Nenjin
11-16-03, 02:54 PM
Well it's been a long two weeks for me since FXI came out. Many sleepless nights, cups of coffee, and confused pizza delivery men have been my company. But in that time, I've found a new enjoyment for a MMOG that I haven't had since the Velious days of EQ.
I should probably warn you, you shouldn't expect anything revolutionary out of FFXI. There will be many references and comparisons to EQ. The game is about a year old(released first in Japan), and it follows your typical MMO layout that we are all familiar with. But it accells in areas that other companies only tinkered in, polishing and refining certain aspects of the game so that they run very smoothly. Here's da break down:
GRAPHICS:
While not ground breaking, the graphics for FFXI are very pretty, and thoughtfully designed. The textures and models each have that attention to detail that the japanese are so famous for. The light effects, lens flares from the sun, seamless changing of weather conditions, all blend together to give you a very visually immersive feel. The city textures are intresting, looming, and worth looking at. The very japanese over the top spell effects combine and over lay quite nicely, colorfully, and do not need to be turned down turning semi-to large gatherings to keep your FR up. The animations are fluid and clean. About my only gripe with the graphics is that there seems to be a small pool of enemy models. So far I've seen only 9 or so different enemy models, out of the 2 regions and 9 or 10 areas I've visited. Somewhat disappointing.
SOUND:
In my opinion, the sound for FFXI is fanstastic. People's armor clinks as they run, the wet ground beneath your feet sloshs, the sand sighs as you run through it. The music is pleasant, and well orchestrated, if a little redundant, but that is too be expected. When the ambient sound mixes with the great looking levels, it only adds to the immersive feel of the game.
GAMEPLAY:
Ok, the nitty gritty. As I mentioned earlier, there is nothing earth shattering about FFXI in design. The treadmill is there, in force. Grinding xp is a favored past time in FFXI. However, unlike EQ, there are multitudes of very visible quests and challenges for players to engage in if they want to take a break from grinding. After lvl 5, many players notice that they die a lot more soloing, the game definetly increases in diffculty from 5 to 10 as newb players start facing harder monsters. However, once you pass 14th, groups become much more frequent. The xp system however, is balanced to lean towards grouping that soloing. The value of xp that you get for killing a certain difficulty of monster never changes, even though your level requirement does. Soloing will inevitably take longer, and longer, and longer to do as you go up in levels. Still, most people can solo for some kind of xp, small as it maybe, which already puts your flexibility in FFXI above EQ.
But what about the job system you ask? One of the really big problems with EQ was, once you had a character, you were stuck with 'em! Sick of your druid at 30? Sell everything and retwink a new character. FFXI took a different approach. Being able to switch your primary job at any time, while keeping your original character, can be a big benefit in time, money, and effort. No more whining from people about their job being useless, because the player has the freedom to switch at any time. But, re-leveling in a new job is no cake walk either, all weapons, armors, spells, and items have level limits, firstly to stave off massive twinking, second to give you a reason to make use of everything you run across. I can't count the number of items I came across or could reasonably afford in EQ that were worthless compared to the lvl 35 dropped weapon I got at lvl 15 that I used for 1/2 my career.
About the jobs. Each job has active-passive traits, and activated job skills. These are the bread and butter of a class for most people, particularly non-spell users. The acquisition rate of them is rather slow, meaning you have few real "skills" in use. For me, this tends to simplify what your character can and will do, it sort of dumbs down the game play IMO, considering all the abilities and noncombat versatility EQ offered a Rogue. But, never the less, each ability you acquire is a substantial upgrade in power and desireablity, and it definely keeps you wanting to gain levels.
There are a variety of jobs to pick from, all the jobs you hoped were there pretty much are. Ninja, dragoon, samurai, summoner(no blue mage, damnit!). The ability to combine jobs together offers a huge range of combinations for you to play. While you won't be unique in every zone looking for a group, there won't be 7 exact copies of your class in every zone, and there will never be a "useless" job. Still can't do anything about stupid people, though
The zones. I've got somewhat of a love hate relationship with the zone design. I love them because, in combination with the graphics, the outdoor levels are intresting, thoughtfully designed, not like the randomly_placed_hill&tree_001 of EQ outdoor zones. Each area has real distinct character, from weather to geography. I actually WANT to explore new outdoor zones in FFXI. I'm just as shocked as you are.
