FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot and other reviews & hilarious discoveries about FFXIV

[Grizzlebeard]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

Gamespy: Final Fantasy XIV Online Review

It's a rare moment of serendipity when a single sentence can encapsulate all of the flaws of a video game; when a snippet of garbled nonsense shines like a blacklight in a grimy hotel bathroom to expose the horror that unfortunate patrons will soon endure. I discovered one such sentence while attempting to create a character after setting up my Final Fantasy XIV account:

"To create characters on your FINAL FANTASY XIV service account, you must possess automatically continuous options."

The split-second of stunned consternation you may have felt as your troglodyte brain attempted to parse that sentence into something grammatically functional sums up the entirety of the FFXIV experience: Extended stretches of confused incredulity, punctuated now and then by bursts of intense anger. And yeah -- I just equated FFXIV with a filthy bathroom.

I can't help but feel that FFXIV is cosmic punishment, meted out by some avenging massively multiplayer online deity for my years of complaining about the state of modern online RPGs. They're too simple, I've whined; too hand-holdy, too easy, too friendly, and too safe. FFXIV is none of these things. It is the definition of obtuse: poorly designed, aggressively underexplained, and shoddy in almost every respect that matters.

I laughed so much a little wee came out.

[Aeni]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

Everything except for equipment stacks. This is a huge one to me. Most items stack to 12, but things like crystals and raw materials for synthesis (including lumber!) stack to 99! Crystals actually currently stack to 999, but SE just put out a notice saying they're changing crystals so who knows what they'll do.

Currently, each player character or each retainer is allowed to possess up to 999 crystals and 999 shards.
If you obtain crystals or shards when you already have 999 of them, the surplus amounts cannot be obtained and will be discarded, as in the following cases.

•Obtain a new crystal or shard from the loot list.
•Trade with a retainer
•Trade with another player character or in a bazaar.
•Reset a bazaar
*Crystals and shards put in a bazaar will not be counted as possessed.

We are currently reviewing this design. New updates will follow as additional information becomes available. Thank you for your understanding.

They're talking about people losing shards/crystals after topping out at 999. I think there's not even an option to (Keep)(Discard), the system just auto-dumps excess. This doesn't mean that they will increase capacity to carry more or if they will redo the stacks. They're just looking at a specific bug or kink where you don't get an option to do something with it before losing it forever.

[Icemage]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

So... wouldn't it be easier to just have a separate node handling Bazaars so players could simply go into a bazaar menu and access all active bazaars within the region/world from a single window? <_<

Just like an AH, but not!

But that would make too much sense, and from the evidence, common sense is something which is pretty short supply over at Square-Enix these days.


Icemage

[Aeni]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

But that would make too much sense, and from the evidence, common sense is something which is pretty short supply over at Square-Enix these days.

To be fair, this has been a problem with many game developers as of late, including companies like Blizzard and Valve, where "common sense" should be driving development or a solution and instead they need to take the longer and more complicated route and in doing so, end up breaking other things along the way.

Sometimes I think game developers end up becoming the bureaucracy of their own making.

[Malacite]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

which has always been in pretty short supply over at Square-Enix.

ftfy.

[Absentia]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

"Square-Enix has the worst customer support EVER and this game SUCKS. I mean, LOOK AT THE REVIEWS PEOPLE. I'm pissed at all these issues, but damn I'm still going to support them and play. They still piss me off, though."

[Aksannyi]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

That only applies to a few of the people here.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

"Square-Enix has the worst customer support EVER and this game SUCKS. I mean, LOOK AT THE REVIEWS PEOPLE. I'm pissed at all these issues, but damn I'm still going to support them and play. They still piss me off, though."

For an additional free month and planned changes, yes I'll still play. Partly because I'm a fangirl and partly because I hook up with old friends in game. And there is nothing wrong with playing and complaining, how do you think shit gets fixed? With SE, its a wait and see prospect and all we have to weigh it against our experience with FFXI, which wasn't very good in the CS dept. With the most recent announcement, I've seen a turnaround in their attitude....but time will still tell, I'm not totally convinced.

[Malacite]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

^ What TGM said. The slew of announcements they put out today is very encouraging.

[Etra]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

"Square-Enix has the worst customer support EVER and this game SUCKS. I mean, LOOK AT THE REVIEWS PEOPLE. I'm pissed at all these issues, but damn I'm still going to support them and play. They still piss me off, though."

I love you.

[Aeni]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

"Square-Enix has the worst customer support EVER and this game SUCKS. I mean, LOOK AT THE REVIEWS PEOPLE. I'm pissed at all these issues, but damn I'm still going to support them and play. They still piss me off, though."

I only want account-based retainer.

I could do w/o everything else but an account-based retainer. Then I'll just sit there and admire a pair of hand crafted, beautifully made Miqo'tes standing around in a blank and devoid world.

[Icemage]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

Review from Kotaku:

Review: Final Fantasy XIV

There are chocobo in Final Fantasy XIV, but you cannot ride them. The whimsical, lemon-yellow, ostrich-like franchise mascots are installed at stables in the game's main cities, but players cannot interact with them. Square Enix hasn't determined how it's going to implement them in the game. I can see how Final Fantasy XIV could evolve into an amazing online experience. All of the elements are in place, but like the chocobo, Square Enix is still trying to figure out how to make them work. Many players may have the patience to wait and see how things pan out. I do not.

Worth reading, IMO.


Icemage

[TheGrandMom]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

Personally, I found the Kotaku review very watered down. Read his 4 part blog that he made while playing the game and you'll understand why I say that.

[Aeni]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

Personally, I found the Kotaku review very watered down. Read his 4 part blog that he made while playing the game and you'll understand why I say that.

Maybe SE paid him off. lol

[Aksannyi]

Re: FFXIV gets a 4.0 from Gamespot

I had a quest, and I wouldn't sleep until I completed it!

Filled with a tremendous sense of purpose, I turned off the game and went to sleep.

Lol.

---------- Post added at 07:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:45 PM ----------

Okay, now that I've read that whole thing, I gotta say, his impressions of the game should make me not want to play it ... but after watching those videos ... I fucking want to play it.

Hopefully SE can fix it and make it better by the time I have the money to buy a PC.