After finally getting to play this last night, all I have to say is it fucking rocks. Lets just go ahead and get the negatives out of the way first, though;
The not so good
-Server congestion issues. I realize this is to be expected with the release of a new MMO, but only the Japanese peeps and people in the states who bought the collectors edition are playing right now, so on Thursday when the standard edition comes out, there will really be some shit. I am guessing/hoping within a few weeks it will be mostly cleared up, and I never experienced major stability issues with FF XI, so I have faith that will be the case. Part of this is also server lag, which sometimes isn't bad, but some other times is kind of obnoxious, but not enough so far to detract too much from my experience. Being as the bulk of the people playing this will probably be from Japan (and I think that's definitely the case with my server) - I'm guessing about midnight to noon central time will be the busiest hours.
-Required (basically) use of a gamepad. This is not a downside for me, but I guess it probably is for some. I picked up a wireless Xbox controller for my pc, and just sit back on my bed/couch and just have my keyboard sitting by me for the rare times I need it, which is only to chat. On the Xbox controller I have the buttons mapped out the way they are shown in the instruction manual and the controls are very intuitive.
-Very little guidance in the beginning of the game. It's hard for me to bitch too much about this, because I always gripe about how WoW holds your hand all the way to level 80, but I've had a tough time piecing together a few things so far. You get a basic starter quest that introduces you to all the tradeskill guilds, although I'm still not really sure how tradeskills work. I also haven't been able to figure out if there are weapon/armor vendors I can get low level upgrades through, or if the bazaar type area or crafting them on my own is my only choice. All that being said, I have only been playing for one night
That's all I can think of off the top of my head for negatives at the time being, so lets move onto the good stuff!
The Good
-The graphics in this game are insane! After I got my new card set up last night and cranked most of the settings to high, it was fucking awesome running around the starter zone and going from a crisp sunny day where I could see for a long distance, to a dust storm blowing in and limiting my visibility (not to mention looking fucking awesome!).
The shadow effects, water, sun reflections off of surfaces, physics of peoples clothing, etc is all the best I've seen in a MMO by a long shot. Part of it is that I've never had a really nice set up for gaming until last night I suppose, but it's just awesome to look out across a big desert plain and see a big looming city in the distance in crisp detail!
While some may not be a fan of the character creation system because it doesn't let you customize everything down to nose hair length, I think it is more than sufficient, and the character models look really good, as do all the mobs I've seen so far. The mobs are particularly cool, they all have their own unique movements/attacks. For example one of the quests I started off with had me kill some moles. When they are getting low on health they burrow under ground, and if you don't move away a little bit they will slam up from underneath you a few seconds later.
-I personally like the interface. It's pretty damn simple for a PC game, but finding whatever you want in the menu is very simple. I also actually like the passive/active system, it helps to prevent you from doing something you didn't mean to, and really doesn't take any longer to switch between than hitting a button for auto attack.
-It might initially look like the classes available are pretty limited and basic, however that isn't the case. You can switch your class at any time by switching weapons. You have a physical level, which is like the traditional level from other MMO's, and you have your level for each class you've worked on. Once you have leveled multiple combat classes, you can start to mix and match their abilities to customize your class to be what you want. This is pretty cool for a few reasons; for one you will see more of a variety, particularly once people get out of the initial low levels. But I think more importantly is the flexibility you'll have once you start grouping. There will be a lot less issues with not being able to find a healer/tank/whatever considering someone else just has to switch their weapon (and maybe armor) and can play a completely different role.
-Cut scenes. They are what Final Fantasy is all about, and there have been plenty of them so far in this game. These are really impressive visually, and I feel like they all add to the experience in their own way.
-Semi-instances quests. This is particularly key right now, when everyone playing the game is in the same couple of areas. When you start a guildleve (quest), whatever mobs you have to kill may be in abundance in a certain area, but there will be some that you see marked with a little note icon above them - these mobs can only be attacked by you. The minimap also makes it really easy to track down whatever you need to kill, without some stupid add on! It will just light up in the direction you need to go, and once you are closing in on the spot, the entire area the mobs can be in is highlighted on the map.
Overall, even though the game is in it's early stages and needs a little work, I'm impressed and I fully expect to spend a good chunk of time on this game for the foreseeable future. If anyone else is playing, I am on the Figaro server. Miir is here too along with a few of his friends. We started in the big desert city (can't remember the name).
My characters names are:
Dandelo Empathica (this will be my main)
Rolande Deschain
Randall Flagg
No, I don't like the Dark Tower at all
Hope to see some more of you guys join in!
