Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Final Fantasy XIV: ARR Beta review
dreamsofwar
Member Posts: 468
Okay so I don't think I've actually written a review for a game before, let alone a beta, but I'm going to give it my best because this a game that interests me greatly and it was my first beta experience.
Okay so I'll try to keep this as informative as possible and as impartial as possible.
Intro
First of all I've played it on both PS3 and PC. One of the things that turns me off many MMO's early on is the responsiveness and how fluid the game feels. Well, let me tell you that on both platforms this game is smooth and it is responsible, it is highly polished and I don't think I have seen a game with this level of polish in beta/pre launch.
The controls are great and I never felt restricted by movement, which is a large turn off for many MMO players I am sure.
As for starting the game itself, character creation is excellent. It's not as varied as many games that are on the market that have extensive systems, and this might be a turn off for many who wish to have a highly customized character. It is not without it's options, and there are numerous options for skin colour, hair styles, voices etc. It has more than enough options to create a unique character.
There isn't a particularly large choice of characters, and I admit it did seem to fall short on the kind of classes one can play. When you look at the games predecessor, Final Fantasy XI, you can see it has a vast choice of unique classes such as Samurai, Ninja, Puppet Master etc. Granted, all of these were additions introduced in expansions and I am certain the same will be for XIV, but for now even at a basic level, I think one or two others may have been welcome. A thief class comes to mind.
Regardless, the classes appear interesting and are sufficient for the games holy trinity mechanics.
As for the experience of each class, I cannot say, as I solely played a Gladiator to level 15.
The good
So I will start by highlighting what is good about the game.
First of all as I have mentioned, it feels fluid and polished, and that is always important in a game that you will potentially be playing for months/years.
The story line appears to be deep and interesting. As this is a numerical Final Fantasy you can expect a rich plot with plenty of cutscenes and interesting characters.
The combat is fluid and the animations are great. It is not fast and button mashy like a certain MMO has turned into, but that is a good thing. It doesn't feel slow but the battle is not over in seconds either. It creates a need to be more strategic with your skills rather than mash buttons. Although in the early levels you will be likely spamming a handful of skills, it looks as though the combat evolves gradually and becomes more and more strategic as you progress.
The graphics. This game is beautiful. Whether it is on PS3 or a high end PC this game looks incredible.
Accessibility. Much like how WoW became mainstream by making it so that even a low end PC could be able to play the game I do believe FFXIV has achieved the same. I originally pre ordered the game on PS3 because I thought there was no hope of my low end PC playing it. However, I got curious and I installed the benchmark and to my surprise it said I could play it. So I downloaded the client and logged in and to my surprise I was not faced with terrible FPS and horrible graphics. Even on low settings the game looks great and even with my computer, such as it is, I had smooth framerate at roughly 40 - 50fps most of the time. Only time I encountered issues was in the main city around a particularly large crowd (I was playing on a full server) and even then it was only a brief drop in framerate and the game continued to be smooth.
Final Fantasy. Whilst many MMO fans may criticize the game, it is a Final Fantasy first and an MMO second. This may displease many, but this is the people the game is catering to, it's fans. And yes new fans too. But the game contains many things that pulls on the nostalgia strings. It has the classic jobs, moogles, chocobo's (and the classic theme when you ride them), it has the Final Fantasy prelude, it has the Empire that is very reminiscent of Final Fantasy VI, the gladiator starter zone practically screams Final Fantasy XII, and there are many other things I am sure that will impress long time fans of the series.
The music. I should have put this under Final Fantasy, but like with any game from the series you can expect a high quality soundtrack, and XIV does not disappoint.
The bad
Kill this, collect that, talk to him/talk to her. It's the standard quests. And between the cutscenes there are tons of standard MMO formula quests you must complete. I get that they can't have you in a gripping story the whole time, but it does ruin the experience when you are in a really engaging story one moment and then off doing the boring stuff the next.
Quests are too back and forth. An expansion on what I just stated previously, the quests are not only standard, but also involves a lot of back and forth to the extent that it is just not practical. It does not make much sense to have you run out to the desert to do one quest only to go to the city to get a quest that takes you to another part of the desert only to send you all the way back again. The Area I chose to play in, Ul'dar has a vast desert which surrounds it, and it has many quest hubs in that desert. It seems much more pragmatic to send you to one, have you finish there and move you along to the next. Instead it has you running about all over the place and it seems a bit messy.
Classes. They are a bit standard. I mean you can call them white mage, black mage etc. But they work the same as in any other MMO. There are no real expanded mechanics. It is still the holy trinity. And whilst this is good for those that enjoy this formula, and I do, perhaps they could have expanded on it somehow. I have only played to level 15, and with a max level of 50, perhaps the mechanics will change. So I am reserved on this issue.
Additional thoughts
Despite only a short time (most of Sunday) playing the game I can see it has the makings of a great, classic formula MMO. I understand this won't be everyones ideal game, but for those who still enjoy this genre with its classic formula, this game is really worth checking into, even if only for a while.
Only two MMO's have ever got me to pay sub and play for several months, WoW and LOTRO. Given the way WoW has gone, it has lost much of my interest, but given how Final Fantasy looks, there is hope. It is a great game and looks to be more challenging than recent additions to the market.
Given that it is a numerical Final Fantasy, you can expect that Square Enix will continue to strive to make it a game that is held in high esteem, as it is not only this game that will be at stake if they fail, but the success and perception of their whole franchise which they have spent decades building. That information in itself provides a certain security that this is a game worth investing in.
Overall, so far it appears to be a solid, exciting MMO but an excellent Final Fantasy, which is first and foremost what it strives to be. I think many MMO fans will be impressed by this game, but not as much as Final Fantasy fans.
