Final Fantasy 14 (FFXIV)

swirlser

With an official release date recently accounced for the end of Sept. (22/09/10 - 30/09/10), the follow-up to FFXI (The first MMO from the Final Fantasy series) is nearly upon us!

FFXI was my first MMO ;'( I have so many great memories which means extremely high expectations for this next adventure, its hard to believe that it has been 8 years ^^ Im so excited to get my hands on FFXIV and I must say that even though Ive been a WoW head on and off for the last 4 odd years, I have always missed FFXI, I genuinely believe it was the best and most addictive MMO Ive played. That does raise the question of why I stopped playing FFXI ;p it had a couple of flaws which unfortunately were massive, that being the "RMT" (real money traders - the chinese farmers basically) heavily impacted the game, not just the effect on the economy but also the areas which they populated hampered general game play and experience and the other being you pretty much couldnt solo play past lvl10-15 (well you could, but it steeply climbed to the point where you could pour hours into trying to lvl up and hardly see your bar budge). Those 2 points simply killed the game for me personally and even though I didnt like WoW as much, the faster and more accessible everything in WoW made me cave - keeping in mind this was over 4 years ago, before Blizzard took out its oversized nerf hammer and wtfpwn'd everything and anything to ensure that even a severely mentally challenged individual could have a fully epically geared lvl capped character in next to no time! From what I understand, FFXIV will have a much more balanced solo/party experience, thats 1 problem hopefully solved, the other is a wait-and-see I guess.

From the FFXIV YouTube Channel , trailer from this years E3 (*EDIT: Couldnt get embedding to work )

A tester shows some Alpha gameplay footage. Do keep in mind that there will be many changes from Alpha --> finished product, also if you dont find this very exciting, try imagine what someone who knows nothing about your favourite MMO watching a video clip from early stages of you running around with a bit of cloth over your back hitting things with a stick would think :-p
*EDIT: Figured I should update this since the Alpha footage is now very dated (and has been removed even), here is some Beta3 Party footage, Thankfully much improved over Alpha (fyi, skip to about 9:20 if you just wanna see a battle) - a large bunch of people just trying their luck against some higher lvl mobs.

Other links; FFXIV-Europe Official site, FFXIV Bench Official Benchmark tool.

Kiith

I've been keeping an eye on this, and it looks pretty great, but the combat looks really slow and boring. I know its early Alpha, but they really need to do a better job then what they've shown so far.

swirlser

Yeah the combat in the Alpha clip is slow and clumsy. From what I understand they have already made changes to the system, the Beta has a nicely overhauled UI and the mechanics and pace have been improved and increased. I would be very surprised if they really messed things up, since the combat system in FFXI wasnt bad, theyve had 8 years to improve it

I remember a friend of mine trying to get me started on FFXI and the first thing I asked him was the combat system anything like other FF games, as I really really didnt like turn based crap which seemed to be present in any of the non MMO FF games I tried briefly before. The short answer being - no, its not


Some ppl have referred to FFXIV as a love child of WoW & FFXI. While I wouldnt mind taking some aspects from WoW, I really hope they havent gone too far with making this one more "casual friendly". XI was tough and quite unforgiving, but I liked the challenge. The fact you lost exp if you died meant you valued your life and when it came to taking risks, it actually felt like you were risking something more than an insignificant repair bill. The thrill of running to that harbour from Windurst when you were lvl12 to team up with people was truly epic (back when epic meant something), Mobs with more than just prox aggro, you had to hide behind rocks to stay out of sight of Goblins, then leggit behind their back to get past them - Brilliant! Far off lands actually felt like far off lands! You appreciated being there after making the journey as opposed to the average pugger from WoW who joins a group, demands a summon (even if hes one of the nearest to the target location!) and then throws his toys around the place if something happens he doesnt like, he then leaves the group which frequently results in a domino effect. (<--- that scenario is sadly something you can expect to come across several times a week in WoW. In 2 years of playing FFXI that is something which probably happened several times - in total). Can see Im rambling already and tbh I could type til my fingers hurt about my memories of FFXI, my excitement of XIV and comparisons between XI and WoW ^^ But I best stop... ^^ I will throw in 1 more, coz I just cant help it ;p To highlight the difference between the general player base of the 2 MMOs, in FFXI a white mage (priest) passing the corpse of someone in their travels would 9 out of 10 times stop to res them (this is a bigger deal than it sounds, would take too long to explain why) - which would also restore some of the exp lost from the death, in WoW its no longer a surprise to see a healer leave a dungeon or raid run leaving corpses behind, maybe its not that often of an occurrence, but often enough now that if I see it my only thoughts are "well thats WoW for ya".

