So, what do YOU think?

[Loony BoB]

It's occurred to me that there isn't a general "what we all think of Beta so far" topic. So, here, have one!

I love the visuals and the environments/maps. The UI is growing on me very quickly, although I still wish I didn't have to hover my mouse over something in my inventory in order to see what it is. I'm still 50/50 on the battle, crafting and gathering systems but I'm sure they'll grow on me in time.

Questing is a bit annoying after a while, but I suppose I've only done the low level stuff so far and it's a great way to get to know the various areas, points of interest, NPCs and functions/features. I really look forward to getting into big parties with everyone from EoFF most of all! I want to help the new folk power up their characters to L30 or so as fast as possible so we can all party up in random areas. :D

I like what they're doing with Free Companies, too. I'm really excited for the housing. I have 1.5m gil on my character and I fully intend on most if not all of that going towards our Free Company housing. I think I'll get a massive, gorgeous house in Ul'dah (since I'm with the Immortal Flames) for the Free Company and then I'll get my personal housing in Limsa later on.

[Hollycat]

I think it's fun, for a click to attack MMORPG at least. But I'm really just not a fan of the genre. It's not like FF12 where I controlled each character as I wished and turned them into the class I wanted. It was unfamiliar territory to me. I hope their next MMO will play more like an Action RPG.

Most people don't seem to want to use the chat feature either, and forget about anyone answering calls for help when you get knocked down.
I didn't seem to do any more damage at level 20 than I did at level 5, despite having much better equipment, so that was a bit confusing.

The solo bosses are way too easy. The golem in the forest route didn't even hit me.

The lack of voice overs is kind of a disappointment as well.

I like some of the costumes though.

[Loony BoB]

Just responding to some of your criticisms not because I'm saying you're wrong, but because I think the knowledge might make it a little less frustrating/annoying for you.


I think it's fun, for a click to attack MMORPG at least. But I'm really just not a fan of the genre. It's not like FF12 where I controlled each character as I wished and turned them into the class I wanted. It was unfamiliar territory to me. I hope their next MMO will play more like an Action RPG.That'll be a single player game you're after if you want to control every character in your party. ;)


Most people don't seem to want to use the chat feature either, and forget about anyone answering calls for help when you get knocked down.That's true when you're not in a party/linkshell. :( Once you hit L20-30 you should really be partying up regularly and any good party will chat amongst themselves freely. The downside of a lot of people trying out the PS3 at the moment is that few of them will chat actively. Anyone who really wants to get involved with an MMO will have a keyboard handy even when they are using a controller most of the time.


I didn't seem to do any more damage at level 20 than I did at level 5, despite having much better equipment, so that was a bit confusing.Depends on what you're hitting. If you're level 20 and you're hitting for the same as you did at level 5 against the same enemy, something is wrong.


The solo bosses are way too easy. The golem in the forest route didn't even hit me.It didn't hit you? xD Wow. That's impressive. Anyway, with an MMO it's generally meant to be fairly simple until you hit dungeons regularly. The Golem is effectively part of the tutorial. If you want the really challenging content, that'll hit from L40 onwards and there will be some L50 content that I expect people to genuinely struggle with. And yes, you'll need a good party, ideally one that communicates! That's where Linkshells come in extra-handy. :)


The lack of voice overs is kind of a disappointment as well.
They specified very early on that Phase Three won't have the voice-overs. You're in Beta, buddy!

[Hollycat]

I didn't know about that.

[mini ninja]

All i've to say about beta so far is... simply i just love it ! and everything about it

[Del Murder]

Unfortunately, due to obligations I probably won't be able to participate in the beta this weekend, but I hope to catch the next one.

[Ouch!]

Because I'm currently in the process of moving, my desktop has been in storage since just before the beginning of phase three. I've been following as closely as I can with second-hand information, though, and I'm very excited about everything.

