Forum Settings
       
Reply To Thread

First day impressionsFollow

#1 Aug 25 2013 at 1:58 AM Rating: Good
***
1,556 posts
So! With the (relative) conclusion of the first day with the emergency maintenance, what does everyone think so far?

I'd like to say that I had a great time and have renewed interest in the MMO world but I was only able to play beta phase 4 for a short amount of time. But with my limited experience, I'll try to summarize what I liked and didn't as far as today.

I really enjoyed having all of the customizable options when creating my character. I know it may seem like standard practice now days for any game like this to have highly customizable characters but to even go to the extent of having custom voices for emotes was amazing. I compare it to 11 where I was only able to choose a hairstyle and a race! >_> I'd say they've come a long way.

The same goes for their UI. I was expecting a clunky interface that was plagued with bugs due to wanting to do too many things at once: serve the console community while still keeping the PC community happy. As a PC gamer who is very picky about UIs, I'd say they did a great job and I can only see some minor annoyances.

I really enjoy the atmosphere. It feels like a great cross between WoW's quest system, Ragnarok's (RO2 especially) interface and 'cute' character design, XI's world design which incorporates many elements of FFXII as well, and so many other games that seem to have influenced this one. When Yoshida said he was a hardcore MMO fan, I wasn't so sure but after seeing something like a coordinate system on my map, I was positive. I haven't played WoW in a year but I'm fairly certain they still do not have such a thing! :P

The music reminds me a lot of FFXII during the daytime..at least in Ul'dah. The nighttime reminds me of music you'd find in XI. It's very sleepy and surreal. To me, this isn't necessarily a good thing. I feel that music is something XI was strong in and when they began to orchestrate everything (as in XII), quality and originality went out the window. Since I've only experienced a little bit of this area, I'll hold my judgement!

Now if I were to complain, it would probably be about the combat system. I feel it's a little...clunky in comparison to something like GW2 or WoW. Still clinging to the system where you engage the target and then attack attack after a short duration rather than flowing from one action to the next. Again, it may work for this since they seem intent on single encounters instead of pulling multiple monsters at once.

I can't speak for other servers, but I did enjoy the atmosphere on Midgard. Everyone was very friendly and helpful. I've missed this type of atmosphere.

Speaking of the questing system above, I am glad that they have expanded on it (since XI) but have not diminished their ability to deliver great dialogue and writing. They've always been great in the writing department and it shows.

I'd speak about the server situation but it seems like a no brainer to me. A massive amount of people are playing. Of course they're going to experience these issues and there really wasn't a way to plan around this due to not being able to stress test servers extensively in beta. I got a few ways in my personal story quest (dutyfinder, is it?) and had a great time.

I may have missed an area. The point, though, was to say that I actually had a great time today. I figure we have enough posts about negative aspects.

How were your experiences? What did you do? :) Did you have fun?
#2 Aug 25 2013 at 2:09 AM Rating: Excellent
*
104 posts
Not having the instances available put a bit of a damper on it, but otherwise I enjoyed myself. I probably would've died a couple of times during them anyway, so it probably saved my blood pressure. lol

In saying that, it gave me time to log onto my crafter/gatherer, and I had a blast with that. I honestly can't wait to get Botanist/Weaver going on my main (waiting for airship travel before starting that), but all in all, it's simplistic but also fun at the same time. Failing a few 86% chances while mining was kinda meh, but that'll never beat failing a 100% synth in Phantasy Star Universe. Smiley: glare

Being on the PS3, yeah, there was a little lag, but the lag was actually kinda helpful, as I was able to see questgivers, and not the 10+ people around them. Made things a little easier.

Hoping to get further along in the next couple of days, and see more of what the game has to offer...
#3 Aug 25 2013 at 2:16 AM Rating: Good
****
4,175 posts
I can't play until launch, but I have a friend that I passed a early access code on to and I asked them what the experience was like.

The only really negative things they had to say was about the music and the combat system. We're huge fans of FFXI's soundtrack so this isn't really surprising and it was more of a 'meh', than a 'I detest this' sort of feeling.

