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.

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

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 ) 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.