[Pike]

I'm largely enjoying it so far; I'm not as big of a fan of the UI in general as I was with WoW's but I mostly think that comes from years of playing WoW and getting used to certain things in certain places. Related, I find it difficult to tell how much damage I'm doing on occasion.

I also thought the fact that you had to have basically an hour of cutscenes/tutorials/intro quests before you could really do anything was a bit overkill :p

Otherwise it seems to be very promising thus far and it's a lot of fun!

[Pheesh]

I have to manually switch graphics every time I launch the game u_u Once I changed the resolution to 1920x1080 it decided that the launcher will crash as soon as I click play if I'm using my Radeon 7970m, so I have to launch the game using the integrated graphics, alt+tab out and switch them, and then jump back into the game. It all only takes about 30 seconds of my time but it's a bit annoying, and hopefully it isn't the case for the rest of the time I'm playing.

As for the actual game, I haven't had a chance to play it yet, but the character creation was quite smooth and visually it does look very nice. I'll update once I've had a proper chance to play.

[Pike]

Yeah I had some issues changing resolutions too. It defaults to widescreen and I don't have one of those monitors (stupid games, all defaulting to widescreen these days :colbert: ) and it was tough to find a resolution that actually fit my screen the way I wanted it to without smooshing all the UI elements together.

[Carl the Llama]

So far I have been loving the game, I find myself for the first time actually reading absolutely everything, quests, tutorials - anything. The combat seems a little limited with the shared global cooldown, but I really haven't leveled sufficiently enough to test it (and last week my nana died so I didn't feel up to playing with my legacy cha) but tonight I can test it properly.

The scenery is absolutely gorgeous, and the music is just awesome and most of all, my pc is finally able to play the game it is built for. So far a throughly enjoyable experience.

[Madame Adequate]

I'm tremendously impressed so far. I first played last weekend and I was itching to get back into it all week, which isn't something too many MMOs manage (WoW, City of Heroes, and EVE are the only ones I can call to mind that have really done that). It seems well-balanced and well-paced, the world is as detailed and gorgeous as you'd demand from an FF, the music is unimpeachable, and the gameplay has taken what works from other MMOs like WoW and polished it up.

This may be the first MMO since WoW to actually improve on the formula. I'll have to play more before I can say that with certainty, but it's looking good, and I'm definitely going to be getting it.

[Night Fury]

Like this so much more on the PC.

Had a tonne of fun playing tonight, sad I'm only level 5 and there's no real point leveling up. But I'm pretty badass - ask the Chocobos. I'm sure I'll be freaking awesome when I get to a high level! FEARLESS.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I'm now managing to play on pc, and it is at least a lot more fun than it was on the PS3. I'll have to play more before I can really give other thoughts about it.

[Loony BoB]

Whoever mentioned music is absolutely right, by the way. I adore it.


Like this so much more on the PC.

Had a tonne of fun playing tonight, sad I'm only level 5 and there's no real point leveling up. But I'm pretty badass - ask the Chocobos. I'm sure I'll be freaking awesome when I get to a high level! FEARLESS.
Let's just say that I'm so freaking glad you're a melee fighter because you'll take a punch when you go charging in. You're a proper Leeroy Jenkins, only genuinely insane. xD I think we all had a great time. I look forward to more of it, but tomorrow night we'll zip you up to L10-15 so we can all level sync and party together properly, if you want to. Unless you want to keep charging through L50 camps with your L5 character and somehow coming out with nobody chasing you. Because that was kind of remarkable.

[I Don't Need A Name]

Well I need to go to bed because I have work, but I'll post in here beforehand

THAT WAS AWESOME :excited:

Although, I did find that I've been running into FATEs, reading what needs doing then seeing a 20min timelimit and thinking 'Sod killing them for 20 minutes flat' and running off again)

[Del Murder]

It's pretty.

[Rostum]

I love it so far! :D I won't be able to play for the next four weeks though. :(

[Night Fury]

Whoever mentioned music is absolutely right, by the way. I adore it.


