The *ahem* OFFICIAL "FINAL FANTASY XIV Online" Thread of Ultimate Anticipation!

[Balfree]

Re: The *ahem* OFFICIAL "FINAL FANTASY XIV Online" Thread of Ultimate Anticipation!

are we even sure they will reveal anything new at TGS for FFXIV?

Common sense says they should, it's only a year or so until release date, gameplay and more info needs to be released or no proper hype will be generated for the game.

[Feba]

Re: The *ahem* OFFICIAL "FINAL FANTASY XIV Online" Thread of Ultimate Anticipation!

On the leveling system, just out of curiosity, what do you guys think of a real-time based system like EVE has, where you gain abilities (to use various equipment, think License Board... in spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace) and character stats based on real time? Where two people can gain abilities at pretty much the same rate, even if one plays half an hour a day, and the other spends their entire waking life on it.

Then, who has the advantage is largely determined by pure strategy and the equipment they use.

Another thing EVE uses to keep players pretty well balanced is non-consensual PVP and losing your ship when someone blows it up-- it's all managed in a way that keeps it from getting too frustrating, and the playerbase has a common rule of never flying anything you can't afford to lose. You can go all out on the nicest bits, but if you cross the wrong path, it would blow up just as nicely.

This equipment-based approach also allows things to remain very well balanced; a new player cannot do PVE missions solo like a more experienced player can, but a group of new players could take down a very experienced one in PVP with the right strategy.

[jenova_9]

Re: The *ahem* OFFICIAL "FINAL FANTASY XIV Online" Thread of Ultimate Anticipation!

On the leveling system, just out of curiosity, what do you guys think of a real-time based system like EVE has, where you gain abilities (to use various equipment, think License Board... in spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace) and character stats based on real time? Where two people can gain abilities at pretty much the same rate, even if one plays half an hour a day, and the other spends their entire waking life on it.

Then, who has the advantage is largely determined by pure strategy and the equipment they use.

Another thing EVE uses to keep players pretty well balanced is non-consensual PVP and losing your ship when someone blows it up-- it's all managed in a way that keeps it from getting too frustrating, and the playerbase has a common rule of never flying anything you can't afford to lose. You can go all out on the nicest bits, but if you cross the wrong path, it would blow up just as nicely.

This equipment-based approach also allows things to remain very well balanced; a new player cannot do PVE missions solo like a more experienced player can, but a group of new players could take down a very experienced one in PVP with the right strategy.

I'm confused. never played EVE.

but I think it might be like FFII and a mix of FFIX (learning abilities from equipment/weapon) with perhaps a Job branching system like FFT. I don't think it will be like the license board.

the problem with the original FFXII license board was that everyone's board was the same, and it was lame having to learn
abilities that may not be the type of job you prefer, and everyone ends up doing the same stuff to be optimal (Cura,
2h swords, Charge, etc.

but maybe the Jobs themselves might have a license board like structure, but independant from the other Job abilities.

also there's a chance some weapons may be exclusive to specific Job roles. like if you equip a staff, you can only use WHM spells to learned, no abilities from other jobs. and if you switch to a Rod, then you can only use BLM magic.

this would prevent players from almost being a jack of all trades and carbon copies of everyone else.

[Feba]

Re: The *ahem* OFFICIAL "FINAL FANTASY XIV Online" Thread of Ultimate Anticipation!

No. I'm not talking about license board in terms of "use X points to unlock Y square so you can go on to Z1, Z2, and Z3 squares on the board". I'm just talking about a leveling system where you primarily gain the freedom to buy your abilities, equipment, etc. And in return, you have to have the educational materials to learn skills-- so you have to have the money to buy training books, the time to learn it, and then the money to buy the actual equipment. It keeps people from progressing solely by logging in every now and then and then months later logging in to a powerful character, but it keeps it from being too demanding on people that want to play lightly.

Only it's not run by killing monsters for points, but by allowing time to pass in the real world. Therefore, you can progress without playing constantly, although you would still need to gain 'points' to see real progress-- only in the form of money, not EXP, so you're not limited to killing or questing for progress. It also allows you to continue to make progress (and keep up with your friends) while you're busy with real life, or even completely unable to play (by setting a very long skill to train). You can also level through maintenance (a bigger deal in EVE, which goes down every morning to clean/reset things, in a somewhat larger version of our JP midnight)

Although, yes, everyone would be left with the same skills they can progress through, EVE controls this by simply having a lot to learn. And as soon as people start to get anywhere near learning everything, they can toss in new skills that give marginal stat increases, or allow access to some new piece of 'equipment', to force people to further decide where to spend their points. They also have the advantage of being able to tell exactly how long it would take a player to reach the 'level cap', down to the second, and plan out when thir deadlines for adding more content should be to keep people from all turning into homogeneous blobs.

It keeps characters pretty unique, as does having to select their equipment (ship and modules). It also doesn't force people to pick one path or another (requiring them to start over if they want to go from attacking to healing, which is exactly the kind of problem the Job system is supposed to get around), or to retread the same ground (like in FFXI; you keep your skill levels and your learned spells between jobs; only there are no hard set 'jobs'-- once you gain "+3 Accuracy", you always have it, whether you're in buffing/healing mode or crowd control mode)

[Kailea]

Re: The *ahem* OFFICIAL "FINAL FANTASY XIV Online" Thread of Ultimate Anticipation!

bleh, I hated that thing in FFXII -.- and Eve's "learn this in a month" thing was BS

[Feba]

Re: The *ahem* OFFICIAL "FINAL FANTASY XIV Online" Thread of Ultimate Anticipation!

