Lost faith in Yoshi-P?

[Gentaro]

I guess. You've played one FPS you've played them all. Its why I dont play them. Good point, its why there are Genre's in the first place right. Maybe some people are expecting ARR to be a new genre of online gameplay.

Well there is a difference between FFXIV 1.0 and WoW/Rift/Aion - but I have problems seeing the difference between WoW and Aion And Rift and possibly ARR

[ZakarnRosewood]

Well there is a difference between FFXIV 1.0 and WoW/Rift/Aion - but I have problems seeing the difference between WoW and Aion And Rift and possibly ARR

Yup, I guess you can't if all you focus on is the smaller picture. I can see the bigger picture including the housing system, golden saucer, crystal tower, bahamuts labyrinth, all new world to explore, archanist, 300+ quests (doubt every last one will be a gopher quest and I dont understand the crying about that), three separate overarching stories, Raids, story missions, PVP, FATEs, Hamlet Defense, and much more that I may have forgotten or has yet to be revealed.



This amazing pic says it all.

[Darshu]

You're wrong, Zakarn. There are different styles of FPS games out there, but right now it just so feels as if every one of them are the same, they play exactly the same, and that's shit. It's same reason that caused every MMO to feel the same today. CoD happened, and WoW happened. People complain about both and how influenced every other game has been ever since, and how much we don't want new games to be just the same. But FPS is not CoD, nor is MMORPG WoW. It's the other way around, and there's a myriad of ways of doing it. Naming content doesn't make the game different.

[Levian]

One can look at and smell feta cheese, but until you tasted it you wont know if it was really any good or not. You are entitled to your opinion, just as others are entitled to theirs. An opinion is just that but at this point I would dare say it is not a fully informed opinion but thanks for sharing. In my opinion Coke-A-Cola is better than Pepsi, does that mean I think Pepsi drinkers are wrong for liking it? No. Have i based my opinion of the look of their can? No, I have taken the time to try it before declaring it is not my preference. Wouldnt you say it's the more honest thing to try it before basing your opinion on the snippets we have seen so far?

I watch Video Game reviews all the time but i do not base my liking of a game on just that review. I like to at least try a demo before deciding if it is for me or not. But i do not expect my opinions to sway you to think rationally about anything, I am expressing my views regardless in hopes others might at least try it before throwing in the towel.

I'll agree my opinion is not fully informed, in spite of having played through most of what's available in Alpha. No one's opinion will be fully informed until ARR is released. That's the point I was getting at.

The way I see it though, the feta cheese comparison doesn't quite apply. You see feta cheese is a completely unknown quantity to me. It could be good, could be atrocious to my palate, but I won't know until I get hold of it and give it a shot.

It would be more accurate to compare it with a known qantity of distaste, let's use liver. I know the flavor, and know full well I despise it. However, there are forms of it that I've not tried. Liver patee could be ok, but since I already know I don't like liver I'm like to avoid it. Now should circumstances require me to get through a tidbit of liver to get to a piece of London broil come hell or high water I'll get through the liver cause I likes me some London broil. But if I have to slog through 2 pieces of liver to get to a small cut of London broil, you can keep the damned London broil AND the liver, and I'll go to Wendy's and grab a burger.

This is more applicable, because I have tried a great many of the features they've added in other games, even before Alpha, and already know to some degree what I will like and what I will probably not like. Instances are fun to me, you'll rarely see me object to them. Questing solo is horrendously boring and atrocious, and I can't think of much that would change my stance. If I have to run go-fers to get to some level between 10 and 20 so I can instance grind and never so much as sniff another go-fer quest again that might be ok. If it doesn't work out that way then I'll be that much more likely to hang up MMOs (much like I've hung up FPS's) and find some other hobby.

At any rate, the whole point I was getting at, is that like many others, I've played many a game. I know what suits my palate and what does not. Therefore, I actually can assess a game before getting hands on time(though it's obviously preferred to get hands on time first) and fairly accurately judge whether or not I'll enjoy the game. Not that I can accurately grade it on a scale of 1-10 without playtime, but I can easily grade it as "has potential" or "probably best left on the shelf."

Right here and now, I would still say FFXIV has potential but there are certainly things about it that make me want to lean the other direction. Things that I knew I wouldn't like when they first announced them, and still don't like after getting hands on time with the game.

[SkyeWindbinder]

Okay, the truth is this: No matter how many games you may have or may not have played before, and no matter how many features ARR has or lacks for, there are going to be people who don't like the direction the devs have taken with the game, and there are going to be people who do.

I, personally, love the direction the game is currently going in right now. Adding quests to give people missions to do that are more exciting than repeating a few leves over and over, adding chocobo breeding and a housing system, and the new classes/jobs look/sound amazing. To tell you the truth, I really don't give a crap if ARR will have some things about it that other MMOs have in their games. So what? I couldn't care less because there are enough things about this game that differentiate it well from others, things I love about it that make me choose to pay a monthly sub for this game rather than a monthly sub for another. And whatever similarities it may have with other games, if it makes experiencing the story, quests, and features in ARR enjoyable I welcome them with open arms.

To me, comparing ARR to other MMOs that have the same features is a lot like comparing pies. ARR is my pie of choice, cherry! Yummy! Yes, it has buttery, flaky brown crust like apple and raspberry, but the fruity filling that defines it is different enough to where I can make a comparision, find some differences, and choose a preference. Some people may not like that the crust covering it is the same as the others. Some people may not like that the size of cherry is the same as the others. Me, I don't care. If it's good, and there are enough differences to make me prefer it to the others, who cares about the few similarities it has to others? It just seems like nit-picking to me, but then again that's just my humble opinion.

