Printable Version of Topic

Posted by: Alisha Aug 4 2009, 03:05 PM

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/08/04/final-fantasy-xiv-details-revealed-no-leveling-new-job-system/

The latest edition of Famitsu Wave recently hit newsstands in Japan, bringing with it a DVD which contains an 8-minute exposé on Square Enix's second stab at the MMO genre, Final Fantasy XIV. The whole video is posted after the break. Fret not -- it sports convenient English subtitles.

Here's some of the more titillating excerpts: The game features a reinvented character progression system which does not include experience points or leveling up. The job system from XI will make an appearance, but in a heavily altered form -- an interview with the game's director, Nobuaki Komoto, revealed that the game will place a focus on the weapons players use, explaining that your armaments will determine "the way you play" and "the way you grow." Sounds reminiscent of Final Fantasy IX. (That's a very good thing.)

In addition, FFXIV producer Hiromichi Tanaka explained that the game takes place in a new region with a more "modern" feel to it -- the mysterious Eorzea which was mentioned in the trailer. The new world features familiar races (albeit with new names), and plays host to a "deep story," which is told through cut-scenes and quests. For more FFXIV info than you can possibly handle, check the video after the jump.


sounds similar to monster hunter no?

Race Scans

Posted by: Crushinator Aug 4 2009, 05:41 PM

The characters look nice, a big improvement over (what I felt was) the creepy appearance of the Taru's and Mithras in FFXI. They had better make it more fair/accessible to get these weapons if thats the only factor for leveling up your dude. Otherwise the level grind will simply be replaced by overcrowded weapon drop camping or some crap.

I like that they are addressing the problems with not being able to do anything outside of a party though.

I will be a Galka on this game

Posted by: AC9breaker Aug 4 2009, 06:50 PM

Fuck yeah dood, Galka brotherhood 4 li4e.

You guys find it funny on some of the names seem like broken engrish like Hyuran. Might as well just call them humans. Also is it just me or do Galkas look very asian like? Anyway, I'm excited. I'm wondering how they're gonna handle range weaponry. I've always preferred range weaponry myself and FFXI was quite difficult to focus on that even as ranger what with the cost of materials.


Tr3y 4 Li4e!

Posted by: Crushinator Aug 5 2009, 05:51 AM

Direct translations from the Famitsu article courtesy of neoGAF:

Posted by: tanshin Aug 5 2009, 10:37 AM

After reading all this new info, I can't help but get worried, honestly. It seems like they are going to make the game too easy, much like world of warcraft. The only reason people still play WoW after the simple task of maxing out their character's level is so they can go on raids to get more stuff to become the best PvP person ever. I'm not particularly fond of either time consuming raids nor a main focus on PvP in an MMO. I notice that square enix also are not fond of PvP, so I'm starting to wonder what the hell we're gonna do if they make leveling (oh, I'm sorry increasing your skill with a weapon or whatever) so easy that you hit the cap a month after playing? I'm glad that they seem to be doing away with the mistakes made in FFXI, but I hope they don't throw away the aspects about it that were good as well.

Posted by: Knightsword Aug 5 2009, 05:40 PM

Hopefully they also get rid of that annoying extra fee per extra character. Every other mmo I've played has yet to commit that form of asshatery.

Posted by: Alisha Aug 6 2009, 06:19 PM

obviously we need to know more but i don't like the idea of changing jobs midfight to heal yourself. i think the idea is to be solo friendly and for those times when you are making a party and you cant find a healer or tank or refresh whore. but i think there has to be better ways to tackle those problems.

Posted by: AC9breaker Aug 6 2009, 09:07 PM

I don't know, it makes the game sound like PSU and I thought you loved PSU? I mean didn't you get like a billion hours offline? I would prefer if they went with a PSO type of thing myself. The game certainly sounds like it's drawing a lot from Monster Hunter what with weapons degrading and such. May not be such a bad thing since that game owns.

Posted by: Crushinator Aug 6 2009, 10:13 PM

QUOTE(Alisha @ Aug 6 2009, 05:19 PM)

Posted by: HC82 Aug 7 2009, 09:44 AM

QUOTE(Crushinator @ Aug 6 2009, 10:13 PM)

Posted by: Crushinator Aug 8 2009, 07:03 PM

Some in-game screens posted at Kotaku:

http://kotaku.com/5332049/final-fantasy-xiv-screenshots-and-character-art-get-em-here/gallery/

Looks VERY pretty. Also notice all the character images are in-game models, not concept renders. Looking really nice.

Also, the official site http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/ has been updated with a lot of content. Mostly covering the stuff we already found out from Famitsu, but at least its in real english now, not mysterious translations

Posted by: Alisha Aug 10 2009, 03:10 PM

QUOTE(AC9breaker @ Aug 6 2009, 11:07 PM)

Posted by: Crushinator Aug 10 2009, 09:41 PM

QUOTE(Alisha @ Aug 10 2009, 02:10 PM)

Posted by: Wiryu Aug 14 2009, 06:43 PM

It's because of monster hunter I feel really good about the new character progression system in FFIVX. There being no levels, I was skeptic with monster hunter, but I see a huge difference in performance against the different levels of monsters with each piece of gear I obtain, and if they can pull it off so great with a small game, I feel really excited about seeing if a successful gaming company can pull off a similar system, with much more content, even moderately well. I've been juggling MH and FFIVX since MHF came out on the PSP, so to feel like I may potentially have both games combined into one, I think that's pretty awesome!

It's speculation to say it'll be anything near what I expect, but the similarities are present enough to get me excited, and I feel confident that the system may just work out nicely. The only thing I have concerns about with the new system is whether or not I'm going to have to tediously change each piece of gear, or if they'll make it easy enough that by changing the weapon for example, all the gear worn previously, and macros used, change with it. (Assuming there are macros)

I'm also interested to see how the branch out system works (which I admit sounds like WoW) but that's for another day.

Posted by: Alisha Aug 19 2009, 04:36 PM

gameplay videos

Posted by: Crushinator Aug 19 2009, 04:58 PM

Blast! I was just here to post those! Yeah it looks cool to me, I like the closer to the character camera, almost over the the shoulder. Looks a lot like FF12's gameplay.

Posted by: Vitamin D Aug 19 2009, 05:08 PM

It certainly seems that they're trying to rope back in the old (and current even) XI crowd as well as new players. It looks pretty damn good so far. I'll definitely give the beta a whirl if possible haha.

Posted by: Crushinator Aug 19 2009, 05:11 PM

Posted by: Crushinator Sep 24 2009, 02:30 AM

Posted by: Alisha Sep 25 2009, 04:34 PM

mega boss. i'm geussing thats the games opening cutscene.

Posted by: Crushinator Oct 2 2009, 03:17 PM

From http://www.rpgsite.net/news/468/final-fantasy-xiv-beta-to-initially-be-windows-only.html:

Posted by: Scan_Man Oct 2 2009, 09:38 PM

About the DirectX9 thing. From what I heard the majority of PC gamers were still running XP. Something about they think the jump in graphic quality is not worth it enough or noticeable enough to change their operating system. I would imagine this is even more so for Japan, where PC gaming is not very popular compared to the rest of the world. I'm sure they have researched this. I know for beta sign ups they always ask you for your PC specs. So I'm sure there is likely data to back up that decision.

Posted by: Knightsword Oct 2 2009, 09:54 PM

And if I recall only ati has launch its dx11 cards now, and nvidia has yet to put one on the market. Also it is kinda hard to develope a game (that started what 2 years ago?) for Windows 7/dx11 when they haven't been officially released. and Scanman is right many people still use XP and just don't care.

Posted by: Crushinator Oct 3 2009, 10:06 PM

But on that same token, the developers for FF14 have specifically stated they were developing the game with the "high end PC user in mind", so I don't get why they don't support DX10 at all.

Posted by: AC9breaker Oct 4 2009, 12:01 AM

Not only that but, of course the people won't buy something if there's no product for it. If FFXI supported D10 it'll be all the more reason to get it. It's like saying Let's focus on making games for the ps2 rather then ps3 or 360 becuase it has a higher installed base. I'm with Crush on this one, I mean I don't blame them for not making it for D11 but at the very least could have been D10

Posted by: Wiryu Oct 6 2009, 02:55 PM

Least of my concerns. If it only supported Dx3 my curiosity would still lead me to at least try out the game. The details to this point have intrigued me enough for that at least.

Posted by: Knightsword Oct 6 2009, 04:37 PM

I would rather have it be dx9 and usable by all the windows user base and be successful, then chained to vista with dx10 and used by quarter of the user base Also of course they are gonna make it so it can be ported to consoles easily they would be damn stupid if they didn't and be honest console owners out number the pc owners by quite a large number.

p.s. even the 360 and ps3 cant do dx 10

Posted by: Crushinator Oct 7 2009, 01:46 AM

Making a game DX10 compatible does not preclude it from working on DX9 systems. Because Crysis, Bioshock, Mirror's Edge, Resident Evil 5, and dozens other games support DX10 that means DX9 computers also can't play them? I'm not saying they need to make FF14 vista/7 exclusive or DX10 compatible only, I'm just saying that its stupid to not embrace current technology if they are aiming for a high end game experience.

Posted by: HC82 Oct 7 2009, 06:42 AM

All these stats hurt my brain (well not really), and are more or less moot without knowing how many people's PCs can play a graphic intense game at a good performance level. I PC game and grind out on my Mac too, but I can tell you that my comp can't really grind the graphics I'd like on certain games, so I console game more often, as oppose to updating my PC on a bi-annual basis. For me it's more practical and I fall into the category of people who game, have a PC at home, but don't have a PC Gaming rig, and as a result, choose not to PC game very much, if it all.

If something can substantiate DX10 and allow for DX9, why not? Does it matter, overall? Maybe just for a select few who have solid PC Gaming rigs, but I seriously doubt many people with a PC at home have a dedicated gaming rig.

Also, while statistically, PC's may have far greater overall penetration then consoles worldwide, this is completely irrelevant and separate from those PCs which actually contain a library of video games equal to current generation console gamers, or even a generation past. If we're going to attempt to make a comparative study, then the variables used in the study (ie, gamers), need to be just that, comparative. From a marketing perspective, you can't market something to one crowd and expect the same results with another. Playing Bejewled or some bullshit DL doesn't equate anymore to the topic of our type of gaming, as someone playing tetris on a cellphone. We're talking about actual "gamers" here, so the correlation between PC's are a step ahead of consoles as far as the gaming market penetration goes, should be more accurately stated as that PC's have greater potential for overall penetration, due to they're superior user base; although, when reviewing subsets with the gaming market (ie. types of end-user), there are less costlier barriers to entry for console level gaming, but with the potential for overall greater constant performance then on a PC vs a console gaming. The barriers to entry have to be addressed when reviewing true market penetration for PC gaming versus console gaming.

Anyway, Square probably isn't even looking to cater to certain gaming demographics, because the game will be released on consoles anyway. They should offer the very best, but I doubt that's they're concern for the time being. You never know, it might change at the last minute.

Posted by: Crushinator Oct 7 2009, 03:42 PM

Yeah I'll admit I kinda lost my way toward the end of that post. I think the main thing I wanted to get across was that PC's are far more pervasive than consoles.

I agree that its difficult, if not impossible from the information we have available, to get any kind of idea was to how many "serious gaming PCs" are out there, compared to current-gen consoles. Maybe Square-Enix is taking a WoW-approach, trying to make sure this game is playable by as many people as possible. From a marketing standpoint it does make the most sense to scale back an MMO to meet requirements on low-end hardware so they can expand the player base.

I just feel its a disservice to gamers to say you're going to create a product for a high end PC gamer, and disregard the latest graphics APIs.

Posted by: Alisha Oct 7 2009, 03:49 PM

QUOTE(AC9breaker @ Oct 4 2009, 02:01 AM)

Posted by: Crushinator Oct 7 2009, 04:04 PM

QUOTE(Alisha @ Oct 7 2009, 02:49 PM)

Posted by: Crushinator Oct 8 2009, 12:37 AM

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/

Updates on the official site with a lot of job classes (alchemist, blacksmith, culinarian, tanner, weaver, archer, lancer, gladiator, marauder, and pugilist), and monster bestiary info. Also some little thing under "lifestyles" about cooking.

Posted by: Scan_Man Oct 8 2009, 09:18 PM

LOL at the Armoury section with the Leeroy example.

Posted by: Crushinator Dec 17 2009, 03:54 AM

PC version beta signups are a GO!

http://entry.ffxiv.com/na/index.html

Looks like Square Enix was serious about fast-tracking this game's beta for a 2010 release. Blizzard could learn a thing or two... *coughstarcraftcough*

Posted by: AC9breaker Dec 18 2009, 04:59 AM

Applied! So yeah the last question was Do you run a fan dedicated website? There wasn't a no option available so I selected a Site that isn't listed. wtf

Hope I get in, looking forward to this game.

Posted by: Alisha Dec 18 2009, 02:04 PM

some screenshots someone posted on another board for ya

Posted by: Crushinator Dec 18 2009, 05:31 PM

Looks hot. Now how about they actually reveal some info on the game damn mage classes?

Posted by: Alisha Dec 22 2009, 05:13 PM

some character creation info

http://www.ffxivcore.com/topic/2724-new-scans-reveal-character-creation/


looks like the entrance to norg lol.

Posted by: Crushinator Dec 22 2009, 06:54 PM

Those crabs are fucking awesome.

Good to see there's a titty size slider.


EDIT: High res pics from SE




And lots of in-game and CG scene pics too.

http://kotaku.com/5433453/more-final-fantasy-xiv-screens-than-you-can-shake-a-chocobo-at

Hopefully with all this media coming out is a sign the game is pretty far along

Posted by: Alisha Jan 10 2010, 01:43 PM

some old some new

http://www.ffxivhq.com/reposit/media/

Posted by: AC9breaker Jan 10 2010, 11:29 PM

YOU'VE ACTIVATED MY TRAP CARD!

