365//365: Day 288 – Final Fantasy XIV (PC) [Part I of II]

"This might be my Final Fantasy."

(This is a review based off of the Collectors Edition and its week early access that began on September 22nd, concluding on the 14th of October. While things have been patched since launch, with no proper communication from Square Enix to its player base as to what was patched, this is a review based solely off the time frame stated. Obviously not every single detail or aspect were experienced in this period of time, with some individuals experiencing some things that I have not, but this is my first few weeks, what I experienced and what I came out of it all with. Nothing beta related, nothing past the first few weeks. The product as of October 14, 2010 is what was reviewed — close to three and a half weeks worth of gameplay time. The score indicates the experience of this time frame and this time frame only)  

The typical MMORPG has so many facets, so many factors, so much content and so many experiences that even a year couldn’t help write a thorough enough review. You have to take play-styles into the equation, the myriad of classes, solo gaming, grouping, high end raid content and so much more. Unfortunately, spending a whole year at minimum to play through an MMORPG before a review is written is completely implausible. However a few solid weeks worth of game time can help set the stage as to whether or not the journey was worth taking, and if you should continue on forward with your travels (even with launch woes and tweaks considered). So this is basically the first few weeks of Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV) in a nutshell, from the solo game, to grouping, to the storyline infusion that Square Enix provided players. While raiding commentary will obviously be omitted, are will other level sensitive features and aspects, is FFXIV even worth playing up to, or even past that first free month in the first place?  

Because of the amount of content and elaboration, this review will be split into a two day event — the first part will be mostly the installation/registration process, audio/video aspects and basic gameplay and class explanations of Square Enix’s new MMORPG, while the second part will deal with the issues surrounding the game, which are numerous. The rating will be provided at the end of the second part of this review, and again, will be based off the first few weeks, which roughly translates out to the early levels of the game, exploration and such.  

First impressions matter more than people let on. If your first experience with something is met with opposition, frustration and a general sense of backward ass logic, it can definitely taint further impressions after the fact. Square Enix lays out a rather convoluted system of patching and registration that halts your first impressions from even forming. Whoever green lighted torrents as a method of file distribution should really be flogged. Torrent stability and connectivity, as well as overall speeds, are not the right means of distributing files on patch day. No matter what ports are open, no matter how fast your connection speeds are, torrents have been and always will be the lowest common denominator when it comes to patching an MMORPG.  

Terrible way to leave a first impression - inept patching system and an exhausting registration process

If patching doesn’t get your lips puckered in anger, the registration process might do it. I already went into a bit of detail as to the troubles and unnecessary procedures Square Enix has you performing with what should be a near effortless task. While charging per character slot isn’t a practice that’s foreign to this company, it’s made better by the fact that the gameplay system is crafted in such a way, that unless you want to play on multiple servers, one character is enough. More on this in a bit.  

After the onslaught of slow downloads and obtuse registrations, we have our character creation module. To be frank, it’s a bit on the skimpy side, with very little to distinguish Hellokitty Adventureisland from Red Xiii and Final Fantasy from Keebler Elf (those are all player character names I ran into). I even went out of my way to give myself a more distinguished look on my Hyur (basically what is considered a human), with my reddish brown Danny Zuco hairstyle with blue highlights and a matching blue facial tattoo, with a beard that screams “I can’t shave”. While not everyone chose the Zuco style, more than enough did, with the same facial features, even the same height, which I scaled down to bare minimum. I even created an Elezen (FFXIV’s interpretation of an elf) on another server, and met with the same instances, with my only solace being my hair and highlight color. Pretty much any Elezen I saw had the same hairstyle and similar facial details. There’s not a whole lot of diversity with race selection either, lending to the problematic doppelganger syndrome no matter what character you choose. It’s a problem with most MMORPG’s in general, so it’s not a main detraction from the game as a whole.  

Your character has been created, and now you’re entering the game world. Immediately, there’s an initial “ohh” and “ahh” factor to the quality and style of FFXIV. Running on a fairly high quality machine with just about everything maximized, the attention to detail in shops, enemies and your own character, can be quite staggering. Lighting and shadows in general have a quality rarely seen in this genre, helping portray the world of Erozea in a favorable light. Simply the most visually impressive game within the MMORPG genre.  

For the most part.  

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There’s a bit of a draw distance issue going on, no matter the settings or situation. Scenery that should be visible to you with ease, slowly pop up as you walk deeper towards that specific area. NPC’s and PC’s alike pop up out of no where on occasions, even during moments where there’s absolutely no instance exiting anywhere nearby. The ground textures in some locations are not convincing, looking more like a painted ground with random blots of various colors thrown in. This seems more isolated to the forest areas, as the desert stretches show off a convincing layer of ground textures that compliments the rest of the world around it. Some illusional background detail in places such as forests, occasionally looks stunning, though the farther away you are from certain background placements, the less convincing they become. The other locations have a more open look to them, forgoing the illusional close up background decorations for a more distant, detailed set of slowly incoming settlements. Running towards Ul’dah in a sandstorm like field of view, while slowly closing in towards the massive town, is one of the more visually dramatic moments I’ve experienced in any MMORPG. The sense of scale and detail for something like this is jaw dropping, but it’s a shame not all backdrops share this eye candy-like quality. Regardless of any minor quips regarding poor ground textures in some areas or the draw distance lacking the desired distance, FFXIV is simply gorgeous.  

