Disaster in the Darkhold

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Originally Posted by Munba

Very nice! New music tracks, cutscenes, devices and stuff.

Only one complaint, apparentely (from this video): no new mob models (i presume the 'Ogre' in the end is the boss). :(

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Its not a new zone, they don't need new models added yet.

What I don't want to see:
A dungeon here... A dungeon there... 3 more come September. This is way to typical in MMOs these days.

What I hope to see:
Something done very well in FFXI, make the dungeon, 1 tier toward a larger expansion. Meaning... in FFXI, this dungeon would be level 1 of 100, where you are earning points, acquiring gear, learning about the environment through story. *cough* Assault?.

I hope to god they do something like assault/nyzul for Grand Companies.

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Originally Posted by Sephr

Also, full party cutscenes? Shweet.

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That was something FFXI was lacking. You do a quest with a full party, then in the cutscenes you're all alone.

I like where this seems to be going.

8000 dmg... omg..

I'm very excited about all the players in a party being shown in the cutscenes. I have always wanted this and hope for more in the future. The combat looks a little clunky to me still, but maybe it's more enjoyable to play than watch. I think a little more action in the combat wouldn't kill anyone. (Maybe not crazy jumping, but how about a dodge? How about some force fields or grabbing a part of a mob to hold it or stop it, etc. It kind of feels like the auto attack is going to leave me with some down time that I could be doing something productive with.)

and more narrow corridor paths, lol! top it off with a 60 minute time limit and no risk vs. reward system = "who would even play this?!"

i guess they can still hide behind the ps3 ram limitations lol....

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Originally Posted by Argh

and more narrow corridor paths, lol! top it off with a 60 minute time limit and no risk vs. reward system = "who would even play this?!"

i guess they can still hide behind the ps3 ram limitations lol....

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Don't do it then.

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Originally Posted by Argh

and more narrow corridor paths, lol! top it off with a 60 minute time limit and no risk vs. reward system = "who would even play this?!"

i guess they can still hide behind the ps3 ram limitations lol....

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Pretty much everyone that actually plays the game ?

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Originally Posted by Chardrizard

Pretty much everyone that actually plays the game ?

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Yep. That about sums it up.

Thank you, SE, for actually showing us something instead of giving us cryptic news posts.

Amazing .

Better get ready for some ELBOW DROP!!!

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Originally Posted by Ilean

Nope, I also find it inexcusable that 10 months after release they still can't figure out how to show 2 bars at once.

Maybe when the first expansion hits.................................

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Nobody's asking them to do the impossible, just not make such a cluttered mess of the screen UI and battle effects.

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Originally Posted by giftforce

Nobody's asking them to do the impossible, just not make such a cluttered mess of the screen UI and battle effects.

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You know you can change the size of the UI elements that are on screen. Why dont you adjust them to your liking?

That video has me pretty stoked ^^. I do agree it is a bit of a bummer that no new mob models seem to be in place yet, but who knows maybe that will change when its released. I also agree with what hopecord said about that ahriman, watching the video I got the impression you were following it around as well.

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Originally Posted by Sigmakan

You know you can change the size of the UI elements that are on screen. Why dont you adjust them to your liking?

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You actually can only resize them to a certain point or increase your resolution. There are also some things which cannot be toggled on or off regardless of how irrelevant they are.

I don't mean to rain on the parade or anything, but it just annoys me that if you play on normal resolution you play behind a fence of UI elements.

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Originally Posted by giftforce

You actually can only resize them to a certain point or increase your resolution. There are also some things which cannot be toggled on or off regardless of how irrelevant they are.

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Sounds like you should tape your scroll lock button down :D.

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Originally Posted by Sigmakan

You know you can change the size of the UI elements that are on screen. Why dont you adjust them to your liking?

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You can only customize the UI so much. It's possible that some people may find the UI is still non-functional, even after fiddling with it as much as the game allows them to.

I'm okay with the UI, myself, but I understand the point gifthorse is making.

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Originally Posted by Rustyhagun

Lol, ignore the pug. We know he is doing seismic. But , that doesn't take away from the fact that the lancer does 'jump' and does 412 dmg to the creature. Look again.

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Either Ferocity has a New effect ( because the action was pretty quick motioned, and I have done it quick before and if you see the effects, it still looks like your character is on fire haha) OR the Lancer did Ferocity First ( in quick succession to Jump to where you don't see the Ferocity effect, and therefore Jump will see the full effect) and it does look like Lancer does jump ( it is really hard to see) but after viewing it for the 50th time I believe the new effect is Indeed jump ( at least to me) I am maining LNC after all so I know what all the effects look like and all the skills from the back of my hand :P.

