What is this I don't even...

[Mamba]

Regardless how badly the article was written I found the reaction from Ben Kuchera a bit strange.
There are far worse comments on some other actual news sites towards the journalist who has written something controversal and yet the heated debate goes on.

If you write such an article (which, come on lets be honest here, was made to flame) you stand by it and take the blows like a man. But now, by closing the comments and by that last comment from Ben Kuchera I get a feeling that these people are not professionals at all, they are just random people like you and me who have decided to start reviewing games. Their word weighs nothing.

Regarding the article, I have to agree with everyone here, it was really badly written. My university essays are better written than that and I am not even English. It makes me very sad to think that this could be the future of journalism...

[Kallera]

Regardless how badly the article was written I found the reaction from Ben Kuchera a bit strange.
There are far worse comments on some other actual news sites towards the journalist who has written something controversal and yet the heated debate goes on.

If you write such an article (which, come on lets be honest here, was made to flame) you stand by it and take the blows like a man. But now, by closing the comments and by that last comment from Ben Kuchera I get a feeling that these people are not professionals at all, they are just random people like you and me who have decided to start reviewing games. Their word weighs nothing.

Regarding the article, I have to agree with everyone here, it was really badly written. My university essays are better written than that and I am not even English. It makes me very sad to think that this could be the future of journalism...

Well if ben wants to judge the source of his misguided information as immature fanboys, I have no problem judging Penny Arcade as a bloated unprofessional tabloid of gaming news.

This can't be their first rodeo, and they are acting like it is. He invited fans to come with reasoned responses, and chides us when people do so.

And I would think angry emails would come with the territory of any opinion writer or journalist. I'm not defending this behavior by any means, but these are individual actions, not the Anonymous protest ben accuses abriael of pulling before closing the thread. if msnbc or hell even blogging organizations had this kind of response I'm sure there would be no discussion threads ever, and bloggers would reign supreme.

My point is I've seen more controversial blogging organizations act more professional than what was displayed here. And this only serves to foster division among their audience between trusting their word and looking into the game's information for themselves.

That's not proper journalism.

[Abriael]

They may be wrong to judge an entire community based on a few bad eggs, but then it that is all they have to judge us by, who can blame them? And what of others who stop by for a look later on?

But of course that's not all they have to judge the community by, as there are tens of rightfully negative but well educated and well argumented comments on that article both there and here.

And he's very fast at evading the question when asked how many comments and emails he received that were so terrible. There's really no reason to believe that those emails or comments represented the majority or even a large percentage of the total, and in all honestly I really doubt it.

Whether it really happened or not or whatever the actual percentage is, it's rather obvious that he's using the few as a convenient excuse to avoid looking inwardly and admitting to himself that the article may have something wrong.

I can't honestly feel any sympathy for that attitude. When a good writer sees that his article is causing overwhelmingly negative reactions, first and foremost he thinks at what may be wrong with his article and his writing, he doesn't go look at what may be wrong with his readers.

[SkyeWindbinder]

Here you go, guys. A proper response to Ms. Prell's so-called editorial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaNWzTL4O8o

Feel free to respond to it with your own opinions, seeing as how we can't do that on the site anymore because an admin felt the need to shut down the forums due to a few people coming in and ranting. lol (Although not everyone was doing that, but hey, who's counting?)

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go back to cleaning and listening to The Gap Band.

[ClausL]

Here you go, guys. A proper response to Ms. Prell's so-called editorial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaNWzTL4O8o

Feel free to respond to it with your own opinions, seeing as how we can't do that on the site anymore because an admin felt the need to shut down the forums due to a few people coming in and ranting. lol (Although not everyone was doing that, but hey, who's counting?)

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go back to cleaning and listening to The Gap Band.

Wow, one negative article prompted you to do an hour long rant video?

Holy crap, you sound like you're on the verge of tears during the video too.

you're in for a wild ride, there's going to be a lot more criticism even worse than the Penny Arcade one

[SkyeWindbinder]

Wow, one negative article prompted you to do an hour long rant video?

