Did Yoshida went a bit too far by cloning WoW?

[Jynx]

Ramblings:

Oh man take that out of hidden tags very well written post.

[Xairos]

The thing is, SE had to make a game that (a lot) people wanted to play, like wanted to play at least once a day. As I currently believe, SE is learning. They had to make 2.0 something approachable, and over time I think they will make it more of their own thing with quirks and less generic mmo-elements. They have to make SE money first and then SE will loosen the reins.

[Shougun]

Oh man take that out of hidden tags very well written post.

<-- blushing, looks a little smug. Take away smug and leaving blushing.. lol

Everytime you post you make me reread the bestiary and monster AI thread.. excited and a bit sad lol. There were a lot of little things that made the 1.0 experience not as dreadful as it could have been (game being released before done can do that to you), but the AI was no little thing to me.

[Jynx]

Just glad someone else cares about these sort of things these days.

[Sterre]

Seriously why ask for proof if you aren't going to read it? You must have missed “We looked to World of Warcraft. What they have there is pretty much what most players are used to. We’re using that as a base.”. I am glad I didn't bother digging up the other articles and interviews in relation to dungeon design, gear progression and DF

I read it. I just don't see Yoshi saying that they COPIED anything. Saying that they used it as a base, is not same as just straight copying stuff. They used WoW as an inspiration, not as something they just took stuff from and copied it. But really, everyone's free to have an opinion, and I'm not going to change mine.

[Gamer3427]

I love the game, but there is nothing in common to FF series except

- Items and use animation
- Some bosses/enemies
- Graphical style
- Music/Sound
- Somewhat okay story
- Fanatical, rude and disrespectful fanbase

Um. You do realize that those things are the pretty much the only things that FF games really have in common right? And even most FF games don't have those in common if you think about it.....

- Items and use animation - Can't really argue this that much since items tend to have slightly different uses from one game to the next, (Phoenix Down and potions in particular range in effectiveness and rarity from one game to the next). You also have to account that most of the items are just carbon copies from every other RPG out there in terms of what they do, (though some RPGs do change the name, the effect is the same). Potions, ethers, status items, ect.

- Some boses/enemies - Again, most FF games don't even remotely use the same enemies from one game to the next, or if they do, it's generally just the same in name and slight ability type. The only thing that stays relatively consistent are the summons/aeons/primals, and even then we have A LOT of game unique ones that never show up again. Honestly, FFXIV has more enemies and bosses that are references to other FF games than any other single FF game, (with the possible exception of XI, I never played it and have no idea if it had references). Particularly in the case of primals and bosses, the only ones that are relatively common recurrences are Bahamut, Ifrit, and Titan, with a few others such as Alexander, Leviathan, and Carbuncle, (now a pet rather than a major summon), showing up once in a blue moon.....

- Graphical style - Um. This is only with the most recent games really, and even then not so much. Compare the looks of early games like II, and IV with games in the middle generation like VII and VIII, and you'll see a drastic change in graphical style, then compare the middle generation games with the more modern generation like X and XIV, and even compare those to the real "modern" FF style of the XIII series and XV. There is a slight similarity in graphical design, (even looking past the upgrades in actual capabilities), but most of the "Graphical Style" is also shared with other JRPGs. There isn't really a set "FF Graphical Style" between the games. There will always be similarities, but there is nothing really in common between all the games in the series......

- Music/Sound - This is pretty much the only thing that stays the same between the games in the series, so nothing to say here really.....

- Somewhat okay story - The stories of the games vary greatly in quality, and everyone's opinions on them differ as well. You see them all as being "somewhat okay", but just about every player who enjoys story in games has at least one FF game that they feel has a great story. That same story may be seen as weak by other players though. For example, I didn't enjoy FFVII's story and characters anywhere near as much as other players, but I'm a huge fan of the ways that both X's and IV's stories play out even though some people see them as "just alright". The quality of the story, and people's opinions on them vary from game to game. In terms of XIV's story, I feel that once you get past the first 20-30 levels of it, it starts getting better, and truly starts to get good after the end of "The Ultimate Weapon". It's far from perfect as a whole of course, but it's still better than the stories of a lot of games I've played in recent years, and certainly better than most MMO stories out there. My point though is that this particular category is opinion based....

