Final Fantasy XIV

I have a big confession to make. My first MMORPG was Final Fantasy 11, and I was originally dead set against the whole genre. My experience with FF11 was a very positive one, even though I was on dial up at the time (FF11 was very forgiving about that). By the time I finally quit the game and switched to WOW, many of my in-game friends that I'd played with since the US launch had long-since quit, or moved on to other linkshells. And, considering most end-game content was beyond boring (it basically all involved camping, with various linkshells vying for the spawn and the difficult being tagging the mob and not actually fighting it), I left at a good time. But I've always had a soft-spot for the game, and have been looking forward to its spiritual sequel ever since.

But, why is it the only things I hear about the game is how damned terrible it is? Now, there has never really been a lot of information about the game out there (not that I could find anyway). It's certainly not been marketed as heavily over in the US, and I don't really see evidence of a thriving gaming community like you did with, say, Warhammer Online, or the upcoming The Old Republic. While the beta has been out for a while, there hasn't been a lot of information about the game overall. Just some impressions and the lingering sense that the game world is completely sparse, barren, and empty. With a rather retarded control scheme, clunky combat controls, and a questing system which is backward and difficult to understand.

In fact, considering how scathing the impressions of the game are, I'm actually getting hesitant to try it. From what I understand, the original FF11 had some very bad teething problems...in the beginning. But most of those had been worked out by the time the first expansion shipped (which coincided with the US release). So US players started the game with a lot of new, and changed game mechanics which made the game much more playable than before that. FF14 sounds like its having a lot of the same issues--but are people going to be willing to put up with that and just hope it's fixed with the next expansion? I just don't know about that.

Another thing that's actually starting to put me off is just HOW similar it looks to 14. Instead of being nostalgic, it's starting to actually looking boring, uninspired, and creatively lacking. Sure it looks good...I've seen some outside screen shots that are really great. But the style is lacking. Considering the artistic style is important to every FF game...the bland, derivative nature of 14's graphics seems to point to other, even deeper issues.

Hopefully better impressions will come out as the game approaches release. The limited edition ships Sept 22, I believe, with general release following on the 30th. That gives a full week or so from the time the game hits production and people start talking about it to make my mind up on whether it is worthwhile purchasing or not. If not, the WOW will remain the MMO game of choice through Cataclysm's release...at least until The Old Republic ships.