Very few things in EVE take a month to learn. Generally people save the rare longer learning times for vacations or updates. If you need to spend a month learning something right off the bat, you're doing something wrong.

[Malacite]

Re: The *ahem* OFFICIAL "FINAL FANTASY XIV Online" Thread of Ultimate Anticipation!

I object to EVE's system on the grounds that you don't even really have to do anything. Just chose what skill(s) you want to learn and wait.

[jenova_9]

Re: The *ahem* OFFICIAL "FINAL FANTASY XIV Online" Thread of Ultimate Anticipation!

EVE sounds like a very boring mmorpg.

[Feba]

Re: The *ahem* OFFICIAL "FINAL FANTASY XIV Online" Thread of Ultimate Anticipation!

I object to EVE's system on the grounds that you don't even really have to do anything. Just chose what skill(s) you want to learn and wait.

Like I said, you still have to have the money to buy the skill books, and the money to buy the equipment to actually use it. You could have all of the skills to fly a nice ship, but none of the money to afford it.

It has the big advantage of making people still play the game, but allowing them to progress at the same rate as their friends, even if they play less-- it keeps people who play ten hours a day from shooting ahead in progress simply because they have no lives, while still allowing them to do something productive (unlike an EXP cap); and it allows people that can only play every other day to still progress. It's a great equalizer, without simply treating everybody the same.

EVE sounds like a very boring mmorpg.

It is to me, but that's more because of the gameplay than anything else. The leveling system and world have nothing to do with it. And to be fair, 'boring gameplay' is the same reason I left FFXI, but clearly enough people enjoy it. How is learning skills based on real time more boring than spending hours every night standing in the same three yard circle attacking the same two mobs with the same attack pattern to learn skills, though?

[jenova_9]

Re: The *ahem* OFFICIAL "FINAL FANTASY XIV Online" Thread of Ultimate Anticipation!

I just meant boring as in EVE looks like it's just focused on the ships and the planets and resources, and not really the characters themselves, I heard they added an update so players can have avatars, but still the scope of the game is too vast since it's all about space + ships, and so shallow in character immersion and depth. Thats why I prefer games that are more down to earth.

but ya I kinda bored of FFXI too, the adventure aspect is virtually gone for years now. thats why Im am excited to play FFXIV at launch.

[Raydeus]

Re: The *ahem* OFFICIAL "FINAL FANTASY XIV Online" Thread of Ultimate Anticipation!

EVE sounds a lot like playing ST: Armada. Which I loved to play until I switched to a newer rig that wasn't compatible with such an old game.

But without the fun stuff.


And since there's no Sovereign class starship on EVE...

[Feba]

Re: The *ahem* OFFICIAL "FINAL FANTASY XIV Online" Thread of Ultimate Anticipation!

yeah, EVE does focus more on ships than the character; in some ways, the character is just your avatar (although it has a fairly robust character customization system, and iirc it's always been there, or at least has been there for a very long time) and something you can drop ships on top of.

They'll be adding planetary flight soon enough, as well as a system that will allow players to leave their ships and walk around space stations on foot.

I'm not sure anyone read that properly. Imagine a university professor. Lecturing on Christianity. Now apply that cynicism and sarcasm to the previous paragraph. They've been 'working on it' for years now, last I checked.

Still, being so impersonal isn't really a detriment, because EVE is constantly role playing. The plot is based largely around giving players the ability to RP in a way that changes it (not merely by picking one option or another; by changing the way events unfold, even if that means things happen in a way that the developers didn't predict)-- and because of the terminology of the game, you can have an encounter with someone and never know if they're just playing a game, or if they're role playing in character. Really, it only comes up if someone starts talking about stuff outside of the game; whereas it's nearly impossible to get anything done in FFXI without breaking character or sounding like an idiot; or at least having a very, very loose definition of 'natural'. In some ways, EVE makes you the character, where many other MMORPGs have you control a character. Kind of like the difference between a game like Oblivion and a tabletop game like Dungeons and Dragons.

[jenova_9]

Re: The *ahem* OFFICIAL "FINAL FANTASY XIV Online" Thread of Ultimate Anticipation!

mayeb the crystals we seen in the artwork, are a kind of fuel resource. they look like they are carried like daggers.

[Balfree]

Re: The *ahem* OFFICIAL "FINAL FANTASY XIV Online" Thread of Ultimate Anticipation!

if they look like daggers what makes you think they are fuel? o.O
is there a relation ?

[Yellow Mage]

Re: The *ahem* OFFICIAL "FINAL FANTASY XIV Online" Thread of Ultimate Anticipation!

if they look like daggers what makes you think they are fuel? o.O
is there a relation ?

You know, thanks to the "latest post" feature, I thought that this was just another crazy cloud-cuckoo lander Balfree post.

And then I read the post above it.

Turns out, you're the sane one.