PixlBit

I've gotten into the habit of posting music on Sundays and since playing the beta, the music got stuck in my head. Here are some personal selections from the new game. 

 
(Gridania)

I managed to get my Archer character up to level 10, and so far I took on a major story event boss battle, completed a lot of battle quests, and participated in multiple public event battles called FATEs. I'm beginning to get a clearer picture about what the game is now and I think some people might be either excited or disappointed by the news. 


I've played FFXI and FFXIV (before it was rebuilt into A Realm Reborn). I talked about that game in a previous post. This game, A Realm Reborn, is basically very similar to every other MMO that's out right now, except with a Final Fantasy theme. Already I've seen people complaining on official game forums and in game chat that the game is a generic MMO with Final Fantasy paint job. I would have to agree to a certain extent, but I don't think it's a bad thing. In making ARR, Square Enix has made it easier for players of other MMOs or players interested in trying out an MMO for the first time the easiest way possible to get into this new game- through familiarity. Abundant quests and tutorials greet players through the first few levels of your game. Areas are sprawling with enemies to keep you busy and leveling up. The games world is very large and the art design and sound are beautiful. Crystals, chocobos and moogles are all present in Eorzea, the world the game takes place in.

MMOs like Star Wars, Star Trek, and Lord of the Rings are basically supported by fans of those particular property franchises and the games offer up content that panders to those audiences. If you don't like those franchises, chances are you won't like those games. The same can be said for A Realm Reborn. Lord of the Rings is great because you get to visit areas from the world explored in the books and films. Star Trek has game play modeled like seasons of a TV show. Star Wars has characters and lore familiar to anyone who has seen the films. These are all good games, but they all share more similarities than differences when it comes to game play design, and Final Fantasy is no different.

Another thing about these MMOs is that they do offer up more challenging content upon reaching a certain higher level for your character. I saw footage of an awesome boss battle for FFXIV at E3, but I’m not sure how long it would take a new player to get to that point. The battle seemed pretty complex and party co-dependent. So far in this game I haven’t had a problem playing solo which is what I suspect was the intention XIV was planning after its failed launch a few years ago.

A couple of things missing, still in beta phase, is voice-acting. I think Star Wars and Star Trek, even Guild Wars has some form of voice acting, but this game does not. Another thing that stood out is the lack of CGI videos. Square Enix is somewhat known for their gorgeous videos, but this game is missing a gorgeous CGI trailer at the beginning of the game. Even the ending of the last trailer had a gorgeous trailer.

One thing I am taking away from this game is that it does at least seem to have elements that Final Fantasy fans have been expecting from Square Enix for the last decade. That is a large open world to explore with plenty of NPCs who are very chatty, different job classes to master, customization and item management features, classic fantasy theme as opposed to the current sci-fi technology theme, art design that isn’t so heavily anime or zipper inspired and a more mature tone to the story. Fortunately or unfortunately, this might be the Final Fantasy game the fans have been expecting from Square, at least until whatever comes after Final Fantasy XV.  

I wanted to write a few things about FFXIV since it seems a few of you have access to beta3:

First, I'm wondering how long you all are going to actually play the game because from what I understand from your posts, some of you never played the original. So this post is for you.

I downloaed the Windows version of the beta, started a character, found a server, MARLBORO, and got to a level 3 character. I don't know how long I plan to play the game, as the game has a tendency to make people quit if they don't "get the game".

One of the major issues with the original game was the lack of support for new players. There was a very rough non-existent Tutorial that hindered a lot of players from enjoying the game. Link Shells? Levequests,? Lack of single player story, (it's an MMO but people expected single player content, go figure), and a retention wall that didn't really allow you to go out and just kill things to level up. The map sucked too and so did cut and paste textures and level design. I could go on...

After spending a few hours in Old and New Gridania, The Forrest Area, I can already tell the game is aesthetically nicer and there are plenty of quest givers to keep you busy, unlike the first game. The game might be giving you too many tutorials to start out with and it may seem a bit boring. However, it's better than no tutorial and having to join forums and subscribe to youtube channels to learn how to play the game. I've only scratched the surface of the game and so far I see vast improvement from the original game, but if you are new to it, you might not be able to notice the changes which might become a problem. It has become similar in style to other mmos like Rift, and Guild Wars 2 with public events and WoW NPC quests and hot bar commands. So it should be more intuitive.

So far I'm liking the game and still have a ways to go to learn about all the systems like FATE and so on. I haven't tried the PS3 version yet, so I might give that a try as well. So far I approve of the game, albeit the few hours I've spent with it isn't much to make an accurate impression in an MMO. I haven't even gotten into crafting or major enemy battles and such. 

So how are you all liking the game? Thoughts?

FFXIV Server: Marlboro 

I don't even?
 

Who said Game Trailers lacked journalistic integrity? Geoff Keighley is like the Anderson Cooper of our generation. (Vid below...)

 

Yes! They mention nuclear subs here. Wait for it. (Vid below...)

 

Microsoft hates our troops!!! 

Without getting too much into the whole console war thing which seems to be the main topic of discussion on the net, I thought we could use this place to discuss "games". The first day of E3 saw  press conferences from two major console leaders and top third party companies, so lets discuss our favorite games.

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