Pfff...

Roll on September XD

Ivan

I've always been a big fan of Final Fantasy games, ever since 4 simply blew my mind and showed me what a great RPG could be like. Don't even get me started about 7 through 10. Quality games. But a friend of mine was invited to the alpha for FF14 and having missed out on 11 in its early stages I was very interested in trying it out. That quickly changed when he told me about the state of the Alpha at the moment. Needless to say I decided to forego ruining my expectations of the game and have decided to just wait until its release.

Still, from what he's said I have to laugh at a Sept 2010 launch date. It seems like just another rushed MMO and Final Fantasy cash-in of which the last few FF titles, starting with X-2, have all been.

We'll see how things go but thus far I'm not expecting great things.

Aurongroove

"We would first like to express our appreciation for your interest in
FINAL FANTASY XIV, and thank you for your application. It is our
pleasure to inform you that you have been selected for the role of
FINAL FANTASY XIV Beta Tester."

:D:D I'll enjoy the rest of this summer

Bulktohulk

Aurongroove wrote: »

"We would first like to express our appreciation for your interest in
FINAL FANTASY XIV, and thank you for your application. It is our
pleasure to inform you that you have been selected for the role of
FINAL FANTASY XIV Beta Tester."

:D:D I'll enjoy the rest of this summer

What server you on mate? I want someone to play with, well once this feckin huge download finishes.

Aurongroove

I havn't made it to a server yet. I'm one of the poor sod's for whom clicking on the installed icon on the desktop, reads: "Final Fantasy XIV has stopped working"

they're fixing it...

MarkJD

Try updating your GFX drivers. I had that problem too where it would crash on launch but updated them and it was fine.

Beta is far better than the Alpha, im used to the slow gameplay because i played FFXI for years so it didnt bother me as much but they definately improved it in the Beta and for the better.

Check out videos of the two different battle styles and you will see, they implemented a stamina gauge and you can pretty much swing to your hearts content now but if you run out of stamina you cant, makes sense. Different moves use different amounts of stamina.

MarkJD

Beta has been cancelled for tonight due to techichal difficulties incase anyone was stuck or wondering!

swirlser

For anyone looking to preorder the CE version online, I emailed Game yesterday just to see if they would post early for overseas orders - as I know they post the day before for UK orders to make sure they get it on the day.

"We endeavour to ship all of our releases in order to ensure delivery in time for release day, however our international customer may experience a regrettable delay in receiving their pre-order due to the extra time it takes to ship overseas.

Apologies for any disappointment."

Its a pity, they know it takes longer but they wont give it an extra day. I wouldnt mind missing 1 day, but any longer and thats also the weekend gone

MarkJD

Thats a pitty!

If you have time (i dont at the moment) give one of the game stores and ring and ask to speak to a manager.

Say you where in contact with game.co.uk and they directed you to one of the game stores to enquire if they can receive the CE of the game on release so we could just go in and buy it so we can avail of the early 8 days or whatever.

Let me know if you try it, if not ill give it a go tomorrow!

swirlser

Im a little pessimistic when it comes to pre ordering in store here, as in the past whats happened is they took your details but on the day it was first come first severed to anyone who put their name down (so why preorder?!)

Anyway, I rang Game and I was told they dont do that any more - if you preorder, they will keep a copy for you. But, he didnt have a code for the game on the PC (he did apparently have one for the PS3 o.O which as Im sure you know has an unconfirmed date in 2011). So I guess Ill call again end of month.

Notorious

swirlser wrote: »

Anyway, I rang Game and I was told they dont do that any more - if you preorder, they will keep a copy for you.

That may not be true... If you pay a deposit when you pre-order (you only pay a deposit when you're ordering one of the collectors editions that are on limited release), with Game you're guaranteed a copy; otherwise you're definitely not. There's no way to tell that you pre-ordered the game without a deposit slip. The best thing to do is to ring them up the evening before the release day and ask them to put your copy aside with your name on it.

I'll check for you tonight and I'll see if they are taking pre-orders for the PC version.