Like this so much more on the PC.

Had a tonne of fun playing tonight, sad I'm only level 5 and there's no real point leveling up. But I'm pretty badass - ask the Chocobos. I'm sure I'll be freaking awesome when I get to a high level! FEARLESS.
Let's just say that I'm so freaking glad you're a melee fighter because you'll take a punch when you go charging in. You're a proper Leeroy Jenkins, only genuinely insane. xD I think we all had a great time. I look forward to more of it, but tomorrow night we'll zip you up to L10-15 so we can all level sync and party together properly, if you want to. Unless you want to keep charging through L50 camps with your L5 character and somehow coming out with nobody chasing you. Because that was kind of remarkable.

Ahaha, it was so much fun!

I do want to be able to help you guys out in battle though so maybe power leveling will be our thing tonight. I really enjoy my class though so I'll be sticking with it for sure.

"Tara don't go in the desert there are big bugs!"
"There's worms no!"
"Oh no we're at the desert"

.....

me: "tralalalalalalaalalaaaaa!" *sprints through the desert*

[metagloria]

Most of the reason I'm playing this Beta is not to determine whether the game is worth playing; it is to determine whether I could possibly play the game without getting so absorbed into it that I would be risking my job, marriage and fatherhood.

So far, the answer is "probably not".

[Madame Adequate]

Well I need to go to bed because I have work, but I'll post in here beforehand

THAT WAS AWESOME :excited:

Although, I did find that I've been running into FATEs, reading what needs doing then seeing a 20min timelimit and thinking 'Sod killing them for 20 minutes flat' and running off again)

FATEs don't tend to last nearly as long as their actual time limit. I can only remember being in one that even took more than 5 minutes, actually.

[Ouch!]

Well I need to go to bed because I have work, but I'll post in here beforehand

THAT WAS AWESOME :excited:

Although, I did find that I've been running into FATEs, reading what needs doing then seeing a 20min timelimit and thinking 'Sod killing them for 20 minutes flat' and running off again)

FATEs don't tend to last nearly as long as their actual time limit. I can only remember being in one that even took more than 5 minutes, actually.
Aye, the time limit is just that: a limit. Most of the time people participating will complete the FATE objective before time is up.

[Del Murder]

So far the UI is taking some getting used to. I keep wanting to do things the FFXI way, and this is different. I also don't think I'll be able to get used to using a controller/gamepad to play this game, but time will tell.

Another thing is that as I play this game, I keep missing FFXI more. The problem is that FFXIV is not different enough from XI for me to really get into it for its own sake. Seeing Gridania and the areas around it don't cause me to enjoy them, but instead cause me to want to go to Windurst and Ronfaure.

But I'm really liking being an Archer and I like the way the class abilities are set up. I always hated in FFXI when it would take 5-10 levels sometimes to get a new ability. I'm level 4 and already have 3 abilities! Also ranged auto-attack and no ammo = win.

[Dat Matt]

I have played for a total of one hour or so. There are 2 questions that come to mind,

1. What the crap am I playing? I can't find anyone,
2. The battle music is far too dramatic for hitting ladybugs in the forest.

Seems fun though.

[comma]

I signed up for the beta on a whim. MMORPGs are not really my kind of thing. But when I got the invitation, I figured I'd give it a shot and treat it like a demo.

Well, I was kind of blown away. This is the most interested I've been in a Final Fantasy game since FFIX. It took until around level 15 to really get hooked, but I really like the lore and story. The gameplay can be a bit repetitive, but that's all MMOs, and this one does it just as good as any other. Party quests are fun, the gear is neat, and there's not too much grinding (although grinding for company seals doesn't seem too appealing with the low rate at which they give them out).

I went from not really too interested to a certain purchase. I'm getting it on PC because of the graphical quality and 60fps framerate. Really glad that the gamepad controls work on PC, too, because they're much more intuitive than dealing with a row of number keys.

