I was able to grab a copy of FF XIV from my local gamestop without pre-ordering. The store I went to had an extra copy, sweet!
F1 2010 also released today, I have it in my Gamefly Q for PS3, PC users don't like the PC version much, not sure what's going on there, but so far the PS3 reviews have been positive.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
In limbo
I'm in limbo now, waiting to get my hands on a copy of FF XIV. I don't mind that I don't get to play it the day of the release, there will be lots of server problems and issues and massive patches released on day 1 that people probably won't be able to play consistently until about the 25th or so.
Until then, I'm playing some classic Final Fantasy Tactics and FF IX to pass the time.
And I also was able to catch up on another game I'm eagerly anticipating; Gran Tourismo 5. I played GT1 and 2 to the bone, and while I did buy and play GT3 and 4, I never got into them as much, they just always seemed like GT2 but with better graphics and more cars, and those trinkets wore off quickly.
GT5, however, will feature something that I have been wanting for years; realistic damage! In GT2, some of my best lap times were because I was able to take a turn faster and nail that one rail (or invisible barier) at the right time to allow me to keep going, plus driving off road to get around big turns, slamming into cars at full speed to stop on a dime in time for a turn.... all with no consequences.
Now, I will have consequences, forcing me to drive "correctly", this I love. I'm also hoping that invisible barriers will be gone as well, so that if you take a turn too fast, and there's a lake on the outside, you hit the curb and go flying into the lake, RACE OVER!
Plus, they've created realistic weather. Windshield wipers will be necessary, oncoming headlights and other lights blinding with the rain on the windshield, plus cars in front of you spraying blinding you. I cannot wait for all this realism, this is what it takes to get me back into Gran Tourismo.
Plus, F1 2010 comes out in TWO DAYS. It's already received one review, and at 9.0/10 this is THE F1 racing game of our time. Time and more reivews will tell if this game is worth picking up.
Until then, I'm playing some classic Final Fantasy Tactics and FF IX to pass the time.
And I also was able to catch up on another game I'm eagerly anticipating; Gran Tourismo 5. I played GT1 and 2 to the bone, and while I did buy and play GT3 and 4, I never got into them as much, they just always seemed like GT2 but with better graphics and more cars, and those trinkets wore off quickly.
GT5, however, will feature something that I have been wanting for years; realistic damage! In GT2, some of my best lap times were because I was able to take a turn faster and nail that one rail (or invisible barier) at the right time to allow me to keep going, plus driving off road to get around big turns, slamming into cars at full speed to stop on a dime in time for a turn.... all with no consequences.
Now, I will have consequences, forcing me to drive "correctly", this I love. I'm also hoping that invisible barriers will be gone as well, so that if you take a turn too fast, and there's a lake on the outside, you hit the curb and go flying into the lake, RACE OVER!
Plus, they've created realistic weather. Windshield wipers will be necessary, oncoming headlights and other lights blinding with the rain on the windshield, plus cars in front of you spraying blinding you. I cannot wait for all this realism, this is what it takes to get me back into Gran Tourismo.
Plus, F1 2010 comes out in TWO DAYS. It's already received one review, and at 9.0/10 this is THE F1 racing game of our time. Time and more reivews will tell if this game is worth picking up.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Time warp please
Yesterday, I was very comfortable with FF XIV beta, and I had decided that I was going to buy it right at, or soon after release.
But after last night's release party (in Japan) and after reading what SE plans for the release (or soon after), now I REALLY cannot wait for this game!
Final Fantasy XIV - Pre-release Coverage
But after last night's release party (in Japan) and after reading what SE plans for the release (or soon after), now I REALLY cannot wait for this game!
Final Fantasy XIV - Pre-release Coverage
Friday, September 10, 2010
FF XIV - A Realization
I had a discussion with my wife whom is very interested in playing FF XIV. Her experience with MMO's is about 100% Guild Wars, which is a great game btw, we played together for several years and have all the expansions (eagerly awating GW2!!). But I know she has a hard time with games that don't help you along and, let's face it, FF XIV is the definition of unintuitive gameplay.
She was a little concerned about how easy it would be to play the game, and she's heard me countless times cursing at the beta. But I want her to give it a chance, take the time to get her bearings and then decide if she would want to stick with it.
I made the comment that, while it is frustrating, there is a certain satisfaction when a synthesis finally works, or when I finally built my macros, or when I got through the opening story sequence that you just can't get anywhere else.
