"Oh btw, FFXIV Online in 2010"

[Arthur_Parker]

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?

That's an awesome video of condensed wrongness.

[Hawkbit]

Collector's Edition on sale today.  Who got one?

Let us know how the miracle patch goes, please.

[Lantyssa]

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

That's not really different than FFXI.  You had the sub, the Play Online, and the character fee.

Now they cut out the Play Online fee, but substitute it with their stupid credit system.

[Rendakor]

Just when I thought they couldn't surprise me with something new and awful, Squeenix again delivers.

[Reg]

When I heard they were finally getting rid of the craptacular PlayOnline I thought maybe they'd learned something. Apparently they learned that they need to replace one badly thought out design decision with another equally bad idea.

Is it just a cultural thing? Do the Japanese get off on being abused this way? Or is it a rah-rah patriotic thing where they'll grit their teeth and play this shitty game just because it's from Square Enix?

[ghost]

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

This wouldn't be terrible if they monthly sub fee wasn't so expensive.  I would love to pay 5-7 bucks per month per character for a game and have that be the only fee.  Of course, I would probable go above the typical 15/month for some games, but with the lower fee these companies might see a less-is-more type situation for their subscriber base.

[NiX]

Collector's Edition on sale today.  Who got one?

Let us know how the miracle patch goes, please.

And so we can ban you for being stupid.

[Quinton]

I think their stupid "crysta" fake currency may be the final deal breaker for me.  Listening to some friends try to figure out how to pay without getting screwed has me thinking that squeenix has not earned my money this time around.

Latest entertaining revelation -- crysta has a 2 year lifespan.  Yes, squeenix has invented a currency that eventually evaporates.

Until these bozos figure out how to just bill my credit card for the exact value of the subscription without additional fees, like every other mmo I've ever played, I'll wait.  If the game was less horribly broken at launch I might have been more tolerant of their insane payment options.

[tmp]

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

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.

For what's worth, Codemasters use the same company to handle their payments/subscriptions for EU version of LotRO.

[HaemishM]

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?

That's an awesome video of condensed wrongness.

Holy shit. I haven't been paying attention to this at all. What the fuck? Someone signed off on not only the fatigue system, but that video as well? That is the very definition of pissing down upon people's heads from a very great height and telling them it's rain.

[Soukyan]

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  

Wow. Just wow.

I played a couple of hours in open beta. The intro was neat. Once I figured out how to get out of the initial instance, I then spent some time finding my way out of the city to get to my first quest. Exciting! The game is drop-dead gorgeous, although some of the ground textures are still pretty shitty and dated looking. A bump in environment texture resolution would compliment the beautiful character models and digital matte style horizons.

Anyhow. I get my first quest to kill three infested foozles, and bound off to do so.

Gripe #1: Really? Still no jumping? Could I at least have a skill with a cooldown timer that let's me jump every 30 seconds or so?

So I make my way around the terrain and kill foozles 1 and 2. I spot a third and head over, passing a higher level flying foozled on the way... who is apparently aggressive.

So I kill foozled three while getting hammered by the add. Turn to save face and die to the add.

Gripe #2: And there I lay. Dead. No respawn timer. No on-screen indication of what I am supposed to do in order to "revive", "resurrect", or "respawn".

At this point, I poke around a bit with the interface trying to figure out what to do. Then I did hat any rational human would do. I selected "Logoff".

I don't mind learning an MMOG, but at least give me a little automatic guidance on my first time playing. Some popup tips or something. Especially when I first encounter something like character death. I can tell you that I won't be playing FFXIV, and it's probably for the best because that combat video there is  

Level 10? 4 minutes? Nearly died and got some pittance of experience. Oh, and if you are like me and can't play a lot, but play for long stretches when you can, you'll get penalized by that "revolutionary" fatigue system. I wanted to like the game, but alas it's just not for me.

[ghost]

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  

I just watched this.   

[01101010]

If anyone jumps on this grenade, let me know if they put in resting/passive mp refresh or did they keep it as it was in beta. 

[Lantyssa]

At this point, I poke around a bit with the interface trying to figure out what to do. Then I did hat any rational human would do. I selected "Logoff".

Oh, bad move.  Logging off or getting disconnected causes you to fail the quest.

