Destroying a Masterpiece.

Ahh yes, it's finally here, it has finally come. One day away till the long anticipated release of Final Fantasy XIV is finally here. But before we begin our journey in the land of Eorzea, I'd like to take a look back at the land that came before Eorzea, the land I call home, the land of Vana Diel. You'll have to forgive my negativity in this post. I'm sure the fanboys will rage pretty hard at it, but I'm going to give you a unbiased factual run down of what has happened in the 8 years of Final Fantasy XI online and hopefully give you a clue about what to look out for, how your outlook should be playing and what you might can expect in Eorzea and from Square Enix themselves.

I remember thinking nothing of it. I had just built a brand new gaming PC. I had needed a new PC and figured "Why not, I'll go all out and maybe play a few games while I'm at it". I did indeed buy a few games, some FPS games, some odd games in which I don't even remember, but all of them got pretty boring quite quickly. I was never really much of a gamer and the only previous games I really spent a lot of time on were RPG games and the Super Mario/Sonic the hedgehog games years before. But it was all about gaming. There was the PS2, the Gamecube and the Xbox. Everyone was into video games so I gave it a try as well but wasn't very interested.

After the few games I ended up trying and getting bored with I was walking around the electronics store late one night, they were about to close. I was there for something completely unrelated but decided to walk through the video game section for the hell of it, that's when I spotted it. There was several stacks of it and it had just came out a week or two prior. "Final Fantasy XI online". I thought to myself "Maybe I'll give this one last game a shot. It's a RPG after all and I love those! It looks like there's some kind of online multiplayer mode to!". I had no idea what I was in store for.

I remember installing the game, getting all my info set up and setting foot in the land of Vana Diel. I was in this big enormous kingdom and it was quite confusing. I had just exited a great cut scene with some wonderful looking characters who set me off on my journey. At first, it was very difficult to get the hang of things, but something about the game just drew me in. It was such a vivid world, so beautiful and amazing, unlike any other I had seen before in any other video game. I got up to level 10 and decided to do some exploring, I wanted to see all there was to see of Vana Diel. I spent several days carefully traveling to as many corners of Vana Diel as I could find, including the three main nations and the duchy of Jeuno (with a lot of deaths mixed in to).

Once my journey concluded I was having reservations and wondering if it was worth the time I was spending, the learning curve was still a bit steep as well and I was getting frustrated trying to figure things out, so I quit... I quit for about 2 weeks that is, and the entire time I couldn't stop thinking about that amazing world of Vana Diel. The stories there must be to experience, the adventures to be had, the lands for me to discover... I decided to give it another go and my journey began. I spent as much effort as I could researching things. There wasn't any good data base sites up just yet and even Allakazham only had people posting experiences they had, so I did my best to look up any information I could find. I discovered that at level 10 (which is how it was for a long long time, before level sync, job adjustments, and Fields of Valor) that you needed to go to Valkurm dunes to level up past that. I had been through there on my way to bastok and eventually found my way back... That's when things really began to change.



I discovered my very first experience points party. It was 6 of us and we were all equally excited to be in the land of Vana Diel. We partied for what seemed like hours, around many other parties who were all killing the lizards (which were killing us as well from time to time). It was crowded, there were people all around talking, shouting, killing and adventuring. It had such a lively feel to it. There were people from all around the world playing, adventuring together. I remember this went on for days and days and each day we'd see often find the same people we had met back there in the dunes. We chatted it up and had a great time waiting around with so many other people till one by one we would get party invites, some times together.

It was the most incredible thing, fighting these lizards in this desert wasteland with all these people. As time went on we finally had to make the Trek to Qufim Island which was equally as amazing. I remember the first time I arrived there it being so crowded, so packed, so full of life and it was night time, during an Aurora Borealis. I met more new people and we all had such a great time leveling together. None of us really knew what we were in for, we were just moving forward.

Eventually, I got up to level 24 and found out it was time... Time to go to Kazham! This is where you leveled all the way from 24 to 30 and God only knows where I'd go after that, but that was the next step so go there I must. I found a group of people farming the Kazham Keys who asked if I needed them to. They agreed to help me and even invited me to my very first linkshell. It wasn't big, but it had some amazing, quality people in it that I ended up befriending for many many years. I remember we tried all night long to figure out just what dropped the keys and where. It took us till the next day to eventually get them and head to Kazham, after many laughs and after a journey that took us all over Vana Diel once again, this time to even more new areas I had never seen. Through caves, to deserts, to wastelands, to beautiful forests and more, it was so amazing.

Finally, after much adventuring I made it to the Kazham! A Lush tropical paradise with hordes of adventurers standing all around the place looking for experience points parties. Partying in the jungle felt so lively as well, so amazing, so wonderful! It was great, and before I knew it I was level 30! It was finally time to go unlock the job I had set my heart on, Paladin. I wanted to be the knight in shinning armor and all that jazz so it made perfect sense. After several days, many deaths and much deciphering I finally was able to unlock Paladin. I grinded away through the levels once again to level 30 and began my journey to 75...

Much time passed and I discovered many new areas, met many new people and went on many incredible adventures through quests and missions. Everything had so much heart and soul, there were so many people, it was so lively and active and the only boundaries Vana Diel seemed to have was limited only to my own Imagination. I was always so excited to experience new things, meet new people, obtain new goals. Finally after much hard work, I eventually reached level 75 Paladin. I was sporting my full Purple Plate Armor as well, like any pro would do in THAT day and time.



I had so many adventures along the way, conquered the shadow lord himself, found a mysterious floating island in the sky and even began to help a strange and mysterious young girl on her own journey to unlocking the secrets of her past and the land of Tavnazia. It was so incredible, so lively, there was so much to do and so much fun to be had... But all of it began to change... Thanks to two words no one would ever forget...

End Game.

I remember my first invite into a End Game Linkshell. I had no idea what was going on or how it worked. I had to say goodbye to my long time social linkshell to pursue grander horizons. I began camping tough monsters and doing things such as Sky Farming, but within this was introduced something I had not experienced so far in the game, Drama... Yep, Drama. Everyone would argue, about who got what, who went as what, when where and why. People began this pursuit for power and spoils and let greed take over their heart, although it wasn't long before I fell victim to it myself.

By this point we all knew that once we had beat the missions, important quests, and leveled up that we had done all there was to do (or so was at the time) and that it was time to delve into End Game. At that point, I decided I would pry myself from End Game and finish all the missions I possibly could, perhaps I would even level another job to 75? I heard people had started doing this. Two 75 jobs?! That was pretty hardcore at the time. But I did it. I got my second job to 75 and beat all the missions including the newly released Chains of Promathia finale. At this point I knew it was time, time to get involved in end game...

Suddenly, the adventures, the random experience points parties, the amazing quests and missions began thinning out. More were added as time went on, but it was all becoming about end game. However, I decided I would try to do my best, to become the best I could and to have the best attitude I could. I joined a linkshell and began grinding away in End Game. It was incredibly difficult, not many people save for a few were particularly friendly and I was mostly looked down upon since I had spent more time completing all the missions and getting a second job to 75 instead of getting amazing spoils for my job(s) to make me more elite.

It seemed like everything I did was wrong, I constantly got yelled at and even when I made it a point not to start drama and to be as friendly as possible any little thing, any little mistake, any question could spark it like a wildfire. I spent months and months, hours and hours and hours a day saving up my "points" so I could eventually get something good, so I could eventually get passed the three month trial (which I did) and finally have enough points for some good loot for my character. Sadly, the loot distribution in FFXI was left up to the players and the loot itself was extremely rare and hard to come by. In the early days, large "HNM linkshells" or "HNMLS" would form up with a small core who would take advantage of members, put them on trial, and when the trial was over kick them just to get more.

