Gutted about the lacklustre quality of the PS4 beta

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Originally Posted by Purplenum

I think I die a bit inside every time I see people say that consoles are cheaper than good PCs. You can build a great PC that can run this game at the highest settings at ~60fps for under a thousand dollars, and while a PS4 is only 400 having a PC is cheaper in the long run and you get your moneys worth out of it. Really you can do anything on a PC, and only play video games (generally below 1080p/60fps) on PS4.

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I don't think you understand what cheaper means.

Might as well put this here, this is something I wrote up for my FC's site... I can say I am a PC player, tried PS3 and couldn't stand it and despite, I was very happily surprised at how good the PS4 version looked. Then again I'm not going to trick myself and think it can look as good as a PC, you can't compare PC to a Console. But here ya go...

First Impressions:

-Character Creation: Was nice, just like the PC version... one thing I did notice, when you're changing the height of your character the whole screen seems to bounce. Other than that, it took me a few sec to figure out how to move the bar up and down, lol. But it’s very much to the point and nice.

I do like that they have all jobs and all 3 cities open, unlike PC/PS3 where it was only 1 city at the start... on one side it gives players more choices, especially new players who are trying it for the first time. On the other hand, since people are not all in one spot, how are they gonna stress test it and make sure the PS4 can handle the graphical lodes that a MMO requires and doesn't lode hella slow like the PS3 does. >.<

-Opening Cut Scene: OMG looks so damn good on my HD 47" screen! I don't really see much difference between it and my PC version... but then again it IS a cut scene... it's the gameplay that I want to see. I did try the PS3 once, and it was very dark and kinda odd, so let's see if I can handle PS4. I could see some minor fluxing in the back ground, which I don't really remember seeing in the PC version, but it's not very noticeable and holds up well against the PC version atm.

-In Game Starting Out: Omg, the notification sounds come though the little speaker on your controller! *flails* I don't know why I find that cool. lol It says to hit Select to bring up menu, this is actually Options on the PS4 controller. Menu works just like the PS3, and PC if you use a controller, not really hard to get used to at all.

One thing I did notice while messing with the Hud on the PS4 version (at least on my TV, I have heard of others not having this issue) is that there is like an invisible 2 inch gap on the left and right side and a 1 inch game on the top and bottom where you cannot move any of your hud elements, unlike the PC version were you could move then to the very corner of your screen and leave no gap at all. This is slightly annoying, seeing I want as much of the middle 'action' area as open as possible.

Using the middle click pad as a mouse can be a bit frustrating and take time to do simple things, like make the chat log bigger… also the font is a bit small. On a PC the font is fine, but PC’s are usually close contact, meaning you’re only a short distance away. On the PS4 version I was sitting on my counc about 7-8 feet away and I found it hard to read the chat box, and NPC pop ups. Just FYI my TV is a HD 1080p 160hz 47”, so it’s not that my Tv is small or old.

In Game Graphics - Running Around: Cut scenes are lovely, but of course these are static, they are made that way and aren't really 'gameplay' where you have people around etc...

Personally I can see graphical differences between the PC version and the PS4 version (but to compare the two is stupid, they are two different beasts), but the PS4 version is also much better that the PS3 version! Now let me clarify, if you zoom in close (about half way or closer) to look at your characters or the surroundings, it looks lovely, honestly it does.

When you zoom out really far and get the overview is where I feel that I can see SE kinda dumbing the graphics down for the console version, and things becomes blurred and not as sharp. But considering the fact that I don’t play with my camera zoomed out 100%, about somewhere in the middle, I think it’s lovely.

Zoning: WOW this is nice, it's as fast as the PC. There were no log delays when zoning from one area to another. I know the PS3 players always say it seems to take twice as long as the PC players, but this was quick, fast and smoooooth. Very well done SE! :D

So I was playing and it got dark... well yeah duh of course it gets dark....

BUT... seeing that night has come, this is what I wanted to see. On the PS3 it was very hard for me to see at night, everything got washed out in blackness, and it was one of the major issues I had with the console version. This looks, well... wow, like the PC version. It's not overly dark, and things don't seem to be getting washed out in blackness like I experienced on the PS3 version.

As a New Player: So I let my husband play it as well (he has never tried FFXIV before, not a big MMO person), and he LOVES it! And he said he might even play, which is big... he quit FFXi after 1 hour claiming it as too hard and too much of a difficulty curve, yet he was enjoying FFXIV on PS4!. Over all, as I watched him play etc... the game is beautiful and I am very happy with what I saw.

I think the people upgrading from PS3 to PS4 are going to be very very happy!

Vita Play: So I brought it up on my PS Vita... runs amazing, but defiantly more so for if you feel like doing something that doesn't require reading/writing... it’s very very very hard to read and to message anything on the vita system. This isn’t a surprise, honestly, but there you have it~!

I have no where else to post this, but from that linked article, this is absolutely amazing to me, lol:

"Players have played Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn for 418 million hours, equivalent than a little less than 48,000 years."

I'll honestly never understand why people argue so much about their prefered gaming platform.

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Originally Posted by mouseno4

Really, i was never expecting it to blow the PC away. Just somewhat on equal footing.

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A $600 system will /never/ be on "somewhat equal footing" with a $2000 PC. That expectation is unrealistic.

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Originally Posted by Kezy_Kaatapoh

Idk, everyone I know who's played both PC and PS4 say the PS4 is pretty much on par with PC. Some people in-game on PS4 were saying it ran better than their high end PC on max settings. I don't think the PS4 beta is lackluster at all.

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Their high end pc isn't "high end" then. Reason why Ps4 would run better would be because it uses the appropriate graphical settings for it's power. Which if your friends had real high end PC(s) there would be no such issue, and if there was a frame rate drop all platforms across the board would be experiencing it.

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Originally Posted by AdvancedWind

I'll honestly never understand why people argue so much about their prefered gaming platform.

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Blame Nintendo and Sega, they're the ones that started this confrontational marketing strategy.

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Originally Posted by Mardel

Their high end pc isn't "high end" then. Reason why Ps4 would run better would be because it uses the appropriate graphical settings for it's power. Which if your friends had real high end PC(s) there would be no such issue, and if there was a frame rate drop all platforms across the board would be experiencing it.

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A High End PC isn't going to run "high end" if the software that runs on it is holding it back. Even unoptimized graphic drivers can hold the PC and/or the software back. It is more complicated than a console as consoles have the advantage of fixed specs.

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Originally Posted by LemmingKingXXX

Blame Nintendo and Sega, they're the ones that started this confrontational marketing strategy.

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Because Atari, Mattel and the other console makers of the 70's and 80's got along so well right?

you're disgusted by the looks of it on ps4? go check it out on ps3 then lulz.. you'll have a heart attack... coming from ps3 myself, it looks quite amazing compared.