FFXIV Beta (The BEST FFXIV Thread)

masteen · Post by **masteen** » October 15, 2010, 5:24 pm

Dregor Thule wrote:
Funkmasterr wrote:Yeah, but do you really have the time to sift through his lengthy posts to extract these possible gems? I sure don't.
Haha, true. I mean, who comes to a message board to READ? Preposterous.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 15, 2010, 8:26 pm

Smart move. You'd be nuts to own Square Enix stock.

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » October 18, 2010, 10:20 am

SE is extending the free trail for another month for anyone who purchased the game to try and stem the flood of people leaving the game. It's a good tactic IMO, and more MMOs should use it at the start.

miir · Post by **miir** » October 18, 2010, 10:37 am

Fairweather Pure wrote:SE is extending the free trail for another month for anyone who purchased the game to try and stem the flood of people leaving the game. It's a good tactic IMO, and more MMOs should use it at the start.

You're the 5th person that has posted that.

This is the FF troll thread, if you're posting actual info about the game, feel free to post in this thread: http://www.veeshanvault.org/forums/view ... 14&t=25160

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » October 18, 2010, 10:49 am

This news is not good. It gives validity to al the negetive press and opinions the game is earning. I keep them in the thread where people are allowed to say whatever they want about the game so the people in the other FF thread can keep living with their heads in the sand. Besides, when you have 3? threads about the same game, you're going to have repeat information.

miir · Post by **miir** » October 18, 2010, 12:17 pm

This news is not good. It gives validity to al the negetive press and opinions the game is earning.

Well it's good news for people who actually play the game.
Maybe not such good news for FF trolls.
WOW extended free play time when the game was released.. so did Everquest. Those two games turned out fairly well.

I keep them in the thread where people are allowed to say whatever they want about the game

You're allowed to say whatever the fuck you want wherever the fuck you want.
The point of the last thread was made to contain actual information about the game and not be spammed with faggot winnow trolls.

Nobody has once said that the game is perfect or without flaws.
The point has always been that you can't offer valid criticisms of a MMO if your experience is limited to playing it for a few hours.
Some of the reviews I have read have obviously been written by a reviewer who (upon loading the game for the first time and did not find WOW 2.0) only played it few hours to find a handful of things they didn't like.. and then based their entire 'review' on that.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » October 18, 2010, 12:46 pm

miir wrote:
This news is not good. It gives validity to al the negetive press and opinions the game is earning.
Well it's good news for people who actually play the game.
Maybe not such good news for FF trolls.
WOW extended free play time when the game was released.. so did Everquest. Those two games turned out fairly well.

I keep them in the thread where people are allowed to say whatever they want about the game
You're allowed to say whatever the fuck you want wherever the fuck you want.
The point of the last thread was made to contain actual information about the game and not be spammed with faggot winnow trolls.

Nobody has once said that the game is perfect or without flaws.
The point has always been that you can't offer valid criticisms of a MMO if your experience is limited to playing it for a few hours.
Some of the reviews I have read have obviously been written by a reviewer who (upon loading the game for the first time and did not find WOW 2.0) only played it few hours to find a handful of things they didn't like.. and then based their entire 'review' on that.

While I'll agree that a couple hours is not enough to write a detailed review of an MMO, expecting anyone to dump dozens of hours into a game that feels like it's fighting you the whole time is not rational, either. And you don't get to roll out the SQeeboi bullshit mantra "If you don't like it, don't play and shut up" because while I haven't liked anything they've shit out lately, I'm still pretty invested in FF as a franchise.

miir · Post by **miir** » October 18, 2010, 1:04 pm

masteen wrote:While I'll agree that a couple hours is not enough to write a detailed review of an MMO, expecting anyone to dump dozens of hours into a game that feels like it's fighting you the whole time is not rational, either.

When reviewing video games is your fucking job, you are going to get stuck playing a lot of games you won't like.

If a reviewer only plays a MMO for a 3-4 hours, they should preface their review with that pretty important bit of information.
Obviously you can't expect a MMO reviewer to play the game to max level before writing a review but at least put 15-20 hours into it.