Comments
As a legacy 1.0er... I'm really excited and looking forward to playing in Eorzea again. I do have some concerns and think there have been a few missteps in the revamp.
First, when starting out, the player is bombarded with many boring, run of the mill quests that we've come to expect. Most players will decide to run through these initially, as that is what the genre has taught us to do. What this amounts to is some really uninspired, boring MMO-play (unfamiliar players will probably spend at least 1hr inside their starting city just running too and from quest givers!). For anyone reading this, just stick to your main scenario and class quests for now - that is where the beef is.
Fates are interesting. I prefer this idea to the Rift system as it seems like there is some variety. However, it really just amounts to a huge zerg which isn't exactly fun. Hopefully, once populations even out, the fun-factor will ramp up a bit as they should theoretically require less zerging and more cooperation amongst players.
The first 15 levels are 'painful'. It really does feel like your standard quest grinder. However, once you gain access to things like leves, the airship, and inevitably the Grand Company's, the game does open up quite a bit.
Good review.
I would like to add: To those that have played FFXI, you will feel many similarities, however, you will feel this is much easier than FFXI, and there are many less penalties. I remember dying to a bee when I started playing FFXI... in this game, only to a boss at level 15, because I went ahead and pulled an unkillable quest mob that you needed in game (NPC) help to defeat.
This is pure theme park, but the story and graphics do make it feel fun and immersive. I worry about what will happen once the story is over, and only the gear grind remains. I am thinking that only friends will keep this game going after that point.
Overall, this is NOT the same FF that we got a year ago. Harvesting has been dumbed down (much to my regret), and it has been definitely made more solo friendly, which is good for revenue, but not for player retention. Social interactions are what make a game last, and this one has this limited to an extent. There was very little reason to participate in anything social, except to respond to some random questions in chat... and of course the constant whining of the newer gaming community which has been spoilt and is never happy with ANYTHING.
You know i just wanted to say this, i take for granted voices from computer NPC's i understand the chat bubbles without actual voice takes to back to old final fantasy, but just to hear someones voice does help when your reading the content. I can live without it but that was one pet-peve i noticed during my beta adventures, aside from getting hit with the 3102 bug, and not being able to play for a day and a half, i was over all satisfied, those who love the classic holy trinity, tanking healing dps.. would love this game.
I was looking for a newer game to take me back to my old play styles for awhile now, and i think i found somthing to keep me occupied for some time. After Everquest next's reveal that it wont have the holy trinity, it made this even more interesting to me. See you all in game.
-Forcer
A decent review.
For me a big positive is the class/multi-class system since it's a different take on alting that's kind of neat. However, since I unlocked and tried every class to some extent and looked over the very short skill lists, I think the classes themselves are simplistic and ultra generic so it's hard to say whether things will be interesting enough.
I do like that you pointed out the running around bit since I started in Ul'dah too and found that to be annoying. It's like, what's the point of making quests ultra simple but then have this weird element of monumental time sink of running around (and waiting for loading screens going in/out of town) so much?
The game is pretty but I don't think I've ever been in an MMORPG where I LIKED running around on foot a lot.
The game is pretty. It's new and shiny. A lot of the positives you mention are like this and aren't really reasons to invest heavily in an MMORPG. The graphics, the music, the fact that it's the final fantasy series - all neato - but have nothing to do with gameplay.
The other point you make will be the most negative point of all. This game is in the post WoW clone mold. Tons of solo ez mode. Dumbed down (way more than evolved and pandified WoW). Thus far all games in this mode follows the same patter of hype, big release numbers, big dropoff shortly after release, server merges, mutilated into F2P rubbish, and ultimately considered failures.
The big question... is there anything about FFXIV that should give one any hope that it's not yet another doomed post WoW clone? Nothing about open beta answered this and instead, all evidence points to even faster/likelier incoming fail due to how extremely the post WoW clone ez mode formula has been implemented here (the easier they make it, the faster players will be done with it and ready for something else).
We shall see.
One can have some fun with a short term/no longevity MMORPG. It's new content. It's new game systems to learn and enjoy. But these clones usually end up not being worth a sub and not usually retaining player populations for very long.
Some are saying the game will be different at higher levels. No idea how they can know when nobody has been past 30 in previous betas. Nobody knows how much endgame there is or what's going to really be available at endgame either.
Premium MMORPGs do not feature built-in cheating via cash for gold pay 2 win. PLAY to win or don't play.
Indeed, you make some good additional points here that I failed to put down. The difficulty of (or extreme lack of) content was a concern for me, which I put down to starter areas.
The thing is it took me a large chunk of my day to get to level 15, and whilst it was hours of gameplay it did feel like it didn't take too long to achieve. I mean to get level 15 in a single player Final Fantasy I think would have taken longer.
I suppose as it's a Final Fantasy and I'm a long term fan, it's difficult to sell somebody purely on the MMO aspect, as many fans will be playing because it is Final Fantasy.
The content is a serious concern though, and it is especially a concern for me as I mentioned in the review, if Square screw this up then it will hit their franchise hard. It is in their interests to keep content challenging like in their single player additions.
Nice review. It seems to be what I was expecting. Final Fantasy XI always had that element of redundant killing that is in a lot of Asian games. I think If they scaled back the quests and did more storylines in the game it would be a well polished game.
People like myself would prefer more storylines then work/task quests. But that's just me. I think the tasks in FFXI with dynamis or other type of system were so ridiculously high that I dint even bother to try to engage in it. It wasn't really fun, it was work. Which takes me back to all their other Final Fantasy games, they had so much storyline and it was rare you had to actually work/grind ect to such a ridiculous level. I should say, storylines are what make the game, and all the work is what kills them.
Thanks for your time sharing this, helps me to know what to expect and not to expect before I get into early access.