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Are we sure that it's not just character names and appearance that continue over from Phase 4? It seems very weird to me that absolutely no progress will be lost from Phase 4 into the real launch.

 

[Caerith]

Aside from a few actions ... most actions are either a weapon skill ... or a buff with a small effect and a long recast (admittedly a common FF MMO attribute).

The "common FF MMO attribute" applies only to the long recasts, and not the "small effect" part of your statement. I'm sure that's how you meant it, but just being sure. And, since these aren't the beta forums, I feel safe saying that this is something FFXI did a lot better. Long recast is okay with a big effect and/or long duration; long recast is not okay when the effect is negligible and the duration tiny.

Did 1.23 have elemental weaknesses, by the way? It was weird doing Trial By Earth and killing an earth elemental with Stone.

 

[Riposte]

But of the 4 ppl I made try ffxiv v1.23, all couldn't stand the fights and thought it was boring/far far far too slow and only played for a week, while they are now enjoying the fight in the ARR beta. So I do think that they probably can make something far more successfull by improving ARR battle system than if they had tried to improve the 1.23 one.

I'm not at all surprised. I think ARR is a much better game at the start, combat system and all. 1.23 existed on balance between terrible and good, with a history that is even more off-putting. The way the game was being designed at that point was clearly meant to cater to people who were already playing and survived the previous versions (and to keep them playing, so it was rather grindy). ARR was built from the ground up to have a very tight and enticing first 15-20 levels. Content wise, ARR will be certainly be better - it is not even a fair comparison considering the state of the two games.

Consider:

-Combat isn't a big deal for most of ARR's beginning. You fight a few battles in quests and casually pick off monsters you see on your hunting log. This is VERY different from grinding guildleves (or field monsters when you run out), which never really worked in the old game since they never did anything creative with them (I was originally hoping they would be more customizable, like FFXI's MMM). Also godforbid you ran out of anima (which you would after the first week of intense playing) and had to run to a camp (something that shouldn't be overlooked is that you can acquire guildleves at camps - how did they not add this in 1.23 for the sake of throwing players a bone?). Just having random bosses appear in guildleves as they do in ARR would have been a godsend, or a hunting log for that matter. I think guildleves was a killer for most who wanted to play FFXIV. ARR on the other hand begins with some of the best execution of the generic MMO quests. Even I can stand it and I have a violent reaction to that kind of stuff. The fact of the matter is that low level combat usually stinks in MMOs - 1.23 shoves it into your face until you get sick of it and ARR only sprinkles it in. There were also no FATE, although behests sort of count (and they were kind of a meager highlight back in the dark ages of XIV).

-I could see how the combat system in low level ARR is better. Most of the my praise for the 1.23 system doesn't really start until around level 30. Also, something we can't forget is the clunky interface 1.23 was built on. That was the worst thing about it and you have to have a good reason to get over that flaw.

-In 1.23 boss-like combat scenarios took are very long time to get access to. Solo class quests were very easy and dumb (although I will say that some of them were cleverly designed around the classes in the 1.0 (pre-combo, stronger AoE focus) incarnation, but still too easy and they never adjusted it to match new mechanics). Meanwhile in ARR, you have FATE (the ones you start seeing at level 20, anyway), guildhests, and you access your first party-required(!) dungeon at level 15 as part of the main storyline. Solo quests are actually really challenging, which is awesome. What's very important for all of this is that it is level capped. This makes such a big difference in terms of keeping the player engaged. Here you have to fight Ifrit with a level 20 party. In 1.23 you got your level 50 friend to one shot him. Good luck even assembling 4 people exactly level 30 who want to do that way. I want to say that guildleves are better designed in 1.23 too.

EDIT: Yes, 1.23 had elemental weaknesses. I don't think it was handled particularly well (and I would argue it never really shined in FFXI either, beyond some situational BLM stuff).

