While a lot of interesting stuff has and is going on right now, I will not be posting any updates yet. I will probably start reviewing updates when the billing starts, because that would indicate that the game is worth while playing.

Let’s just hope it does get to that point…

So the update size was fairly large, but for some reason I didn’t really feel anything major was done. Only very noticeable aspect for a regular player, was that there is now a timer that shows when your spells are going to wear off.

When you enter a town, you’ll notice that it’s snowing and there are some small christmas decorations. Fun fact is that when you enter say, under a bridge, you are unable to see the snow on the distance/horizon. So basically the snowing is just a clientsided effect that happens when you are standing outside (and nothing is above you). Poorly done effect I must say.

Nothing else I really noticed, because I hate leves, repetitive crafting and the NM’s that they added are like Lv. 50.

P.S. The servers are completely empty.

It was announced a few days back that mr. Hiromichi Tanaka steps down from the producers stool. Now to any possible Tanaka fans out there, he will still be around to support FF14, just in a different position.
There are also other changes in the staff, so be sure to check the full list from lodestone.

Even after 4 years of FF11, I barely know who Tanaka is because he was in the dark fairly often. I sure am glad that we are getting some change here, and give someone else a chance.

P.S, Tanaka sure looked cool at Fanfest, when he walked on the stage while Dynamis-Xarcabard music was being played on the background.

The list of fixes is astounding, and some of the most important ones are the SP gain and UI lag. However a small note that the UI lag is not exactly “gone”, because It just can’t be fixed like that. They have to make a whole new UI which is an excruciating process, but for now it seems like they have tried to make it temporarily more client side.
(Minimizing the actions that require transferring data between the client and the server, ex. menus)

I don’t want to sound pessimist here, but when it comes relying on SE again, don’t let this successful update fool you. This patch is merely just a start, and only fixed critical issues and bugs. I see the future updates more important, when the player base has more understanding of the game. Then it will be interesting to see, if SE goes out of It’s own way or listen the players.

Until next time, Adrian signs out ^.~!

Well shortly after cancelling my account, I saw this new topic at BG stating that we get yet another free month. This means that the players have gotten now a total of 90 days free playtime.

On top of that, Square-Enix actually started posting the updates and there is a huge list of fixes coming up. The list is so long that i won’t be putting it here, but you can check it from lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com.

So will these patches make this game fun and actually playable?

Only time will tell, but one thing is for certain. SE has certainly apologized in several interviews and what comes to communication, they have taken decent steps forward.
I guess at this stage It’s a must, since it really seems that nobody cares about the current version of the game, thus making it an economical disaster for SE.

Although this is a numbered Final Fantasy, it has a very different style and system.  What about FFXIV makes it a Final Fantasy title?

Tanaka: If you’re asking me “what is a Final Fantasy?” then that’s a question I get quite often.  Unfortunately, I don’t have a clear answer for that.  There are some similarities between the worlds, such as the crystals and the use of elemental magic spells, but for the development team, it’s always about creating the best RPG out there.

I don’t understand why Tanaka would give an answer like this one. This makes me wonder have they completely forgotten what Final Fantasy stands for, and why it was named “Final Fantasy” in the first place.
___________________________________________

How I Define Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy for me was always about traveling through the world, making friends along the way that would help you to destroy the darkness. Even though friendship always played big role in the series, you also got to follow the main character’s love story.

Final Fantasy was also about being a hero, the only one that was capable of saving the world. You would go through epic battles and story, that were designed with heart.

I was very excited to actually see an official post by the developers themselves. It’s interesting how so simple post creates so much joy on the forums.

My initial thoughts were positive, but after getting over the “excitement” part, I started wondering why are we getting this message so late? Of course this is just a business move, so that the players will stick a bit longer, giving Square-Enix time to win over some of the customers.

Mixed Feelings

Now I’m really torn apart here, because I don’t know if I want to trust them again, even though they have shown good faith. Additionally, would have we gotten this special message if people didn’t threat to quit the game after the free month?

Here is a quote that bothers me the most:

Nothing is more important to us than seeing to the prompt implementation of the various changes and features players desire to improve playing conditions.

FINAL FANTASY XIV Director
Nobuaki Komoto

Notice the part that I have highlighted. The community of FF11 has loudly stated long time ago their dissatisfaction concerning SE’s way of communicating. It seems that they only take it seriously, if people are really pissed about something together, causing their MMO business to slide down significantly.

My Last Words

I actually can’t comprehend this situation in my mind, because the player base has complained about the communication issues since FF11. Now that’s a long time.
From business perspective and assuming Square-Enix really follows forums, wouldn’t it be wise to communicate with the player base, especially seeing what kind of joy it creates?

Are we going to see Square-Enix communicating with us more often in the future?
Who knows, that’s why I will be on my toes at all times.

I also asked around about opinions whether this is fixable and if so, how long will it take? The response I got wasn’t in fact surprising, and this is what they told me:

Not much they can do short of re-working the entire code, which will never happen. Crystal Tools, yo. As long as we have to continue to bounce our information back and forth with their servers for every button press on the menu, this won’t speed up.

So why would SE create a system, where each click “requires” you sending data to the game server and back to you, causing delay? Who knows, but my guess is to make botting harder. If the whole thing was client sided, it wouldn’t lag but creating bots would be much easier. (This is just my theory, so don’t take my word for it)

Crystal Tools have been used in FF13 / FF14, and so far I’m not impressed. I’m not saying that the tools suck, but maybe they are not used well enough.