The issue with the combat system was that there weren't enough reactive abilities and spells; something I also would like to see more of. Not all spells and abilities need to go together in a certain sequence, but they wanted to see more things like using an ability that grants a buff or debuff which allows you to use another ability that is only available when you have the buff/debuff on. Counterattacks where you have a short window to activate an ability or spell after you've taken critical damage. Abilities or spells that do bonus damage when you or your target are below a certain health threshold.

I think maybe I planted the seed about the combat system in their head though. They asked me what I thought about ARR and why I didn't want to play myself this weekend and I mentioned the combat system. FWIW, I referred to it as 'something I think could be adjusted' and not 'something I hate'. I'm trying to give Yoshi the benefit of the doubt and this is still something that could be addressed in later updates or with other classes.
____________________________
Rinsui wrote:
Only hips + boobs all day and hips + boobs all over my icecream

HaibaneRenmei wrote:
30 bucks is almost free

cocodojo wrote:
Its personal preference and all, but yes we need to educate WoW players that this is OUR game, these are Characters and not Toons. Time to beat that into them one at a time.
#4 Aug 25 2013 at 2:45 AM Rating: Good
***
1,556 posts
FilthMcNasty wrote:
The issue with the combat system was that there weren't enough reactive abilities and spells; something I also would like to see more of. Not all spells and abilities need to go together in a certain sequence, but they wanted to see more things like using an ability that grants a buff or debuff which allows you to use another ability that is only available when you have the buff/debuff on. Counterattacks where you have a short window to activate an ability or spell after you've taken critical damage. Abilities or spells that do bonus damage when you or your target are below a certain health threshold.

I think maybe I planted the seed about the combat system in their head though. They asked me what I thought about ARR and why I didn't want to play myself this weekend and I mentioned the combat system. FWIW, I referred to it as 'something I think could be adjusted' and not 'something I hate'. I'm trying to give Yoshi the benefit of the doubt and this is still something that could be addressed in later updates or with other classes.


I knew I missed something! I did feel this way too...that perhaps there weren't enough abilities. In XI we had JAs on top of our WSs and spells. Plenty to keep us busy. Perhaps it gets better but currently THM is very straight forward to play which makes me kind of nervous. When enemies get more difficult, spells will hopefully scale as much as they do so I can kill them with a few shots. Otherwise, I don't have much defense!

It's strange that they didn't decide to add more abilities. Yoshida cites WoW quite frequently and has stated he has played it. Anyone who has played WoW knows many classes require at least 3 rows of hotkeys for all of the abilities. Perhaps his idea was to reduce the amount but I think he reduced it too far!

Looking at blackmage without any of the other class abilities, I would get 5 total. Then again, FFXI started out slow like this as well with a low level cap and few abilities. We'll just have to see I guess!
#5 Aug 25 2013 at 4:23 AM Rating: Good
****
8,779 posts
HitomeOfBismarck wrote:
FilthMcNasty wrote:
The issue with the combat system was that there weren't enough reactive abilities and spells; something I also would like to see more of. Not all spells and abilities need to go together in a certain sequence, but they wanted to see more things like using an ability that grants a buff or debuff which allows you to use another ability that is only available when you have the buff/debuff on. Counterattacks where you have a short window to activate an ability or spell after you've taken critical damage. Abilities or spells that do bonus damage when you or your target are below a certain health threshold.

I think maybe I planted the seed about the combat system in their head though. They asked me what I thought about ARR and why I didn't want to play myself this weekend and I mentioned the combat system. FWIW, I referred to it as 'something I think could be adjusted' and not 'something I hate'. I'm trying to give Yoshi the benefit of the doubt and this is still something that could be addressed in later updates or with other classes.


I knew I missed something! I did feel this way too...that perhaps there weren't enough abilities. In XI we had JAs on top of our WSs and spells. Plenty to keep us busy. Perhaps it gets better but currently THM is very straight forward to play which makes me kind of nervous. When enemies get more difficult, spells will hopefully scale as much as they do so I can kill them with a few shots. Otherwise, I don't have much defense!

