Out with the OLD, IN with The NEW -- A Look Back to Epicness

[Desia]

Unfortunately not.

A remedy for this kind of nostalgia might be visiting some of the million places in the real world that are far more beautiful than Lufaise Meadows.

Not really... Lufaise Meadows is infitinely better looking then most if the world... And this is comming from someone who lives in a 'paradise state' lmfao

[Dyne_Fellpool]

Please. For all intents and purposes, 1.0 was a completely different game.

[Venos]

Please. For all intents and purposes, 1.0 was a completely different game.

Shh, you knows its the same game and development team.

[Dyne_Fellpool]

It's almost entirely a different development team, actually.

[Jynx]

actually.

You sure you want to run down this path?

The only difference is really Yoshida the rest of the team was "Restructured" and shuffled around but very few people actually left other than Tanaka.

One should also point out that Tanaka in interview said he took a step back and let this exact dev team dictate the original course of the game due to pressure from his superiors to make a game as different from XI as possible. Tanaka had ideas but was hesistant to implement them due to these directives from his own boss and said that he let the team do most of the work on the mechanics of the game while we focuses on the base things such as lore.

Long story short asides Yoshida and perhaps a few others this is the exact same team that brought you the original game.

[Dyne_Fellpool]

[Organizational Changes to the Development Team]
To improve the service of FINAL FANTASY XIV, Square Enix has made the following changes to the development team:

Managerial Changes

Producer/Director
Naoki Yoshida

Section Leader Changes

Assistant Director
Shintaro Tamai (FINAL FANTASY X, Front Mission 5: Scars of the War)

Lead Game Designer
Nobuaki Komoto (FINAL FANTASY IX, FINAL FANTASY XI)

Lead Combat System Designer
Akihiko Matsui (FINAL FANTASY XI)

Technical Advisor
Yoshihisa Hashimoto (Next Generation Game Engine Development)

Lead Programmer
Hideyuki Kasuga (FINAL FANTASY XI, DIRGE OF CERBERUS -FINAL FANTASY VII-)

Senior Concept Artist
Akihiko Yoshida (FINAL FANTASY XII, Vagrant Story)

Lead Artist
Hiroshi Takai (FINAL FANTASY XI, THE LAST REMNANT)

Lead UI Designer/Lead Web Designer
Hiroshi Minagawa (FINAL FANTASY XII, Vagrant Story)

These members will make up the development team’s new core””a core dedicated to ensuring we achieve a level of enjoyability that will more than satisfy our customers. Under a schedule of more frequent version updates, the new leaders and their respective sections will strive for continued improvements to FINAL FANTASY XIV service operation and development.

http://diehardgamefan.com/2010/12/10...n-mass-e-mail/

These are just the "leadership" positions that were changed.
You really think that after 1.0 utterly failed and embarrassed the company that they DIDN'T fire almost everybody on that development team?

[Renik]

http://diehardgamefan.com/2010/12/10...n-mass-e-mail/

These are just the "leadership" positions that were changed.
You really think that after 1.0 utterly failed and embarrassed the company that they DIDN'T fire almost everybody on that development team?

They were replaced for launching an unfinished game with no content on it, hoping it would make money just for the name, not for making a bad game, unfortunately we can't see what they had planed for the original ffxiv, its fail was as exaggerated as the hype the actual game causes.

This said, what most ppl miss is 1.23, which was a decent game.

[Alukah]

They were replaced for launching an unfinished game with no content on it, hoping it would make money just for the name, not for making a bad game, unfortunately we can't see what they had planed for the original ffxiv, its fail was as exaggerated as the hype the actual game causes.

This said, what most ppl miss is 1.23, which was a decent game.

No, they were fired for making a bad game, a bad game that failed, if it was just the unfinished part they would have continued the original plan, not remake the whole game.

[Yamimarik]

For the actual topic at hand, here is how I feel about it...

