Based on the initial class you choose, you will start in one of three city-states, of which I started in Ul’Dah. The game guides you at the very beginning so you can learn how to speak with others and see how the quest system works. The number of available quests was very impressive to me in the game. Every time I was finishing a quest, even more would pop up in the general vicinity. I pretty much had about five active quests at most times I was playing. I know I spent a good while in the opening city just exploring the expansive area and doing some quests before even thinking about leaving the city-walls. It wasn’t until I got a quest asking for me to slay a particular enemy that I first left the city.
This was also my first chance at combat in the game. At first there isn’t much you can do other than just keep attacking the enemy when you are level 1. However, you will soon level up and gain abilities that you can store on your hotbars and easily use in battle. You can look at your character in the menu and see at what level you will unlock specific abilities. Once unlocking the abilities, it’s possible to take down some enemies that are a few levels above yours.
This is a good time to test your limits in battle, as there are really no penalties prior to level 10 for losing all of your HP in battle, at least that I noticed. I believe the in-game hint stated that your armor would start to degrade and require repair when you die once you hit level 10. The combat is very simple to learn and becomes very fun as you continue through the game. Teaming up with another player to take down a beast with a much higher level is very satisfying.
One complaint that I had when playing the game involved a little bit of slowdown when trying to talk to someone or interact with a quest. There were times where I would choose the item I want to interact with and then press the button to actually interact and it would sit there for 5-10 seconds before doing anything. I really hope this is better in the full retail release of the game. It’s not terrible, but more annoying than anything. It was especially jarring considering how the load times are not extremely long in the game otherwise, even when walking all around a giant map.
I also came across a glitch a few times while playing. There are some quests where you have to interact with an object and it will result in an enemy popping out of it to fight you. There were a few times I interacted and it acted as if the creature was released, but he was nowhere to be found. Then I noticed I was slowly losing health as if I was getting hit by something invisible. This required me to run from the area and then come back and interact again. This is another thing that I would think could be a simple fix.
At first I thought it might be difficult to use the Playstation 3 controller to play the game, especially to access the hotbars, but I personally had no issues with it and in fact found it rather simple and easy. The setup of controls on the Playstation 3 reminded me of the system used by another Playstation 3 MMORPG, DC Universe Online. Probably the most difficult task was choosing specific targets, which a pointer would make a little easier. Of course talking with text in game is very difficult on the Playstation version, but that can easily be solved with a USB keyboard, which I plan to purchase in the near future.
I also figure I should mention the error that so many were experiencing over the weekend. I played at different times of the day each day of the weekend and never had one problem with being booted off and not being to log back into the game. I’m not sure if it was the fact I was playing on the Playstation 3 or I just got lucky, but since I never experienced the issue, there is nothing else I can really say about it.
As you can tell from this article, I very much enjoyed my time playing the beta for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. I have not played an abundance of MMO’s, with DC Universe Online and The Old Republic being the only two I’ve played a significant amount, but this game really kept me interested the entire time I was playing the beta. There is no doubt this is a Final Fantasy game with the character designs, classes, and a strong storyline to accompany them. The short time I was able to spend with this game over the weekend has caused me to anxious await the full release for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn that will be released on August 27 for PC and Playstation 3.
Patrick
August 21, 2013 at 10:16 AMI have been awaiting the release as well. I had purchased V1.0 and after a week, ditched it and never played it again. The original FFXIV was dreadful. Just my opinion, not everyone would agree.
Since i purchased V1.0, i received a BETA key for ARR. I tried it out, and it was a breath of fresh air. ARR just had a better feel and playability. After 7 years of WoW, and stints with RIFT and SWTOR, it was a much needed change. I like the more global cooldown, turn based fighting. The reason is its better on my arms and wrist. I lost count of the amount of times i went to sleep with sore arms, wrists, and fingers from 7 years of button mashing mmo’s and games in general.
I know many WoW and RIFT fanboys already bashed this game. I was hearing it all in the general chat during the open BETA. It is an acquired taste, and hopefully the immature and rude community, although i think is funny some of the time, stays away from FFXIV:ARR because of it. I like the helpful adult community, that is what FFXI was known for, from what i hear i never played it. So far i’ve seen the Free Companies (guilds) looking for just that. I could do without the mentally handicapped bashing and racist remakes in chats on other mmo’s. If you pick up the game, give it time (maybe 90 days to get the goods) and enjoy. Hopefully i’ll see you around on there. looking forward to early access. Thanks for the article
Mark Fajardo
August 21, 2013 at 10:51 AMWe’ll be at the Malboro server. See you in-game this weekend.
