What did FF14 have right, at launch?

[Funky]

Intense & almost too realistic crafting system. (in terms of material & tool usage.)

Im just amazed there has been absolutely no word regaring craftable furnitures for our housing etc.
Re-decorating our Mooghouses in FFXI was very fun & unique to many other mmo's at the time.

The basic foundation for the upcoming 2.0 world. (shame about the crappy engine)

Dodos.... the only thing that couldnt go wrong. lol

[Shurrikhan]

If they removed the lag and sped up the gauge I could see that system being very fun. That's just me though.

Seeing as I agree with everything you've said here, there's at least one more than "just me". :P

I would have loved for an improved stamina bar, a solid mage class base seen through to the end, and the physical level slightly reformed, rather than giving up on or sheerly deforming them.

[Nero]

Intense & almost too realistic crafting system. (in terms of material & tool usage.)

Im just amazed there has been absolutely no word regaring craftable furnitures for our housing etc.
Re-decorating our Mooghouses in FFXI was very fun & unique to many other mmo's at the time.

The basic foundation for the upcoming 2.0 world. (shame about the crappy engine)

Dodos.... the only thing that couldnt go wrong. lol

I found that somehwere the last weeks after Japan Expo.. no clue if its new or something leaked, but i didnt see it before or cant remember it being currently ingame..?! Maybe it is and i never realized it. XD

[Ksenia]

FF14 opening cut scenes and CGI grade graphics are still the standard I measure all other games by. It's the first game I ever played where it was my avatar that was in a cut scene. If I had the time and inclination I am certain I could do an entire animated movie just using in game footage.

I also liked the physical level. I really wasn't enthusiastic about losing it.

The combat was true FF style and they actually did a remarkable job emulating almost turn based combat that FF became known for. Had the animations been a bit more elaborate and time consuming it would have went uncontested but the opening version of FF14 had just the right timing, just the right amount of lacking that the critics were able to rip it to shreds. I remember when the game was new many critics tried to malign the cut scene aspects but every game that has launched since FF14 have them and they still don't compare to the elegance that FF14 delivers.

It deserved better than it got.

[Colino]

I think they did NMs dropping craft items, not gear, right. I thought it was cool and unique but of course they went on to cater to everyone and made it so that they drop weapons and gear directly.

It's too bad because I really liked the sort of Monster Hunter style loot.

I found that somehwere the last weeks after Japan Expo.. no clue if its new or something leaked, but i didnt see it before or cant remember it being currently ingame..?! Maybe it is and i never realized it. XD

He's always been in the game. Just like the leatherworker making handbags and stuff.

[Funky]

I found that somehwere the last weeks after Japan Expo.. no clue if its new or something leaked, but i didnt see it before or cant remember it beeing currently ingame..?! Maybe it is and i never realized it. XD

Looks like something from the carpenter's guild. (havent been in the backroom lately...lol)

Clearly there's alot of "Housing" furnitures in there, and im sure they were
gonna add the recipe's sooner or later for furnitures, but since we never
got a Mooghouse / Housing i guess there werent any point in adding them until "Housing" release.

[Nero]

Looks like something from the carpenter's guild. (havent been in the backroom lately...lol)

Clearly there's alot of "Housing" furnitures in there, and im sure they were
gonna add the recipe's sooner or later for furnitures, but since we never
got a Mooghouse / Housing i guess there werent any point in adding them until "Housing" release.

Yeah figured it would be something i dont see, cause its somewhere in the "back". XD

[Colino]

Yeah figured it would be something i dont see, cause its somewhere in the "back". XD

There's actually a lot of interesting NPCs that I didn't notice until recently. The cooking guild has some funny ones and I only visited the miner's guild for the first time a couple of months ago, it's a really interesting spot to say the least.

[Mirage]

FF14 opening cut scenes and CGI grade graphics are still the standard I measure all other games by. It's the first game I ever played where it was my avatar that was in a cut scene. If I had the time and inclination I am certain I could do an entire animated movie just using in game footage.

FF14 has good character models/textures and animations, but the game's graphics as a whole aren't really cutting edge.

First, there's the poort LOD blending going from background to foreground that looks terrible no matter how high you set your settings, and then there's a distinct lack of dynamic shadows. Additionally, the graphics engine is really inefficient. To be quite honest, the original Crysis has better (or at least just as good) graphics than FF14, and doesn't need as powerful a computer to deliver them. That game is also like 4 years old, and the only thing FF14 does better is character models. Better character models are however a sign of 3D modellers doing a good job, not engine programmers.

-edit-
Oh, right. I guess that is something that they did right. FF14 did have very good character models, I'll give them that. Now you can't accuse me of being a complete negative nancy.

[Xatsh]

Things they got right at launch:

1) All job playable on 1 character
2) Game not being a solo quest grind from start to cap
3) Incapacitation
4) The fact monsters interacted with you in the field outside battle (still pissed this was removed)
5) Graphics