PC version

[Zidane77]

So i have heard very negative reviews of the game but haven't tried it myself.
Was thinking of getting it on PS3 but what is your opinion of the game so far those who have played it?
What i've seen hasn't looked that great but hopefully Square will turn it around, just weird that they finish it like it's incomplete..

[loaf]

Well if you want to get it for PS3 need to wait till March, unless that was changed recently.

Many people I know say the game is great, but they were FFXI players and enjoy the type of MMOs SE makes. Others say it's bad due to needing a very good computer to even run the game on alright settings.

One thing you need to understand is...no MMO is "complete", they are always changing them and improving them to fix the problems they encounter while people are playing.

[Zidane77]

Yeah i get that, but XI had more postive reviews but all i see for XIV is 4/10 which is pretty bad, so i wonder how much it will change
But hopefully it will, i have never played MMO's but i was thinking either XI or XIV would be the first ones since they're the only ones in the series i haven't tried.

Don't know if XI is actually active (with alot of people), so i'm not sure if that's a good idea to get.

[loaf]

People still play FFXI, I actually plan on playing FFXI again some day.

[Andromeda]

FFXI received solid reviews because it came in a year before WoW did. FFXI was following in the current trend more or less that had been pioneered by games like Everquest and Ultima before it. However, post-WoW everyone compares that as the model. So if you don't meet that model then reviewers are going to judge poorly.

But it is certainly true that FFXIV is crafted for people that enjoyed FFXI and those that probably enjoyed FFXI, but left because they found it too hardcore of a game. FFXIV is a more casual version of FFXI from a number of things I'm hearing. And FFXI is going to be appeal to a certain audience just like FFXIV will. FFXI wasn't for everyone and FFXIV isn't going to be everyone, but it is certainly trying to reach for that point.

I haven't played FFXIV yet, so I can't judge it. But I have played FFXI for a long time and unless the half a million players all skipped over to FFXIV there should still be a strong community over there today. FFXI is a fun game for those that have the time to put into it and it has one of the friendliest and helpful communities you'll find in MMOs. But that is built on the fact that to succeed in anything in FFXI you must be able to work well with others. If you can't work with others and pull your weight problems will arise. It is all a team effort.

[Zidane77]

Nice, im gonna try a month with FFXI and see how it goes, and probably get XIV in march for PS3.
Thx for the info

[Merlin]

If you want to play FFXIV I would wait a few months. The reviews are harsh for a reason(I explain below) but those issues will be resolved in the upcoming months(straight from SE themselves with their huge-ass to-do list). By March, this game will be pretty damned good IMHO... and the PS3 version will undoubtedly get much better reviews. Sure there will be some bias, but the 4/10s will go away.

FFXI received solid reviews because it came in a year before WoW did. FFXI was following in the current trend more or less that had been pioneered by games like Everquest and Ultima before it. However, post-WoW everyone compares that as the model. So if you don't meet that model then reviewers are going to judge poorly.

Sure reviewers are going to bash it because it "isn't WoW" but even a half-decent reviewer wouldn't give it a 4/10 because of that. The reason the game is getting a 4/10 is because of all the BASIC functionality which is blatantly missing in this game: (from Lodestone

• Search feature to allow item searches by individual wards
• Icon display to identify retainers selling sought-after items
• Increase in the number of retainers that may be employed
• Inventory Sort Feature
• Players will be able to scroll their maps via dragging the mouse
• A player's current coordinates will now be displayed on the main map
• A player's current coordinates will now be displayed on journal maps (as long as the player is in the same area)
• Players will be able to relay their current coordinates to others using the text command <pos>
• The area name will be added to journal maps
• A journal map feature will be added to the main map
• The log window will no longer be hidden when maps are displayed
• New tabs will be added to the log window
• Players will be able to open multiple log windows
• Controller functionality will be added to the log window
• Players will be able to use Ctrl+R to send instant replies to /tells
• Players will be able to change chat modes via menu options
• The Home and End keys will now function in the chat log
• For players typing multi-byte characters, starting a new message with "/" will automatically switch the typeset to single byte
• Players will be able to adjust the font color for various chat modes
• Adjustments will be made to the transparency of the log window when unfocused
• A Loot List icon will be added
• A Loot List option will be added to the System Menu
• The general layout of several menus will be adjusted
• Previously completed quests will now appear in players' journals
• Adjustments will be made to target priority when using the Tab key to cycle through nearby targets
• When targeting a party member, a target mark will now appear next to the target's name in the party member list
• Players will be able to target party members via the party member list
• Several new functions will be added to the keyboard, such as a key used for targeting NPCs
• Players will now be able to re-map all functions to any key (other than Esc)
  

