Random Complaint Thread. No white knighting allowed.

[Hyan]

A world can be made lively in more than just one way.

But when you use the players to achieve that, you also make them dependent on each other (like irl). And that kind of approach is a huge no-no in the individualistic West.

Instead NPC's and scripted events are used to create a lively world over here, while you can pretty much play these games like single player games quite far.

Sure, they can do that. But that seems quite hollow to me.

Save it dude everyone knows, and no one really cares.

Ignorance can be a bliss. Sorry for trying to help.

But one thing is for sure- if we don't get any news this week, this game is as good as dead. No matter what update they pull out of their ass later, they don't care about informing us that the director just went to take a dump so they've missed the most important thing. Just gotta hope for the best.

[Lucavi]

What exactly are you saying?

I'm guessing that he means that the world should be lively strictly through players playing, and that birds chirping, or wind blowing, or NPCs fighting or building or whatever they're doing doesn't matter so long as real players are running around.

Of course I completely disagree, as a bunch of stiff PCs running around when this game launched (and there were plenty of people running around on Saronia) didn't do shit for immersion or creating a live world. People needed one another for crafting mats and buying goods and for fighting fights, but that didn't do anything to make the boring world suddenly come alive. A little less restriction in what you could do in the world would have helped, but then we're back to square one.

@Hyan: Didn't you just get through saying that SE telling us anything is meaningless unless they show us as well? Why would you then go half-circle and say that if they don't tell us something, this game is dead? By your standard logic, they shouldn't tell us anything until they actually have something to release, right? We shouldn't get any empty words from them until the next big content update, right?

[Hyan]

Of course I completely disagree, as a bunch of stiff PCs running around when this game launched (and there were plenty of people running around on Saronia) didn't do shit for immersion or creating a live world.

Obviously I'm not saying the games world is lively right now, but I'd rather see them take the approach they have for it so far further than the Western approach. I mean it's not like there's not enough current and upcoming MMOs out there that make the world lively the other way. We all get what we want.

Why would you then go half-circle and say that if they don't tell us something, this game is dead?

We are both sarcastic people.. son, I am disappoint!

[Siatdiat]

A world can be made lively in more than just one way.

But when you use the players to achieve that, you also make them dependent on each other (like irl). And that kind of approach is a huge no-no in the individualistic West.

Instead NPC's and scripted events are used to create a lively world over here, while you can pretty much play these games like single player games quite far.

Sure, they can do that. But that seems quite hollow to me.




Ignorance can be a bliss. Sorry for trying to help.

But one thing is for sure- if we don't get any news this week, this game is as good as dead. No matter what update they pull out of their ass later, they don't care about informing us that the director just went to take a dump so they've missed the most important thing. Just gotta hope for the best.

You are the greatest troll in the history of the internet.

[jPuff]

The amount of meaningless shit on the lodestone = how much they care.

You heard it here first.

..lol, yeah right.

You're right, actual patching is what matters.



Oh, wait.

[Meko]

I hope they fix the terrain and the ability to jump and swim. I know some people say those things don't matter but they do. It grants the perception of immersion in the world. To be able to hop over a 1 foot ledge or a small rock in the road. I hate the pre-pathing hallways in the world. The zones feel like WoW raid dungeons - hallways to a hub/boss then rinse and repeat. I'd also like them to dial the graphics back a bit and make a more enjoyable, fluid character experience. While it took me a long time to get over WoW's cartoon-ish graphics coming from FFXI, after I got past that, the fluidity of my character made it all worth it. To be able to run and jump and swim without looking like a stick man made the world feel more alive. Imo, these are SIMPLE things that SE didn't do with FF14 that would have made the game more bearable...for me at least.

[Hyan]

Granted, around 90% of human population believes in some kind of a magical fairytale from thousands of years ago so I guess their sheer number makes them right.

I'll just keep saying the world isn't flat. Maybe someone will listen at some point.

Now that immersion is in, how about we add fun as well? X and X only makes a game immersive/fun for everyone out there.

[jPuff]

Just quit while you're behind, Hyan.