And I think that's the game's charm. Yes, it's currently incomplete, and a bunch of bugs and lag galore and broken party system and 48 guildleve system, but when the game finally get's ironed out, I think there's going to be a system of immersion that will provide an experience unparalleled to anything else.
That's what I am hoping for, and that's why I believe I will buy this game. Maybe not when it is first released, but shortly after.
She was a little concerned about how easy it would be to play the game, and she's heard me countless times cursing at the beta. But I want her to give it a chance, take the time to get her bearings and then decide if she would want to stick with it.
I made the comment that, while it is frustrating, there is a certain satisfaction when a synthesis finally works, or when I finally built my macros, or when I got through the opening story sequence that you just can't get anywhere else.
And I think that's the game's charm. Yes, it's currently incomplete, and a bunch of bugs and lag galore and broken party system and 48 guildleve system, but when the game finally get's ironed out, I think there's going to be a system of immersion that will provide an experience unparalleled to anything else.
That's what I am hoping for, and that's why I believe I will buy this game. Maybe not when it is first released, but shortly after.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Final Fantasy XIV - Open Beta Impressions - The Hate
From outside of the box, this is a Final Fantasy game. And that means a memorable story, but one that will be fought tooth-n-nails against the "system" itself. It's a system of unlabeled, unbridled ignorance, treat you like a child but make you think like an adult, and of stubbornness beyond imagine.
There is a charm about FF XIV and a certain polish that you won't find anywhere else, but there's also an antiqueness, an ancient system of player-usability that fortunately hasn't existed for more than a decade, but has returned.
If you ask any player in the beta, there is something that they really hate about this game. I have never met a player that was in love with the game once they played it.
The Hate:
-Gamepad is a requirement. If you want to get anything out of this game, get a gamepad. Square Enix will not fix the mouse, they never fixed the mouse with FF XI almost 10 years ago, they will not fix it now.
-Guildleve system. The system itself is alright, once you understand it. But as it is right now, you cannot acquire and accomplish more than 8 guildleves within 48 hours. That means that once you finish questing, you have to wait 2 days in order to begin questing again. And right now, questing is the only way to really get experience. Grinding is long and tedious and you don't get nearly as much exp from that. They say it's to prevent hard-core players from having an advantage over casual players. I'm a serious casual player and I say that's bullshit. There's also an experience cap which I have never witnessed but have seen a lot of rage about.
-No NPC data, unless you talk to the NPC. The NPC system is a washed up mess, nothing makes any sense about who sells what. If you don't already know where to look for what you want to buy, then you can spend an hour talking to every NPC and still not find what you are looking for. There's no indication of what an vendor sells (their booth can give you hints, but they are mostly wrong), plus there is no indication that an NPC is even a vendor. Some vendors don't even have a booth, some are located on a bridge overlooking the water but will have some important stuff to sell, but you won't know until you actually ask them.
-Map is almost useless. It's just a map of hints, doesn't tell you where NPC's are, no search, no noting system, nothing. I've had one NPC mark where to go on my map, but never again when I need to find a specific person in a generalized area.
-Combat is a little awquard right now. There's very little information about any actions that you might have queued, and just when you think you have an action queued, it's gone and you have to enter it in again. Plus it's lagged, the enemy loses it's HP several seconds before your attack animation actually starts.
-Lag. It seems like EVERYTHING is server based, nothing is local based. If you want to go through your inventory, you have to scroll through it while the server is trying to load it to you. The less inventory you have the less lag you have. Starting the crafting technique takes about 10-20 seconds to start, pretty much doing anything takes a while to request the action from the server and the server to respond.
-Inventory. Another jumbled mess. No way to sort, can only scroll down through your inventory. You inventory is organized by the order in which you attained the items, fail. And inventory takes 3 times as long to go through if you want to sell stuff to a vendor, takes about a minute to sell one measly item, another fail.
-Serial Based Menu system. Only one menu can be open, anywhere anytime. 20 years ago we experienced beautiful multitasking, being able to open up and click several windows at a time in Windows 3.1. But in this cutting edge game? No, we have to deal with opening only one menu at a time. Can't compare items, can't open your skill window to make sure your spelling the skill name right for your macros, and can't compare items in a vendor to what you already have. It's a memory system and it sucks.
There is a charm about FF XIV and a certain polish that you won't find anywhere else, but there's also an antiqueness, an ancient system of player-usability that fortunately hasn't existed for more than a decade, but has returned.
If you ask any player in the beta, there is something that they really hate about this game. I have never met a player that was in love with the game once they played it.
