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Will SE do anything about these reviews?
jdedeaux
Member Posts: 88
I have just been pondering the though of will SE do anything about how horrible the reviews for this game has been from both the player base and the magazines, sites, critics, etc.
It makes you wonder if they actually see what people are saying. I heard the rumor from Fileplanets twitter that ragequit cost SE 26mil on this game.
I am just extremely disappointed at this game after being a FFXI player since release date. Maybe i was looking for FFXI-2 , which this totally is not, and thats my fault i'll admit so flamers and fanbois, save it.
What are your thoughts on this? I haven't had such a let down since OJ was found guilty this time (lol, take it how you want).
Is it possible that SE could re vamp the game to make it what people want, is the interface repairable? Seems to me as if the game needs a re-release.
/thoughts?
/discuss
Comments
a re-release might be a good idea. Make the changes that need to be made and THEN give everyone who bought the game a free month to check it out.
But the changes needed are pretty fundamental. It would take a lot of material and content and some significant design changes. I am not sure it can be done.
All die, so die well.
At this point I believe the game is crippled.
History has shown that the MMORPG audience does not often forgive poor launches. FFXIV may have had a very good technical (server login, uptime) launch, but the user experience, pseudo content, and UI is affecting even the most dedicated. Sadly.
AoC rebounded perhaps a bit with Godslayer but it cannot regain the momentum it initially experienced. WAR dwindled, and so on… Vanguard, they’ve all been mentioned before.
FFXIV didn’t even have a ride of momentum. Sales dropped considerably in the first couple weeks. Now, with reviews destroying it 30/100, 4.2/10, etc… Are these the lowest for a “triple-a” MMO title so far?
Strangely in a game where there is supposedly so little to do, I find myself overwhelmed with deciding what to do next. It is hard to focus, and I believe that stems from the inadequate UI.
Sorting my inventory (player/retainer) the other morning took almost 45 minutes. Do I keep my Blacksmith mats or Weaver mats, what should I do with those cooking mats and all the +1 +2 items doubling inv? I was basically drained. Logged off.
The whole thing is leading me to action paralysis – Being honest I still enjoy logging in, but find I accomplish less and less.
I have hope Square will rectify the interface, and the recent update sounds promising. The comments about lack of content are little too loose, there is a lot to do but do you wanna do it? There are some nice people playing, which is a benefit to the community.
Square is probably experiencing a morale critical mass at this point. I am certain a lot of folks worked very hard on this title, and some of the results seem more management decision based than coder quality.
Not sure if I have experienced a successful re-release of a MMO, could be that FFXIV is the first if that happens. They may get a Phoenix resurrection with PS3 launch, though I do not think the title will be what it could have been.
There are some real gems to be discovered in this game, and tons of complexity for crafting and combat. I feel that perhaps there are so many decision points it is just too messy to enjoy.
They already tried to do something about the flood of reviews giving it a crap score by telling websites they are affiliated with to not review it at release. I mean, who would want a review of a game that is fresh off release anyway? We should all wait 6 months for a review when they may or may not have their ducks in a row. *sarcasm
"I'm not cheap I'm incredibly subconsciously financially optimized"
"The worst part of censorship is ------------------"
They gave players another 30 free days (they should make it free until PS3), but there's not much they can do. They can't pull a good game out of their asses, and with the upcoming changes, they're basically attempting to polish a turd. The damage has been done, and all they can hope to do is limp by until the game is a game and not an excersize in frustration.
I played ff11 myself. get higher level in this game get a linkshell an keep playing
the reviews are already there all that negative stuff doesn't help you like the game lol. you gotta play it a while an understand that most of it is overrated. FFXIV is huge title so everyone expects a lot also... but I do also but it'll come so i'm playing it. I'm enjoying it atm.