You know its a good news topic when the trolls can't figure out proper issues to bitch about!

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Originally Posted by Starlord

Either Ferocity has a New effect ( because the action was pretty quick motioned, and I have done it quick before and if you see the effects, it still looks like your character is on fire haha) OR the Lancer did Ferocity First ( in quick succession to Jump to where you don't see the Ferocity effect, and therefore Jump will see the full effect) and it does look like Lancer does jump ( it is really hard to see) but after viewing it for the 50th time I believe the new effect is Indeed jump ( at least to me) I am maining LNC after all so I know what all the effects look like and all the skills from the back of my hand :P.

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So, you're just going to blatantly ignore the translation from the Japanese?

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Originally Posted by LateReg

Sorry to burst everyone's bubble, but the battle log denotes only a few things as far as the LNC's actions are concerned, and nothing new.

- Uses Ferocity II
- Chat log shows HP gain from Surge
- Chat log shows loss of Ferocity after completing Twisting Vice (巻き突き) on the Reckless Hippogryf (レクルス・ヒッポグリフ)

edit: i speak japanese, so yeah

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Originally Posted by Betelgeuzah

You know its a good news topic when the trolls can't figure out proper issues to bitch about!

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I think the post is good, and I commend them for actually bothering to give solid info instead of vague promises.

But the fact that they are reusing stuff in the game since Tanaka's leadership, suggesting a lack of development (probably because of understaffing), and the UI is still a mess, hampering the playability of the game even after the combat redesign, then I hope you can appreciate where some complaints are coming from.

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Originally Posted by Viridiana

So, you're just going to blatantly ignore the translation from the Japanese?

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I didn't get that far in the thread to see what the Japanese says, I'm only saying my personal Opinion

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Originally Posted by Starlord

Either Ferocity has a New effect ( because the action was pretty quick motioned, and I have done it quick before and if you see the effects, it still looks like your character is on fire haha) OR the Lancer did Ferocity First ( in quick succession to Jump to where you don't see the Ferocity effect, and therefore Jump will see the full effect) and it does look like Lancer does jump ( it is really hard to see) but after viewing it for the 50th time I believe the new effect is Indeed jump ( at least to me) I am maining LNC after all so I know what all the effects look like and all the skills from the back of my hand :P.

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No is not, there is a wind circular effect as if the LNC happen to done a Heavy Trammel or Twisting Vice on the mob when the pugilist reach the floor.

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Originally Posted by giftforce

I think the post is good, and I commend them for actually bothering to give solid info instead of vague promises.

But the fact that they are reusing stuff in the game since Tanaka's leadership, suggesting a lack of development (probably because of understaffing), and the UI is still a mess, hampering the playability of the game even after the combat redesign, then I hope you can appreciate where some complaints are coming from.

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See, this is why datamining is bad, it confuses people about what is and isn't reusing. People complained about Apollyon using the Promyvion styled map, when they forgot that it was titled as Lower Promyvion in the dats before release -- Here people like viion hacked their way into these areas and showcased the screenshots of it which is why it seems "reused" when in actuality, it's finally being utilized as it always existed.

It doesn't show a lack of development just like making 10000000 new areas doesn't show a ton of development is going on, every MMO out today has released previously unreleased areas that is usually stored in the data for further use, the reason XI/XIV is one of the easiest to find stored data is because of the format used.

XI is pretty much a skeleton crew and they're pumping out things like Abyssea and Voidwatcher, so "understaffing" has zero to do with utilizing content stored in the data.

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Originally Posted by Jennestia

See, this is why datamining is bad, it confuses people about what is and isn't reusing. People complained about Apollyon using the Promyvion styled map, when they forgot that it was titled as Lower Promyvion in the dats before release -- Here people like viion hacked their way into these areas and showcased the screenshots of it which is why it seems "reused" when in actuality, it's finally being utilized as it always existed.

It doesn't show a lack of development just like making 10000000 new areas doesn't show a ton of development is going on, every MMO out today has released previously unreleased areas that is usually stored in the data for further use, the reason XI/XIV is one of the easiest to find stored data is because of the format used.

XI is pretty much a skeleton crew and they're pumping out things like Abyssea and Voidwatcher, so "understaffing" has zero to do with utilizing content stored in the data.