At the time, no one could really see what was happening, including myself, but after many months of hard work I was finally kicked. I was kicked simply because the leader thought I was a "inadequate" member, or so I was told. I felt terrible and couldn't play for weeks. I felt like not only was I complete failure, not only did I lose months and months of work for absolutely nothing, but I failed my team. This happened several times, joining HNM linkshells trying to be good for them, trying to get passed the hurdles but every time failing. Until one day...

Some one approached me, who was much like I was. They kept getting kicked out of groups (like many people were at the time) for no good reason, they kept having to try and rejoin linkshells so they decided that we should team up and make our own. It was a risky maneuver but I figured "What do I have to lose?". I accepted the challenge and we began building up our empire. Finally, I began to get some loot. I put the strategies I had learned to good use and tried to be the best leader I possibly could. We did many different events, from Sky to Sea, from Dynamis to Limbus, and everything inbetween. Everything was beginning to look much better and brighter until one day... Me and my partner who had built up this mighty empire together had a disagreement on a new rule. It was a rule we had agreed on to keep things fair from day one, but they wanted to change it. I simply expressed that I was not for it but before I knew it this partner and several of the other "officers" decided it would be better to simply kick me out and make up a story behind what happened.

Suddenly I was kicked out on the cold street, once again, this time with random rumors being spread about me. Many of my friends defended me and there was much more drama than I had ever wanted to see. All of this, for pixels? All of this, for in game items? But why? I was so confused, I was so devastated and because of it I decided to quit once more for a few months. I eventually came back and things calmed down, although various people who wanted to get in good with this now very powerful shell decided to give me a hard time from time to time. The leader (my ex-partner) would even send people on missions just to make things hard on me. Until one day...

Eventually it became known what had happened and that I wasn't the bad guy the rumors talked about after all. But people were so greedy and filled with envy, desire and dishonesty that they didn't really care. Luckily this person was more or less forced to quit the game because of it though and finally the battle had ended. I found myself leveling up various jobs and enjoying the new expansion which was just released. "Treasures of Aht Urghan".

It was amazing and finally I had new adventures, missions, and quests to experience once again. I remember how there was so many thousands and thousands of people everywhere, crowding the boats to be the first to get to Aht Urghan. People rushing to see who could unlock Puppetmaster, Blue Mage and Corsair. People rushing to see what the new missions and quests held before them. It was so incredible, so exciting. I was in a small social linkshell at the time with some of my old friends once again and we were having such a grand time! There was so many stories, so many adventures, so many amazing things to experience once again.

But soon enough, I found myself in End Game once again... Things began to get slightly better, but there was still so much drama, so much manipulation, so many people who were being put through the same sort of things I had gone through. I continued to work, day and night as many hours as my life would possibly allow to get new gear, new loot, new spoils, earning points fair in square, earning items fair in square, and going through several different HNM linkshells. Some times I was screwed over, as were the masses and some times I would finally get a good piece of loot I earned with my own blood sweat and tears. The sad thing is, not everyone was as diligent as I was.

This lack of in game point systems and the ability for a group of leaders to control and manipulate large communities of people (guilds/HNM linkshells) was a major turn off to many people. People began feeling like they would never accomplish their goals, and most didn't, so it began... The decline of FFXI... It had passed it's prime and was on a slow decline even though no one saw it for quite some time. More and more of my friends would quit every day, every week, every month. Slowly people began to trickle out but I persevered. I wanted to be the best I could be, to have the ultimate gear, to be elite and great.

After many years of hard work I had finally achieved most of my goals, at the sacrifice of much of my real life and after much needless drama. I had done all there was to do, I had defeated some of the toughest foes and reached the pinnacle of who I could become. Things began to slow down even more and I took pleasure in leading some very successful end game groups. But eventually, even though a very small percentage but SOME HNM linkshells out there were able to make their members happy and not completely screw them over, people still quit. It just required too much time, the loot systems were just too random (thanks to Square Enix's design on them) and people would leave, more and more every day, most always on a good note. It broke my heart seeing my members saying things like "I just don't have the time in my life anymore" "I just got married and cannot devote this kind of time anymore" "I'm going to college" "I've got a new job" "It's time to live my real life now" and one by one they began to leave.

I eventually obtained my ultimate goal with some close friends of mine and helped as many of them as I could obtain their goals, before eventually so many people had quit that we could not continue doing events. Events were monopolized by the same 2-5 (or so...) HNM Linkshells on every server, the rest of us simply stuck to random events, some times acting as mercenaries or guests to the big HNM linkshells. We found random things to do, new content to play through, new jobs to level. It had slowed down considerably. The bustling metropolis of Vana Diel had become all but a small town. But those of us who remained loved it so. Sadly, it would seem the developers did not and were only trying to maximize their profits. We would not see this till much later on though.

Years went by and everyone was getting bored. You either did events with the few big HNM Linkshells or you did random little things with yourself and close friends/small social linkshells. Compare it to Midgar, and then the small little towns scattered across the world in Final Fantasy 7. Eventually we got word that a new expansion was on the way. We were extremely excited, finally we could explore new lands once again, experience new missions, quests, adventures and journeys. We didn't know much about it for awhile, other than a small teaser trailer and the name of what it would be... "Wings of the Goddess". We had no idea at the time just what was happening.

Turns out as time went on we found that it was a "time traveling" expansion. You go back in time to relive the "Great War" of Vana Diel which took place in the past, 20 years prior to the day and time you currently play in. A time where the beastmen were on a full out attack with the 4 main nations of Vana Diel, a time where the nation only talked about in lore -Tavnazia- where the most important parts of the war (according to game lore) and where even the opening cut scene for FFXI took place. This might actually be fun, right? Not exactly...

Wings of the Goddess brought us a first, something we'd never seen before... Reskinned zones. For those of you who don't know, in FFXI a reskinned zone (which there are many of now) is where they take a normal zone, let's say Jugner Forest for example and change a few very minor things. They change the brightness of the sky slightly, the contrast of a few things, and add in a few new objects here and there. But essentially the same exact zone, just a technically "different" area. To these areas they added some new quests and missions but they felt quite bland, they didn't have the feel of missions and expansions before. The missions were broken up into four categories, the three nations and the main storyline. It made things overly complicated and the missions themselves were overly complicated. Not to mention, they went no where fast and most importantly? The expansion itself only brought a few of them.

A few would be added, in each update, to take us a little bit further. Finding people in a diminishing population who were on your mission, in your nation, began to become a challenge, more and more as time went on. The cut scenes you would get eventually after completing these various missions were quite good at first although they didn't make a lot of sense and had a feeling of lacklusterness. We all looked forward though, to hopefully at the end being able to go to Tavnazia. Tavnazia was the main stage where the biggest battle of Vana Diels crystal war took place. The battle that changed the entire outcome of the war itself. Maybe we would even get to meet the famous hydra corps who created the great Relic Armor we see in modern day Vana Diel. this expansion might not be so bad after all, right? Sadly...

These things never came. It was just more very shallow, easily thought up cut scenes that lead to a lot of nothing. Square Enix finally came out and told us (the community who they were terrible at communicating with for many years) that these things would not be added. The entire expansion felt like a rip off and even to this day not all of the missions are complete. The expansion did bring one great thing though, Campaign. Something that really allowed people to enjoy the game more on their own time and participate in a large scale event with other players without having to commit to a specific HNM linkshell. It was great fun... "Was" being the keyword. That would eventually change, which I'll explain coming up here in just a bit.

As time went on, people eventually began getting bored of Wings of the Goddess as well. Years had passed and they wanted new expansions, new places to go, things to do, adventures to be had and more. They wanted a TRUE expansion, one like Rise of the Zilart, one like Chains of Promathia, one like Treasures of Aht Urghan, which led us to exciting new areas. We waited patiently and finally we thought the day had come, but they threw us a curve ball.

