Stuff I Miss From 1.0

http://www.shadowflame-linkshell.de/...1345226058.jpg


I miss how Miqote had tail armor on Darklight and Dragoon AF ; ;!!! SE Fix it!!! :( Dragoon AF looks sooo lame on F Miqote now

Where to start...

• 1.23 combat and looking forward to the revised Battle Regimen/Skillchain system that was going to be implemented.
  
• Crafting that was actually useful outside of making fluff items.
  
• Breaking down fish and clusters into crystals and shards instead of farming for them (why was this removed again?)
  
• All of the old animations, sounds, and music. The inertia, Twilight Over Thanalan, Steel Cyclone, Spirits Within, voices, etc.
  
• Coerthas (surprise!) and all of the potential it had. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpmsFVCaKP4
  
• Unique traits on armor and weapons.

What I really miss is reading all of the old updates for 2.0 when 1.0 was still running and imagining how awesome it was going to be. Now that I'm here, I doubt whether or not I'll be able to stick around for the long haul.

Yoshi-P has said that he hopes 2.0 will be around for at least a decade. However, if I only have more instanced dungeons, bland armor upgrades with only +5 more DEX/STR/VIT on it, and lame dodge mechanics to look forward to for the next ten years...then I'm done.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by magenta_taco

the non-boring items. the 1.23 battle system. the beautiful crisp weighted vivid animations. the better immersion. the music (keep the primal/boss themes though).

---

Wow, the current animations really suck compared to the old ones. Why were they changed? :(

Hmm I don't know where to start. Don't get me wrong I did not play 1.0 alot because I got bored too fast and didn't give it another try after some patches got released. But still I also have some good memories. The first one is coerthas. This zone really had a final fantasy feeling. I don't even know how to describe it but most newer final fantasy games fail to set such an atmosphere. The second thing are crystals. I don't know why they removed almost all possibilities to get crystals. For example alchemy. I still have the feeling it's because SE wanted to limit people on leveling crafting classes. But now the most important part for me. ARR feels damn overcrowded. I miss running almost alone through the shroud and logging. Now it goes cling, cling, clash, bam, clong, boom almost everywhere you go. In towns, in camps and even one the field. FATE is definatly one of the reasons beside all the new people starting out the game or coming back. That was the positive part in case of those massive and huge copy/paste zones from 1.0. Another thing is party play. FFXIV does not build a good community if everything can be done solo and people just meet in fates or while doing the duty finder. I also miss the open world dungeons. Not to hunt NMs or something like that. Just because you had some more regions to explore.

But still ARR is a good game, I only hope the zones will be less expensive overcrowded in the future.

Here's one thing I miss that I didn't mention until now..

Creatures being of a moderately believable size. Yoshida's reasoning was apparently 'because it looked like we were bullying them' or they weren't impressive enough, but geez, god forbid we have an easier time believing the things we're fighting could actually exist or that there might be some moral uncertainty about what we were doing.

Still at least the new engine's built for those enemy sizes. The old one after Yoshida just upped everything's size by 50-100% without adjusting the hitboxes was just awful.

The only thing that is sorely missed by me is the open world. It was HUGE and, as a result, felt real. It felt like it was a world with dangers to the ill-cautioned explorer, and it had to be that way. An open world with minimal zoning effects in place needed to accommodate varied level ranges. Each individual zone had different elevated terrain to explore, so even if an area felt large, it was actually even bigger than that.

This game sort of has that too, but it's not quite the same in that there's minimal danger in exploration. Most areas are pretty straight-forward with no real detours to be curious about. For the most part, the zones are all right currently, but I really wish they didn't separate the individual cities into multiple zones. This is especially noticeable with Lominsa, as the whole appeal of the place was the elevation differences. It had a special appeal to the fact that you kept climbing higher and higher. You don't really get that now.

Otherwise, it's just little nit-picky things. Stuff like wishing they didn't have to reduce graphic capabilities.

