Back to the game...

[boil147]

I started playing FF14 when it first launched, but quit in November because of all the problems with the game. Now, five months later and with a bit of time to spare, I thought I'd check the game out and see where the updates have brought the game up to.

My first thought was how much smoother everything was running, until I realised that there was virtually no one playing. Five months ago, Gridania was full of people running around and now it's a virtual wasteland.

That's not really a problem as solo playing is fine for the most part, and actually I enjoyed it... for about three minutes. I've been playing for forty five minutes and the game's crashed eight times, three of those were in the middle of levequests, which means that I can't restart those quests until tomorrow. The final attempt at a quest was good enough to kill me even though I had full health when the game crashed.

As for all the menu reorganisations and sorting functions that were planned, they've achieved virtually nothing; there's no indiciation of how to turn the inventory system on or off in game, so what's the point in having it there?

The starter enemies are still (in Gridania) mostly squirrels and whilst I appreciate that I might have to level up and travel further afield to get to anything harder (come on, I'm a squirrel killer? Great design choice there), it was still mostly squirrels and a few Funguars. How about a bit of variety in there?

On the plus side, it takes only a couple of seconds to open my inventory up when I visit a shop, as opposed to the eight seconds or so that it took five months ago, but is this just a symptom of there being fewer players online?

It's great, though, that SE are still offering this as free to play (once you've bought the game), but I had to reactivate my account and that took nearly half an hour of navigating through a frustrating billing system - not including the ten minutes it took me to sort of my new credit card details because SE don't link to the payment site through their own site.

I'm not full of hate about this game, not at all. I was looking forward to some great improvements, especially since I heard that there was a new set of people in charge of the game and bringing out the updates. But, after reading several statements from SE about how they've been listening to their players, it seems that five months haven't done anything for the game that's a really "Wow!" change.

I'll not uninstall the game this time, since half an hour to download updates is a bit too much to ask. I'll try back again in a couple of months, but I'll cancel all the character options on the SE site just in case they decide to start charging again in the meantime.

I was broke five months ago, and I still am now. For a game that cost me £45 at release, this really sucks SE. I don't know whether any of the staff read the forums or not, but this is a really big disappointment for me. I want to love this game, but all I get from it and SE is pain and frustration.

Great company. Great product. Thanks for letting me give you £45 to help stuff your shareholders' pockets when you can't even be bothered to sort the basics out for release, let alone after six months.

[TheVedis]

One thing Id like to point out

the game isnt a wasteland...but yes gridania is

NO ONE really hangs out there anymore, the majority of people are all in uldah, and the rest are in LL now

[Keftenk]

No point to be in Grid or Limsa except for guild support/crafting. The wards aren't connected and since Uldah is in the middle + offers the best leves from 1-50, everyone just parks there. As for the loading, it's that fast even in populated areas.

As for the crashing, sounds like its a issue on your end.

[boil147]

@ Keftenk,
Cheers for the reply. I got as far as Uldah on my first play of the game (which lasted for about six weeks), but I never made the connection and at the time I didn't think the leves were thank much different to Gridania (I loved the greenery, which is why I restarted there today).

The graphics problems have been around since launch though. I won't bore you with ym machine specs and driver numbers, because I've checked it all out and, at least in December when I last checked the problem, it was pretty common and without a solid solution. It's DirectX related (at least the crash message is).

Still disappointed in the game but, for those of you who are still playing, I hope that you're enjoying it.

[boil147]

@ The Vedis,
Thanks for the tip. I'm still going to put the game back under a sheet for a few months, but if I do come back I'll remember what you said and start at a difference location.

Cheers,

Jim

[Abriael]

You mean this "wasteland"?
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5144/...8bf829f4_b.jpg

Taken this morning, not even a weekend, mind you.

[Chrees]

You mean this "wasteland"?
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5144/...8bf829f4_b.jpg

Taken this morning, not even a weekend, mind you.

He called Gridania a wasteland. That picture is of Camp Horizon...

Gridania is, indeed, a wasteland.

[Verecund]

You mean this "wasteland"?
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5144/...8bf829f4_b.jpg

Taken this morning, not even a weekend, mind you.

And then you reach level 30....

[Keftenk]

It's not news that XIV is a memory hog, but if it was a wide-spread problem, more people then just you would be experiencing it. I remember the crashes 5 months ago, but it's been a really long time since its happened. It's probably isolated at this time.

[boil147]

@ Keftenk,
There are a couple of recent bug reports on these forums about the same issues, so it's still going around. There was a great tip about changing settings (not lowering them all, as such, but raising MSAA). I might check it out next week when I feel like I can spare the time/energy. I'm replaying FF9 though at the moment too, so I still have some FF to keep me going.

@ Abriael,
I was talking about Gridania, where I came across only five other players. The desert camps might be busier, and great for you all out there, but Gridian was a wasteland of players and even though some of the other posters have replied with better start zones, if there's almost no one in one area and the game can't suggest it, why should I restart again so soon, or bust a gut trying to get past wolves that can kill me in a single attack to travel there on foot?

As I said, if you're enjoying the game, then great! My OP was from the point of view of someone coming back to the game after a few months out, trying to let SE raise the bar on what they've got. Your replies have all been great, but it doesn't seem like there's been much improvement to the game since I was last there.