11/20/10
Final Fantasy XIV, as the name implies, is the 14th main installment of Square-Enix's primary gaming franchise. There have been numerous spin-offs from the main line such as the Tactics series, Crystal Chronicles series, Chocobo series, numerous remakes of main line games, specific main line game spin-offs, a fighting game and even two feature film adaptations. Even the Kingdom Hearts series which doesn't even bear the Final Fantasy name draws characters from the main Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy XIV is also the 2nd time they've tried their hand at an MMORPG, with Final Fantasy XI being the first nearly 6 years ago (longer than that if you count the time before North American release). With all that being said and Final Fantasy being as iconic as it is, you'd think they could have done a better job with their most recent endeavor. Not to say it's horrible, but it's not as good as expected.
Starting screen.
The fact of the matter is Final Fantasy XIV was released too early in an unfinished state. It could have used at least 1-2 months more of development time (which SE seems to have realized with their recent schemes to attract players again, more on that later). Anyone who played Final Fantasy XI and got the Wings of the Goddess expansion pack when it first came out will know the feeling with XIV. Now some may say that MMOs are destined to be constantly updated anyway so why does it matter, which obviously was SE's thinking as well. Well when there are as many basic problems as there were at the time of retail and they are the same problems that had been there since open and even closed beta then it's time to re-evaluate your thinking. Anyway onto the actual game play.
The character creation system is improved since FFXI. There are many little things to tweak but some are so small I couldn't even tell a difference, and when everyone still looks basically the same anyway you won't tell in game unless you look stop and really close. They use the same races from FFXI which I have mixed feelings about; I like those familiar races but it still seems they could have come up with something new. Once your character is completed you are treated to some very nice cut scenes complete with voice acting specific to the city you chose to start in. You are also introduced briefly to the battle system, though if you start as a non-battle class it's a little lame.
One of the highlights of Final Fantasy XIV is the so called Armory system, which allows you to instantly change your class by simply changing your character’s equipped weapon or tool. I must admit I was skeptical when I first read about this but in practice it is pretty cool. There's no need to go to a certain location to change class (mog house) or create a whole new character because you want to play as something different, it's all done on the fly. I can see great use of this system later on in big group fights. The only problem with this system is changing from say a Warrior class to a Mage class....they need completely opposite stats to be effective. You may be saying "So what?", but the catch is that your stats don't automatically adjust like a job change in FFXI; they remain whatever you set them as.
By simply equipping the Brass Knuckles, my class will change from the current Goldsmith to Pugilist.
You see, another core feature of FFXIV is the implementation of a Physical Level and a Class Rank....basically 2 different levels that combine to determine your characters effectiveness. Class Rank is most similar to the job level in FFXI; it determines how tough enemies appear to you and how well you can complete a certain crafting recipe, etc. Rank is specific to each individual class and is increased by earning skill points. Physical Level determines your attributes such as HP, MP, attack, defense etc. Physical Level is common to every class your character plays and is increased by earning the familiar Experience Points. When your Physical Level increases you obtain a certain number of "Attribute Points" that you are free to allocate into your character's strength, dexterity, intelligence, etc., as well as a second set of elemental attribute points to allocate to each element. Overall I like this kind of character customization; it means everyone will be a little different even if they are the same Physical Level and Class Rank. The only downside is the aforementioned radical class changes. You are allowed to reassign your points, but only a certain amount at a time and only once every set amount of time (I think every 45 minutes). So if you’re the kind of person that wants to change back and forth between a mage and melee class you’re going to have a problem.
Point Allotment screen. Note the Class and Physical Level progress bars in upper left.