Denzel
August 21, 2013 at 4:14 PMI also played the beta test. I love the little things about this. It feels like the situation where you learn something and realise how little you know. The crafting and job system have so much potential. As already stated, the graphics are beautiful! The grouping system is very easy in expiriences I had, instead of waiting or creating invites, the duty finder creates parties for you, this is likely only to be for certain aspects of the game but it’s a damn good start.
There is a lot to do from the start of the game as mentioned above, I think it is too early to really judge the community but it did feel like the old comradery of FF11 was present, not to the same extent as the gameplay is easier than 11, but this is yet to unfold. I also love the separated Free companies and linkshells. Although free companies were not wholly active in the beta, due to the cost and time frames, they seem to be where the competitive players can associate and rank, whereas linkshells appear to be the social aspect, similar to ff11 for those of you who played, seems to pretty the same, get a shell and you can talk to the people in the shell from anywhere in the game world. I don’t know why, but this sounds very appealing to me, like going to work with the professionals and talking to your personal friend group about it, sounds simple and silly I know, but its difficult to describe why I like the thought, apologies.
Another good aspect is the music, it fits the gameplay perfectly, no explanation required, play and you will be immersed!
There is also a small part of almost every final fantasy game included in this one, a particular favourite of myn is the material converting system associated with the crafting, you build up a “spirit bond” with your armour, when it reaches 100% you convert it to material if you choose to, this can then be crafted into armour/weapons with free slots and I would like to think you can convert this “materiated” (you heard it first here ;) ) armour into even better material, im sure you’ll agree, this will add an enormous amount of variety to crafting system.
Initially, I was worried about the market, comparing to other mmos I have experienced, I initially thought it would be the same as STWOR, I never once used the market, I obtained everything I needed through quests and drops (boring), ff11’s market was very good, very few pieces of equipment were obtain in quests, leading to a very healthy and highly active, player driven market, these are the extremes of what I thought were good and bad in the mmo market system.
What changed my with FF14s initially poor reception is that although you do get a lot/most of your gear through quests, this is only likely for the initial class play through, all else (other jobs) it seems you will need to craft or buy your gear, giving me more than hope, eager anticipation for this game.
There is far more I thought was good to this game, combat being one of them, but I need to mention the 1 thing that gave a negative point for me, although I think the story is pretty engaging, so far, the voice acting made me cringe, badly, it was very cheesy. Not in all places I should point out, but im sure many will agree when I say the flame general from Ul’Dah, this was made worse by the low volume music, please turn the volume up on the cutscenes, it will help engage the scene, not the overacting.
Hope to see you all there for many years!
DeShawn
August 22, 2013 at 6:33 AMI played FFXIV: ARR over the last two phases of beta and must say its come a long way. Honestly I dont really like MMORPGs I hate being forced to team up with other people just to progress as I am typically a loner but playing this changed that. The last MMORPG I played extensively was Ragnarok Online 2. Which was fun but I stopped playing around level 40 something because grinding made the game to tedious to me. I hate having to kill 20 of the same enemy over and over just to move on. In FF XIV: ARR there are grind and errand quests but not as extreme that. Combat was decent, maybe not as quick as your used too but definitely has that old school FF feel to it. I played the game up to Level 15 so I’m not sure if this changes later on. The game is gorgeous to look at. I found myself just staring off at the scenery alot of times especially the sunset. I believe this is a good game to start with especially if you are considering getting into the MMORPG genre. People are generally nice, as I asked a few questions and would instantly get an answer or if someone saw you struggling on a quest, would help you out. I found myself playing the beta for an entire day without realizing it. As soon as the beta was over I felt sad that it was and preordered the game right there. I’m interested to see how far they take it but I definitely think it is worth a look.
matt
August 30, 2013 at 9:13 PMfinal fantasy 14 coulda been a better game if there were no lvl cap …. only means once players get to lvl 50 theres really no point in playing the game … and to add a subscription to this game is gay…. especially when diablo3 is coming out and its 4 free
Mark Fajardo
August 30, 2013 at 9:16 PMThere is an end-game for every MMO and FFXIV is no exception. Once you get to the level cap, that’s when the game opens up.