I miss having the crest of the guild by the character names instead of having a name <<like this>>

The cutscenes involving Minfilia about the Path of the Twelve and this tune that played along with them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q16MONsB2t0

Waiting for the end of the era final countdown while exploring Thanalan with this gorgeous tune playing in the background.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVQS_yYAlh0

So many things. :(
-Anima (I don't much care for the gilsink. It would be diffrent if it happened after you ran out of anima but yeep. :/)
-the open world, I know people didn't like it but I don't even care running past those Hellbenders in the Black Shoud was a huge thrill for me, and getting to higher level areas like that was a lot of fun, for me anyway.
-Those LS shield crest things instead of <<wurdz>>
-the old 1.0 voices, I thought they would at least be an option instead of "hey everyone be voice 4 and sort it out later~!"
-1.2 something combat, and by extention, animation and ol' thm. Seriously we deal in death, using the umbral made sense!
-most of the old music that looped. The not looping bothers me. Why can't the new music loop, I would listen to it more then!
and most of all:
-What happened to my path companion? It seems sad but I miss her!

You know... I really miss Louisoix being in charge of Primal fights (never thought I'd say that....) instead of the Derpy Finder... Not that I enjoyed farming Tapers/etc to fight the Primals, but at least it made them feel like part of the world... Now it's just "Tic this box, and in we go...", it's so disconnected... Pretty much my entire problem with endgame right now as well is that it takes no time to complete the weekly caps, I'm not against weekly caps, but the content needs to be substantial enough to warrant them... Farming Tapers wasn't perfect, but at least it stopped you from just challenging them back to back...

Take Mythology farming for example (spoiler'd for being completely off topic).

What I'd love to see is something like this:
Mythology only drops from Extreme Mode Primals (it's iLv90 gear for crying out loud...).
Extreme Mode Primals require certain Key Items to challenge;
-A Key Item from a new FATE in the respective beastmens stronghold (there is currently a blocked off gate in all of them to my knowledge, where I'd assume the "Boss" would be). Gold medal drops the Key Item, Silver/Bronze drops an item which can be traded in for the Key Item, you'd need like 5 of those or something.
-Somewhat of a tangent, but the other FATEs in beastman strongholds should also start dropping the coins from 1.0, which should be something we can turn in for Philosophy.
-The other Key Items would be obtained from completing various Lv.50 dungeons (not the two story ones), which by 2.1 should total 5 dungeons.

There, now Mythology farming actually takes some time and isn't literally something you can blast through in a few hours... You're also involved in the world a lot more, you're not just hitting selecting in the Derpy Finder, you're going out to Natalan, to U'Ghamaro, and to Zahar'ak and you're kicking their butts to challenge their Primal again... Would it be a senseless grindfest? Sure, but in my honest opinion that's better than not doing a piece of content because you can cap it out in a matter of hours per week...

Other than that... I really miss Dalamud... As pretty as the sky is in ARR, it just isn't the same... :(

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sotek

Now it's just "Tic this box, and in we go...", it's so disconnected...

---

I feel similarly about modern MMO quests.
"Here's a checklist of things to kill/find from killed enemies. They're right here on your map. Let me make a mark to lead you to them."

I'd like it to be a little more obscured and varied simply for the sake of engagement.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rhas

Oh yeah, this is a great place as well :) The cost to teleport from the Den to Limsa isn't that bad either. (to get to the market board to check current prices) and it's even a Sanctuary :)

---

Since there is apparently a summoning bell there, you DO realise you don't need to go to a market board to check prices, right? You can do it from your retainer while selling the item. ^.^

Oh and I also miss being able to cast protect + stoneskin to anyone I wanted, just to be nice, in fact, most conjurers/whm or classes with the skills set up did on low level areas when they passed by.

I really really really miss the sense of danger and exploration. Man how I was dragged into Gridania story line that I was ACTUALLY afraid about exploring the shroud too deep in case I awoke the green wrath, because the shroud was really intimidating back then. Then when I advanced in the story it blew up my mind. SE caught me, and it was done so gracefully and well done... It was really great.