"Mini Expansions" or "Add on Scenarios". What was this? No one really knew, but eventually we found out. Three "mini" expansions would be released over the course of the next year, although they came with no new areas, and were basically just one long quest. At the end of the quest, was a difficult fight, and for completing it you got a incredible piece of armor. One gave you the head, one gave the legs, one gave the body. They were quite shallow and you could tell not a lot of effort had been put into them, but even so people seemed to enjoy them more than most of Wings of the Goddess content aside from Campaign.

People did them, time went on, people were still bored, more people quite but still from time to time there was new blood joining and many of us remained vigilant. We stayed true to Vana Diel and did all it had to offer, even if they had taken the originality out of some of the greatest zones we had such fond memories in and "reskinned" them.

But as time went on we did continue hoping that one day we would finally feel and experience the adventure once again. That is, until the beginning of the end. This is where the fanboys will rage hard at me. You see, it all came with a announcement... "We are raising the level cap". The level cap had been 75 for seven years... SEVEN YEARS... Square Enix had been asked the question prior and laughed at it more or less. They told us the game had simply been built for a level 75 cap and that adding more levels would throw the entire world out of balance. It just wasn't feasible in Vana Diel. If you mentioned or suggested it on forums you got laughed at, flamed and exiled. But out of no where, this is what they planned to do. The level cap would be raised to level 99 and three more "mini" expansions would be added.

What I and many others didn't know was what was in store for us at this point, so I shall tell you. As soon as the first cap increase hit from level 75>80 many things were added. New weapons were added yet... They were all obtained from the same quest. A moogle who popped out of no where and for no good reason told you he had magic powers to make you a incredible weapon. There was no cut scene or story to go along with it, he just told you to go kill X_amount of X_monster X_many-times. Suddenly weapons we had spent years to obtain, millions upon millions of gil, were now obsolete. This wasn't all though, much of our armor became obsolete as well.

The trophies that so few yet so many of us eventually obtained were suddenly obsolete. Second rate. Gimp. Those expensive weapons were now second rate and almost worthless, as was so much of the armor as well. The things so many of us worked so hard for so many years for had become obsolete. The only way to get new weapons now were these new "moogle weapons" or new notorious monsters within the first add on Scenario.

These three scenarios were called Visions of Abyssea, Scars of Abyssea and Heroes of Abyssea, released in that order. They were, sadly, reskins of even MORE zones. They had no stories whatsoever to them much like the magic moogle weapons and even the new limit break quest was simply a moogle telling you to go fetch some items (no amazing story like the previous maat story and finale before it). In fact, it was almost like a joke. The reskinned zones didn't even have as many alterations as the ones in Wings of the Goddess. They simply had some differently colored monsters, a couple of unique looking monsters and random NPC's that claimed you were in some bizzaro world which was under attack and that you had to help them kill the random weird monsters traveling around it. Ohh yeah, and the sky is red...

Me and many others began to lose our will to play. Suddenly there was so much more yet so LITTLE to actually do. We were no longer on top and the things we had worked years for were obsolete. But it's not just armor and weapons Abyssea killed, nor was it just the victimized reskinned zones with no proper storyline behind them. No, experience points parties themselves were made obsolete. You could get a ton, a TON more experience points off the monsters in Abyssea than you could previously. It took much less skill and teamwork cooperation as well. A lot of people began to get lazy, because instead of cooperating in a 6 person party you now went with a 18 person alliance. There was really no reason to do a experience points party anymore from 75 to 80... Or wait... From 70 to 80... Wait no, even lower? 60 to 80? Sadly you can actually enter at level 30... Although you won't be much use fighting till around 70 but there's a loophole you see...

You can be a "chest" opener. To get increased items, experience points and time limits in Abyssea monsters you are "EXP'ing" off of drop these chests and you have to "unlock them" which consists of taking out some little keys that can be bought or doing a simple guessing game on each one. Basically, all you had to do was stand there and open chests while the rest of the alliance fought away. Normally, it would take people months and months, some times up to a year to get a level 75 job, but now? As fast as experience points came in Abyssea? You could get from 30>80 doing nothing but opening chests, with no armor on, standing there doing a lot of nothing, within about 8 hours.

Finally the next expansion was added, Scars of Abyssea. With this, even more Armor and Weapons from previous days was made obsolete. A new kind of armor dubbed "AF3" or Empyrean Armor was added. This armor made pretty much all the rest obsolete. Not only that, but one piece in particular (the feet) and the seals to upgrade all of them were incredibly frustrating to obtain.

This is the point we are at today. The world of Vana Diel has been reduced to one giant experiment and one terribly lazy effort on Square Enix's part. For years lore was added to Vana Diel, lore behind other lands we were to explore, the far east, the far west, the north, the island of Tshya, and many other areas. There was so much left to do, so many more adventures to be had, Vana Diel was so huge and we had only seen so little of it. But instead, we get our worlds turned upside down, we get our progress we worked hard for made into nothing and more and more people quit by the day. There are forums you can go to that are overflowing with Fanboys. Fanboys are people who will back up Square Enix no matter WHAT they do. Make excuses for them, and deny the reality of the situation and all costs. But reality is what it is and what I've said about what is happened is indeed a fact no matter what outlook you want to take on it.

Some time back Square Enix announced they were developing "Final Fantasy XIV online" and this is when a great many more people quit, to anticipate and wait on the new upcoming title and say goodbye to Vana Diel forever. Most people had already been so frustrated with Vana Diel as it was and as time went on more and more pathetic excuses for content were added by Square Enix.

I miss Vana Diel... I miss it very much. I miss the world I've called home for around seven years now. I miss the adventures, the people and the fun times, and even with all the flaws that could have been corrected I still miss all the great times I had. I hate seeing Square Enix do what they are doing, which is giving up on the world of Vana Diel, adding just enough to attempt to keep the remaining subscribers subscribed. I want so bad to explore more far off lands, I wish so bad that the work I spent years on was for nothing and I wish so bad the amazing, beautiful and complex world of Vana Diel was not going by the way side simply for a new shiny.

People often ask me why I have a negative approach to Square Enix and this is why. After all they put me through, after all I went through to be a loyal subscriber, customer, and adventurer, the world I care so much for is slowly crumbling at my feet and it breaks my heart to see it happen. This is why I have such little faith in them going into FFXIV and why I'm hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

I love Vana Diel. In the past 7 years of my life I've had to travel all over the world and never stay any one place long, but there was one place I always knew I could call home, and that was Vana Diel. A land of great beauty, mystery, adventures and the greatest stories I'll never forget. I know many people will just see this as complaining, I know it may just come off as rambling but I can tell you from the bottom of my heart that I've never experienced anything so amazing, any adventure so wonderful and any story that touched my heart like Final Fantasy XI did. May God have mercy on it's soul.

A Better Beta.

Greetings from Eorzea everyone! A Few days back marked the start of FFXIV Open Beta. With this game a lot of changes, a lot of good changes, fixes and more. However even at this point there is so much left to be desired. So many things still need fixing, from bugs to completely flawed systems. So many things need attention and need fine tuning and so many things show Square Enix's "laziness" so to speak. However, not all is bad don't get me wrong. Much is good and grand and with the beginning of Open Beta Square Enix did prove they can fix things and make them better. Not only that, but this is still just Beta. As much as we all hate hearing that from time to time it is indeed the truth. Let your voices be heard but don't you dare give up hope until we give this game a proper chance. Beta is HERE for the very purpose of fine tuning the game before official launch, so help Square Enix fine tune we shall.

First I'll start with the ugly and save the good things for last as to end on a lighter note.