MarkJD

Notorious wrote: »

That may not be true... If you pay a deposit when you pre-order (you only pay a deposit when you're ordering one of the collectors editions that are on limited release), with Game you're guaranteed a copy; otherwise you're definitely not. There's no way to tell that you pre-ordered the game without a deposit slip. The best thing to do is to ring them up the evening before the release day and ask them to put your copy aside with your name on it.

I'll check for you tonight and I'll see if they are taking pre-orders for the PC version.

When you check would you mind asking if its possible to get the Collectors Edition on Pre-Order. It entitles you to 8 days early to the game so if we could go in and collect it on the day that would be great! Cheers

Notorious

Game are taking pre-orders on FFXIV on the PC, both the normal and collectors edition. I've no idea what comes with the collectors edition; usually we get detailed info on each game but not with FFXIV.

One point though - how could the collectors edition give you early access? If you get the game via download maybe, but both copies are available on the release date so both the collectors and standard edition will be able to start playing from day one.

Varik

Square Enix is introducing a “fatigue” system to upcoming MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV which will apparently see players hit with crippling penalties if they play more than an hour a day, with those daring to play more than 4 hours having their XP reduced to 0, making this the most retarded move an mmo could make.

Square Enix acknowledge the existence of the system in an interview and in previous comments, but are strangely reticent about providing specifics:

Tell us about the “fatigue” and “dormancy” systems please?.
We wanted to introduce a system to reward players who don’t have a lot of time to play. Maybe it looks as though we are placing long playing users at a disadvantage, but the idea is really to let play for short periods be viable.

Won’t that cause some concern amongst players who play for longer?
We want these players to try different classes. If you change class the fatigue doesn’t affect you, so you could try non-combat classes as well. You actually have more play choices now as you can make more characters.

Such systems are not unique, but Square Enix appears to have taken the system to an extreme likely to either completely eliminate its “hardcore” player strata – to say nothing of its high-handedness in dictating to players that they can only play an hour day.

“Some concern” may be a colossal understatement if early reports of just how draconian the limits are turn out to be correct:

Fatigue goes up to about 50% in 2 hours, and it takes 2 days to go down! So, if you play 4 hours you have to stop playing completely for 2 days!

WHAT!?
Only 1 hour a day!
What’s really amazing is that you have to pay a monthly subscription for this…
They can’t get away with this on a subscription game. They’ll be sued!
So you get bonuses for staying logged out – the servers are going to be nice and quiet, aren’t they!

More on the “dormancy” system:
Recovery takes time.
2 hours of combat or 1 hour of craft will induce “dormancy.”
The dormancy is actually shared over different characters.
It will decrease gains to 0% in the end.
It seems to be proportional to the amount of XP you earn.

nix

RIP FF14

Gummy Panda

That is crazy!

Other MMOs are trying to keep people playing and they are penalising people for playing.

Kiith

There's no way this will go into the game. Seriously, no chance. No one in their right mind would pay a monthly sub to play the game 1 hour a day. What i dont get is how they can be stupid enough to think that this is a good idea?

Varik

The interview was with famitsu who cannot ever say a bad word against square, when the rest of the media gets hold of this and the internet starts talking i don't think it will stay in the game.

Blowfish

Interestingly, WoW actually has precisely the same thing, they're just smarter about hiding it.

Originally in the WoW beta, after a certain length of time you'd only gain 50% exp. Soon enough they discovered that players who played a lot felt like they were being punished for it, so to essentially 'fool' the playerbase they doubled the amount of experience needed to level and gave rest exp. if you haven't played for a while instead.

It still took the exact same amount of time to level, but the players who play a lot didn't feel 'punished' and those who didn't play much felt 'rewarded'.

swirlser

Well the idea or notion that you can only play at full capacity for just 1 hour a day is wrong. The system as being described here is very unappealing to me, but I dont believe its going to be this penalising come launch.

As it stands, you can switch class (easily, by changing your weapon), which gets you around the fatigue system. Given the more classes you play, the more abilities you learn - which you can incorporate into other classes, so its something you will want to do anyway.

Basically, if you want to sink 12 hours a day into this game, you can. While being productive and developing your character. What I understand you cant do is play 1 class continuously, which I dont like the sounds of. Perhaps they are trying to limit the pace at which you can advance so they can add later content?

Either way, if this is something that really did cripple how you play, people would get pissed off and it would be removed/adjusted. I honestly doubt its going to be as bad as it is described here. I also remember peoples concern about WoW's exp system at beta and how Blizzard flipped things, so it was actually much the same but gave the impression of a new reward system - Id expect much the same here (at least they certainly should!).