I do understand that reviews are based on opinions... but nobody would consider a review valid where the reviewer only watched the first 15 minutes of a movie or read the first 2 chapters or a book.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » October 18, 2010, 1:16 pm

I think writing a formal review of a MMO is pointless, because the reviewer is never going to play long enough to form a solid opinion of the game.

In every MMO I've ever played, the first 20-25 levels are a intro.. The mobs are repetitive, as are the quests, landscape, etc. Everyone's armor looks the same, their classes aren't fleshed out, etc.

I avoid people that try to write actual reviews on MMO's, I just piece together an opinion based off of shit I hear from people that play it. But realistically, I know I'm going to buy a game (MMO or otherwise) long before reviews come out in almost every case.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » October 18, 2010, 2:17 pm

We obviously need a FOURTH FFXIV thread where only happy thoughts about the game are allowed. Which will mean it will contain two posts.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » October 18, 2010, 5:00 pm

Plus it will never be a solid JRPG until they add vending machines where you can buy used panties...just sayin'!

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » October 18, 2010, 5:04 pm

They don't have those anymore

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » October 18, 2010, 5:13 pm

Rats

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » October 18, 2010, 5:21 pm

I had a brief urge to get the game, but then I watched some videos and got bored.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 26, 2010, 3:07 pm

^
|
|
This has been 18 for awhile now. Tough level to get through?

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » October 26, 2010, 3:21 pm

Wheat.. Corn.. Pickaxe.. Is that an RPG game or Farmville?

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » October 26, 2010, 3:22 pm

Winnow wrote:

^
|
|
This has been 18 for awhile now. Tough level to get through?

Nah, I stopped playing when my computer was crashing. I am just logging in every day and a half to do the quests I can do, I have a few friends that will probably start here before too long, so I figure I'll try not to get too far ahead

That and Halo has been consuming my life.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 29, 2010, 6:24 pm

Square Enix’s efforts to rescue its disastrous Final Fantasy XIV launch by extending its free trial to two months also seem to have been less than successful – player populations appear to be declining inexorably and scarcely anyone has a nice thing to say about the game.

That doesn't sound good! I wonder what will happen after free play is over.

Had a high of about 43K players, down to 36K so far.

miir · Post by **miir** » October 29, 2010, 6:40 pm

Winnow wrote:

And that's the 6th time that's been posted.
You running out of material already?

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 29, 2010, 6:54 pm

The free 60 days has been posted but not about it failing. Keep up!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 1, 2010, 11:13 pm

Square Enix’s latest Final Fantasy XIV update is showing the company’s usual forethought and attention to detail – the update adds a public “player history” feature which shows exactly when players were playing and what they were doing, with no option to turn it off.

Whilst on paper an innocuous addition, in practice the update handily exposes MMORPG addicted NEETs and employees sneakily playing on the job in violation of company policy, to say nothing of exposing the fact that most of the game’s “official players” quit weeks ago.

The update:

[Important Update Details]

General
- Implemented a “History” feature which displays a record of any achievements the character has accomplished in FINAL FANTASY XIV.
The page can be accessed by selecting the “History” option located under the “My Site” menu and also within the “Character” section.
Of course, it could be argued that Square Enix is doing employers a favour by allowing them to pinpoint slackers.

It is not however doing itself much of a favour – players exploring the feature quickly rumbled the showcase players who were enthusiastically shilling for the game:

Seiyuu Rina Katou logged in once on the 2nd of October and never again, and after writing about her experiences playing the game with such enthusiasm throughout the rest of the month…

Mangaka Kayoko Saito wrote extensively about the game and drew 5 manga about it, but only played for 10 minutes

She also reported visiting places her play history reports she never got to…

Investigation of the rest of the “official players” assembled reveals most of them gave up playing weeks ago, perhaps their only honest act whilst endorsing the game.

Too funny.

Leonaerd · Post by **Leonaerd** » November 1, 2010, 11:52 pm

what the hell is wrong with that company

miir · Post by **miir** » November 2, 2010, 10:13 am

So basically the the obsessive FFXIV stalkers are stalking the writers fake characters...

