"Oh btw, FFXIV Online in 2010"

[SnakeCharmer]

Heh

Be sure to let the video get to about 1:20 before the fun begins.

[Velorath]

Heh

Be sure to let the video get to about 1:20 before the fun begins.

As painful as playing FFXIV was at times, I could put up with it a lot easier than I could put up with listening to the guy in that link.

[LeaveMeAlone]

I agree with his assessment of FFXIV but I couldnt watch past the 8 minute mark.  Plus he seemed to be overly excited by the swag offered.  I can't take him seriously if he is gushing about the freebies.

[fuser]

I want my 18mins back, so I'll save someone else with a summary.

He didn't get an interview with Square Enix, didn't enjoy the game/demo, didn't get swag, didn't like their presentation area setup. No gripes besides the "uninterested combat" and lots of snipe remarks at people drinking the coolaid and awesome reviews. Honestly anyone I know who was thinking about playing the game has decided not to after the open beta, heck look at the people passing who had preorders here. Game is flawed in serious ways, and I don't think he's the demographic the game is aimed at but he didn't present it in a tangible way past petty nerd rage.

On the flip side he fawned all over Guild Wars because it has more "story" to it, better swag "BANDANAS!", drinks, a better map, interesting combat, and a huge floor presence. Last 8min is ArenaNet PR fluff on the end.

[Kail]

Game is flawed in serious ways, and I don't think he's the demographic the game is aimed at but he didn't present it in a tangible way past petty nerd rage.

Final Fantasy nerd rage is kind of his schtick, and I don't know what all he could really talk about if his only experience with the game is like ten minutes in a con demo.  I think it was more an attempt to cover the con (PAX) than provide a real review of FF14.

[Mrbloodworth]

Ard tells me not to buy.

I guess its required to say in every thread. I was not doom casting, merely discussing the odd design choices. I thought thats what we do here.

I didn't have intentions on buying even before I tried beta. My shock is that for the second attempt, they seemed to have not evolved, and I don't trust that leaving out 90% of the game is a good thing. For the 14th title in the series, and the second MMG, I expected a great deal more.

[Draegan]

Game is flawed in serious ways, and I don't think he's the demographic the game is aimed at but he didn't present it in a tangible way past petty nerd rage.

Final Fantasy nerd rage is kind of his schtick, and I don't know what all he could really talk about if his only experience with the game is like ten minutes in a con demo.  I think it was more an attempt to cover the con (PAX) than provide a real review of FF14.

You only need 10 minutes with this game to make up your mind.  Maybe less.

I'll doomcast this game in the western market.  It's going to tank.

[fuser]

I think it was more an attempt to cover the con (PAX) than provide a real review of FF14.

It kinda proves my point as he's screaming not to buy the game over one con presentation.

I get the game on some level. It was funded by FFXI as such its totally focused and designed for the core FFXI fans. It's a ballsy move but I really think the Nov release is a soft launch before the PS3 version.

[Dtrain]

I'll doomcast this game in the western market.  It's going to tank.

Sadly, I think you're wrong. As much as this game deserves to have no players, tons of people are convinced they like it. But go ahead and try telling them that they are having fun the wrong way. They have now adopted "the patch will fix everything," as a defense mechanism.

It's a ballsy move but I really think the Nov release is a soft launch before the PS3 version.

I do get the feeling that the PC release is part of a strategic plan to continue testing and refining in a comparatively consequence light environment. SE certainly does not do fan service for PC gamers, and it certainly explains the restrictive console interface, and the suggestion that quests are being added to all of the NPCs after launch. Grats PC gamers - paying for beta+?

I MIGHT check this one out when it comes out for the PS3. Then again, I suspect a miasma of poopsockery to have already infected the game by then.

[tmp]

I get the game on some level. It was funded by FFXI as such its totally focused and designed for the core FFXI fans. It's a ballsy move but I really think the Nov release is a soft launch before the PS3 version.

Perhaps grunk could provide perspective how the ff11 fans see this new offering.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Great box sales, minimal retention. If you think otherwise then you just haven't been paying attention.

[Draegan]

Great box sales, minimal retention. If you think otherwise then you just haven't been paying attention.

I'd be willing to be that they sell less boxes than AOC.

