Um.. summer release?

[Abriael]

Evidence? Of what? That you agreed to an NDA?

Nope. of this: "Every news outlet has been under a contract to not give honest feedback about FFXIV"

]You already said you did. I'm not sure if you really don't understand what a contract is or if you're just too belligerent to read my post without coloring it with your own bias.I also didn't say anyone's reporting was dishonest, I said it wasn't honest, because to be honest there would have to be no NDA thus no restriction on what could be written.

First of all telling that someone's reporting isn't honest is exactly the same as telling that someone is dishonest.

Secondly you're running your mouth without any knowledge of what you're talking about.

We didn't sign any contract to write our previews. The only NDA we had was exactly the same every single beta tester agreed to (same site, same system, same text), as I already wrote and as you conveniently ignored. It had absolutely no specific restriction on what to write about and on how to write about it in any kind of article. As a matter of fact it did not even TALK about writing previews because it was the standard NDA for all players. The NDA was there to initially access the beta, and not to cover it on our outlets, and it forbid to talk about anything related to the game, like for everyone else.

Once the embargo on previews was removed the NDA ceased to exist for what those previews were concerned. The removal of the embargo is by all means and purposes a full exemption from the NDA, making it completely irrelevant.

There was nothing in the NDA that indicated what we could or couldn't write about after the drop of the embargo, nor there was anything about it in any further communication had with Square Enix.

We were authorized to talk about every single element of the game that was present in phase 1 and 2. Nothing was excluded. There was also no indication about being positive, negative or anything in between.

No indication was given other than the informal recommendation to use the screenshots provided and not our own (which again is standard practice for previews), separate from the NDA.

So yeah, you're making a false claim with no evidence about something you know nothing about.

Some developers do have you sign a specific NDA when you write previews, limiting what you can talk about because some elements are kept for future unveiling. But those NDAs never induce you to give less than honest feedback, as they don't in any way ask you to be less or more positive about the game.

In any case NO such NDA was required by square Enix when writing the preview of Final Fantasy XIV: ARR, and the removal of the embargo completely exempted us from the standard NDA as far as the preview was concerned.

So to sum up if you were a better journalist

Luckily exposing your lies and attempts to mislead and misinform doesn't mean being less than a good journalist. Quite the opposite, since the duty of a good journalist is to portray reality. Reality is that you made a claim that not only you can't prove, but that is also completely false under every point of view.

you would understand the kind of rosy scenario Square has painted for themselves with glowing (but notably restricted) press

Only, they didn't paint any rosy scenario, because the only restriction was about screenshots. There was no restriction of any kind on content and opinion, or on the topics we could talk about.

No. Restriction. Or. Indication. At. All.

Did i spell it easy enough?

If I felt like writing that the game was a piece of crap (obviously I did not), I could have done so. I had absolutely nothing preventing me from doing so, besides the fact that it isn't true. And differently from you I'm not into the business of making up stuff.

and perhaps if you were a better person overall you would understand that I'm not doomsaying because I do enjoy the idea of the game and I posted to encourage it to be a success instead of having a rough launch.

A good person points out a lie or a false claim when he sees one, and that's exactly what I'm doing.

The fact that basically everyone that wrote a preview disagrees with you doesn't mean they're not being honest. It just means that they disagree with you, and that should probably tell you something about your own opinion.

[jesseleewelch]

Yeesh, calm down everyone! No need to start a flame war or anything. This is the lodestone forum after all. On a side note, does anyone know the specific date we will be able to pre-order or the specific date the release date will be released? I think both are supposed to come out in "late May" if I recall correctly and it is already the 18th.

[Abriael]

Yeesh, calm down everyone! No need to start a flame war or anything. This is the lodestone forum after all. On a side note, does anyone know the specific date we will be able to pre-order or the specific date the release date will be released? I think both are supposed to come out in "late May" if I recall correctly and it is already the 18th.

It's not a matter of flames. It's a matter of correcting a plainly and factually false and disingenuous claim. Lies are a bad thing, so it's always a good idea to wipe them off the table when they surface.

As for your question, at the NicoNico event Yoshida said around the 20th, so it's very possible that they'll be open on monday, or near that date.

[Eldarion18]

I remember when people denied a summer release of ARR because it was inconceivable.

Holy shit change your fucking sig.

[3Jane]

Yeesh, calm down everyone! No need to start a flame war or anything. This is the lodestone forum after all.

LOL.......

[Colino]

Yeesh, calm down everyone! No need to start a flame war or anything. This is the lodestone forum after all.

Welcome to General Discussion my friend.

On a side note, does anyone know the specific date we will be able to pre-order or the specific date the release date will be released? I think both are supposed to come out in "late May" if I recall correctly and it is already the 18th.

You can probably pre-order at most game stores already. Gamestop takes pre-orders for games that don't even have release dates yet.

[yoshikwalla]

All you guys talking about the NDA as it relates to journalism, pretending as if it doesn't have an impact: you are delusional about that. More than that, none of you seem to care because very likely you are self-interested in the game and you can't see the bigger picture. The point of discussion you are failing to grasp is whether a restriction on reporting created an overpositive effect on feedback which had a delusional effect on the dev team's perception of the game's future reception. Have you considered that? If you want to discuss it let's be sure we're discussing the right topic and not talking about E3 like someone whose mind helplessly wanders.

