Final Fantasy XIV Open Beta Sparks Canceled PreOrders

Final Fantasy XIV is scheduled to release worldwide for the PC later this month. Right now the game is currently undergoing an open beta test that had been delayed by a couple of days last week due to “crucial bugs”.

Since the open beta went live eager gamers were greeted by long downloads, server errors, emergency maitenance and numerous instances of server congestion. Such problems should be expected when a large amount of people attempt to download and then log into the game all at once.

For some who finally do manage to gain access to all that FFXIV has to offer their excitement quickly evolves into discontent.

[Chris399]

It works horribly, like wrestling a greased weasel. I played the open beta for a couple hours before I just gave up. And all the die-hards that say: "Just play it with a controller! It's much better!"

Last I checked, this was the PC version. Talk to me about controllers when we get to the PS3 launch.

Other impressions. Graphics are lovely. The UI is completely primitive and filled with menus. The crafting and "auction housing" (there isn't one, really) mechanics are a mess. I'm not being a "Square Enix" hater, I actually really liked a lot of their classic (pre enix) and current stuff (handheld, XIII, etc.), but in an age when MMOs are being more and more user friendly and catering to player freedom, the sheer number of backwards decisions and game-play caveats that SE have made is mind boggling.

It's a very pretty, but very niche MMO. Quite contrary to what you think they were looking (and saying) to achieve. The game doesn't even feel like a beta. I'm really surprised that they're releasing it in the state that it's in.

[Myst]

For the Auction House in quotations I assume you mean Bazaar? I haven't played the beta and gave up in the midst of the download, but I know XI has it where you set up your own shop and all that.

[Reibooi]

I honestly don't see why so many people are freaking out. The only real bad thing I have experienced in the game is the patching process is insanely slow and that could just be the congestion and even if that is the case there is a easy way around as sites like FFXIV core have the updates there to download via something like a torrent or Megaupload and then you manually patch the game which takes all of 5 minutes and is very simple.

As for issues like the clunky UI and Lack of auction house people need to remember this is the beta. SE has said many times that only about 20% of the final release content is even present in the beta.(I mean the beta's install size is about 5 gigs and SE mentioned the final game would weigh in at about 20 gigs or more) It's totally possible that there is a auction house and it's simply being saved for the final version. The final fantasy XI auction house worked perfectly and assuming they are using the same thing they would not need it to be in the beta. Most of what IS in the beta seems to be the new stuff SE needs to get feedback from and as such are keeping a large portion of the final release from people until the final game comes out.

I for one love what I have played so far. It's quite fun and has a great leveling system and many of the little annoying things are easily fixed with a update or a patch. People are being far to picky in my opinion. Many of the MMO's coming out these days have failed for being to samey or generic and when FFXIV tries to do something new everyone does nothing but trash it instead of giving it a chance(kinda like how people treated XIII)

Honestly if even half of the people playing the open beta buy the final game it will be a success because almost all the servers are packed to the gills with so many people it's sometimes hard to find things to kill which is only a good sign of the games potential population.

[Kain81]

in my opinion they delayed the ps3 version to implement the PS-Move

[Chris399]

And then you have things like this:

http://n4g.com/news/599957/...

Between WOW and all the new, fresh, player-friendly MMOs coming out, FF XIV feels like a real dinosaur. And yeah Nuri, I know about the bazaars. What I couldn't find (and what I wasn't clear on, if it even existed) was a proper unified auction house.

P.S. You can torrent the files needed for the beta (locate them by looking in the FFXIV directory), much faster btw than using the SE updater.

[Lumbo]

They already said there will NOT be an WOW-Auction house in FF14.

And its ok, cause the stupid instant huge shop aka auction house where always a turnoff for me in other mmorpg.

I prefer the Lineage and FF11 way of Player owned vendor chars in a bazzar like areas

[BannedForNineYears]

I don't think I even need to point out how retarded that comment was.

They already said why it was delayed, memory problems.

[Sandal]

They delayed it because they couldn't compete with DC Universe Online.