The way I see it, the things FF14 has that no other MMO has are awesome. They have me drooling to play the game. As for the things it has that are similar to others, I find those things to be good as well. I love an mmo with a lot of quests in it. I find jumping to be very convenient. And the revamped UI looks spectacular. Granted, I don't know how it will play, as I have yet to really try it (never got my alpha invite, lol). But so far I like what I see. Some people, on the other hand, don't. And if there's not enough differences in this game compared to other games as far as they're concerned, then that's just their opinion. If they find the similarities so strong that they decide not to play it, then that's their choice. Everyone has two eyes, but no one sees the same thing. In my opinion, FFXIV doesn't really need any defending. Because it looks AWESOME, and the way it plays I believe will plead it's own case. Granted, as I said, not everyone will enjoy it. But I believe the majority of people who play it will, and I believe that FFXIV is gonna hit the ground running and doing fine. I may be wrong, But I doubt it. Either way, we'll see.

[kazaran]

THe man and his team did a great job, with more to come. There are going to be "I love you Yoshi" shouts for awhile.

[ZakarnRosewood]

You're wrong, Zakarn. There are different styles of FPS games out there, but right now it just so feels as if every one of them are the same, they play exactly the same, and that's shit. It's same reason that caused every MMO to feel the same today. CoD happened, and WoW happened. People complain about both and how influenced every other game has been ever since, and how much we don't want new games to be just the same. But FPS is not CoD, nor is MMORPG WoW. It's the other way around, and there's a myriad of ways of doing it. Naming content doesn't make the game different.

They all stemmed from Wolfenstien 3D and Doom way back in the day, just like MMO's (and the pie descrioption below) they all have the same formula, different guns, different maps, different badguys, but the core is the same. shoot the fuck outta everything you see... It would be like me complaining about the next Halo game and wanting them to make it more like Dirge of Cerberus where there is levels, spell shots, weapon upgrades and all that good stuff. As much fun as i think that would be i would expect them to look at that game and how successful it was (not very) and then decide if it would be a smart business move to make. I cant expect them to do that just for me and a fringe group of people who might actually buy it.

@Levian:
You make some good points, this might not end up being a game suited to your tastes and that's a shame. It is near impossible to make something that appeals to EVERYBODY. With the failure of 1.0 and the goal of an MMO to create an environment that will attract the most players, they need to appeal to a large audience. with the pie analogy, you may prefer mince meat pie but the most common and most popular pie is apple, so when a restaurant wants to get a lot of people to eat their deserts, they are going to have apple pie on the menu. If they can only have one pie on the menu then as much as you might want them to have mince meat pie on the menu you will probably have to go to another restaurant to get what you like. (all this talk about pie is making me hungry...)

Anyway, if there is a point to what i'm trying to say its this. At the end of the day SE and FFXIV is a company and they need to make money to pay their employees and keep a game running, they have already been running at a loss for the past several years and they have devised a plan to recoup their losses and create something they can be proud of. We will have to expect them to play it safe with some of the core components of the game. They are still trying to innovate with their choco breeding and housing, etc. While some people were hoping for them to do more with the game and expectations may have been beyond physical limitations of the technology of today.


I really appreciate all the feedback in this thread, there have been a lot of well thought out ideas and opinions posted and I want to say for the record I do not think any of them are wrong. Thank you for contributing thus-far and please keep the discussions going.

[Riv]

I dislike that it's becoming a generic wowclone.

[strallaalaa]

[DarkkenMoneybags]

From most of the previous post I have read I see a lot of pros & cons, in which I can agree & disagree on. Yoshi has saved XIV from complete failure & loss of die hard fans of Final Fantasy franchise. He has also in fact worked with other companies such as Blizzard, NCsoft, & a few others. Taking the Director position over a falling popular title was very stressful & hard work because he had to convince CEO Wada that XIV wasn't going to last if changes weren't going to made with the game one being graphics engine was too extreme for commonly used gaming PC's. I support Yoshi & Wada in giving XIV a phoenix down so players can play a game till ARR was ready. Now, for the disagreements & disappointments, from the way I see it some poor considerations have been made by Yoshi & his team. One being from what I see in the latest videos of ARR it does have WoW Elements & mounts should be abolished from jumping. Alpha testing and the selection process, Yoshi has stated numerous times that active current players are important in letters and interviews for feedback in getting these players who left the game to return once beta starts. So it seems as of lately a large selection of players who have active accounts but not active characters/players were chosen for alpha. Where does that put the active current players who are waiting and wanting to test? They stayed strong, continued to play the game & pay in its many changes of Version 1.0, got legacy(hopeful they're true about that) because they believe in Yoshi & his dev. team in delivering a product for them to test & a game for them to be able to play with many new & old players. Another part of the selection process was regional/global invites being JP/NA/EU, JP/EU getting the most invites & NA getting the lesser out of the three & continue to get less invites which is unfair. Yoshi states he would like every active player to test Alpha who has applied. Current players are still waiting they would like to see a couple or few more servers added for testing so they can have their chance in seeing & testing the game before you move to Beta-Alpha. Players haven't lost faith in Yoshi, they just moved him into player view purgatory in hoping he stays true in what he says now since XIV is in transition.