The fact of the matter is

[Godryc]

Can't agree more. Most of the time with this game it feels like the server controls the developers not the other way around. It would be great to know that these problems will be eliminated. If they aren't then I agree, the game will never make it. Just reading the forums you can see how everything, from simple usability changes (a sound playing when a tell is received) to more interesting and creative game play, is being completely hindered by the server and core programming issues.

Get it fixed and let us know about it ahead of time!!

[MrLion]

lol fix the in-game problems that you mentioned first then we'll see about performance...its true it needs a performance tweak and a good one too but right now its the least of their problems. You can't have a client-side UI if the game doesn't have the mechanics right.

[Chain]

I made a post similar to this a while back in a post begging for a party search feature. I'm all for bringing pt grinding back but the game has severe flaws other than just forming a group. Party play is far from what it was in XI, mob pathing i severely broken.

I was excited when I saw that they are planning to remove ranged attacks from the majority of mobs. I have some faith now that they may work on mob pathing as well.

Another thing that makes the game feel ancient is the "click here to do anything" button. For instance, the elevator in limsa, why do I have to ask and confirm to use it -.- then watch a small cutscene. It'd be quicker to take the stairs since it doesnt take two clicks and a movie. Why can't I just stand up if I try to run? Instead of having to open my menu and tell my character to stand up.

Admit it or not but there IS a standard in the MMO world for quality of life. It doesn't matter how much content you add, people are going to give up if you don't bring your UI and game behavior up to modern standards.

Allowing PC users to hotkey any menu or action would be a start. In fact, scrap the console idea all together and build the game around the PC. The fact that they are ALREADY struggling with memory limitations on the PS3 makes me shake my head for the future of the game, years down the road.

[AlphaDragoon]

Allowing PC users to hotkey any menu or action would be a start. In fact, scrap the console idea all together and build the game around the PC. The fact that they are ALREADY struggling with memory limitations on the PS3 makes me shake my head for the future of the game, years down the road.

Will never happen.

They're basing the future of the game on the PS3 release. Everything being done to bring it up to snuff is being done so it can be released on PS3, because unlike the West folks in Japan are perfectly fine with console MMOs/MMO-esque games (Monster Hunter on PSP/PS2, Phantasy Star Online, Phantasy Star Universe, etc). That's where they plan to make the big turnaround in sales and subscribers, not on PC. Matter of fact, I'd be more than willing to bet that the day of the PS3 release is the actual day they start charging us to play.

I do think the UI needs some work, but it will always be setup so a guy with a controller (which I'm happy for since I use a controller) can play it, too. The option for PC/Console "mode" on the UI, as they suggested earlier, would be nice.

[Winterclaw]

Another thing that makes the game feel ancient is the "click here to do anything" button. For instance, the elevator in limsa, why do I have to ask and confirm to use it -.- then watch a small cutscene. It'd be quicker to take the stairs since it doesnt take two clicks and a movie. Why can't I just stand up if I try to run? Instead of having to open my menu and tell my character to stand up.

Admit it or not but there IS a standard in the MMO world for quality of life. It doesn't matter how much content you add, people are going to give up if you don't bring your UI and game behavior up to modern standards.

You mean that having to click on an enemy twice to attack him or fumble around with a targeting system that makes you manually cycle through all of the 20 mobs in the area or decides to start moving the cursor on the action bar instead of targeting a mob doesn't live up to modern MMO standards?

Or a crafting system in where you have to scroll down to use special skills because the interface won't show more than 4 items at a time is a bad interface?

Or the lack of a proper AH that most games have is a bad idea?

[Chain]

The UI toggle is a decent idea but I doubt they ever do it.

This is not a game of lightning reflexes so they can't bring up any balance issues imo.

Also, keep pvp as far away from this game as possible please.

[Razor]

This is not a game of lightning reflexes so they can't bring up any balance issues imo.

Also, keep pvp as far away from this game as possible please.

When a monster is readying a terrifying attack that is going to take out a healthy chunk of my health, those miliseconds between the "A" key or the key bound to Sentinel matter a lot. I can't even count the number of times Sough or Backflip has hit me simply because my character on the server is about a second behind where I actually am. No matter how casual a game is, having the computer respond when you tell it to do something efficiently is a core aspect that cannot be overlooked. Its just like a car, so what if it has a slow accelerator or wimpy brakes? It matters a whole lot when you're a fracton of a second away from an accident. Same with actions in a game, most of the time I dont need Sentinel to activate with any urgency but there are times when I do and when it can't keep up I feel frustrated.

Also PS: you don't have to participate in PvP if you don't want to! You're an individual without the urge to fight other people, don't keep the rest of us individuals who do from being able to.

[RedHare]

I come from a AOL dial-up perspective. So the UI lag is obnoxious but I find myself pathetically used to it. Even with a golden /fix/ serverside, I can't imagine FFXIV running anything similar to a twitch.

Distance in battle and party orientation originally meant to be a key feature of XIV. (We see how convoluted that was with jaggedy terrain and mob placement.) But I wouldn't count it being completely off the whiteboard. Lining up distances and setting up some kind of attack pattern timing that related to player placement orientation mid-battle is sort of how Square handled tactical MMO battle ethics previously. That sort of planning does require battle to go at a slower pace than what most of us are presently used to, even for MMOs, to effectively 'set-up'.

I honestly don't know anything and only /speculate. I agree with the OP. And I look forward to conclusive info about the new battle system alongside any server-side fixes. I agree to the battle system perhaps was intended to make use of slower pace. IE someone mentioned the "Readying ____" line. Such things may had been planned as helpful for battles that revolve around extensive group timing. If there were magic wand to cure all lag issues, I think Yoshida would be all over it.

--And it is true that many Japanese games do revolve around gameplay not necessarily norm in the west. I feel like this is one of the most known things about gaming today. Why get upset at anyone for only pointing that out?--

[Delsus]

While I do agree what was said in the OP, please tell me i misunderstood you when you said the engine is

the already dated and dying old geezer of an engine

When the engine produces some of the best graphics there are, and only 2 games have been released using crystal tools. The engine is still new which is the problem, while it works flawlessly for the ps3 (see ffxiii) it still needs adaptations to PC, which has been said too many times to count and SE knows about the problem, the issue for them is isolating the few pieces of code that need changing in over 1 million lines of code, you need to work through it all testing absolutly everything. Changes to make the engine more stable isnt like changing a piece of code in a text file it takes time, which is what we need to wait on.

[Aistaraina]

Sure is awesome having everything in a game look like a pile of feces for several seconds before the game decides to load a good texture.

Never had that issue on any modern PC. Unreal3 suffers on consoles, yes.

More seriously though, while Crystal Tools might not be the most advanced engine out there in terms of technical specifications, the results SE has produced both times they've used it feature artistry miles ahead of anything that uses Source or Cry3 or whatever.

Portal 2 and Crysis 2 seriously beg to differ.

FFXIII may not be a good game, but the graphics blow almost every other console game out of the water, all without the noticeable texture popping or severe clipping issues most games made with third-party engines do.

Did you fail to notice how linear, and enclosed the FFXIII environments are? Of course you can render tiny little areas with no texture popping. For god sake, Unity3D can do what that game does.

So far they've shown that it works for them, and it's not a commercial engine so that's all it needs to do.

It does? All I hear is engine limitations and server issues as excuses left and right.

Stop being so narrow minded and bowing down to everything SE does. The engine fails. Period. From a technical, and graphical standpoint.