Most MMORPG’s have some uninteresting, poorly composed musical scores guiding you through battle. In most cases, I turn off the audio completely while I crank up the volume on something more fitting to the tone and activity at hand. FFXIV might be the first MMORPG that I’ve come across with a gripping enough composition to its music, as well as sound effects that rarely grate the nerves, that I not only keep the audio on, but put the volume up to enjoy all that it has to offer. It might not be the most gripping pieces of music within the franchise, but it paces its self commendably with any activity going on at any given point. Most any video game with compositions by Nobou Uematsu will provide some quality pieces, and FFXIV is no different. 

A pretty picture and fitting audio are secondary focuses when it comes to fully appreciating an MMORPG. One of the most important aspects is gameplay, which FFXIV has an innumerable amount of odds and ends to discuss, both with it’s triumphant moments, as well as miserable failures. It’s almost polarizing when it comes to discussing each bit of gameplay additions.  

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There’s quite a bit that Square Enix does quite impressively, notably the class system. Depending on the type of item you place in your main hand, you will take on the class associated with it. The flexibility offered with experimentation is something that’s not offered by any MMORPG on the market, especially when you consider that you don’t even need more than one created character to experience every gameplay deviance FFXIV offers you. Started out as a Gladiator but disapprove of how the class plays? Why not pick up a staff and learn the ways of Conjury? Fancy ranged attacks while in a small group of adventurers? Lets try out this bow and see how the Archer class plays out. Early level progression, even with the congested newbie areas in each of the three starting cities on even the low population servers, is rather generous, offering very little in the way of a slow down throughout the first twenty levels, though the declination of advancement will be noticed after a dozen levels, but nothing that outright hampers it.  

There are two ways to level your avatar — you have your physical level, which acts as your beacon for statistical gains upon leveling. With each succeeding level you are given points in both attributes and elements. If you are focusing on a class with a heavy melee damage output (such as a Marauder), you can add more points to Dexterity to improve the accuracy of your blow, or if you’re playing a meat shield class such as the Gladiator, you can use the acquired attribute points on Vitality to raise your physical defense when tanking a mob. Elemental points work twofold –  you can raise the resistance you have towards certain elements, as well as increase the potency of the spells you cast within that same element. With Conjury, which can be considered a Red Mage (wielder of both the black and white magical arts), you can raise the power of your elemental attacks with the points allowed, making spells such as Water even more of a force to be reckoned with against enemies with a weakness towards the spell.  

The second manner of character leveling has to do with the rank level of the particular class you are playing. Through the same means of physical leveling, you’ll receive experience towards that class you are currently locked in as. You’ll level further and unlock new abilities that will make your current class more powerful. They can range from an area attack melee swing, to a self healing skill, to beneficial or detrimental spells. The true brilliance to this system comes in the notion that you can carry over certain abilities to other classes, creating more of a hybrid of two, or even three classes with whichever single class you are playing as. For example, lets say you have a Pugilist (a class that focuses upon hand to hand combat), Conjurer and Gladiator all at level 10, with Pugilist as your current class of play. You can perform your specialty Pugilist attacks and skills that you unlocked with that class, but within the options screen, you can set certain skills inherited from the Gladiator and Conjurer to the Pugilist. Want to absorb a certain amount of damage during a fight? Set Stoneskin as a skill for the Pugilist to use and cast it before the battle begins. You can even memorize Cure, giving you a second heal option to go alongside your Second Wind ability, which has a longer recast. Want to raise your defense temporarily during a rather tough battle? Rampart, a defensive ability from the Gladiator, can be memorized by your current class. You are limited only by the amount of Ability Points you currently possess, as well as certain abilities being locked towards a specific class only.  

The customization that can be performed simply by equipping a different weapon and leveling the class you become from that particular weapon, creates a myriad of possibilites with how you play FFXIV. No longer are you locked down to one class per character, or having a dual job system featured in Final Fantasy XI; your character is your canvas, and your weaponry can be considered your paint. You are able to paint your own picture in ways that no other MMORPG has come close to doing.  