My characters were Kilgore Trout (and I named my chocobo Vonnegut) and Communist Daughter on Gilgamesh, on the off-chance anyone here saw me. No idea what character or class I'll play with primarily when the game comes out (or in Phase 4, whenever that is).

[Carl the Llama]

I went from not really too interested to a certain purchase.

You wouldn't believe how many people I know who have played this who have said that, its overwhelming how much better this game has got since it's initial release.


My characters were Kilgore Trout and Communist Daughter on Gilgamesh, on the off-chance anyone here saw me. No idea what character or class I'll play with primarily when the game comes out (or in Phase 4, whenever that is).

Do you think you will be joining the rest of the EoFF crew on Sargatanas? Such an awesome group of people to play with makes this game all the more better imo.

[comma]

Do you think you will be joining the rest of the EoFF crew on Sargatanas? Such an awesome group of people to play with makes this game all the more better imo.Sure, why not? I've made a couple of good friends on Gilgamesh, but the reason I came back to EoFF was to try to find some more people to play with. Thanks for the tip that you guys are on that server.

[Carl the Llama]

Do you think you will be joining the rest of the EoFF crew on Sargatanas? Such an awesome group of people to play with makes this game all the more better imo.Sure, why not? I've made a couple of good friends on Gilgamesh, but the reason I came back to EoFF was to try to find some more people to play with. Thanks for the tip that you guys are on that server.

Here is a link to the rosta sign up: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ZCr9Sh0oktGBJLgKSMqT6ixnowoIDkA3lMSlBC0hvqE/viewform
And the rosta itself: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnhmWkncR1q5dExpa0Q0eXp6U09vQl9JbVd3elQ0R2c#gid=0

I might mention that I think I read somewhere that you can transfer your character to a different legacy server once either phase 4 or live service starts (not sure if its true or when it is taking place). You might convince your friends to come over to our server ^^ especially when you mention you will be playing with a guy called Legendary Hero xD

[comma]

Thanks, yeah, I saw the sign-up thread. No point in signing up right now since I'm going to make an all-new character in Phase 4.

[Pheesh]

There's one thing I've noticed about this game, anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about this, or if it's going to be fixed post-beta. The game does not make a big enough deal about loot. I like that there is no need to click on every enemy you've just killed and press 'loot all' 1,000 times, that's a definite improvement over most MMO's. But if I'm receiving drops from any kind of big quest then I'm certainly not made aware of it. I will sometimes go to my Armoury Chest and think 'well that is better than my current item and I don't remember getting it from a quest', so I assume I do get some items that drop, but I feel like it should be a coloured item and the game should actually alert me in some way about it. Also, the gear is very dull with it's stats, at least at the lower level I'm at. +1 mind, +1 intelligence on EVERYTHING. It would be nice to see some variation like crit damage or cast speed (I've seen spell speed increases on a couple pieces of quest gear, never on a drop). It just seems to take any uniqueness out of the game when everyone is running around with the same gear from the same quests.

All that said, I've yet to do an instance so I'm hoping that this changes when I eventually do. But for a genre that is really all about collecting loot for your character it seemed a bit odd.

[comma]

I don't think I randomly end up with gear. It either comes out of treasure chests, is awarded after quests, or I buy it.

It doesn't seem like the game is too serious about the gear, you're right. A lot of it is for aesthetic purposes only. And yeah, the stats thing is kind of weird. Gear doesn't really start helping out your stats more until the mid level 20s. But maybe it's exponential after that, since at higher levels, it becomes more about getting good gear than about getting a point added at every level.