EDIT: I can't speak with much experience with FFXIV's BLM, but the biggest flaw in FFXI's design, was that elemental spells were ranked in terms of damage and cost efficiency. Thunder and Blizzard were the top (and when skillchains were relevant or if you used them anyway, that covered you for most skillchains you wanted to do). The game really needed a way make Stone, Water, etc. matter more. They could have done this by having spells scale to your currently most damaging/cost effective spell of that tier before considering any damage bonus based on some condition (elemental weakness, magic bursts, elemental DoT, chain elemental wheel, w/e).

 

[Caerith]

EDIT: I can't speak with much experience with FFXIV's BLM, but the biggest flaw in FFXI's design, was that elemental spells were ranked in terms of damage and cost efficiency. Thunder and Blizzard were the top (and when skillchains were relevant or if you used them anyway, that covered you for most skillchains you wanted to do). The game really needed a way make Stone, Water, etc. matter more. They could have done this by having spells scale to your currently most damaging/cost effective spell of that tier before considering any damage bonus based on some condition (elemental weakness, magic bursts, elemental DoT, chain elemental wheel, w/e).

True, there was no reason to own a HQ Fire Staff as a mage due to the relative weakness of Fire and the lack of debuffs that used it as an element, but at least elements mattered in FFXI.

The biggest difference between XI and XIV, I think, is that Vana'diel was designed as a world while Eorzea was merely built as a playground.

 

[Riposte]

True, there was no reason to own a HQ Fire Staff as a mage due to the relative weakness of Fire and the lack of debuffs that used it as an element, but at least elements mattered in FFXI.

The biggest difference between XI and XIV, I think, is that Vana'diel was designed as a world while Eorzea was merely built as a playground.

Hmm, are you speaking of ARR? I feel the opposite was true for 1.0. In fact, they went so far with it no one wanted to play in that world. (I think ARR still inherited a lot of great details. I prefer Eorzea's tone and grit over Vana'diel, although I love both too much for my own good.)

 

[Onemic]

I heard gunblades are in this game. Is this true?

 

[Caerith]

Hmm, are you speaking of ARR? I feel the opposite was true for 1.0. In fact, they went so far with it no one wanted to play in that world. (I think ARR still inherited a lot of great details. I prefer Eorzea's tone and grit over Vana'diel, although I love both too much for my own good.)

ARR is a playground, is what I mean. 1.0 at least had ships be more than just another means of teleportation, while ARR airships travel in excess of Mach 90 to be more casual-friendly.

As an aside, can you dye metal armor in ARR?

 

[Teknoman]

ARR is a playground, is what I mean. 1.0 at least had ships be more than just another means of teleportation, while ARR airships travel in excess of Mach 90 to be more casual-friendly.

As an aside, can you dye metal armor in ARR?

How so? Or do you mean Final Fantasy XI airships? If not, in 1.0 they worked the same way as they do now. Yep, you can dye metal armor.

 

[Caerith]

How so? Or do you mean Final Fantasy XI airships? If not, in 1.0 they worked the same way as they do now. Yep, you can dye metal armor.

I wasn't around for 1.0's airships, and I can't afford ARR's ferry, but I recall 1.0's ferry took longer than 5 seconds to cross the sea (maybe I misremember). In FFXI, you had timetables, you had schedules, you had an airship that if you looked up at from Ronfaure you knew someone on that airship could look down and see Ronfaure. In ARR, you have an airship that departs one city and arrives in another instantly-- it doesn't pass through the world, it doesn't take time.

That's what I meant by playground. FFXI resisted teleportation and warping for years in order to maintain realism; FFXIV forgoes all semblances of realism to be ritalin-friendly.

 

[devious.one]

I wasn't around for 1.0's airships, and I can't afford ARR's ferry, but I recall 1.0's ferry took longer than 5 seconds to cross the sea (maybe I misremember). In FFXI, you had timetables, you had schedules, you had an airship that if you looked up at from Ronfaure you knew someone on that airship could look down and see Ronfaure. In ARR, you have an airship that departs one city and arrives in another instantly-- it doesn't pass through the world, it doesn't take time.

