Back from Rift....

[Abriael]

Yeah. Luckily FFXIV had already reached that stage even before Cataclysm launched.
I guess that means it's ahead of the competition -.^/
(giggle)

At least FFXIV is more likely to retain it's playerbase (as long as the game is improved and polished), when the next wow clone launches. It may prove to be quite an advantage on the long run.
And MMORPGs are a long run affair.

[Rinsui]

At least FFXIV is more likely to retain it's playerbase (as long as the game is improved and polished), when the next wow clone launches. It may prove to be quite an advantage on the long run.
And MMORPGs are a long run affair.

Let's hope you are right. Then again, there is a mighty bunch of things they can improve on.

My problem is not with them being different from some other game (btw: I never played WoW.)
My problem is with them going the extra mile to be "innovative" by inventing square wheels.

[Abriael]

Let's hope you are right. Then again, there is a mighty bunch of things they can improve on.

My problem is not with them being different from some other game (btw: I never played WoW.)
My problem is with them going the extra mile to be "innovative" by inventing square wheels.

Sometimes you do need to go to that extra mile in game development, especially when you play in a market that's as stale and stagnant as the MMORPG one.

It's still to be seen if the "square wheels" are really square wheels, or just round wheels with some odd bumps that will roll even better than the previous implementations once some much needed sanding is done.

[Rinsui]

By the time they released the game to the public,
paying customers like me and reviewers around the
globe, each of those wheels had 4 razor-sharp edges.

As you, I hope they can improve enough to warrant
a complete re-review. They are already moving into
a good direction. But releasing the game in the state
it was was an unforgiveable impudence they are rightfully
bleeding for now.

[Abriael]

By the time they released the game to the public,
paying customers like me and reviewers around the
globe, each of those wheels had 4 razor-sharp edges.

As you, I hope they can improve enough to warrant
a complete re-review. They are already moving into
a good direction. But releasing the game in the state
it was was an unforgiveable impudence they are rightfully
bleeding for now.

"Unforgivable" is a quite big word. Releasing a game in an unfinished state is very, very far from something I'd ever describe as "unforgivable", as there are quite a lot of factors that contribute to that decision, and not always they are completely controllable by the publisher or even more by the developer.

Oh, as a reviewer myself, I can easily tell you that the opinion of 99% of reviewers means absolutely nothing. Many of them didn't even play the game past level 10 (without even counting those that wrote their review starting with a very clear bias against Square Enix, since bashing them and other Japanese devs seems to be the "in" thing to do nowadays).
*that* is something I would describe as approaching the level of "unforgivable", as it goes quite clearly against journalistic integrity.

[ckb]

Let's hope you are right. Then again, there is a mighty bunch of things they can improve on.

My problem is not with them being different from some other game (btw: I never played WoW.)
My problem is with them going the extra mile to be "innovative" by inventing square wheels.

You sir, hit the nail on the head. The way the game is Vs. what I expected is like throwing a baseball at the broad side of a barn and hitting an office building in the city.