[Aulayna]

There's one thing I've noticed about this game, anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about this, or if it's going to be fixed post-beta. The game does not make a big enough deal about loot. I like that there is no need to click on every enemy you've just killed and press 'loot all' 1,000 times, that's a definite improvement over most MMO's. But if I'm receiving drops from any kind of big quest then I'm certainly not made aware of it. I will sometimes go to my Armoury Chest and think 'well that is better than my current item and I don't remember getting it from a quest', so I assume I do get some items that drop, but I feel like it should be a coloured item and the game should actually alert me in some way about it. Also, the gear is very dull with it's stats, at least at the lower level I'm at. +1 mind, +1 intelligence on EVERYTHING. It would be nice to see some variation like crit damage or cast speed (I've seen spell speed increases on a couple pieces of quest gear, never on a drop). It just seems to take any uniqueness out of the game when everyone is running around with the same gear from the same quests.

All that said, I've yet to do an instance so I'm hoping that this changes when I eventually do. But for a genre that is really all about collecting loot for your character it seemed a bit odd.

I haven't seen any equippables drop from mobs - it seems to just be crafting items.

When you're in a dungeon and you win loot from a boss you do get the FF victory fanfare. :)

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

There's one thing I've noticed about this game, anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about this, or if it's going to be fixed post-beta. The game does not make a big enough deal about loot. I like that there is no need to click on every enemy you've just killed and press 'loot all' 1,000 times, that's a definite improvement over most MMO's. But if I'm receiving drops from any kind of big quest then I'm certainly not made aware of it. I will sometimes go to my Armoury Chest and think 'well that is better than my current item and I don't remember getting it from a quest', so I assume I do get some items that drop, but I feel like it should be a coloured item and the game should actually alert me in some way about it. Also, the gear is very dull with it's stats, at least at the lower level I'm at. +1 mind, +1 intelligence on EVERYTHING. It would be nice to see some variation like crit damage or cast speed (I've seen spell speed increases on a couple pieces of quest gear, never on a drop). It just seems to take any uniqueness out of the game when everyone is running around with the same gear from the same quests.

All that said, I've yet to do an instance so I'm hoping that this changes when I eventually do. But for a genre that is really all about collecting loot for your character it seemed a bit odd.

Phil, normal monsters (as far as I am aware) do not drop equipment. Most equipment (aside from buying it) comes from either quests (which basically why you should not buy it) and from dungeons. The loot in dungeons work on a Need/Greed/Pass system where you get to see it and select one of the options. If someone claims Need, they get it. If more than two people claim Need then they roll for it and the highest roll wins. If no one Needs, then it goes to Greed which functions on a similar mechanic. And Pass is to pass on the loot. Also, they are trying to put a stronger emphasis on crafting. I have yet to craft but I get the feeling that craftable armour might be better than the average store/quest given armour.

[comma]

I have yet to craft but I get the feeling that craftable armour might be better than the average store/quest given armour.It can be better if the craftsman produces a high-quality item. Not sure if crafting ever gets better than getting an item from a dungeon with special attributes, though. I'd hope that after putting so much work into crafting, someone could make really great gear.

[Pheesh]

There's one thing I've noticed about this game, anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about this, or if it's going to be fixed post-beta. The game does not make a big enough deal about loot. I like that there is no need to click on every enemy you've just killed and press 'loot all' 1,000 times, that's a definite improvement over most MMO's. But if I'm receiving drops from any kind of big quest then I'm certainly not made aware of it. I will sometimes go to my Armoury Chest and think 'well that is better than my current item and I don't remember getting it from a quest', so I assume I do get some items that drop, but I feel like it should be a coloured item and the game should actually alert me in some way about it. Also, the gear is very dull with it's stats, at least at the lower level I'm at. +1 mind, +1 intelligence on EVERYTHING. It would be nice to see some variation like crit damage or cast speed (I've seen spell speed increases on a couple pieces of quest gear, never on a drop). It just seems to take any uniqueness out of the game when everyone is running around with the same gear from the same quests.

All that said, I've yet to do an instance so I'm hoping that this changes when I eventually do. But for a genre that is really all about collecting loot for your character it seemed a bit odd.