That's what I meant by playground. FFXI resisted teleportation and warping for years in order to maintain realism; FFXIV forgoes all semblances of realism to be ritalin-friendly.

While I get what you're saying, a part of me is really glad they took that route for this game. The thought of sitting on a boat for 10minutes these days just doesn't sound appealing at all. Back then it was kinda cool the first few times (especially when the music changes out of nowhere and you get a Kraken surprise) but after the first few times; that all wears off.

 

[Caerith]

While I get what you're saying, a part of me is really glad they took that route for this game. The thought of sitting on a boat for 10minutes these days just doesn't sound appealing at all. Back then it was kinda cool the first few times (especially when the music changes out of nowhere and you get a Kraken surprise) but after the first few times; that all wears off.

The ferry was pretty dreadful when you took it half a hundred times and never once saw pirates, I agree.

 

[Boss Man]

The ferry was pretty dreadful when you took it half a hundred times and never once saw pirates, I agree.

As I began writing my reply telling you how crazy it is that you never saw pirates and recalling my first time claiming Valkurm Emporer, I think I came to the conclusion that I won't be subbing to FFXIV. What would a conversation about FFXIV even be like? "So, which mission are you on?" "Oh yeah, I did that one."

There's just...no reason to exist in Eorzea. It's just a train track full of instances where everyone sees the same thing and gets the same result.

Damn Yoshi-P and his smooth talking. He keeps promising and saying things that make sense, but when it comes down to it there's not a P2P MMO here. I'll still probably play for a month or two though. The world and the art are awesome. Gotta run through it once just to see it.

 

[Teknoman]

I wasn't around for 1.0's airships, and I can't afford ARR's ferry, but I recall 1.0's ferry took longer than 5 seconds to cross the sea (maybe I misremember). In FFXI, you had timetables, you had schedules, you had an airship that if you looked up at from Ronfaure you knew someone on that airship could look down and see Ronfaure. In ARR, you have an airship that departs one city and arrives in another instantly-- it doesn't pass through the world, it doesn't take time.

That's what I meant by playground. FFXI resisted teleportation and warping for years in order to maintain realism; FFXIV forgoes all semblances of realism to be ritalin-friendly.

Oh definitely, i'm still hoping they change the airship cutscenes to be actual instances/zones like XI. Personally I still run across the land when I can ( only way you can run into fates for the most part). I dont think people can get too teleport happy, since you'll have empty pockets pretty fast.

At any rate, i'm hoping XIV will end up being the best of both worlds, since they still have things like locking classes and other things behind progression barriers, I havent had the chance to ride the ferry in ARR, but looking at how the dungeons have dangerous obstacles and enemies bursting through walls, i'm sure they can work something / will work something into world travel.

As I began writing my reply telling you how crazy it is that you never saw pirates and recalling my first time claiming Valkurm Emporer, I think I came to the conclusion that I won't be subbing to FFXIV.

There's just...no reason to exist in Eorzea. It's just a train track full of instances where everyone sees the same thing and gets the same result.

Damn Yoshi-P and his smooth talking. He keeps promising and saying things that make sense, but when it comes down to it there's not a P2P MMO here. I'll still probably play for a month or two though. The world and the art are awesome. Gotta run through it once just to see it.

Not necessarily, those fate events among other things have the chance to add story events into the game in the same way the Dalamud calamity occurred. First by random occurances, then events that tied those together, culminating in scenario and grand company missions leading up to the showdown with Nael van / Nael Deus Darnus.

Then again, i've simply got faith in Yoshi and his team just by experiencing that Tanaka and Wada apology letter, the reshuffle of the team, and then them dragging the game from the abyss.

.

 

[Cosmic Forge]

I heard gunblades are in this game. Is this true?

Only NPC(s) have been seen with them so far that tends to be cutscenes.

I didn't fight Darnus tho so idk about him.