It's strange that they didn't decide to add more abilities. Yoshida cites WoW quite frequently and has stated he has played it. Anyone who has played WoW knows many classes require at least 3 rows of hotkeys for all of the abilities. Perhaps his idea was to reduce the amount but I think he reduced it too far!

Looking at blackmage without any of the other class abilities, I would get 5 total. Then again, FFXI started out slow like this as well with a low level cap and few abilities. We'll just have to see I guess!


Don't worry, it scales and gets tougher.

Every class starts to get deeper once you past 30, and they're really not finished until the last 40's or 50. THM now is about Transpose, Ice, Fire and Lightning, with the odd Sleep tossed in. Once you add support abilities from other classes and upper tier skills, casting only Fire, Ice and Lightning will get you nowhere.

So you've got plenty to look forward too, no worries!
#6 Aug 26 2013 at 4:10 AM Rating: Good
***
1,556 posts
Quor wrote:
HitomeOfBismarck wrote:
FilthMcNasty wrote:
The issue with the combat system was that there weren't enough reactive abilities and spells; something I also would like to see more of. Not all spells and abilities need to go together in a certain sequence, but they wanted to see more things like using an ability that grants a buff or debuff which allows you to use another ability that is only available when you have the buff/debuff on. Counterattacks where you have a short window to activate an ability or spell after you've taken critical damage. Abilities or spells that do bonus damage when you or your target are below a certain health threshold.

I think maybe I planted the seed about the combat system in their head though. They asked me what I thought about ARR and why I didn't want to play myself this weekend and I mentioned the combat system. FWIW, I referred to it as 'something I think could be adjusted' and not 'something I hate'. I'm trying to give Yoshi the benefit of the doubt and this is still something that could be addressed in later updates or with other classes.


I knew I missed something! I did feel this way too...that perhaps there weren't enough abilities. In XI we had JAs on top of our WSs and spells. Plenty to keep us busy. Perhaps it gets better but currently THM is very straight forward to play which makes me kind of nervous. When enemies get more difficult, spells will hopefully scale as much as they do so I can kill them with a few shots. Otherwise, I don't have much defense!

It's strange that they didn't decide to add more abilities. Yoshida cites WoW quite frequently and has stated he has played it. Anyone who has played WoW knows many classes require at least 3 rows of hotkeys for all of the abilities. Perhaps his idea was to reduce the amount but I think he reduced it too far!

Looking at blackmage without any of the other class abilities, I would get 5 total. Then again, FFXI started out slow like this as well with a low level cap and few abilities. We'll just have to see I guess!


Don't worry, it scales and gets tougher.

Every class starts to get deeper once you past 30, and they're really not finished until the last 40's or 50. THM now is about Transpose, Ice, Fire and Lightning, with the odd Sleep tossed in. Once you add support abilities from other classes and upper tier skills, casting only Fire, Ice and Lightning will get you nowhere.

So you've got plenty to look forward too, no worries!


After playing today, I see what you mean! Even the lower level spells have benefits that the upper level ones don't. Example: blizzard 1 still is a nice cast because blizzard 2 is AoE based on your character. Admittedly, I haven't needed transpose just yet.

I am impressed with the abilities I received today!

I would also like to correct some information. The soundtrack is AMAZING. At least, for the main storyline. It really creates quite a wonderful atmosphere depending on what you're doing.

As the 2nd day concludes, I'd say that most of my original complaints are gone. After they fixed congestion issues, this should be quite the phenomenal game.
#7 Aug 26 2013 at 4:16 AM Rating: Excellent
*
148 posts
During Phase 3 Beta, I took my GLA to lvl 31. It was an amazing experience! At that level, I was able to take on alot of tough FATEs solo with the right sub-abilities, and my chocobo fighting and healing alongside me. Lots of fun :)

Now I'm more or less focused into the crafting aspect of ARR (More specifically, Fishing) and it rocks. Fishing is almost an adventure in itself.... /drool. I'm sure you'll also have lots of things to enjoy as well. ^^
Reply To Thread

Colors Smileys Quote OriginalQuote Checked Help

 

Recent Visitors: 318 All times are in CST
Anonymous Guests (318)