My Review about this game

[Robotukas]

Part 1 (do forum 3000 character limitation). Please continue in the reply for Part 2

WoW was released in 2004
Guild Wars 2 was released in 2012
FFXIV was released in 2010 and failed
FFXIV Reborn was released in 2013

I was playing a game for a bit. I did enjoy the Main Story and Side Quests, the Raid and the dungeons. I think this is their strongest side, but all the excitement is failing the more I play, and that's the reason here.

Storage. Players have two retainers by default. To access the storage player must do many clicks, to look at another retainer - again many clicks. I get - maybe before 2010, companies had less smart developers who thought smarter about how to implement. Why is each storage tab attached to an NPC?

Also imortant thing to mention. After logging out, the player must log back in, open all bags, and visit all retainers to sync with the system, and when the player crafts, it will be helpful.

Gathering materials. Why in earth are chopping trees, mining, and fishing characters becoming so weak in low-level zones, and the most terrible thing is that you can't swap gear if the player is in battle? I thought Japanese game developers had more advanced thinking and were smarter.

The game has a logbook for minerals, trees, bonatica, and fishing. Why is it missing for other professions? For example, Leatherworking, Cloth?

Playerhouses - Player needs to check every day if a slot is available for rent, and if the player has a slot when they need to pay the monthly fee with game currency to keep it. This is the stupidest implementation I've seen comparing with orher MMO games, but I understand why it was done that way: poor database structure and poor integration between the database and the game itself.

Wardrobe - Interesting fact is. WoW implemented the basic transmog system in 2011 and the true transmog Collection in 2016, where FFXiV did in 2018; this is equivalent to 2011. Guild Wars 2's wardrobe was released in 2014 as an account-wide game with no subscription. Again, poor FFXIV database design and integration.

[Robotukas]

Part 2 (Please read Part 1 if you missed)

What is happening with different platforms?
Windows is not the same as Steam, so players have to buy separate upgrades. The difference is supposed to be the operating system (Windows, Mac, PS, XBOX), not locked to a vendor or have joint Windows/Steam.

One more thing. The player must pay monthly for an extra storage tab (Retainer). Poor database design and Integration.

Personally, for me, it comes down to game design and features: It is poorly designed; some elements are still unfinished after 16 years since the first release; and developers don't have a clue how to take ideas from other games and make them better.

I don't see a future in this game anymore, and no matter how good the story is, some mechanics and poor design make it unenjoyable for me. Probably if I were 14 years old, I wouldn't notice or maybe not.

Naoki Yoshida (Yoshi-P) has repeatedly stated: The game has legacy architecture constraints. WoW or Guild Wars 2 or other games had as well, but they manage to migrate rather than build more and more on top and in the end become too late. Personally, for me, this comment from Naoki Yoshida (Yoshi-P) is not an excuse.

My advice would be to start with a database upgrade first with profesional who. nows about databases and game designers who follow the latest innovations, but not old-school. If you want the game to last longer, make it worth paying monthly and make life-quality improvements.

Some quality-of-life issues can be fixed in the game if it had an option for add-ons.

Kind regards,

Player

[Jeeqbit]

Most of that would be fixed with database migrations as you said. It seems obvious to me that they either don't know how to do this, or are too afraid to. It's really not that hard. I don't know anything about it and even I've done it, by simply googling how. And now you can just get an AI to figure out the correct DB commands to migrate it the way you want.

It's just how SE is.

For what it's worth, I've watched streams by the WoW and ESO directors, and both related having the exact problems FFXIV has experienced. Both those games have had the problems FFXIV has had at some point, or still have the same problems, according to them, but they have either solved those issues or are currently doing so.

[Robotukas]

Also, the login system is just so annoying. I don't have an issue with BattleNet or Steam because it doesn't happen every time. But in this FFXIV game, every time I want to play, it asks for a One-Time Passcode on macOS, Windows, and even PlayStation 5 Pro. I have a feeling that in the company, there are people with basic skills and knowledge, or people who have never heard the word "Efficiency".