[Kain81]

at least i hope they use the time to implement it...it could work why not?

[BannedForNineYears]

How the balls would it work?! I was hoping you weren't serious!

IT'S AN RPG!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU DON'T USE MOTION DEVICES FOR RPGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You use motion devices for things that would work more effectively than using standard controllers.

WOWWWWWWWWWW.
Seriously..... I hope you're trolling or something.

[EvilBlackCat]

Funny how some people around here bragged that this was just exclusive to PC and PS3.

Well i own PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 and i really dont see the reason to play an mmo on a console because if that is the reason you own a console you are a damn moron.

PC is the right place to play an mmo.

There is a looooooooooooot of MMO's to choose FREE to Play and monthly fee mmo's.

TERA looks more promising than this. http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Chris399]

skinned and re-branded as Western. GW2 is a better bet all around. And no monthly fee. Can't beat that. But yeah, console MMOs are a bit of a novelty at this point. Things could be different next year, but that depends on how consumers take to the influx of console MMOs (I kinda like it personally, I prefer control pad optimized playing).

[mittwaffen]

Is the only mmo worth watching--it changes the formula and seems like it isnt aged.

We'll see, MMO's are dead in my book though.

[kaveti6616]

I'm a moron because I want to play an MMO on my console? If the console can do it, why not?

[Myze]

Considering GW2 doesn't come out for about a full year, I don't really count that in the discussion. The Old Republic is currently the most promising looking new MMO that will be released within the next 6 months (although, can't say that's a definite).

Even if GW2 came out at the same time as TOR, it would be no contest for me. For one, NCSoft are not a great developer, they have a few decent games, but I would say they've never released a truly great game (GW1 is NOT a great game, especially not for the first couple of years, but it is/was a good game). Bioware, on the other hand, rarely releases a game that is NOT great, not to mention we've seen a lot more about TOR than GW2.

Really though, it's not like they are all that similar and TOR will be out for several months to give anyone a chance to try it before GW2 comes out.

---------
On topic: I've played the FFXIV open beta for a bit now, and while the graphics and music are great, there are a LOT of problems with it and I canceled my CE pre-order yesterday.

The UI, not just the mouse, is terribly slow, even with a controller. I'm not sure if everything is slow simply because that's the way the servers are running right now, or if it's all tied into the software mouse/ui. It's something they HAVE to change, or I can almost guarantee people won't stick with the game. FFXI used a software mouse, but it was nowhere close to this bad.

Second, with the omission of any sort of story missions after the initial one (they say they are saving them for release...as if we are supposed to just trust them on that), the game seems very pointless at the moment.

Advancement isn't all that hard, but I don't feel all that much stronger when I level, which is a real bad thing in a game like this. The problem is that other than completely (it seems anyway) random rewards from the guildleves, specific armor is fairly cumbersome to come by (have to get it crafted or craft it yourself), and I have yet to see any weapons outside of crafted ones, and the first tier crafted ones seem to be the exact same as the ones you buy from the vendor. Apparently weapons are supposed to make a far bigger difference on damage dealt than stats, which makes me wonder why weapons are so rare (at least for the first 10-15 levels).

[mittwaffen]

Nah dude, a year isnt shit for an MMO. I'd rather wait for a good one than cop out for a quick fix.

Plus we have a beta sometime this winter/spring; only one worth watching. Every other MMO coming out before then has the same copy/paste methods that we are all bored out of our minds with.

[Chris399]

fyi NCSoft and ArenaNet are essentially two separate entities, one operating with relative autonomy (ArenaNet) under the other.

@mitt. Agree completely (about waiting for something good, rather than just playing whatever). Bubbles.

[Myze]

To completely dismiss TOR just means you either don't like MMORPGs or have seen very little about the game. Maybe you just don't like Bioware, which would end the discussion (our taste in games is just too great to argue). I said nothing negative about GW2, but having complete faith in a company that has developed only one game that was fun for a little while (about as long as a fairly long single-player RPG, but for a long time had way too little content to hold long-term interest) is a bit naive.

