Raids! All... two of them...

[Markus. D]

This is all a little too TL;DR for my brain to ... embrace.

MMO being a wonderfully BIG genre in my life since 2003. I can say that FFXIV is severely behind the times. I compare FFXIV with the original Everquest: It was a beautiful thing, now it's an ancient, trialed and clunky formula. Squenix went into this project with a poorly researched impression on the current generation and "casual" gamers, so much that they've lost investors and much of their core community (Japan).

1.18 could make or ruin the repair of this game.

edit: noticed something. Loony-kun: Guild Wars 2 (pretty much all the important stuff, and it links to the Dev blog for GW2) AND GuildWars2Live is a youtube channel that gets the footage stuff first.

[Loony BoB]

Give me a release date and I'll look into it further, DP. I've already read what I can about the game, but then, I read what I could about FFXIV long before that was released and it ended up nothing like what I expected, so... yeah.

[Rostum]

I read what I could about FFXIV long before that was released and it ended up nothing like what I expected, so... yeah.

Unfortunately that's how the genre rolls. It's full of major hype and major let downs.

[Loony BoB]

Yeah, that's why I'll be more interested in these games when they're out. Signing up from day one is probably something I'll reserve for FF MMO's, and even then it'll only be due to me being an FF freak / working with the EoFF frontsite.

[Lionx]

‪Blade & Soul - Running and Jumping‬‏ - YouTube

Lets just say...this looks more fun and open than FFXIV is..thats how backwards FFXIV feels. Even WoW feels like it has more open-world feeling than FFXIV with its maze-like map design. And no jumping.

[Loony BoB]

The maps are being revamped and jumping is being implemented.

EDIT: B&S does look awesome, though. It just feels so small, though - how would that handle thousands of people being on at the same time? It looks like a single player game. The visuals, though, are incredible. And I dig the gliding feature. If it was being advertised as a single player game I would be keeping a massively close eye on that. I'll keep checking on it when I remember. Which may not be often, but you never know... firstly I'd need a few other EoFFers to play it as well as I'm not good at meeting new people in these games. =x Even in FFXIV.

[Miriel]

‪Blade & Soul - Running and Jumping‬‏ - YouTube

Lets just say...this looks more fun and open than FFXIV is..thats how backwards FFXIV feels. Even WoW feels like it has more open-world feeling than FFXIV with its maze-like map design. And no jumping.

ARE YOU SERIOUS.

This looks amazing/gorgeous/brilliant/etc.

[Del Murder]

Yeah that game looks pretty awesome. Maybe we should rename the Final Fantasy XIV forum the Blade & Soul forum.

[Rostum]

It does indeed look pretty damn spiffy, I must say!

[Miriel]

I've been watching some of the youtube videos for Blade and Soul and a few things popped out at me right away.

• I love how interactive you can be with the environment. You know those beds in your house? You can actually lay down in them! Can also pick up certain items and actually have your character hold it in their hand. Super neat. Is this something you can do in FFXIV?
• The voice acting is just fabulous. I was surprised by the quality and how much I liked its presence in the game, especially since I'm not a huge fan of voice acting in the regular non-MMORPGs I play. Maybe because this is the first time I've heard Korean voice acting in a game? It seems like a good chunk of the regular NPCs have voice acting for their little bits and the voice acting for the main NPCs in the cut scenes was especially good.
• Love the style of the game. The whole look and aesthetics of the game is just lovely. It looks like how I hoped FFXIV would look.

[Loony BoB]

Nah, FFXIV is limited in what you can pick up. For the most part, unless it's an official tool, chances are you can't hold it in FFXIV. Even cutscenes that aren't FMVs have you holding what appears to be nothing when you pick things up in them. Which I found really annoying. I'm kind of hoping that you can lay down in a bed once houses are implemented at FFXIV, and Yoshi has mentioned that if cultivation is included in the house thing, he wants outdoor gardens included as well.

The voice acting preference is possibly down to your Korean roots and the voice acting being Korean - I imagine that's a rather natural thing - I know that if I ever heard an NZ'er or non-exaggerated Scottish accent in an MMO, I'd probably think it was pretty cool. xD I haven't heard it but I'm going to guess that I wouldn't understand it so I don't know if it's good or not. D= Personally, I'm kind of in two ways when it comes to voice acting in MMOs. It would be okay if you could still skip what they're saying and move on to the next sentence, kind of like it is in some single player RPGs I've played in the past. I hate being forced to wait for people to say their bit. The problem with voice acting in FFXIV is that the few parts that are done are done exclusively in English, even for the Japanese. It's an odd thing.