Notice how many of those are in FFXI... makes you wonder why SE dropped those features(or forgot them? )

I personally enjoy this game. The GUI does annoy the shit out of me but I know they are working on it. Hell the Marketplace changes have already made the experience of searching hundreds of drones bearable. It still needs searching and people to actually move to the right areas, but the fixes so far are definitely appreciated. I think the ward subdivisions are a bit overzealous though, but they are most likely tweaking that in the near future. I don't need a whole instance of just gloves... Also all the instances should be listed on one screen rather than separating them into multiple pages. Basic GUI design, people will be pigeon-holed into the first page of instances regardless of what they are labeled simply because they don't "see" the others(and it isn't exactly obvious that there are more listed).

[Zidane77]

So is that all stuff that will be fixed?
Thx for your input

[Merlin]

That's the short-hand version of the list. If you go to the link I provided, you can see all the upcoming changes they are planning on doing in the next couple of months. I'd prefer they move the timeline up some, but it is better than them ignoring people and not giving a shit(like Blizzard and the old SE). Yes I went there. ^_^

[Zargabaath]

Hey Merlin, have they even fixed if the game disconnects during a levequest it equals automatic failure? With having only 8 regional and local levequests for a 36 hour period losing one due to a disconnect is frustrating.

What about only being able to kick people out of linkshells (or the equivalent) by having to be next to the person? With that people who became a nuisance could keep "skipping town" in order to avoid getting kicked out all the while continuing to be annoying to the group.

I'm hearing that Anima needs to be recovered at a better rate than the pace it is at now. Also, there are complaints that the areas are huge but there is a lot of "copy & pasting" done to the terrain; the areas are also quite barren for being so huge.

I have not played the game - I was waiting for the PS3 release - but honestly this game should have been in development longer. The majority response from the community is that the game is/was unfinished. Yes, MMOs are never done but there is a certain threshold when an MMO is release ready. Then SE has the nerve to say hold up with reviews for a month; if a game is released it is fair game otherwise hold off release to when the game is "sanctioned" to be reviewed by SE. Eight years of experience with FFXI and the same team took what was wrong with FFXI at launch and did worse. They gave the players an extra free-month because things looked bad for the game and they wanted people to stay - it's free, why not mentality - for the "big updates" which should have been addressed in Beta. Perhaps they rushed release because of the impending Cataclysm, but it is a lot better to release a "finished" MMO than a hot mess that is FFXIV. I may not be a big fan, or a fan at all, of Blizzard but their policy of "not releasing a game till it is finished" is very, very wise.

The good thing is - if the game doesn't go down, doubtful - that patches can fix things, though some of the big problems are just fundamental and that would need a shut down of servers and a re-release.

[Merlin]

If you disconnect or the game crashes, you can go back to the Aetheryte crystal and get the quest again where you left off. So if you are in a party and they re-invite you, just tag the quest again and you will be good to go. Anima now recharges 1 every four hours. They are going to improve that more in the near future. Unless you are teleporting like crazy, that is adequate IMHO. And really, if someone is teleporting enough to drain all his Anima in a few hours, he's a lazy bastard and shouldn't be playing a MMO anyway. They will be adding chocobos, etc sometime or another so that will help as well. Honestly, they should have had that first... but whatever.

I like how vast the world is and that stuff is far apart. What I don't like about it is that traveling around isn't that exciting when you see the same rock or river over and over. It kinda takes the fun out of exploring a massive world when you are running from one camp to another going, "wait, didn't I just go across that river a few minutes ago?" It isn't just a tree or a small rock... it is like complete landmarks being copypastaed. It isn't that big of a deal to me though. I honestly don't notice it unless I am multi-tasking while running around and have no clue where the hell I am.

As for the other stuff, I would recommend looking over Lodestone which has the full list of stuff they are working on. As I said, everything on that list should have been done before release. By the time the PS3 version comes out, this will be a pretty good game, IMHO.

[Kaiden]

It will be a pretty good game if it lets me play for more than 15 minutes at a time anymore... I still havent figured out why it loses Directx and crashes. Its pretty frustrating atm.

[Merlin]

If you have Windows Vista or Windows 7 I would recommend downloading the DirectX 9.0 redistributable. Yes, this is stupid and you shouldn't have to but I know when I tried the benchmark out, I had to do that to get it to run without crashing with DX9 errors. DX11 is supposed to be backwards compatible but SE most likely wrote some code that is no longer supported in newer versions.