What games are you currently playing?

[Ketaru]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Cid has a bit of a point.

I mean FF is also a traditionally single player experience, but the core of what FF is remains for XI (and to a degree XIV I guess. It still doesn't feel as "FF-y" as XI did to me) - crystals, summons, going off to save the world with allies blah blah blah it's all still there.

I sometimes think about how Final Fantasy-like and unFinal Fantasy-like XI and XIV are. The job system is there, of course. But when I think of it, how many numbered Final Fantasy games really is it? I, III, IV, V, and IX. It often feels, to me, like XI and XIV actually have more in common with the spin-offs: The 4 Heroes of Light, Bravely Default, Final Fantasy Dimensions, and the Tactics games.

Musically, XI also felt very different as a Final Fantasy game. Previous games often used short, affective, catchy melodies. XI had more subtle music that tended to meander. This is, of course, understandable given that they expected that players would have to listen to them often for extended periods of time. Nor did it have any of the (at times offensive) orchestral-rock driven battle music the series is known for. Personally, I never really felt the game was even connected to the Final Fantasy series until A Crystalline Prophecy where we finally get to hear the theme during the conclusion. Theme for reference.

One thing XIV does have over XI though is that it explicitly refers to your character as a Warrior of Light, chosen by the crystal to restore balance to the world. But again, that's something that actually tends to come up in the spin-offs and not the flagship series.

Thematically, XI and XIV have more in common with each other than the rest of the series, much as how the Ivalice games are thematically similar. That is, there are the 5 races that have obvious counterparts in the other. The various nations are in conflict with the beastmen. They take place not long after a period of war. And the cultures of their worlds celebrates adventurers as individuals that can make meaningful contributions to the world.

This was a tangent that probably doesn't add anything to the discussion. Just some thought I had about how XI and XIV fit into series.

[Malacite]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Disagree with that entirely, I think Tanaka was right on when he said XI is embodies the series as a whole.

And XI's music is great (for the most part at least).

[Ketaru]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

And XI's music is great (for the most part at least).

I didn't make any judgment about XI's music in my response.

[Carter]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Given XIV a break for a week after hitting level cap and feeling a bit flat about the experience! Still need to finish some story quests and then whatever "end game" is...

Back in the saddle next week some time

Lala ftw.

[Firewind]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Cid has a bit of a point.

I mean FF is also a traditionally single player experience, but the core of what FF is remains for XI (and to a degree XIV I guess. It still doesn't feel as "FF-y" as XI did to me) - crystals, summons, going off to save the world with allies blah blah blah it's all still there.


The big thing with Elder Scrolls games (and bethesda in general really) is the whole exploration/you make your own story thing. You can't just go off and explore 80%+ of the game right off the bat in ESO, its all scripted and you gotta follow the quests in order to get EXP to level up etc. (or so I'm told by friends who have the beta and this is why they don't like it).

I don't think they played very much. I've sunk 100+ hours into the thing and have no issue with going off to explore. Cyrodil actively encourages going fof to explore everywhere and the game massively rewards exploration. It also sounds like they really hated Skyrim as you would need to level up to survive some of the later fights given your HP would be far too low to survive against some of the later bosses.

Basically you start out on an island that establishes your faction's story, and once you hit Lv5 you're basically done there and free to go off exploring. The majority of XP comes from quest rewards in the early game.

You still have the core of the TESO games there. There's an utterly ridiculous amount of exploring that you can do. I remember spending several hours today on the treasure map stuff in Cyrodil with some friends. Tracking down the Skyshards and things like that also needs a huge amount of exploration.

If you do want to PvE in the game, the Aldmeri Dominion is the only viable option though. It's the only faction that actually has a good story and has decently laid out questing areas.

[cidbahamut]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

You sound like you're taking this personally. The game's fine as an MMORPG, but there's a reason I put it down after a couple of hours to go back to Skyrim.

[Malacite]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Tried out the PS4 beta for XIV.

Works very well for the most part, though there are a few things I don't like - the touch pad isn't as responsive as I'd like nor does clicking it work very well (but that's why it's beta.)

I also find stuff very difficult to read. My eyes aren't that great to begin with, but at least I can see everything on my monitor for my PC clear as day - on my 48" HDTV it's really hard to read some of the text, and it's next to impossible to see the numbers indicating the time remaining on any buffs/debuffs I have active. I'm hoping they put something in to adjust all that, as I really did like the experience on PS4 overall. For one thing, Legacy Controls ACTUALLY WORK with a Controller, and don't feel awkward with a KB. And the cross-hotbars are wonderful, arguably much better than the Mouse & KB hotbars.