My hate. There is no z-axis interaction. You can walk up ramps, but you can't fall off them. You can climb tall buildings, but you can get off them from the top. Many intresting nooks and crannies that you'd like to go investigate, you can't. The line between wall, and ridge is very slim. There is no jump button. Objects tend to have very simple collision planes, so you tend to find the invisible wall in lots of places. All in all, it detracts from the feel of exploring an area. Kind of a bummer.
Quests. Everything, I mean litterally everything that happens to you of substance involves a quest. In EQ, I spent the better half of my time trying not to talk to NPCs, I mean, what was the point? Most worthful quests were big news to everyone, and you could just buy whatever the other ones offered. Here quests(also "Missions" designated by your nation) are intergral to advancemenet in the story line and player power. While rewards may be somewhat lacking, most quests you can do in the lower teens and early 20s aren't hard. And they aren't particularly new either. Deliver this, fetch this, kill this. But the dialouge is intresting, and funny, cut scenes just for you makes quest doing cinematic, and the story lines weave together(more so than EQ claimed theirs did). Quests often compel you to explore places and areas, live a little dangerously. Simply put, while they didn't do much new or different(with some exceptions, expeditionary force? wtf?), FFXI has put the fun and intrest back in quest doing, at least that's how I feel, so may not agree, but it can't be denied there are a lot of them, and that a good number are actually worth doing.
Other notables worth mentioning:
-The auction system. You have to love the japanese, for what they can come up with. While this kind of auction system has been seen in other games somewhat, FFXI refined it, making it compact, easy to use, and very helpful. It's transworld, and allows you to have items up for sale while logged off, but delivers the sale to your own bank as well! You can view the sales history of an item for the last day, including seller and sellee. There is a blind bidding system in place, both to the benefit of sellers and buyers, so that newbies can undersell to make money, and not get bashed by egregious prices and price warring. It's ease in use makes it possible for newbies to collect crystals early in the game, sell them on the market for equipment money, and provide upper level craftsmen with buyable materials. I remember in EQ, it took me over a year to feel comfortable buying and selling, shopping for equipment in /auction. In 3 days, I was wheelin and dealin in FFXI, and now I boast some of the best equipment for my level.
-The Friend System and Buddy System. Two things that many games make noises about, sometimes implement partially, but never full fill on. FFXI again, focused very intensely on this process and perfected it. You friends and buddy system is persasive through logging on and playing, updates frequently, is informative, and has a messaging system that reaches people the minute they log on, like an email. It works very well, and allows for a lot of communication.
-The Party System. Again, you can tell where the game got some signifigant creative attention. Gone is the absolute need to scream your name in /shout to get groups, throwing up a lfg group flag automatically sticks you in the "Find Members" window you use to search for party members. And it doesn't just search the zone, it searches the entire 5 or 6 zones that comprise a region. It filters applicants by their level difference to you, +/- 2 levels. Looting is automatically set up in master pool, where you select each item item, and choose to bid or pass on it. If this is too much spam for you, or you want a ML, there is a Quarter Master function, where one person will distribute all dropped items. If you are even lazier still, you can let loot pile up in the treasure pool, and the game will randomly distribut loot to all parties members. It couldn't get any simpler.
CONTROLS:
I wouldn't normally mention this, but it seems to be an issue for some. Controls, because of the adaption to a PS2 controller, have some peculiarities that create a learing curve. There are many, many windows in this game that open up, and what you can and can't do changes will these windows are open. It can lead to some moments of confusion. The mouse also does not server it's traditional free look function, and it's a little jarring when you start playing. I've gotten entirely comfortable with playing totally off the keyboard though, and I think it won't present that much of a problem for people as they gain experience.