 

[Boss Man]

.

Well they'll have a chance to keep me. I'm just not seeing it at this point.

 

[Teknoman]

I'd say give it till after the Grand Company and Scenario missions start to intertwine, once the story really takes off and all "vanilla" zones are open.

 

[Caerith]

If phase 4 progress carries over into launch, I'll give it phase 4 + my first ("free") 30 days. As it is, though, I don't see myself subscribing to XIV. It just isn't compelling enough.

 

[Boss Man]

I'd say give it till after the Grand Company and Scenario missions start to intertwine, once the story really takes off and all "vanilla" zones are open.

Open for what though?

I feel like the core game is always just gonna be warping to instances which are themselves disconnected from the world. It feels sort of like a single player game that acts as a lobby to MP matches. Is this just modern MMO design?

Regardless, I will give it more than a fair shake because I very much want to like it.

 

[Teknoman]

Open for what though?

I feel like the core game is always just gonna be warping to instances which are themselves disconnected from the world. It feels sort of like a single player game that acts as a lobby to MP matches. Is this just modern MMO design?

Regardless, I will give it more than a fair shake because I very much want to like it.

Might just be an issue of modern mmo design. Even 1.0 under Tanaka's supervision had you going into instances for solo story missions.

 

[Shouta]

Might just be an issue of modern mmo design. Even 1.0 under Tanaka's supervision had you going into instances for solo story missions.

It's because not instancing them causes far more strain than it's worth. Players will likely be far more frustrated when they have to wait to do their content because the trigger point is totally congested or something.

The novelty of doing all of that without instancing is not worth the playability of a product, especially for dedicated players. the Ferry ride in XI is a prime example of something that was novel the first time but was just really annoying to have to take after you've been in the game for awhile.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Open for what though?

I feel like the core game is always just gonna be warping to instances which are themselves disconnected from the world. It feels sort of like a single player game that acts as a lobby to MP matches. Is this just modern MMO design?

Regardless, I will give it more than a fair shake because I very much want to like it.

This probably sounds dumb when I just say it, but when there are thousands of people all trying to complete the same quest, how do you set it up so thousands of people can be in the same place killing the same mobs or fighting the same boss or whatever? That right: you instance the content. That's why thempark MMOs use instancing for progression. Some MMOs take it to hilarious extremes, SWTOR for example can be played from level 1 to cap without ever seeing another person. ARR tries to balance the amount of open-world content and instanced content so players can progress at their own pace in the way they choose, and in most cases I think it is largely successful. Modern MMOs are not meant to be life-consuming the way classic MMOs were like EQ and FFXI. That's just the way it is.

If there are people who prefer the old-school approach of dedicating your whole life to the game, spending hours just trying to travel point to point, spending hours looking for a party, spending days and weeks and months grinding and dying once is a punishment in days or weeks of grinding instantly lost, spending days camping for a single NM spawn only to see someone else claim it, then a lot of the old-school games are still operating today. FFXIV is taking a decidedly modern approach to MMO design, and quite frankly when I was still in high school and college I had what seemed like a lifetime to dedicate to playing a game. Now I work full time and a game which is focused around giving me content to experience and not waste my life is more agreeable to me.

 

[theSlacker]

It's because not instancing them causes far more strain than it's worth. Players will likely be far more frustrated when they have to wait to do their content because the trigger point is totally congested or something.

The novelty of doing all of that without instancing is not worth the playability of a product, especially for dedicated players. the Ferry ride in XI is a prime example of something that was novel the first time but was just really annoying to have to take after you've been in the game for awhile.

Once again, I don't really agree with that sentiment, but I know I am in the minority. Stuff like travel time adds to a gameworld a great deal instead of treating travel and exploration like something that is meant to be skipped.

I agree with Corndog in that the world feels small and fake. Be it because of the zoning, teleporting, or well, how every single area of the map is ether used for the same quest chain that everyone will be on, or will be for later parts of it. I'm going to give it it's free month, but I have been down this road before and know where it leads.