All the game felt more mature somehow, more serious, ARR is really a theme park, where the sense of danger or loss is just a fake, with all bright colors and robot-like animations, with a really fast pace so you don't notice what's going on ad only enjoy the combat for the adrenaline rush or the distractions of the fireworks (I know they can be lowered or deactivated, but without the weight in the animations the game it's just plain ridiculous).

I still like the setting and the story, but everything about the game has been dumbed down and that's really a shame...

Edit: I would love to be able to reach Tanaka and tell him my feelings about the game and say him "I really wanted to play your full vision of the game, the true successor of FFXI, not another generic EQ/WoW/Rift clone for kids and teenagers that need to have everything served on a silver plate and that can't make any effort to achieve anything".

I never played 1.0, though I got really close to buying it a couple of times, so I can't really contribute to listing things that were done well in 1.0. However, based on the comments here, it seems like they did too much of a 180 with ARR. I am really enjoying the game, but the things mentioned like more useful crafting and a more connected world puzzle me as to why they would take out these things. I know that it was probably important for them to make the game more welcoming and less tedious, but they could have tried to strike a balance instead of going so far in the other direction.

Being able to jump in and get something accomplished is important, but I would love a bit more immersion/exploration and rewarding things to do besides dungeons. Hopefully with updates they add more varied things to the game, and not just more of the same.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Resolute

I never played 1.0, though I got really close to buying it a couple of times, so I can't really contribute to listing things that were done well in 1.0. However, based on the comments here, it seems like they did too much of a 180 with ARR.

---

Yup, you got it.

1.23 wasn't THAT bad. It was somewhat unique, with severe backend/server issues plus a weird UI. Still, it showed potential as to what it could be in the end with a new engine and perhaps a clearer vision of what SE wanted to do with the game. For anyone who wasn't watched it I recommend this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFG1PA8mL6o [Making of FFXIV 1.0]

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kaizlu

1.23 wasn't THAT bad. It was somewhat unique, with severe backend/server issues plus a weird UI. Still, it showed potential as to what it could be in the end with a new engine and perhaps a clearer vision of what SE wanted to do with the game.

---

Please excuse me for not being very tech savvy... What was so bad about the v1 backend/server that are fixed in ARR?

Zones would crash if too many people entered or tried to teleport in... but we still have that in ARR.

People would complain about lag and blame it when they got hit by Ifrit eruptions, etc... but we still have people saying that in ARR.

Initially it would take a second or 3 when trying to move things between your inventory and your retainer... but that was fixed early on.

You couldn't see too many other players around you in v1. We can see many more in ARR which is nice... but is that a server issue or because of now using simpler models?

I guess I'm missing something... but what is much better now about the server and backend?

The issues with the servers in ARR though are through different causes unrelated to the game itself (SE just underestimated the sheer volume of network traffic and third party US server hosts that have proven to be sadly unreliable), where as 1.0 the server troubles were fundamental flaws in the game's design (after all, the game could hardly run more than ten characters on screen at once, and even then it struggled).

ARR's server trouble has mostly sorted itself out - 1.0 had server problems right up to the last second of service.

I finally thought of something to contribute to this thread.

I miss... the sword-casting animation. Didn't really matter if it was Holy Succor (miss that too) or me messing around on GLD with THM spells... I just enjoyed the regal pose we had.

Also miss Sacred Prism. Why didn't SCH get it? Refracting a spell onto the entire party would make sense with the whole mathematics/gemstone themes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Enkidoh

The issues with the servers in ARR though are through different causes unrelated to the game itself (SE just underestimated the sheer volume of network traffic and third party US server hosts that have proven to be sadly unreliable), where as 1.0 the server troubles were fundamental flaws in the game's design (after all, the game could hardly run more than ten characters on screen at once, and even then it struggled).

ARR's server trouble has mostly sorted itself out - 1.0 had server problems right up to the last second of service.