Posted by: donkeybeatz Jan 11 2010, 11:59 AM

Posted by: Vitamin D Jan 11 2010, 05:51 PM

LMAO X2.

Posted by: Alisha Feb 23 2010, 07:06 PM

a copy and paste job for you!

Posted by: AC9breaker Feb 23 2010, 07:17 PM

How much money you figure he could get for that? Ii heard beta keys for Starcraft 2 where going from anyway to 300 to over 9000!!!

Posted by: Crushinator Feb 23 2010, 07:29 PM

Call me when we can actually get a beta in english. No way in hell I'm trying to decipher an MMO in moonspeak.

Posted by: Alisha Feb 25 2010, 03:33 PM

QUOTE(Crushinator @ Feb 23 2010, 08:29 PM)

Posted by: Crushinator Mar 1 2010, 02:33 AM

http://www.destructoid.com/final-fantasy-xiv-pc-beta-to-launch-march-11-165348.phtml

March 11th! Hopefully we'll have better luck with this than the SC2 beta access, right?

Posted by: AC9breaker Mar 1 2010, 07:10 AM

I'm pretty doubtful. It seems like they're gonna be giving the codes away to weeaboos. ie: not us.

Posted by: Crushinator Mar 1 2010, 02:30 PM

I knew i should have set my excitement for FF14 as a "10 out of 10" instead of an 8!!!! God damnit!

Posted by: Alisha Mar 1 2010, 04:34 PM

this isnt ffXIV related but the level cap in ffxi is going to be raised from 75 to 99.

heres a condensed version

Posted by: AC9breaker Mar 1 2010, 06:43 PM

Apparently the invites have only been sent to people who are currently FFXI players, and they say it's an invite to the "alpha". It's ambiguous as to whether the closed beta on the 11th is the alpha they mention in the emails, or if everyone else who applied but is not a FFXI player can still get in to whatever is happening on the 11th.

The email says: "You will be participating in the Alpha Test, which will be taking place prior to the launch of the Beta Test". A lot of people are taking this to mean that the thing on the 11th is the alpha test, and the beta won't be happening for quite some time after that, since having an alpha for one week and then rolling out a beta seems a bit odd. I guess we'll find out.

Alisha get back on FFXI and hit level 99 so you can give us impressions on 14. TAKE ONE FOR THE TEAM

Posted by: Alisha Mar 1 2010, 07:01 PM

QUOTE(AC9breaker @ Mar 1 2010, 07:43 PM)

Posted by: Crushinator Mar 2 2010, 01:15 AM

That level cap raise seems really stupid. Its like they're saying "fuck any sort of balance we had before, go nuts guys. It's over."

Posted by: Wiryu Mar 6 2010, 12:00 PM

I'm just too curious to stay away!

Posted by: Crushinator Mar 9 2010, 02:22 PM

Apparently if you buy the PS3 version of FF13, you get a chance to get into the 14 beta.

http://kotaku.com/5488909/how-to-try-out-for-final-fantasy-xiv-beta

Posted by: Crushinator Mar 10 2010, 05:40 PM

http://www.ffxivcore.com/topic/4268-famitsu-and-dengeki-leak-rumors/

Leaks leaks leaks!

Posted by: Alisha Mar 11 2010, 06:05 PM

this url has a boat load of pics
http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/1232830_1124.html



heres a translation someone posted as well.

Posted by: AC9breaker Mar 11 2010, 10:09 PM

I'm rolling Galka Archer and Maybe Marauder.

Posted by: Crushinator Mar 12 2010, 01:49 PM

The officiall AT linkshell will be "Bro". You can only get a pearl if you're a Galka.

Posted by: Alisha Mar 12 2010, 06:12 PM

the official jp site has been updated and you can hear the battle theme.

http://jp.finalfantasyxiv.com/

Posted by: AC9breaker Mar 13 2010, 10:55 AM

Just reached the first save point for in FFXIII and just finished filling out my Beta application for 14 with my promotional code from 13. I gotta say, that square enix website is fucking cumbersome as shit to navigate. Here's to hoping I get in the beta!

Posted by: Crushinator Mar 31 2010, 01:42 PM

The different "Tribes" from FF14. So I guess we have to make the important choice: Red Galka or Blue Galka?












I gotta give it up to the character design on FF14, every race looks fantastic and appealing, even the mithra.

EDIT: TARU PANIC!

Posted by: AC9breaker Mar 31 2010, 05:14 PM

Looking fantastic. I just hope the framerate isn't gonna be like that.

I'm gonna go with Blue Galka because I've always picked the blue-ish games in the Pokemon series.

Posted by: Crushinator Apr 2 2010, 04:39 PM

Alpha Test users' manual:

FINAL FANTASY XIV Alpha Test Manual

FINAL FANTASY XIV is a cross-nation, cross-platform massively multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG) that brings together people from all across the world to compete, cooperate, and communicate within the virtual fantasy realm known as Eorzea. While solo adventuring is always an option, most will agree that joining forces with their fellow gamers not only makes the game that much easier, but that much more fun as well!

* The Alpha/Beta versions contain only a fraction of what is planned in the full version. This includes playable races and clans, character customization options, selectable classes, and available areas, to name a few.

1. After logging in, select “New” from the Character Selection screen.

2. Select your character’s race, clan, and gender.

3. Choose a preset appearance for your character.

4. Customize various aspects of your character’s appearance via the available menus.

5. Select your character’s starting class*.

6. Select your character’s nameday (birthday) and guardian (patron deity).

7. Input your character’s first and last name.

8. Select the city-state in which you wish to begin your adventure.

9. Finally, select “Enter” to create your character and begin the game.

* Classes
In FINAL FANTASY XIV, a player’s class is determined by the arm or tool in his/her hand. The class chosen during character creation simply determines the items a player begins the game with. Players can change their class at any time by simply equipping different items they purchase, find, or create.

- Note
In the Alpha Version, a character’s race, clan, gender, nameday, and guardian do not affect his/her attributes.

At the onset of the game, you will find yourself on a boat, though at this point your character is already within what is called an instanced area, meaning it will not be occupied by any other players.

* Instanced areas, or instances, are areas in which only players directly related to or involved in what happens within may enter. The initial stages of gameplay in the Alpha Test will take place in instanced areas which only single players may occupy.
Instances will only be used for special events, such as the game’s opening sequence. For the most part, gameplay will take place within public areas occupied by any of a number of players.

As you progress through the opening event, the ship will eventually make port. After arriving, speak to the NPC Hob, who will be located directly ahead of you. At certain points in the game, Hob will present you with a list of options in accordance with your progress. For now, select the option presented to continue through the current event.

After speaking with NPC Hob and proceeding to the location to which you have been directed, there will be another NPC named Baderon who will present you with another set of options. After speaking to Baderon, you will automatically be transported from to a public area.

In public areas you will come across many other players. As fellow adventurers, it is up to you to make the most of your time in Eorzea together!



1. Display Name
The color of a display name reveals important information.
White – Other PCs
Blue – Party members
Green – NPCs
Yellow – Enemies
Red – Engaged enemies

* Semi-Transparent Display Names
When the display name of a PC is semi-transparent, it indicates that player is currently in a different area than you. These PCs are still displayed on-screen to help contribute to the seamless transitioning between areas. However, players should note that party invites cannot be extended across areas.

2. Minimap
The minimap displays the immediate vicinity around you, the direction you are facing, the direction the camera is facing, and the position of various NPCs.

3. Log
This display contains all of the various logs used to display text within the game, such as the system log, combat log, and chat log. Players may input text by selecting the chat prompt area.

4. Unit Frame
The unit frame displays various aspects of your character’s status, such as HP, MP, and TP.

5. Connection Status



1. Action Bar
This bar displays the various commands available for use in relation to the PC or NPC you are currently targeting.

2. Action Gauge
This gauge tells how much time is left before the next action may be executed. Though there are a few exceptions, for the most part all attacks, abilities, weapon skills, and spells require that the action gauge be full.

For certain classes, a secondary action gauge will appear when a shield is equipped in the off hand. All shield-related commands will make use of this gauge.

The action gauges of the main hand and off hand are entirely independent of one another. Should a character have a shield equipped in their off hand, two action gauges will be displayed simultaneously.

3. Effect Gauge
The effect gauge comes to life once the action gauge has completely filled. When a command is executed, the state of the effect gauge will determine certain bonuses to factors such as accuracy, power, or potency. These bonuses apply to all actions, both physical and magical.


- Other
- Passive Mode and Active Mode
“Passive Mode” is the designation given to the state in which a player’s arm or tool is not drawn. In this mode, hit points regenerate automatically.
“Active Mode” refers to the state in which a player’s arm or tool is drawn. In this mode, various battle commands are available, but movement speed is reduced in comparison to passive mode.

- Arms and Tools
There are a vast array of arms and tools in FINAL FANTASY XIV which allow players to assume the role of any of a number of classes. However, the following conditions should be kept in mind when changing equipment.
Equipping Arms – Players must be in passive mode and not engaged with an enemy.
Equipping Tools – Players must be in passive mode.

During the Alpha Test phase, there will be a total of nine types of arms and tools available (swords, hand-to-hand weapons, axes, polearms, bows, conjurer arms, thaumaturge arms, hammers, and pickaxes). Players can change their class simply by virtue of changing the arm or tool they have equipped in their hand.

The Flow of Battle
1. Ready an arm or tool, changing from passive mode to active mode.

2. Target an enemy.

3. Select a command from the action bar, and make use of the action and effect gauges to execute it effectively.

4. Strategize with other party members, deciding upon an appropriate Battle Regimen*.

5. Gain victory in battle to be rewarded with experience and skill points.

6. Obtain and distribute any loot dropped by the enemy.

* Battle Regimen
Battle Regimens are combat tactics which party members may employ against a single enemy. By coordinating and executing battle commands in a precise order, players may cause certain additional beneficial effects to occur.

A Battle Regimen begins with the stacking of battle commands. All party members who wish to take part in the Battle Regimen must stack their actions in the correct order against the desired target. One of the members then initiates the Battle Regimen, and the stacked actions will be executed automatically.

Step 1: Consult with other party members to determine the best Battle Regimen to use against a specific target. The battle commands and the order in which they are to be executed should all be decided.

Step 2: Wait until your position in the queue comes around to switch to Battle Regimen mode and select the battle command you wish to stack.

Step 3: After all participating party members have stacked their battle commands, one of the party members selects to initiate the Battle Regimen.

Step 4: Once the Battle Regimen is initiated, the stacked battle commands will all be executed automatically, chaining together to create additional effects.

Please note that factors such as distance from the enemy may prevent stacked battle commands from being executed once the Battle Regimen is initiated. In these cases, the Battle Regimen will not end, but will instead proceed on to the next command in the queue.


Enemy Toughness
An enemy’s degree of difficulty is represented by the color of the circle located in the extreme left portion of the unit frame. This display takes into account whether the player is solo or a member of a party.

Red – Incredibly Tough
Orange – Very Tough
Yellow – Tough
Green – Decent Challenge
Blue – Easy Prey


Physical Levels and Skill Ranks
In FINAL FANTASY XIV, a character’s progress is measured in two ways. Physical levels represent one’s actual physical development, while skill ranks measure how adept one is with various arms and tools.

- Physical Levels
Characters gain physical levels by accumulating a certain amount of experience points.
(During the Alpha Test phase, experience points will be obtainable only by achieving victory in battle.)

- Skill Ranks
Skill ranks are gained by accumulating skill points from various endeavors, such as combat or crafting. As a character’s skill rank increases, they will learn new actions, such as abilities and weapon skills.

* Physical level and skill rank caps will be set at 20 for the Alpha Test Phase.


Setting Actions for Use
Actions that have been acquired by a character can be set to the action bar for use. During the Alpha Test phase, the maximum number of actions available at any given time will be limited to 20.

Barring a few class-specific exceptions, actions will be available for use even when using a class different from the one on which the action learned. However, the power and efficacy of each action is determined by its affinity with the character’s active skill.


The Spoils of War
Any items received after a battle will be placed in a player’s loot list. During party play, items are distributed randomly to the lists of each member.

After a certain period of time, items on a loot list will be automatically moved to a player’s inventory. Should the player’s inventory be full, the items will be lost.

Items on a loot list are not considered in a player’s possession until they are added to his/her inventory. Until then, any items, including those which are rare (untradeable) and unique (players can possess no more than one), can be transferred to another party member’s list.

* Items received while mining/quarrying will also be added to the loot list before being moved to a player’s inventory.

If a character’s HP is reduced to 0, he/she will be “knocked out” and no longer able to move or act. A character can be revived by selecting “Return” from the main menu and choosing a destination from the listed aetheryte camps or aetherial gates.

* If a character is KO’d while participating in a levequest, he/she will be teleported back to the corresponding aetheryte.
* For the duration of the Alpha Test, characters KO’d will receive a weakness penalty which will not only lower total HP, but also reduce the speed with which their action gauge fills, as well as increase the length of casting times. This penalty will last five minutes before wearing off.

Posted by: tanshin Apr 3 2010, 03:47 PM

Good info there, that answers a lot of the questions I had in my mind about some of the finer details. I can't wait!

Posted by: Alisha Apr 9 2010, 05:39 PM

lol it seems a ton of people are getting banned for violating the NDA. theres a bunch of videos on youtube better watch em before the SE nazi's step in and remove them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg0iL_0ovEI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEUJR-GHoCQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OefDCDD3yQo so choppy


just posting things as i come across them

http://scrawlfx.com/2010/04/more-final-fantasy-xiv-alpha-screens-awash

http://www.onrpg.com/MMO/Final-Fantasy-XIV/news/First-Content-Leaked-from-Final-Fantasy-XIV-Alpha

http://www.gemaga.com/2010/04/08/final-fantasy-xiv-alpha-leaks-showing-up

Posted by: Crushinator Apr 9 2010, 06:00 PM

Ace reporter Alisha, on the scene!