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While I admire your constant attempts to paint SE in a glorious light, the sad fact is that this is not newly-developed content. The fact remains that these areas were in the game since open beta. So although it is new to most players, it was not newly created. And since my point was that SE doesn't seem to be developing much new content, then I feel my point still stands.

They may have reimagined pre-existing assets, but obviously nothing was created from scratch. Most of it was reused and makes one wonder if the FFXIV team is understaffed in that particular department at the moment.

I'm not necessarily saying they are understaffed, it just makes one wonder, you know?

You'd think most ppl in this forum knows how game development works? Lol, some of then even has a syndrome where they thought all of their ideas might save the this game and the future of MMOs, things that they disliked are total abomination! C'mon now lmao.

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Originally Posted by Chardrizard

You'd think most ppl in this forum knows how game development works? Lol, some of then even has a syndrome where they thought all of their ideas might save the this game and the future of MMOs, things that they disliked are total abomination! C'mon now lmao.

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Who are you even talking at?

I m ready for this!

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Originally Posted by giftforce

While I admire your constant attempts to paint SE in a glorious light

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No, there's just no reason to be constantly pessimistic and cynical for absolutely no reason about everything they do when anyone who actually takes a second to think about the situation will know that it's pretty common for MMO designers to "reuse" content, especially if their MMO switches hands either managerial or company wise.

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So although it is new to most players, it was not newly created. And since my point was that SE doesn't seem to be developing much new content, then I feel my point still stands.

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This is assuming you have info that no one else has -- 2007 - 2009 in FFXI had almost zero content updates due to XIV's production, however right as it finished, we started to get a lot of content in quick succession and 2010/rest of 2011 is having a ton of additions, stuff that you can't just do in a week and call it a day -- it clearly has been in production for some time, and as said, XI's crew is small, especially given how SE is pushing to get XIV off the ground, this is why I say understaffing has nothing to do with it, it has everything to do with how they need to fix this game rather than expand it, and using stuff that was already present is a good way to do both.

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Originally Posted by giftforce

But the fact that they are reusing stuff in the game since Tanaka's leadership, suggesting a lack of development (probably because of understaffing),

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I don't quite understand this particular complaint though. Most of the stuff aside from the monsters we haven't seen in the actual game yet. Whether or not it's in the .dats doesn't really matter because it was never used for anything. Now it's being used for something, it still takes time to implement. Sure not as much time from designing from the ground up but why not use files that already exist but aren't implemented?

Ya'll need some more hobbies.

This shit just got real!

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Originally Posted by Darkshade

Might be like a "Proceed to next area. [Yes/No]" kind of thing, we'll have to wait for a translation before we have any more idea.

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Yeah it's asking would you like to use the transporter

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Originally Posted by giftforce

While I admire your constant attempts to paint SE in a glorious light, the sad fact is that this is not newly-developed content. The fact remains that these areas were in the game since open beta. So although it is new to most players, it was not newly created. And since my point was that SE doesn't seem to be developing much new content, then I feel my point still stands.

They may have reimagined pre-existing assets, but obviously nothing was created from scratch. Most of it was reused and makes one wonder if the FFXIV team is understaffed in that particular department at the moment.

I'm not necessarily saying they are understaffed, it just makes one wonder, you know?

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It seems you are confused as to how the game was and is developed.

Vanilla areas have been developed pre-release. Even if they are currently not available, the assets are ready and waiting for content to be added to them. They have developed the games like this since vanilla XI. The only difference here is that regions currently inaccessible are not necessarily in the .dats like in XI, because they can make us download them through patches.

Further, as soon as the vanilla or an expansion is released, work begins on the next expansion immediately or soon afterwards. The area asset team is always one expansion ahead while the rest of the crew fills the current areas with content.

Now whether the area team is working on an expansion or the zone redesign (latter most likely), the fact remains that they are developing for far ahead in time. There may be few team members making up new assets for the dungeons, and someone working on environment collision, but the rest of the area asset team is hard at work on things in the far (hopefully not so far) future.

Just to give you some perspective, though, a proper redesign of areas requires as much work as a full-blown expansion pack. Not exactly, but close enough, depending on the scale of changes. Whether its an expansion or redesign we won't see them before the end of the year, and when we do, we'll get everything.

Lastly, if they make you download a new area that doesn't mean it has been created recently. It's an area from pre-release with slight adjustments unless there is an expansion or redesign.