Laziness -

So far Square Enix is showing their renowned and notorious laziness in many different aspects. A lot of people will be quick to disagree and make excuses for it but for the average person with a neutral opinion or a skeptical opinion it is no doubt things you will notice, you will even notice them if you are completely in love with the game and excuse them as I do, or you might just be completely in-denial. Either way, let's take a look at some of the things I'm talking about, shall we?

First of all, the reuse of monsters. Now some times it's absolutely alright and should be done. For example, Squirrels, Rabbits, some things of that nature. But others simply don't make since. For example, why are Dodo's out in the middle of the desert...? The look and seem more like a island bird, something that should be native to a area like Limsa Lominsa. This doesn't pop up often and I'm glad for that, well so far anyways. All games will have reused, re-skinned monsters, but some times you notice a little rift in time-space and something just doesn't make sense. Square Enix was bad about doing this after the implementation of "Treasures of Aht Urghan" in FFXI, where each time they added monsters after that there were way too many reused models some of which made no sense at all. But, I want to make it clear, so far the only real thing I have a problem with in FFXIV is the Dodo's...

Revolving Landscapes begin to make you feel like you're going through the same exact place over and over and over again. You know that feeling when you get lost in the wild and spend hours trying to find your way back, only to say "Wait a minute, haven't we been by this part before? And before that? And... Several times now?" well, you probably haven't but I think you know what I'm talking about. It's not going against realism or anything and not all areas are like this, but there seems to be a lack of diversity in many areas of the game. Instead of wondering what's around the next big bend or a ways ahead it's pretty much just the same thing over and over, usually, however this isn't always the case. Again, let's just say there's more of it than needs to be? It's not like you won't see differing areas and unique things depending on where you go, just not enough of it and you'll be feeling deja vu more often than you probably should.

The music. It's absolutely great honestly, I like it and you most likely will to, but some of it seems a little bit rushed. In FFXI you get use to the zone theme's being more of "songs" that are on replay. In FFXI, it feels more like they are just simple little tunes that aren't long enough. I have to say though, this isn't really the case in Limsa Lominsa. The theme there I think is honestly so good it should have been saved for Ishgard or some such and Limsa Lominsa should have been more on par with the other cities, if they were going to use more "loopy" style themes. The music is good, just a bit rushed feeling. Again, this is just me being a critic.

Also the Guildleve System. Square Enix likes to act as though it's some new, amazing revolution in video game design. It's not, in fact, it's a step back from what FFXI had. Instead of going on a quest and getting a reward for it, you go to a counter, get a little card, the card has flavor text on it, tells you to go kill a certain amount of X monster, you finish, click a crystal and get a reward. Honestly, it would be so much fun of these things were actual QUESTS with little story lines tied to them. Think it's impossible? Go play FFXI. You don't get EXP from them there, but you do get rewards and it is more or less the same thing. This is simple laziness on Square Enix's part marketing it off to be some amazing new system. It's not, it really isn't and it feels cheap.

Attitude. Once again, their attitude. You hear things from them like "This is a feature we really want the players to enjoy" after they admit to knowing the enormous amount of upset behind their not being a auction house and why. They say things like "This goes against our vision" or just the good old fashion "We have no plans to change ______ at this time". This is all on top of Tanaka's Tweets, miss information and bad communication. For a company saying they really want to reach out to the community this time around, they sure are doing a lousy job of it so far.

Bad Design -

There are a lot of bad designs in the game and honestly even being in open beta some of these should have been fixed by now. Let's take a look at what those are, shall we?

First of all, no Auction House. People have no idea how bad this is, well actually they do. The small minority (and I do mean quite small) defending Square Enix's decision in this couldn't be more delusional. Square Enix say's there doing it to allow our market to "stabilize" and to reduce inflation. Poppycock I say! Honestly though, it's not going to help. It doesn't matter what means to a end some one has to sell things. When people sell things they sell them and there are prices that become fixated on those things as well. People can undercut and overcut on a auction house just as easily as they can in a bazaar. There are plenty of good counter measures you can put into place to avoid price manipulation on a auction house. The main one is listing how much people have things up for auction for and for how much. If you don't want to do this, list the previous sales history as they did in FFXI. If one person makes too many sales of something then simply let it notify a GM. These are just some simple things I'm thinking up off the top of my head. There's plenty of ways to make a auction house work just fine to avoid scammers, gil sellers, and generally naughty people. People act as though bazaar's are flawless, well think again, let's take a look at their flaws shall we?

Want a piece of armor? A new headband, a new jacket, some new boots? I bet you do, we all do. Guess what? You're going to have to go to a in game flea market, target, go through several (laggy) menu's, look into some one's bazaar, browse their goods and hope you're finding what you're looking for. The best thing is, 99% of the bazaar's are simply crafting materials. Not only this, but there are about 6 of these little flea markets ("market wards") in EACH city. Not only this but there are a LOT of bazaar's in each one. It took me half a hour the other day simply to get through all the bazaar's in ONE market ward in ONE city. You better get good at memorizing them to so you know which ones are still selling junk you don't want, or maybe they aren't...? Maybe you're a crafter and you aren't looking for a piece of armor but rather crafting materials, and crystals. Ohh boy, this is why I'm not leveling crafting classes right now nor will I unless this ever gets fixed.

Not only that, but say goodbye to the days of browsing gear, comparing it, seeing who has what up for sale and just a all around better economic structure.

Finally, the price of additional characters and retainers. Basically, you have to pay a extra dollar/pound/euro/etc each time you want a little extra storage space. This isn't for a character you can actually play, but simply for more storage space. Remember how in FFXI you could get 80 inventory, 80 mog locker, 80 mog safe, 80 this and 80 that? Well in FFXIV each one of those "80's" is going to cost you real life money. If that's not terrible enough, maybe you like playing more than one character? I know I was looking forward to that, especially in a more casual MMORPG. Well that would be lovely, if they didn't cost an extra THREE dollars/pounds/euros... Yep, 3... So you start off with the base fee of 12.99 a month, but decide to add 2 additional characters? Suddenly it's 20 a month. This is quite disappointing. Charging people 3 hard earned currencies just for a extra character to play is complete madness.

But before we conclude let's take a look at some of the fundamental things that absolutely need changing. They will most likely be changed by the end of Beta but if they are not, well... Gods Forfend...

Guildleves. If you disconnect (which happens ALL the damn time so far) you fail it. Remember that part about them being on a 48 hour cooldown and only getting 8 per 48 hours? Remember how they're the main source of leveling? So should you happen to log, or should the servers/your internet/etc decide they hate you for the day well, you pay for it and you're up a creek without a paddle. Supposedly they are going to make this to where you can re-start if this type of thing happens, we'll see. I sure hope so.

Delivery Box System... There's none currently... Surely Square Enix isn't this stupid? Well, actually... Ohh damn! Anyhow, I imagine this will be implemented by retail launch but if it's not, this will be quite crappy indeed.

NPC Dialogue. Misspellings, misspellings everywhere. Not only that, but a lot of things are not even translated and show up as Moon Runes. Not only that, but this is on top of the fact that some of the NPC's are so... So... So... "Down to earth" that it can be hard to understand them at times or you just want to plum' out n' deadgum slap'um upside da' head goshdrnit!

Alright, so enough about the Bad and the Ugly, why WOULD you want to play this game?

It's absolutely beautiful. Anyone who says otherwise has a broken or low end PC. This game is the Crysis of MMORPG's. You've never seen graphics so stunning in your life.

Cut scenes, so far are absolutely amazing. They are better than good. The facial expressions on the NPC's and even your character are so amazing you'll soon feel like you're watching a cross between a Micheal Bay movie and William Shakespeare. Like FFXI, the game is worth it's weight in gold for the story alone and the cut scenes are phenomenal.

