FFXIV BETA Test Application has begun

[TheGrandMom]

Re: FFXIV BETA Test Application has begun

What I'm looking for is gameplay innovation, and we just don't know enough about how any of it will play out, but what little has been confirmed doesn't seem revolutionary. They seem like they've learned some of the Thou Shalt Nots from developing FFXI, but it remains to be seen whether they can come up with a functional system that works around all of the stuff they've confirmed does NOT work (overly restrictive skillchaining, forcing players at gunpoint to play together, free-for-all-enemy battles, crafting items that don't feed back into an item ecosystem, etc.).

I hope I am pleasantly surprised, but am fearful that I won't be.

*GASP*

/em runs to check her meds to make sure she didn't take too many and is hallucinating... lol

I feel the same way. I hope I'm wrong because I want every FF to be a blockbuster and loved by millions...its the fangirl in me.

[fairyoracle75]

Re: FFXIV BETA Test Application has begun

I hope you realise the art direction between those comparisons you tried to make are completely different.

My post wasn't art direction nor has anything else in this thread. The point is all of FFXI character designs are somewhat familiar and conform to a certain style directed by SE regardless of who or how it is directed. Sort of the way I hear people complaining that all the Disney characters look alike in some ways regardless who was the art director of each film. It looks like Disney because its Disney. FF looks like FF because its FF. People are complaining that FFXVI will basically recycle the same looking models and my point is what Icemage said:

I don't care at all about recycled artwork, to be honest; a certain amount of familiarity is fine, and if they recycle some things, well, it's Final Fantasy, and it's to be expected to a certain extent.

If that game is enjoyable I'm not going to quibble about graphics and if anything is recycled since FF does that alot. I'm waiting to actually see what the game is like before trying to dissect it.

[Icemage]

Re: FFXIV BETA Test Application has begun

I've signed up for the beta, and I'm hopeful, but I agree with most of TheGrandMom's points.

I don't care at all about recycled artwork, to be honest; a certain amount of familiarity is fine, and if they recycle some things, well, it's Final Fantasy, and it's to be expected to a certain extent.

What I'm looking for is gameplay innovation, and we just don't know enough about how any of it will play out, but what little has been confirmed doesn't seem revolutionary. They seem like they've learned some of the Thou Shalt Nots from developing FFXI, but it remains to be seen whether they can come up with a functional system that works around all of the stuff they've confirmed does NOT work (overly restrictive skillchaining, forcing players at gunpoint to play together, free-for-all-enemy battles, crafting items that don't feed back into an item ecosystem, etc.).

I hope I am pleasantly surprised, but am fearful that I won't be.

Icemage

[Rostum]

Re: FFXIV BETA Test Application has begun

Stuff.

I hope you realise the art direction between those comparisons you tried to make are completely different.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: FFXIV BETA Test Application has begun

If they make male mithra, then they will have to make Female Galka, and I don't think that female galka would be nice...

Honestly, I wouldn't mind having both . . .

[fairyoracle75]

Re: FFXIV BETA Test Application has begun

Ok...

I'm going to say this only once. FF has always looked like FF. New FF games look similiar to others. FF has a certain style so you can look at it and say "that's an FF game" and I'm talking about platformers also not just FFXI. I mean 2 of the FFXI Hume models look almost like carbon-copies of Tidus and Yuna. The leveling system is different based on weapons which will be radically different than FFXI. Maybe it will have some of the same models, subsystems and such that SE found were successful in FFXI but that won't make it the same game.




Edit: I'm not sure about you but I see a lot of similarites so it could be argued the graphics and models in FFXI weren't that original to begin with. I could pull up other simliarities to things in other FF games similiar to FFXI too. This just shows SE likes a certain look for their FF titles whether on a game platform or Online.

Ex: If I see a Frank Lloyd Wright house I can tell its a Frank Lloyd Wright house. Why? He always repeats some of the same architecual features with entirely different floor plans. Artists, including CGI modlers, develope signature styles.

Bottom line FF will always look like FF and mob recycle so get over it or go play a game with entirely different models by another company.

[Lmnop]

Re: FFXIV BETA Test Application has begun

I think you missed the point.

Google an image of a WoW character in heavy armor.

Now Google an image of an FFXI character in heavy armor.

They are radically different.

Likewise, the color pallette of WoW is incredibly different from FFXI. However, that may not be a good basis of argument as WoW is rather cartoony. So let's try something like Age of Conan.

Too lazy to upload pictures and crap, so here's links.

Age of Conan
http://community.ageofconan.com/cona...oc_siege_4.jpg

FFXI's Ronfaure
http://jormlien.info/uploads/finalfa...706163642a.jpg

Everything manages to look different (and don't just look at the grass).

[Takelli]

Re: FFXIV BETA Test Application has begun

And you're over-simplifying things too much. No, grass does not look the same everywhere you go. Some blades are taller/shorter, or maybe slightly brown etc... and the same goes for armor. It would be really cool if your armor and weapons could show wear & tear, and maybe even a little rust.

I think you missed the point. I was saying that same types of grass will look the same. I said nothing about tallness/shortness. Yes, they wil have different lengths, and some maybe be brown because its dying. But I was talking about the type. Crab Grass looks like Crab Grass everywhere else. London, Newyork, Florida, China. Everywhre it grows, it will look the same except for the browness/height/thickness, but it will still look the same. If not, then its someting else.

Theres also only so many variations for armor as well. You can only change something so muh before it starts to look like somethin else. Yes, having more variety, and different armor wil be nice. Even showing the armor degrading wil be a nice touch as well.

[Balfree]

Re: FFXIV BETA Test Application has begun

ITT: Botanical experts discuss importance of how tall and what colors grass should be to make an MMO an enjoyable experience.