[Solowing]

Also, the login system is just so annoying. I don't have an issue with BattleNet or Steam because it doesn't happen every time. But in this FFXIV game, every time I want to play, it asks for a One-Time Passcode on macOS, Windows, and even PlayStation 5 Pro. I have a feeling that in the company, there are people with basic skills and knowledge, or people who have never heard the word "Efficiency".

Its like 3 inputs on PS4/5 Right and 2 down and X input if your pw is saved, if you dont have one time PW.

[Remolia]

The lamest things about this game - is poor netcode with very small datacenters (only 8 servers) with totally dead PF/DF if u are playing outside of prime times, and some DCs have dead DF and PF 24/7.

And that catch up mechanics is not free. Like, if u bought DT expansion, u can't play it right away if u have not completed previous expacs, only if u pay extra for the "story skip". So if u are a returner and want to play DT now, u have to pay, while in other games u can just play it, if u have a proper level to start the quest. Its kinda annoying for returner players, who saw the "new stuff", but "have to wait" and play the old stuff first, but some of them did not come coz of old stuff, they left coz of old stuff.

[TaleraRistain]

Most of that would be fixed with database migrations as you said. It seems obvious to me that they either don't know how to do this, or are too afraid to. It's really not that hard. I don't know anything about it and even I've done it, by simply googling how. And now you can just get an AI to figure out the correct DB commands to migrate it the way you want.

Are you talking about one tiny little database that you migrated and comparing it to a full relational database system with code accessing it? I'm not saying that devs may be avoiding looking into something or that the suits at SE may not be making the best decisions, but the reason that legacy system migrations can cost into the millions of dollars and take years to do is because it's not just as simple as migrating data to a new database. There is all the connections and making sure the code works and making sure systems can talk to each other and pull the data from the correct places. My company is currently on their 5th year of trying to migrate everything from our COBOL-based legacy system does to a new system in a different language and some of our devs are trying to get AI to help and things are breaking a lot. It's not always that simple if you want to do it right and have the same functionality or improved functionality.

[Jeeqbit]

There is all the connections and making sure the code works and making sure systems can talk to each other and pull the data from the correct places.

That may be the case with some systems, but I struggle to see how it could be that complicated in this game.

MSVC++ can find all references to code, for example, so that you can adjust all references to it to fit the new version of the data. An alternative and commonly used solution is to have a compatibility function remain as a wrapper, which is used for the Windows operating system itself all of the time to prevent things breaking, which may be useful for a scenario where lots of lua scripts are also referencing it. But even then, it's not entirely impossible to create software to search through thousands of scripts for references and it's a bit lacking in ambition to instead say "can't do it, it's impossible".

And then another option is to keep the old system and old database table entirely, but migrate people (and their data) to the new system upon login or upon access, if it can be done swiftly enough during gameplay. Once done, the old system can be hidden on their menu/UI somehow.

I do think they have done tasks this complex such as the stat squish and world visit. They've had no choice but to do it a few times now for CWLS and PvP Teams because they keep breaking/disbanding them and messing up player data with them, and having to figure out how to carefully restore it without conflicting with newer or existing data.

[Catwho]

Migrating a database from one system to another doesn't fix the underlying architectural problems by itself, and THAT is what is hard as heck to solve.

I work for an EHR software team and we had to rewrite some of our patient record system to handle record deficiencies (missing items that need to be added or reviewed before the visit can be closed.) Our developers ended up having to re-re-write it because our first attempt failed to take into account how much churn a record has, and you can't rely on the status of a child record to determine the status of a parent record when the child records can be in different states. We're still battling the ghosts of the initial architectural problems we overlooked, a decade later.

MMORPGs are complex databases with thousands of tables. Their solution for things like player storage has so far been to add in additional linking tables (like the chocobo saddlebag) or to refactor existing codes to cram more storage into the same tables (like the glamour dresser update that allows for outfit storage.) No amount of relational database migration is going to fix the complexity problem if they don't address the underlying architectural problems first.

[Gwenkatsu]

"Every structural problem in this software can be fixed with 2 mouse clicks."
- A Developer about a software project they're not responsible for

"I quit."
- The same developer 2 days after being assigned responsibility for said project

So with 40+ years of experience in software development under my belt, there's one thing I can say for sure: never listen to developers that are talking about other developer's software.
Now get off my lawn, kids!