Phil, normal monsters (as far as I am aware) do not drop equipment. Most equipment (aside from buying it) comes from either quests (which basically why you should not buy it) and from dungeons. The loot in dungeons work on a Need/Greed/Pass system where you get to see it and select one of the options. If someone claims Need, they get it. If more than two people claim Need then they roll for it and the highest roll wins. If no one Needs, then it goes to Greed which functions on a similar mechanic. And Pass is to pass on the loot. Also, they are trying to put a stronger emphasis on crafting. I have yet to craft but I get the feeling that craftable armour might be better than the average store/quest given armour.

Fair enough, the same as most MMO's then. Does loot have colour coding for higher quality items like in Diablo or WoW?

[Loony BoB]

No, because people don't want to have everyone in the entire game wearing the same colours. There is a dying system set up to avoid that.

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

I think he means like the text. Like in some games the item's name is in Purple or Green instead of white to denote a special category/quality of item. Or like a fancy background or something.

[Aulayna]

Yeah, so far I've seen Green, Blue and Pink colour coded items.

Green and Pink seem to be dungeon drops and Blue seems to be the high-end lv50 stuff.

[Pheesh]

Ahahaha, BoB xD

Ah k. Thanks for the info. I'll reserve any further judgment until I've played some higher level content then.

[Pike]

Yeah, so far I've seen Green, Blue and Pink colour coded items.

Green and Pink seem to be dungeon drops and Blue seems to be the high-end lv50 stuff.

But are there any PURPLES? :eek:

[Loony BoB]

The colour coding tends to represent something is special, not better than normal gear. It's generally better than normal gear of the same level but not neccessarily.

Also, in the old game, red meant it needed repairs, I think? As in, the border around the icon.

Of course, there's no way to see your inventory as a list of text so I never really pay much attention to the text colours. ;_; I wish there was. I want a LIST, not a bunch of icons. I have to hover over them constantly just to know what the hell is what.

[Madame Adequate]

Yes, welcome to how MMOs work Towns :p

[Loony BoB]

I loved having a sortable list. Everything should have sortable lists. >=|

[brearj]

I like the game but they definitely need to change the UI on the PS3 and give you the ability to scale the screen to fit your TV. I have a 40" TV and things are sometimes "unsee-able" I know on PC it looks like you can move things around and adjust them but you can't do that on a PS3 unless you have a mouse. I don't use a full-size keyboard, but I bought that PS3 keyboard that fit on your controller and it seems to work pretty good for typing quick easy things. But I'm going to have to use a keyboard for marco, because I already see a problem with not having enough hotkeys for ability and armor switching.

Currently I like the game "a lot" but..... there are small things about it that I don't like. Right now at low level stuff it seems easy. Maybe Legacy players can tell me that those things change. I'm on the fence about it. This MMO seems like a game that you can kinda of pick up and go quickly then FFXI. Where FFXI requires you to stay in PT for 2 to 3 hours at a time to level up slowly. But I guess Looney Bob said, "you have to get a party at lvl 20" right? But if you get a Party, is it still fast pace as you lvl 1-15? I'm currently lvl 15 and I did all that with solo and no party play and very quickly too

[comma]

Who doesn't have a USB mouse?

Plus, I think there is an option for adjusting the UI on PS3. I think there is a command for it in the #8 default actions bar. If it's not default, look in the list of actions that have to do with opening up various elements of the UI.

[brearj]

Who doesn't have a USB mouse?

Plus, I think there is an option for adjusting the UI on PS3. I think there is a command for it in the #8 default actions bar. If it's not default, look in the list of actions that have to do with opening up various elements of the UI.

Only have a Toshiba qosimo laptop as my main computer. No usb mouse ever in my house.

[comma]

Ah well. Let me know if you can figure out how to rearrange the UI on PS3.

There is an article somewhere on the ARR site about adjusting your screen size to fit the game, or vice versa. There are also a lot of support threads on the beta forum about how to adjust the screen size. Have you checked those out?