[waffel]

I can see trying to be revolutionary in certain aspects of game design, regardless of how utterly terrible they are (leveling cockblock, a billion classes you can pick and choose abilities from, etc)

... but trying to revolutionize how you PAY for the game? The fuck is that? Say my game's monthly cost is $16.00 ... but I can only buy 5-10-20 dollar increments to 'pay' for it, so I'm stuck with leftover points that I can spend on.... let me guess.... items in an item shop?

[01101010]

I think they got the idea from those stupid fuck pre-paid rebate debit cards most every company does.  Those forgotten about pennies add up over time into quite a sum, at least I saw that someplace... I think Richard Pryor was in a movie about that... 

[UnSub]

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

That's not really different than FFXI.  You had the sub, the Play Online, and the character fee.

Now they cut out the Play Online fee, but substitute it with their stupid credit system.

I'd completely forgotten about the character payments for the other FF game, but you'd think times have changed a bit since that one launched.

I'm all for hybrid payment models - just make them easy to understand and vague attractive to potential customers. FFXIV's payment model is as clear as mud and requires time thinking about. It's actually a bad thing to have players thinking about how much they pay for their games because every time you do that you open the door to them reconsidering paying at all.

[tmp]

Well, at least they didn't put in "crysta"-powered weapons.

Yet.  

edit: there's live stream from a guy playing this here: http://www.justin.tv/celestein#/w/410534784 if you want to save yourself some money. Just saw group of 3 bees annihilate a healer + dps pair in like, 3 shots in daily qeust they picked in starter camp. I guess when you select between "solo" and "basic group" version of the quest the "basic group" means set of at least 4-5 people and more than one healer.

[01101010]

In beta phase two we took 8 people out all around 10-15 and did a daily 2nd camp at a four out of five rated difficulty. I have never died so much in a game in such a short span. I mean seriously, death sickness wore off, then dead in 30 seconds. Off one mob. The other people in my guild group were laughing and carrying on about how much fun they were having and I kept thinking I needed more shots of JD to get through this.

[Simond]

Collector's Edition on sale today.  Who got one?

Let us know how the miracle patch goes, please.

Guess what?

Besides a few bug fixes, and partial fixes to UI lag in shops and other areas, and the addition of the hardware mouse, theres not much new to retail.

Most areas that were blocked off in open beta are still blocked off except for the hamlets.

The dungeons like the one near Thanlan's Black Shroud exit that looked like an ant hill is still invis-walled off with a warning npc, as is the one at the Astral isles in La Nosca.

Ishgard isn't even in the dat files.

The wiki team from this very site has said the only new thing in the data files is high level guild leves, a few language changes, and higher level story line quests.

I am a bit disappointed, but I really can't say I am surprised.

I was just hoping, against my better judgement, all those fans were right about there being a giant patch with new areas and such.

Hopefully by the time I get to a level that matters more will be in game. However I already got fatigue at PL10. Haven't hit surplus at Lancer rank 10 yet however.

Here's to hoping for a standard edition release patch with more content, and more bug fixes.

[NiX]

Anyone who expected otherwise deserves to lose their $50 - $75.

[01101010]

Collector's Edition on sale today.  Who got one?

Let us know how the miracle patch goes, please.

Guess what?

Besides a few bug fixes, and partial fixes to UI lag in shops and other areas, and the addition of the hardware mouse, theres not much new to retail.

Most areas that were blocked off in open beta are still blocked off except for the hamlets.

The dungeons like the one near Thanlan's Black Shroud exit that looked like an ant hill is still invis-walled off with a warning npc, as is the one at the Astral isles in La Nosca.

Ishgard isn't even in the dat files.

The wiki team from this very site has said the only new thing in the data files is high level guild leves, a few language changes, and higher level story line quests.

I am a bit disappointed, but I really can't say I am surprised.

I was just hoping, against my better judgement, all those fans were right about there being a giant patch with new areas and such.

Hopefully by the time I get to a level that matters more will be in game. However I already got fatigue at PL10. Haven't hit surplus at Lancer rank 10 yet however.

Here's to hoping for a standard edition release patch with more content, and more bug fixes.

Well it fits with their XP fatigue system. It slows progress so that SE can play catch up. If that wasn't in place from the start, I can imagine the outcry of no endgame or even a partly finished upper leveled part of the game.