If there are people who prefer the old-school approach of dedicating your whole life to the game, spending hours just trying to travel point to point, spending hours looking for a party, spending days and weeks and months grinding and dying once is a punishment in days or weeks of grinding instantly lost, spending days camping for a single NM spawn only to see someone else claim it, then a lot of the old-school games are still operating today. FFXIV is taking a decidedly modern approach to MMO design, and quite frankly when I was still in high school and college I had what seemed like a lifetime to dedicate to playing a game. Now I work full time and a game which is focused around giving me content to experience and not waste my life is more agreeable to me.

I think there can be a median, but then again most of the things you are saying are things that I don't want either. Spending hours looking for a party is a nuisance that I never liked. Traveling though a well crafted gameworld shouldn't be.

Although I guess we are talking on separate points since I have no problem with dungeon instancing, and am not a fan of everything listed in that last paragraph other then the traveling.

 

[Riposte]

What I've always thought they should have done for the ferry and airship in FFXI is have a "skip" option appear halfway through, which would teleport you to your destination. I think that's a good compromise. I also never understood why they didn't add more things to do after all those years, at least for the airship, which just had the one quest if you were heading to Jeuno.

For FFXIV, if they wanted to recapture that (I'm pretty sure they don't), they should handle it bit differently than what i said. I see it working like there being one ship which players can enter into later than when it first begins moving (ship/airship remains in dock). They are just appear on the ship after getting a cutscene. From verisimilitude perspective this can be hand waved as a dock NPC describing the estimated TOA as both a time and x and y weather conditions (6 min TOA: storms, 3 min TOA: clear skies, etc). I would also have the skip option appear halfway through as mentioned above. If you wanted to enforce a certain amount of time spent on the ship, then have it so that the ship won't take on any new players after a certain point (a minute or two before the skip option). For a 7 min ride, I'd have it cut-off at 3 minutes and skip appears at 4 minutes (with 3 minutes to go). There would be a 4 minute wait time back at the dock. (I certainly wouldn't do the whole "waiting until the ship comes back from destination".) There are actually a lot of ferries in La Noscea... I'd just have be a 1 minute ride at most if you wanted to do anything for those. At most I'd have there be an option to take a detour to access some other piece of content, like you personally get warped to a cave that is a good fishing spot, prone to FATE, and maybe the entrance to a dungeon.

Kind of elaborate, sure, but that's the kind of solution you would have to create if wanted compromise on this. If you paired it with a lot of things to do on ships and airships (fishing, FATE, multiple quests, exclusive card game/mini-game content) then I think that be enough to get people not to wait until the ship is about to cut off and then skip it asap. (I find it hard to believe people would complain about waiting 4-7 mins at the very most, when teleport is so accessible in this game. An airship or ship should feel differently, for better or worse.)

 

[Unknown Soldier]

I think there can be a median, but then again most of the things you are saying are things that I don't want either. Spending hours looking for a party is a nuisance that I never liked. Traveling though a well crafted gameworld shouldn't be.

Although I guess we are talking on separate points since I have no problem with dungeon instancing, and am not a fan of everything listed in that last paragraph other then the traveling.

I think it's more an argument of giving players who have been somewhere before the option to not travel there if they don't want to, but players who do enjoy the scenic route can take it. In ARR, you can't teleport anywhere that you haven't traveled to on foot first, and chocobo porters take you anywhere you can teleport. So ARR gives you the option of going on foot, on your own personal chocobo (after a certain point), by chocobo porter, or by airship for long distances.

I'm not sure when ferries will be operational but in 1.0 the ferry ride was something you took and you could fish off it like in FFXI. So again, ARR gives you the option there of taking the instant trip on the airship, or hopefully, riding the ferry and enjoying the ride. I think what's important is giving people the option to skip travel if they want to, and travel manually if they desire to.

