What did FF14 have right, at launch?

[Eekiki]

I know I posted this in another thread, but another thing SE did right at launch was pre-release hype.

Whatever game SE was advertising in this trailer, this was the game I wanted to play.

[SuzakuCMX]

I know I posted this in another thread, but another thing SE did right at launch was pre-release hype.

Whatever game SE was advertising in this trailer, this was the game I wanted to play.

It was a flat-out lie.

"Gods-decreed sacrifice" -> I haven't seen anyone be sacrificed yet. I saw a guy get run over by a Goobbue and Ifrit steal some crystal energy.

"War rages unchecked, with no sign of surcease." -> None of the NPCs except the Ala Mhigans were thinking Garlemald was going to go to war, nor was there any war actually going on until the GC Quests came about and now we have random Imperials all over and Beastmen trying to kill our hamlets.

Also most of the footage is the CGI or the opening cutscene or a player walking in an area you don't go to very often at all.

[Eclipse]

The reason the XIV Opening Cinematic suffered was because the game did not reflect the what was in the video.

There were many spells that were represented in the video that we have yet to see, most notably, and I am guessing at the names...

Enfire
- To be cast on others and self
This is where the Lalafell casts a fire spell on the Archer's bow to bring it a blaze and the Archer shoots the fiery projectile at the Molboro.


Force Field
- To be cast around a target or targets to protect them for a short amount of time for any immediate attacks. It was a beautiful looking effect.
This is when the Lalafell notices the Hyurs moment of weakness as he has been knocked down and stunned in the water and to avoid him getting hurt she reaches her arms into the air and summons a protective dome over him, stopping the attacks.

I realize that we have weapons that have an additional fire attack and the spell Protect which echos an effect around us when we are hit but the actions and results are different. The dome is completely intact after the attack and it is a visual constant around the player both protected by and casting it.

[Jinko]

I don't think the question is worth asking (or even answering), especially when what the did wrong out ranks what they did right.

That's like saying the bread bun of a cheeseburger is nice when the rest of it isn't.

[bobbygunz]

I don't think the question is worth asking (or even answering), especially when what the did wrong out ranks what they did right.

That's like saying the bread bun of a cheeseburger is nice when the rest of it isn't.

Of course it's worth asking, because otherwise the wholesale destruction/change of FFXIV could be for the worse if SE are set upon removing features which don't need changing in the first place.

[Nakiamiie]

• MONSTER BEHAVIOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Bring it back in 2.0! It's ridiculous to have monsters act like robots -- please!!!)

• Physical and class levels were split (give me back my physical level! ;_; ).

• More cross-class abilities (but I prefer the ability-scaling-to-your-level feature we have now -- stronger!).

• Disciplines of the Hand and Land were seen as a true adventurer classes, not complements (but with Hamlet defence, we are slowly seeing it come back -- I still maintain having basic fighting abilities and party bonus skills would have been more awesome).

• Stamina and SP, but they were poorly implemented (they definitively could have been better, but Yoshi-P decided to go with the standard exp path and timers -- he did the change well though!)

There are probably more, or not. Don't be mistaken though, I much prefer the current version than what we had overall (and where it was headed). These are just specific things that I believe could have been kept to make it even more awesome.

[XxOstiaxX]

Aside from Monster AI and maybe the graphics ? nothing else, everything else was really horrible....

[Dragon]

I think there are alot of things. Im just going to say one though.

The idea of SP, and how it was accumulated by using abilities.

Yes I know there was issues with it. But instead of dealing with those issues they removed it altogether and tacked on a generic XP system. Unfortunate in my eyes. An innovative, or at least uncommon, feature removed instead of ironed out.

EDIT:
I don't give a rats behind how messed up something was at launch. Im asking what concepts or features they had that you were a fan of, regardless of the issues that plagued them.

In my opinion it was bugs and lack of effort and quality that ruined FF14 at launch, not the ideas and features in the game. Its just that almost everything was laggy and half baked. Instead of fixing these interesting features, most were just axed and common MMO features were slapped on.

With the OP's edits in mind, this is my list -

• Lack of auto-attack (as someone that used to hate voicechat, I hate auto-attack even more; I'd rather use voicechat 100% of the time than ever see auto-attack again)
• Character Models
• Realistic Aesthetics & Terrain (Thanalan actually looks like a savannah; Coerthas actually looks like a north mountainous region; La Noscea looks like an islands plain; only place that is screwed up is The Black Shroud - but that's because even in RL, even the best natural forests/jungles suck big)
• PLvl/CRank/SP System
• NPC Companions ('specially my Miqo'te NPC companion!)
• Mob AI
• Technocracy (Garlemaid is likely a technocratic republic, making them instantly awesome)
• Feeling of being more like a mercenary instead of a simpleminded adventurer.
• Optimal Level/Class Gear
• THM-Healer
• Conj-DD
• Stamina
• Self-Respect
• Artistic Integrity
• Artistic Vision
• Collision Detection

Of course it's worth asking, because otherwise the wholesale destruction/change of FFXIV could be for the worse if SE are set upon removing features which don't need changing in the first place.

And never mind the fact we're talking opinions here. No one is being forced to respond to the OP.

Honestly, XIV is already quite risque ('pillowhouses', miqo'te NPCs offering questionable services, leve quests involving creating jewelry for genital piercing, and of course my NPC companion talking about spontaneous orgies and sex with beastmen), and with Japan's lax outlook on nudity, I'm surprised XIV hasn't already crossed that line

It's because SE appeals to the western world just as much, y'know? The same western world that believes anything with a nude human must hereby be sexual in nature, the same group of people that believe that because they think of women's breasts as sexual toys, so too must everyone else.

...why do I not remember this? XD; Just what companion did you choose, anyway? Nothing of the sort coming from mine (female Duskwight Elezen).

On-topic, Jinko said it pretty well. I really can't think of a single thing the game had right at launch personally. Whatever may have been there was probably blocked out by how absolutely horrible every single other aspect of the game was.

It's the Miqo'te companion.

[Arcell]

It's the Miqo'te companion.

Actually it happened with the female Hyur companion too.

A lot of the ideas at launch had potential but were unfinished and poorly implemented. Some of them could be good if tweaked or actually finished but the game was pushed out in the state we got it in. They made some incredibly stupid decisions in how to implement the half-finished systems though and a lot of them were made even worse because of it.

Fortunately or unfortunately this is now Yoshida's game and he's going to do with it mostly as he sees fit. 2.0 is going to be where we all have to decide if it's the game we want to play.

[Zantetsuken]

I'd say the design and coloring of the gear was much more realistic/historical and gave the world a concrete feel.

Things are getting a bit too outrageous now with Ul'dah looking more and more like a mardi-gras parade every day.