I played Final Fantasy XI for close to 10 years. I started at NA release, which came with the basic game, and Rise of Zilart expansion, so FFXI already had 1 expansion when I started. It was my very first MMO ever, and I had no clue what I was doing. Obviously MMO's break away from traditional games in the sense of time sinks are much more grave, and you depend on others to actually help you and guide you through your adventures on that game.

FFXI was the most amazing game I've ever played to date. I loved the story and the characters sooo much! It's still to this day my favorite OST from any game I've ever played. I love the music so much, I constantly listen to it. I put FFXI on its own lil' pedestal when it comes to my favorite FF games of all time. If FFXI had been an offline game instead, I still would have played, just for the story, the music, and the characters.

There were things I didn't like XI, b/c XI wasn't perfect and I will never attest to that, ever. Personally it felt like a chore, and a waste of brain cells when having to level up. I hated that aspect and part, and the only reason I suffered through it all those years because most of all the other aspects of the game were so good. I didn't want an instant lvl 75 right then and there (though at that time in my life, being only 15 I'm pretty sure I did in that mindset haha...) but if I were still playing now, no I wouldn't want an instant high lvl as soon as I logged in. Crafting definitely required much dedication and effort, I didn't mind it as much, I just hated having to lvl subs for it (same for here, I hate having to lvl others just to be the most efficient in the one I enjoy the most.) Fishing was just god awful and I hardly touched it, though I got it high enough to fish up sole for sushi b/c it sold well when sushi was first introduced into the game (around CoP yeah?).

Another aspect I didn't enjoy too much, was the horrid RNG of some things. I didn't mind the drop rates for like Dynamis, or Limbus, or things in sea or sky, just because there was a high drop rate, you always saw something drop at least, even if it was something not so great, there was always at least ONE thing that dropped most of the time in those places. But for things like Leaping Lizzy or Valkurm Emperor, where even if you did out claim your competitors and won that part of the race, you still were not guaranteed a drop, which always unnerved me.

I personally even liked Abyssea, I thought it was fun and awesome and added a lil fast paced excitement that XI needed (or so I felt.) I won't delve too much into that, since I know most of everyone's reaction to anything Aby related. Over all I loved the game, it had many, many, many faults, and many, many ,many, many good qualities about it. But the most amazing thing there was for me in FFXI was...

....my friends! That is what truly made that game for me, going through all the crap and all the good stuff together with good friends made it all worth while, and it makes it all worth while here in FFXIV:ARR. Good friends really can make an MMORPG a much better and enjoyable place for ones self. Like I said, I still would have loved FFXI if it would have been offline just for the story, characters, and music period, but the fact that it was online, and the fact that this is online, the people you spend your time with on these games... that's what really makes it amazing! So no, I don't think FFXIV:ARR lacks "epicness" I've had some amazing adventures so far, some that could rival the ones I had in FFXI!

TL : DR - FFXIV:ARR so far has had plenty of epic moments for me personally.

[Purrfectstorm]

FFXI did a lot right and felt pretty epic. FFXIV has had its epic moments (for me it was AK or doing HM primals for the first time). However, things that are wrong with FFXIV (in my personal opinion) are:

- Itemization (Just bigger numbers on gear, no special traits, boring)
- Customization (No character builds or decisions to make)
- Hunts (mindless zerg fests, rewards too great for what they are)
- Repetition of content (more primals, HM dungeons, Coil, tomes, same old pattern)
- Content for endgame gear not varied enough (Coil, tomes)
- Team rope jumping is frustrating (feeling of being held back by others)
- Open world mobs too easy (no sense of world danger)
- Everything is instanced (no need to explore)
- Overboard on daily/weekly lockouts (sense of logging in to do a checklist every day/week)
- Missing player conveniences (being able to queue with chocobo out, for example)
- Hyped content that is disappointing (housing too expensive)

I know not everyone will agree with this list but I see these complaints a lot and I agree with all of them despite the fact that I do enjoy FFXIV overall. I really don't think I will stay for the long term if the game's direction doesn't change somewhat.