I agree GW2 looks good, and I have every intention of buying it. To consider every MMO that's released a long-term investment, however, is something you might want to rethink. It's rare I play a single-player game more than a month anyway, so I never feel bad about trying out a game that interests me, because it MIGHT not interest me for the next 2+ years.

You can disagree all you want, but the fact of the matter is GW1 can barely even be considered an MMO in the same sense as most others. For one, the updates, other than expansions, were very small (which is why it was free). Second, other than a small few areas for gathering people, the entire game was instanced, meaning they basically only had lobbies and didn't want to spend the money to keep a consistent world up and running. Do you remember or did you play GW1 when it was first released? The game was SMALL, very small. You could do 95% of the stuff in the game with one class in a few days. I imagine GW2 will be much bigger at the start, but it would have to be about 10x the size (really, not just them saying it is) to compare with a pay-to-play MMO (a good one, anyway).

Anyway, try looking up TOR some. If it doesn't interest you, fine. Just don't blanket it in as "another MMORPG." It will be the biggest MMO released since WoW and has a ton of money and one of the best developers in the industry backing it. At least I know I am looking forward to more than one game (and one to check off the list, ie., FFXIV).

[guzman]

@Myze: Good for you. That's one less moron I might get stuck partying with in FFXIV.

[kevnb]

isnt it just alot of mouse smoothing? My deathadder driver disables mouse smoothing, and its so much better.

[Cyb3r]

Well I havent liked Final Fantasy games since FF12 I think I will pass on this one too

[karatechoplifter]

A matter of preference perhaps, but FFXII was really fun for me because it fulfilled the one criteria I have for RPG's: A looonnngg game that is fun to play for a looonnnggg time. I want my money's worth out of any title, and for the single-player experience, FFXII was a straight winner in my estimation.

[dabri5]

So you haven't liked ff for one game? Seems like not so big of an issue.

[Omegabalmung]

Sounds like a mess.

Guess I will have to wait for the PS3 version then.

[kevnb]

the ps3 version is such a mess its getting delayed.

[R_aVe_N]

I was one of those pre-orders. After playing the beta that is the worst piece of trash MMO I have ever played. This is coming from a die hard FFXI player. If you think that FFXIV is anything like the other you are sadly mistaken. I would try the beta before you buy this crap. To download if fast use a bitorrent program it dl a lot faster that way and just copy and paste the dl files into the right spots. If they would have cept the only combat style it would be decent at least.

I do however like the new quest system you pretty much know what you are after without having to really guess about anything. They did at least get that right. Now if they just added the old combat system it would be a really good game.

[darthdevidem01]

Where is their PROOF of cancelled pre-orders?

I see none.

Anyway from what I've read it seems this MMo is DESIGNED for a console...so Ill wait for PS3 version

[Lumbo]

a hand full of people QQ'ing on forums ... like always

[kevnb]

not designed for console. How can anyone say that when the console version is getting the delay? The ps3 version is going to be the same junk, only worse.

[Claudinho69]

its just a beta people and mmos gets updated more than any other kinda game after released...but either way im just gon get the ps3 version i dont feel like upgrading my pc

[mittwaffen]

Beta = Retail +/- a little.
Shit Beta = Shit Retail
Shit Retail = Not enough patches/unfixable
FFXIV = Unfixable

[radphil]

I really don't want to do this but:

*slow clap* That has to be some unbreakable logic there...

[guzman]

mittwaffen = fail

[KillerPwned]

I just got done playing the beta its alright. The software mouse is horrible. Graphics are gorgeous especially for a MMO. I do like the menus seriously tho just torrent the stuff its so much easier that is what i did. Also something about the new combat system i could not just get used to.

I downloaded this you gotta be a member to download off the site but if you are its worth it. This torrent has everything in it i had to add 1 update file that was 9k. http://www.demonoid.com/fil...

Directions on downloading and installing the beta. http://www.ffxivcore.com/to...

On the site above tho it to has all the files on there you can download that you need.

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

They might as well make this multi-plat and save themselves the embarrassment of low sales.