A nice perk of the system is that whatever class you are on, you still earn experience points that go into the common pool for your physical level. This opens up more opportunity for advancement than the traditional "kill enemies to level up" mentality. And since the main story quests become available once you’ve reached a certain rank on any class, it makes it possible to actually have a character that is not focused on killing things. It changes crafting from a side down-time killer and money maker into a real profession, same with mining/fishing/botany. I've met plenty of people in game that have those classes as their highest ranks. Speaking of crafting and gathering, you may be wondering how they attain skill points and exp. For crafting, it's sort of a mini game whereby you are presented a progress bar and multiple options to advance the synthesis which each affect the Progress, Durability and Quality at different rates. The goal is to get progress to 100% without reaching 0 durability and having as high a quality as you can. Of course, there is a certain degree of randomness thrown in there and a little more to it than I have said here to keep things interesting but it does get old after a while (though still more entertaining than FFXI's crafting was for me). All equipment also wears down with use and eventually has to be repaired. I didn't like this at first but it's not that bad and it presents a pretty important need for crafters. There are certain NPCs that will repair your gear for a fee, but only to 75% of their durability. Crafters can fully repair equipment. I just wish there were repair NPCs other than the main cities, because if you're out in the field and something gets damaged while you and no one you are with can repair it then you just have to suffer the reduced stats. Then again that also encourages players to cross-level other classes.
Crafting.
Gathering classes operate similarly. After you find a gathering point relative to your class by roaming around the world you are presented with a mini game which varies slightly per class but is based mainly on timely button presses. Gathering is actually kind of fun because you get to explore new areas. Both crafting and gathering are a nice alternative to gaining EXP because they don't require constant attention like a battle class. Also as these classes rank up, they obtain new abilities and traits to increase their efficiency.
Mining.
Battle is fast paced but also ends up being quite laborious. I like to think of it as a hybrid between FFXIII and FFXII. The ATB bar makes a return but is called the "Stamina Bar" and each action requires a certain amount of stamina to perform, thereby depleting the bar by that amount. The bar constantly recharges at a steady rate. Actions are selected from the "Action Bar" which can hold a max of 10 user selected actions, and there are multiple bars you can scroll between. It's basically a one action macro button. You can also make actual macros to perform actions if you want, but they are most useful for changing class and equipped gear. My main complaint with the battle system is there is so much button mashing. Even your basic attack, which you will end up doing about 50% of the time, requires a button press every time you wish to execute it. There is no auto attack function. It gets annoying after a while. Battle also does not feel as fluid as it could be. Sometimes you will execute a command and the game will then grey it out and wait a second or two before activating it, it seems like this is due to an enemy’s action going off on you or you evading or something. It’s annoying to hit a command, have plenty of stamina for it, but the actions go off delayed. It just throws you off if you’re in a good flow and I don’t see the need for it.
In battle. The action bar at the bottom is where attacks are selected.
It is possible to join up with other players to form a party while killing enemies. A nice perk of partying is an increased rate of gaining skill points for each person in the party that is within 5 class ranks of you. There is also a so called "Battle Regimen" system similar to Skill Chains in FFXI. Basically the party members perform certain actions against the enemy in a certain order to create an additional debilitating effect on the enemy. It sounds good on paper but in practice it's not worth the time, at least at early stages of the game. This is because in order to initiate a Battle Regimen, one person has to activate Battle regimen mode and select their first attack. Then the next member selects his attack to stack with the first and so on until all actions have been stacked and the original person activates it. The problem is that while the regimen is being set up, you are unable to do anything else after stacking your action. Lag issues and inexperienced players make it a pointless endeavor at this point, but I can see it being fairly effective against tougher enemies with a good group of players.
Battle in party.