Gummy Panda

Blowfish wrote: »

Interestingly, WoW actually has precisely the same thing, they're just smarter about hiding it.

Originally in the WoW beta, after a certain length of time you'd only gain 50% exp. Soon enough they discovered that players who played a lot felt like they were being punished for it, so to essentially 'fool' the playerbase they doubled the amount of experience needed to level and gave rest exp. if you haven't played for a while instead.

It still took the exact same amount of time to level, but the players who play a lot didn't feel 'punished' and those who didn't play much felt 'rewarded'.

Yeah but thats smart.

When i saw rested exp, i feel bliz were giving me a hand up to help me catch up with my friends who had more online time then me. This would feel like my mother pulling out the dial-up after hour when I was 13.

Varik

Apparently it's 8 hours a week now, before you get reductions on gains.

nix

Blowfish wrote: »

Interestingly, WoW actually has precisely the same thing, they're just smarter about hiding it.

Originally in the WoW beta, after a certain length of time you'd only gain 50% exp. Soon enough they discovered that players who played a lot felt like they were being punished for it, so to essentially 'fool' the playerbase they doubled the amount of experience needed to level and gave rest exp. if you haven't played for a while instead.

It still took the exact same amount of time to level, but the players who play a lot didn't feel 'punished' and those who didn't play much felt 'rewarded'.

And yet people can still go from 1-80 in a week, they may have slowed it down, but i still regard it as fast. In comparsion to say Ever Quest 2, which i spent about a year on and never actually hit max level. Heck i was like 12 levels away from max.

They should put a similar penalty on the leveling with FF14 as wow did, but to completely hault it is just silly.

Blowfish

nix wrote: »

And yet people can still go from 1-80 in a week, they may have slowed it down, but i still regard it as fast.

That's because they've decreased the time it takes several times in the past 5 years. Originally it did take a lot longer to level.

Gummy Panda

Blowfish wrote: »

That's because they've decreased the time it takes several times in the past 5 years. Originally it did take a lot longer to level.

oh jaysus vanilla wow, where half your guild quit before lv40. There was some rough leveling experiences then and I did it after it was slightly improved.

Kiith

I remember lvl54-60 was pretty bad back in original Warcraft. Especially as a Paladin, pre-buff, where they didnt get any better after lvl45.

swirlser

Lol, lvling in WoW is just funny now, last time I lvl'd a char was earlier this year and I remember the biggest concern was what order to hand in my quests, as they were turning grey at an alarming rate!

Back on topic, after first learning of this system I was worried to a degree, altho I didnt think it would be nearly as bad as was being described here and indeed its not. Ive a headache from spending a little too much time today bouncing around the web reading posts about this system, but as best I understand it now is - you can play any given class for 8 hours at normal (100%) exp gain, after that over the course of the following 7 hours will see that dwindle to 0% you are therefore encouraged to play another class once your initial 8 hours (which btw, seems to be 8 hours of exp gain based on what the devs believe the average gamer would achieve :S) is used. When you change class your on a new timer (@100% exp). Also time spent on other classes gives your other timers a chance to cool down. Regardless of how you spend your time, the slate is wiped clean on a weekly basis...

Theres a little more, but thats the jist of it anyway. The devs have already said it will be made "less harsh" for OB, plus with the amount of QQing going around it'll prob see a further adjustment for launch. Its still not 100% clear to me, I guess ill be experiencing it soon enough and can decide. The only part thats a sticking point now is that the physical lvl does seem to be capped regardless on a weekly basis. /waitsforclarity

Kurosaki_

Does anyone know where you can pre-order the limited edition in Cork? Both Gamestop and Game don't have the "codes" yet in their system so they aren't taking pre-orders, but there's less than a month left for the release.

swirlser

Im sure they will get the codes in time to order it, just tell whichever place you would rather order it with that your interested and ask them when they will have the codes.

I tried to preorder with Game last month and they didnt have the codes either. I did book my copy last week with them tho.

Aurongroove

Square Enix is introducing a “fatigue” system to upcoming MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV which will apparently see players hit with crippling penalties if they play more than an hour a day, with those daring to play more than 4 hours having their XP reduced to 0, making this the most retarded move an mmo could make.

Jeysus, where the hell do you guys get your information from!?

the surplus XP system is based on the optimal amount of XP you can earn in 8 hours of Leveling up.

