Remember - you cannot review an MMO until 6 months after it's launch - which is today

[AngryNixon]

I feel like I've just been raped by capslock...

Also, I think a fair estimate is one year before serious reviews. At least that's a little more in keeping with SE's dev schedule for, and I hesitate to use this term but for lack of a better one, "fixing" the game.

[Rhianu]

i think ffxiv is on its way to becoming a decent game in 6 months; will people still play it in 6 months? thats a hard question to answer. we live in a generation of instant gratisfaction and "i want it now". why do you think so many kids now have A.D.D? they start at a young age using iphones and computers and when they go to school, u put a book in front of them and they lose interest so fast doctors think they need medication to keep them focused.

i honestly dont think anything that is released in the future is going to hold people's attention like it did 5 years ago. we're living in a new age. i want to try out tera, gw2, and blade and soul but im pretty sure i will find something wrong with it and not play it ever again

I just recently bought a Retro Duo and have been playing through FFIII (aka FFVI), and I have to say that the argument that games are becoming faster paced A.D.D is a load of crock. FFIII/VI is hella fast compared to FFXI and FFXIV. Games in the past 10 years have been getting slower, not faster. Some of the slowest games ever conceived by man were released between the years 2000 and 2010, the decade of slow-ass games. Developers are just finally realizing that the slow trend was a bad idea, and now games are speeding back up again like they were in the 1980s and 1990s.

[RockDustt]

I never got to play FFXI when it first came out, i only got the US version, with the 1st expansion. Anyone know how good of a game it was before it's first expansion?

[Abriael]

I never got to play FFXI when it first came out, i only got the US version, with the 1st expansion. Anyone know how good of a game it was before it's first expansion?

The first three months were quite the disaster. SE actually waived the fee for the second month (besides the first free one). The first 6-8 months were pretty much a rollercoaster with rules changing pretty much overnight, party play being encouraged and discouraged repeatedly and so forth.

[AngryNixon]

The first three months were quite the disaster. SE actually waived the fee for the second month (besides the first free one). The first 6-8 months were pretty much a rollercoaster with rules changing pretty much overnight, party play being encouraged and discouraged repeatedly and so forth.

This just makes me think of revising my 1 year estimate to something slightly different. 6 months after you start paying for the game is probably a better point at which to review it.

[Eekiki]

The entire first year of FFXI in Japan was pretty disasterrific. It wasn't until the Zilart expansion was released that SE finally turned it around.

That's why I'm expecting to see the first expansion pack happen before the PS3 release.

[Rhianu]

This just makes me think of revising my 1 year estimate to something slightly different. 6 months after you start paying for the game is probably a better point at which to review it.

I say an MMO should be reviewable on launch day. It's fine to change things and add new content and systems over time, but the game's underlying mechanics should be complete right from the start.

The fact that FFXI had a rough start does not mean having a rough start is permissible for other MMOs. The start should be smooth.

[Blitz0309]

Bottom line. 6 months after i first opened my CE box and installed the game... it still feels the same as it was in open beta. Incomplete, boring, cumbersome and a huge letdown.

Review it then, review it now... not much has changed. Sure we can give them infinite time to make a good game and some of us might...

But really, if this was anything but SE with a FF title... it would of burned by now. This is like the release of tribes 2.

[AngryNixon]

I say an MMO should be reviewable on launch day. It's fine to change things and add new content and systems over time, but the game's underlying mechanics should be complete right from the start.

The fact that FFXI had a rough start does not mean having a rough start is permissible for other MMOs. The start should be smooth.

I agree in principle.

But the reality of this particular launch is that this was not the case. Given the particulars of this situation it is perhaps illogical to impose the general standard of review-ability at launch. Reviewing this game by that measure is simply reviewing it to come to your (general your) conclusion that it isn't up to par and therefore deserves a low mark. If you are seeking to give the game a bad review despite it's obviously incomplete state then you've achieved your goal and need go no further in the analysis.

A more accommodating time frame for review then should be adopted allowing them to present you with what they truly deem is a complete product (loosely determined by their willingness to charge the monthly fee for it). At the very least then you can come to a realistic rating of the game instead of one that is "doomed" to an inevitably negative conclusion from the start.

One might equate this to giving them a pass but slamming them from the word go doesn't accomplish much either.

A mitigating factor though about the unavoidably negative review from launch for this game is that it sets a benchmark from which to move forward from for future reviews.

[Onidemon]

Something which discourages me about the state of this game is the following:

Closed Alpha
"The game only started testing phase guys shut up."

Closed Beta
"It's only a beta stop complaining so much the point is we need to test the problems."

Final Closed Beta
"Open beta will open up a lot more content and most of the problems will be fixed."

Open Beta
"It's still only open beta and a lot of the content is closed off and there are still bugs to work out."

Collector's Release
"Some of the content is probably being held off until standard release."

Main Release
"Let's give it a few months."

December
"The development team is being restructured. I bet they have a lot of content done already and it will probably be released around the time the PS3 release was supposed to come out, which is in March. I'm gonna wait until then to make an opinion."

Now
"Let's wait about 6 more months."

The game will never be "finished" as it's an MMO. As for when it'll be in a completely better state than it is now, don't be hopeful that it's going to happen anytime soon.

WOW you nailed that one! Props!

But honestly this shows how much this game has just stalled for like a year and SE is still asking us to wait and wait....