Originally Posted by
Stef
What I hope is that FFXIV stays true to some of the things that made FFXI stand out when compared to other MMOs. I like the focus on team-work, the menu-based interface, the ability to switch jobs, story-driven missions, exp from camping and fighting lots of enemies rather than grinding quests...
Also I love how battles in FFXI feel seperate from the rest of the game world in some way. When you enter a battle you know that there is usually no way out alive apart from killing your opponent. The battle music starts playing, new menus appear, you're locked on to your opponent etc. It's almost like in previous FFs with random battles. In other MMOs regular battles are about drawing your weapon, spamming a few buttons, and then putting your weapon away a few seconds later. I want to know that entering a battle is a commitment I need to be prepared for, and not something that is just a nuisance.
FFXI was my first MMO and because of that I grew accustomed to the way it was set-up. I've tried alot of other games like WoW, WAR, lotro, City of Heroes, Aion, Guildwars, etc....they all seemed very similar to me because they use similar default interfaces, focus on spamming of abilities, similar artistic direction, less emphasis on differentiated ability animations.
If anything I want FFXIV to correct some of the mistakes that kept FFXI from achieving the same mass-market appeal that other games enjoy at launch. I want other gamers to realize just how different FFXI was and hopefully enjoy FFXIV enough to stick with it.