Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn

So I just downloaded this today on PS4, surprisingly quickly too. (love my internet package, well worth it) It plays really well on a controller. Looks great too. My only complaint so far being the lack of voice support, that feels archaic. So I have to head out and buy a USB keyboard to be able to actually communicate in any timely way with people.

That makes so little sense to me, given the plethora of mics that we could use to more quickly communicate directly with people. They really need to work that in, having to get alternatives set up to get around that in the later more difficult events is going to be aggravating.

But still, on the whole, it's a much more playable and approachable game than FF11 ever was. Now I just have to figure out how to redeem my extra goodies for getting the digital version of the collectors edition. (because after I bought it it gave me no indication of what to do to get that stuff and actually USE it in game) I'm on the Ultros server so I can play with some old friends from the Virtual Underground UCB that used to be on this site.

Anyone else trying it?

Gonna upgrade tonight.

That really is a neat thing they did for PS3 players.

I was on the fence on getting it, but decided not to in the end. No matter how good the game looks or how much changes it's done of the better, getting immersed into an MMO would be hard to get out and I have other priorities to be concerned with. Plus, I'm more of the gamer that needs to be immensely gratified and not having to wait it out until it gets better and better.

Now I'm already bored of it. :(

Geez, I'm so fickle. Ah well.

I mean yeah, it plays better than FF11. But it still takes forever and a day to do even the tiniest thing. Whether you play it with other people or not, it's all still pretty boring and repetitive, and no one is communicating with each other. Which makes it feel cold and dead compared to the much more vibrant and warm community of FF11.

I'm also kind of bummed that I opted for the collectors edition. The mounts can't be used until level 20, (gee thanks) and the minions don't DO anything. I played for eight hours today, and just that much time feels like a massive waste that makes me feel kinda bad, in retrospect. I could have gotten more cleaning done around the apartment, visited the family, something.

I don't know what I'm looking for lately in modern gaming on these new systems anymore, but this ain't it. What a damned waste.

Yeah, my experience with FFXI didn't help in the past either. It would take forever and a day to install the game and get all the updates. I still remember having a few days's bad of a connection and it would always kill the progress I had with the game. Then, one night, I FINALLY had a great connection to it and everything finally happened.

Then I played the game for a good fifteen minutes and went "Really?"

For me to get into an MMORPG, it has to be with people I know and I didn't know that many people on it and like I said, it's way too time-consuming for me. WoW is a great example of that - huge world and all, but it's too much to do. I'd rather be in a better, smaller place to play, like with Diablo 3.

Yeah, Square was really nice for that.

No, I already got it on my PC but currently not playing it. I do just want to chip in and say that I very much enjoyed tanking. The threat meters make it very comfortable.

Yeah, it's a much more approachable game than FF11 for sure. The atmosphere in FF14 reminds me of Last Remnant, the combat is somewhat engaging and soloing is far more possible than it was in FF11, and I haven't tried the crafting yet but I'm going to go ahead and assume it's better than FF11 because it would be hard for it to be worse (so many fire crystals wasted...). It's definitely a step up and the controller support is pretty solid minus Randolph's complaints around communication, but I still got bored of it pretty quickly. Same is going for TES:O, too.

So far, the only MMO in recent memory that isn't just turning into a massive, boring grindfest for me is (puts on flame retardant suit) The Secret World. It's not perfect, but the setting and structure are so different from other MMOs that so far it's doing a good job at keeping my interest.

-Byshop