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » November 2, 2010, 11:08 am

Yep. That's pretty much it. Basically.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 3, 2010, 3:39 am

Square Enix’s latest update may have been a success after all – at least one of its “official players” was apparently so embarrassed at being exposed as having spent a month writing manga about her travels in the game, despite only having played a total of 10 minutes shortly after the game was released, that she suddenly launched into a 6 hour marathon session.

Mangaka Kayoko Saito drew 5 manga about the game and reported extensive travels (none of which, strangely, showed up in her play history), but her play history logged only 2 achievements over (at least) 4 minutes of playtime.

After the introduction of the history feature and the subsequent reduction of the “official players” to laughing stocks she suddenly took a renewed interest in the game, logging 14 achievements over a 6 hour play session – her first since the game launched over a month ago.

A long journey indeed.

The rest of the “official players” seem to have cashed their cheques already – they show no change, with most having given up on the game weeks ago

Thing are picking up for FFXIV!

On the down side:

November 1, 2010

Square Enix Lowers Forecasts

Final Fantasy creator and Eidos owner Square Enix announced it has lowered its earnings forecast for the six month period ending September 30, 2010, reporting "slower sales growth" for new titles among the list of reasons for the revision.

The company lowered its net sales forecast to 68 billion yen ($843.8 million), down from a previous forecast 76 billion yen ($943 million). Both of which were below the company's results from this time last year, when it recorded 90.5 billion yen ($1.12 billion) in net sales.

The forecast for profit fell to 1.7 billion yen ($21.1 million) from 2.4 billion yen ($29.8 million), both of which were below the company's recorded net income of 2.68 billion yen ($33.3 million) last year

Kwonryu DragonFist · Post by **Kwonryu DragonFist** » November 4, 2010, 9:02 pm

Well, they did make a lot of monies last year

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 6, 2010, 8:18 pm

Square Enix’s CEO has admitted Final Fantasy XIV is “unsatisfactory” and stresses that the company is “trying as hard as it can to regain lost trust.”

Quoth CEO Yoichi Wada addressing investors:

“The FF14 service is currently unsatisfactory, we’re trying to improve it as rapidly as possible. We’re trying as hard as we can to regain lost trust.”

He also admitted that FF11 player numbers have remained stable and that they seem not to be migrating to FF14 in significant numbers.

According to Square Enix, the game has sold a healthy 630,000 copies since launch (190,000 in Japan, 210,000 in the US and 230,000 in the EU). The PS3 version is still scheduled for March.

Server populations have been in freefall since launch however, now standing in the region of 30,000 at peak, despite Square Enix extending the free trial by a month, and the reaction of players to the game has generally been negative.

Wada acknowledges the release sorely disappointed the expectations of fans, but clings to the hope that the game can be patched into a state where it can be salvaged:

“If we satisfy the users who left us, they’ll come back. On the other hand, if they think it’s irredeemable, there’s no future for it. We’ll do everything we can to recover that trust.”

Users seem to agree – in thinking the game is irredeemable

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » November 7, 2010, 1:04 pm

So do you think they're going to do what EQ2 did and just make it more like WoW?

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 7, 2010, 8:55 pm

Square Enix profits have plunged and its stock price is at rock bottom – fortunately CEO Yoichi Wada has a plan to reverse this, including a dramatic increase in the company’s reliance on micro-transactions and item charging in its games.

He enthuses about item charges in an address to investors, the same one where he revealed the company would be scrambling to regain lost trust:

“I get the impression that ‘Dragon Quest’ type users and ‘item charge’ type users have quite different feelings [about a business model based on charging for items]. With the likes of Facebook, you can easily introduce friends and things spread quickly, so I feel it’s well suited to item charges, with the game being free.”

He went on to suggest the proportion of revenues accounted for by item charges will be increased from 30% to 40%.

Just whether item charging will make its way into some of Square Enix’s traditional franchises (presumably what is meant by his “Dragon Quest” reference) seems difficult to predict, although even Wada seems cautious if his comments above are any guide.

However, Final Fantasy XIV in particular was designed from the outset to appeal to casual gamers, so a free version with charges for items, skills and other content does not seem entirely outside the realms of possibility.