[Elrina]

There are a ridiculous amount of ways they could completely change this game just from re-balancing everything currently in it. Making some hard cuts/changes, and getting an AH and the new UI in (without the server checks on every click), and it'll be even more changed.

Other than that, they should be focused on making the game more interesting to be in and adding that much needed content. If there are leves or quests that cite villages or farmland or npcs, those villages/farmland/npcs should be visible things that you can run through. Western approach or not, it just makes sense for the places/people/things which your quest told you about to actually exist.

They could definitely overhaul and completely change this game in 6-9 months. If they actually took the scalpel to the pre-existing design, not necessarily the code itself, they could make the existing stuff much more fun. Then focus most of that attention on adding things in to complement the new way it's designed to play.

And there's nothing stopping them from changing everything, including graphics, in future areas. We could be riding flying chocobos and our own personal airships that we built ourselves with group crafting endeavors throughout future zones/expansion areas. Or not. It all depends on right now, what they decide to do, and it's probably taking them so long to talk because they want to wait till they've figured out and decided what cuts to make and where they're going to go with the game. They should be keeping us informed that they're still working on it though, even if they're just interim posts putting us off, so that we know that we will be getting news soon it just isn't ready yet.

Edit:

Granted, around 90% of human population believes in some kind of a magical fairytale from thousands of years ago so I guess their sheer number makes them right.

I'll just keep saying the world isn't flat. Maybe someone will listen at some point.

Now that immersion is in, how about we add fun as well? X and X only makes a game immersive/fun for everyone out there.

Well, if a huge percentage likes and believes these things, thinks they're fun even if you don't, then it makes sense for them to be catered to, because that's where the money is.

[Hyan]

Trolls trolling trolls

[Meko]

There are a ridiculous amount of ways they could completely change this game just from re-balancing everything currently in it. Making some hard cuts/changes, and getting an AH and the new UI in (without the server checks on every click), and it'll be even more changed.

Other than that, they should be focused on making the game more interesting to be in and adding that much needed content. If there are leves or quests that cite villages or farmland or npcs, those villages/farmland/npcs should be visible things that you can run through. Western approach or not, it just makes sense for the places/people/things which your quest told you about to actually exist.

They could definitely overhaul and completely change this game in 6-9 months. If they actually took the scalpel to the pre-existing design, not necessarily the code itself, they could make the existing stuff much more fun. Then focus most of that attention on adding things in to complement the new way it's designed to play.

And there's nothing stopping them from changing everything, including graphics, in future areas. We could be riding flying chocobos and our own personal airships that we built ourselves with group crafting endeavors throughout future zones/expansion areas. Or not. It all depends on right now, what they decide to do, and it's probably taking them so long to talk because they want to wait till they've figured out and decided what cuts to make and where they're going to go with the game. They should be keeping us informed that they're still working on it though, even if they're just interim posts putting us off, so that we know that we will be getting news soon it just isn't ready yet.

Solid post. I agree 100%. I'd love to see more leve villages rather than a crystal and 2 NPCs.

[Elrina]

I hope they fix the terrain and the ability to jump and swim. I know some people say those things don't matter but they do.

Oh, and I agree with this completely. I watch my fiance jump over stuff, swim and fly around terrain in WoW, and it definitely affects the way the game is traveled through, perceived, experienced. In good ways. Not to mention the ton of additional options and gameplay possibilities it lets them explore. Even if they could only add jumping or something to pre-existing areas, there's a ton of potential there, and for the rest of it in future areas if they're designed with jumping/swimming/flying in mind.

[jPuff]

I could handle not jumping/swimming if they just made it so you don't snag on EVERY god damned 3-inch terrain change. That has never gotten any less annoying.

[Elrina]

I could handle it too, and so could everyone else, we did it long enough in XI. It's just that I don't think that without it we would ever not snag on all that terrain, for one. And two, I think those aspects being added in (even if it was later, to future areas/expansions) would add more depth and range to the world, allowing a much greater variety of terrain and area to explore.

