FFXIV - who's getting it?

I tried to get back into MMORPGs last year (after playing years of Everquest, SWG, FFXI and later a stint at WoW) but every MMO I tried; Everquest 2, new SWG, WoW, LotR... in the end I gave up because they where all practically the same, just with different colours.

The reason I said that its worth having a look at any non-western mmo's is because they tend to go about the genre differently. FFXI was head and shoulders above WoW or any of the newer western MMO's, which are all just clones of WoW in some way or form.

Everyone pretty much agrees the genre needs some originality and injection of inspiration. The western formula developed now has become very limited- its all been done! Companies want as many people as possible to play it and so they try to make it appeal to everyone, while trying to take away the negatives that the genre simply cannot escape. The quality of the end product is severly damaged because of this and it turns into a shallow mess.

The fact is the MMO genre will never be problem free, nor will it appeal to every gamer. As soon as companies start realising this and instead focus their attention on the core user base of the genre (I'm talking about the people that played before WoW was on the scene,) and lower their lofty goals of worldwide multi-million subscriptions, then the games will start evolving nicely.

SWG is a prime example. It was a fantastic game and YES it had flaws, many of which where due to technical problems and not the actual game itself, but it had a huge following and potential to expand even further. However the man in charge decided to scrap the formula everyone loved and completely destroyed it in an attempt at turning it into WoW. Even though they had lots of subscriptions and income, they actually threw it away for a chance at getting some of the WoW pie.

edit: there will always be WoW type games (I mean, Blizzard arn't going to stop making them) but it doesn't mean everything else needs to be the same. Thats why I think its worth looking at eastern MMO's.
 
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mglover070588 said:
I will try it.....however I still have to play (well finish) FF 8,9,10, 10.2 and 12 first:p

They aren't exactly games you can bash out in a week each.
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Yes but then those numbered games in the main series are pure single player experiences. You're not exactly going to miss out on much.
 
The FF games have nothing in common with each other. Well apart from familar themes like, chocobos, crystals and some other little details, so you arn't goign to miss anything out if you start with FFXIV.

Also, if you thought FFXI was pants, why bother playing FFXIV at all then :p Just stick with the single player games.
 
mglover070588 said:
I tried FF 11 but it was pants.
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Exactly what was so pants about FFXI?

If anything and at the time it came out, it was one of the most innovative MMORPG's seeing as it managed to bring the usual themes of the single player Final Fantasy games into the online multiplayer world very well. Using the Job System introduced since Final Fantasy V and making incorporating it into XI is one of the best things about the game and sets it apart from traditional class based systems in other MMOs.
 
I must say I never played FF 11. I also feel now its a bit late to be jumping on that wagon so I'l just wait for this

Although at the moment the main MMO's I am looking forward to are Aion and Star Wars. I picked these ones mainly because Aion I'm currently in the Beta and really enjoying it. I quite like the art to it. Good game so far.
Star Wars because well its Star Wars !!!! Plus its done by Bioware and although I don't normally judge a game by its developer Bioware are normally pretty good. oh did I mention it was Star Wars ?
 
R34P3R said:
These 'grind fests' and microtransactions work well in the east so why would the developers not 'copy' each other and use these types of gameplay.

It's just like most western MMO's try to copy WoW.

At least eastern developed MMORPG's are actually RPG's and you have to put in some effort to be rewarded rather than whine until you get things given to you on a plate as seems to be the trend with most western MMO's.

Give me a RPG focused Korean MMORPG with PvE focus where the time I put in is noticeable in comparison to somebody who plays for 4 hours a week over a PvP driven PvE game where I can get the same gear as hard core players by doing 10 PvP matches per week.

Not all 100% correct but you get the idea.
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I partially agree. I do think people should get recognition for putting in a lot of time, but I also think it should be possible for a casual player to still be able to compete. I hate when the "winner" of a game is 90% determined by who has played the most, rather than who is actually the better player. That's why I love Guild Wars. Those who want to put the time in can get titles, fancy looking armour, crystalline swords etc, but they still only have the same stats as the basic stuff that a casual player can get, so the winner is determined by their skill, rather than who has the best weapons.

Never played FFXI, but from what I hear, it was a bit of a grind-fest. Don't get me wrong, not gonna judge it before I play it, but I usually hate games that I feel compelled to grind just to stay ahead. I hope FFXIV is different to that.
 
I imported the NA version of ffxi on day of release and bowed out a few months after the release of promathia.

The first year for me was truly magical... something which i dont think ive ever had with any other games.

Im a massive sqenix fan and even bigger fan of the ff series but put this down to the fact that it was my first ever proper experience with an mmo because stepping away from the game eventually after 3 years made me realise how much it failed.

Yes it was good but it failed so much at so many things

I really do hope the time sqenix has had to run over ffxi's failings they nail this one proper.. it will be so nice to experience.
 
Yeah I'd agree, Squaresoft was so much better. Very game quality focussed and created probably the best RPGs there has ever been.
 
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