A shout out to the 1.0 players still here today

[Gemina]

I opted not to play very long into 1.0 due to the hardware requirements. It was just not viable to spend the money to upgrade the system to play something that wasn't in that good of shape. I wanted to see where the story was going, but it was just a slog to do, and when surrounded by 50 bots at every aetheryte, made the game feel like the developers didn't care about it.

Even for 2.0 I replaced the video card as a consequence of killing the previous card, and then when I got a 4K monitor that card was suffering so I justified replacing it with the top-end card (GTX 1080 at the time) when Neir:Automata came out.

Playing with good hardware makes a huge difference in playability. In some cases I can't believe anyone could bear playing this game at 720p on a laptop. There is just so little screen real estate at that resolution. At 4K I actually pushed down the UI widget sizes.

I totally get that. Just looking at the facial expressions of the former director, I could easily tell that his heart was not into the development of this game. He didn't care about it at all, and how he was selected likely goes along with some of the other questionable decisions SE has made. They really are hit or miss. But they hit a series saving grand slam homerun with Yoshida.

Interestingly enough though towards the end of 1.x, the game actually seemed to be playable. At least in comparison to how it was in the beginning. However, I know all about being so bloody committed, that you endure whatever is dished out. I don't even know if I was around for 1.x, if I would have made it to the end. That is why I made this thread to acknowledge the players who have done so.

[NessaWyvern]

FF14 1.0 had almost no publicity in NZ, I hadn't even heard of it until FF14:ARR came out, I never saw it in any of the game stores here. I would have played it if I knew about it :P I wish there was more videos of 1.0 around, I would love to watch the whole story. I have the "unspoken" orchestion roll, and it sounds pretty amazing, it makes me wonder what all of the other 1.0 music is like.

But yeah, I remember watching the fall and rise too, and how Yoshida was saying that the original devs hadn't even looked at their competitors in the MMO market, and that the teams were disconnected from each other.

[Miste]

1.0 was definitely an experience and I, alongside my boyfriend, played throughout pretty much all of it from the beginning disaster until Yoshida took over and gave us jobs and revamped a lot of the systems of the game and also until the last night where the 1.0 servers shutdown for good.

The game was slower paced, the graphics were very pretty, but I did not have a computer strong enough to really appreciate them to the fullest.

I did pretty much all the hardest content even in 1.0 and some of it was definitely unique and I likely won't forget it.

End game savage dungeons were a thing and they were tough. The Dzemael Darkhold, The Aurum Vale, and the Cutter's Cry we have today are a weak shadow of what they were in 1.0. They required a lot of coordination and time and only if you got lucky you would get a Darklight piece of gear from one of the boxes at the end which was pretty much 1.0's savage raid gear (they re purposed it to the Darklight gear we have now that was used at 2.0 launch as philosophy tome gear.)

A lot of fond memories despite its failings and I definitely prefer where the game went after Yoshida took over and after its relaunch into ARR though, but I can definitely appreciate it for what it was and for the unique experiences.

I do understand where you are coming from because the experience definitely stayed with me, and I even made a few tribute videos for 1.0 of my character and my memories/experiences so if you are interested or bored you can check them out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo9XLLhIKZ8 Just my tribute of my character and story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEWSBZzva2I This was a tribute to my LS back from 1.0 that we did a lot of content with. My boyfriend and I parted ways with that LS later, maybe halfway through 2.0, but we made some good friends. Not many play anymore unfortunately.

My computer wasn't that great for the game so it doesn't do the graphics much justice though.

I am sorry you missed out on it : ( but at least you can enjoy being with the community now!

[Reynhart]

For me 1.x had a lot of very interesting, yet flawed, concept. It saddens me that in order to "fix" them, they were almost all dropped, ending in a very straightforward though enjoyable reboot.

[Addicted]

I still miss being able to repair other people's gear.

Despite all its flaws, I genuinely enjoyed 1.0. The game did start to improve tremendously when Yoshida stepped in and that time period where the entire community looked forward to the rebirth were magical, even if I have mixed feelings about the finished product. However, I'll never forget the complete butchering of the old Thaumaturge class. Here's the old ability list if you'd like to check it out http://www.final-fantasy-14.org/abil...&page=1&ipp=50

[Niqote]

Haha. Don't forget the skill chains and how Aurum Vale used to poison you all through out! Oh and fire burn parties, EVERYONE equip fire! Even the Tanks!

Destroying your relic pre-weapon on a failed meld was so damned painful too ^^;;;

[Aylis]

Those were indeed crazy memorable times. I remember being part of the great gobbue wall. I remember taking part of the chaotic fun that was Ul'dah. I made a video of it, I remember seeing up to four Nael Darnuses running around. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mTkNFrDqtY I remember the moon growing ever closer patch by patch waiting to smash us. I remember the chilling Dalamud Answers replacing the outer world music. I remember zooming around from place to place searching for Atmos.

I only wish the final day could have had more positive memories. I remember sitting with my friends and linkshell and linkshells gone past. Then the garleans came and with them the connection issues. I remember fighting between logging in, staying logged in. I remember giving up until something told me inside to try in the last five minutes. I managed to log back in and through the server lag teleport out of Mor Dhonna and out to La Nosche to run to my favorite spot in the land and log out for that last time.

[Issac]

No reason to respect any of us anymore than anyone else to be fair.

I liked 1.0, and get insulted when I admit it online, still.
I must have forgotten to sign the hive-mind contract that was going around back then.

Sure, it had it problems, but so does the current version.

I still miss some elements of 1.0.

[Gemina]

Awesome post and links...

Thanks so much for sharing! My face is a bit destroyed now, but it's ok. I really enjoy videos like these, and can't wait to make my own someday reflecting my time in this game. I'm actually, finally almost done with 3.x, and will see what I can do to make a nice little montage of my time through ARR and HW before proceeding to SB

You are so right though. I can't change the past, and just have to focus on my enjoyment now. I'm glad there are peeps kind enough to make videos like these that can at least give us a peek into older times.

[Gemina]

I still miss being able to repair other people's gear.

Despite all its flaws, I genuinely enjoyed 1.0. The game did start to improve tremendously when Yoshida stepped in and that time period where the entire community looked forward to the rebirth were magical, even if I have mixed feelings about the finished product. However, I'll never forget the complete butchering of the old Thaumaturge class. Here's the old ability list if you'd like to check it out http://www.final-fantasy-14.org/abil...&page=1&ipp=50

Some of those are interesting spells. I never got much into blast maging but recognize many of those spells as WHM and DRK spells from FFXI (two jobs I did play). The effects are also similar. I think I will search around a bit for the abilities lists of some of the other jobs as well. Thanks for this!