---

v1 could display about 40 characters around you. Maybe we can show about 50 or 60 now? Definitely better in that regard. But I never had a problem running v1 even in crowded areas on high settings even though my computer is not great (fairly good for its time, but it's about 4 years old now).

Granted, the final "event" of v1 was a total mess with the rush to Mor Dhona, but I think that was largely because they allowed everyone to log in regardless of their subscription status. So similar to ARR's problems at launch -- they underestimated the sheer volume of people and traffic, but didn't have a few weeks to sort it out.

Before that final event, what server problems hindered the game?

PS- I'm not trying to start an argument. I just want to understand how it's better now.

About everything, it was more unique than ARR

FFXIV felt like FFXI a lot more, the combat was better.

FFXIV ARR is a Wow/GW2/Rift ripoff nothing exciting.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eshura

*The open world... I remember than you could travel on those stone pathways above that cavern area outside of Horizon. You could get lost in the world... LimLom was larger if only because it took longer to get outside the city. I'm pretty sure there were invisible walls all over the place, but I don't remember running into any. 2.0? You can't turn around without hitting one.

---

You couldn't run into them because they were hidden behind flared-up terrain and a ton of re-used static meshes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kevtaylor85

About everything, it was more unique than ARR

FFXIV felt like FFXI a lot more, the combat was better.

---

Hardly unique then, wasn't it?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kevtaylor85

FFXIV ARR is a Wow/GW2/Rift ripoff nothing exciting.

---

No...no...! Bad! Not on the carpet!
http://s14.postimg.org/yen8rgfgh/010...102913_std.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Alhanelem

It looked nice in the same way 1.0 shroud looked nice, but the same repetitive terrain over and over killed it.

---

The black shroud was repetitive?

http://www.ffxivinfo.com/images/maps...ack-shroud.jpg

I'm not seeing it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dannythm

I would love to be able to reach Tanaka and tell him my feelings about the game and say him "I really wanted to play your full vision of the game ...".

---

I.. find myself thinking that really often. Between the way Wada and company shifted all of the blame that they could onto him - no I'm not saying he made no mistakes of his own, but anyone not gleefully aboard the hate bandwagon could easily tell they scapegoated him something awful - and the fact there's been so little sign of him since.. Does he still work for S-E? Last I heard, even after stepping down as FFXIV's director he was still in a consulting position on Final Fantasy XI and still a part of FFXIV's administrative department.

I really do wish there was a way to write to Tanaka and let him know how much I would have loved to see v1.0's intentions realised, whatever issues it may have had. It really bothers me to think he and the people worked with him might believe he's/they're universally hated and blamed.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Reiterpallasch

The black shroud was repetitive?

http://www.ffxivinfo.com/images/maps...ack-shroud.jpg

I'm not seeing it.

---

Good lord, that map was awful. So glad that place is gone.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dannythm

I really really really miss the sense of danger and exploration. Man how I was dragged into Gridania story line that I was ACTUALLY afraid about exploring the shroud too deep in case I awoke the green wrath, because the shroud was really intimidating back then. Then when I advanced in the story it blew up my mind. SE caught me, and it was done so gracefully and well done... It was really great.

---

Oh yes, this so much...I loved the areas I just couldn't pass due to mobs with super high levels. It felt exciting and I leveled just so I had a higher chance to stay alive. Literally nothing of that can be experienced in 2.0. I just don't get why they choose to do that...it feels so cheap now :( Dungeons feel like they are totally detached from the world too, so there's nothing left...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fensfield

Does he still work for S-E? Last I heard, even after stepping down as FFXIV's director he was still in a consulting position on Final Fantasy XI and still a part of FFXIV's administrative department.

---

According to these articles...