Posted by: Alisha Apr 9 2010, 06:38 PM

QUOTE(Crushinator @ Apr 9 2010, 08:00 PM)

Posted by: tanshin Apr 11 2010, 03:24 AM

QUOTE(Alisha @ Apr 9 2010, 05:38 PM)

QUOTE(Crushinator @ Apr 9 2010, 08:00 PM)

Ace reporter Alisha, on the scene!

your starting to creep me out lately but in a good way!

Posted by: Crushinator Apr 11 2010, 05:44 PM

From what I understand, the person posting the youtube vids had more than one alpha account, so they suicided their account knowing full well the repercussions.

Posted by: Bilix Apr 15 2010, 01:53 PM

First one to name a Hume Justin Beiber wins a prize.

Posted by: AC9breaker Apr 15 2010, 02:56 PM

Looks more like a taru to me.

Posted by: Scan_Man Apr 18 2010, 09:55 PM

I can't wait. I love the music previews on the main site. Right now they have the FF theme up. Though I'm worried there seems to be a disproportionate amount of caster classes compared to physical classes. I would like to see a little more variety in the caster department. Like, summoner with healing capabilities. Having one healing class is asking for trouble.

Posted by: Alisha Apr 19 2010, 05:13 PM

QUOTE(Scan_Man @ Apr 18 2010, 11:55 PM)

Posted by: Scan_Man Apr 19 2010, 10:33 PM

Yeah I saw that. But the other one lacks a group heal that I see; that is what I was referring to. It could be possible that the game is not AOE damage heavy. Which could explain why all classes have a way to recover HP on their own. Still could use one more caster type though.


I really hope the gameplay is decent though, and this alternative progression system works. And I hope there is some nice story and gameplay driven quests that offer a great experience, and not grouping up to farm X amount of rabbits for hours. You know battles with some strategy involved and not just tank and spank.

Posted by: Alisha Apr 21 2010, 09:30 AM

the only mmo ive played where you need group heals is wow. in most other mmos group heals are situational like goblin bombs in ffxi.

Posted by: Scan_Man Apr 21 2010, 03:42 PM

Apparently there are 2 more caster classes, among a few more physical classes, that were data mined from the game. There is so much variety in the physical classes, but not caster; it is odd. A lot of people wish to play a pure healer. I would like to see a pure healer class in this game. The advancement system can lead itself to pure builds, but being able to distinguish who is who makes grouping so much easier.

I hope there is a way to distinguish who is a pure healer. Same goes for pure tank. With the state of the MMO community these days, the thought of having to find a group makes me cringe. For example, I don't want to group with the Conjurer who has been advancing his damage spells but says "LOL I can heal I got curez!" But, the truth is he has not touched/advanced his healing spells at all, and we are doing high level group content. I can think of a million scenarios like this because it has happen to me in every MMO I've played recently. I need to know who is going to be an idiot, and who is going to be good at the role/class they were invited to play as.

The idiots suck the enjoyment out of the game and makes the community hostile; trusting other players. This is mostly because of the WoW player base, and the state of the WoW community. The majority of the WoW player base are very very very bad at playing these types of games, and they don't listen when you tell them they are doing it wrong. The thing is the people playing FFXIV, US side, are going to to be mostly WoW players. The success of FFXIV game is going to rely on how many WoW players that stick.

The cycle is always the same when a new MMO comes out. First you have the hype that it is a "WoW killer." All the baddie WoW players believe into this garbage, and buy the game. The game will generate record breaking sales or pre-order sales. Server instability the first week of release. Awesome reviews from gaming sites. After a month people realize the game is not WoW or the "WoW Killer" they bought in to, they abandon the game. For the people that actually enjoy the new MMO for what it is, they are left with a deserted game where it is difficult to find good groups, or difficulty in taking on certain content because the population is spread thin.

Looking at the classes being able to have multiple roles, as well as being able to solo and switch jobs on the fly, this tells me they want to be more friendly to WoW players. There are so many pitfalls with having so many classes being able to do multiple roles, though. Having so many classes able to tank, for example, is a balancing nightmare. Just ask Blizzard with introducing Death Knights in WoW. The problem is when people get a firm grasp of the mechanics, min/maxing will always determine which class is best suited for a particular role. What that does is leave the people who want to tank with another class out to dry. So you have to ask, why are the lesser classes able to tank anyway? That is why I ask where is the pure healer and pure tank?

FFXIV seems to have very well defined class roles, but they decided to haphazardly throw in some ambiguity for the sake of appealing to WoW players; or solo enthusiast. This ambiguity in the class roles is not a good thing when you are trying to put together a group that will have the highest chance of being successful. The result of this issue is different depending on how many people are playing the game. If the population is huge, then you are more at risk of running into idiot players like I mentioned above; not having the correct skill or knowledge for the role they were invited for. If the population is small, then desired roles/classes/playstyles will be harder to find, thus finding a good group takes longer.


I do like there is no PVP to speak of. Having PVP always ruins balance for PVE.

I really want this game to do well because I think the advancement system, ie no experience based leveling, is the direction MMO's need to go. Maybe, it will encourage MMO developers to stop making WoW clones that suck.

Posted by: tanshin Apr 24 2010, 11:13 AM

QUOTE(Scan_Man @ Apr 21 2010, 02:42 PM)

Posted by: Scan_Man Apr 24 2010, 05:52 PM

There is over 2.5 million, there will be more when Cataclysm comes out, active US WoW subscribers. My point is WoW dominates the MMO market for subscription based MMOs. In comparison, FFXI never hit over 500k worldwide. I agree FFXIV will pull long time FFXI players; which is very small right now they had to merge servers. As for those that once played FFXI (a number of these play WoW now) or FF fans, I agree there as well. However, those players are less likely to stick around with FF fans being the most likely not to stick.

Don't underestimate how the WoW population get sucked into the latest fad, or hot thing to come out, and spend money on it. And I'm sure FFXIV will qualify as that because it is a new FF MMO. A week ago Blizzard released a mount, that is basically a reskin of an existing mount in the game, and charged $25 dollars for it. Guess what? Everyone and their mom bought this stupid thing. On its release Blizzard made 2 million dollars within 4 hours.

And everywhere you read about how FFXIV going to be more casual friendly, or solo friendly. These are words WoW players buy into.


My concern is more so how WoW and WoW players have influence on the over all MMO community. While there are some people that never really touched WoW, a good number of people playing free MMOs or other payed MMOs have. And a lot of MMO's try to do what WoW does, so thus attract the same type of players. There is a lot of hostility and immaturity in these communities, and it comes from the state of the WoW community. People stop playing WoW because they get tired of dealing with those types of people, but they are those type of people, and bring it to other games. I saw this happen in both Aion and Star Trek Online.

Ultimately, I'm going to have to decide if I want to give this game a try. I do play WoW, but only to participate in raids with my guild; they are a good group of people but it took me years to find this. One of the reasons I don't play other parts of WoW is because the community is awful. After seeing parts of the WoW community jump over to Aion and Star Trek Online, I have a hard time thinking any future MMO's are going to be any different. WoW population is too large, and too willing to spend money to try out new MMO's to not have a sizable chunk wanting to play FFXIV.

Now for WoW the developers are changing a lot of mechanics in order to reduce some of the issues in the community. I applaud Blizzard for recognizing that some of their gameplay is partly at fault.

For example, Blizzard added a cross-server, play with people on other servers, grouping system that allows you to queue up with your class/roll. It will automatically place you into a party with the correct class makeup and then port you to the instance. It has a vote-kick system to deal with bad players. If you vote someone out, it automatically replaces the player and ports them where your party is. So you hardly ever have to deal with idiots that are rude, or screw up your party. It also gets rid of the problem in these types of games when you get a group and it falls apart before it starts, or half way through. Lastly, it helps players easily find groups for low level content that has been deserted. Best feature in a MMO ever!

On the other hand, I read about some FFXIV mechanics that I think need to be fleshed out a little more, so they don't create the mistakes that WoW had. They need to catch up with the times. My opinion, but will determine if I like the game or not. Allowing US players in the Alpha test so early on is a good sign that they want American feedback. Which is a good thing because Japan is not exactly known for MMOs. I hope Alpha and Beta test are successful and Square listens to good feedback.


I understand if you play a couple smaller population MMO's, played FFXI in the past, or have not experienced the current state of the WoW population; what I am saying has no barring on your decision to play FFXIV then. However, I am all too familiar with the WoW population and I know they will most likely be trying out FFXIV in the first few months of release; which is a crucial time in deciding if one will be sticking with the game. I know how these players behave. The thought of having to play a new MMO with these types of players again does impact my decision to play FFXIV or not. I'm throwing this possibility out there to warn those, that may be like me, who care about having a decent community to play with when deciding to stick with a new MMO. If you don't care about the community in the MMO you are playing, then who plays the game will make no difference to you. Or you already have a good group of people to consistently play with; consider yourself lucky.

Posted by: Alisha May 18 2010, 04:46 PM

click here mang

http://killingifrit.com/forums/topic/182086-new-ffxiv-alpha-battle-system-videos/page__pid__3849747__st__0&#entry3849747

i like how there seems to be a bar onscreen that shows when your ja is back up instead of

/recast boost

/recast boost

/recast boost

/recast boost

/recast boost

Posted by: Crushinator May 18 2010, 05:19 PM

So in other words final fantasy has caught up to where every other MMO has been for the last 6 years?

Good job, ace reporter!

Posted by: Alisha May 18 2010, 06:29 PM

well i've only played 3 mmo's asherons call, ffxi and wow. though in wow the highest level i got to was about 15. one of those games didn't even have non magic abilities.

Posted by: tanshin Jun 7 2010, 09:34 PM

Well, long story short, I've been chosen to participate in the Final Fantasy XIV Beta. I don't know what beta testing would mean to any of you, but to me I feel like I might be able to play a role in making sure the game comes out nice and clean, bug and balance issue free. Since my profession in life for the past years seems to have fallen to quality assurance in gaming, I hope I can do a good job in identifying issues that I believe need attention. Based on my experience in the industry however, the developers tend to work harder trying to talk their way out of fixing something rather than actually fixing it, so don't blame me if there are serious problems left in the game. Believe me, I'll report everything and try to be a pain in their ass.

As far as sharing information with you guys, I'll do what I can, but I'm not going to break the terms I agreed to when I downloaded the beta. Sure, you'll probably find tons of other leaks all around the internet, but I wouldn't want to fuck up this opportunity like those idiots on youtube did, heh. I guess I'll post some updates of my adventures here (or what I am allowed to post of them) and answer questions you guys have if any.

Wish me luck!

Posted by: Crushinator Jun 8 2010, 01:25 AM

Awesome, keep us updated on the front lines with what you can! Maybe if its allowed, you can get some scoops for a guest appearance on the podcast!

Posted by: Crushinator Jun 16 2010, 04:48 PM

It wouldn't be Final Fantasy online if you weren't fight crabs... all the god damn time.

Game looks damn nice though, I like the wow-esque ability bar.

Posted by: Alisha Jun 16 2010, 05:34 PM

QUOTE(Crushinator @ Jun 16 2010, 06:48 PM)

Posted by: Crushinator Jun 16 2010, 05:51 PM

I didn't post the 2nd report because its just a bunch of stupid people being surprised by 3D shit while NOTHING IS GOING ON in the game.

Posted by: Alisha Jun 16 2010, 06:34 PM

QUOTE(Crushinator @ Jun 16 2010, 07:51 PM)

Posted by: Scan_Man Jun 17 2010, 03:20 AM

I really like how the action bar changes based on context. Should be great for the unfortunate folks that have to play this on a PS3 with a controller.

I think the combat is too slow, though still an improvement over FFXI. It seems they got a lot of feedback regarding that because they mentioned they turned the attack bar into basically a stamina bar. So you can get more attacks in by depleting instead of waiting for it to fill to attack. But, I understand the combat pacing is most likely due to the game also being for PS3 and the limitations of playing with a controller. They have to find a middle ground because the two version will be playing together, and they have to play the same. Or else you get the situation like Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age where the pacing and flow of combat feels like two different games when you compare PC and 360 version.


Maybe towards endgame when you have most of your abilities it gets faster? Since, you might have more active abilities to use. Sitting there waiting to do you your next attack is not fun. Controller folks would have a hard time keeping up though. So maybe not? We have to see.


And very interesting AI there. He seemed to dodge an attack by running behind the crab, and it just sat there, until he had to provoke it. Then the crab turned around. LOL! What is that?

Posted by: Alisha Jun 17 2010, 05:25 PM

unfortunate? i actually preferred playing ffxi on ps2/360. but i think its one of those things where tend to like it the first way you tried it. its like in pso where through muscle memory you could do elaborate button presses to cast spells from the menu at the drop of a hat.

Posted by: Scan_Man Jun 17 2010, 11:32 PM

Compared to a controller, using good keybindings with a keyboard and mouse allows you to multitask with greater efficiency (I'm speaking strictly about MMORPGs). Scrolling to find abilities and then activating them takes longer than pressing a specific key you have memorized. Yes muscle memory does help, in both setups. But, keyboard and mouse with keybindings will always come out ahead because you also don't lose functionality such as moving your character, controlling the camera, targeting, when activating an ability. In some cases, a controller user has to lose one function in the control scheme in order to scroll through and use an ability, same goes for other types of tasks. On the other hand, a keyboard and mouse user can do all those tasks simultaneously.

Targeting suffers the most on the controller because you have to cycle through targets, while with a mouse you can point and click the person or enemy. There seems to be a lot of abilities in this game, and things could get messy when you have them all at your disposal. Not to mention you are going to need macros on your bar too for times when you need to share vital information with your party.