The Quick and Dirty
PROS
-Impressive graphics and layout
-Multitudes of Quests, Perks, and things to do
-Great Auction, Grouping, and Friends Systems
-Rather smooth learning curve
-Great atmosphere, dialouge scripting, overall Final Fantasy feel
-Flexible, fun job system
-Relatively little lag
CONS:
-Next to no Z-Axis interaction
-New control layout, somewhat tricky
-Lack of model variety
-Random Server Assignment
-Language Barriers with the large japanese population
-Scope(see below)
MY RATING: 4 out of 5 RAGEBRINGERS
Final thoughts: If you are looking to buy the MMO that will keep you busy for the next 3 years, this is not it, not yet. FFXI differs from EQ in it's staying power because, well, EQ has been there a lot longer. They've had more time to make new models, devise new skills, come up with new zones, create expansions, expand their world and offer more content. FFXI has been out somewhat over a year, and had to tackle coming TO the West, where as other companies launched and started thinking about what they could do next. As I play, I sometimes worry that I'm moving through it all at a fast pace, and I could find myself having seen it all and done it all in 6 to 7 months. I don't pay MMOs to have nothing to do at the top of the food chain. Having said that, I have high hopes. This is a really great game, and if the developers are as serious about making it big as Sony was with Everquest, FFXI has a bright, bright future. Thanks for reading. Edited by: Nenjin at: 11/16/03 2:06 pm
I should probably warn you, you shouldn't expect anything revolutionary out of FFXI. There will be many references and comparisons to EQ. The game is about a year old(released first in Japan), and it follows your typical MMO layout that we are all familiar with. But it accells in areas that other companies only tinkered in, polishing and refining certain aspects of the game so that they run very smoothly. Here's da break down:
GRAPHICS:
While not ground breaking, the graphics for FFXI are very pretty, and thoughtfully designed. The textures and models each have that attention to detail that the japanese are so famous for. The light effects, lens flares from the sun, seamless changing of weather conditions, all blend together to give you a very visually immersive feel. The city textures are intresting, looming, and worth looking at. The very japanese over the top spell effects combine and over lay quite nicely, colorfully, and do not need to be turned down turning semi-to large gatherings to keep your FR up. The animations are fluid and clean. About my only gripe with the graphics is that there seems to be a small pool of enemy models. So far I've seen only 9 or so different enemy models, out of the 2 regions and 9 or 10 areas I've visited. Somewhat disappointing.
SOUND:
In my opinion, the sound for FFXI is fanstastic. People's armor clinks as they run, the wet ground beneath your feet sloshs, the sand sighs as you run through it. The music is pleasant, and well orchestrated, if a little redundant, but that is too be expected. When the ambient sound mixes with the great looking levels, it only adds to the immersive feel of the game.
GAMEPLAY:
Ok, the nitty gritty. As I mentioned earlier, there is nothing earth shattering about FFXI in design. The treadmill is there, in force. Grinding xp is a favored past time in FFXI. However, unlike EQ, there are multitudes of very visible quests and challenges for players to engage in if they want to take a break from grinding. After lvl 5, many players notice that they die a lot more soloing, the game definetly increases in diffculty from 5 to 10 as newb players start facing harder monsters. However, once you pass 14th, groups become much more frequent. The xp system however, is balanced to lean towards grouping that soloing. The value of xp that you get for killing a certain difficulty of monster never changes, even though your level requirement does. Soloing will inevitably take longer, and longer, and longer to do as you go up in levels. Still, most people can solo for some kind of xp, small as it maybe, which already puts your flexibility in FFXI above EQ.
But what about the job system you ask? One of the really big problems with EQ was, once you had a character, you were stuck with 'em! Sick of your druid at 30? Sell everything and retwink a new character. FFXI took a different approach. Being able to switch your primary job at any time, while keeping your original character, can be a big benefit in time, money, and effort. No more whining from people about their job being useless, because the player has the freedom to switch at any time. But, re-leveling in a new job is no cake walk either, all weapons, armors, spells, and items have level limits, firstly to stave off massive twinking, second to give you a reason to make use of everything you run across. I can't count the number of items I came across or could reasonably afford in EQ that were worthless compared to the lvl 35 dropped weapon I got at lvl 15 that I used for 1/2 my career.
About the jobs. Each job has active-passive traits, and activated job skills. These are the bread and butter of a class for most people, particularly non-spell users. The acquisition rate of them is rather slow, meaning you have few real "skills" in use. For me, this tends to simplify what your character can and will do, it sort of dumbs down the game play IMO, considering all the abilities and noncombat versatility EQ offered a Rogue. But, never the less, each ability you acquire is a substantial upgrade in power and desireablity, and it definely keeps you wanting to gain levels.
There are a variety of jobs to pick from, all the jobs you hoped were there pretty much are. Ninja, dragoon, samurai, summoner(no blue mage, damnit!). The ability to combine jobs together offers a huge range of combinations for you to play. While you won't be unique in every zone looking for a group, there won't be 7 exact copies of your class in every zone, and there will never be a "useless" job. Still can't do anything about stupid people, though
The zones. I've got somewhat of a love hate relationship with the zone design. I love them because, in combination with the graphics, the outdoor levels are intresting, thoughtfully designed, not like the randomly_placed_hill&tree_001 of EQ outdoor zones. Each area has real distinct character, from weather to geography. I actually WANT to explore new outdoor zones in FFXI. I'm just as shocked as you are.