In other words, once you've reached the supposed amount of XP you can possibly earn within 8 hours of non stop fighting, (however long it takes you, it might take you 16 hours) you BEGIN to get fatigue which take a certain percentage of XP and turns it into Surplus.

starting at 8 hours (worth of XP, notof game play), you lose 10% percent each additional hour(worth of XP), until hour 7 when all of your XP becomes surplus. it sounds horrid but this is extremely difficult to achieve.


You would have to play the game, doing nothing but fighting for 8 hours at optimal XP gain for you to even see surplus XP, and then another 7 hours of constant fighting for your entire XP to be taken as surplus.

when you're not fighting, and I literally mean not fighting, like when your running to a fight from a chrystal, or hanging round in between fights this recovers slowly, and resets once a week as well.
And It also only applies to the class you're training, so if you're training a lancer and you're starting to see Surplus XP (first of all congratulation, you've must've been playing either for two or three days straight, or doing nothing but grinding for 8 hours) you can change class to some other attacking class and earn XP there.


there is absolutely no way you can earn enough XP to lose even some of it to fatigue in 4 hours. my guess is, even if you're adamant on only training one class, you'll still have to play either 16 hours straight, or maybe 6 days of 4 hour sessions (it'd recover in between) to start earning no XP, and that's for fatiguing ONE class.


secondly the surplus is saved, SE havn;t announced what they've decided players can spend it on, but it dosn't just vanish.
and thirdly the reason they put a limit on how fast you can earn XP weekly is because there is a system of giving you bonus XP quickly called Guardian aspect. Guardian aspect is refreshed in real world time, and you spend it on a similarly named "XP plus" buff during levequests (the games missions/monster hunts etc)

guardian aspect and Fatigue are two sides of a coin, Guardian aspect give you XP boosts so you can quickly get stronger, and Fatigue rebalanced the XP earned in a week, instead of needing piles more XP to level up.

here this is from the beta testers forum

after understanding this system am totaly with it>

here is a nice explination of it...

...An XP curve is really nothing more than a time sink. Developers decide how long they want certain segments of the game to take--how long they want certain level ranges to last, and ultimately how long it should take players to reach endgame. They then balance the amount of XP it is possible to gain in a given timeframe with the amount required to move beyond a certain a certain point, or level up.

XP gain may give the illusion of progression but that's all it is--an illusion. Gaining XP is not progressing a character. It does not impart any new strengths or abilities by itself. Levels are the real progression. Levels provide increased statistics and new abilities.

In reality, a game is designed and played from level to level, not from one experience point to the next. Being level 57 with 8000 XP towards level 58 doesn't let you do level 58 content any more than being level 57 woth 0 XP towards level 58 does. Being level 58 lets you do level 58 content. The XP required to get from level 57 to level 58 is merely a time sink. You spend enough time grinding it out, and you get to be level 58.

Experience point income is balanced against the total XP required for a level up in such a way as to have players spending a certain amount of time between level ups. This is true in any MMO, and Final Fantasy XIV is no different.

However, FFXIV puts a spin on the system. The developers for FFXIV are looking at it from the perspective that levels are the progression, not XP. XP is certainly not useless, but it is merely a means to an end. They also, like all developers, have in mind a rate at which they want players to reach certain level milestones.

For most MMOs, with a purely XP-based system, if the developers decide that levels should be gained at the rate of 1 per week, players have to grind away all week, making no real character progress, until they get that 1 level at the end of the week. THAT is the progress--regardless of whatever number is in the XP box, it is the 1 level that ultimately matters. And if you can't grind away all week, you don't get it. If it takes you three times as long to rack up the necessary game time, you get no progress on your character at all for three weeks.

The fatigue system is also a time sink, but functions a bit differently. It still works off of the concept that players should only attain a certain amount of progression per week, but it doles out that progression more quickly up front. This has two important effects. First, it means that even those who cannot play 6-8 hours a day every day can make some progress. Not as much overall, but some. Second, it means that after the week's progression on one class has been reached, players are free to mess around with others--a level of freedom and diversification that most games don't have.

Make no mistake; if SE decides that you should only gain 3 levels in a class per week, then that is all you will gain. Without fatigue--with a basic XP system--all your play time in that week would be devoted to a single class as XP requirements increase to compensate, and wanting to level something else would mean sacrificing progression in that one class.

