About Beta invitation

[ispano]

EDIT: Entire section removed for fear of NDA getting me suspended...oh well Left the part below since it doesn't mention ARR Alpha.


Seriously, why redo the graphics engine? WHY??? That's not what needed improvement, the original FF14 storyline and graphics were not things that needed to be redone when they decided to fix FF14. The original story writers were better than the new team, you can clearly see that because the cutscenes from the Main Storyline were drastically better than the Grand Company storyline, better use of the camera, better NPC reactions, much more dialog and we didn't need a full hardcore party to see the story (which was the BIGGEST failure of the Grand Company storyline,) we should be able to SOLO the ENTIRE storyline and full party for Raids and getting weapons/gear only. It's a FF game, I shouldn't need 7 more people (and dozens of attempts which can easily bring the number of people from 7 to over a hundred total if you count all the retries which involve finding new party members) just to see the storyline. Seriously Square, this should be a FF game first and a social game second, not the other way around, the original team understood that, the new team does not. It doesn't help that they listened to the social game fans that complained nonstop in the forums, why are the ones that know nothing are the first to complain? Ugly FF games are rare, like Mystic Quest and FF7, but usually FF games are known as beautiful pieces of art, don't take the art away from FF14 (although it's pointless to ask now since it's already done...)

Actually the Engine DID need to be redone. It was what was causing the issue of only so many people appearing on screen at once. Also just hinting at the fact you might be a tester is considered breaching the NDA.

[Elexia]

Actually the Engine DID need to be redone. It was what was causing the issue of only so many people appearing on screen at once. Also just hinting at the fact you might be a tester is considered breaching the NDA.

Half true. The engine XIV used wasn't designed for MMOs but it works with offline titles perfectly fine so the engine didn't need to be redone, they just needed to build one designed specifically for it or switch to UE. The new engine SE is developing (Luminous) is being designed to be future proof but this time they built an engine based around for ARR.

However as for Cegiana's post, we haven't really seen the capabilities of the current team but I'm pretty sure they're all the same except for the managerial team, however given they want this to be a quest based level progression, yeah not too high hopes for quality story since not even the story driven SWTOR did that well.

[Eekiki]

we haven't really seen the capabilities of the current team but I'm pretty sure they're all the same except for the managerial team, however given they want this to be a quest based level progression, yeah not too high hopes for quality story since not even the story driven SWTOR did that well.

[ispano]

I want Tardar Sauce

[Velhart]

yeah not too high hopes for quality story since not even the story driven SWTOR did that well.

Actually, the best thing about SWTOR was it's story driven approach to level grinding. It was it's end game and exploits in PvP that it had trouble with. I would go as far to say that SWTOR is my favorite approach to quest grinding.

I am sure the beta of FFXIV: ARR will give us better incite on how the main storyline quests will be approached.

[Eekiki]

Actually, the best thing about SWTOR was it's story driven approach to level grinding. It was it's end game and exploits in PvP that it had trouble with. I would go as far to say that SWTOR is my favorite approach to quest grinding.

I am sure the beta of FFXIV: ARR will give us better incite on how the main storyline quests will be approached.

I agree with this. Leveling was a blast in TOR. Once that was done, though...

[Exn]

I would go as far to say that SWTOR is my favorite approach to quest grinding.

I am sure the beta of FFXIV: ARR will give us better incite on how the main storyline quests will be approached.

Yeah I gotta agree with that too. TOR really only gets crapped on when people talk about it these days, but it had the best quest level grinding of any MMO I've tried. It was one of the few games I've played where I wasn't concerned with endgame (even before I discovered how bad it was..) and just enjoyed the stories (more like interactive movies). In every other quest grinding MMO, I haven't paid ANY attention to the lore behind the quests.. It's tremendously boring, especially when doing it solo, which is the majority of the grind for most people..

If SE wants to ride the quest grinding bandwagon like most mainstream MMO, at least take from the best quest grinder out there. It's still early, so I hope they really consider some updates to the system.

[Velhart]

EDIT: Entire section removed for fear of NDA getting me suspended...oh well Left the part below since it doesn't mention ARR Alpha.


Seriously, why redo the graphics engine? WHY??? That's not what needed improvement, the original FF14 storyline and graphics were not things that needed to be redone when they decided to fix FF14. The original story writers were better than the new team, you can clearly see that because the cutscenes from the Main Storyline were drastically better than the Grand Company storyline, better use of the camera, better NPC reactions, much more dialog and we didn't need a full hardcore party to see the story (which was the BIGGEST failure of the Grand Company storyline,) we should be able to SOLO the ENTIRE storyline and full party for Raids and getting weapons/gear only. It's a FF game, I shouldn't need 7 more people (and dozens of attempts which can easily bring the number of people from 7 to over a hundred total if you count all the retries which involve finding new party members) just to see the storyline. Seriously Square, this should be a FF game first and a social game second, not the other way around, the original team understood that, the new team does not. It doesn't help that they listened to the social game fans that complained nonstop in the forums, why are the ones that know nothing are the first to complain? Ugly FF games are rare, like Mystic Quest and FF7, but usually FF games are known as beautiful pieces of art, don't take the art away from FF14 (although it's pointless to ask now since it's already done...)