- Fanatical, rude and disrespectful fanbase - This varies greatly depending on who you're talking to. Claiming this is a FF signature though is a bit drastic, given that out of all the players I've interacted with in XIV, about 75% of them say that this is their first FF game they've ever played. While I won't deny that the fan base of some of the FF games can be a bit opinionated, (to put it lightly), I think that the problems here are a combination of that and MMOs in general. I've never played an MMO with more venomous players, but I've also never played an MMO with nicer players. It's all dependent on which ones you interact with.....

While I did digress a bit, my overall point with this was pointing out that this is easily the most FF game out of the series. There's more references and things in common with past games than in any other game. We have gear that's direct replicas of the gear of characters from other games, we have bits and pieces of lore everywhere that references past characters, and we have a few minions, TT Cards, and events that directly show us characters from other games, (Wind-up Kain minion, Squall Card, Lightning event, ect). We also have Cid and chocobos, but honestly, this wouldn't be a FF game without them. XIV has more in common with the series as a whole than any other single game, since most have very drastically different systems within them and make only the vaguest of references to other games. The FF series as a whole only shares the name, and no game really feels like another unless it's a direct sequel or spinoff. In my opinion, this is most certainly a FF game above all else, and was clearly created by people who are not only fans of the FF series as a whole, but who wanted to create a game that appeals to FF fans....

In regards to the OP's claim that this game is too WoW like, while I never played WoW much, (I wasn't a fan of it at all, much less enough to warrant the subscription fee), I can see some similarities in terms of general design choices, but when it comes down to it, this game and WoW are very much different games. I was never an MMO fan before XIV, and a large part of that is that this game offers an experience unlike anything I've ever had in MMOs before. If it does have WoW elements, then I don't mind them, as the over all experience is quite different, and in the end that's what matters.....

[Arixtotle]

As someone who played WoW for many years I can say that this is NOTHING like WoW. UI stuff and little QoL things are just part of the MMO genre now and are not taken from any specific game.

[Kotemon]

And WoW carried over elements of EverQuest and EverQuest carried over elements of Ultima Online and Ultima Online got its roots from stuff like The Realm Online and Neverwinter Nights (the AOL version)..

I just wish more people remembered that EQ and EQ"2" were the standard before WoW, when comparing everything today to WoW. Or that Ultima Online was the FFXI of its time. It had the franchise of Lord British and its still running. Or that Phantasy Star Online was the first platform MMO when the genre was only associated with PC's. Including its interface and controller set up (still using variations of it in 14 and other brand titles.).

[Kaedan94]

I just wish more people remembered that EQ and EQ"2" were the standard before WoW, when comparing everything today to WoW. Or that Ultima Online was the FFXI of its time. It had the franchise of Lord British and its still running. Or that Phantasy Star Online was the first platform MMO when the genre was only associated with PC's. Including its interface and controller set up (still using variations of it in 14 and other brand titles.).

Rose-colored glasses and ignorance are to blame, really.

To be frank, most MMO gamers nowadays don't even remember Ultima Online. WoW was most likely their first MMO, and they believe the BS passed around that WoW did all this stuff first and that WoW was the only successful MMO, etc.

[Nadirah]

Rose-colored glasses and ignorance are to blame, really.

To be frank, most MMO gamers nowadays don't even remember Ultima Online. WoW was most likely their first MMO, and they believe the BS passed around that WoW did all this stuff first and that WoW was the only successful MMO, etc.

And don't forget, EQ2 actually launched *before* WoW did.

Most folks might not be old enough to remember Ultima Online.

When the original EverQuest released, I was in my senior year of high school, and when I broached the subject to my mother... "You mean you want me to pay monthly for you to hog the phone line playing a game? How about no?"


Because all we had in town at the time, was dialup. And we only had one phone line. And I was still using an old ass beat up 486 that likely couldn't run it anyways.

I didn't get into MMO gaming until 2002, with Asheron's Call 2: Fallen Kings as a result. Then beta tested WoW. And then played it and EQ2 off and on for 10 years. And beta tested most MMOs to date since. -_-