They are unfortunate because they likely do not have a PC able to play this game: which I hear the game looks gorgeous on a powerful rig. Nor think, or unable, to maybe use some kind of keyboard and controller setup. Unlike FFXI, FFXIV is being designed and tested with the PC version as a priority. So certain things in the user interface and control scheme may not translate well on a console. The context sensitive action bar helps though. It grays out what you can't use but lights up what you can use at the given moment based on some context. Basically narrowing down your options to a few abilities, so you can find the one you need faster. It reduces the disparity between the two control schemes, keyboard/mouse or controller. The slow combat reduces the disparity too. Sadly, these are just some of the design choices they have to make in order to successfully make the game work for both platforms, which will likely being playing together. Without these design choices the PC users would have a very large advantage over PS3 users. Square seems to be trying their best to find a middle ground, ie speeding up combat through the attack gauge, and adding the context sensitive action bar.

I don't think there will be many of these unfortunate people outside of Japan though. But I think it is great Square is actually trying to polish the user interface in order to be most viable for both versions. FFXI on PC suffered greatly for being a port of a PS2 game.

But it has to be said: Playing a MMORPG with a controller is doing it wrong. This is partly why you don't see many MMORPGs on consoles.

Posted by: Crushinator Jun 18 2010, 03:46 AM

I guess this belongs here.

Posted by: tanshin Jun 18 2010, 07:33 AM

QUOTE(Scan_Man @ Jun 17 2010, 10:32 PM)

Posted by: Scan_Man Jun 18 2010, 04:59 PM

I explained why there is little difference between control schemes in this game, I'm aware of it. The effort Square is putting forth here is a good thing, to restate. Too many companies try to favor one version of the other, or adapt the controls poorly during the port. With one version suffering a bit relative to the other version (Alpha Protocol for PC comes to mind), or gameplay feels slightly different between the two (Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age for consoles comes to mind here).


But I have questions.

-How is the combat system, and is it fun?

-Can you attack and use abilities while moving?

-Is there any strategy involved depending on enemy types?

-What is your favorite feature in the game?

-How do you feel about the combat speed (I been hearing a lot of complaints about this)?

-Is there a story attached to the quests you are doing?

Posted by: Crushinator Jun 30 2010, 10:32 PM

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/06/30/final-fantasy-14-launches-sept-30-on-pc-march-2011-on-ps3/

Official launch data, September 30th, 2010!

If you get the special edition you actually get to start a week early, on the 22nd.

Special edition looks pretty swank:


The normal game is $49.99 and the SE is $79.99, both come with a free month of play. Subscriptions are $12.99 a month.

Also this is ONLY the PC version of the game, the PS3 one is not coming out till March of next year.

Posted by: Scan_Man Jun 30 2010, 10:55 PM

Those are very shitty release dates for both versions. Square has to know they are in a tight spot.

It would be nice if the PC version and PS3 version were released closer together, but the competition is forcing Square in a corner here. They need to get the PC version out as soon as possible because of WoW: Cataclysm. They are probably betting that Cata will be out no sooner than late October; giving them enough time for people to choose FFXIV instead. But, Blizzard has always released new content when a new MMO tries to challenge them. So I expect a similar release date for Cata. Especially, since on the very day Square announces release date for FFXIV, and a closed beta coming soon, Blizzard sends out their closed beta invites for Cata. So there is going to be closed beta competition too.

A spring release for PC version would be decent because it gives all those players who want to try WoW enough time to experience the content available, and decide if they want to continue or quit. However, The Old Republic is going to be released in the spring. So the Sept 30 release date makes sense. Square needs to get the game out as soon as possible. The anticipation for both Cataclysm and The Old Republic are relatively higher than FFXIV among PC gamers.

If you are a PC FFXI fan, that has no interest in WoW, you will be happy with the release date. But it has got to suck for Square. And it sucks for people like me that play WoW and were interested in giving FFXIV a try.

And the monthly pricing is stupid as hell. What are they thinking? Subscription models are dead. It only works for WoW. And even WoW is slowly transitioning to micro transactions; though until maybe 5+ years down the road.

Not to say this anything to do with the quality of FFXIV as a game. But, they are coming into this as a major underdog for capturing the PC player base. An uphill battle that's for sure.


I'm going to have to pass on this one, barring exceptionally excellent reception, until some time after The Old Republic comes out.

It's very fascinating to me though. Can't wait until fall to see how it all turns out.

Posted by: AC9breaker Jul 1 2010, 12:04 AM

That's a good question Scan_man.


guess I'm gonna reserve special edition.

Posted by: Scan_Man Jul 12 2010, 09:55 PM

Well I am in the beta. Guess I'll see for myself.

Posted by: Crushinator Jul 12 2010, 10:11 PM

Can't wait to hear how this stacks up to World of Warcraft

Posted by: Scan_Man Jul 12 2010, 10:25 PM

LOL! Maybe comparisons later when I get my Cataclysm beta invite. I'm going to play this with a clear mind, and see how it plays as just any game that would come out in 2010 that may potentially warrant a purchase. And then focus on the WoW and other MMO comparisons later. I think I've done enough ranting about that as is. I do have strong opinions about that, but thinking about those will spoil my ability to test and judge the game on its own on two legs.


Going to go play some Dragon Quest IX while I download. It's a Square-Enix week for me it seems.

Posted by: Scan_Man Jul 18 2010, 03:33 PM

Testing was canceled for this weekend. Did play it for about 4 hours last Wednesday morning. The controls are bad as I feared. It is not friendly to new players that largely play PC games, much less other MMOs. They are very frustrating imo. A lot of complaints on the feedback forums about this. And from what I read on the feedback FFXI players are not happy about it either. UI needs to be cleaned up overall, as well as the the chat box. Wall of text from NPC is bad! Lastly, the game does not really tell you what to do in a clear manner; this may be due to the NPC hitting you with a wall of text, that you have to scroll up. You pretty much have to read the faq on the beta forums. I don't think this is good design because the game should have clear indicators. It is hard to figure out what NPC to talk in order to advance the story.

I love the questing system, called guildleve, because it is basically the hunts from FFXII, or missions from FFXIII. I like this style because you get to kill a unique monster that spawns only for you or party. You have a choice on which ones you want to partake in, or not, by reading the description. The best part is you can select from a range of difficulties and/or play styles. Another neat thing I love is the guildleve available to you are, as far as I know, random. Every two hours they change. With the fact they are casual friendly, this means you can always log in and find something interesting to do because what you see as available is going to be different each time you log in. Then you can choose how you want to play for that session by reading descriptions, then picking a playstyle and difficulty. Can't wait to see what they do with this for upper tier content.


Edit: What is up with the forums? It showing all posts in a list at the bottom.

Posted by: Crushinator Jul 18 2010, 03:50 PM

I like hearing that the quests are like the FF12/13 missions, that was easily my favorite parts of those games.

I got an invite this week so hopefully I'll be able to give it a shot later.

GALKA 4 LYFE.

Posted by: Scan_Man Jul 24 2010, 12:44 PM

Well I have 14 hours under my belt on this game. Enough to get a decent feel for it. I'll take questions if anyone has any.

Posted by: Crushinator Jul 24 2010, 01:36 PM

How do you unlock Marth?

Posted by: AC9breaker Jul 24 2010, 01:49 PM

Why do kids love cinnamon toast crunch?

Posted by: Crushinator Jul 24 2010, 03:04 PM

Why do they call it Apple Jacks when it doesn't taste like apples?

Posted by: donkeybeatz Jul 24 2010, 04:01 PM

More importantly, why do they call it Grape-Nuts when it doesn't contain any grapes or nuts?

Posted by: Scan_Man Jul 24 2010, 07:05 PM

There is a rainbow lucky charm in the rainbow of Lucky Charms. It's a double rainbow.

Posted by: Crushinator Jul 24 2010, 08:16 PM

QUOTE(Scan_Man @ Jul 24 2010, 07:05 PM)

Posted by: Scan_Man Jul 28 2010, 01:15 PM

Phase 2 of the beta will start tonight. Servers will now be up 24 hours. No more stupid scheduled tests at crappy times if you are in the EST time zone. Hopefully they fixed a ton of problems with the game.


In other news Everquest 2 goes free to play. Just like I been saying subscription model is not going to work unless its WoW.

Posted by: Scan_Man Aug 11 2010, 05:39 AM

Phase 3 started. So pretty much this version of the game, and any tweaks in the coming weeks, is what we can expect at release. My impressions so far.

First, they fixed the crappy controls, which is a major plus. Along with the battle improvements, fighting stuff actually feels like a MMO on PC, and not a sloppy PS3 port. Go figure.

The system before for initiating battle works on a PS3 control scheme, but feels clunky when mapped to PC controls. Initiating battle had a lot of unnecessary intermediate steps involved. You had to press "F" to draw your weapon to enter aggressive mode, then tab target to find enemy, press "C" to lock on to enemy, press a number key or "T" to toggle on your action bar, then press a number for the ability of your choosing on your action bar. Very cumbersome to the point where it would make it difficult to enjoy gameplay when first starting out. In any game nothing should impede gameplay, however the old system did just that.

Combat is a lot more enjoyable because of improvements. Now all you have to do is target an enemy, use the ability of your choosing. Everything mentioned above is automatically done. It works how every other MMO works. No more unnecessary intermediate steps for you to do in order for something that should be simple and an integral part of gameplay.

The other beef was the UI. The UI was very tailored to a console experience, with menus with sub-menus upon sub-menus. It is fine for a console because you are working with a Dpad, and limited amount of buttons. In consoles, you need menus and sub-menus, with confirmations of actions in case there is a miss-click or miss-selection, because one of the ways to get more functionality with limited buttons is to add different contexts in which to use those buttons. For the most part, the UI has been streamlined. Silly stuff like having three different sub-menus for inventory, and having to distribute loot into your bags has been taken out.

Seriously, when you received loot it did not automatically put it in your bag. Your loot was placed in a "Loot" sub-menu inside the inventory menu. You had to manually click on each piece of loot you collected, and what quantity, confirm to keep it or decide to discard it. After 5 hours of play, such a process could take 20 minutes. Does not help that the GUI interaction is server side, which means you have to wait for it if there is lag: servers are in Japan, and region free. Beyond retarded. Another system that interrupts gameplay.

Anyway, these types of menus makes sense for a console game where you can't drag and drop, "right-click" to destroy, or "shift + right-click" to choose quantity like you can on a PC. All this has now been streamlined, but the very basic menu system remains intact. I don't have a problem with this as long as they add the ability to customize hotkeys to open up different menus. I don't like hunting for what I need in a long list, if I need to open my Journal I should be able to by pressing "J."

Battle speed has been improved again, and with new animations! Battles are actually interesting to look at. Before the battle speed and animations was very akin to console FFs, which is kind of weird and boring for a MMO if you think about it. Not to mention slow. You engage an enemy with FF6-9 era sounding battle music from Nobuo Uematsu (glad he is back), wait for stamina (like ATB) before you can attack. Unlesh an attack by rushing forward. Then after the attack your character hops a few feet away from the enemy! Admittedly, I found this charming because that is how Final Fantasy battles are. This was not present in FFXI, which went for the stand around to tank and spank. In FFXIV the Final Fantasy feeling to battles was there, even though it was not as exaggerated compared to the single player game. It is gone now, namely the slow pacing, and hopping back. The new battle speed and animations changes gives the game more a WoW feel. For a MMO this is more fitting because spending up to five minutes on a single enemy gets old fast. And the hopping backwards sometimes led to targeting issues.

Oh, the classic FF victory fanfare is now present when you defeat enemies. In the previous beta phases you could only hear it when you complete a quest. It is bugged though because it goes off if someone next to you kills something. Very annoying in crowded areas. But, it is nice they are trying to go for a more traditional Final Fantasy feel where they can, and where it works.

Skill increase speed has shot way up. There is no official word as to why they increased the speed. It could be they want testers to quickly jump in to test group content with a wide range of skills. Or they realized leveling a single job is not viable for any kind of group play, nor solo. That the old rate of skill gains was too slow for training other jobs you need skills in. Took me about 20 hours to get to Rank 16 with one job. I figure the old rate was more so discouraging to group play because you needed to grind out 10-20+ ranks in several jobs to gain maybe the good skills to be party viable. For instance, Lancer had a haste self-buff earned at like rank 10+, making leveling Lancer mandatory for everybody (they later changed it to a Lancer only skill thankfully). Then you add in the fact that, you may need to switch to a job that is not your primary because of group composition.

Lastly, mouse is still handled by software. Square improved this somewhat, but it still lags like hell in high populated areas. So using mouse to target things is not that viable. This needs to be fixed.

Overall, I am impressed with the improvements. Hopefully, the game receives some much deserved polish in the coming weeks to be ready for launch.

Posted by: Kazicht Aug 11 2010, 11:20 AM

Good info! I'm relieved about the control and battle improvements. Only a little over a month to go!

Posted by: AC9breaker Aug 11 2010, 01:16 PM

So now the real question, is anyone here planning on picking up the Special edition of the PC version for that week early play. Assuming it's like 11, we'll probably gonna need that week to download updates and install them.

Posted by: Crushinator Aug 11 2010, 02:23 PM

All depends on if I get a new computer up by then. If I don't then I'll probably have to pull an AC9breaker and wait till the PS3 release next march :(

Posted by: Scan_Man Aug 11 2010, 03:24 PM

The changes have actually made this game enjoyable in my opinion. It went from Superman 64 terrible, because controls and UI were that bad, to the level of any decent MMO you could spend hours and hours on. They listened to the ton of US players' bitching on the forums, and did not cave into the WoW haters and FFXI fanboys. It is a sign this game might actually end up being excellent in the coming months and years.

Though, I am not so sure yet I will pick the game up at launch. I'm still very much into World of Warcraft raiding, and there is still quite a lot of content left that my guild and I have not completed. I can see I'm not going to get a break from it before the Cataclysm expansion release. Also, DC Universe Online comes out in November which looks freakin fantastic in my opinion. But definitely, I have renewed interest in this game.


As far as computer goes. It is strange that FFXIV is a DirectX 9 game, but requires a DirectX 11 video card to run well. If you are not getting a constant frame rate of 30+ the mouse pointer is very laggy, and not usable (I'm not so sure if Square is going offer hardware mouse because the software mouse is to prevent bots or something). And you kind of need the mouse pointer to do things. I recommend the Geforce 460 GTX.