The Hate:
-Gamepad is a requirement. If you want to get anything out of this game, get a gamepad. Square Enix will not fix the mouse, they never fixed the mouse with FF XI almost 10 years ago, they will not fix it now.
-Guildleve system. The system itself is alright, once you understand it. But as it is right now, you cannot acquire and accomplish more than 8 guildleves within 48 hours. That means that once you finish questing, you have to wait 2 days in order to begin questing again. And right now, questing is the only way to really get experience. Grinding is long and tedious and you don't get nearly as much exp from that. They say it's to prevent hard-core players from having an advantage over casual players. I'm a serious casual player and I say that's bullshit. There's also an experience cap which I have never witnessed but have seen a lot of rage about.
-No NPC data, unless you talk to the NPC. The NPC system is a washed up mess, nothing makes any sense about who sells what. If you don't already know where to look for what you want to buy, then you can spend an hour talking to every NPC and still not find what you are looking for. There's no indication of what an vendor sells (their booth can give you hints, but they are mostly wrong), plus there is no indication that an NPC is even a vendor. Some vendors don't even have a booth, some are located on a bridge overlooking the water but will have some important stuff to sell, but you won't know until you actually ask them.
-Map is almost useless. It's just a map of hints, doesn't tell you where NPC's are, no search, no noting system, nothing. I've had one NPC mark where to go on my map, but never again when I need to find a specific person in a generalized area.
-Combat is a little awquard right now. There's very little information about any actions that you might have queued, and just when you think you have an action queued, it's gone and you have to enter it in again. Plus it's lagged, the enemy loses it's HP several seconds before your attack animation actually starts.
-Lag. It seems like EVERYTHING is server based, nothing is local based. If you want to go through your inventory, you have to scroll through it while the server is trying to load it to you. The less inventory you have the less lag you have. Starting the crafting technique takes about 10-20 seconds to start, pretty much doing anything takes a while to request the action from the server and the server to respond.
-Inventory. Another jumbled mess. No way to sort, can only scroll down through your inventory. You inventory is organized by the order in which you attained the items, fail. And inventory takes 3 times as long to go through if you want to sell stuff to a vendor, takes about a minute to sell one measly item, another fail.
-Serial Based Menu system. Only one menu can be open, anywhere anytime. 20 years ago we experienced beautiful multitasking, being able to open up and click several windows at a time in Windows 3.1. But in this cutting edge game? No, we have to deal with opening only one menu at a time. Can't compare items, can't open your skill window to make sure your spelling the skill name right for your macros, and can't compare items in a vendor to what you already have. It's a memory system and it sucks.
Final Fantasy XIV - Open Beta Impressions - The Love
Been playing FF XIV Open Beta for several days now, and it's a bit of a love/hate relationship. You can definately tell that Squeenix (Square Enix) designed this game from the ground-up to be a console MMORPG. But some of the decisions they made make no sense even from a console standpoint.
That being said, there are many things I don't like about this game, but will it be worth it to grimace through just to experience the story? I have a feeling it will be. And even through Square Enix's unbridled stubornness, and incredible lack of player appreciation, this game will sell like hot cakes just because it's Final Fantasy.
The Love:
-It's different than other MMO's. And that is usually enough for me to hold my attention for longer than a few weeks.
-Crafting system handcrafted with care. You really have to think before attempting to craft, and while crafting there are so many factors that can make or break the synthesis. A lot more failures than success. A frustration to some, but a welcome change in pace by others.
-Character design. Wonderful character animations and a plethora of races, types, and looks to choose from.
-The Story. From what little I have seen from the beta story, it's extremely interesting. And that you have many cities to start at in the beginning each starting story is vastly different, don't know if they converge down the road.
That being said, there are many things I don't like about this game, but will it be worth it to grimace through just to experience the story? I have a feeling it will be. And even through Square Enix's unbridled stubornness, and incredible lack of player appreciation, this game will sell like hot cakes just because it's Final Fantasy.
The Love:
-It's different than other MMO's. And that is usually enough for me to hold my attention for longer than a few weeks.
-Crafting system handcrafted with care. You really have to think before attempting to craft, and while crafting there are so many factors that can make or break the synthesis. A lot more failures than success. A frustration to some, but a welcome change in pace by others.
-Character design. Wonderful character animations and a plethora of races, types, and looks to choose from.
-The Story. From what little I have seen from the beta story, it's extremely interesting. And that you have many cities to start at in the beginning each starting story is vastly different, don't know if they converge down the road.
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