Are you sure this game is good?Follow

I keep hearing rave reviews about how great 2.0 is, and after playing it for two days now I'm starting to doubt whether or not this game is really good and will keep the interest of players for any extended period of time. If you had asked me yesterday how I thought FFXIV was, I would have had the same euphoric response about what a fantastic game it is. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad game by any means, but what does it offer that no other MMORPG hasn't already done?

I feel like a huge reason everyone is speaking so highly about the game is because of how amazing it is in contrast to FFXIV 1.0, because it really is a huge difference. A lot of us, including myself, are likely judging the game based on how improved it is to 1.0, but lets do our best to try and look at 2.0 objectively on its own merit. What does the game offer? The graphics are above average at best, it won't be anything to brag about until the DX11 patch hits months from now, sound and music is pretty good. But gameplay? Most classes spam the same ability over and over and over again with little to no variation for a long time. I cast pretty much nothing but Stone and Cure as a Conjurer from 1 to 20.

Overall, I feel the game is a little too much on the easy side. I realize the first 20 levels are somewhat of a tutorial, but I really just have very little faith in XIV having much depth, immersion or excitement that XI had. XIV lacks any of the hardships that XI had. A lot of people complain about the penalties XI imposed, but those penalties are what also gave the player a huge sense of accomplishment when you pulled off virtually anything in the game. Traveling is way too easy in XIV, so if I die, I'm not concerned about getting back to my location. There is no XP loss like in XI either so death doesn't really mean anything. I actually disliked XP loss/leveling down, but still it made you really not want to die and was a good adrenaline pump when you got low in fights.

I know a lot of players hated how XI punished you, required you to camp a spot for literally a ridiculous amount of hours, etc. But things like that are what make events memorable. I can still remember hanging out with a couple friends camping Othinus' Bow for literally hours and the great feeling when the NM spawned and we got the drop. I can remember camping for Joyeuse with friends, getting the claim and getting the sword for people I didn't even know in real life. It was exciting to help others. A lot of things were so dangerous and difficult in XI that players got a sense of accomplishment for purely helping others and not even getting anything in return. Need to kill an NM that normally needs a party? Let's get a badass 75RDM/NIN to solo it and give him a chance to show off.

I just have very little faith in XIV to deliver anywhere close to what XI has given us. I can still remember the names of people I used to play with on XI, and now in XIV we have Duty Finder giving us strangers on other servers that I can't even make friends with and socialize with because after the group is done, we part ways and never speak again. Instead of XP parties where you can chat and have a good time with people, you have FATEs where countless people gangbang a mob Rift style and move on, no socializing or bonding that XI offered.

I know being negative about a game getting so much hype right now is probably a stupid topic to bring up, but I really want XIV to succeed in the long run and at the moment it seems like a fairly hollow game getting a lot of false praise because of how good it is in comparison to the earlier iteration.

Edited, Aug 18th 2013 4:12am by Jeraziah

I understand where you're coming from, but personally I am loving the game. I too played FFXI in the early days where everything was a massive challenge, and I still keep in touch with people I met in game today.

My life has changed however, and the fact that I can hop online and go do something without having to sit with a seek party flag up for hours on end, is a godsend.

I think you can still make friends though, duty finder is awesome, and I will be using it a lot. It's not compulsory though. Want to make your own party, go right ahead.

I think it's a bit early to say this game has nothing to offer. I have almost hit level 20 and there is still a lot of stuff I haven't done.

To me this game achieved the ultimate, it entertained me.

Similar threads has been given out again. I'll response the same as well. I never played XI (other than the trial) don't know the game and don't care about that game. People loved/love it and I can understand that kind of love (see eve online for me) but XIV is not XI and never was. I do not want to grid an item for god knows how many hours, I do not want to camp a location for hours, I do not want to do xp parties and hunt the same mobs for hours upon hours. If I wanted I would play XI but I don't.

As for Duty Finder...WoW at the start didn't have it and if you are in a server with few tanks or healers? **** you are out of luck. You would NEVER get a party to run a dungeon. You had to do your daily instance for reward..there were times that I couldn't because I couldn't find a tank (and mind I was a healer so I had lots of invites). After they brought "duty finder" I and the rest were ecstatic cause we finally were able to do our dungeons and not wait for hours to do a dungeon that would take us like 15minutes to do.

No one is stopping people from looking for people the usual way, by shouting for hours..if you want to do it feel free to do so. Not to mention you will have your FC and ls to form up parties as well.

People should stop comparing XIV with XI because other than few similarities they aren't the same and SE never intended to bring XI 2.0 or so I think.

For which I am very, very grateful.

It could be more challenging, and I dislike the Duty Finder for the very same reasons you listed. It feels like you're playing with soulless automatons a lot of the time instead of actual people. I would have preferred it to be server restricted at least.

That said, this is XIV not XI. In fact, a lot of the things you praised XI for were just a pain in the *** at the end of the day. A lot of it made the game tedious and slow.. that doesn't equal difficult. The nostalgia factor tricks you. From the looks of it XIV just took the best of both new and old MMO worlds.