Also, zones are smaller now because they purposely made them smaller so the game would fit on PS3. Such is life, FFXI had a similar problem and the zones in that game are pretty small too.

 

[Kintaro]

I'm down for some FFXI nostalgia, but travel times, ferry rides and airship travel aren't part of that.

Comparing how "alive" each world is also falls under this. I honestly don't understand this and I played for 6-7 years. I got so into that game for like 2-3 years, it was basically the Matrix to me. I still don't understand that comment.

 

[Jinko]

I agree. I mean, if WoW's (Or any MMO, really)battle system was being judged on JUST level 1-30 content I'm pretty sure people could call it boring as well.

Well tbh I have been playing Rift lately and even in the starting levels the combat system is better, plus you have a lot of choice in skills and character growth something FFXIV is severely lacking right now.

I definitely don't' want the 1.23 battle system back.

I have no problem with instant travel either, screwed if I wana be standing around waiting in a video game any more.

 

[frequency]

Airship and ferry travel should similar to FFXII (I think it was XII). You get the option to take the long ride or just "teleport" there. Like when you buy a ticket they can ask if you want to "sleep" through it or something, which would just teleport you. And for people who care more about world building and stuff, we can say no and enjoy the ride with like-minded individuals and NPCs.

Also, Jinko really does have a point. There are free to play MMOs in the market right now that play significantly better than FFXIV. FFXIV's combat is one of the worst of these faster paced action bar MMOs I have played (I dislike GW2 even more). If they can't match other MMOs in this style of combat, they should have done something unique in the market instead.

 

[edgefusion]

Oh definitely, i'm still hoping they change the airship cutscenes to be actual instances/zones like XI. Personally I still run across the land when I can ( only way you can run into fates for the most part). I dont think people can get too teleport happy, since you'll have empty pockets pretty fast.

On this point, I did an absolute ton of teleporting and eventually found I was losing money faster than I gained it due to the rising cost of teleports over large distances and me being a bit willy nilly with where I went.

I wish the airship and ferry rides were proper voyages personally. I understand not wanting to sit through them every time but I have to say I found it a bit deflating when the game was all "YOU'RE GONNA GO ON AN AIRSHIP NOW!" and then it's just an abnormally long loading screen. Give them a skip button or whatever but I want to go on an airship ride.

 

[Robobandit]

I believe it was mentioned that they would like to implement airship FATE battles at some point.

They said that for now it would cost too much for them to make a miniaturized version of eorzea for display under the airship if it were to be an actual flight.

I'd like the option to have a scenic airship ride myself, but as suggested, it should be an option. Maybe a choice when you buy a ticket.. you could buy one for a scenic flight or you could buy one for faster travel.

If they implemented FATE that can happen on airships, I would think some folks would prefer to take the scenic trip for that possibility alone.

 

[Teletraan1]

Travel times and waiting for transportation in MMOs are a bullshit convention that I am glad is dead. Some people only have limited time to play every night. Making them blow 10% of their possible time waiting for a ship in a video game is not an effective way to attract or keep customers. I would rather spend that time actually doing something rather than being "immersed" in tedium.

I played Star Wars Galaxies as a BH when the game launched. Doing those Bounty missions would take forever cause I had to wait for a ship, my bounty was 200 yards out of the terminal and then I would have to wait forever for another ship to bring me back. I don't even remember the missions but I sure as hell remember having to waste my time waiting for a ship and not in an "OMG this is so immersive and fun" way past the first time.

 

[Qvoth]

Well tbh I have been playing Rift lately and even in the starting levels the combat system is better.

Wat
After arr beta, all other free mmos I tried couldn't last me more than a day (rift, dragon's prophet)
Edit: found out I have another pc beta key, 1st to pm me gets it
Gonna sleep soon so I'll check out whoever gets it tomorrow

 

[Azzurri]

Maybe I'm old school, since I started playing UO back in 1997, but I'm not a fan of instant travel; even though, you did have recall stones if you were a mage. It makes the game world feel so small, especially in XIV since everything is zoned and train tracked from zone to zone like others have mentioned. I honestly didn't mind waiting on the ship in SWG, but that would never fly in today's MMO world. I do like flight paths and other things of that nature, since it is instant, but lets enjoy the ride,w/o actually waiting on it.

