Stuff I Miss From 1.0

[Fensfield]

The optimal armor system was dumb. I can't take this post seriously.

The optimal armour system wasn't fundamentally dumb, it just wasn't properly balanced. At all. Plenty of games have proven systems like that work perfectly well with the right balancing but sadly the rush to launch v1.0 just.. didn't allow for that. Still at least we'll be getting that dress pattern setup soon-ish..

As for me? Well, despite the inevitable spitefulness is going to come from people on account of it apparently just being.. 'fun' to hate on the original without bothering to think why Yoshida and co. kept the things they did..

Well, I do miss the combat, even in its oldest form. I also desperately miss the original mystery driven format of the main scenario - it's fairly obvious most of the stuff we're just told at the start was actually plot twists originally (like Hydaelyn being sentient and the source of the Echo, for instance).

The old Coerthas was certainly nicer I think.. and I Really miss the old Lalafell walk, although the new run is alright. The race-specific armour designs are also a horrid loss.

Beyond that? The original main scenario format was more my style, too. It was a bit far toward the hapless bystander for the main character sure, but at least it tried to make you feel like you were part of the game world. The new one on the other hand is obsessed with setting you apart from it, constantly shrieking about how awesome and special you are, even going so far as to lie with things like claiming you beat party-only bosses single-handedly.

I also miss the original designs for the game that were never realised at all, but.. I guess looking back we know now that the problems with the engine would never have allowed for a lot of those things; not without Hiromichi Tanaka getting the same rebuild opportunity Yoshida did.

Oh and the old animations. I don't buy the 'necessary for gameplay' argument they offered in the least. Simple overrides would have solved that. No, it was budgeting reasons - probably in the long term especially.

For the record though? I still blame Wada for basically everything wrong with the original launch, even if Tanaka and Kitase did screw up a fair bit. The buck stopped with him, he had the power to veto the launch, and his track record suggests he was behind a lot of the lies about the game and all. It's.. I'm glad he got fired in the end, even if he did manage to scapegoat the blame for the v1.0 debacle on anyone besides himself.