Hiromichi Tanaka left Square Enix in summer 2012.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/...es-square-enix

Then apparently he has been working with another company as a freelance adviser.
(ignore the first post on this link... it's an April Fool's joke)
http://gamerescape.com/tag/hiromichi-tanaka/

Found some more:

Monster AI
God i loved those aldgoats staring at me, running in my AoE. This was absolutly brilliant. :D

Noobcatcher and Lvl 99 Mobs, before you could identify their level!
They made the world a bit more alive and dangerous. Took me quiet a while to explore Mor Dohna back then.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fensfield

I.. find myself thinking that really often. Between the way Wada and company shifted all of the blame that they could onto him - no I'm not saying he made no mistakes of his own, but anyone not gleefully aboard the hate bandwagon could easily tell they scapegoated him something awful - and the fact there's been so little sign of him since.. Does he still work for S-E? Last I heard, even after stepping down as FFXIV's director he was still in a consulting position on Final Fantasy XI and still a part of FFXIV's administrative department.

I really do wish there was a way to write to Tanaka and let him know how much I would have loved to see v1.0's intentions realised, whatever issues it may have had. It really bother me to think he and the people worked with him might believe he's/they're universally hated and blamed.

---

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that feels that way =D.

I still have hope that Yoshi will slowly bring back to arr some of those elements we liked from 1.0 back then.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fensfield

and the fact there's been so little sign of him since.. Does he still work for S-E?

---

He retired from SE due to "health concerns". Speculation is that he has cancer, but no official word has been released.

Just glad to read comments so close to what I've been thinking. 1.0 as rocky and problematic as it was, had so much more substance.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Recycler

1.0 Coerthas was far superior.

---

I could mine there all day long <3

Really miss it. It was the only zone where the copypasta didn't really bother me at all.

Hardly unique then, wasn't it?

It feels more like a Final Fantasy, which is more unique than any MMO out there.

FFXI has his style

FFXIV1.23 has his style

But both in some ways was unique and when I log in I felt like home.

I sense more achievement then now.


I miss the caves you could found around the world. I remember duo'ing with a LNC we were both LV 15 in the cave near Camp Bearded Rock ( First LimLom Camp ) We duo'ed all our way to lvl 20 in that cave on exp mobs... dat feeling was so nice.

There was more 'secret place' around the world that not everybody was aware it exists. Farming fleece in that spot near bloodshore was also so fun..

I really want FFXIV1.23 back.

I honestly thought I was the only one that felt this way. I'm glad to see there is many others that do. A lot of people think we are trying to bash the game but I think we are just trying to really like it. I was telling a lot of people from whom I played with in version 1 that I purposely didn't keep up with all the development of 2.0. I played beta maybe a hour, read some news here and there. But I wanted that feeling when I left 1.23 to be everything that it could of been. When meteor hit and the lights went out in the end of 1.23 as bad as the game launched to what it was when it ended it had that Final Fantasy feeling that I wanted forever. Instead of feeling excited when ARR launch I felt I woke up to a nightmare. I really really try and continue to try to like the game. Now I am torn just to log in just because I have invested so much time and memories to the game itself.

I understand the need for change but what they did was totally kill everything they were starting to build from in 1.23. I think that people that stuck around back then through the changes after all the rest ditched truly felt like survivors of a apocalypse.
The community minus a few bad apples was thousand times better than ARR community is today. Did we complain and voice our opinions about the game and what we would like to see in the future, yes. Difference between now and then is they were trying to build a game with new mechanics not a copy and paste game that it is today. Now people complain about the problems in ARR that trembled throughout 1.0. You would think after all this time they would of resolved at least a majority of those problems that you see in ARR.
I hate to speak for everyone- but how many people on this thread ever dreamed this game would turn out the way it did? I'm not looking for likes, or if you disagree with what I say I'm cool with it-it is certainly not a popularity contest that I worry about.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Enkidoh

The issues with the servers in ARR though are through different causes unrelated to the game itself (SE just underestimated the sheer volume of network traffic and third party US server hosts that have proven to be sadly unreliable), where as 1.0 the server troubles were fundamental flaws in the game's design (after all, the game could hardly run more than ten characters on screen at once, and even then it struggled).