[I Don't Need A Name]

I loved having a sortable list. Everything should have sortable lists. >=|

Maybe spend a night making a spreadsheet of all your equipment options, so you can really get to grips with it :jess:

[Mirage]

Like this so much more on the PC.

Had a tonne of fun playing tonight, sad I'm only level 5 and there's no real point leveling up. But I'm pretty badass - ask the Chocobos. I'm sure I'll be freaking awesome when I get to a high level! FEARLESS.

Fun isn't a real, guys!

I think I reached lv 31 or so in phase 2, and I only had access to the shroud area. I had a lot of fun doing it, although most of the leveling was done in instanced raids. The exp is dumb fast there.

[Jiro]

It's goddamn beautiful, even on my pathetic little laptop. Made myself a sexy cat dude and just wandered around for a bit doing the fetch quests. Will actually try out some combat next time, but it's real jumpy for me atm so I'mma need to upgrade before I can get hooked.

[Elpizo]

I just did my first dungeon "Sar-something" and it was fun. Took 15 minutes for the duty finder to set me up, but I did some FATEs in the meantime. It was fun, we never came close to dying and even though only one of us had done the dungeon before, everything ran pretty smoothly (except I stumbled with the controls a few times by accidentally switching my hotbar). Boss was fun. Epic music, too! I had to be the tank, which I don't really like being, but yay, I didn't mess up! Best of all, no cries of "WTF are u doin ya n00b?!". Everyone was polite and good-natured, so that was good.

Overall, playing the beta has been a blast so far. One thing that became immediatly apparent upon starting out was that there was a whole lot more to do. Lots of quests, at least for the first ten levels, after that they became more sparse, but still, I never was lost for anything to do like I was in 1.x. This is largely because of the FATEs. FATEs are awesome. They're quite diverse, give good exp and are fun to do, mostly. The ease of getting in and out of them is a good plus. They definately were a good addition to the game.

The game's also simply gorgeous, with lots of great visuals. A lot of times I was reminded of FF XII, which is of course a good thing. Linsa reminded me of the Phon Coast somewhat, while Ul'duah gave a Dalmasca / Giza Plain feeling. Enemy design is pretty fun too, though I do miss something spectacular like a T.Rex or something so far, like you had in XII at the start. :p But I guess that's normal for low levels and stuff. I noticed they used the mantis design from XII, too. Good stuff overal.

Best of all, though, is the storyline. During my run through World of Warcraft, even though I did practically every quest there was to do across the three continents and Outland, I never at any point felt invested in the story. The closest it came was during the Cataclysm quests, but even then the storyline just wasn't as focussed or told that well. It didn't help that the conclusion for every damn storyline could only be seen in elitist raids, I really regretted not being able to have a go at Deathwing.

XIV does it much better in that regard, as expected of a FF game. We even have actual cutscenes! You feel invested in the story, because they make it feel like your character and his/her actions actually matter and mean something. You're not just a random character caught up in events by accident, you're a major player in the story and at times even the focus of it. I really liked that, and I can't wait to see how it develops further. The only criticism I could offer so far is that it seems to slow down after lv 15, and the focus shifts from quests to dungeons. I don't know if it's because of the beta or not, but even so, it's not that horrible or anything, since dungeons seem to be pretty accessible so far. Granted, I've only gone through one, but still, duty finder helps with that. I'm sure the end-game content will be tough, but I'm sure by that point the story will have drawn me in so much to actually make me want to learn how to do those raids and stuff.

Last thing I'll mention is that level sync is a great and smart idea. It helps keeping things challenging, even at higher levels.

[Depression Moon]

I'm still getting used to this MMO thing. 1st one I've ever played and the amount of items and stuff is overwhelming. struggled with the controls for a while and still having some issues with the HUD like when browsing shops it looks like the prices of the items are cut off by the stat info of said item. I'd like to know how much the item costs.

Kind of bored right now until I can get some things going like some new weapons and armour. I'm tired of seeing my character in the default stuff.