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Originally Posted by Jennestia

No, there's just no reason to be constantly pessimistic and cynical for absolutely no reason about everything they do when anyone who actually takes a second to think about the situation will know that it's pretty common for MMO designers to "reuse" content, especially if their MMO switches hands either managerial or company wise.

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If I was in-charge, I too would make use of those areas, since most people won't have seen them anyway. However, my worries stem from the fact that we have yet to see much proof of strong development. We have these instances, but surprise surprise they are in previously-created areas. So then you can forgive me for questioning what the other developers (the ones who might otherwise be creating new areas) are doing?

Where are they? Where is their hand in all of this?

Have they been moved to other projects within SE while FFXIV is left to fend for itself with the scraps left from Tanaka's leadership?

Critically-thinking people will ask such questions, rather than giving undue praise to everything and rushing to SE's defence. I would just like to see proof that this game is still being developed with the amount of effort needed to bring it to standard. The rate of updates, the reused assets, the half-baked events, just everything makes me question whether there is really enough happening at SE to make this game functional for general consumption.

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This is assuming you have info that no one else has -- 2007 - 2009 in FFXI had almost zero content updates due to XIV's production, however right as it finished, we started to get a lot of content in quick succession and 2010/rest of 2011 is having a ton of additions, stuff that you can't just do in a week and call it a day -- it clearly has been in production for some time, and as said, XI's crew is small, especially given how SE is pushing to get XIV off the ground, this is why I say understaffing has nothing to do with it, it has everything to do with how they need to fix this game rather than expand it, and using stuff that was already present is a good way to do both.

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Well if a skeleton crew can produce so much content, imagine how much a fully-fleshed crew could produce. I think quantity of staff has a lot to do with production-rate and also the expansiveness of what is produced. Well, logic dictates.

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Originally Posted by Betelgeuzah

It seems you are confused as to how the game was and is developed.

Vanilla areas have been developed pre-release. Even if they are currently not available, the assets are ready and waiting for content to be added to them. They have developed the games like this since vanilla XI. The only difference here is that regions currently inaccessible are not necessarily in the .dats like in XI, because they can make us download them through patches.

Further, as soon as the vanilla or an expansion is released, work begins on the next expansion immediately or soon afterwards. The area asset team is always one expansion ahead while the rest of the crew fills the current areas with content.

Now whether the area team is working on an expansion or the zone redesign (latter most likely), the fact remains that they are developing for far ahead in time. There may be few team members making up new assets for the dungeons, and someone working on environment collision, but the rest of the area asset team is hard at work on things in the far (hopefully not so far) future.

Just to give you some perspective, though, a proper redesign of areas requires as much work as a full-blown expansion pack. Not exactly, but close enough, depending on the scale of changes. Whether its an expansion or redesign we won't see them before the end of the year, and when we do, we'll get everything.

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I've already entertained that notion. But what of the lack of mobs... while the area-team is one expansion ahead of the development team, are those mob-people one expansion behind?

From the videos, it seems like more could have been done, and it simply wasn't.

When I see proof of monumental change, i will buy into your guess-work.

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Originally Posted by giftforce

While I admire your constant attempts to paint SE in a glorious light, the sad fact is that this is not newly-developed content. The fact remains that these areas were in the game since open beta. So although it is new to most players, it was not newly created. And since my point was that SE doesn't seem to be developing much new content, then I feel my point still stands.

They may have reimagined pre-existing assets, but obviously nothing was created from scratch. Most of it was reused and makes one wonder if the FFXIV team is understaffed in that particular department at the moment.

I'm not necessarily saying they are understaffed, it just makes one wonder, you know?

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ANY mmo reuses character models, re-skins existing assets and can take content designed long ago and introduce it into the current game. ANY MMO.

MMO's are massive worlds, if you expect an MMO to create totally new art and geometry assets every patch, for huge areas then you do not know much about game design.

This is not an indication of A:Understaffing or B:Under-funding - its simply a fact of life where SOLID game content takes a LONG TIME to produce, but subscribers expect regular updates.Its a plane and simple fact of game development and it does not mean that SE aren't investing in the dev team for this particular MMO.

Go back to games 101 and come back to the conversation when you are better informed little one.

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Originally Posted by giftforce

You actually can only resize them to a certain point or increase your resolution. There are also some things which cannot be toggled on or off regardless of how irrelevant they are.

I don't mean to rain on the parade or anything, but it just annoys me that if you play on normal resolution you play behind a fence of UI elements.

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I think we have different definitions of normal resolution. Are you using 800x600?