The story. It's only open beta, and already the three nation's story lines are amazingly interesting and fun.

Playability. This game is just simply fun to play. It's fun to do things, it's fun to kill things, it's fun to gather and it would be fun to craft if they would just ADD A DAMN AUCTION HOUSE... Ahem, where were we?

The armor. We're still in Beta and we are still only in the newbie levels/areas and what not and already the armor is super diverse and absolutely amazing looking. I think the armor higher up will be so amazing when it finally comes to fruit that it will blow your mind strait out of your head. So far my favorite hobby in game is collecting as many fashionable sets of armor as I can... Weird? Well maybe just a bit...

Amazingly designed cities and areas. While repetitive some times, for the most part the open areas are absolutely stunning. The cities are designed creatively and amazingly. Hopefully they expand on them and add more shops/npc's/variables, there is indeed plenty of room in them for expansion and I can't wait for that.

So there you have it ladies and gentlemen. The good, the bad and the ugly. Just remember I am a critic and a long time FFXI player. I expect Square Enix to do their best and address things that need addressing, you should to, but by all means do not give up hope till it is far past the proper time which currently, is no where near. I hope to see you all in Eorzea, I'm sure at the very least even through some frustrations at worst case, you'll have a blast here.

Dismay from the Developers.

It's no news that for many many years Square Enix has been terrible with community relations. If you played FFXI more than a year and don't have the wool pulled over your eyes completely you will know this. It has been accepted among the masses and communities of FFXI for a long time and people simply got use to it, however in recent years Square Enix "did" seem to get better and better about community relations, addressing issues and giving players what they want, however even in these days and times they some times tend to fall short. Even so, they've made a lot of progress and over the years regained a lot of trust from the player base of FFXI and MMORPG's in general. Furthermore, through the development up to BETA for FFXIV they've been quite good with telling people what they want to hear and making promises left and right, but are those promises lies and are their words daft? Has the trust Square Enix has spent the last few years regaining being thrown all away? As of lately you would think so, below I will explain why.

It's no news that Square Enix as of late has been reverting to their old ways. Having bad community relations, receiving bad media, responding poorly to questions, addressing foreign media inadequately and even insulting it as such for their very own mistakes. This is definitely dire mistakes you cannot afford to make as a Game Developer who is already quite controversial and under a lot of critique for your decisions. It's not secret either. Even Thayos and Elmer over at Zam have written up their own articles about these issues, you can find them here, here, and here.

It worries me, because this is originally what held FFXI back from being what World of Warcraft is today. To be quite frank, although I've got nothing against WoW or Blizzard (I actually respect them) the Final Fantasy franchise was older, more well known and had a bigger more hardcore following than Blizzard did at the time of FFXI's release. Not only that but FFXI was released a good 6months~1year before World of Warcraft. It had all the potential. Beautiful Graphics, amazing stories, incredible playability, however there were many systems, many issues, many small things that held the game back. FFXI did have a prime but even in it's prime days it was incredibly flawed in many ways. Once people started learning just how critical these flaws were to their gaming experience they began to quit and FFXI began it's decline, a decline it honestly never deserved.

The things holding it back were key issues, systems in the game that needed changing. Players cried out for them for years to no avail. Square Enix would never even answer why or address these issues. The most we ever got was once a year at a fan festival, a short Question & Answer session that ultimately lead to a lot of very point blank "We have no plans to change this right now" answers without explanation. It's as if Square Enix didn't realize how important this was and how important coming down off your high horse and speaking with the community was. Years later though, they began seeing these issues, apologizing for them, making amends and promising for a better tomorrow, they even began giving us reasons to believe this. But lately, it's as if they're reverting to their old ways, their old mistakes, habits and sins. I do not want to see this happen and I do not want to see a game with such potential, such amazing development from the actual developers (the artists, the writers, the CG designers, the developers of the actual game) go to waste because of a few bad producers and directors.

This all began lately with the interview here that shows Square Enix addressing some of the very highly concerned issues from the player base after not responding to them -in a BETA test no less- for a very long time. They basically tell the players everything they don't want to hear and go on to speak about how it's all part of their "vision". If only they knew what this did to the morality of potential subscribers as well as the generated media around it.

Later came discovery of the fatigue system without any proper explanation from the developers. This came at a time where people were already very dissatisfied with the quality of the beta test, lack of responses from the developers, and their response concerning large issues that the majority of the player base were agreeing on. People began wondering how this fatigue system worked or if it was a glitch, so of course people began speculating. Weeks later after much speculation and many upset people we finally hear a response from Square Enix confirming that it is indeed a fatigue system and how it works. This is something people did not want to hear at all. Their response regarding the reason behind it is a complete falsely to anyone who knows the mechanics of MMORPG's and can understand that they are doing it simply to delay people from reaching the level cap too quickly before proper end game is implemented. Yes, in short, they limit how much Experience Points you can get before you stop getting it. Sadly it's limited to a mere one hour a day at that, something that will drive away even some of the most casual people around.

After this upsetting explanation, which at least calmed people a bit by letting them know what was up and how so, we see a tweet from Hiromichi Tanaka, the head honcho behind FFXIV's development bashing the foreign media and websites for their dismay, speculation and confusion regarding the fatigue system, even when they had nothing to tell them otherwise. This obvious bias is not something I want to see at all and is definitely a critical blow to them when they try to convey the message that their "foreign" customers actually mean as much to them as their local ones.

All in All Square Enix and the development crew behind FFXIV better get their act together and quickly, and learn just how important the community is, both local and over seas.

Meanwhile, in BETA.

Greetings & Salutations everyone, from FFXIV BETA. This will be my first post since the lift of the non-disclosure-agreement so I plan to fill everyone in on what's going on in ffxiv beta right now and what you should know and might can expect. This is going to be a long drawn out post so I hope you're ready for it.

As you may know, the FFXIV ALPHA tests began many many months ago, I'm not for certain but I believe it was about 6 months ago now. However, about a month and a half back began the actual beta testing. However, it's not been the yellow brick road everyone was expecting so far. It's true that in all beta tests there will be problems, people fully expect them, even though the general consensus right now is that this beta has been the most bugged and flawed beta that pretty much anyone has played. However, this is not the main concern, not by a long shot. The main concern right now? That would be Square Enix's attitude, and most importantly, their "vision".

Square Enix has added a lot of unusual systems, controls and things of much frustration and agony so far. Most people were hopeful that these things would change come official release, that was, until not long ago when some new interviews started surfacing with the FFXIV development team. And let me tell you, they're nothing short of downright frightening. But before we get into that, I would like to go over a little history with you back in the world of Vana Diel, back when it all began over 8 years ago.

About 8 years ago, Square Enix came out with the MMORPG "Final Fantasy XI online". When this game was released there were not many MMORPG's on the market. The only ones out were things like Everquest, Ultima Online and I believe Ragnarok Online. Point being, there weren't many at all and even those were a newer breed of video game that had just surfaced. No one really knew what a MMORPG was, how it was suppose to work or just what it entailed. Developer and Consumer included. When FFXI was built they followed a lot of the same guidelines used in Everquest, which is generally thought of now days as the most "hardcore" and time consuming MMORPG to ever exist.

Because of this, it was no surprise that FFXI was very hardcore itself for many years to come. Back then people did not know what to think, what to expect or fully how to react to situations. They just played. They felt, and they were told if something was wrong that it was their fault for not being a better player. However, years and years of this "hardcore" play style went on before people started quitting in the masses. They were tired of being excluded out of content because they didn't have 5+ hours a day to devote to a game. They were tired of not getting anything accomplished because they didn't have 5+ hours a day to devote to a game. They were tired of being "gimp" because they didn't have 5+ hours a day to devote to a game. And the ones who did have and did devote (myself included) 5+ hours to the game for a very long time began seeing how it was effecting their real lives. They began to wonder why a game should take so much time out of your day just to be able to enjoy the systems within it.