[Velorath]

The PC version might not do too well, but on consoles there still isn't a lot of competition in the MMO market.

[Mrbloodworth]

Its also Finial Final Fantasy. It has cat girls, children and huge wallmen.

[Lakov_Sanite]

The PC version might not do too well, but on consoles there still isn't a lot of competition in the MMO market.

That's because there isn't a market for MMO's on consoles. 

[Morfiend]

The PC version might not do too well, but on consoles there still isn't a lot of competition in the MMO market.

That's because there isn't a market for MMO's on consoles. 

I don't buy that. I would totally play a MMO on my console, if it was actually fun, and the game had a decent voice chat system. So far communication has been the major barrier to entry for MMOs on the consoles.

[Pendan]

What Asian created subscription game for the PC has not tanked in the US? I don't think FFXI would have survived in the US market without shared global servers and PS2.

[LK]

Final Fantasy XI came out before WoW.

You'll want to look for any Asian-based MMO after WoW, since WoW set a new standard in people's expectations.

[Nightblade]

Final Fantasy XI came out before WoW.

You'll want to look for any Asian-based MMO after WoW, since WoW set a new standard in people's expectations.

Playing FFXI after WoW came out was slightly depressing. Everyone and I mean EVERYONE on the server just vanished. Then I played WoW and found out why. 

[Simond]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpmy7Ze18NY

And chalk another one up to "Fanboys with rampaging inferiority complexes who will be the first to turn on Squeenix post-launch"

[tmp]

Well, looks the beta is over on the european side of the pond at least, the announcement said something about US version going until 7pm pacific time which is right behind the corner i think.

[LC]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpmy7Ze18NY

And chalk another one up to "Fanboys with rampaging inferiority complexes who will be the first to turn on Squeenix post-launch"

Pretty good description of the average WoW player. Too bad FFXIV turned out so poorly.

[Samprimary]

All of my friends who play MMO's will have a great honeymoon period with a new MMO, then grow tired of it, then bounce back to WoW in a couple of months. Arguably, they used to get their money's worth out of MMO's relative to how many hours of gameplay they would have gotten out of a singleplayer game, dollar for dollar. But recently, even that hasn't been the case. They're at Critical Meh only 15 hours in.

So, we'll see where this goes.

[tmp]

Too bad FFXIV turned out so poorly.

On that note, i've brought myself yesterday to shoot enough squirrels for rank 10 so i could see some more of the cutscenes before they shut the beta down, and discovered another hilarious piece of design in the process.

At rank 10 you get access to another camp and another group of 2-dailies. (whole two of them in my case) The funny part is, objectives for these quests (the solo version at least) are placed right in middle of spawn of 4-5 foozles which con red to you (just one of them alone had no problem eating rank 15 guy for breakfast) and which aggro on sight, with range exceeding that of the player's ranged weapon nevermind the poor suckers who would need to go into melee.

It's not just random number generator in progress, since the quest spawns appear to be more or less fixed... you can almost see the game going "Wait, a soloer? Well, fuck you." with these things. Or would that be the devs

[Shatter]

Too bad FFXIV turned out so poorly.

On that note, i've brought myself yesterday to shoot enough squirrels for rank 10 so i could see some more of the cutscenes before they shut the beta down, and discovered another hilarious piece of design in the process.

At rank 10 you get access to another camp and another group of 2-dailies. (whole two of them in my case) The funny part is, objectives for these quests (the solo version at least) are placed right in middle of spawn of 4-5 foozles which con red to you (just one of them alone had no problem eating rank 15 guy for breakfast) and which aggro on sight, with range exceeding that of the player's ranged weapon nevermind the poor suckers who would need to go into melee.

It's not just random number generator in progress, since the quest spawns appear to be more or less fixed... you can almost see the game going "Wait, a soloer? Well, fuck you." with these things. Or would that be the devs

Was the mob named "Cockblock"?

[tmp]

Well, they were named "Lone Wolf" which given they were sitting in packs ready to screw the soloers may have been attempt at subtle irony, one way or another...

[01101010]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abE09-tqhoM

It almost makes it seem like fatigue is a great thing! 

[Lakov_Sanite]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abE09-tqhoM

It almost makes it seem like fatigue is a great thing! 