I do love the style but I'll say it again, the map is so insanely small that it wouldn't work with a thousand people in it. It looks like a single player game. I'm still interested, though, definitely, because it is gorgeous. I'm just wondering how it will look when there are 2,500 people logged into a server, or how they will manage it. I guess after FFXIV I'm a little more sceptical about things than I used to be. D=

Probably worth starting a new thread about Blade & Soul somewhere in the gaming forum, though, rather than continuing this discussion here.

[Rostum]

It looks like how I hoped FFXIV would look.[/LIST]

This, times a million.

Tera Online also has environments that are very nice, mainly due to the vibrance of colour and design.

...the map is so insanely small that it wouldn't work with a thousand people in it. It looks like a single player game. I'm still interested, though, definitely, because it is gorgeous. I'm just wondering how it will look when there are 2,500 people logged into a server, or how they will manage it. I guess after FFXIV I'm a little more sceptical about things than I used to be. D=

Actually the way FFXIV and FFXI design their environments, they are really old school and out of date (box world). I think the whole box world approach is what puts me off the most in terms of the environment asthetics.

Blade and Soul is no smaller than something from World of Warcraft or any other popular game that usually far exceed 2,500 per server.

[Loony BoB]

What do you mean by 'box world'? And how do you fit that many people into an area of that size? D= I can only imagine that there are significantly larger areas where you fight or something. Or maybe there are limitations on how many people can get into that area...? Because having 500 people in that little area would be insane... surely? D=

[Rostum]

What do you mean by 'box world'?

It's the same style old games used to use to limit the players movement and vision - have you ever noticed how there are always have cliffs surrounding everything in a very artificial way, and tunnel you through to the next area?

Because having 500 people in that little area would be insane... surely? D=

I'm not exactly sure what you mean. Why would they clump 500 people in one tiny area? The game is massive, you wouldn't have so many people in the one area at the one time.

Sure it's a bit tighter than FFXIV, but FFXIV has alot of empty bland space that goes to waste. I think you also find in FFXIV most people just clump up in to one area anyways, and the only reason you see few people is because the server prioritises what characters to load for you (obviously party / linkshell members being high priority).

Okay I just looked up some "Environment" videos for Blade & Soul and rewatched this one, and I noticed it looks very spacious. Not sure why you think it looks too small. Also, perhaps you are mislead - most MMO's have quadriple the amount of areas that FFXIV has (not exagerrating).

Edit: Here check this out - http://youtu.be/y7maQAEHfO8?t=2m7s

[Loony BoB]

What do you mean by 'box world'?

It's the same style old games used to use to limit the players movement and vision - have you ever noticed how there are always have cliffs surrounding everything in a very artificial way, and tunnel you through to the next area?

Oh, yeah, that. I figure this isn't really any different, it's just a vast emptiness instead of a cliff. Worlds always have to be boxed one way or another, unless you just have it 'end' and can't physically walk in a direction despite there clearly being an open path (similar to some places in FFX).

Because having 500 people in that little area would be insane... surely? D=

I'm not exactly sure what you mean. Why would they clump 500 people in one tiny area? The game is massive, you wouldn't have so many people in the one area at the one time.

Sure it's a bit tighter than FFXIV, but FFXIV has alot of empty bland space that goes to waste. I think you also find in FFXIV most people just clump up in to one area anyways, and the only reason you see few people is because the server prioritises what characters to load for you (obviously party / linkshell members being high priority).

Okay I just looked up some "Environment" videos for Blade & Soul and rewatched this one, and I noticed it looks very spacious. Not sure why you think it looks too small.

I dunno, it just feels more Fable to me than MMO, but that's just my limited experience showing, probably. And it's not really a criticism as tradtionally single player games look so much better than MMOs, which is why I said it. But when I look at the area, it does feel small. Probably just down to the size of FFXIV maps, which are hard to really realise just how big they are until you spend enough time (and have a high enough level) checking out the far corners. If only it didn't take so much empty space to get to something interesting, it would be even better...

Also, perhaps you are mislead - most MMO's have quadriple the amount of areas that FFXIV has (not exagerrating).

That's true. I remember being annoyed at the limited number of environments when FFXIV came out. FFXI had so much more! Hopefully the map revamps will at least make it a little more interesting... whenever they happen.

Edit: Here check this out - ‪HD Test and Blade & Soul Game Preview‬‏ - YouTube

I'll try to check this out when I'm at home again. =] Thanks.