And with this my friends, the "casual" mentality was born. People did not want to devote 5+ hours, 10+ hours a day to a video game anymore. It was no longer "cool" or "hardcore" but instead the masses began making fun of it, frowning upon it, and it became a taboo thing reserved for the mentally deprived. People had asked Square Enix for a good long time by then to change many things within FFXI, to change how these systems worked and to give them a better chance at enjoying the game while still maintaining their real lives. But with each new interview Square Enix simply ignored these pleas, these cry outs, their very consumers, and stated things were worked as intended. The "hardcore" crowd only made fun of them, telling them not to play if they didn't like it. Well, that's exactly what happened eventually, people stopped playing and because of this many MMORPG's (not only FFXI) began to lose many of their subscribers. And what does this mean for the developers? A loss of revenue.

Square Enix addressed this by slowly implementing new systems to allow better play for people who could not or did not want to play a game for 5+, 10+ hours a day. However, with the new systems being added many more, many of the same systems already in existence still remained. I guess you could say it was too little too late. But as time went on, more and more of these "casual friendly" systems were added and helped to retain the remaining subscribers of FFXI, although every now and again Square Enix would add another "Hardcore Friendly" system and simply shoot themselves in the foot. As years went on, people began to regain a small amount of trust in the company who never listened to them, their pleas, or their cry outs. The developers began communicating with the community just a bit more and things started looking a bit brighter. But again, it was simply too little too late. FFXI was passed it's prime and began it's slow and gradual decline.

Meanwhile, games like World of Warcraft were flourishing. They appealed more to the casual community, even though they were often abused by the hardcore. Because of this, it and games like it only grew in popularity while games like FFXI, with it's amazing story, amazing graphics and beautiful world simply fell by the wayside. It was a sad thing to see for me, because I always loved and have loved FFXI so very much, through thick and thin. It really truly is a amazing game with the most captivating story I've ever experienced in my entire life.

Life went on, time went by and the sun continued to rise and set. The remaining FFXI population began to regain more trust and a better outlook in FFXI and to the developers themselves. But then it came, the one day that would change it all. People had known for awhile, well they had "speculated" that Square Enix was developing a new MMORPG, a "next gen" MMORPG. We speculated for a couple of years before it was ever officially announced and took most (but not some of us) by surprise. "Final Fantasy XIV online", it was announced at the E3 convention in 2009. Many of us in the "underground" were already expecting this, it is in fact when I started this very blog.

As time went on new information surfaced here and there and Square Enix began discussing and advertising their new up-and-coming MMORPG within the gaming community. We soon found out that Square Enix was planning on doing everything right from the start. They said their "vision" was to make FFXIV a casual friendly game, one that could be played and enjoyed for just a hour of commitment every day. They spoke of the new "guildleve" system, they spoke of all kinds of different designs to allow people to have fun and enjoyment while still retaining their real lives. They also stated that this time around they really wanted to listen to the community, what the community had to say and really give them what they wanted. But this would all change sadly...

Fast forward back to now. Saturday, August 21st 2010. We are currently in the 3rd phase of beta testing for FFXIV and already things are looking quite bleak. The entire FFXIV beta community is in a uproar and many have already quit in mass exodus, and the game isn't even out yet! But why you ask? Sadly, because Square Enix has reverted back to their old selves in many ways and they have also lied to the community. But how you may ask? Allow me to elaborate.

As I explained and as you more than likely know by now if you've been following the development of FFXIV, Square Enix has sworn time and time again several major points about FFXIV and the testing of such to make it a better game overall:

They would listen to the community and adhere to their desires.

They would communicate with the community.

They would make FFXIV a casual friendly game while still appealing to the more "hardcore" community as well. They said FFXIV would be a game that could be enjoyed thoroughly by anyone, no matter their play time.

They wanted to think of the FFXI community first and foremost and make FFXIV appealing to them before any other demographic.

However, these points became moot and untrue as time went on. The FFXIV forums were always a place where if you said anything bad about FFXIV you got flamed and chased away quickly, one of the most used arguments in doing so was "It's just beta". But things continued to go downhill and slowly the masses began to speak out. The "diehards" and "fanboys" were quickly silenced and drown out by the cries of the masses once again, and this time their cries were louder than ever.

You see, as of now Square Enix is not only going back on their word about many things, they are not staying true to it. Below I will describe the major issues which are plaguing FFXIV right now.

They have spoken with the community very very little thus far and only recently have given a few new interviews. This is one thing everyone hated for the longest time in FFXI that eventually changed down the road, but has changed and reverted back as of late with FFXIV and the development within.

They are not taking suggestions from the community. Now, before you roll your eyes I'm not talking about "PLEASE ADD FLYING CHOCOBOS!" or every little suggestion posted. I'm talking about MAJOR issues that the entire community bands together on and agrees with fully to the point that absolutely no one is against it. And with that, below, I will address some of these issues at hand.

The Guildleve system. It is part of Square Enix's "vision" to have Guildleve on a 48 hour cooldown, and the bad thing is that you can only accept a maximum of 8 guildleves for this 48 hour time period. This is very limiting to the player, however at first it wasn't such a big deal because guildleves were very worthwhile and gave very good experience points and rewards for doing them. However, this was nerfed and now at this point the guildleves give hardly anymore experience points than simple monster grinding. They took out the biggest incentives to participate within them. They then explained this was part of their "vision" and wanted this to encourage players to group up and share their guildleves. The thing is, when you do this you suffer a loss of experience points gained. More or less, it's more efficient to do a solo guildleve and then go about your business or go back to solo grinding than it is to group up with 2 or more players. At this though, the biggest complaint in the community regarding guildleve right now is the 48 hour cooldown. Square Enix simply responded in a interview with "This is our vision on how it will work, and while the community is asking for the cooldown to be lowered we have no plans to do so".

Then there was crafting. A Profession Square Enix swore the players could take up and enjoy within itself without having to depend on a melee/magic/front lines class to enjoy. That if some one simply wanted to craft, then craft they shall. However this was far from the truth. The skill ups even at the low levels were even much slower than that in FFXI and that being at higher levels. The materials needed to make simple crafts to level up your crafting profession were expensive and hard to come by, and lastly there were the crystals. Say goodbye to simply needing one crystal, because now even for the most simply low level synthesis you could need anywhere from 2 of one kind, 3 of another kind and 4 of a final kind to 9 of each kind of crystal, for a single synthesis. One which had about a 20% chance of giving you skill up points, a small amount at that. The crafting "guildleves" gave you free ingredients to craft with but only a few and after about a hour or so you ran out of them and then came to lovely 48 cooldown to obtain more. Things truly were looking bleak for crafters and those wishing to take up the profession.

The next thing the community absolutely hates is the controls. WASD for movement and IJKL for camera control? Square Enix said time and time again they wanted to make the FFXI community feel comfortable playing their game (FFXI primary controls were the num-pad for movement and arrow keys for camera control. It worked surprisingly well). But not only are they failing to do so, they are also alienating the WoW crowd and many other MMORPG players. I will admit using the mouse to control camera can be nice and I don't mind it a bit. Sadly, the mouse control system for FFXIV is done using what's called the "software mouse" system as opposed to the "hardware mouse" system. This means basically that it lags and there will always be a tiny amount of lag in it even if polished which right now, it is far from. The community was quite upset about this and was begging Square Enix to use the "hardware mouse" which is just as easy to be implemented into the system and design as it's inferior software counterpart. But for some reason Square Enix responded with "We currently have no plans to change the software mouse to a hardware mouse, the software mouse will receive some revisions and be kept".