Yes, tear his head off because he is a fan of FFXI and had a nostalgic moment. That is completely deserved

It's fine haha, I made the mistake of posting this same topic on the FFXIV subreddit and was met with similar comments to his. I know it's not popular to talk badly about a game that is new and everyone is enjoying very much. But at least this community was nice enough to have a somewhat real discussion about it.

If it didn't come across in my first message, I really do actually enjoy FFXIV and want the game to succeed. I was just having my doubts about how long myself and others might enjoy the game because of reasons I listed.

It's really enjoyable so far for me on a new character. There are a bunch of things naturally that **** me off, but for the most part, i like the game, the workings and the area's. There are a lot of cute little details and fun things, like the Flying Shark bar to name one. But at the same time, they got rid of the mithra "dancers" in the bar at the Miner's Guild...

Honestly though, they could have done a far better job with job-availability, like simply picking up the lv.1 basic tool/weapon to unlock any of the basic jobs for instance, instead of having to travel to an entirely diffirent city just so you can unlock a hand full of the extra starters (lets be honest here, the unlocking "quest" is nothing more than talking to the receptionist and then the Guildmaster, could have been skipped...). Now not only do you have to level something to level 10 that you most likely just picked because of the more interesting starter city, you also have to get to level 30 i hear just to use the boat and/or airship. That's really harsh.

And then there's the "Dated" gear that my previous character was stuck on upon logging in, which at level 40 is completely outclassed in stats by even level 15 basic NPC gear.

All in all, It's not a bad game, but SE could have gone the extra mile and not created such massive time sinks right from the start.

Well. It's definitely a playable game for what it's trying to be. I'm going to subscribe to play with some friends and I am enjoying playing with them, but obviously I have complaints as well as things I like.

The music is nowhere near as good as FFXI's, but it's still pretty good for an MMORPG. There are a couple tracks that really bother me though, like Ul'dah (daytime). I hope that doesn't become the central hub "Jeuno" town again, because I feel like that theme fits so badly. Most of the other music I'm ok with and I even like some of the tracks.

The area design is good and I really like what they've done with the camps and the little towns and fleshing out the world a lot better than it was in 1.xx. The only thing bothering me a little is the zones. It's not so much the idea of zones themselves... I love FFXI and that has zones. I think it's just the way zones are set up in ARR that makes things feel a little disjointed at times. It's definitely easy to get confused.

The graphics are pretty decent - not the best, but the game makes up for it with its art direction. So, it's a nice looking game. TERA and other MMORPGs technically have better graphics but ARR still has better aesthetics because of its design.

The combat is passable and I guess it's just trying to be like World of Warcraft's, but I think the combat was more enjoyable in 1.23. The main thing I don't like is the way TP works. That part is just horrible, in my opinion.

Character creation is... pretty bad honestly, they really need to add more hairstyles at the very least. There's way too many sameface people everywhere, and a lot of people using the same haircuts. Some of the races only have one or two cool haircuts. I think they need more facial hair too.

The story is OK, but I think the pacing is a little strange. By level 15 you're already world famous and talking to God and a Warrior of Light and all that, and every NPC is praising you. So, it feels kinda rushed.

UI is sleek and good looking, but there are still some things that need tuning with it. Sometimes it takes too many button presses to get in and out of things and it can just be a hassle in some areas.

My biggest disappointment is that there isn't really a class in that I really like. I would really love to main Thief or Dark Knight.

I think the game could be pretty good, especially for Final Fantasy fans, by the first expansion. I think it really needs a couple of key classes that it doesn't have and hopefully a new central hub city which isn't Ul'dah. And as someone else said, endgame will be very important. I don't want to be running around in Job AF -- I'm so sick of all those sets already. They don't look cool at all to me anymore. So I hope there's plenty of gear coming ASAP that blows AF away and plenty of challenging content.

So, yeah... I don't know what rave reviews you're reading. I probably wouldn't tell anyone to "GO BUY ARR NOW!", but if they like MMOs, I might tell them to try it and see if they like it.

Edit: Of course, I know what you're saying with the XI comparisons. The game trades a lot of depth for ease of access. I wish certain content was more difficult and I wish there was a better sense of... danger. I haven't encountered anything in ARR which gave me a sense of danger at all. I died once in an instance because my healer spaced out and I was tanking, but that's pretty much it. So a big thing is that the game is just way too easy right now. Part of this is the combat too whether you know it or not.

Also, believe it or not, not everyone is comparing it to 1.0. The people I'm playing with like it and they didn't play 1.0 at all.

Edited, Aug 18th 2013 7:15am by Killua125

You can't really hate on the game for lack of classes at the moment. I'm sure we'll be getting ton of other classes soon enough. I'm personally a BLU at heart, and can't wait for them to put that job into the game.

I seriously doubt that the classes we have right now, are all we're gonna get.

Of course not. I was really into THM in phase 3, and now I'm into MRD. Loving the game so far, but the possible class combinations have me anxious.

I challenge everyone to wait maybe just 6-9 months AFTER launch to see if they are going to stay or not, then if they are going to opt out of playing, be civil in saying so long to the forum community and simply stop playing. No need for any "OMG FFXIV SUXORS" threads or anything like that because I'm sure it will only cause flame wars, and the people who decide they can enjoy the game for what it is will simply do just that... play.