Unlikely that they can recover anytime soon since a number of the issues raised in the reviews are not bugs, but fundamental design decisions. They will maintain their fan base, but I don't think it will grow even to the popularity of FFXI. Things that can be fixed in the short term are usually minor issues with interfaces, class balancing, mob tuning, etc. Changing fundamentals of the game requires much larger efforts which you won't see until (if) they release an expansion.
Will SE do anything about these reviews?
SE will accept them and like it.
The only thing they can do really, continue to add content and address player complaints. Not many other options is there?
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
its just sooooo boring. i appreciate the extra free month but i seriously doubt ill log back in more than once or twice. i could deal with everything else if atleast the combat was enjoyable and there were more quests. but theres just isnt. the leves arent that fun. you kill like 5 monsters that are insanely easy. yes, i know you can do them in a group but id rather staple a live salmon to my taint and roll around infront of a grizzly. that would be much more excited, and take less time.
WAR is actually doing fine now. The game has been changed considerably. Much more Open RvR. Pruned down scenarios. Better rewards. Fewer people abandoning scenarios. Improved class balance. Stable population with good realm balance. There is constant action every day in T1 and T4 and very good action every night of the week even in T2 and T3. A big RvR revamp is on the way with playable skaven. The game only has 4 North American servers but that population is pretty solid and dedicated. I think the game is in a good spot now. There is a constant stream of folks trying the game again and a few trying it for the first time.
Aion has a similar story. They added a lot of content, even before the new high level ground abyss zones. Lots more quests, new instances. Better rewards. better drops, more exp, more cash drops. The harsh edge of the grind in that game has been significantly blunted. It is 100% better than it was a year ago and it wasn't bad even then just frustrating.
As you mentioned AoC has picked up and I haven't been back to vangard at all so I can't speak to that. But I think WAR and Aion are at least good examples of games that have had bad launches that have ended up pulling there bacon out of the fire. Did they come back to being WoW successful? No, but then nobody else has ever even gotten to that level of success in the first place. Did they come back to the level of success they had at launch? No but I think that is actually the norm for games now. Everybody has a surge at the beginning that cannot be maintained. Even Cataclysm will have a lot of people returning to check it out but will not retain everyone who returns. But otherwise both games have settled into a sustainable number of subs.
So what does this mean for FFXIV? They could come back from a poor start, it has happened before. They will never have the numbers that they could have had but they could otherwise come back to a reasonable level.
But the problems they have to fix for this game are far more fundamental to the design philosophy of the game. I worry that FFXIV is not actually broken but really working as intended. That is not something that can reasonably be "fixed."
All die, so die well.
QFT
Honestly the reviews are a non issue they are out and that is that. I still give SE credit they didnt ignore wht was said and basically said they will go about fixing it before year is out what else can you do? So you get 2 months worth play. So far its been pretty fun but like alot of MMO ymmv. I say get in a good likshell and see if you have more fun then if you want to quit then just do so. There is no point in playing something you don't like but let it serve as a lesson in the future research what you buy and dont just go with the hype you end up wasting your own money. I knew what I was getting I like it so its a non issue here.
SE has no real choice but to hear the complaints, and fix them accordingly. the complaints i have are few but i imagine alot of people who are playing have the same ones, item organization for instance....that could have been an easy fix with a simple sort feature. selling to npc's is a nightmare, and frankly the bazarr "fix"didn't do much, it still depends on a person not being lazy and either moving their retainer to the correct market, or putting the correct items for the market they are in....i've retired my retainer ..for the time being anyway.
item crafting is really in-depth...but imo it's very disorganized, for instance to make a maple longbow (a min rank 8 archer weapon) i need to be rank 15 in carpentry.....but the fish glue i need to make for it i have to be a level 11 alchemist, and the linen for the string i have to be level 30 in weaving....that's alot of work for a low level bow. if they refined the crafting so that i'm not having to max out one to make a low lever item in another...i'd be grateful.
also...keeping main quest done prior accessable in the journal wouldn't hurt. i played thursday....didn't pop it on until today because i worked and had to retrace my steps, just a quick look in my book would have helped...but it's not there.
i'm in no way saying i'm done playing, but what i am saying is small things like that.....can add up to big fustration.