[Graphics]

Its all Squares fault for not having Samurai as a launch class. People will go nuts!!! We want meditate!!

[Spenok]

Lol meditate indeed. I sure hope they add a samurai like class sometime down the road.

[Miraak82]

i canceled my preorder mainly cause I decided to wait for the ps3 version, played 11 on ps2 and I honestly can't see myself playing w/ Kb/M since I'm a console gamer . By the time the ps3 ver. comes out they will have sorted out alot of bugs and added alot of features that the pc gamer didn't get to start w/ .. The auction house will have a plethora of content as w/ my experiance w/ FFXI and we get trophies... I just hope that we can pay our subscription over psn .... plus my laptop can't handle it :p

[karlowma]

Meh it's not too bad.

The patcher is complete garbage; I've had to download every update manually via torrent software or else it won't download at all.

The UI feels like a Playstation game, that's for sure. I find playing with a controller works better, but it's slow to make selections in battle.

Combat is a lot slower paced than what people are used to in WoW. Think active time battle from the console FF games.

The class/job system is really awesome though. I love the fact that you can unlock skills from any class, and use a lot of them when playing another class, essentially creating your own build.

Crafting seems pretty intensive, though I haven't gotten in to it at all yet.

So far the world seems very restrictive. It may just be my starting area (around Gridania or w/e) but it feels like a console RPG map, not a large-scale MMO.

There is zero player interaction that I've seen. Probably because everyone's using controllers.

All in all, not the worst gaming experience I've ever had, and might actually consider picking it up at launch. The class system might be what does it for me. If they can clean up the interface (which I doubt), then I'd suggest checking it out if you want the console RPG flavor in a MMO setting.

[Chris399]

It just got a price-drop and the online is free, forever. Best console MMOish experience I've had this gen.

[NegativeCreepWA]

After playing it this weekend, I've lost interest in it. When the PS3 version goes into beta I may give it another chance.

[BigPimpin]

its not bad played alittle of it, I just don't think this game can get me off the bandwagon that is GW2 and TOR. I hope it turns out what FF fans want it to be though.

[mittwaffen]

Amen.

Jump on up everyone--Alot more space for you guys.

[EL1TE]

I want the Final Fantasy VII remake already not this. :(

[Pennywise]

SE sucks at making games. Point me at one decent game they made this gen and I will act surprised that FFxiv is crap.

[karlowma]

http://www.metacritic.com/g...

[guitarded77]

That's cute until you get to the user reviews... then you just reaffirm Penny's point.

Truth is SE hasn't shined this gen... but I hope... really, really hope FFXIII Versus is something great.

[karlowma]

Maybe that loaded differently for you but I see 8.6 on 1200+ user reviews.

[thelifatree]

That got a 86 user review with 83 critic review
http://www.metacritic.com/g...
The World Ends with You Got a 88 critic Review with 89 user review
Dragon Quest IX got an 87 critic review with 91 user review.
Though that was developed by mostly level V with the Dragon Quest Creator
As well as Crisis Core with 83 Critic Review and 87 user review
As well as Dissidia which had 79 critic review, with 80 user review...
all those would qualify as atleast "decent"

[guitarded77]

I see an 8.6 user score, but it's important to note that anybody can go and click 10... by checking out the actual user reviews, you can see 78 positive, 18 mixed and 38 negative opinions. That averages out very differently. Plus some people reviewed the game a 10, then had negative things to say about it... To me, a 10 would have to be a perfect game, and I have yet to see a perfect game. Some have been epic and dang close, but I would hesitate to give any game a 10. All I know is metacritic should be taken with a heavy grain of salt and in many gamers opinions, FFXIII wasn't all it was cracked up to be and some gamers (including myself) want SE to give us something great, but are skeptical at the same time. If FFXIII had come out under another name besides FF, I think it would have been better received among the general public, but reworking it into the game we got was considered a bastardization to some and SE focusing on a MMO and not pushing FFXIIIV has some of us concerned. I am still a big fan of SE, but not of any of their recent titles... but I hope they make me a believer again... and soon.