[Malacite]

Re: FFXIV BETA Test Application has begun

Theres only so much that youc an do with the grass, Armor, weapons, characters and so on. Chainmail wil always have chain links in it. Plate mail will always have the "Plate" look, and the splint mail wil always look "Splint." Same with fabric and so on. The grass will always look like grass, and the sand will always look like sand. You can only do so much to an item until it changes what it actually is. No matter where you go, crabgrass looks like crab grass where you are.

And you're over-simplifying things too much. No, grass does not look the same everywhere you go. Some blades are taller/shorter, or maybe slightly brown etc... and the same goes for armor. It would be really cool if your armor and weapons could show wear & tear, and maybe even a little rust.

[Takelli]

Re: FFXIV BETA Test Application has begun

*cough*Male Kitties*cough*

OMFG! Will people just give up about male Mithras!!!!! I am f*cking tired of hearing about them!!!! If they make male mithra, then they will have to make Female Galka, and I don't think that female galka would be nice... Just please stop talking about it. Its so annoying!

The complaint that there are crabs of every level and can be found in practically any zone has nothing to do with whether or not FFXIV has crabs.

If it does then it only got them from FFXI... ((I know lame...))

I'm not really artsy enough to understand what it is I'm seeing, but when I watch that first trailer, all I see is PS3-graphics versions of FFXI cutscenes. The technology is different! I get it! But the people look the same, the grass looks the same, the armor styles seem the same.

Theres only so much that youc an do with the grass, Armor, weapons, characters and so on. Chainmail wil always have chain links in it. Plate mail will always have the "Plate" look, and the splint mail wil always look "Splint." Same with fabric and so on. The grass will always look like grass, and the sand will always look like sand. You can only do so much to an item until it changes what it actually is. No matter where you go, crabgrass looks like crab grass where you are.

[Lmnop]

Re: FFXIV BETA Test Application has begun

The character models are all sorts of the same.

I'm not really artsy enough to understand what it is I'm seeing, but when I watch that first trailer, all I see is PS3-graphics versions of FFXI cutscenes. The technology is different! I get it! But the people look the same, the grass looks the same, the armor styles seem the same.

And yeah, I think I agree with TGM. You don't try to keep 2 MMOs running where, to a more casual observer, it looks like one is just an older version of the other.

And on that note, I wouldn't have minded recycling from previous FFs. None of them got online incarnations. FFXI has a lot of unique setting stuff. So they had 2 choices: "We can make it look and feel like FF6, which has a lot to offer an online world" or "we can make it very similar to FFXI. It's already an online world so it'll be very easy to port over to next-gen graphics."

Hum.

But on the other hand, I feel like they may very well do enough with the plot to feel more like 6 or 12 or something. The higher tech FF titles always seemed more-FF to me.

And I guess when I think about it, I like the opportunity to wear heavier armors. See: FF6-12. Collectively, there's only one character whose model wears armor: the goober known as Steiner.

[Armando]

Re: FFXIV BETA Test Application has begun

I for one have not been impressed. I remember the days when the same people on here standing up for FFXIV were the ones bitching about the mobs all being the same in FFXI. Now they've shown us some mobs in FFXIV and some of them ARE THE SAME FUCKING MOBS!....yet FFXIV is the next best thing since sliced bread....go figure...

This is sorta apple-to-oranges though. The complaint that there are crabs of every level and can be found in practically any zone has nothing to do with whether or not FFXIV has crabs.

Plus anyone who has played at least 2 FFs knew we'd see some mob recycling. There was no reason to believe otherwise.

I can get behind the "no new races" complaint. Except Male Mithra. That's not a new race, and no, just no.

Hell, they could have even mixed in some of the races from Ivalice for more flavor. There'd probably be quite a lot of Bangaa's and Vierra.

And no to this too. The solution to "all the races are recycled from FFXI" isn't to recycle races from other games. That's not "more flavor."

The Guildleves are very similar to the Fields of Valor system. They just presented it a bit differently but its basically the same concept. I'm not saying thats a bad thing but its just another way to get people to switch from FFXI. You have people on FFXI that love the system, rightfully so, so what better way to get them interested, no?

I'm not totally convinced on this one. FoV didn't make a big impact in the EXP scene, it just made soloing more palatable. Plus it still boils down to "Kill X mobs." Guildleves sounds like it'll be the main way to EXP in FFXIV, and it sounds like they have actual objectives, so if anything they sound more like Campaign Ops with payoffs comparable to EXP parties.

Me, honestly I don't mind how much from FFXI they recycle as long as they don't recycle the UI and battle system. So far they seem to be on the right track there.

[Kailea]

Re: FFXIV BETA Test Application has begun

Hell, they could have even mixed in some of the races from Ivalice for more flavor. There'd probably be quite a lot of Bangaa's and Vierra.

Kitties and bunnies...... *head explodes*

I do agree with that to be honest though, they could have added at least one new race to the mix. At this point though, who knows, they might take the rout of other MMOs now and add a race in later, our they might be holding out on us to begin with. ;p I am sure FFFXIV will turn out great, and from what they have learned from FFXI it will be a better game (in a since, not trying to say FFXIV will be better then FXI)

[Malacite]

Re: FFXIV BETA Test Application has begun

Well, we won't know until it's out.

I'm just glad Tanaka has opted for a 6-month beta and has publicly stated it will really be a thorough examining of the game using player feedback to tweak it as best they can prior to release. They're really putting a lot of effort into it (unlike XI but that's just how I feel about XI now and not fact >_>) and I for one appreciate it.

As TGM pointed out though, there are some things they could have done different... *cough*Male Kitties*cough*

Hell, they could have even mixed in some of the races from Ivalice for more flavor. There'd probably be quite a lot of Bangaa's and Vierra.