Lost faith in Yoshi-P?

[Hyrist]

I'm very concerned with the fact that ARR at this point looks like most other MMOs on the market. As others have said over and over, if we wanted to play those games, we'd be playing them.

I have to ask, and this is not a general question but your concerns has raised this issue.

Given that this is an MMO genre, what do you want out of it, for it to be such a departure from other MMOs?

I'd hate to say it, but those who are looking for similarities, or fear similarities, will find them regardless. But those who are looking for the differences, will also do succeed. The response to the Quest footage has been rather indicative of this fact.

And while the game is designed to have wide appeal, we have to keep in mind that some of what is being displayed is not the sum of the game. F.A.T.E., Primal hunts/battles, the Storyline itself. The Class/Job system, all of these already detract away from common MMOs in their own way.

I do share some concern in the way SE's been displaying the fundamentals of the game to us, and how they work. They are not what is going to attract a new players who have not already experienced the highlights of 1.xx. In my opinion, high level play with the classes, Primal Fights, Crystal Tower, Bahatmut's Labyrinth, etc. should be at the forefront of their advertising, even in Alpha. These gorgeous vistas are amazing, and the questing is smooth, but elements that strike us as familiar to the Final Fantasy franchise is what's going to excite us.

Low level play is going to seem fairly mundane and boring in comparison to all of this, although I am quite sure they were excited to display how smooth and controlled the quest and battle system looks to a brand new player. I still feel they need to do more along the lines of the Primal Fight trailers we had before.

But as far as 'If we wanted to play x game, we would play it." Please rest assured, this game is different. Perhaps not wildly so, but it may not need to be. Setting is a gigantic part of MMOs. It wasn't WoW's or any other game's fetch quest system that pushed me away from them, ultimately. These weren't necessarily bad, though we tend to like to blame them a lot.

What I feel is lacking in those other MMOS is the hook. That 'one thing' that keeps you invested in the game. Final Fantasys, especially the ones Yoshida has been aspiring too, have not lacked this quality to make you want to be a part of that world.

So while, yes, this trailer did seem a bit bland. It did not shake my faith or raised concerns about the quality of the game.

It just makes me criticize their marketing yet again.