[thelifatree]

but you could also say the same thing about people being able to put an extremely low score. And probably there's just as many people who unjustifiably gave it a 0 score that unjustifiably gave it a 10 score. Same with all games... XIII was just more polarizing. Yes it did get a lower meta/user score than previous FF's. But that wasn't what karlowma was responding too.

I mean, did you really expect them to release versus XIII 6 months after XIII?

[guitarded77]

I agree about users giving a 0 as well... that was my point. Sorry I didn't elaborate. I thought it was implied. Anyway, of course I didn't think they were going to release the game 6 months after, but FF13V was announced in 2006 and since then, we've had no new info. That's ridiculous and you know it.

[thelifatree]

Yes it's annoying what they're doing with versus XIII. But it's not any different than what nintendo did with Mario 64DD that never came out, Twilight princess, and Perfect Dark.

It's annoying, it's not a crysis. And even the best (not saying SE is one of the best) do this.

[Pennywise]

Karl... I said point me at a decent game, not a decent score.

I played FFXIII for almost 15hours and I wanted to bang my head into a brick wall just so I could have fun. Remember fun? It is the reason to play games... SE Sucked the fun out of FFXIII.

I thought the game was beautiful, but linear and boring. The combat was horrible. I just hated the game. A game should be something you have this urge to rush home from work and play. It shouldn't feel like you have to go home from work to work your second job. It felt like a chore to play the game.

In short... still not convinced that SE is capable of making a good game.

[evrfighter]

"I said point me at a decent game"

a decent game to you could be trash to me. This is why scores > your opinion

[mittwaffen]

people will bash you for that comment.

But it is somewhat true, they blow ass with polishing games.
MMO's without polish always fail. SP is where enix should stay.

[tweet75]

why waste money on any game that requires a monthly fee when you can just buy other great games with that saved money?

[NotSoSilentBob]

It is from SquareEnix anything since 2000 should be passed on imo.

[dkgshiz]

The only mmo game I'm going to get is dc universe.

[Darkfiber]

Hahaha I called that one weeks ago. This game is terrible.

[TheHardware]

could see all this terribleness for myself...my pc cant run it, I'm gonna have to do the 30 day trial when it launches on ps3.....from what im reading here though, I might have to pass altogether. Just checked out The Old republic, looks incredible.

[JonnyBigBoss]

I'm on the fence. I'm dying for an MMO and LOVE Final Fantasy, so I'll probably keep my CE pre-order. The UI and mouse are the only things I'm really disappointed about, and both could be fixed rather easily.

[JeepGamer]

Every MMO I've ever seen that had huge issues in beta has had it's defenders use the 'It's still just beta!' line.

And they've never been right... Not even once. There has never been a MMO in history that was a mess in open beta only to fix itself by release. What you are seeing is as near unto a finished product as you're going to see without months and months and months of patches and updates.

You can keep thinking it's 'just beta' and fool yourself in to believing that there's some magical patch that's going to fix everything coming by release day but you're going to be disappointed.

[Darkfiber]

The game is planned for release in a few weeks. There's no way they can fix all the beta issues by then, and I doubt they will even bother fixing many. A lot of the issues seem to be "decisions" that Square has actually made about the game, and they don't seem to be willing to budge on a lot of those. Shame, this game actually looked cool.

[echonomical]

I was able to download the game and all patches fine using a different torrent client. I've had no problem logging into the game, and it runs perfectly smoothly for me, especially for a beta. I really don't have any problems with the UI either.

My frustration is with the guildleve system. I do all the guildleves I can, and I haven't leveled even close to enough to move on to the next "tier" or whatever of leves. Yes they are repeatable, but there is a ridiculously long cooldown timer on them (seems like at least 2 days?). I keep finding myself coming back to the same question: "WTF do I do now?". I really want to keep leveling, but I don't know what the best way to go about it is - do I just grind on mobs when I've run out of leves? Somebody help me out here because I was a big fan of XI and I like the look and feel of this game... I just really want it to be fun to play.