ARR's server trouble has mostly sorted itself out - 1.0 had server problems right up to the last second of service.

---

The servers aren't in the US if they were then the server issues wouldn't exist. As for the server problems in 1.0, it was stated by SE constantly it's the game engine and not the servers itself, the only server lag was the latency from constant security checks of client to server and the rest was the game engine running the game, which is why in ARR they built a new game engine for MMOs as 1.0 game engine was for consoles.

Oh, and there's no security check from client to server for ARR, the server just trust the client which is why these teleport hacks exist.

Mostly I just miss being able to log in and do absolutely nothing. The world felt more alive simply -because- things were so far apart. That combined with the more lifelike animations and character models (plus music that didn't just serve as an intro) It made Eorzea the perfect place to just log in and unwind.

ARR is wonderful but it's just more stress and not so much an escape as 1.2x was.

That and Coerthas really was -that- much better in 1.0

Geez, it hasn't even been a year and this thread is making me so nostalgic (And this year I finally upgraded my graphics card to something that could survive the old Black Shroud).

I miss feeling like I was part of an active Linkshell, which was in turn part of a larger community.

Most of my LS from v1 are still here and playing every night with about 20+ active members... but we don't really do anything together anymore. Why? Duty Finder. While Duty Finder is very convenient, I think it has been very detrimental to the community as a whole.

Here's how a typical evening goes... perhaps some others can relate.
1. People log in and greet everyone in LS chat. "Hi. Anyone want to do ______?" they ask.
2. "Sorry. Already doing ______." come the many varied responses.
3. Then the person who asked quickly goes off to Duty Finder to find a random group and we don't hear from them for the rest of the night.

In v1 we always had something to do together as an LS. Sure people had to wait a little while until we had a full party, then we would group up and teleport to the entrance. But we were together and we did things TOGETHER.

ARR is quick and convenient. Log in. Jump into a random group. Kill stuff. Get your shiny. Log out.

But also in ARR I almost never see my Linkshell anymore because everyone is off doing their own thing with strangers.

I stuck with v1 all the way through because I felt like I was part of a community. I really miss that.

Things I miss about 1.0:

The Music
Actually traveling places instead of being able to teleport everywhere, whenever you feel like it. I liked the anima system, it gave you the option to teleport someplace, with more restrictions, so you actually needed to travel places, and it was fun waiting on the boat or riding the airship.
Hamlet, sure the seal grind was stupid, but the concept itself was amazing. It just needed some polish so that more roles could be brought in, something like a 16 man raid now with 8 crafters / gatherers and 8 DoW / DoM.
Unique item stats. I liked my AF WHM boots that gave enhanced regen, or other gear that affected the way your class plays.
Oh, and the Dodo's. Beta testers know what I am talking about.

Things I do not miss:

Fatigue System, seriously, this was stupid.
MP only restoring at aetherite nodes. Who thought this was a good idea....
Stamina system, the old battle system which never worked at all.
Speed runs as a requirement to get gear, seriously, those were stupid, very stupid.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fensfield

<snip>

---

I agree with this so much.

Unfortunately, Tanaka left SE and joined GungHo, a video game company in Japan. Tanaka was one of the very few original FF creators. I don't think any of the original team who created the first three FF games still work at Square-Enix. I don't think Kitase joined until IV-VI.

I believe, ultimately, 1.0 was better and I wish I could have seen more of Tanaka's 1.0 XIV.

I miss 1.0 community. Much more friendly and helpful.
The dungeons were harder.
And Coerthas just feels small as hell now.

ARR is still a great game though :)

I really want 1.0 back. It was a better game, period.

I find it really strange that like very many of us that prefer 1.0 were so excited about 2.0 when they released the first screenshot of 2.0 with that awesome-looking Dragoon. The game looks no where near as good as that single screenshot did, but we all thought it would look that good.

In the end, "A Realm Reborn", what was supposed to have made the game better, did not. It made it worse.

This is all my opinion. I liked XIV 1.x more, I liked XI more.