Did squenix make a mistake by investing too much in graphics and not enough in

[Rhomagus]

I think some issues have to do with the engine while others are design flaws that would've occurred regardless of whether resources were pooled into graphics. For example, the effects a disconnect has on how the game works can be horrible ex: A fully buffed 3-4k guildmark leve disconnect will net you a total of 0 guildmarks if you disconnect in the middle of the leve. I think this is true even if you are in a party as the rewards aren't given until completion of the leve. Redesigning the rules in how that works could greatly reduce the frustration that coincides with failing leves due to the game. They've also recently commented that they've discovered why characters stay "logged in" even after they've been disconnected for up to 15 minutes. Yet, the question remains, if more resources were pooled into programming rather than graphics would we have a smoother experience?

There were many complaints during closed/open beta that were not listened too and many players were vastly disappointed at launch. Tanaka, at the time, had stated that open beta was mainly for fixing bugs and that's the majority of what they were doing instead of fixing foundational design concepts that people disagreed with. This frustrated a lot of people and rightfully so. If I'm not mistaken XIII used the same engine and there was a great deal of criticism of the core gameplay of that as well.

When it comes down to design concepts and how the game actually plays, I don't think it's a graphical issue.

When it comes down to how smooth the game runs (transferring items form PC to retainer or selling items) and the frequency of disconnects I think that may be a side effect of the crystal tools engine.

Before the optimizations in 1.15 or 1.16 I don't think I would've stayed with this game at all. It seemed like it was abundantly clear that they were literally trying to waste your time with how slow basic actions like opening the menu and equipping gear took. After they optimized that the game became playable, but nowhere near pay worthy and I think the majority of problems with the game today are content/design related. Then again, some things like linkshell management options have been blamed on the programming foundations which they're reworking for release in 1.19.

So it looks like they can fix the problems even without scrapping the Crystal Tools engine. Whether or not they should've used Crystal Tools in the first place is a whole different story but I'd chock it up to either a rushed release or a slow dev team leading up to September 20, 2010. I mean, Rapture was first seen in August of 05'. That's five years. A kid could've started college and graduated with a bachelors in computer science while taking a year off to go backpacking through Europe or something in that time. 5 years, under old gaming industry standards, you'd be playing with next gen hardware. The current generation has extended that to 10 but we're already halfway through.

[Renshi]

Well, I don't care about what they did wrong. They just did it wrong, and they are trying to fix it the way we like it, which is a great thing.

[SilvertearRen]

My biggest concern is that one year from its launch, FFXIV will still be half the game it should have been. We are weeks away from this day.

[Victor]

My biggest concern is that one year from its launch, FFXIV will still be half the game it should have been. We are weeks away from this day.

I feel the same. While compared to the way it was one year ago I think we can all agree that things have changed for the better. Unfortunately it is not nearly enough. The reason people raged and quit in the first place is still heavily a part of the game and that core problem has not changed at all yet. I appreciate the work that is going into XIV as well as its direction, but truthfully it's just not enough. Not for everyone else that will never read this forum because the game, to them, is just so bad (sometimes I get frustrated and don't blame them).

[MariyaShidou]

Consider Eve.

Consider the whole lot of their new Incarna expansion, I'm doubtful somehow

[Anonymoose]

It may have been a mistake at the time, but with so many other mistakes along with it, those graphics may end up being its saving grace. By the time other MMOs catch up, XIV should finally be ready for some long-fought praise.

It's the fully-voiced ST:TOR that makes me nervous about new standards, though.

[Ilean]

It may have been a mistake at the time, but with so many other mistakes along with it, those graphics may end up being its saving grace. By the time other MMOs catch up, XIV should finally be ready for some long-fought praise.

It's the fully-voiced ST:TOR that makes me nervous about new standards, though.

14 graphics aren't that great really. We have very high polycount player character models and that's it. World is standard low count, particle effects are meh, dynamic lighting doesn't exist, DoF and SSAO are broken to hell......

I am the first to agree that it's not about how many polygons you use but about what you do with them but this works for the competition too...

[weeble]

14 graphics aren't that great really. We have very high polycount player character models and that's it. World is standard low count, particle effects are meh, dynamic lighting doesn't exist, DoF and SSAO are broken to hell......

I am the first to agree that it's not about how many polygons you use but about what you do with them but this works for the competition too...

i was soooo excited bout playing tera, thought it be out this year though, lo and be hold though they released a date of fall 2012, sucks, hopefully ffxiv will be in good shape by then, but luckily i play enough hours in a day to enjoy both games. but man i can't imagine not playing this one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcuoSPVXKMo&hd=1

anyone know if it possible to even mele bot in a game like this with no target system? i think the 2games ffxi and tera are 2 worlds apart though an most the player base won't hurt it, but in my case i can't wait to see that game in action.

[Nakiamiie]

I was just watching the Jimquistion on pc gaming (NSFW) and I was wondering, did sqaure make a mistake by over investing in graphics instead of gameplay and content?

Jim makes a great point. Consider Eve. It's one of the older MMOs (people are still playing UO and EQ though) and despite its age, it's still growing and save for server lag, runs well. Or take the old infinity engine games (all 9000 of them), despite looking old, those games are still fun to play. People still love planescape and I was even thinking of playing the BG games again for the nostalgia of the glory days of bioware... before they turned to the dark side... before they joined EA.

Yes, some PC games can benefit from hardcore gfx, but a lot of them (doom, ultima 4 which is free on GoG, retticlear, the two MOO games, the earlier civ games, etc) don't look all that great anymore. But who cares? They are fun and you can still play them.

Aren't they investing in gameplay and content now? We'll have both graphics and gameplay/content soon. The best of the best.

[Evangela]

I don't think it's a mistake

Good graphic is not a mistake

They need to create a game with good graphic and good gameplay