Check out this nice buying guide for anyone interested in building a new rig. http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/2003/1280087473915.png

Posted by: tanshin Aug 12 2010, 01:34 PM

I didn't want to say anything at the risk of drama, but this is why I kept secretly eye-rolling every time you posted complaining about stuff like controls in the BETA, and saying "I'm not gonna play this game because of so and so". There are many, many long, dramatic threads about these very kinds of comments in the beta forums. Did you think you were playing the finished product for free or something? Or that they wouldn't fix anything on the beta that people were concerned about? Then why have a beta?

I'm not trying to rage out, it's just you keep posting these walls of text that seem like wow-biased fully fleshed out game reviews full of invisible expectations, when they game isn't even finished yet. We could post about any game and say "this is not WoW, it can't do what WoW does". Just let it be it's own thing, ya know? Not every game has to be "the next WoW" for people to liked it, nor does it need the 9 gajillion players (or whatever WoW has) to be successful.

That aside, the more objective info you posted is much appreciated and very helpful, so thanks for that.

Posted by: Alisha Aug 12 2010, 04:17 PM

i'll be waiting for ps3 release. but at least phantasy tsar zero is keeping me busy for now.


gimme some dish on armor. the bandana is a nice ode to your old fone. i HATED rainbow armor in FFXI. to the point that sometimes i wore inferior armor so i wasnt wearing like orange and green and grey shit.

Posted by: Crushinator Aug 12 2010, 04:42 PM

QUOTE(Alisha @ Aug 12 2010, 04:17 PM)

Posted by: AC9breaker Aug 12 2010, 04:48 PM

In any event. I've already pre purchased my copy of 14, collectors edition of course. At the same time though, I'm also eyeballing Guild Wars 2. That recent trailer they unveiled looks all kinds of jawsome.

Posted by: Scan_Man Aug 12 2010, 05:35 PM

WALL OF TEXT!

Response to Tanshin:

I am just giving my opinion. The content of opinions are up for discussion, but basically should be taken for a grain of salt. Nothing to "emo" over. If you have something to say about the game (as in gameplay or other musings), or disagree, say it. Talk about the actual game. I asked you questions, so I could possibly adjust my opinions based on someone who had first hand information. You declined to answer, which is your right.

However, I'm here to talk about this game, in its current form, based on information I am able to gather. What I think of it too. Retorting with that it is just a "Beta" talk, does not lead to any kind of discussion of this game. I understand that it is a Beta. Developers have an NDA because they don't want people talking about an unfinished product. However, there are people out there that are interested in knowing how the game is coming along, me included. They may not have beta access, or they may but not have the time to play. That is my audience, if it is not clear to you. Most of all, I love talking about game mechanics, and what that means for users, in detail. It is a passion of mine. I understand most people don't care, or it is beyond their scope of what they wish to discuss. But it is something, I like to talk about regardless if no one is listening. That is what passion is all about.

Sounds like you trying to start drama because saying things like "secretly rolling my eye" is dismissive passive aggressiveness directed towards me. So, if I got your engines revved up, I say good! I don't care if you have a problem with what I say, but I will not let that kind of hostility directed towards me slide.

You said you tried to hold off not saying anything because to not start drama. Why wait until now? If I were to take what you said literally, then your choice of words have failed that stated purposes. Again, why now? What makes now so safe for you to come out of your hole?

Saying stuff like "secretly rolling my eye" is a dick move. And you know it. Which why you put your "Did not want to start drama" disclaimer, to try and soften it. Stop. I am not fooled by such. You basically told me how your intentions are going to come off.

Not everyone emotionally attaches to things he or she says, or what other say, like you may do (I assume). For me, I expect disagreement, welcome it, and respect it. I would never dismiss someone because their point of view differs from mine because that stifles discussion. But, make no mistake I am going to defend my position.




Me editorializing in response to Tanshin's points:

Let me clarify something. Most of the things I write here are lifted from articles I wrote on my blog, or other forums, sometimes copied and pasted. That is why they are long (sometimes lifted from two or more entries). Also, I try to use enough detail in my writing to where I think there won't be a misunderstanding, or ways to misconstrue what I wrote.

People that follow my blog, or twitter, are interested in my current opinions on gaming, MMOs including WoW and FFXIV. I posted my thoughts here on FFXIV versus WoW because it is a FFXIV thread. I don't like some of the decision Square is making in relation to this game, which for me helps my buying decision.

I also assume, that most people here are not into WoW. Thus, know very little comparatively about the current state of the game. Its successes, problems, and failures. Competition has an influence. And WoW is FFXIV's competition. So it difficult to talk about one without mentioning the other because obviously FFXIV is being influenced by WoW. Believe me, I have more things to say on this, that I am saving because I writing a MMO buying guide.


A game forum is for discussing games and opinion of games. Plus, ultimately I am the one that has to make a decision to buy this game. And for FFXIV, my decision is going to be based on if it is worth my time over WoW. I have the right to have expectations because it is my money and time. I choose to determine how I am going spend those. I can only make a decision based on the information at hand. I am not a "wait and see" person. If I took a "wait and see" approach, then that means I am already making a mental investment to hold out for that thing to get better; which may not happen. Thus, I will miss out on potential better opportunities or mental investments available to me in the now that have a higher chance of working out. Not saying my way is right for everyone, but works for me. I am a "think about it today, forget about it tomorrow if it no longer holds my interest" type of person. So agree to disagree here.

And no one is saying a game should be the next WoW. But, there is no reason why a game should not strive to be the next step in MMOs like WoW was to Everquest. Why should I invest time and money in something if I have something that is better? Not only that, but there is a cheaper solution for what is essentially the same type of gameplay at its very core.

WoW has more content, and more features per dollar than FFXIV. That is a fact. Not to FFXIV's fault for being new. But, my beef is the pricing for FFXIV in regards with this. FFXIV is $12 for one character. I understand the arguments in favor of this. But those arguments ignore that people may want to play a different race, or have an alt on another server. This pricing point alienates a large portion of the MMO player base. The price is very steep to ask for someone coming from other MMOs such as WoW. And that is the point of view I am representing here. FFXIV borrows from WoW in a lot of places, so I think comparisons are fair. WoW rips from a lot of other games too.

I do have problems with WoW. A lot of them even. I still think it is the best MMO option out there. I give credit where credit is due. I extend this to FFXIV, or any MMO out there.

Like I said in another post, if you are coming from FFXI, or not currently playing any MMOs, this point of view does not pertain to you. Nor should it.

On a side note, discussion on this forum is abysmal these days. I know you guys save it for the podcast, which is excellent. But it would be nice to have a forum discussion once in a while like back in the old days. Lastly, I tend to play devil's advocate to get some discussion going; not just here, but on my blog. I get some of you may not be bothered with having other responsibilities to attend to.

Posted by: Vitamin D Aug 12 2010, 05:43 PM

Posted by: Scan_Man Aug 12 2010, 05:51 PM

QUOTE(AC9breaker @ Aug 12 2010, 04:48 PM)

Posted by: tanshin Aug 12 2010, 06:02 PM

QUOTE(AC9breaker @ Aug 12 2010, 03:48 PM)

Posted by: Alisha Aug 12 2010, 06:04 PM

QUOTE(Crushinator @ Aug 12 2010, 06:42 PM)

QUOTE(Alisha @ Aug 12 2010, 04:17 PM)

gimme some dish on armor. the bandana is a nice ode to your old fone. i HATED rainbow armor in FFXI. to the point that sometimes i wore inferior armor so i wasnt wearing like orange and green and grey shit.

Posted by: Scan_Man Aug 12 2010, 06:23 PM

QUOTE(Alisha @ Aug 12 2010, 06:04 PM)

QUOTE(Crushinator @ Aug 12 2010, 06:42 PM)

QUOTE(Alisha @ Aug 12 2010, 04:17 PM)

gimme some dish on armor. the bandana is a nice ode to your old fone. i HATED rainbow armor in FFXI. to the point that sometimes i wore inferior armor so i wasnt wearing like orange and green and grey shit.

i was talking to scan crush my love!

Posted by: HC82 Aug 13 2010, 04:46 AM

Wall of text for the win. I like to read walls of text, assuming it has value. The AT boards don't have much discussion, actually, so it's not always a bad thing to express an opinion.


Also, FFXIV will sucks balls because anything FF that's online has sucked, will suck and can only suck worse then the suckiest of the sucky suck sucks. So, my final conclusion from not playing the beta and being a blind FF fanboy is that the game has to suck because my opinion dictates absolute truth of reality, thus everyone must be offended... right now!

By the way WoW sucks too. I stopped playing it because its a waste of time and money. I can do something meaningful like educate myself and my mind. I'll be damned if I don't get the next rare loot drop that becomes useless in 6 months, while my real world body wastes away as I drink mountain dew and eat doritos.

I mean really. Why do people play video games anyway? It's a huge waste of time and anyone who plays video games is a total loser. Go do something constructive, like get a Doctorate Degree in real world awesomeness.

For that matter, don't go to the movie, or watch TV, surf the internet or read a book for entertainment. It's all useless, because we're soulless fleshbots.

With that said, MMORPGs suck, as do video games, life in general, and everyone who reads this. So, on that note, I'm going to take out my Super Mario Galaxy 2 game from it's shrink wrap and pre order FFXIV, since I just bought a new PC for for gaming.

Cheers.

Posted by: Scan_Man Aug 13 2010, 03:07 PM

LOL! Bravo HC!

Posted by: Afroforce Aug 14 2010, 09:50 AM

Look, I haven't played a game with most of you in years but if you have me on facebook, which, I'm sure only Scan does. Tell me what server you guys are planning on getting on. I already have a few competent friends starting FF14 with me.

Also, hi!

/lurk

Posted by: Scan_Man Aug 14 2010, 06:06 PM

Of course subject to change. But, if you want to tentatively designate a server for organization purposes. Here is the list:


Gabranth
Garland
Golbez
Emperor
Exdeath
Jecht
Kefka
Ultimecia
Sephiroth
Shadowlord
Xande

Server names are named after FF villains. Shadowlord is the most populated server in the beta. Not surprising.


Also another wave of beta invites should be going out soon. So if anyone gets on the beta, I am on Jecht.

Posted by: Afroforce Aug 14 2010, 06:36 PM

I'm up for any server, really. I just want to have an idea of where we'd go so I can start telling people in the group I made on facebook, you know?

Posted by: AC9breaker Aug 15 2010, 10:37 AM

I don't think any of us are really planning a designated server. Although I'd rather stick to a server thats medium populated. I was just planning on starting out wherever and then sending invites to people like that. If anything I'm definitely gonna try to stay away from the more heavily populated servers.

Posted by: Crushinator Aug 15 2010, 02:09 PM

Did they do away with the bullshit friend passes and random server crap from FF11? That was the biggest load of shit, not being able to instantly group with your friends at the launch of the game.

Posted by: Afroforce Aug 15 2010, 02:16 PM

I'm getting the CE. So I'll be there early, just keep me updated. I'll be watching the forums, regardless.

Posted by: AC9breaker Aug 15 2010, 02:32 PM

QUOTE(Crushinator @ Aug 15 2010, 04:09 PM)

Posted by: Wiryu Aug 15 2010, 02:44 PM

That could potentially just be a 14-day free trial for a friend too however? Maybe...

Posted by: Scan_Man Aug 15 2010, 03:11 PM

Picking your server is part of the character creation.

I doubt they are going to change this. We tested server selection, and server load with a limited amount of servers to simulate launch day. Basically, trying to crash them with everyone around the world logging in at once. For a good two weeks that is all we were doing. The game was unplayable until Square fixed the servers to be able to handle that type of load.

Posted by: AC9breaker Aug 15 2010, 03:39 PM

Actually what is the max population for a server? and whats the most a given area can hold? Are there any areas like Jueno where fucking rubes just gather?

Posted by: Scan_Man Aug 15 2010, 05:31 PM

The max population is indicated by 4 chocobos next to the name. LOL.


I don't know what the max population is. I would think it would be a lot since the game is cross region, and eventually cross platform.


There is no max for a given area. The game is open world like World of Warcraft. This actually is one of my issues with the game that I have not covered. It is also an issue in World of Warcraft in the neutral cities, like the current one, Dalaran. Super laggy, even if you have a decent system. Or you get spill over lag, because you are close by to a high populated area and it starting put that stuff into memory.

It is even worse in FFXIV because the game is more graphical intense, the city is huge, and character models are very detailed. Going to the city is very stressful right now to get things done because your input for controls and mouse are handled by software and server (to prevent botting). Flipping through menus and buying stuff is not fun in a city. They have improved it, but it still is laggy in high population areas; ie city or starting quest area.


So yes. Cities are where people gather. And it is laggy as hell. With it drawing all the models, and people loading into the game there. Right now it is bad because you start the game in a city, with one to choose from.

At launch this will be helped somewhat because there will be at least three main cities to choose from to spread folks out. But still it won't be fully resolved of how you just start in the city on top of everyone else that is starting out. I would of liked to see each race get a starting zone or something.

Crafting is very viable way of progressing through the game. And there are a ton of crafting classes. So there will be a lot of people hanging out in the cities.

Not that it can be helped much in games like this. But there are other ways to reduce the lag other than spreading out the population via multiple starting cities. I would like to see sub versions of the world, like in Aion. Like if there too many people in the area, just go to World 2 or 3. That would work great for this game.

I recommend to folks to have a nice CPU, quad core of at least 3.2 GHz, a minimum of a Geforce 460 GTX, and at least 4 gigs of ram to avoid these issues. Or else you going to be waiting for optimizations.

Posted by: AC9breaker Aug 15 2010, 06:56 PM

Ugh, right now I think the biggest thing holding me back is my CPU. I'm running an Intel Quad Q9400 @ 2.66Ghz. I was thinking of maybe trying to overclock it, but I'm pretty hesitant since I've never tried anything like that before and from the little I've read it's more or less guessing then a science.

