, screw it, I'm sticking with XI until this shit is fixed.

[Aeni]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

SE is just a terrible MMO company, the game has promise but needs real devs, MMO's become awesome when the player base and the devs can work together to fix issues and generate new things, not when the devs just say no no no, we can't hear you, it works how we want it to work, like it or play something else...in the end play something else is what people usually decide to do.

This is what I've been saying all along and that this was the key difference between the success of WoW and FFXI. Blizzard didn't really fare well with WoW in the beginning, however, they did acquire key developers from other companies and even hired on players of Everquest who had grand ideas on how to improve on a previously successful and yet flawed game. When you interact with the community and then incorporate some of their ideas and also listen carefully to your customers, you can make a product better and appeal to many more players.

Beta was something that I didn't like but I was hoping it was just because I had spent a long time in WoW so I went into FFXIV with an open mind and saw so much potential. It's still there. It's just that SE hasn't yet figured out what to do with it.

Blizzard also just PR'd their 12 million subscribers announcement and I'm not really sure if it was to help on the "beat down" of FFXIV or if that was just totally coincidental. I'm sure the subscribers will go down after Cataclysm is released but Blizzard is already working on their follow-up MMO title.

[Taskmage]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

I feel the universe might implode upon itself, for I find myself thanking Mr. Mageo.

Likewise, I hate it when that happens.

Gawd, that GT review was brutal. They hardly even gave the story or graphics credit.

[Aksannyi]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

I feel the universe might implode upon itself, for I find myself thanking Mr. Mageo.

[MrMageo]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

called it, pay to play beta testing wooohooo.

I do not doubt that things will get ironed out, but really this is the same team that left FFXI stagnant for 4-5 years after ToAU was released. This is the same team that virtually ignored the community on various game issues from job balance to UI issues. This is the same team that virtually destroyed any real variety in the job system relegating it to the super 7 and the rest I guess can be useful sometimes jobs.

I don't expect these devs to really pounce on anything which is a shame, we have seen this crew at work for nearly a decade. In 6 months many of our old ideas have been addressed from BLU spells set memory to jobs being useful (see pup and bst popularity increases), these are done at the hands of the current FFXI team. It is sad that these "new" devs are working on the old game and the old devs are not. What is even more sad is that these devs should have prior knowledge of what an MMO requires from nearly a decade of working on XI.

I do not expect these issues to be resolved quickly, and unfortunately many will likely never get resolved at all. SE is their own worst enemy, and unless they drastically fix this game fast, people will likely stick or move to WoW when Cataclysm drops. SE is just a terrible MMO company, the game has promise but needs real devs, MMO's become awesome when the player base and the devs can work together to fix issues and generate new things, not when the devs just say no no no, we can't hear you, it works how we want it to work, like it or play something else...in the end play something else is what people usually decide to do.

(if you don't believe that just look at the mass exodus of people from FFXI between 2005 and 2009 huge numbers of people leaving because the game never grew.)

[Raydeus]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

Ouch.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

And another review from Gametrailers.com

You know I nearly cried watching this. It breaks my heart that this game is producing comments like this. I had such high hopes...