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For those who played it, how bad was FFXIV 1.0 actually ?
- Thread starter Mondai
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Unknown Soldier
Banned
It was extremely bad which is why Square Enix decided to shut the entire game down and re-develop and re-launch it.
Abriael_GN
RSI Employee of the Year
It was bad in many ways, but it did have some enjoyable aspects.
The storyline that led to the closure and the birth of FFXIV A Realm Reborn is one of the best ever created for a MMORPG, and it's a pity that it's forever lost besides videos.
The storyline that led to the closure and the birth of FFXIV A Realm Reborn is one of the best ever created for a MMORPG, and it's a pity that it's forever lost besides videos.
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FrankCaron
Member
In a lot of ways, there was some commonality with FF11 when it launched, in that FF14 v1 was very obtuse and non-intuitive.
The key difference was the timing. FF11 was the first of its kind and so wildly different than the other MMOs at the time. And it had a certain magic to it that made it captivating, even when obtuse.
FF14 on the other hand launched in an environment that was vastly different. MMOs had become accessible and relatively fast from the previous generation, and FF14 was antithetical to that. It had a number of mechanics around Fates and other content being driven by consumables, which gated content in a way that seemed to force you to log out. Thankfully the incredibly slow combat made it a chore anyway, and with none of the charm of 11, it was for many a 5 hour affair that was abandoned.
Watch some of the video reviews and Let's Plays on YouTube from 10 years ago. It really does make the story of ARR so much sweeter to see and feel that context. You'll better understand why ARR will likely stand forever as the greatest saving throw in the history of video games.
The key difference was the timing. FF11 was the first of its kind and so wildly different than the other MMOs at the time. And it had a certain magic to it that made it captivating, even when obtuse.
FF14 on the other hand launched in an environment that was vastly different. MMOs had become accessible and relatively fast from the previous generation, and FF14 was antithetical to that. It had a number of mechanics around Fates and other content being driven by consumables, which gated content in a way that seemed to force you to log out. Thankfully the incredibly slow combat made it a chore anyway, and with none of the charm of 11, it was for many a 5 hour affair that was abandoned.
Watch some of the video reviews and Let's Plays on YouTube from 10 years ago. It really does make the story of ARR so much sweeter to see and feel that context. You'll better understand why ARR will likely stand forever as the greatest saving throw in the history of video games.
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Twin Drive System
Member
I played up to player level 50 and job level 50. The game was extremely slow, unresponsive, and had poor UI. Questionable design choices like the fatigue system meant to impede progress.
That said, 1.0 was not without its charms. It had a certain ambience that people enjoyed in spite of the numerous flaws.
In some ways, it felt more organic because of its "slowness". Character movements felt weighted and the animations also reflected it. Travel was less trivial. Traveling by ferry meant actually waiting for the boat to arrive and travel to the destination. Meanwhile, one could just fish during the boat ride. I suppose it felt more like a simulator than a game, which meant it was not for everyone.
When they moved on to ARR, many of the "slow" factors were removed in favor of player convenience, better control, and broader appeal, which is understandable.
That said, 1.0 was not without its charms. It had a certain ambience that people enjoyed in spite of the numerous flaws.
In some ways, it felt more organic because of its "slowness". Character movements felt weighted and the animations also reflected it. Travel was less trivial. Traveling by ferry meant actually waiting for the boat to arrive and travel to the destination. Meanwhile, one could just fish during the boat ride. I suppose it felt more like a simulator than a game, which meant it was not for everyone.
When they moved on to ARR, many of the "slow" factors were removed in favor of player convenience, better control, and broader appeal, which is understandable.
xellos2099alpha
Member
It was BAD; every action is tie to server in Japan
xellos2099alpha
Member
Hell, XI launch with an auction house and story up to Shadow lord no? There was no auction house in 1.0 and the storyline was basically non-existence. You also cannot ride Chocobo.... think about it
Vaelka
Member
This is really strange, I remember trying it on Xbox and just thought it was weird with a MMO on console then forgot about it and went back to WoW.
Did it have a beta or some kind of a demo on Xbox?
I have such a strong memory of it for some reason, it's possible that I tried it on PC because I do remember trying it but I just very strongly remember trying it for free on Xbox?
Did it have a beta or some kind of a demo on Xbox?
I have such a strong memory of it for some reason, it's possible that I tried it on PC because I do remember trying it but I just very strongly remember trying it for free on Xbox?
FFXIV was never released on Xbox. FFXI was.
Moochi
Member
It was literally the worst game I have ever played.
I expected a modest improvement over final fantasy 11 systems, but everything about the game except the graphics engine seemed to run on late 90s tech. Every selection from your inventory, every menu option, required a query to the server before it took effect. Sometimes with lag, this meant that simply sorting your bag would take half an hour. The quests were sparse and insipid. Most were extremely punishing fetch quests with low rewards.
Crafting was random to an insane degree, and tedious beyond belief. Some people liked it because they had spent hundreds of hours mindlessly doing it while they watched a TV show or chatting or something. I remembered thinking that humans were weird when there were people actually angry about the real reborn changes. I don't think anyone actually enjoyed the gameplay of crafting, because there wasn't any--everything was a basic skinner box regardless of class--but they had sunk so much effort and time into it that they felt they had accomplished something few others (without bots) ever could through superhuman feats of time wasting.
Combat was also a step down from 11--they promised no more auto-attacking and a more active role for players, but the server tech couldn't support it. In the end, the nice things from 11 that did work, like magic burst combos, weren't in the game, and everyone just spammed rotations for their own class.
