Saradin
11-10-2003, 03:29 PM
Rating: C+
Skip to conclusion if you don't want to hear all my points about this game.
Good things:
1) Pretty consistent with the final fantasy storyline and content.
2) The character development is way beyond anything else and much more indepth. A+++++
3) Chocobos own ( yes you get to ride them ) =p
4) The skill-chain combos described by Loden in his posts are by far the most appealing thing in this game for me. The timing in battle is everything and you get a cool graphical effect if you do it correctly.
5) There are next to no bugs or problems that I have encountered. It's been out for 2 years in Japan so this is expected but nonetheless very comforting when compared to what I went through with Shadowbane.
6) PvP will be implemented.
Bad things:
1) Graphics. This is a tossup really. Some people think they are incredible and others think they suck. I will say they are sub-par and here is why. The landscape and the detail of the armor and weapons are awesome. However, the frame of the characters or the physique is somewhat lacking. I don't get the warm fuzzy feeling of looking at my pimp ass character at the character selection screen like I did in EQ. Why? Because they did not spend that much time on the *look* of the character and gave more detail to the surroundings and armor. This is my only biased point here and is really ones opinion.
2) It becomes VERY VERY hard to find groups later because 70% of the server is japanese and doesn't speak english. Although most are very nice, they will prefer to group another japanese over you b/c of the language barrier. It is very hard to find a good group period.
3) Remember leveling in EQ? It is 1000x worse here and the penalty for dying is 1000x worse. It took you 5 hours to get a certain amount of xp and you can lose it in 10 minutes if you die 2-3 times. Also, you have to relevel all your other sub-jobs which may be somewhat fun, but rather tedious.
4) Travelling - horrible. It takes 30 minutes to walk three zones if they are rather large. The chocobo helps but you don't get it until level 20 which is 48+ hours of playing already for someone who is new to the game. You also only get the chocobo for 3 zones.
5) Play control - probably the worst thing about this game. The game was built for the ps2 and they made one for the PC just to target a larger population. You have a choice: keyboard w/ NO MOUSE ( hello all macros and carpal tunnel ) or a gamepad and still having to use the keyboard for macros and targetting. They must have really went through a lot of pain to make such an easy thing so difficult.
6) Play control in combat - another horrible thing. Targetting is an absolute bitch since you have to use f8 and tab to find what you want to attack. You can't strafe really and you can't even draw your sword while running at the same time. You try to attack X, you stop to draw your sword, x runs away, then you have to chase it. Battle still feels like its turn based either using macros or sifting through combat menus. It really will be funny to see how pvp will work since I feel combat is moving in slow motion. I guess we'll see.
7) Graphics Engine? Rofl don't let me get started on this one. This is basically turning your PC into a PS2 emulator and it is internally limited to 30 FPS max!!! Nuff said, it sucks and I could build better on my PC at home w/ freeware shit.
8) All my other reasons are biased so I will stop here.
Conclusion:
If you are a die hard final fantasy fan, this may be the game for you. But if not, I do believe it is a sub-par mmorpg targetted for a console ( not a pc ), decent graphics and horrible play control. Unless you are wanting to kill time there really is no reason to buy this game w/ WoW beta around the corner. With that said, there are many other games out there that are > this where you don't have to pay $50 for the game and ~13 a month to play. I'll probably play this until they patch war3x or wow beta comes out but I do not advise to buy this game.
Sar-
Skip to conclusion if you don't want to hear all my points about this game.
Good things:
1) Pretty consistent with the final fantasy storyline and content.
2) The character development is way beyond anything else and much more indepth. A+++++
3) Chocobos own ( yes you get to ride them ) =p
4) The skill-chain combos described by Loden in his posts are by far the most appealing thing in this game for me. The timing in battle is everything and you get a cool graphical effect if you do it correctly.
5) There are next to no bugs or problems that I have encountered. It's been out for 2 years in Japan so this is expected but nonetheless very comforting when compared to what I went through with Shadowbane.
6) PvP will be implemented.
Bad things:
1) Graphics. This is a tossup really. Some people think they are incredible and others think they suck. I will say they are sub-par and here is why. The landscape and the detail of the armor and weapons are awesome. However, the frame of the characters or the physique is somewhat lacking. I don't get the warm fuzzy feeling of looking at my pimp ass character at the character selection screen like I did in EQ. Why? Because they did not spend that much time on the *look* of the character and gave more detail to the surroundings and armor. This is my only biased point here and is really ones opinion.
2) It becomes VERY VERY hard to find groups later because 70% of the server is japanese and doesn't speak english. Although most are very nice, they will prefer to group another japanese over you b/c of the language barrier. It is very hard to find a good group period.
3) Remember leveling in EQ? It is 1000x worse here and the penalty for dying is 1000x worse. It took you 5 hours to get a certain amount of xp and you can lose it in 10 minutes if you die 2-3 times. Also, you have to relevel all your other sub-jobs which may be somewhat fun, but rather tedious.
4) Travelling - horrible. It takes 30 minutes to walk three zones if they are rather large. The chocobo helps but you don't get it until level 20 which is 48+ hours of playing already for someone who is new to the game. You also only get the chocobo for 3 zones.
5) Play control - probably the worst thing about this game. The game was built for the ps2 and they made one for the PC just to target a larger population. You have a choice: keyboard w/ NO MOUSE ( hello all macros and carpal tunnel ) or a gamepad and still having to use the keyboard for macros and targetting. They must have really went through a lot of pain to make such an easy thing so difficult.
6) Play control in combat - another horrible thing. Targetting is an absolute bitch since you have to use f8 and tab to find what you want to attack. You can't strafe really and you can't even draw your sword while running at the same time. You try to attack X, you stop to draw your sword, x runs away, then you have to chase it. Battle still feels like its turn based either using macros or sifting through combat menus. It really will be funny to see how pvp will work since I feel combat is moving in slow motion. I guess we'll see.
7) Graphics Engine? Rofl don't let me get started on this one. This is basically turning your PC into a PS2 emulator and it is internally limited to 30 FPS max!!! Nuff said, it sucks and I could build better on my PC at home w/ freeware shit.
8) All my other reasons are biased so I will stop here.
Conclusion:
If you are a die hard final fantasy fan, this may be the game for you. But if not, I do believe it is a sub-par mmorpg targetted for a console ( not a pc ), decent graphics and horrible play control. Unless you are wanting to kill time there really is no reason to buy this game w/ WoW beta around the corner. With that said, there are many other games out there that are > this where you don't have to pay $50 for the game and ~13 a month to play. I'll probably play this until they patch war3x or wow beta comes out but I do not advise to buy this game.
Sar-