[Ketaru]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I did it; I finally made it to the final chapter of Bravely Default. I must be playing the game wrong. It took me approximately 125 hours to get to it. Most people are describing the game as a 60 hour experience. I mean, I know I'm going and doing as many subquests as I can, but still...

I must be doing the boss battles wrong. They take me nearly 20 minutes to half an hour to complete and I find I'm approaching them as wars of attrition. It doesn't seem, to me, though that my characters are particularly underlevelled or undergeared...

[Mezlo]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

The main issue with the beta is that there's literally no content outside of the PvP if don't play on the Aldmeri Dominion. That faction seems to have all of the good zones and quests so levelling is actually not as painful as ritual suicide with a PS3 controller in those zones.

You can use a controller with the ESO beta? I tried and it didnt function... How did you get it to work?

[Firewind]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

It was a really terrible simile. The game is coming out for XB1 and PS4 though, so it is built and optimised for a controller. I have no doubt that controller support with work later.

You sound like you're taking this personally. The game's fine as an MMORPG, but there's a reason I put it down after a couple of hours to go back to Skyrim.

Not at all. It's just more I'm getting exhausted with people that should really just be playing Skyrim or Borderlands 2 (since it's the closest thing we will get to a Co-Op Skyrim until someone makes a mod for it) instead, and having to repeat myself over and over. Honestly right now I think Tera does everything TESO does better save crafting and PvP, which is a massive lagfest for anyone living outside the US sadly since all the servers are in the US, including the "EU" server (which is basically just a toggle to turn on German and French support in the client, you still play on the same server).

I make comparisons between those most often since they are very similar games.

And honestly Loadout is giving me my PvP fix right now. I never thought I would play a Team Based PvP game better than Chivalry or SWTOR until I played Loadout. Plus it's F2P done right.

And let's be honest, I think the only reason I plan to get the game is because my friends are getting it so I will have people to goof around with and make our own fun with.

[Carter]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I did it; I finally made it to the final chapter of Bravely Default. I must be playing the game wrong. It took me approximately 125 hours to get to it. Most people are describing the game as a 60 hour experience. I mean, I know I'm going and doing as many subquests as I can, but still...

I must be doing the boss battles wrong. They take me nearly 20 minutes to half an hour to complete and I find I'm approaching them as wars of attrition. It doesn't seem, to me, though that my characters are particularly underlevelled or undergeared...

God I knew there was a game I need to get back into o_0! How many hours? feck!

[cidbahamut]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Not at all. It's just more I'm getting exhausted with people that should really just be playing Skyrim or Borderlands 2 (since it's the closest thing we will get to a Co-Op Skyrim until someone makes a mod for it) instead, and having to repeat myself over and over.

You do realize there is a reason for that, yes? All that name brand recognition cuts both ways. They could have just put together a cool new MMORPG, but instead they built one and then slapped the Elder Scrolls logo on it. While that logo will draw in a fairly large crowd, it also carries a lot of expectations. They've got solid system mechanics, but once that logo gets placed on the game it means I'm going to wander into it expecting that when I roll a Khajiit I'll be able to walk up to strangers, rifle through their pockets and then make off to the nearest mountaintop with my kitchen sink full of other people's belongings, just as a thing to do because it amuses me. There was none of that present in TESO. It was all very much "here is an MMORPG", from the level design to the mob placement and quest givers...None of it felt like what I associate with The Elder Scrolls franchise.

And here's the crux of the problem: The Elder Scrolls' strengths are very much rooted in it being a single player game. The ability to paint your own story onto the backdrop of the game world...there's very few games that allow for that, and it's not something you can really cultivate in a multi-player environment.

[Firewind]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Funny you should mention that. Day Z is a lot like how you describe. Bring able to KO another player and rifle through their pockets, handcuffing them to a railing at you go long never gets old. That and tricking players into eating poisoned food. I remember kind of getting captured by Bandit players, they went through my stuff and found the food that I had poisoned with bleach just incase something like this happened.

You can see where this is going here. Ended up with two Russian kids screaming at me over VOIP, and a ton of free loot.

[Armando]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Attempting to speed run KH2. Stumbled upon this. Never realized the final boss was a bullet hell.

EDIT: From the Youtube comments:
"This is such a bug ur dashing in 2 the bullets without taking damage no excuse its going threw u(don't care bout correct words or wat f)"
"That is because the enemies aim at the center of a gummi ship. He was smart and removed said center by making a hole in the middle of it lol. Therefore, he legitly cannot be hit. Not cheating, just being smart as hell lol"

[Malacite]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn with Director / Producer Naoki Yoshida - YouTube


"Extremely Casual" is right...

I love the PS4 version, but damn the game could use some of that FFXI magic :/