Oooh Micro Transactions to fleece their customers!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 18, 2010, 8:24 pm

Square Enix have announced the remaining players of Final Fantasy XIV will be given a third free month, possibly a result of player numbers having reached their lowest ever despite the game still being free.

Their announcement blithely fails to mention why they are suddenly feeling so generous (although their CEO is more honest, to investors at least):

As always, we would like to express our gratitude to all players enjoying their adventures in Eorzea.

Today, we have decided to extend the free trial period an additional 30 days. Please refer to the following for more details.

We have also added a Topics post detailing a portion of the content heading your way in the two large-scale version updates slated for late November and mid-December.

This month’s version update, tentatively scheduled for November 25, marks the first step in bringing about significant improvement to FINAL FANTASY XIV, guided in large part by the feedback you, the players, have provided. We are adamant that you should be given the opportunity to experience these changes firsthand before deciding to fully commit to the game.

The two month extended trial was about to end, which had triggered speculation that player populations would collapse catastrophically, rather than gradually as they appear to be at present.

Average daily player populations continue to plummet, standing at 24,277 at the latest count

Get your third free month! Grats to the 24K people that can sit through FFXIV even if it's free.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » November 18, 2010, 11:24 pm

24,277! There has to be more than that still playing EverQuest.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » December 6, 2010, 11:24 am

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » December 6, 2010, 11:59 am

Are Funk and Miir the only ones playing this? Are you still playing? Why/why not?

What do you think they can do to bring the numbers up? Anything, or is this game just a lost cause at this point?

miir · Post by **miir** » December 6, 2010, 12:27 pm

I log in about once a week to see what's been patched.
There's been a lot of improvements and it should be in good shape for the PS3 release.
The game just isn't finished yet, but it's still got potential to be a great game.

It might probably be too late by then... unless they put a big advertising push for a 're-lauch' or something.
Who knows.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » December 6, 2010, 12:33 pm

I've been playing a bit still. I would be playing more if I had people online I knew, I just never stay into a MMO game without that.

That being said like Miir said, they've put out a shit ton of stuff in patches lately, and there is more to come. I figure like he said by the time it comes out on the PS3 it should be a game that would have more appeal to the masses.

I'd still say it's my favorite MMO that's currently out, which should say a lot.

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » December 6, 2010, 12:45 pm

Do the PC and PS3 people play together? If so, maybe the PS3 version will pump the numbers up again. Are there any examples of an MMO that experienced such a drop off in numbers coming back to life? It would be kind of cool if the game did a turn around...

miir · Post by **miir** » December 6, 2010, 12:54 pm

Are there any examples of an MMO that experienced such a drop off in numbers coming back to life?

Pretty sure something similar happened with XI

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » December 6, 2010, 2:07 pm

Yeah, it did. I'm not sure if it was to the same degree, but I don't think the subscriber base really picked up for XI until after the first expansion came out and they addressed all of the issues and added content.

Kwonryu DragonFist · December 7, 2010, 10:09 am

Did they manage to save Vanguard in a similar manner?

miir · Post by **miir** » December 7, 2010, 10:24 am

They made it a better game but the playerbase is pretty miniscule.

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » December 10, 2010, 2:47 pm

Online role-playing game Final Fantasy XIV is a bit of a mess. Critics aren't thrilled, players aren't thrilled. Heck, even Square Enix isn't thrilled. Know what that means? Heads will roll. And they have.

Director Nobuaki Komoto and producer Hiromichi Tanaka are being taken off the game and replaced by Naoki Yoshida. In an official statement, Square Enix honcho Yoichi Wada describes Yoshida as "a passionate individual for whom customer satisfaction has always taken top priority".

Besides Yoshida, several "hand-picked" developers will join the existing team.

Previously, Wada came out and said Final Fantasy XIV "isn't satisfactory", and Square Enix is trying to fix the game.

In a statement issued today, Wada adds, "While more than two months have passed since the official launch of Final Fantasy XIV service, we deeply regret that the game has yet to achieve the level of enjoyability that Final Fantasy fans have come to expect from the franchise, and for this we offer our sincerest of apologies."

