High-res font = yay; Now, how about the title screen?

[Daniel_Hatcher]

I'd just like to point out that, currently, the lowest possible resolution in XIV is 1024x768, and at that setting, the default placement of elements ends up overlapping.

I'm assuming that will be fixed by the time they get PS3 support (as it will have to support down to 480i TVs), but I do hope they avoid that kind of sloppy work with the "new and improved" XI interface.

Most modern computers come set at 1920x1080 and even higher, games shouldn't be restricted based on previous dimensions. Personally I'd have set the default at higher.

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

Most modern computers come set at 1920x1080 and even higher, games shouldn't be restricted based on previous dimensions. Personally I'd have set the default at higher.

1. I'm not the one that included the option, S-E did. And then they apparently forgot about it.
2. If you'll continue reading into the second paragraph, you'll note that S-E will have to support down to ~640x480i for the PS3 release. No console game yet requires HD.

[Elliander]

OK, to be fair, here's what I am afraid of. These are screen shots I took while I was in the beta. I guess I should ask if they changed the UI after the Beta ended, because I was under the impression that SE saw Final Fantasy XIV as the eventual replacement for Final Fantasy XI. With that impression in mind I have this mental image of Final Fantasy XI turning into it. The menu system was unmanageable, and the combat was a series of button clicks. Instead of a menu on the bottom left where I could click to use all my abilities it was a mess on the bottom for mouse clicks.





On the other hand I thought the graphics were simply beautiful. They looked even better in the early parts of the beta when there were several shades of every eye color, but with a large variety of graphics there came a large amount of lag. In any case, I thought they did an amazing job with the character models, but I'm still afraid that Final Fantasy XI will go in that direction... so can anyone at least tell me they changed Final Fantasy XIV?

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

so can anyone at least tell me they changed Final Fantasy XIV?

Do you have any idea how many pages of patch notes you're talking about? XD

Auto-attack was added, but the "action bar" you refer to is still there. In addition, it sounds like it will be added to XI in the new PC UI updates.

Default log position is now in the bottom-left, as it is in XI. Default mini-map position is now upper-right.

When all is said and done though, they're saying 2.0 will have two completely separate user interfaces: one for keyboard/mouse, one for gamepad.

[Daniel_Hatcher]

1. I'm not the one that included the option, S-E did. And then they apparently forgot about it.
2. If you'll continue reading into the second paragraph, you'll note that S-E will have to support down to ~640x480i for the PS3 release. No console game yet requires HD.

They could make it require HD. No game does yet, but the option to only play it at HD is set in the consoles.

Besides as another said, FFXIV will have two UI's, similar to how the PC will have one UI and XBOX and PS2 will have another for XI.

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

They could make it require HD. No game does yet, but the option to only play it at HD is set in the consoles.

Yeah... no. Fine print on the package and the technical literacy needed to read it is about the only remaining difference between console and PC games. Even if S-E wanted to go that route, Sony isn't likely to sign off on it (especially when they're still shipping consoles with only composite cables).

Besides, I'm not even sure that's possible from the software's viewpoint.

FFXIV will have two UI's

Then they'd best both fit in the lowest possible resolution, shouldn't they?

[Alhanelem]

OK, to be fair, here's what I am afraid of. These are screen shots I took while I was in the beta. I guess I should ask if they changed the UI after the Beta ended

Two things:

1) the default UI configuration NEVER, EVER looked like that. If you took those shots yourself, you set it up that way yourself. Why would you configure the UI to be unpleasant for your own needs?
2) Yes, the UI has changed quite a bit since beta, largely because many battle mechanics have changed. Seriously. If you're judging the game from beta, you really need to take another look. The game is vastly different, a lot of things have already been totally redone and things like the areas are being redone for 2.0.

This is pretty close to the default UI, though I've made some adjustments (right click > view image to see bigger):

I made the target display and EXP bar bigger, and put the combat information in a seperate log window instead of a tab. The current targeting mode(left of the aciton bar) isnt in the default location but I don't remember where it was before. Most of the context-sensitive things that you used to have to open the main menu for now have buttons that appear and disappear as needed on the micro menu in the lower right (e.g., you don't need to open the menu to operate lifts or use objects and whatnot anymore)
The stamina system was removed, so there is no stamina gauge anymore (And the casting bar is only visible while casting, but you can still move it anywhere and make it bigger or smaller), you don't have to be engaged to cast spells anymore, and prior to the introduction of Jobs, nearly every spell and action was totally redone- many obscure ones removed and replaced with more well-known final fantasy type things. All weapon skills used to have very generic effects, now they all have unique animations.

The game now has tooltips for virtually everything- Even tooltips explaining what purpose all your stats serve when you mouse over them. You can turn them off if you don't want them, and they work both with the mouse and with the keyboard/gamepad cursor.

For the targeting cursor, you now have a choice of the XI style cursor over the names of targets, XIV's original circular crosshair, or a combination of both (or nothing)

Yes, you can cast flare in the inn rooms (it doesn't require a target, it is centered on you and the damage varies depending on how close an enemy is to you)

[Kaisha]

I don't get this clutter chat about other MMOs, when FFXI's own UI takes up a good 2/5th of the screen (3/5th in an alliance) at its native resolution, and doesn't provide remotely near the same level of information as modern MMOs.

[Alhanelem]

I don't get this clutter chat about other MMOs, when FFXI's own UI takes up a good 2/5th of the screen (3/5th in an alliance) at its native resolution, and doesn't provide remotely near the same level of information as modern MMOs.

That's really only because unless you scale it with the new option (which makes it look real nasty), the UI stays the same size in pixels regardless of the resolution. Thus when you're at a high resolution, the UI has the illusion of being neat and tidy, when the fact was when the game came out and high resolutions weren't as common, the clutter factor was much more obvious.

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

FFXI's own UI takes up a good 2/5th of the screen (3/5th in an alliance) at its native resolution

Because its default resolution was designed to be legible on a 30" SDTV from 10 feet away.