I just....I want to think of the words but the amount of stupid in that video is overpowering.  They realize how big a mistake this is...don't they?

[tmp]

I just....I want to think of the words but the amount of stupid in that video is overpowering.  They realize how big a mistake this is...don't they?

Oh, you just aren't sophisticated enough to appreciate it. Revolutionize your gameplay!

edit: that video should have http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSJKyeoFBas tacked on the end, though, to truly show advantages of this system. Because nothing says "quality, revolutionary gameplay" like being able to combine skills from multiple classes so you can then spend 4 minutes (at rank 10) to defeat single even-con mob and almost die in the process  

[koro]

I get the game on some level. It was funded by FFXI as such its totally focused and designed for the core FFXI fans. It's a ballsy move but I really think the Nov release is a soft launch before the PS3 version.

Perhaps grunk could provide perspective how the ff11 fans see this new offering.

Anecdotally, most all of the hardcore FFXI fans I know and have played it with have feelings that are apathetic at best. Most who plan on playing it have had to do a lot of self-convincing or have resigned themselves to knowing that if they don't make the switch, they'll be stuck on FFXI servers that will likely see the Japanese halves of their playerbases move on and slowly die, regardless of the quality of XIV. Ironically, the FFXIV beta period has seen some of the best content additions and tweaks that FFXI has seen in years.

A lot of the people I've seen who are genuinely excited about it are the same kind of folks who went blindly into FFXI: MMO newbies and generally younger folks who got into Final Fantasy after XI came out, usually with the FFVII compilation crap.

[Simond]

http://gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2010/09/21/details-on-final-fantasy-xiv-s-annoying-billing-system.aspx

With Collector's Edition copies of Final Fantasy XIV now out in the wild and the game's servers going live today, Square Enix has finally revealed the system behind subscriptions in the game. Like most everything else about FF XIV, it's not exactly the most elegant MMO cash service we've seen implemented. Here's how it works.

Along with future services and downloadable content, monthly subscription fees will be handled by a special currency called "Crysta" rather than regular money. One dollar of U.S. currency works out to 100 Crysta. Like Microsoft Points, you can only purchase Crysta in bundles of $5, $10, $20, $30, $50, or $100, and there's a cap on how much you can have in your account at any one time.

A subscription to Final Fantasy XIV technically only costs $9.99 a month. "Easy," might be thinking. "$10 in Crysta points each month, and I'm set." Not so fast, though. You also need to pay a $3 per month fee per character. So assuming you only want one character, your monthly subscription now costs $12.99 a month, which is at least $15 of Crysta (purchased in three separate $5 installments).

In other words, you're going to have some left over and just sitting around unless you decide to spend it on whatever other FF XIV bonuses you'll be able to purchase with Crysta. Does your head hurt yet? Mine too.

Apparently Square will offer a more traditional credit card billing option, but it's done through a third party, a service called Click and Buy. According to early user reports from NeoGAF, the Click and Buy service charges a $2.50 fee of some sort, though it may simply be an authorization fee that will be paid back. It's also based out of London, so you may need to call your bank or credit card company to authorize a foreign transaction.

I don't have my copy of Final Fantasy XIV yet, so I can't comment on setting up payment personally, but this whole process sounds like way more of a pain than it needs to be. Here's hoping that the final game's content is worth it. You can check out my impressions from the open beta in my live blog.

 

[UnSub]

That's so supa-awesome. Really. I'm impressed. A sub fee plus pay per character is incredible.

[Bzalthek]

Imagine watching a slow motion shot of a high speed bullet train just breaking free.  It slaloms back and forth, and finally jumps out in feverish anticipation towards a busy intersection.  Eyes go wide. Then mouths begin to open, shrilling their terror.

The popcorn cometh.

[Reg]

Amazing. It's like they're the MMO company that time forgot.

[fuser]

That's so supa-awesome. Really. I'm impressed. A sub fee plus pay per character is incredible.

Thats been known for a while. The sub comes with an active character and a vendor type character slot for the $12.99. $3 per additional character slot.

The whole points system payment is new and really impressive. So the first month your dinged for $15, second month $15, and on third for $10 after you can build up enough points.