The next big, major issue is the fact that there is no Auction House on FFXIV. There is what's called the "Market Wards". You "hire" a retainer, meaning you get your own NPC to stand in this large market area with a "bazaar" of your goods for sale within them. The bad thing is that there's no way of knowing who has what and there are honestly hundreds if not thousands of these NPC's and this is just in the BETA. This means trying to find some simple ingredients or a piece of armor can honestly take hours of searching. People begged Square Enix in the masses to please introduce a Auction House. If Square Enix was trying to prevent abuse of a Auction House all they had to do is revise the "price history" system there within to show if anyone was trying to abuse it, alter price history or under sale. Simply put, let people see who's selling what for how much and how often. But still, do this within a actual auction house system. This is what the player base has BEGGED for probably more than anything else. It's much more convenient to walk up to a Auction House and spend 5-10 minutes getting the things you need and browsing the wares within than spending upwards of an hour and perhaps not even finding what you were looking for. Square Enix simply responded with "The market wards are a unique and innovative system that we want to keep".

These comments were all found out in a interview that surfaced. One that should have boosted the morale of the current beta player base and given Square Enix better publicity. This interview surfaced in a time where the entire game was filled full of bugs, full of insanely high lag, issues that could be easily addressed that were simply ignored, even for beta. This interview came in a time where people were beginning to get very frustrated and put out with a game so unpolished that most said it was not even worthy of being called a "Alpha Build" due to the immense bug and hugely grotesque lack of content. This made the community begin turning against itself, people quitting left and right, disgruntled players everywhere and the few people defending Square Enix burned at the stakes. This was all within the OFFICIAL BETA FORUMS non the less...

But then came the final nail in the coffin for many. People thought it was some kind of glitch or some kind of odd system they didn't quite understand. After gaining experience points for awhile your rate of experience points began dropping and you began getting "surplus" experience points. Where did these surplus experience points go to and what were they used for? Sadly we found out. Absolutely nothing! That's right, it is a built in "fatigue" system that all classes share, from crafting, to gathering, to melee and magic. The bad thing is, you start experiencing this fatigue after a mere hour or two of leveling up. So Square Enix responded with this... "We do not want those who have more time to gain an advantage of the player base so we have added in this fatigue system. We recommend that if you want to play more past it you should switch classes". Wow, really? Truly? Before people were just upset about being excluded from end game events in FFXI due to the lack of 5+ hours of play time per day. But now, if you want to simply get experience points, on your own, giving you no real advantage other than quick leveling you get punished for it? I'm casual myself now but some times I will have 2-3, 3-4 hours a day to play and I want to enjoy it. Why would I care if some one else levels up slightly quicker than me? And why should they or I have to change classes and not enjoy the one we are trying to focus on if we want to enjoy the game more than a hour a day?

As of now the entire FFXIV beta community is in a uproar. It's like a FF-Apocalypse before the game has even been released. I've never seen a community in my life as disgruntled and surprisingly in complete agreement with each other. the FFXIV official beta forums are pretty much just a Square Enix bashing wonderland at the moment and the feedback forums and filled with nothing but anger and resentment for Square Enix and their attitude. You hear these "upbeat" and lighthearted interviews with the developers when they laugh, giggle, and say things like "We hope you enjoy your experience in Eorzea!" Are they clueless? Are they that fucking stupid? No, no one is nor can be. They are simply going off of their "vision" and what they feel is best, reverting to their old ways and going back on so many promises it's not even funny.

Things are looking bleak at the moment and threads like "I want to believe" "I want to enjoy the game" "Is there any hope" plague the FFXIV general discussion forums with nothing but negativity towards the developers who seem to not realize their player base is more important than their "vision". They don't seem to realize that if they release something that is nothing short of a joke and get a metric ton of bad media all because of a few visions they have and a largely ignored community their game will go absolutely no where very quickly, this includes in Japan to because the Japanese player base is sharing pretty much the exact attitude as the rest of the world towards this at the moment. Some one needs to tell Square Enix that their "vision" isn't going to mean jack if they have no subscribers to partake in it and make the company a profit.

Still I hold out hope, that maybe Square Enix will change their minds, maybe they will see how much of a uproar this is causing and change some things, because if they don't there won't be much hope for such an amazing and beautiful game with so much potential. Let's hope for the best everyone and pray that Square Enix does what's right and not what THEY think is "right" according to their "vision".

Is FFXIV "too original"... Or not original at all?

We've been hearing Square Enix brag about it left and right, up and down, from all corners of the globe.

"FFXIV is Original"

"FFXIV has new unique system"

"FFXIV never before this"

"FFXIV never before that"

"FFXIV this and that like no one else".

Well, from what we know and are learning so far things might not be as unique as they are cracked up to be. But that might just be what we need. Wait, what? Let me explain...

First of all, Square Enix kept bragging about their "Guild Leve" system. Guild leve this, Guild Leve that. About how innovative it is in the world of MMORPG's. Sadly, that's not the case. Guild Leve is more or less simple questing as most people know it in most MMORPGs. Sure, you can disguise it by letting a "special NPC" hand out the "guild leves" but all they really are is quests, at least so far. But from the way they are looking and the way we can see them progressing it's nothing other MMORPG's have not done before. It's a bit of text and fluff, telling you what to go do, why you're doing it and you receive a reward at the end for your hard work. Some time's it's EXP, some times Armor and Weapons, some times it's strait up currency. But this is nothing new to the spectrum of MMORPGs or even FFXI for that matter.

Now, is that bad? Not necessarily. In fact, if they make it good it might work out quite well. A big gripe in FFXI was that there was not enough of these sort of things. It's a system that works well and for good reason. They come in all shapes, sizes and rewards. My only complaint is that I don't see why they couldn't be added as simple quests with cut scenes (ohh how I love my cut scenes). But maybe I'm just spoiled from FFXI, where every damn thing has a cut scene and a story to it. I don't particularly enjoy simply reading a piece of paper explaining why I'm killing something and for who, I like to go deeper into it to make it more interesting. Could this be Square Enix's laziness once again? There's no doubt you know of their knack at being so if you've played FFXI for any considerable amount of time (the most recent expansions are good examples). However, only time will tell how good or bad this system is and how it works and how the player base likes it.

But that's not all folks!

There's more to discuss that is original indeed! However...



Sadly it's true and with some aspects it seems Square Enix is trying to be a little bit too unique. For example, the Camera and Movement controls. As of right now, no one likes them. WoW players, FFXI players, other MMORPG players, no one, everyone pretty much despises them and for proper reason. The controls not only do not allow you to make good use out of the keyboard, but also the mouse. They pretty much force you into using a game pad and even then it's clunky. Not only that, but the combat and targeting system is just god awful, it really is, and this is coming from a enormous fanboy who really wants this game to turn out great. Some things simply take the playability down and ruin the fun you could be having. Some times, it's best to just stick with some things if they work... Jeez, I wonder if that's why they stuck with the same races..? Or could it be... Anyways... From what we have heard, Square Enix is going to be making some adjustments to this. Let's just hope they are worthwhile and fix the monstrosity which is the control, combat, and camera system.

I have much hope and faith in Square Enix. Nothing is final until the game actually comes out and even then it will take time to work out all the kinks. Let your opinion and voice be heard so Square Enix can give us what we want and how we want it.

To Zone or Not To Zone.

Often times I find people talking about the "seamless world", one which zoning does not exist. Of course, this became something people often fantasized about over the years of FFXI where zoning was very prevalent. It's also something that other MMORPG players experience, while maybe not quite as often. But it seems people are always wanting a more seamless world with less zoning. Well, I'm going to say something that might sound completely crazy but... Zoning might actually be good! That's right, zoning might actually be a good idea, and here's why.