 

[Robobandit]

I found that I preferred to walk, run or ride my chocobo to most places in ARR. If I needed to go someplace that would normally involve the ferry, I'd go take the airship since the ferry was so expensive in phase 3.

I was almost never in enough of a hurry to justify using teleport when the airship was so much cheaper and I had a personal chocobo to run around on.

Once the ferry price is reasonable, I'll probably use that method of travel instead of the airship in most cases.

 

[Caerith]

I agree with everyone who values their time and doesn't want to be stuck waiting on ships and whatnot. I value my time too, no question about it. I don't want to wait in lines to kill a quest mob, I don't want to get up at 4am to watch other people try to outcheat each other to claim a mob, and I don't want to watch my character just standing around for 10 minutes because timetables.

But.

I still want the world to still feel alive around me. I want it to work like a world should. Airships should cross the sky, not teleport from place to place. Ships should cross the sea, not act as discount waypoints.

MMO worlds exist on a spectrum from "world" to "playground," respectively realism to casualness. Having working transportation + teleportation to get around it is a good compromise: you don't need to completely sacrifice verisimilitude to make a game.

And I think sea/sky FATES would be fun.

 

[Vashetti]

And I think sea/sky FATES would be fun.

Oh god

Taking a ship across to another continent or something and then:

 

[SnakeLinkSonic]

I agree with everyone who values their time and doesn't want to be stuck waiting on ships and whatnot. I value my time too, no question about it. I don't want to wait in lines to kill a quest mob, I don't want to get up at 4am to watch other people try to outcheat each other to claim a mob, and I don't want to watch my character just standing around for 10 minutes because timetables.

But.

I still want the world to still feel alive around me. I want it to work like a world should. Airships should cross the sky, not teleport from place to place. Ships should cross the sea, not act as discount waypoints.

MMO worlds exist on a spectrum from "world" to "playground," respectively realism to casualness. Having working transportation + teleportation to get around it is a good compromise: you don't need to completely sacrifice verisimilitude to make a game.

And I think sea/sky FATES would be fun.

I remember someone suggesting 'express tickets' on the forums and it didn't sound so bad to me. As much as I enjoyed the old sailing/flying across the lands giving the world a better sense of place, I also can't just justify scheduling and waiting around the ferries and aiships these days out of anything more than novelty. I'd rather just have the option to do either when I wanted with the faster option being a paid pass or unlockable through a quest or whatever.

As much as I value it drawing me into the world, I'm not a teenager with that much time on my hands anymore.

I do like the cost/value structure of teleporting now, though anything would have been better than f#$*ing anima again.

 

[Jinko]

Wat
After arr beta, all other free mmos I tried couldn't last me more than a day (rift, dragon's prophet)

The only thing FFXIV has over Rift is it looks a ton better graphically/artistically, has better music and is Final Fantasy, I can understand that makes FFXIV look more appealing but scratch the surface of both games and you soon realise its the wrong impression to walk away with.

I just hope high level FATE and end game content is enough to keep us entertained for a while otherwise they are going to bleed subs like no tomorrow.

 

[Jijidasu]

RPG Site: Well, my next question is natural, then - I feel this is quite, quite different to having a weapon, or the Warrior of Light costume - having an actual character appear opens up more doors, doesn't it? How long before we see Sephiroth as a raid boss, [Yoshida laughs] or Yuna and Tidus showing up to promote FF10 HD Remaster? Does this open that door?
Yoshida: [laughs] Well... first of all, I will leave it to the players to imagine if there's going to be Sephiroth in the game, or maybe Cloud is going to appear on his motorbike... Please enjoy sort of thinking about what could be happening in the game!

