Graphics vs Aesthetics

[Gramul]

I think this game has great aesthetics, but looking at the videos on how the game was made, it seems they made it top priority when designing this game. All the characters, creatures, and equipment have incredible detail and it's easy to tell a lot of care went into them, but level design, the battle system and many other important parts of the actual game play seem to have taken a backseat and where thoroughly underdeveloped at the time of release.

The hugely important part of having actual things to do in the game seems to have been mostly ignored and they just filled it in with glorified dailies (our guildlieves). That's something that can't hold people over for too long. The repetitive nature and restricted structure of such elements make for dull game play. As for Behests, that's little more than giving parties an easier way to grind every 30 minutes.

The thing I miss most about XI, and the thing I was looking forward to when playing XIV, was the chance to progress through various challenges and roadblocks. Things like getting my chocobo and airship license, getting AF armor (though to be honest, I never got that far), and raising fame to open up other features in the game. It's hard to get a sense of advancement and accomplishment when the game is almost completely open to you from the beginning. And that leads me to my next problem.

The game lacks a sense of adventure. In XI, going from town to town for the fist time was kind of a big deal. Sneaking past monsters far more powerful than you, going through several areas with varied terrain and design. It was all very engaging. In this, all I have to do is take the slow boat from the town to the desert and it's just a hop, skip, and a jump to the next city. Also in XI, there was a crossroads for the towns, the Dunes, in XIV, the crossroads is basically Ul'Dah, another city, that automatically makes Ul'Dah the most populous city regardless of its importance to the storyline.
Moving from Ul'Dah to Gridania is also very jarring. Going from a Western American style desert to a deep, lush and twisted jungle is not good for aesthetics. The jungle itself, is far too grid like. It may have been easier for design, but it takes us out of the game. Even the sharply angled paths in XI where not so startling.

All in all, the designs of the characters and objects are superb, but the world and interactivity need a lot of work. Keep on trucking Yoshi, I know you can do it!

[Duelle]

The thing I miss most about XI, and the thing I was looking forward to when playing XIV, was the chance to progress through various challenges and roadblocks. Things like getting my chocobo and airship license, getting AF armor (though to be honest, I never got that far), and raising fame to open up other features in the game. It's hard to get a sense of advancement and accomplishment when the game is almost completely open to you from the beginning.

I would not want an exact repeat of the chocobo license quest (mostly because I'm no longer playing games for 6 hours straight). I can agree with a quest to get a chocobo license, but a little bit more reasonable.

I'm more partial to character advancement being part of the leveling process (rather than being separate to create a double grind the way it was in FFXI). SE pushed that button with me too much in XI, to the point where I started measuring my play time in hours wasted instead of hours played.

The game lacks a sense of adventure. In XI, going from town to town for the fist time was kind of a big deal. Sneaking past monsters far more powerful than you, going through several areas with varied terrain and design. It was all very engaging. In this, all I have to do is take the slow boat from the town to the desert and it's just a hop, skip, and a jump to the next city.

In all fairness, most of FFXI's zones had no beaten paths as ways to getting around. The problem with that was the fact that due to the world being so treacherous to move around in, the world felt less tamed. This clashed with the fact the three nations have been around for a while, and was much more fitting for a "new discovered world that is being settled into as we speak" type of game. This was further compounded by the lack of presence of NPCs outside of the outpost NPCs, which detracted from the cohesiveness of the world.

We should also keep in mind the setting of XIV. Prior to this looming Umbral Era, we had a world so peaceful that the governments had to fund things like leves to give the guys with weapon and magic training things to do to keep them from the less-attractive alternative (a life of crime, as best exemplified at the beginning of FF Tactics).

Also in XI, there was a crossroads for the towns, the Dunes, in XIV, the crossroads is basically Ul'Dah, another city, that automatically makes Ul'Dah the most populous city regardless of its importance to the storyline.

The arrival of a "hub" city was inevitable. Part of me thinks everyone will move to Ishgarde once that's opened up to everyone (provided it is used as an actual city).

Moving from Ul'Dah to Gridania is also very jarring. Going from a Western American style desert to a deep, lush and twisted jungle is not good for aesthetics.

This is not much different from zoning out of Valkurm Dunes into La Thiene Plateau, though.

The jungle itself, is far too grid like. It may have been easier for design, but it takes us out of the game.

I agree on the lacking design of the black shroud. I hope they get around to changing that as the game continues to see major changes.