People have really underestimated the importance of zoning. To Square Enix, it was just a way to build the game easier, to us, it has just been a frustration, but quite honestly it's one of the best game designs I've ever seen. Why is that? Because when you zone you go from one area to another. You "traverse" across the lands. Think of it as a time skip. Imagine if while watching a movie, instead of there being parts of the movie where it skips from one scene in one place to another scene in another place, everything took place in one area and the camera never left one scene. Well, this is a bit extreme and exaggerated on my part, I know I know, but it's the same principle when all is said and done honestly.

Zoning actually helps "immerse" us in our online Journey. There are some MMORPG's of which I've played that didn't have zoning, one notable one being Aion. I'm not here to bash Aion today (as much as I would like to) but one of the biggest flaws is that you could pretty much go from a scorching hot barren desert, to a swampland, to a jungle, to a forest, to a mountain range, all in just jogging for about 20 minutes at a moderate pace. It felt extremely unrealistic and made you feel like you were in some kind of gigantic play box or fake world.

This is not the kind of feeling that gives you that "enormous" feel some where like Vana Diel does. In Vana Diel, when you go from the mountains to the desert, you happen upon what looks to be a mountain pass, you zone into it and the screen goes black, moments later you appear on the other end in the desert. Some times you can see far off details at the other end that look like they are a natural part of the environment. It really gives the game a feeling and a sense of immersion that when you go from one area to another you're actually traversing across a large area to get there and makes the world feel much bigger than it actually is as well. And you know us MMORPG gamers, we can never have a big enough world! (Just not enough transportation and quick enough)

So in closing, I hope while Square Enix keeps talking about a "seamless world" for once, in the millions of times they've inconvenienced players to retain the "feel" of something they do it in the right area (no pun intended) and give us at least some zoning to make the world feel vast, expansive, and realistic so we can truly be immersed in Eorzea!

Transcendence.

Well the time has finally come, it's getting quite close to the official release date and I figure now is the perfect time to do what I have been planning to do all along. That's right, I'm going to start my own FFXIV community. One which is much different than the others, or at least the others I've seen trying to recruit thus far. I'm sure I won't be the first nor the last with the ideas and mindset I currently have.

Transcendence is going to be a community of a very different caliber. You see, I'm not making this community to force a bunch of rules onto you, I'm not making it to make you jump through hoops just to join, I'm not making it over complicated, and most importantly I'm not going to try to make it some place where we all try to rush through the game as fast as possible, racing to the end to see who can get what end game armor the quickest and who can defeat which boss first.

I'm making a community for the rest of us. A community where you can have fun and adventure. One where you can build and develop friendships, one where you can find out new information, strategies, tips and so forth to become more proficient at your own pace. Some where that you can get help for the most menial tasks and your level doesn't matter. A place where exploration, adventure and character development will reign supreme.

But most importantly, I want to make a community that will last. It's part of why I'm calling it "Transcendence". I want a community full of mature and like minded individuals. One that escapes needless drama, pointless arguments and immature activity of any sort. I myself have been playing MMORPG's for many many years and I am indeed getting older now. I'm not one who will discriminate some one based on their age, but I really have gotten sick of the "high school drama" feeling that most MMORPG's (especially FFXI) force upon people.

I want a community where we can act like adults, and have fun together as adults. Where we can enjoy a amazing adventure together, grow together, build friendships together and surpass the immaturity, stupidity and drama that a lot of communities face. I read all these different communities trying to recruit early for FFXIV and they make me laugh. All these complicated rule systems when we don't even fully know how the game or it's systems will work, all these long applications, all these confusing websites, it makes me sick.

Then lately I see these new RP guilds popping up. I've never been against RP but in my opinion they just take it too far. They try to become their own little act within the game and they are already creating back stories to stories that have yet to even be released. Not that I'm against them mind you, usually RPers are quite peaceful people who I've never had a problem with.

But isn't there a community for the rest of us? One where we can join and just enjoy ourselves? One that is more than simply a social community however. We will indeed grow, we will learn new things, and we will strive to be as good as we can be, but all at our own pace and on our own time. There is no "requirements" other than your attitude.

I was originally going to create this community simply for FFXI veterans (and if you are one I urge you to apply!) however, I've learned over the years that personalities aren't limited to a single video game, no matter how much bias I may or may not have. I've found great people from every walk of life, and I would not want to deny them the opportunity to be in a good group of folks who think like they do.

So if you want a community of mature, like minded individuals who aren't going to bullshit around about one thing or another, but just grow together and enjoy the adventure, then please consider giving Transcendence a try. It's most definitely not for everyone and if you're just trying to get as much as you can, as far as you can, as quick as you can we aren't for you. But if you want to truly develop in the best way possible with a solid group of people, then give us a check out.

Transcendence FFXIV, A little community with a lot of common sense.

Be sure and read the "Rules and Guidelines" as well as "What is Transcendence".

If you would like to join the community, fill out the really short and super basic application. There's no need to apply to post on the forums which will follow the same mentality as the community. This is also where, from this point forward, I will post all the new media information, articles, and findings regarding FFXIV.

It's time to Transcend.

Well as you may have noticed by now, I have not added very much information to my blog lately. However... That doesn't mean I haven't been working hard on FFXIV related projects and information.

Awhile back I began wondering exactly what my blog was for. I've been very in tune to the development of FFXIV since before it was even officially announced. My love of FFXI drove this and my desire and passion for new adventure fueled it. I wanted to make sure I made a difference in the FFXIV community in whichever way I possibly could, so I decided to start my blog.

It was originally going to be articles and information however, I miss calculated just how much information there was out there. It became quite a good site for a compilation of FFXIV information from all around the internet, so people knew they weren't missing one bit from any site. However as the development kept going forward further and further it became harder and harder to add all of this information from every corner of the internet.

But the craziest thing? I still plan to do this. Just in a slightly different way. I want my blog to become what a blog truly is made for, personal opinions and articles by the author. However, I am not going to stop giving people all the latest information... In fact, I'm going to make it even better. How so you ask? With Transcendence.

The Active Time Battle System.

As of now, we know so much yet so little about the dynamics and gameplay of FFXIV. From the get go the developers have explained that they wanted a more active and user initiated battle system where the players become more involved in each individual action they preform instead of just engaging and auto-attacking. However, not everyone seems to be liking this system and there seems to be a bit of discontent by the alpha testers with it. Square Enix has said in a recent interview that they will be revising and perfecting much of the battle system itself when they transition from Alpha testing to Beta testing. However, one thing is clear, it will be a much more interactive and completely new system than most people are use to with other MMORPG's. Elmer over at Zam wrote up a full article about it so be sure to check it out.

Official FFXIV website updated.

As of may 19th The official FFXIV website has been updated once more with new information! This time we get an official look at the now well known map of Eorzea. We also get a huge load of information all about Limsa Lominsa and the guilds, landmarks, and details about the city itself and more. Luckily enough, we also finally get a bit of information on the other two cities, Ul'Dah and Gridania. So be sure to head strait over to the official FFXIV website to check out all the new information and pictures!

Alpha Vs. Beta (Screen Shots!)

Some new screen shots have come forth showing the DRASTIC difference in the Alpha version of the game and the Beta version. As anyone by now should know the Alpha version is a very basic version that is unpolished in every way from the beta version, which is itself a unpolished version from the final product that will be released and sold. From game mechanics, to latency issues, to glitches and bugs, and most importantly the graphics! Below, I will be posting some screen shots that have been released that show the drastic difference between the graphics in Alpha and Beta alone. It's amazing to think this is just the difference between Alpha and Beta and that the final product will be even slightly more tweaked than Beta!

I hope everyone is as excited as I am for this beautiful world we will soon explore!

Alpha


Beta


Alpha


Beta


More Beta Screenshots!