So is this game a Trust or a Bust? You can begin building your opinion by reading and answering the following questions:

• Are you okay with the lag that just might be here for a very long time, if not permanently?
• Are you ready to wait years until SE can fix all these issues, because It seems to me that the few positive parts get lost in the failstorm.

Especially those who have played FF11:

• Do you still want to give SE another chance, while knowing that FF14 has been in development during FF11.
  FF11 received a lot of negative feedback and SE told us, that they have learned a lot. So have they learned a lot?

My Conclusion

I will continue to watch what updates SE brings to us and how often. I already paid over 60€ just to try an unfinished game, which was intentionally released no matter how bad it sucked. The whole point was to release this game before WoW – Cataclysm.

I don’t care so much to give them any more money, until I see some proof that they are getting somewhere.

- A rare issue wherein an item data would get corrupted during a server outage has been addressed.
* We have confirmed that if a player attempts to put this corrupted item into their bazaar, it would cause the server to go down. We are currently in the process of addressing this issue, but until then, we have placed a temporarily restriction on these corrupted items which were being sold by certain players. We will be providing an update on this situation once we have a better idea on when the actual fix will take place. We deeply apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

This actually happened to me and sounds crazy as hell, because how can corrupted items bring the server down. Either way, my bazaar had corrupted items, meaning my whole bazaar became corrupted. I could not touch the bazaar at all.

Here is a picture

The First Week

I had a holiday which i accurately aimed on top of FF14 release, so i had plenty of time to play it. I was often up to 7 – 10 A.M at nigh.. morning, depending on server maintenances.
In this post i will be talking about the overall feeling, starting from installing it.

Arrival / Installing / Payment etc

First of all i was so excited to receive my game early from Amazon UK and delivered by UPS. They literally called me and told that they are 30 minutes away, so get your ass ready. But of course i paid a few extra bucks for that.

Installing the game was smooth and gave enough time to watch the special DVD, which came along with the Collector’s Edition.

Unlike in FF11, you have to use Square-Enix Account Management System to enter payment info etc. I was glad how clean the website was, however sometimes I felt like there were too many options and menus, so you weren’t exactly sure if you’ve entered all the codes and payment information correctly.

For example when entering registration code, I started wondering where the special in game item code goes into. Well, you are supposed to enter it in the same field as the actual registration code and before you log in, otherwise you won’t be receiving your in game item.

The payment system was a real pain in the ass to be honest. I really expected that there would be an easy system, but no.
This time there was no direct payment system, instead, you had these bunch of websites like “Click and Buy” etc, that forced you to create an account to some web page, that you might not even know about. Thank god there is an option for paypal, but other than that It’s fucking madness.

Leves / Battle System

Leves are basically a bunch of crafting and fighting quests, that give you rewards, experience and skill points. For example, if you chose any of the crafting leves, you would be asked to craft a certain item and give it to the NPC. Now here is the good part, the NPC gives you all the materials so all you need to do is to craft the item. So it’s basically free experience points, but of course there are limits how often you can do leves.

The battle system is overall the same but a small reminder: You don’t lose experience points when you die ^^.
I want to however point out the ability system, which is awesome. Say you took Conjurer to Lv. 10 and you wanted to use its spells and abilities on Pugilist. Well that is now possible. To balance this, the number of abilities you can “set” is based on your class level, so of course you can’t set 100 spells on Level 1 Pugilist. Also the spells may be weaker or recast rate is higher.

Crafting

Crafting is one of the coolest aspects about the game, but in a “funny” way it’s forced activity. Basically gear is nearly impossible to get at this point, so you have to craft. Now how do you choose a craft? You don’t, the crafts choose you.

Say you wanted to make an Pickaxe. Here is a list what you would have to do:

- Mine the ores
- Smelt the ores
- Craft them into plates and ingots etc
- Craft the actual pickaxe head
- Cut wood for the handle part
- Use woodworking to handle the wood

and the list goes on, so basically each ingredient in this game is very valid, because just one ore can net you experience points for 5 different crafting classes. This is pretty awesome system in my opinion.

Crafters also get abilities that you can use to increase success or quality rate. There are also High-Quality items, which work pretty much the same way as in FF11. However, making HQs are now based on skill, quality of base ingredients and multiple other things.

Bazaaring

You can select items from your inventory to sell OR you can also hire a retainer, which is an NPC that bazaars for you. SE has made several Bazaaring zones, where you can place your very own NPC that sells stuff. This means that you can use retainer as an item holder or to sell stuff. It’s truly an amazing system.

Downsides

- Inventory problem is back, we have no space. Also, there is still no sort function for inventory.
- Airships and chocobos are not accessable yet. (Teleporting is possible, but only like once a day etc)
- The worst of all is the UI lag, it’s absolutely dreadful. At this moment, it’s better to use controller.
- Mage system; When casting a spell, the game forces you to go into “Active” mode. Active mode is basically the mode that melee’s use in order to engage a target.

These are just the main problems i am personally having, but of course there are plenty of other annoying problems. For example after a week of gaming, the game just feels like never ending grinding. That’s because the storyline is not ready yet, and getting access to the next quest requires too high levels.