Interview here

Ugh, I feel like I'm going to vomit. Keep your goddamn relationships with the other internal dev cliques out of the game, Yoshida!

 

[Unknown Soldier]

I actually think it would be cool if there was a quest live where Sin attacked Eorzea and you joined up with Tidus and Yuna to help defeat it. It would be a lot better than goddamned Lightning. Also FFX was the last single player FF I genuinely loved.

 

[Jijidasu]

That's a nice idea but it shouldn't be in FFXIV. The reason FFXI remains a favourite out of the entire FF series for a lot of people is because of the storyline and deep lore the game world developed. Putting in Tidus for the sake of content would completely naff the game.

I can't imagine it being memorable in a good way. "Oh, do you remember that time when Fafnir popped and then we called in Tidus and Yuna to laugh at it? And then it dropped a Buster Sword? Damn that was a good day in Sunleth Waterscape FFXIV version!"

 

[Munba]

There is always the possibility to have some dimensional-time-space distorsion ala Chrono lol... oh well. I'm a bit skeptic about other FF characters in ARR but i trust in Yoshi-p into not ruin the lore (for now).

 

[Riposte]

So there will be a fourth GAF group on Ragnorak?

 

[Caerith]

I'd feel more confident about Final Fantasy incest if S-E had shown themselves capable of maintaining character integrity. I mean, look at Final Fantasy VII (Cloud has a personality, Aeris is funny) and then look at the FF7 Expanded Universe (Cloud has one emotion: moping, Aeris is a personality-less token), or look at FFXIII (Lightning doesn't have time for your shit) and then look at FFXIII-3 (Lightning is too busy playing dress-up to save the world).

The worst thing is the fans eat this shit up.

 

[Kintaro]

Including expanded FF Universe fun time is quite easy. They already plan to introduce a Golden Saucer type place right? Well, have a room within it that acts as a dimensional portal in a way (explain it that there are now tears in the Aether due to the Calamity) where we can have fun with different FF based events. Challenging bosses, interesting events and all manners of fan service could be had. It also keeps it "away" from the lore.

Personally? Make Ozma available to fight. I want to mess that damned thing up. ><

 

[Xux]

Including expanded FF Universe fun time is quite easy. They already plan to introduce a Golden Saucer type place right? Well, have a room within it that acts as a dimensional portal in a way (explain it that there are now tears in the Aether due to the Calamity) where we can have fun with different FF based events. Challenging bosses, interesting events and all manners of fan service could be had. It also keeps it "away" from the lore.

Personally? Make Ozma available to fight. I want to mess that damned thing up. ><

Yeah, make it so you have to gather high level ore and stuff to give to passive monsters so you can reach the round guy.

 

[Kintaro]

Yeah, make it so you have to gather high level ore and stuff to give to passive monsters so you can reach the round guy.

Yeah!

... Wait.

 

[Xux]

Yeah!

... Wait.

Haha.

I'd love to see FFIX and FFVIII monsters. (I'm guessing they're pulling monsters from FFXI and FFXII 'cause they're already animated to roam outside of battle.)

On that note, I like fighting Goblins in this game; the visual and audio design for their explosives is top notch.

 

[Robobandit]

On that note, I like fighting Goblins in this game; the visual and audio design for their explosives is top notch.

I like talking to them more..

there's one in Limsa who was upset and on the verge of cancelling a business transaction.

"You no have jigglyshine, we no have busydeal!"

 

[Ala Alba]

I'd feel more confident about Final Fantasy incest if S-E had shown themselves capable of maintaining character integrity. I mean, look at Final Fantasy VII (Cloud has a personality, Aeris is funny) and then look at the FF7 Expanded Universe (Cloud has one emotion: moping, Aeris is a personality-less token),

Crisis Core says you're wrong.

 

[theSlacker]

Crisis Core says you're wrong.

Crisis Core is a perfect example of what he is talking about. Turning Zack even more into some kind of golden god when in the original he died to two grunts with guns.