With the fatigue system, instead of sacrificing XP time to do things that don't involve leveling your main class, you get to have all the XP you'd normally get for the week anyway, and then focus on other aspects of the game. Want to level another class? Go do it. Want to quest? Sure. How about crafting? Also an option. Or maybe you just want to explore. In other MMOs, all of these activities come at the cost of XP. That is not the case here. And if you really want to grind away at one class well, you can hop on it at the beginning of the week, and still have time to hit it again later in the week after surplus has cleared from not leveling it. Bonus!

Final Fantasy XIV was designed with a certain philosophy. The fatigue system is part of enacting that philosophy. It is no more limiting than a standard XP system, as progression is balanced around it. It offers more freedom than conventional systems, simply by allowing for different allocations of play time with no penalty. Can it stand some tweaking and balancing? Probably. But doing away with it entirely will cause a progression rebalance what will completely undermine any kind of horizontal character development, as well as force unnecessary choices between whether to XP a main class, or do anything else. And the ultimate gain on main class progression will be no different.Quote

Aurongroove

It;s hard to get your head around it, people just hear SE ARE CANCELLING XP AFTER ONE HOUR PLAY PER DAY!!!!!! THATS NOT WHAT WE PAID FOR ORDERS CANCELLED.

but it works like the offside rule works: it;s difficult to explain but when you see it in action you'll understand, if instead of Fatigue they took away the guardian aspect XP bonus and also tripled the amount of XP needed to level up, you'd end up with hardcore games spending 24 hours to get the same level they could have with 8, and casual games needing thrice the time they other wise would have needed to get to the level they could With the fatigue and lower XP threshold.

So hardcore gamers/grinding addicts/no lifers basically get what would've taken them 24 hours in 8 hours, but then can't do any more that week, so they're "forced" to either develop a different class enjoy some other aspects of the game, i.e. being social/exploring or indeed, enjoying real life or playing other MMOGs which are designed to be user murdering time whores.

Casual gamers can spend their time playing as they normally would, safely in the laps of Guardian aspect and not needing to worry about Fatigue because of all that lovely time they spend living a real life, and treating FFXIV like what it is: a game to be enjoyed.

Fair play to SE I say.

swirlser

Aurongroove wrote: »

It;s hard to get your head around it, people just hear SE ARE CANCELLING XP AFTER ONE HOUR PLAY PER DAY!!!!!! THATS NOT WHAT WE PAID FOR ORDERS CANCELLED.

Yeah, the whole explosion on fansites about SE making your interweb die after an hour is getting old now

Tbh, once I understood the system better Im actually starting to like it. Ppl who played FF11 know about needing a subjob etc, who should be happy to learn that instead of making the xp req to ding stupidly long, they introduced this system which allows u do both in the same amount of time. (Its a good thing ^^)

Anyway, nom nom at the new clip

Aurongroove

The leveQuests (those glass tablet looking things) are awesome fun, and with guardian aspect you get shed loads of XP.

I can see lots of people quickly leaving the start game and going straight for the levequests. <cough> like I did when I should've been testing other aspects of the game...

swirlser

Gotta throw this out there, a very simple video (which SE really should have come out with themselves) which spoon feeds the workings on the surplus system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abE09-tqhoM

Kurbinator

Nice .Been playing wow since SE booted me from xi accused of botting / rmt activity.I want to play this one though.Hope there's EU servers on 11 i was playing with lots of jp's and yanks

Varik

FFXIV beta tester wrote:

You finally really did it. You maniacs! You screwed it up! Damn you. God damn you all to hell!

The bizarre decision to rename “Chocobos” to “horsebirds” for the Japanese version of Final Fantasy XIV has given rise to a storm of criticism and a grovelling and unconvincing apology from the designers.

Meanwhile, players have begun to speculate that the game was largely made in China, with Chinese audiences in mind…
The situation began with Square Enix revealing it has a full Chinese version of Final Fantasy XIV planned. Square Enix for its part has commented that “the Chinese version is a completely different service” and that it will solve the problem of gold farmers with IP bans.

Japanese players of Final Fantasy XIV soon noticed that their own version of the game dispensed completely with the “English” names in favour of names using Chinese characters exclusively. Most noticeably, “Chocobo” (チョコボ – chokobo) was renamed to “馬鳥,” a meaningless word combining the character for “horse” with that for “bird.” Chocobos thus became “horsebirds,” a phrase as ridiculous to Japanese ears as to western ones.