Using an offline game based engine on an online game was one of the biggest reasons that the original FFXIV wouldn't function as intended. Also, you can't really criticize the old team or new team's story line. For one, the original FFXIV story line didn't develop to the point that it got anywhere and the new team worked with what they had and were able to deliver it very well.

How can you criticize how the FFXIV 2.0 Main Storyline will be when we haven't even seen it yet nor have any details? It is still based around the fight against the Garlemald Empire.

Also, the GC quest story line I thought were really well done. If the developers can give me that emotional feeling I had with the End of Era trailer in their new story, then I only see great things happening in the future.

[Eekiki]

EDIT: Entire section removed for fear of NDA getting me suspended...oh well Left the part below since it doesn't mention ARR Alpha.


Why redo the graphics engine? WHY??? That's not what needed improvement, the original FF14 storyline and graphics were not things that needed to be redone when they decided to fix FF14. The original story writers were MUCH better than the new team, you can clearly see that because the cutscenes from the Main Storyline were drastically better than the Grand Company storyline, better use of the camera, better NPC reactions, much more dialog and we didn't need a full hardcore party to see the story (which was the BIGGEST failure of the Grand Company storyline,) we should be able to SOLO the ENTIRE storyline and full party for Raids and getting weapons/gear only. It's a FF game, I shouldn't need 7 more people (and dozens of attempts which can easily bring the number of people from 7 to over a hundred total if you count all the retries which involve finding new party members) just to see the storyline. Especially since the storyline acts like you did it all by yourself, so shouldn't you have done it all by yourself? That makes more sense than pretending the other 7 don't exist. I can only imagine the problems ARR is gonna have with alliances, it is gonna have the same problems FF11 does. Finding big parties to do old content will take a ton of time and since it's those that AREN'T hardcore players that usually don't have old content done, because they have less time to play than others, then they don't have the time to find an alliance to do the old content, which will leave it undone. I know a ton of people that didn't get United We Stand done by the time dalmund exploded. This isn't FFXI, alliances are a BAD idea, unless you guys plan on making the content soloable 3 months after the content comes out so all can enjoy it, but that won't happen. Remember Square, you want to keep the non-hardcore players, otherwise ARR will fail like FF14 did.

Seriously Square, this should be a FF game first and a social game second, not the other way around, the original team understood that, the new team does not. It doesn't help that they listened to the social game fans that complained nonstop in the forums.

The cutscenes for the main scenario were created seperately. They hired voice actors, did motion capture, and made a huge production out of it.

When the Seventh Umbral Era was being designed, they knew that the 1.0 engine was being scrapped, and they weren't going to spend all that money putting together a production studio for those cutscenes knowing they were only going to be in the game temporarily. So that was all done using resources that were already available in game. That's why there's no voice acting, fancy facial animations, or anything like what you see in the main scenario.

Did you even watch the End of an Era cutscene? Your claims and concerns are completely unfounded.

And, once again, it seems someone needs to be reminded that a MULTIPLAYER game means you need MULTIple PLAYERs to complete its content. There are over a dozen other Final Fantasy games that you can play by yourself if you don't feel like playing with other people.

[Abriael]

Why redo the graphics engine? WHY???

Because the old engine was an unscalable piece of crap built mainly for console and unable to match the needs of a MMORPG displaying more than a bunch of characters at the same time, or any varied open areas without the excessive use of tiling.

The original story writers were MUCH better than the new team, you can clearly see that because the cutscenes from the Main Storyline were drastically better than the Grand Company storylin.

My eyes just rolled so hard that they're now stuck at the back of my skull.

The original storyline was the perfect climax of *boredom*, with the player reduced to the role of a secondary character unable to do anything on his own. Luckily Team Yoshida corrected it.

And about the quality of the cutscenes, the camera-work and animation are a LOT more dynamic in the Grand company storyline. The first introduction of raubahn, the appearance of Garuda, all the cutscenes involving Van Darnus grab the crap included in 1.0 and trounce it quality-wise.

Seriously Square, this should be a FF game first and a social game second, not the other way around, the original team understood that, the new team does not. It doesn't help that they listened to the social game fans that complained nonstop in the forums.

Here's a reality check for you: The original team (actually the original leadership, because the team is not that different) created the most spectacular failure of the history of MMORPGs.
The new leadership has very good chance to create the most spectacular turnaround of the history of MMORPGs.

It's rather evident who between the two is more competent and who was completely detached from reality.