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 Unfortunately, you’ll develop a certain amount of detachment to a singular class from this system. While having the unique ability to craft the avatar of your choice offers a new level of freedom, there’s no firm grip to any set class. Sure, there’s going to be one class that builds upon the skills and abilities of all the other classes, but there’s no legitimate ties you’ll build to that one class. While I am a tank class at heart when it comes to this genre, I’m finding it tough to stick with that one class, simply cause with almost every new level I gain wielding a weapon that’s unrelated to the Gladiator, newer, more impressive skills and abilities are unlocked, which can benefit my Gladiator immensely. With self heals and target heals unlocked through levels gained on the Pugilist and Conjurer, my Gladiator can withstand decisively more opposing adversaries, offering more experience gain with less fuss and even less downtime between fights. But in order for me to gain these attributes, I have to stray from that one class that I would like to target as my main. What’s worse if the free will that I go about this manner, not being overly concerned that the class I want to main with is being reduced to a bench warmer while the third stringers have more time on the court.  

It really is a double edged sword, as not only are players encouraged to pick and choose a plethora of classes to see what fits their play-style best, but by doing so, you open a whole new world of options, opportunities and means of advancement as a whole. Is there a group that’s looking for a magic caster, yet the character in question is a Lancer (a medium ranged melee combatant)? No problem, if you’ve been keeping up with your Thaugmaturge levels. You can be versed in two or more classes at once, but never hold a true allegiance towards any. A Jack-of-all-trades, master of none.  

Luckily each class selected can be rather engaging, each one offering something for each player, no matter what type of class you usually gravitate towards in any MMORPG. Some offer a much slower level of progression from the power of their abilities (Thaugmaturge can be particularly frustrating to level if you go in cold) while you can just about phone in your performance with others and progress swiftly (Pugilist). Regardless of which you choose and whether or not you have any levels on any other class, there’s enough incentive to play each one, as well as find find enough entertainment with them.  

Physical levels are not always gained by charging into battle; working on tradeskills will raise your physical level as well. Sadly though, tradeskills are not that exciting to sit through, and become your main source of upgrades for the most part (we’ll elaborate on this in the second part of this review). These tradeskills become glorified mini games, ones that are not very enjoyable. It’s really quite a shame that such a dull, inconsistent aspect ends up being something that becomes crucial to the early portion of the game. While there will be no doubt that the necessity will be quelled somewhat after launch, with more players crafting for you and providing you the opportunity to forgo crafting and dive into purchasing, it’s still frustrating to rely upon such a yawn inducing means of upgrading. Gathering classes, such as the Miner, are so poorly implemented, that it’s a wonder why Square Enix even bothered. With these classes, you’re basically playing a game of Hot and Cold, which in execution, makes little sense. The whole concept and execution of tradeskills and gathering is so nonsensical, yet has sadly been one of the only legitimate means of acquiring upgrades.  

Two more bits about the class system provided by FFXIV — first, the line up available as a whole is a bit underwhelming. You have the fighter class (Gladiator), a half-assed Dragoon (Lancer), Red Mage (Conjurer), Ranger (Archer), Time Mage of sorts (Thaumaturge), a Monk with Thief aspects (Pugilist) and a Thief/Dark Knight hybrid (Marauder). It’s quite a bland line up of classes, even with the mix and matching of skills and abilities onto a set class. Naturally new classes will open up in future expansions and patches (the Musketeer Guild that’s more or less useless in FFXIV might have some kind of feasable function soon enough), but what’s available feels somewhat limited. The ability to change classes from main hand equipment helps aid in the fact that there’s just not a lot offered for players. It still is enjoyable to play each class for the first time and test the waters with each of them, finding out which is the best fit for your style. The dependency on leveling several classes at once to augment the one class you wish focus on, exposes the rather unimaginative line up available to players.  

The other clashing issue with classes has to do with skill points. If you focus heavily upon a melee class, such as a Marauder, you will pump a majority of your points towards their melee accuracy and strength. What happens then is that there will be a complete neglecting of magic power and defense points spent. If you decided to do a 180 and focus primarily as a Conjurer, you cannot respec back enough points to reapply them to skills that power up your spells. It’s either have a melee focused character with limited magical powers, vice versa, or evenly distribute your points, creating a gimped down, thoroughly underpowered character.  

When it comes to actual combat, there are four bars of focus during each battle — a HP, MP. TP and Stamina Bar. HP and MP should be self explanatory to RPG or MMORPG vets (hit points and magic points). The TP bar represents Tech Points, which are gained by melee attacks that land on your opponents. Certain abilities require a set amount of TP gained in order for them to be utilized in battle. Most act as a form of a physical blow onto your adversaries, acting as a significantly more powerful blow. The Stamina Bar is linked to every skill you have at your disposal. Each skill takes a certain amount of stamina to perform, with the bar constantly refilling its losses. Use too many high stamina draining abilities and you’ll drop down next to nothing, making attacks delayed, even with constantly regenerating stamina. It’s a commendable way to turn the gameplay to something other than an auto attack and eat a bagel affair. 

Check back tomorrow for the second part of this Final Fantasy XIV review extravaganza to find out what really damages Square Enix’s second Final Fantasy MMORPG, as well as the overall rating!