Posted by: Scan_Man Aug 15 2010, 09:41 PM

Here is the recommended specs to run the game smoothly at default. Pretty fucking high if you ask me. And makes no sense for a DirectX 9 game.

OS Windows® 7 32-bit/64-bit*
CPU Intel® Core™ i7-920 2.66GHz or higher
# AMD Phenom II X6 1055T
RAM 4GB or more
HDD/SDD Installation: 15GB of free space
Download: 6GB of free space on the drive containing "My Documents"
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 460 or better with VRAM 768MB or more
# ATI HD 5830 1GB or better.
Sound Card DirectSound® compatible sound card (DirectX® 9.0c or higher)
Internet Connection Broadband or better (always-on)
Resolution 1280x720 (32-bit) or higher
DirectX® DirectX® 9.0c
Others Mouse, Keyboard, Gamepad


Yeah wtf hexacore processor if you going with AMD!?

And anything lower than this is going to run into problems in high populated areas. I'm on a AMD Athlon 64 FX 62, 2.8 GHz, and 8800 gtx, with 2 gigs ram atm. It is not pleasant no matter how low I set the settings. It is smooth when I'm out questing, but going near a city or going to a crystal to activate a quest is terrible. It should improve as they optimize the game, or when new drivers come out after release. But, I would not recommend playing the game to anyone with less than the recommended specs for long. I'm going to be building a new system soon because my system is out of date.

Posted by: Afroforce Aug 16 2010, 06:07 AM

I already showed Dave what I'm having built for me. So I'll be running this fine @ 3.6GHz with a decent card, I hope. I was never one for super cranked up graphic settings anyway, so...I'm sure things will be that much better.

Posted by: Crushinator Aug 16 2010, 01:31 PM

QUOTE(Scan_Man @ Aug 15 2010, 09:41 PM)

Posted by: Knightsword Aug 16 2010, 02:29 PM

No, I think they just don't want pc loving americans playing their game, just their ever loyal playstation using japanese followers.

Posted by: Scan_Man Aug 16 2010, 04:05 PM

QUOTE(Crushinator @ Aug 16 2010, 01:31 PM)

QUOTE(Scan_Man @ Aug 15 2010, 09:41 PM)

Here is the recommended specs to run the game smoothly at default. Pretty fucking high if you ask me. And makes no sense for a DirectX 9 game.

OS Windows® 7 32-bit/64-bit*
CPU Intel® Core™ i7-920 2.66GHz or higher
# AMD Phenom II X6 1055T
RAM 4GB or more
HDD/SDD Installation: 15GB of free space
Download: 6GB of free space on the drive containing "My Documents"
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 460 or better with VRAM 768MB or more
# ATI HD 5830 1GB or better.
Sound Card DirectSound® compatible sound card (DirectX® 9.0c or higher)
Internet Connection Broadband or better (always-on)
Resolution 1280x720 (32-bit) or higher
DirectX® DirectX® 9.0c
Others Mouse, Keyboard, Gamepad


Yeah wtf hexacore processor if you going with AMD!?

And anything lower than this is going to run into problems in high populated areas. I'm on a AMD Athlon 64 FX 62, 2.8 GHz, and 8800 gtx, with 2 gigs ram atm. It is not pleasant no matter how low I set the settings. It is smooth when I'm out questing, but going near a city or going to a crystal to activate a quest is terrible. It should improve as they optimize the game, or when new drivers come out after release. But, I would not recommend playing the game to anyone with less than the recommended specs for long. I'm going to be building a new system soon because my system is out of date.

Are those the official recommended specs? That's fucking absurd, the highest I think I've ever seen before! Reeks of a poorly optimized engine to me...

Its almost like Square-Enix DOESN'T want people to play the game.

Posted by: Scan_Man Aug 16 2010, 04:26 PM

BTW this is default settings:

Screen mode and window 1280 × 720 (window mode)
Ambient Occlusion OFF
Depth of field ON
Shadow Map Quality Standard
Multi-Sampling 4x MSAA
Buffer Size Drawing Window size
Texture quality High quality
Texture filtering High quality

Running this game at max or near max, is a different story.

Posted by: tanshin Aug 18 2010, 03:07 AM

oh my gyaaaaahd. I wonder if I can squeak by until I can afford a new computer.

Posted by: Alisha Aug 23 2010, 04:39 PM

i'm wondering if crafting classes can fight? otherwise the class lineup is pretty weak. i'll probally play monk/pugilist again.

Posted by: tanshin Aug 23 2010, 05:14 PM

They can definitely fight, they just suck at it, haha. I didn't get very far as the crafting classes but as a miner I was throwing rocks at stuff for like 1 damage.

Posted by: Alisha Aug 23 2010, 05:32 PM

QUOTE(tanshin @ Aug 23 2010, 07:14 PM)

Posted by: Scan_Man Aug 23 2010, 07:45 PM

QUOTE(Alisha @ Aug 23 2010, 05:32 PM)

QUOTE(tanshin @ Aug 23 2010, 07:14 PM)

They can definitely fight, they just suck at it, haha. I didn't get very far as the crafting classes but as a miner I was throwing rocks at stuff for like 1 damage.

lol... i tried to skill up throwing once in ffxi with pebbles. after missing 10 time si quit anyways heres some videos courtesy of parn.

http://synbios.net/site/

Posted by: AC9breaker Aug 25 2010, 02:39 PM

http://www.ffxivcore.com/topic/11964-surplus-and-you-komoto-speaks/

Since people aren't fans of walls of text here's a breakdown.


You've only got a couple of hours to play before you get 0 exp. How is people having more time to play considered an "unfair advantage"? Especially in a fucking game that for all intents and purposes has 0 pvp content. Oh and it's on a fucking weekly timer? I'm thinking of canceling my preorder.

Posted by: Crushinator Aug 25 2010, 02:54 PM

Yeah, i just read over that and it seems like a load of shit. How about they make a POSITIVE benefit for people who can't manage to play for long extended periods, rather than PUNISH people who actually want to... i dunno enjoy the game they are paying a monthly sub for?

This seems typical of ass-backwards japanese online gaming mentality, they just can't seem to grasp HOW players want to play these types of games.

Pulling a Scan Man here, but citing World of Warcraft, Blizzard was going to do something similar when WoW launched. A penalty in exp if you played for too long, with the intention of keeping players from getting "too sucked into" the game or what have you. There was a big backlash, players hated it AND they kept playing the game despite the exp penalty, so it clearly wasn't working. So they just reversed the system, rather than penalizing you for playing, you got a bonus exp (which is the rested exp in the game now) for time that you WEREN'T playing to help you keep up. Everyone is happy.

And this was 5 years ago, you'd think SE would have been able to observe this and learn from it. But instead they basically do the same thing but make it WORSE, wherein if you play for over 15 hours in a week, you get ZERO EXP. And that time does not reset till the beginning of the next week. What the HELL?

Posted by: AC9breaker Aug 25 2010, 03:09 PM

Posted by: Scan_Man Aug 25 2010, 07:31 PM

Well the main thing people on the beta forums are upset is with the Gamescom interview. It let us know they don't care too much about American feedback. Saying that 90 percent of the feedback was about the mouse, and then go to say they are not going to give us the mouse control we want. There was a lot more feedback than that, and suggestions on how to improve the game. And all we get is "LOL Japanese play games like this, we aint changing it." Same type of attitude when it comes to the specs.


I do not like it at all. Basically, if you do all the guildleves, 8 max, then there is nothing for you to do in the next 48 hours but level skills. Square wants you to join parties to repeat guildleves if you finish yours for the 48 hour cooldown. There are two problems with this. One, solo play is the optimal way to go in FFXIV because how skill points work (more on this below). Secondly, if you are done with your guildleves, going to go play in parties means you will be playing longer, thus hitting the Surplus cap sooner in the week. If you hit the Surplus cap, you can't play the game for the rest of the week.

I understand Square's reasoning for wanting to keep the game on an even playing field for those that have less time. But, it is a MMORPG. A MMORPG should be about choice. If someone wants to play 60 hours a week, they should be allowed to. They said also, they want other people to level the other skills. Surplus forces you to switch to another class. It sounds good on paper, but Square fails to realize that some people like to play one class. That is the whole point of the RPG part; you pick a role of your choosing and stick with it.

The skill system is flawed though. You gain skill points to level your job/class by using skills. Each skill you use on a mob nets you points. So, in order to get the maximum amount of points you want to be doing the least amount of damage possible. This is why group play is not optimal. You earn more points soloing things because you don't have anyone else competing to get their skills in. Square does not want to buff the amount of points you get in parties because that will be unfair to solo casual players; and we know they are marketing the game to casuals.

From what I gather from the Gamescom interview there is not going to be any end game right away. Makes sense because of balance. The skill system sounds like a nightmare to balance. It seems to me the easiest way to balance it is to assume everyone has all the weapons skills, basically all jobs leveled. With that said, it kind of makes sense on why they want people to level all the jobs. But, if getting all skills is the only viable thing to do because you would be a gimped noob otherwise , then why have multiple jobs in the first place? There really is no choice.


The other thing I don't like about Square compared to other MMO developers is their lack of communication. Testers have known about Surplus for a month, but no word as to how it worked, and why it was happening.


Crush you are right. Putting limits on people does not work. People that want to play hours and hours a week will find a way to play, if it means having multiple characters.

Interesting you mention World of Warcraft because in the current expansion, Wraith of the Lich King, they tried to limit people from playing again. So, it is an idea that was still prevalent. In Wraith they put limited attempts on the hardmodes of tier 9 raid (Trial of the Grand Crusader), and for the last four bosses in the final raid Icecrown Citadel(later nerfed to just be the hardmodes for those bosses).

Blizzard's reasoning was hardcore guilds who have more time to "beat their head against the wall" have an unfair advantage in beating content compared to equal, or better, guilds that have less time to play. A problem because the raiding scene is competitive and ranked in WoW. It is difficult to find out who is the best guild when you have guilds that will spend 20 hours a day learning new bosses. So, Blizzard put limit attempts in to promote quality boss pulls, instead of quantity.

However, the hardcore guilds response was to run multiple ALT characters through the raids in order to get more attempts on bosses. So, hardcore guilds with more time got an even bigger advantage because they were able to run a raid 3-6 times a week.

Blizzard finally learned that limiting play does not achieve the stated goal because people will find ways to circumvent it.

Posted by: AC9breaker Aug 26 2010, 05:40 AM

To summarize what Scan said for all you lazy rubes. Fuck Final Fantasy 14 and shitty JP Dev decisions. I totally agree with him too. If there's one thing we've learned from PSU it's to not support retarded JP Dev decision.

I'm making sure they hear my feedback, canceled my preorder for this game. Besides guild wars 2 totally looks like it's gonna be the shit. In fact I'm calling it now, Guild Wars 2 will be to MMO's what Call of Duty 4 was to FPS's

Posted by: Scan_Man Aug 26 2010, 08:11 AM

Folks on the beta forums figured out how Surplus works. The translation in that article is a bit rough. The way it works is Square figured what the average player would net in exp after 8 hours of play. Basically, you look at it as exp per hour. It is actually a theoretical 8 hours. After that "8 hour" period you hit the fatigue wall, which reduces your exp gradually until a later "7 hour" mark where gain 0 exp.

The system does not clock you. It bases its decision on a exp cap. Square thinks it should take the average player 8 hours to hit this cap. However, if your exp per hour rate is higher then you will hit the wall sooner. This is why some people in beta were hitting Surplus after playing for 2 hours. So, it actually varies depending on how efficient you are. Which hurts anyone that happens to follow a leveling guide, casual or not, as well as experienced players. So, it is only ignorant players that are protected by this system, not casuals?


Overall, I think it will hinder most casual players. Not sure what that actual number of hours per week that is on average. But I do know for WoW players at least, casual is about 20 hours a week on average. So by that standard, they will be restricted. Square's numbers are likely referring to Japanese gamers. Which is part of the disconnect here.

Posted by: Crushinator Aug 27 2010, 08:38 AM

Pre-release trailer. OH GOD THIS SONG!

EDIT: From what Scan is describing it does sound like this will hurt casuals even worse than a hardcore player. If you're unable to play the game a ton each week, you'll want to maximize your leveling speed on your preferred class. So if you do grind as fast as possible in the short time you have and you DO reach that limit in two hours or so, thats even less incentive to keep playing.
http://www.destructoid.com/final-fantasy-xiv-pre-release-trailer-182504.phtml

Posted by: tanshin Aug 27 2010, 11:48 AM

Dammit, you mean I can't waste all my time grinding away at levels like in FFXI? :(

...Wait, isn't that what people were bitching about in that game? The grind? Cake is cake.
Instead of thinking about this in such a way of what is being taken away from you, why not think about what this kind of system could do to effect the way you play the game? Maybe playing an MMO doesn't need to be all about "log in, find a party, kill shit, level up". Even when I played FFXI, I still didn't like to think of the game like that. Unfortunately, I think most people disagree with me there. They loved running through Diablo II, spacing out, mindlessly killing everything repetitively for the occasional rare drop. It was essentially being that rat in a cage, pressing a button over and over waiting for the random 1 out of 1000 times you press it to give you a dopamine rush in your brain. Some people are fine with that, more power to them, nothing wrong with that if you're having fun.

As a general philosophy of gaming, I think people these days are too absorbed with finding what it is that they can complain about in a game. After all, finding any flaw, discontinuity, and/or non-sequitur and making a huge deal out of it (with the right rhetoric and vocabulary) can make you appear pretty intelligent, right? I've never been one to miss out on a movie because Ebert says, in so many words, that spider-man looks fake. Maybe some of us need to re-examine why it is that we even play games? Do you feel like you HAVE to, or are you still having fun?