Holy crap, you sound like you're on the verge of tears during the video too.

you're in for a wild ride, there's going to be a lot more criticism even worse than the Penny Arcade one

Calling the video a "rant" video when it's really just criticism of a janitorial piece - Strike One

"On the verge of tears"? I was holding back laughter during the entire vid! lol - Strike Two

Thinking I can't take negative feedback of a game I like, even though I'm admittedly one of it's strongest critics - Strike Three

Dude, you probably didn't even bother to watch the video, did you? lol You know what, nevermind. I've read your posts on this thread. I totally get you. I'm just surprised you responded with as much civility as you did. How about you tell me what about my video you disagreed with instead of making confusing and unfounded judgmental statements? I promise, you'll be taken more seriously. At least a little.

[ClausL]

I skipped through some of it, you repeated the same thing for an hour long, and you were definitely crying at certain points in the video. you started whimpering and choking on tears about 40 minutes in.

dude, some people just aren't going to like ARR. there's going to be a TON more articles like that.

[SkyeWindbinder]

I skipped through some of it, you repeated the same thing for an hour long, and you were definitely crying at certain points in the video. you started whimpering and choking on tears about 40 minutes in.

dude, some people just aren't going to like ARR. there's going to be a TON more articles like that.

So, you admitted you skipped through some parts, your found reptitition in some parts that you have not elaborated on, and you're still under the delusion that I was crying when I was arguably laughing the whole time...

lol Yeah, I think we're done here. Look, it's obvious you're a fanboy of Penny Arcade, or likely someone from there ticked off that the article was exposed for being badly written (wouldn't surprise me if you were Sophie or Ben) and decided to come here and let your feelings be known, anonymously of course. Well, that's fine. But I will say this: There have been PLENTY of editorials out there that have panned FFXIV, and I do mean plenty. Yet, this is the only one I've responded to in a way, and you claim it's because I can't take criticism of a game I like??

Dude, you have been failing on this thread for a while. For your own sake, I think you need to just... stop. Save some dignity, man. lol

[Fadigre]

This thread got big fast.
I got to page #9 then decided that things were going no where fast

Are these not things that can be fixed easily?

FFXIV‘s problem is in the imperfect, punishing implementation. I solo’d a monster designed for groups, only to have the game inform me once I’d killed it that I had wasted my time. If you’re too high level for a FATE, your contribution is ignored, regardless of how much time and effort you sink in.

There’s a good idea in the FATE system, but it comes across half-assed, and it’s not alone. You can click on one of your quests to be shown where you need to go on your map, but each area is displayed separately. Let’s say you’re in Gridania, which is divided into “old” and “new” districts. You pick up a quest in the old district, but you don’t see it on your map, so you click it to be shown exactly where it is. Your map view changes to the new district and marks the location.

You want to see how to get there from here, so you try to zoom out and orient yourself. The map only shows the new district though, and doesn’t mark the locations where players transition from area to area. Mind you, this is a place you’re relatively familiar with. Try to imagine being out in the wilderness, with quests sprouting off in all directions, and you have no idea where to go. One NPC handed me a quest and said, “I assume you know The Brannok?” Uh, no. No, I don’t.

Like most MMORPGs, FFXIV has plenty of “keel seex snow moose” style quests. However, whereas in most modern games those snow moose pelts would be extracted from your inventory automatically or with a double-click, I had to drag them into a screen and then hit a button to hand them over. Why? Why are there three steps when none would suffice?

This is why we have betas and these problems are small fry.
For example these don't require a new game engine -cough cough-

Whilst she has written an article based on no real experience in Eorzea I think she deserves a thank you for pointing out key parts of the FFXIV system that could use adjustment. Beta feedback all around!

I'd love to see her silly foot in her mouth come release.

[SkyeWindbinder]

Whilst she has written an article based on no real experience in Eorzea I think she deserves a thank you for pointing out key parts of the FFXIV system that could use adjustment. Beta feedback all around!

Now that I'll agree with. Although I thought her article was badly written, I pointed out that some points she criticized didn't sit right with me.

Like the map thing. You should have a clearer definition of how to go from point A to point B. If quests on the map are really that badly done, I'm definitely going to let SE know about it.