[Pike]

Having invested a bit more time into this I do think it's a lot of fun and I'll probably end up buying it. I really want to say that it's giving me early WoW vibes but it's not - the mechanics and general sense of getting lost in a foreign world are not quite as strong as WoW was for me - but it's still the most fun I've had with an MMO in a really long time.

[Carl the Llama]

the mechanics and general sense of getting lost in a foreign world are not quite as strong as WoW was for me.

Would you consider this a good thing or a bad thing?

[Jinx]

I know that the one reason I always loved WoW was just because it was so incredibly gorgeous and I wanted to explore. ARR is gorgeous too, but I think that WoW's design is just a little more awesome because of the really intense colours everywhere.

That being said, I suck at WoW, so I'd always get bored after awhile, because I knew I could never do what a lot of people do. That's why I'd prefer to get this game on PS3, as I'm just godawful with keyboard games.

[Pike]

the mechanics and general sense of getting lost in a foreign world are not quite as strong as WoW was for me.

Would you consider this a good thing or a bad thing?

I prefer the WoW mechanics (well... the WoW mechanics from Burning Crusade, anyway. Rest in peace :crying: ) and there was really something magical about the WoW world that FFXIV does not seem to have. I'm not even trying to be a WoWdrone because lord knows I have a lot of issues with WoW lately and there's a reason I quit. But I can't help but compare MMOs to the high points of WoW and so far FFXIV is continuing to fall just a bit short.

IMO.

[Loony BoB]

I know that the one reason I always loved WoW was just because it was so incredibly gorgeous and I wanted to explore. ARR is gorgeous too, but I think that WoW's design is just a little more awesome because of the really intense colours everywhere.

That being said, I suck at WoW, so I'd always get bored after awhile, because I knew I could never do what a lot of people do. That's why I'd prefer to get this game on PS3, as I'm just godawful with keyboard games.
Playing an MMO without a keyboard is a really bad idea. Trust me.

[Bierhumpen_Kukki]

I know that the one reason I always loved WoW was just because it was so incredibly gorgeous and I wanted to explore. ARR is gorgeous too, but I think that WoW's design is just a little more awesome because of the really intense colours everywhere.

That being said, I suck at WoW, so I'd always get bored after awhile, because I knew I could never do what a lot of people do. That's why I'd prefer to get this game on PS3, as I'm just godawful with keyboard games.
Playing an MMO without a keyboard is a really bad idea. Trust me.

id say trying to type with a ps3 controller is a bad idea. it takes ages to type a message...

[Jinx]

Then I guess I shouldn't even play this. :(

[Loony BoB]

You could play it with both. I know someone who loves spending his time playing with a controller and uses his keyboard only for the chat parts. But yeah, if you aren't able to type out a lot of chat, then I gotta admit I don't know what you will be getting out of the game. The biggest point of an MMO is the multiplayer aspect, and the best part of that multiplayer aspect is created through communication.

[Jinx]

It's already hard enough to chat and play an MMO at the same time anyways.

[Depression Moon]

It's already hard enough to chat and play an MMO at the same time anyways.

You could use a headset or a PS eye if you have one.

[Elpizo]

Didn't Sony come out with a keyboard-extension that attaches to the PS3 controller some time ago?

[I Don't Need A Name]

Ta-Dah! (http://store.sony.com/p/playstation-ps3-keypad-controller/en/p/PS398048)

[comma]

I can't imagine playing this with only a keyboard or only a gamepad. You really need to use both in order to have the best experience.

[Elpizo]

I just did Ifrit. Took me five tries to beat him. The first three times, Hellfire wiped us. The fourth time, we survived, but our Healer got killed, so we wiped again. Fifth time, we beat him! :D I really have only one word to describe this battle: epic. Awesome would work, too. Love the Ifrit design, love the music, love the story. This game's giving me more and more reasons to play the full version (which I already was planning to). One of these days I'll preorder the collector's edition.