My favorite stuff to do in FFXI was: find creative non-boring ways to make gil, explore places I've never been while dodging scary enemies, find and do obscure and even common quests that weren't about farming 10 of something and returning, going places like the boat where random shit can happen like pirate attacks, progressing further into the story of the game, hanging out with my friends online and running around killing cool looking monsters that you don't normally kill for exp, switching to a new job and running around the noob area experimenting, running around town naked, messing with noobs, tricking people into fighting something and dying by pretending I was going to help them fight it, and just generally doing WHATEVER with my friends. Exping was never fun! Never! I remember kind of spacing out while tanking and having my hands just move on their own. I'm glad to see an attempt at mindlessness being removed from a game.

So yeah, I'm still going to give the game a 30-day shot as I'd previously planned since the game was announced. I'd like to have my friends there too for those 30 days (yes even you, scan_man), because it would be a lot more fun, but if you want to "punish" a corporation by backing out, that's cool too.

I have my own issues with the game as well, I'm not some blind final fantasy fanatic. I'm not even really arguing FOR the game itself, but for a refreshed outlook on gaming in general, starting with this game.

Buuuut this issue will probably get patched out at some point anyway. Especially since Breaker canceled his reservation. That'll learn 'em.

tl;dr - quit bitching about everything and play some games with me.

Posted by: Crushinator Aug 27 2010, 11:58 AM

I liked grinding in FFXI. When I finally got level 75 I was lost at what to do in the game, I had come so far and worked so hard at leveling, then to what end? I didn't know what else to do after I had hit that pinnacle. I know there's "endgame" content and HNMs and shit, but that involved working with a lot of assholes that took the game WAY more seriously than I'd ever like to.

So after hitting 75 I played for about a month more, but had no desire to continue leveling or getting items. I was "done".

Posted by: tanshin Aug 27 2010, 12:12 PM

It's true, MMO's are a stairway to nowhere. Even if you had enjoyed the end game community, what then after you got all the items you wanted? Your point also reinforces my question of "why play?" With MMO's in particular, the game should be more about the "ride" than the "end result". If you're waiting for a big reward at the end, of course you'll be disappointed.

It's the same thing as life. You work, save money, go through a bunch of bullshit, just to die at the end. So just enjoy playing the game itself. Take what enjoyment and happiness you can get before the end comes.

Posted by: Maxx Aug 27 2010, 12:42 PM

The silly thing about this whole surplus thing is that I've been playing the beta pretty heavily and wouldn't have even known it existed until people started complaining about it. The first people I saw to have a problem with it were the people who got one single job to 25 in a day.

Anyway, I'm having a lot of fun with the game so I figured I'd pop in and see who all is gonna be playing. Let's playing XIV!

Posted by: Maxx Aug 27 2010, 01:21 PM

QUOTE(Maxx @ Aug 27 2010, 12:42 PM)

Posted by: Scan_Man Aug 27 2010, 03:42 PM

All really good points.

When it comes MMOs I try to stick up for different people's playstyles. People's reasons for playing these games are never the same. So, when a choice by the developer restricts a particular player's playstyle I hardly ever find it a good thing. Some people like trying all the classes, others don't. Some don't like crafting, others do. Some people, all they want to do is make money by selling stuff; never touching any other part of the game. I see MMOs as giving you options. There should never be something in place to kind of force you one direction or another. It is about freedom within a virtual open world.The people bitching about Surplus, I think deep down feel like this system does not offer the freedom they expect from this type of game.

It is easy to say "go play something else." But if I was Square, I would not want to turn people away from the game. From the interviews they seem to think they know how players will play, and everything will go to their planned design. And they are wrong. Players are creative, inventive, and unpredictable.

They thought their Surplus cap was high enough for their "8 hours" of play. However, experienced players found a way to level more efficiently. Thus, hitting the cap a lot sooner. They admitted this on the front page of the beta forums yesterday. How a MMO is played will always be dictated by the players in end; it is the nature of a virtual world.

How they are played is mostly dictated by the hardcore players. Squares want to shift this balance, much the same way Blizzard has tried in WoW, and I commend them for it. However, the hardcores are the ones that write the efficient leveling guides, they are the ones that figure out which skills are the best for situation A or B, and they are the ones likely to stick with the game to the end. They know the game in and out. People with less time follow what the hardcores say to do because it is the best way, most optimal, or most efficient way of playing the game. Which is very attractive to someone who does not have much time to play comparatively. Besides, no ones wants to be called a "fucking noob." That is the social part of it.



Whether it affects the average player or not, it has hurt this game already. But, people will find a new thing to bitch about if Surplus is not an issue. Before the Surplus, people were bitching about the Market Wards, and there being no Auction House any time soon. It is simple things like this that are usually taken for granted in other MMOs that Square has intentionally left out, or not considered. In my opinion though, it is the system requirements that is going to hurt this game the most once open beta starts.

More on the issue here is Square is telling people how much time they should spend on the game that they are paying monthly for. The majority of people are not going to see it as "well the typical player will never run into Surplus, so there is no problem." They see the possibility of a restriction because a player's play time can vary day to day; like weekends. Generally, people want play at the pace they think they are getting their money's worth. Then you factor in the game being 12 bucks a month for one character. I'm sure for a lot folks out there, this is a lot to ask.


A lot of people are not factoring in that once the game goes live there will still be the 48 guildleve cooldown. When I say the Surplus system will hinder people, I am referring to it in combination with the 48 hour cooldown on quests.

Once you do your 8 guildleves, or whatever the max you can take at live is, you are done. Guildleves is the most efficient way to gain exp. So, after those are done, it depends on the player. Square wants you to group up with others that are running group guildleves, so you can repeat those ones you just did (besides soloing guildleves is more optimal, so how often will you find a group doing them?). Like I said in the other post, doing this for two days will have you reach your caps sooner. However, if you just log off for two days, then you might get some of your time to refresh. It might be better to just use your time on the solo guildleves every two days. You have the option to do other things. Though depending on what else you find appealing in the game, you may be penalized by this system. Basically, if you do not like the other options in the moment compared to your main interest (ie. want to play your main job, and you don't want to craft). I won't be surprised if people complain about there being "nothing to do but log out" because of reaching caps and cooldowns. I worry about player retention with such a system.


Anyway. . . Open beta is next week. I hope the other areas are better. After about 100 hours on this game, I am sick of Limsa Lominsa.

Posted by: tanshin Aug 27 2010, 04:25 PM

Scan-
Yeah, I actually agree with you there Scan. By their very nature, MMO's should give you as much freedom as possible. It's supposed to be an open, persistent world, right? I guess when it comes to this, I'm the hypocrite that cries for complete freedom and then gets pissed off when people "play the game wrong" (goldfarmers, people that are "too" hardcore, player killers, etc.).
I think you're also right about there always being something to complain about. I guess game companies just have to find some kind of delicate balance of issues that the least amount of people hate. Or, they could do what Square Enix is doing in the case of the surplus, and do whatever the hell you want despite player opinion, lol. It seems like the best way to design an MMO would be to just leave it extremely open and mold the world to the players as you go, due to the unpredictability factor that you mentioned.

If I had a bit more time on my hands to be MMO-ing I'd probably hate this surplus thing. But for the time being I have very little game time (at least until my contract is up at work D: ), and it probably won't affect me.

Can we get some kind of official role-call of who who is going to be playing for sure?

Posted by: Crushinator Aug 27 2010, 07:47 PM

Officially NOT playing, unless someone gives me a gaming PC for my birthday.

Posted by: AC9breaker Aug 27 2010, 11:57 PM

I'll only play is crush is playing.

so officially NOT playing as well.

Posted by: Crushinator Aug 28 2010, 12:49 AM

I just found a computer that fell off the back of a turnip truck. I'm playing. Preorder for the LE is fully paid off.

Posted by: Wiryu Aug 28 2010, 10:55 AM

I will be playing.

Posted by: Vitamin D Aug 28 2010, 10:56 AM

Well, I'm not much a fan of this fatigue idea myself, but me playing was based on if friends were playing it in the first place. I started playing FF XI because a few Monster Hunter friends I had began playing it, so I did too. My enjoyment in FF XI was based on several things, but having good friends to kick it with often was the best of it. It's starting to look like there's going to be at least a handful of us, so I'm still on board to play. Um... this is a stupid dope mix?

Posted by: Kazicht Aug 28 2010, 02:00 PM

I'm still in, and I'm calling it now - if you let this fatigue system stop your way of MMO, then the Japanese win.

Posted by: Scan_Man Aug 28 2010, 03:44 PM

Open beta I will be playing. After launch I will just observe, and see if I am interested in playing it by December. Launch is a no go for me because I will still be raiding hardcore on WoW to complete the expansion and my Shadowmourne (Boooo to Blizzard for making the last part of the quest long and grindy). Also, I am little more interested in picking DC Universe Online (has reasonable specs too). And of course Cataclysm comes out too.


But you know I am always interested in super-awesome-fun content that must be played immediately that may be found somewhere in the game. So if people say they found something like that in the later parts of the game I will pick it up.

Not a fan of leveling content overall. I like MMOs for endgame content. But if I had to choose, Guildleves is my favorite questing system so far (still need to experience Cataclysm's revamped streamlined questing and as well as The Old Republic's). Just sucks with the 48 hour cooldown.

Posted by: Afroforce Aug 29 2010, 08:31 AM

I'm in, of course.

And I'm kind of thankful I'm going to college full time right now, or else that Surplus business would blow.

Posted by: Knightsword Aug 29 2010, 10:45 AM

I'll be giving it a go, got my LE preordered as well, I'm still in a 3 day a week raiding guild in wow, so the fatigue system shouldn't hurt to much, yet it still is a piss poor idea by SE. Edit- This post is 1337 lol

Posted by: AC9breaker Aug 31 2010, 09:00 AM

Just got an email for the open beta. I'll hop on that see how it run on my PC. Still I'm gonna take a wait see approach with this game. Seems like now a days thats the best way to approach MMO's. Since it seems like there's bound to be bugs, glitches, exploits, oversights and plain old foul ups that devs miss in their rush to get games out the door. I'm sure they're gonna address the issues I have with the game, namely fatigue system but until now, I'll enjoy my console games like a cool guy.

Posted by: Crushinator Aug 31 2010, 03:19 PM

Oh no! Open beta delayed!

http://www.giantbomb.com/news/final-fantasy-xiv-open-beta-postponed/2500/

Posted by: Scan_Man Aug 31 2010, 06:16 PM

Yeah not surprised it was delayed. Been the story of beta. They are really rushing this game. And what the fuck, it won't let me into the beta forums anymore.

Posted by: Knightsword Sep 1 2010, 12:28 PM

Posted by: Afroforce Sep 4 2010, 04:44 PM

What are the current server names and are they the same ones we will get once the game drops on the 22nd?

I'm pumped to be able to play with you guys, again.

Posted by: Scan_Man Sep 4 2010, 04:49 PM

New server names.

Cornelia
Kashuan
Gysahl
Mysidia
Istory
Figaro
Wutai
Trabia
Lindblum
Besaid
Selbina
Rabanastre
Bodhum
Melmond
Palamecia

Posted by: Afroforce Sep 5 2010, 12:07 AM

Nice. Once we pick one, I can start telling my other friends what server to hop on.

Posted by: Knightsword Sep 5 2010, 10:09 AM

It better damn well be Figaro, or else

Posted by: Afroforce Sep 5 2010, 11:20 AM

QUOTE(Knightsword @ Sep 5 2010, 09:09 AM)

It better damn well be Figaro, or else

Posted by: Knightsword Sep 5 2010, 09:14 PM

If ya have not gotten the beta files downloaded yet and don't wish to deal with SE's downloader, this site helped out a quite a bit

http://www.ffxivcore.com/topic/12719-open-beta-download-links-install-instructions/

Posted by: Scan_Man Sep 5 2010, 09:30 PM

Which starting city?

Posted by: Knightsword Sep 5 2010, 11:13 PM

Dunno, after getting everything downloaded and installed, SE shut the servers down, so it looks like it won't be untill after work tomorrow for me to play.

Posted by: HC82 Sep 7 2010, 09:51 PM

What's peoples take on this game so far, considering people have delved into the beta? I've been reading that the game seems fairly incomplete and unpolished in certain areas. Meaning the game needs a longer delay.

Posted by: Maxx Sep 8 2010, 11:58 AM

QUOTE(HC82 @ Sep 7 2010, 09:51 PM)

Posted by: Crushinator Sep 8 2010, 12:38 PM

QUOTE(Maxx @ Sep 8 2010, 11:58 AM)

Posted by: AC9breaker Sep 8 2010, 01:38 PM

Okay so here's the plan.

I decided I'm gonna get the game, not becuase I liked 11, I actually hated 11. But because it's fun dicking around with you guys.

We're gonna start a Galka clan or Rygadyn whatever the hell they called. The guild is gonna be Called NWA. We all take the first names of Westcoast Rappers and use Chocaboo as our last names.


Crush called Tupac Chocaboo
Tanshin called Snoop Chocaboo
I'm going with Icecube Chocaboo

Remember, only Galkas allowed!

Posted by: Maxx Sep 8 2010, 01:53 PM

QUOTE(AC9breaker @ Sep 8 2010, 01:38 PM)

Posted by: Scan_Man Sep 8 2010, 02:57 PM

It would be nice if the downloader worked.

Posted by: Knightsword Sep 8 2010, 04:36 PM

QUOTE(Scan_Man @ Sep 8 2010, 03:57 PM)

Posted by: Scan_Man Sep 8 2010, 05:00 PM

I have it downloaded. But, I speak of that as a criticisms to Square. They let it go far too long without fixing it.


BTW Gridania is 10000000000000x better than Limsa Lominsa. Talk about unevenness. The intro for Gridania so much more entertaining too. And you get to see Moogles!

Posted by: Knightsword Sep 8 2010, 05:12 PM

Yea I went to Limsa Lominsa, that place is worse then windy was in FFXI. Come full version I will be going elsewhere.

Posted by: Dive Sep 8 2010, 09:24 PM

TEST

Posted by: Wiryu Sep 8 2010, 09:26 PM

Success.

Posted by: Knightsword Sep 8 2010, 09:33 PM

Oh ya one issue I hope SE fixes the crashing on alt tab when in full screen. otherwise its gonna suck having to rely on a 3rd party program again.