For those of you more interested in solo play, keep in mind it is possible to fight things alone and still gain decent SP and EXP. While of course it won't be as efficient as partying and the bonuses it provides, it's much better than XI was in this regard. To aid in solo play, FFXIV provides what are known as "Levequests". They come in 2 flavors: Regional (which are geared towards battle classes and to a lesser extent gatherers) and Local (which are geared towards crafters). Both types can be picked up in any of the 3 major cities, and each city has its own set to choose from which changes about every day and a half (real time). Regional levequests generally involve going to one of the many "camps" out in the field and killing a certain number of enemies which are usually regular creatures with much less HP than their non-leve counterparts. They are fun at first but you quickly realize that, despite picking up different leve quests, you are doing pretty much the same thing on every one of them. Go here, kill such and such many creatures....occasionally they will run away or call for reinforcements or you get ambushed, but that doesn't do much to ease the repetition. However, these leve quests are an excellent way to earn some easy Gil (the currency of Final Fantasy). Local leve quests are pretty much the same; go somewhere and craft so and so many items for an NPC. However, for Local leves all synthesis materials are provided for you which I really like.
One of the many Aetheryte camps, where most leves are started.
Sadly, these Leve Quests are the only "quests" in the game right now, aside from the few and far between main story line quests and class specific, rank dependant quests. Whatever happened to picking up little quests and getting involved in little side stories from random NPCs you talk to? That is one of the main things that irk me about the game right now. There are so many NPCs and they all have dialog when you talk to them but none offer you quests or ask for help or anything. The world is also very large which in general is a good thing. You are also able to teleport at will to any of the Aetheryte crystals or gates you have previously visited, but doing so requires Anima. This anima supply recharges very slowly, something like 1 point per 24 hours, and with teleports costing 4-6 anima you run out fairly quickly. Chocobos, airships and other means of transportation beside running have not been implemented yet so it becomes very time consuming to get to place to place. With so much focus on going out and doing these leve quests at aetheryte camps it's surprising that it takes so much time to get there.
There are also many lag issues with the game. Although it has improved since release, and SE has more fixes in the works for reduced lag, it's still unacceptable. Even simple things like NPCs, players and, most importantly, enemies loading can take an inordinate amount of time. My favorite example is while running through the field and you come into a new area with aggressive enemies, but they don't load until you're right on top of them...then you die. Part of this is the way SE has designed the world...they harp on a completely open world with no loading screens and zone lines (though there are still a few). However, the major regions are divided into separate areas by "valleys" and such which really are just choke points that force you to run while the next area is loading. Then these smaller areas also have separate geographically undefined loading areas, which lead to the enemies not being loaded until you are right in the middle of them due to server lag at these transitions. I would actually rather have zone lines and loading screens over this failed implementation. Final Fantasy XI never had problems like these unless you were in a ridiculously small overpopulated area, and it's a game over 6 years old. And this is not a hardware issue, it's definitely server side.
I originally thought that the menu navigation was very laggy too, but it turns out that was my computer. Speaking of, you will need quite a beast of a rig to run the game enjoyably. Unless your computer was made specifically for gaming within the past year or so you will probably only be able to handle it on low settings if at all. I upgraded from a Core2 Duo @2.66 to an i7 950 @3.06 keeping my same GTS250 and i still can't handle it with everything up at max, but it does run enjoyably. There is an official benchmark you can download on the official website. The game is quite stunning graphically. Many people have complained of “copy-pasted” terrain but I really don’t seem to notice it just running around, though it can be pretty obvious looking on the map. Music is also great, but the in game volume controls for music and sounds do not work (nor have I heard of an incoming fix for this). It's really annoying when in a party because all you hear is the sound effects of other players’ actions going off and it drowns out the cool music. It also sucks being in a busy area with lots of crafters with all their sound effects going off all around you.
Graphics up nearly at max, including Depth of Field, 16xQ CSAA and Ambient Occlusion.