Soon suspicious users began to connect these changes with another major design change – the highly controversial “fatigue system,” which imposes severe penalties for players who play too long, as Square Enix sees it.
In fact, Chinese law requires all MMORPGs to have just such a “fatigue” system, in order to “protect” players from the addictive properties of these games.
For many, the coincidence of this exact feature appearing in the game alongside an announcement of a full Chinese release cannot be dismissed as coincidence. Soon Square Enix was being accused of making most of the game in China, for the Chinese.

Kurosaki_

swirlser wrote: »

Im sure they will get the codes in time to order it, just tell whichever place you would rather order it with that your interested and ask them when they will have the codes.

I tried to preorder with Game last month and they didnt have the codes either. I did book my copy last week with them tho.

Turns out Game is the only store in Cork city that is getting it in, have it pre-ordered for tomorrow and I really hope they don't turn around and say "sorry we didn't get it in" when I go in there tomorrow to get my copy...

#014917

Hey, anyone here registered a Visa debit card from Ulster Bank or Permanent TSB (if they are doing them as of now) to their SE account? Want to make sure it works before I open an account (or even move from AIB).

Looking forward to playing! I ordered it from game.co.uk just to be sure I'd get it, should be here tomorrow hopefully! Already have the disk downloaded and installing now

Kurbinator

grrrr!!! I wish i thought of that I can't afford it anyway till pay day at the end of the month.Works out nicely for me that way.Does anyone know what the story is with game cards?I know PoL isn't doing FF14.I'd love to see some this time round cause I've been hacked before on FF11

#014917

As of yet there's no news on game cards although it does easily possible with this new crysta payment system.

Basicly at the moment you have to buy points (£1 or €1 per 100 points), so a game card wouldn't be too out of the question.

Kurbinator

Just googled it.Looks possible as you say.Also this horse bird thing does seem to have people upset odd.O well I'll just call em chocos as I'm sure other fans will come to do the same

#014917

Here's a good article explaining the horsebird stuff: http://ffxiv.zam.com/story.html?story=23333

Pretty sure it's still chocobo in the English version. The reasoning behind it apparently was to give it a different feel mainly to FFXI but also sticking with the lore of the world the inhabitants of Hydaelyn or maybe more specifically Eorzea are similar to our civilisation during the dark ages.

Here a post with some books you can read from in the Thaumaturgy guild in Ul'dah as well as discussion on their contents:
http://www.ffxivcore.com/topic/17925-understanding-the-cosmos/

Kurbinator

I take it all of the hardcore players that got the collectors edition are enjoying it atm.Is there any particular server that's standing out atm or is it an even spread accross all of them?

#014917

It was a bit skewed at first but fairly even now afaik

http://www.ff14news.com/2010/09/23/ffxiv-population-information/

Kurbinator

dear god looks like I'll have lots of ppl to talk to when I log on at 1am after work love the server set up and the fact that it's not just EU US and Asia servers

Varik

Yet another problem mars the release of Final Fantasy XIV,a few players have discovered a flaw which grants near infinite XP, allowing them to reach the level cap whilst ignoring the much vaunted fatigue system entirely.

The technique reportedly involves the combined use of buffing and an amulet in a large party, creating a cascade of extra XP.

Whether this is actually a bug or a balance issue is open to interpretation, players engaging in the practice naturally maintain it is fair play, although it is hard to see Square Enix allowing this to continue and will either fix the glitch or further balance it.

Kurbinator

They'll fix it lol you can be sure of that

#014917

Varik wrote: »

Yet another problem mars the release of Final Fantasy XIV,a few players have discovered a flaw which grants near infinite XP, allowing them to reach the level cap whilst ignoring the much vaunted fatigue system entirely.

The technique reportedly involves the combined use of buffing and an amulet in a large party, creating a cascade of extra XP.

Whether this is actually a bug or a balance issue is open to interpretation, players engaging in the practice naturally maintain it is fair play, although it is hard to see Square Enix allowing this to continue and will either fix the glitch or further balance it.

Might want to link your source

http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/09/26/final-fantasy-xiv-infinite-xp-glitch-discovered/

Wouldn't be surprised if SE banned them, even if they wait and do it in a year or so like last time

Mario007

Just wondering, seeing that this is a Final Fantasy...how much story is actually involved? Is it like other MMO's where the general lore of the world is kinda explained and all you do is random quests to level up or is there actual progression of the story and involvement of the character you control in the story?