These are just the 1% of things I can remember about the early days off the top of my head. The actual game was much, much worse.
I expected a modest improvement over final fantasy 11 systems, but everything about the game except the graphics engine seemed to run on late 90s tech. Every selection from your inventory, every menu option, required a query to the server before it took effect. Sometimes with lag, this meant that simply sorting your bag would take half an hour. The quests were sparse and insipid. Most were extremely punishing fetch quests with low rewards.
Crafting was random to an insane degree, and tedious beyond belief. Some people liked it because they had spent hundreds of hours mindlessly doing it while they watched a TV show or chatting or something. I remembered thinking that humans were weird when there were people actually angry about the real reborn changes. I don't think anyone actually enjoyed the gameplay of crafting, because there wasn't any--everything was a basic skinner box regardless of class--but they had sunk so much effort and time into it that they felt they had accomplished something few others (without bots) ever could through superhuman feats of time wasting.
Combat was also a step down from 11--they promised no more auto-attacking and a more active role for players, but the server tech couldn't support it. In the end, the nice things from 11 that did work, like magic burst combos, weren't in the game, and everyone just spammed rotations for their own class.
These are just the 1% of things I can remember about the early days off the top of my head. The actual game was much, much worse.
Abriael_GN
RSI Employee of the Year
There is a LOT of hyperbole in this thread.
Moochi
Member
Not if you actually played day one. They did eventually patch some issues, but day one? The server query issues alone made it a 3 out-of-10, unless you lived next to a server.
SlimeGooGoo
Banned
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Fuz
Banned
Actually, older MMOs were mostly completely open (DAoC, LotRO, WH and so on).
So they're kinda... going backwards.
SlimeGooGoo
Banned
.
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Fuz
Banned
Never played EQ, but you're correct on UOL.
Unknown Soldier
Banned
Which you didn't, because the FFXIV 1.0 servers were only in Japan.
BadBurger
Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
Think of all of the things you like about any individual MMO ever. Now imagine how to make all of things absolutely awful.
It was the first MMO I quit after just a day or two. The world was a vast, empty wasteland. Just getting from a town to anyplace worth "questing" in (I put that in quotes because the quest system was really just grind in a different form) would take literally fifteen to twenty minutes. Just walking.
It was the first MMO I quit after just a day or two. The world was a vast, empty wasteland. Just getting from a town to anyplace worth "questing" in (I put that in quotes because the quest system was really just grind in a different form) would take literally fifteen to twenty minutes. Just walking.
Azzurri
Member
A lot of it was copy pasta, but the feel of the open world felt huge and like an MMO even if it wasn't completely full.
It's one thing I hate about 2.0 is everything is a loading screen, I wished they kept the open world for 2.0.
I mean I know it had to run on PS3 at the time, but we're now on PS5, and if they can do a graphic and code rehaul it be nice if they removed the loading from all the zones.
xellos2099alpha
Member
SlimeGooGoo
Banned
.
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Haint
Member
There was no gameplay loop, goal, or character progression whatsoever. The world was just a bunch of Chinese asset farm shit scattered about randomly generated maps. The combat system was still clearly in prototype stage (not even pre-alpha) with no balancing of any kind (enemies, abilities, etc...), but it had the makings of something much better than the keyboard face smashing WoW knockoff that ARR is today. The graphics were great for an MMO at the time, my new budget PC (GTX 460, Core i5) ran it fine at full 1080p.
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Abriael_GN
RSI Employee of the Year
Not only I played from day one, but from day one of the alpha.
It was bad in many ways, but calling the worst game ever? One must have had a very lucky (and likely small) gaming career to think so..
Some of the menus (not all were server-side) did take a second or so to load up, and it definitely was sluggish, but 5 seconds as someone said is, again, hyperbole, and so forth.
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Brigandier
Member
I remember the music being good and the armour at high levels looking great.
Other than that I found it abysmal in every way possible.
Other than that I found it abysmal in every way possible.
Dr. Claus
Banned
Yea, this is the one I would recommend. Plus this guy isn't a massive cunt like Danny O'Dwyer is.
Moochi
Member
Name a worse game from a venerable AAA franchise. You can't. And for all the people going "Open World, Wow!" This open world had geometry that was copy and pasted all over the place. There was this one forest, I can't remember the name of, that looked procedurally generated, but only because the artists had copy and pasted entire sections of what should have been unique geometry. It was impossible to know where you were without referring to the map. The only reason. To be in the bloody forest anyway was to fight slightly harder versions of the bunnies that gave slightly less crappy amounts of exp until you hit the daily cap.
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Abriael_GN
RSI Employee of the Year
DeltaPolarBear
Member
Moochi
Member
The goal posts were "was the game really that bad?" Yeah.This is called "moving the goalposts."
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It was absolutely terrible, and I bought the SE to boot. Retainers on floors where you could not search for items to buy, instead had to speak to every character idly standing to the next and sift through infinite garbage was insane. Crafting system made no damned sense with trade jobs. Combat moved at snail pace with terribly boring animations and skill chains that took minutes to complete
I played the beta and the only thing I remember standing out was that terrain was very blatantly copy-pasted and repeating. I thought it was weird but it was a so a beta so I assumed it was just something they would take care of by launch. The game was too complicated for me to play beyond the first few days and I never played again until ARR.
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Dr. Claus
Banned
I can name several, even within the same franchise.
FFXIV 1.0 is terrible, but claiming it is the "worst game from a AAA franchise" shows how little games you play. Though that may be a good thing, in your case.
The Pleasure
Member
Sony would have made sure it never came out in America with its anti anime stance.
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