Played:FFXI, WoW, LOTR,EQ. Playing:FFXIV.
Looking Forward To:DCU, SWTOR.
"Sorting my inventory (player/retainer) the other morning took almost 45 minutes. Do I keep my Blacksmith mats or Weaver mats, what should I do with those cooking mats and all the +1 +2 items doubling inv? I was basically drained. Logged off.
The whole thing is leading me to action paralysis – Being honest I still enjoy logging in, but find I accomplish less and less."
Could not have said that any better.
If FFXIV's team admitted their flaws and tossed out any notion that they could charge people a monthly fee for this shell of a game, I'd forgive them (i.e. make it B2P). The 30 more days of free play seems like a good idea, but why have people stick around and wait for the game to get better?
I bet this dev team is about to get outsourced to Korea.
Hello...
They said the incredible fix patch is coming in December....
Yes 3 months from now.
2 patch coming
first november second patch in december
people only attack the game but doesn't read tha change coming
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
Or, you could cancel your sub and come back after they fix the game in December or whenever.
Some folks won't mind paying the sub fee during this time, and that's fine too.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Lol. Very good sir!
Does this mean we have just as much in common with S.E considering they never read a Closed, or Open Beta bug report?
Besides you really don't know when Nov patch will come or what it will address. Its very possible that it will address very little and then break other things that will need fixiing.......
The problem overshadowing everything is the UI and the lag generated because parts are stored and authenticated server side is pretty bad, that can be fixed... easily. Move it client side like every other game under the son and deal with botting some other way. If they're WILLING to do that is a whole different story and I'd guess "not yet" but they may at some point in the future (after they have enough content that the botting wouldn't really matter.)
Shadus
Well they can only do two things effectively, fix the problems and hope a rereview / remaining reviews are better or break the game worse
Shadus
One thing we can learn from previous MMOs is that MMOs can never really turn around to make up for launch issues, no matter how much the game is improved it is almost impossible for the game to even get back to the original population. Already we are seeing FFXIV box sales plunge even more than WAR or AoC (both were in top 10 PC amazon game sales months after release FXIV is right now at rank #50 in amazon pc sales chart).
As for PS3 launch based on what i am hearing the May release is still doubtful they are still hampered by memory limitations of PS3.
The only thing that SE can do regarding the reviews would be to fix the game to a point of release. It is not the reviews that are broken...its the game. They see what the players/review sites and forums are saying, not hard to observe when the money shift comes around. The damage control, 30 days free and some patches, are only bandaids to the problem but may get a couple of more subs out of the deal before it goes crash amd burn.
The FF seiries has to many dedicated players to go belly up at a new record however, I do not think a come-back is likely with all the issuess. While anything is possible, the timing makes it less probibale with new games coming out before a rebuild can be accomplished. If said issues could be fixed, it would have happened during the beta's which did not happen. The companies rep took the biggest hit leaving players to question the possibility of even a stable operation, but one can hope. In short, the player base and the magazines, sites, critics, etc. have only reported what the game is like, and the only entitie that can change that is the complany and a lot of time.
Prior to the reviews, Square-Enix intended to release the game rough and patch it post-release.
After the reviews, Square-Enix intends to release the game rough, patch it post-release, and give us an extra 30 days on our trial.
That's about all I expect to see of this.
If you're hoping they'll gut the game as a failure, you're out of luck. Not only because they wouldn't tolerate that stain to the Final Fantasy brand, but because it seems that, by reckoning of the player population readout on my server, FFXIV seems to be pulling reasonably good player retention despite the reviews.
Why would you talk about retention rates during the free-trial period?
You really think SE intended to release a "rough" game? Maybe I'm just naive, but I think most people in any business intend to put their best work forward. I doubt they intended to give us an extension of free playtime either. They're trying to mitigate the fallout; it's not some altruistic move.