On the subject of E3 I'm happily looking forward to the game's reception there. I think any critical response will lead to a better game.

So you're arguing that those who don't agree with your baseless opinion are self-interested and delusional. I guess the every-man's definition of delusion is completely different than your own. But it isn't the fact that you're simply incorrect that pisses us off: It's the fact that you disregard our arguments and call them off as fanboy-induced falsehoods despite us giving you the exact opposite.

[Neptune]

To Abriael I realize you jumped on my comments without asking any questions to clarify your assumptions about what I meant by being under a contract. You assumed I meant that outlets had to sign some kind of contract forbidding them from writing this or that right? Like some sort of conspiracy theory? But that's not what I meant because I'm not an idiot right? If I meant that, that would be ridiculous. No, I was simply talking about the NDA and that's all. The NDA is in fact a contract and I feel like we're making readers dumber just going into the details of what I meant by that statement.

As you mentioned, your outlet in particular didn't sign any special, extra, additional contract so just in case anybody is unclear on that (I'm guessing about 0 people are) please take note.

Also I want to point out that it was my understanding that the lifting of the NDA had specific application; it was not a complete abolishment. So here's the actual statement from Reddit that I went off:

FFXIV: ARR Beta Testers Permitted to Discuss Character Creation and Gridania
During the Nico Nico Super Convention 2 that will take place on April 27 and 28 in Japan, there will be a FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Beta demo area and we will be lifting the confidentiality provisions on:
Information related to character creation
Information related to New Gridania and Old Gridania
IMPORTANT: Please note that all other information about FFXIV: ARR, as well as images, videos, and sound, will continue to be confidential in accordance with Section 2.6 of the FFXIV:ARR Beta Test Agreement. This means that, except for the above listed topics, it will still be a violation of the Beta Test Agreement to disclose information related to the features and technology of the FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Beta Test, bugs, information posted on the Beta Tester forum, and any other related information (including testers’ comments and thoughts).

http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/commen..._new_gridania/

You are saying your particular outlet had more freedom than that, but it really doesn't matter since the degree of freedom has no bearing on what I posted. There's still a restriction on screenshots, for example, and maybe that's something that people would like to see when forming an impression of a beta test. Not that there's anything wrong with wanting to withhold that to make a GOOD impression later. All I'm saying is there's an effort to kind of aim impressions for LATER instead of NOW when that exact same thing was the cause of the failure of the initial launch. Square even asked magazines to wait a month to review the original RELEASE of FFXIV. Why aren't you a little concerned by that consistency?

My comments about your journalism and humanity were aimed at defending myself, since you came in here like an asshole claiming I am lying and spreading false information and making such a big deal out of my post when that's a silly sideshow at best and arguing semantics at worst. I'm not some conspiracy nut out to troll the dead board, I'm just pointing out what I think is a reasonable concern over the health of the game's planned launch. I'm concerned and I think you should be too.

[Abriael]

What you linked forom reddit is related only to non-media beta testers and not to media coverage.

The media had no restriction whatsoever in their coverage and were authorized separately. The NDA simply didn't apply anymore for us for what previews were concerned and we were allowed to talk about every single aspect of the game. In fact basically every outlet talked about more than the elements listed in that link.

The screenshot restriction is common practice in the industry, and there's nothing strange or suspicious in it. I'm personally a fan of taking a million screenshots and adding ginormous galleries to my previews. My Archeage one had 388 screenshots in it for instance, but I'm completely aware that it's a very normal industry practice to embargo screenshots until the drop of the general NDA (and some do it for media even AFTER the NDA is dropped).

For instance we weren't allowed to post our own screenshots even for Civilization V: Brave New World, and there's going to be absolutely no graphical change from vanilla Civ V and Brave New World. Why do they do that? Simply because that's common practice. Not all devs will abide to it, but most will.

Mind you, it's obvious that there's no intention to hide the looks of the game, as Square Enix themselves are showing plenty of it, and for some mysterious reason, while western outlets were asked not to use their own screenshots, all Japanese ones were allowed to.

This is probably due to SE Japan and SE USA and Europe handing media relationships completely separate from each other, but one thing is for sure. If SE had any intention to hide stuff during previews the restriction would have worked for everyone, Japan included (screenshots on the internet travel faster than light).

Opposite to what you think, I was absolutely surprised by the drop of the embargo so early in the beta and by the lack of coverage restrictions. I fully expected SE to wait for phase 3 (and actually a couple weeks into phase 3, not on the very first day, to force people to actually experience content before writing) to drop the embargo, as it's most likely that much more content and more polish will be conducive to even more positive previews.

I was so surprised that I didn't prepare in any way beforehand, thinking I had plenty time until phase 3, so I had to cram the preview writing for 15 hours in a row.

If there's one thing we can take from this, is actually the geometric opposite of your post, and it's that SE is very confident about the quality of the game and the feedback received, otherwise they wouldn't let us loose with writing about it.

And honestly, it doesn't seem you're clarifying now. It seems you're backpedaling. There aren't many ways to interpret "Every news outlet has been under a contract to not give honest feedback about FFXIV"

And that's simply false.

[Spectre]

And honestly, it doesn't seem you're clarifying now. It seems you're backpedaling.

First thing I thought when I read his last reply.

The rest of your post was nice insight on how SE has let the game speak for it's self, so to speak. Kinda makes the thread feel a little more worthwhile to find those little tidbits.