Square Enix is asking players to be patient until a concrete plan explaining the game's new direction. Until that time, the game's free trial period will be extended.

It's not only the PC version of the game that is experiencing troubles. The PS3 version, slated for release in March 2011, is being delayed.

"Regarding the PlayStation 3, it is not our wish to release a simple conversion of the Windows version in its current state, but rather an update that includes all the improvements we have planned," says Wada. "For that reason, we have made the difficult decision to delay the release of the PlayStation 3 version beyond the originally announced date of March 2011."

For a game as big as this, for a franchise as big as this, everything seems to have spun out of control. Square Enix is making tough decisions and taking action. It's now a matter of cleaning up the mess — and whether or not players are willing to wait.

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » December 10, 2010, 4:50 pm

Kwonryu DragonFist wrote:Did they manage to save Vanguard in a similar manner?

Vanguard has turned into a pretty nice game all in all.

As Miir said, player base is pretty small.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 15, 2010, 11:07 pm

Early voting looks about right.

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » December 16, 2010, 12:53 am

I don't understand how the he'll AvP made that list. It's a really solid game IMO. I can think of several games off the top of my head that would be better served on that list instead. Dark Void would be a nice replacement...

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 17, 2010, 5:02 pm

Square Enix has announced a 90% drop in its projected profits, a disaster it grovellingly blames on Final Fantasy XIV.

The revised fourth quarter financial estimate:

Sales:
Before: ¥160,000,000,000 ($1.9 billion)
After: ¥130,000,000,000 ($1.5 billion)

Net profit:
Before: ¥12,000,000,000 ($143 million)
After: ¥1,000,000,000 ($12 million)

Square Enix’s explanation is that “a slump in console sales and an exceedingly critical market reception to our main titles” caused the plunge and goes on to admit that it was because “Final Fantasy XIV failed to live up to consumer expectations of a Final Fantasy title.”

With Wada still hanging on to his post and Final Fantasy XIV likely a write-off, it seems Square Enix’s troubles may yet continue.

Shocker!

Final Fantasy Failure!

Leonaerd · Post by **Leonaerd** » December 17, 2010, 6:12 pm

It's been a long time coming. The first failure being FFX-2.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » December 21, 2010, 1:13 pm

Leonaerd wrote:It's been a long time coming. The first failure being FFX-2.

FFX was the last of their games that had a combat system I liked. Why they went away from the straight turn-based combat that they'd been perfecting for the last decade is still a question for which I have not found a decent answer.

While the plot wasn't all that amazing, the visuals were great, and the character advancement system was pretty cool once I figured out how to abuse the monster arena. I bought x-2 expecting more of the same, but with GUNS! Instead, I got a game based around playing dress-up and singing.

The day they started spending more time on costume design than on the combat and character systems is the day SE started circling the drain.

Kaldaur · Post by **Kaldaur** » February 23, 2011, 1:55 am

I'm shocked that Final Fantasy: Endless Corridors didn't give them the profit margin they required.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 7, 2011, 7:54 pm

Read an article dated March 6th that stated FFXIV only has about 17K visitors a day to all of their FFXIV servers combined.

I'll dig it up with someone's interested!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 13, 2011, 1:35 pm

Sad to see this happen to any game:

Unless you've deliberately avoiding learning about what's going on in the world, you've doubtlessly heard of the massive earthquake that hit Japan on Friday. Our thoughts and good wishes go to any and all of our readers, and their friends and families, directly affected by the disaster. But it hits people in many ways, and it's even reaching into the MMO sphere, with both Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV shutting down completely for at least a week of service.

While the servers for both games had been kept running briefly after the disaster, the massive power failures across Japan resulted in widespread shortages. The service is expected to be down for at least a week from today, and players will receive no bills for the month due to the interruption. Sony Online Entertainment has no games based out of the island nation, but it has also suspended billing for all players in the region and has pointed players to disaster relief centers. We can only hope that other companies follow suit where possible, as a tragedy of this scale demands a response.

They should keep the servers down permanently and focus on the future as they rebuild. I think the remaining players would understand.