The other major problems stem from the User Interface and economy. Starting a synthesis takes a long time because of how many menus and confirmation buttons you have to press. Repairing a piece of equipment also takes a while because once the gear damaged status icon shows up, you have to go through your inventory for each piece of gear you have equipped and manually check the wear on it to find out which one needs the repairs. Then the gear has to be unequipped manually to attempt repairs. And finally once it’s repaired you have to re-equip it manually. Supposedly this is being streamlined in an update, and there is also a new optional UI in development. In general it just takes a long time to navigate menus and find what you are looking for; things are not laid out intuitively. For the record, i play with a PS2 controller hooked up to my PC. One thing I do commend the UI for is the ability to rearrange the “widgets”, such as your HP/MP/TP bars, the mini map, day/time/connection status icons and the chat log. The chat log can also be adjusted in size, though there is no quick button press to toggle it to full screen like in FFXI which I miss. The economy is another story.
Unlike many MMOs and FFXIV's predecessor, there is no centralized Auction House system. Instead it is a bazaar driven economy based on direct sells from player to player. Thankfully your character is not alone in this endeavor. Every account is given access to one free "Retainer", which is basically an NPC that you can set up in the game's market wards of each city with a bazaar of your goods to sell, even when you log off. The idea is that players come to these market wards and browse through retainers to buy what they want. The problem is there are so many retainers to look through and no search function, you could spend an entire day looking through individual bazaars and not find what you are looking for. However, there are updates on the way to implement a search function and increase the amount of wares your retainer can list for sale at one time. It also seems to be very easy to make gil, but there's not a whole lot to spend it on.
The dreaded Market Wards. Imagine this view repeated over the entire ward, multiplied by 20 other wards.
There's only been one instance where the game crashed on me, and it just crashed to the desktop with an error. One other annoying problem though is that if you get disconnected you are unable to log back in for 5-10 minutes because for some reason your character stays “logged in”, giving you a lobby server error when you try to log back in. This doesn't seem to happen on a crash though, only when your Internet connection is interrupted.
Square-Enix realizes the game was released in a pretty poor state, so they have done a lot to try and regain players' trust. They started with a 30 day extension to the default 30 day free trial that comes with the game, giving a total of 60 days. Then they added another 30 for a total of 90 which won't run out until about Christmas time. I like that a lot, lol. For me, the game isn't so bad that I don't want to play it so getting to play for free is awesome. They have also been very open with the mechanics of the game trying to get people to understand how and why things work the way they do. They have also been busy working on large scale version updates for November (in 4 days from this writing) and December to fix pretty much every issue that has been brought up. I have been pleased with the previews of changes to come. It's nice to see they are listening to players and doing what needs to be done.
Almost every MMO I've heard of has a pretty bad launch, WoW was no exception as everyone seems to think. Others may not have been as rough as this but the important thing is the game has potential and is evolving right off the bat. A lot of people seemed to be expecting an FFXI-2 but I for one am glad they created something fresh. If you played FFXIV and quit already, I urge you to try it again after these November and December updates. If not at that time then at least pick it up again at PS3 release as it should be even more well oiled by then.
Ratings (Out of 10.0)
Presentation: 4.0
UI is currently pretty terrible in terms of modern day acceptance. The story is also presented in a strange way though it eventually makes sense. Cut scenes and opening sequences are very nice though.
Graphics: 9.0
Stunning visuals and locations. Good character and enemy animations. Unfortunately, it's very system intensive.
Sound: 7.5
Nobuo Uematsu does it again with music for the FF series, but some of the sound effects are just annoying and the lack of working volume controls make it worse. Voice acting is pretty good but there's not much of it.
Gameplay: 7.0
Armory system is cool and gives great potential, but the game suffers from bad lag. Needs more regular quests. World is massive, but the lack of any alternative to getting around on your own rather than running after your anima is exhausted is frustrating.
Lasting Value: 6.0
Right now there's not a whole lot of variety in what you can do in game and the massive mostly unpopulated/uninteractive world leaves a lot to be desired.
Community: 8.5
Lots of websites have dedicated FFXIV forums, databases and general information. The official Lodestone page is also very useful and frequently updated with news. It's not hard to find what you need. SE is being supportive.
Overall: 7.5
~Omega2551
You stay classy, Internet.
