Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Preview (With 723 Screenshots) | DualShockers

Did Square Enix Manage to bring Final Fantasy XIV Back with a vengeance? Giuseppe Nelva from DualShockers.com answers that question in his hands-on beta preview, and shows off 723 lovely screenshots of the game.

[ashiksorel]

It's good to see Square Enix learn lessons thru their past errors. Final judgement will come down once its released.

I can hardly wait to see the end result when this finally releases.

[Abriael]

Me too. Normally I'm cautious before the release of a beta, but what I saw so far is just so good that it's hard not to be confident :D

[ashiksorel]

Well with how generous Square Enix has been with the information to the game and how fourthcoming they are.

It's safe to say they are quite confident in their development. So you have every reason to be confident as well.

[Abriael]

@ashiksorel: let's just hope we don't get a cold shower at the last moment, but I doubt it.

[Kte]

Yeah, I doubt it as well. They have given enough of those, and know that if they do, RAGE! :D

[Sarick]

They really haven't learned their lesson. If you've been watching the older FF11 you'd see it's not doing a good job. It's old yes but they aren't investing in keeping the customer base as much as they should.

There are a lot of empty promises that never got fulfilled. Whats worse is the developers are adding new things in the older game that push some MMO players away instead of fixing what is broken.

They've been back sliding with things like the 20 hour boss fights. Over complex job development and gear time sink holes that amount to living in the game to stay relevant.

It's gotten so bad that unless you're top notch hard core most of the new content is out of your reach. No one will really help you so you're left in solitude or boredom playing with yourself. Not much of an MMO anymore where the world community has egos about how geared you must be or you're not relevant.

If this is how they learned their lesson in the previous generation what is to become of the next generation? With all the competition it'll be hard to get a good foothold if they pull the same scheme on this FF14.

Honestly, they're not doing these things because it's how they plan the world it's in desperation that they MUST make the game good enough to survive or they'll lose their investment. Given the status of the previous generation (currently active) I doubt they won't return to the same pattern of development once the game becomes mainstream.

Just look at the forums.
http://forum.square-enix.co...

Horrible isn't it. A lot of things players need to Jump through hoops to maintain and progress. This isn't a different company it's the same one. What makes anyone think they've learned their lesson when they're still screwing up elsewhere?

"There are two sides to this coin. The face who screws up the first time and the tail who screws up thinking that they learned their lesson the second time." -Sarick

Don't be fooled by a farce to grab the market it's a desperate attempt and once the content gets rolling out it won't be maintained in the same friendly fashion. I speak from EXPERIENCE.

Facts are all over the place you can disagree as a fan but look at the subscriber numbers in comparison to MMOS like EVE online who've GROWN/EXPANDED in popularity in the years since it was first launched.

Gaining popularity is a good sign, Where as losing market share is a bad sign. Prove that wrong before you click. We don't know the future but the past is already showing it's colors in the present. People just need to see past the hype and look at what is really going on.

[Nevers]

I'm sorry. Just a sec. You quoted yourself within your post? Lol, okay.

Anyway... as a FFxi Vet and a PS3 Beta tester, I disagree with most of what you typed. FFxiv is going to be an amazing experience. Doom and gloom all you want because SE didn't specifically cater to your desires, FFxiv will find success, imo.

[Sarick]

@Nevers I hope your right. My comment isn't only about the gaming experience it's also about the internal policies. Something most people don't recognize until after they've directly dealt with support.

It's not merely doom and gloom it's about personal experiences that I've become accustomed to when dealing with the company in general. Your experiences may differ, If you've had no bad experiences congratulations you're one of the lucky ones.

I sincerely hope your right. I do still have paid accounts for FF11 having multiple characters and family who are also paid members. None of us have ever been jailed, punished banned suspended from FFIX. So it's not like I'm ranting about being punished.

I've had characters get locked out for weeks without SE support lifting a finger to recover them. Game created bugs that would instantly crash anyone who tried to log on with the character.

Untested issues that never got fixed. Even the Play online log page still has advertisements from 2008 ps2 games! The Forums are still in beta.

No one knows the future but the past has a lot of knowledge for those who look. I'm sure If people like FFXIV that's great. I just know from experience how poorly tech support and customer services handled most of the cases we had.

Surely, If FF14 is handled in any way near the quality they've handled FF11 then they'll need to fix it before the launch. Otherwise they will not be able to handle new subscribers.

I think you're only seeing a portion of whats going on. I wish you best of luck. I'm sure that you'll enjoy your experiences but, please don't forget the past and look carefully at the present.

I'm looking into trying other MMOS in the future. Until then I don't see myself moving to 14 even if it's great.

[RDF]

My credit card and pre order is ready! Bring it SE!! ARC/BRD all the way.

[xYLeinen]

I would absolutely get this if I still played MMO's. Played the beta and I saw myself drowning in this..

[Abriael]

You shall be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

[Firan]

Can't wait for this. Beta was very promising and made me want to make a new character rather than playing with my legacy one.

[Abriael]

I don't advise that to be honest. While I can't spoil, you're gonna miss on a few story moments that IMHO are really golden.

[Firan]

I dunno. I was kinda bored while playing with my old character in phase 3. Plenty of 50s and tons of everything. I want to experience the game like a new player.

On another note was Arcanist supposed to be implemented in phase 4 or in actual release?

[Crystallis]

I just want my dragoon chocobo armor.

[Alexious]

Sorry, I'm waiting for the next generation of MMOs. Archeage, EQNext and the likes.

[Antiddoser]

Archeage isn't next gen despite it running on cryengine 3. Animations are stiff, combat is dull, movement is choppy and sluggish.

No other f2p mmos will be able to compete with FFXIV: ARR in terms of polish, quality, and content.

[tommygunzII]

Even in it's beta state it is more polished than 99% of the MMO's out there.

[tommygunzII]

This is all I have been thinking about since participating in beta. Looking forward to release.