[Shatter]

WOW IMAGINE THAT!!

[fuser]

Don't worry there will be a patch right before the main retail launch 

[waffel]

Hey, DAoC released with areas blocked off and unfinished... and look how that turned out!

[Samprimary]

Bad game is bad

[Lakov_Sanite]

So, was anyone here predicting robot jesus out of this game? let's go find out!

[LK]

I'm downgrading my rating of Square Enix from Triple-A company to B+.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Square hasn't been triple A for a while. They're firmly in the B camp. Very pretty games but their gameplay for most of their titles has been lacking for a while. I often wonder if square just doesn't get 'fun' it's like they have all the ingredients and know the recipe for baking a cake and when it's finished the cake looks and smells delicious but the people at sdqure have no taste buds to the cake ends up tasting bitter.

Go on, try and think of the last square game you 'loved' not just liked or enjoyed. Now for most of you, you're going a decade or so back aren't you?

[Nonentity]

Current rumor is that this game was developed on the cheap by a Chinese MMO farm, at an attempt to crack into the Chinese MMO market.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/09/23/final-fantasy-xiv-desperate-to-woo-china/

The gist of it, for those too lazy to read, is that there are lots of weird random things in the Chinese alphabet (in the Japanese version of the game), weird misspellings, and enormous pieces of copypasted terrain and such.

This blog (in Japanese) has a few screenshots of quite a few copy pasted pieces.

This chap (as obnoxious as he is) also runs through one piece of the level where he sees the same piece of terrain repeated about 4 or 5 times in a very short period.

[fuser]

Current rumor is that this game was developed on the cheap by a Chinese MMO farm, at an attempt to crack into the Chinese MMO market.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/09/23/final-fantasy-xiv-desperate-to-woo-china/

The gist of it, for those too lazy to read, is that there are lots of weird random things in the Chinese alphabet (in the Japanese version of the game), weird misspellings, and enormous pieces of copypasted terrain and such.

The reusing terrain was covered on page 25.

The interesting bit in that article is the conclusion that the fatigue timer is a direct response for MMO laws in China which is a pretty neat theory. It doesn't seem plausible the game was developed by a Chinese firm as the huge parts of art assets/music/environment is still "Square".

Gamers who spend more than five hours will have the abilities of their in-game character severely limited.

[Rendakor]

Square hasn't been triple A for a while. They're firmly in the B camp. Very pretty games but their gameplay for most of their titles has been lacking for a while. I often wonder if square just doesn't get 'fun' it's like they have all the ingredients and know the recipe for baking a cake and when it's finished the cake looks and smells delicious but the people at sdqure have no taste buds to the cake ends up tasting bitter.

Go on, try and think of the last square game you 'loved' not just liked or enjoyed. Now for most of you, you're going a decade or so back aren't you?

I agree completely. Nothing from Square has been amazing since the middle of the FF series (6, 7, Tactics). Since then they've put out some decent titles, but nothing worthy of froth or amazement. I wouldn't even say they're the best JRPG developer out there anymore.

[AutomaticZen]

Square hasn't been triple A for a while. They're firmly in the B camp. Very pretty games but their gameplay for most of their titles has been lacking for a while. I often wonder if square just doesn't get 'fun' it's like they have all the ingredients and know the recipe for baking a cake and when it's finished the cake looks and smells delicious but the people at sdqure have no taste buds to the cake ends up tasting bitter.

Go on, try and think of the last square game you 'loved' not just liked or enjoyed. Now for most of you, you're going a decade or so back aren't you?

I agree completely. Nothing from Square has been amazing since the middle of the FF series (6, 7, Tactics). Since then they've put out some decent titles, but nothing worthy of froth or amazement. I wouldn't even say they're the best JRPG developer out there anymore.

Of course not.  That'd be Level-5 at this point.

[Margalis]

Current rumor is that this game was developed on the cheap by a Chinese MMO farm, at an attempt to crack into the Chinese MMO market.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/09/23/final-fantasy-xiv-desperate-to-woo-china/

Wow. Detective Quentin Smith is on the case!

[Samprimary]

Seeing this game in action was just flat-out terribad. Then I get to go break this news to other forums that aren't F13: XIV is a pile of ass, sorry!

But not you guys. If it is a memo about a game being bad after all hype and expectations have faded, you have all already seen it.