Edit: Well, maybe not greater variety, since there could be other ways of climbing through. But I can't help but think of what Castle Zvahl would have been like if you could not only travel up to the front of it and walk in the front door, but fly over and around it and enter it from other ways, if it were designed all the way around with this kind of thing in mind. And then I wonder what they could do in XIV, but if it's completely absent then it's a lot of potential enjoyment that just isn't there. I think it being included in the future would be cool, and introduce a ton of new things crafters could make for vehicles/mounts/whatever in the future on top of that.

[Corrderio]

I could handle not jumping/swimming if they just made it so you don't snag on EVERY god damned 3-inch terrain change. That has never gotten any less annoying.

This. No swimming/jumping doesn't bother me, however being able to run up some small cliffs whereas you can't on others gets annoying.

[The Q]

At least with these emergency maintenance's we know they're doing... something.

[jPuff]

I could handle it too, and so could everyone else, we did it long enough in XI. It's just that I don't think that without it we would ever not snag on all that terrain, for one. And two, I think those aspects being added in (even if it was later, to future areas/expansions) would add more depth and range to the world, allowing a much greater variety of terrain and area to explore.

Oh, I am not disagreeing with you in that swimming and jumping open the world up. I just hate hate hate the terrain thing more than anything. I suppose it is moot though considering swimming/jumping would solve the problem anyway.

[Lucavi]

Obviously I'm not saying the games world is lively right now, but I'd rather see them take the approach they have for it so far further than the Western approach. I mean it's not like there's not enough current and upcoming MMOs out there that make the world lively the other way. We all get what we want.

We are both sarcastic people.. son, I am disappoint!

1. What's their current way? Lots of bird sounds in Gridania?
2. I'm sorry. Even I slip up on the sarcasm detector. Even if you don't feel the game is dead, still.... its not looking good right now. I'd give them till the launch of Rift to really hammer out a good content patch. Between DC and Rift, those will hold a lot of people until the next wave of GW and Star Wars, and eventually, Diablo 3 and Tera.

[Lucavi]

This. No swimming/jumping doesn't bother me, however being able to run up some small cliffs whereas you can't on others gets annoying.

I asked for a "high step" animation or a "hoisting" animation a long time ago. Any terrain that is "rugged" should simply be handled with our characters giving a bit of a grunt and high-stepping to the higher ledge. Who cares about clipping? Its impossible for SE to make a game where you can navigate through terrain without clipping, so just err to the side of convenience.

Its just stubbornness at this point. Literally every other new MMO on the market has ways for you to get around 3-inch changes in surface gradation. Hell, Tera alone proves that XIV isn't the only "big graphics" game on the block. SE has got to realize this. They can no longer fall back on the "our game is prettier than everything else, so play it or play ugly!" rhetoric.

[Cureslime]

I think S-E must have about 50000 layers of management and every change has to go through a chain of bureaucracy that eventually results in piles of shit despite having quality programming talent.

Programmer tells his boss: "We've designed the game with a stamina bar to give people choices on what attacks to do for a particular situtation. You can queue attacks as well so you'll never have to spam buttons trying to do something."

1st level boss that has knowledge about video games and MMOs but doesn't play them: "This is our combat system. I think we should introduce random lag between actions, make some actions fail for no reason, and prevent queuing of multiple attacks or the RMT will take over."

2nd level boss who has nothing but a business degree and who has never played a video game before: "This is too like other games. We need to add something new like an active and a passive mode. The game shouldn't baby you. You should have to press a button to do everything. It should take at least 12 button presses to start combat and 3 button presses for each attack. I don't know what RMT are but they sound scary. We're putting 99% of our effort into foiling them from now on. Stop all other work on the game."

And then it snowballs to the point where you end up with total paralysis of good ideas and the only things that can get through are minor changes that don't require oversight. I think that's the case with any large corporation filled with retards at the management level. In most cases big companies have enough good people to overcome the shitty people. In a society where mindlessly obeying authority is accepted and originality is frowned upon it only takes a few bad apples higher up to ruin everything. I think that's why Japanese companies are failing so hard in making quality video games these days.

A shakeup of the team can only mean good things. We know that it got at least some of the retards like Tanaka out of the way.