Posted by: Scan_Man Sep 9 2010, 05:43 PM

Ul'Dah is not so bad. The starting experience is just a step above Limsa Lominsa, which is disappointing. But oh man the graphics here are probably the best seen in the game.


I would say Ul'Dah's field area is probably my favorite so far for questing. Open space, great music, awesome graphical scenery.

Gridania's field is nice too, but it is more like a maze with narrow spaces. Lot's of rain, forest, and occasional river. Gridania has the most interesting mobs though imo. Limsa Lominsa is bad. It is just hills and rocks, and copy & pasted terrain (though the underground areas are freaking amazing) that is difficult to judge if you can navigate or not.


So, if I were to pick up this game. My choice would be Ul'Day. I'm going to probably to pick up this game around Christmas, or so.

Pugilist is awesome now with the upped combat speed. My class of choice. Second would be Conjurer, but gaining skills is still stupid with it, and casting spells is still unintuitive.

Posted by: Maxx Sep 9 2010, 06:09 PM

Found out how to make subligars and oh my god they are even more ridiculous in this game. I'll post some pics when I find out how to take screenshots.

edit: Server went down right after I posted this. I guess I'll grab pics later

Posted by: Afroforce Sep 9 2010, 06:52 PM

Can't wait. I'm not playing the beta, it's not worth teasing myself.

But I'm gonna make a Taru-equivalent and go Pugilist...mainly.

EXCITED. UGH.

Posted by: Oddies da Nerfed Sep 10 2010, 06:26 PM

What server was decided upon?

Posted by: Knightsword Sep 10 2010, 10:34 PM

Figaro

Posted by: Crushinator Sep 11 2010, 11:07 AM

QUOTE(Knightsword @ Sep 10 2010, 10:34 PM)

Posted by: Knightsword Sep 11 2010, 11:29 AM

Where else will ya find silent ninjas hanging in bars, saucy barmaids, and sexy generals locked in basements?

Posted by: AC9breaker Sep 12 2010, 09:42 AM

Made my dood on Figaro. But today when I started shit up, it started downloading the stupid patch again. wtf

Posted by: Afroforce Sep 12 2010, 10:38 AM

QUOTE(Knightsword @ Sep 10 2010, 09:34 PM)

Posted by: Afroforce Sep 12 2010, 10:43 AM

Double post but:

I have the CE, on reserve but depending on when my PC gets here I'll be on a few days after release. Either way. I'll be joining you guys soon.

Posted by: Knightsword Sep 12 2010, 11:26 AM

My pc died on me as I was replacing the thermal paste on the cpu, so I have to wait a bit to hear back from the place I took it in to have it checked out :(

Posted by: Afroforce Sep 12 2010, 12:14 PM

QUOTE(Knightsword @ Sep 12 2010, 10:26 AM)

Posted by: Crushinator Sep 12 2010, 02:08 PM

QUOTE(Knightsword @ Sep 12 2010, 11:26 AM)

Posted by: Knightsword Sep 12 2010, 02:36 PM

I couldn't tell if any pins on the mb got bent, there are none on the cpu, but some paste did get onto the under side of it though.

Posted by: Afroforce Sep 12 2010, 07:27 PM

Also, I'm not sure how linkshells work in THIS game, but I already have about 5 odd friends who are joining with me with previous long term MMO experience, so it'll be nice.

That and I don't want to tank again. Hell no.

Posted by: Kazicht Sep 14 2010, 08:54 AM

An ass-ton of new and updated info from the Final Fantasy XIV Pre-Launch Event: http://www.ffxivcore.com/

Posted by: Kazicht Sep 14 2010, 08:55 AM

Also, new epic trailer.

Posted by: Scan_Man Sep 14 2010, 03:29 PM

Now I might be interested in playing now. Square doing a complete 180 in their design decisions is encouraging. Complainers win! LOL! But no, the criticisms this game had were mostly correct. It was discouraging reading the interviews of Square sticking to their guns, and fanboys defending bad game design choices.

As I have said guildleves is my favorite questing system I've experienced in a MMO. So I happy to learn they are shortning the cooldown, and adding more variety. It really is the hunts from the last two FF games, but it sorta lacks flavor right now. The mobs you hunt seem so insignificant. Which is fine for intro leves, much like the first few hunts in FF12 were basic enemies. Then the later ones enemies got larger, and more complicated in abilities. Should be awesome now.


"The best way to level is with guildleves, that is, even without the guardian's favor, you will earn way more exp and skill points per each kill. For this reason, we wanted to prevent abusive use of leves by killing all the monsters but failing right at the end and then retrying on the spot. However, if you visit the NPC that gave you the leve, you can retry it."


LOL! This is not broken. Why fix it? Not a fan of this change. The real issue with not being able to retry guildleves is if the game crashes, say by accidentally alt+tabbing, it fails the guildleve. I understand not wanting people to abuse it. But, if the game crashes you are screwed. Not letting people retry quests if they fail is sorta ok. However, I understand some people would like to retry things; the option should be there.

The preventing abuse factor could be handled by placing a retry cooldown, or a debuff that reduces the exp granting by mobs. But, the main thing needed to be fix is failing when game crashes. To admit their system can be abused, and then say they are taking away the abuse preventive measure makes little sense.

Good stuff overall.

Posted by: Afroforce Sep 16 2010, 07:46 AM

I'm liking what I just read. I'm going to be pretty heavily into crafting, this time, so I'm excited!

Also, the guildleve system seems pretty awesome. I have high hopes.

Posted by: Maxx Sep 16 2010, 07:30 PM

Noice.

Posted by: AC9breaker Sep 16 2010, 07:40 PM

I'm skipping out on this just because it runs like shit on my PC. Waiting for the PS bro version

Posted by: Oddies da Nerfed Sep 16 2010, 10:58 PM

QUOTE(AC9breaker @ Sep 16 2010, 07:40 PM)

Posted by: Scan_Man Sep 16 2010, 11:49 PM

Open better actually has improved performance on my PC.

The lower settings are not necessarily optimized though. I've gotten worse performance with certain settings on low. Main thing to turn off is ambient occlusion. And make sure drivers are up to date. But, performance seems to be all over the place for different systems at the moment. It is hard to say what will work. They is lower end systems running the game better than some people with high end systems.


I expect performance to be better at retail, especially with hardware mouse finally being added.

Posted by: Afroforce Sep 17 2010, 06:15 AM

QUOTE(Scan_Man @ Sep 16 2010, 10:49 PM)

Posted by: Oddies da Nerfed Sep 17 2010, 08:09 AM

Sad thing is 'hacks' enable the hardware mouse. Windowerxiv is still as good as the old windower for ffxi.

What it does:
- It enables you to play FFXIV in pseudo full screen mode (no window borders), just like any other game nowadays
- You can use alt-tab in the full screen mode without FFXIV crashing due to the DirectX error message
- No more crashes due to UAC, ctrl+alt+del or anything else that lets you lose the DirectX device (exception: driver crash)
- FFXIV runs a bit faster (about 5%) than in the built in window mode
- Enables hardware mouse without patching any game files
- Easy to use and configure through built in launcher and settings application
- This is NOT just a simple borderless window maker like the other windowers for FFXIV out there


With newest ver adding:
# Multi monitor support. Set the window position offset in the launcher and play it on any monitor you want.
# Alternative injection method (optional). It does not inject into ffxivboot and ffxivlogon.
# The launcher will now inform you about updates.
# The launcher now features tooltip help that explains every option and how to use it.
# Priority boost. Sets the priority of the ffxivgame process to high when it is in focus and decreases the priority to low when it is minimized.


I used windower the entirety of my ffxi time, and I foresee using windowerxiv all the time as well for ffxiv.

Posted by: Kazicht Sep 17 2010, 09:32 AM

Posted by: Maxx Sep 17 2010, 10:44 AM

QUOTE(Kazicht @ Sep 17 2010, 09:32 AM)

Posted by: Knightsword Sep 17 2010, 12:33 PM

How about Wutai then and hang with the PA folks? Also remember this is a world wide MMO, theres gonna be Japanese and Euro players on every server, and there will be ass holes on every one too.

Update on the computer, it was the mother board that died and I had to order a replacement which I will likely get in the mail mid next week, so it looks like I'll miss the first night festivities. :(

Posted by: Scan_Man Sep 17 2010, 03:36 PM

QUOTE(Oddies da Nerfed @ Sep 17 2010, 08:09 AM)

Posted by: Afroforce Sep 17 2010, 04:22 PM

I'm pretty much indifferent as to what server we are on, as I am gonna have enough people to talk to/hang with that a few bad seeds won't ruin it for me.

When I played WoW, the PA crew was pretty fucking chill, though. Did some raids with them.

Posted by: Kazicht Sep 17 2010, 04:34 PM

So I'm seeing support for Wutai server then? I'm okay with that.

Posted by: Afroforce Sep 17 2010, 05:09 PM

That's cool by me!

Posted by: Crushinator Sep 20 2010, 12:02 PM

So its almost the big day, huh?

To those that are still playing the beta, does it feel like the game is ready to go LIVE?

And to everyone planning on jumping in, are you ready to be there on wednesday, or on the 28th? I won't be able to make the early launch, but I should be good by the normal one.

Posted by: Knightsword Sep 20 2010, 12:06 PM

My new motherboard should show up tomorrow (that is if I don't miss UPS) and hopefully be up and running again come Wednesday's LE launch.

Posted by: Kazicht Sep 20 2010, 01:47 PM

QUOTE(Crushinator @ Sep 20 2010, 12:02 PM)

Posted by: Afroforce Sep 20 2010, 08:23 PM

I have my Collectors edition coming to me early, but my new PC isn't here yet as my Financial aid money is being dicked around with. So, eh. I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on my situation. But it'll be nice to game with you all, again!

Posted by: DarkEpyon Sep 21 2010, 10:23 AM

Myself and a few folks from my server on XI decided to hit up kashuan since no major XI communities (to our knowledge) plan to gather there. Gonna try and get another friend of mine and his wife over there too. Personally I'm avoiding anything FF7-named like the plague as you just know all the rabid fanboys will gravitate toward anything with a name from it.

Posted by: Afroforce Sep 21 2010, 04:39 PM

I'll be on the Wutai boat, I'm pretty sure I'll have a few of my friends coming, too.

Is the "Linkshell" going to be "Apocalypse Tribe"? That'd be swell.

Posted by: Kazicht Sep 21 2010, 11:59 PM

Download the live game patch files before hand to get a head start: http://www.ffxivcore.com/topic/12719-full-client-patch-download-install-instructions/

Posted by: Maxx Sep 22 2010, 01:18 AM

In as Chaw Cat on Wutai! See you all around Eorzea!

Posted by: AC9breaker Sep 22 2010, 09:12 AM

I thought we where gonna do NWA Linkshell. :(

Posted by: Knightsword Sep 22 2010, 11:13 AM

Got new motherboard installed last night and my computer lives again, got my CE on my lunch break, now just waiting for work to end, so I can go install and stay in patching land for the night.

Posted by: Afroforce Sep 22 2010, 11:44 AM

Just got my copy. My new PC should be in by the end of the week. You'll see me as "Dominath" or "Deejaylate".

Posted by: Maxx Sep 22 2010, 11:50 AM

QUOTE(Knightsword @ Sep 22 2010, 11:13 AM)

Posted by: Scan_Man Sep 22 2010, 01:05 PM

I like that they are using Ultimate Game Cards for sub payment, and have multiple pricing to choose from. Makes it easy if you just want to jump in casually for a couple months, like I plan to do, without having a credit card on file.

Posted by: HC82 Sep 22 2010, 05:17 PM

Do we have an official server yet?

Make it so.

Posted by: Knightsword Sep 22 2010, 05:47 PM

Wutai is where I'm at now, I went to Ul'dah for my startig city

Posted by: Afroforce Sep 22 2010, 08:21 PM

I'll be on Wutai as well with a few other friends. I'll hit someone up as soon as I get my new computer. :]

Posted by: Kazicht Sep 22 2010, 10:22 PM

I also started in Ul'Dah, and yeah on Wutai.
Character name is Kazicht Lacan

Posted by: Wiryu Sep 22 2010, 10:47 PM

Wiryu Reill

Posted by: Naba Sep 23 2010, 09:31 PM

Naba Haba

Somehow I got as lost as I did when I started FFXI, is that normal?

Posted by: HC82 Sep 23 2010, 09:38 PM

Dyne Cristin

Wutai

Posted by: Kazicht Sep 23 2010, 10:19 PM

I went ahead and created the Apocalypse Tribe LS to make communicating easier - look me up for a pearl!

Posted by: tanshin Sep 24 2010, 12:35 AM

Tanshin Glas

Posted by: Afroforce Sep 24 2010, 09:42 AM

I'm gonna need my PC to get here. asap.

Posted by: Knightsword Sep 24 2010, 11:14 AM

What craft professions are everyone working on? I'm working on goldsmithing (rank 8) and blacksmthing (rank 5)

Posted by: Afroforce Sep 24 2010, 09:13 PM

I'm planning on going Culinary .

Posted by: Naba Sep 24 2010, 10:58 PM

I just started cloth

Posted by: Knightsword Sep 25 2010, 01:18 PM

Knightsword Protip: When doing the crafting Guildleaves. you are given enough materials for a couple extra, if you make the quota with out failing, you can still make more with the extra materials for more easy exp.

Posted by: Crushinator Sep 25 2010, 04:37 PM

Is the crafting like on FFXI where you need to manually "put" the items together for each synth? Or did they streamline it like in WoW where you just say "i want to make 10 subligars" and as long as you have the ingredients you will make them?

Posted by: Afroforce Sep 25 2010, 04:40 PM

What Crush said. I didn't even think of that.

Posted by: Dive Sep 25 2010, 04:51 PM

Post launch screenshots have been moved to http://apocalypse-tribe.com/athq/index.php?showtopic=3160