My hate. There is no z-axis interaction. You can walk up ramps, but you can't fall off them. You can climb tall buildings, but you can get off them from the top. Many intresting nooks and crannies that you'd like to go investigate, you can't. The line between wall, and ridge is very slim. There is no jump button. Objects tend to have very simple collision planes, so you tend to find the invisible wall in lots of places. All in all, it detracts from the feel of exploring an area. Kind of a bummer.
Quests. Everything, I mean litterally everything that happens to you of substance involves a quest. In EQ, I spent the better half of my time trying not to talk to NPCs, I mean, what was the point? Most worthful quests were big news to everyone, and you could just buy whatever the other ones offered. Here quests(also "Missions" designated by your nation) are intergral to advancemenet in the story line and player power. While rewards may be somewhat lacking, most quests you can do in the lower teens and early 20s aren't hard. And they aren't particularly new either. Deliver this, fetch this, kill this. But the dialouge is intresting, and funny, cut scenes just for you makes quest doing cinematic, and the story lines weave together(more so than EQ claimed theirs did). Quests often compel you to explore places and areas, live a little dangerously. Simply put, while they didn't do much new or different(with some exceptions, expeditionary force? wtf?), FFXI has put the fun and intrest back in quest doing, at least that's how I feel, so may not agree, but it can't be denied there are a lot of them, and that a good number are actually worth doing.
Other notables worth mentioning:
-The auction system. You have to love the japanese, for what they can come up with. While this kind of auction system has been seen in other games somewhat, FFXI refined it, making it compact, easy to use, and very helpful. It's transworld, and allows you to have items up for sale while logged off, but delivers the sale to your own bank as well! You can view the sales history of an item for the last day, including seller and sellee. There is a blind bidding system in place, both to the benefit of sellers and buyers, so that newbies can undersell to make money, and not get bashed by egregious prices and price warring. It's ease in use makes it possible for newbies to collect crystals early in the game, sell them on the market for equipment money, and provide upper level craftsmen with buyable materials. I remember in EQ, it took me over a year to feel comfortable buying and selling, shopping for equipment in /auction. In 3 days, I was wheelin and dealin in FFXI, and now I boast some of the best equipment for my level.
-The Friend System and Buddy System. Two things that many games make noises about, sometimes implement partially, but never full fill on. FFXI again, focused very intensely on this process and perfected it. You friends and buddy system is persasive through logging on and playing, updates frequently, is informative, and has a messaging system that reaches people the minute they log on, like an email. It works very well, and allows for a lot of communication.
-The Party System. Again, you can tell where the game got some signifigant creative attention. Gone is the absolute need to scream your name in /shout to get groups, throwing up a lfg group flag automatically sticks you in the "Find Members" window you use to search for party members. And it doesn't just search the zone, it searches the entire 5 or 6 zones that comprise a region. It filters applicants by their level difference to you, +/- 2 levels. Looting is automatically set up in master pool, where you select each item item, and choose to bid or pass on it. If this is too much spam for you, or you want a ML, there is a Quarter Master function, where one person will distribute all dropped items. If you are even lazier still, you can let loot pile up in the treasure pool, and the game will randomly distribut loot to all parties members. It couldn't get any simpler.
CONTROLS:
I wouldn't normally mention this, but it seems to be an issue for some. Controls, because of the adaption to a PS2 controller, have some peculiarities that create a learing curve. There are many, many windows in this game that open up, and what you can and can't do changes will these windows are open. It can lead to some moments of confusion. The mouse also does not server it's traditional free look function, and it's a little jarring when you start playing. I've gotten entirely comfortable with playing totally off the keyboard though, and I think it won't present that much of a problem for people as they gain experience.
The Quick and Dirty
PROS
-Impressive graphics and layout
-Multitudes of Quests, Perks, and things to do
-Great Auction, Grouping, and Friends Systems
-Rather smooth learning curve
-Great atmosphere, dialouge scripting, overall Final Fantasy feel
-Flexible, fun job system
-Relatively little lag
CONS:
-Next to no Z-Axis interaction
-New control layout, somewhat tricky
-Lack of model variety
-Random Server Assignment
-Language Barriers with the large japanese population
-Scope(see below)
MY RATING: 4 out of 5 RAGEBRINGERS
Final thoughts: If you are looking to buy the MMO that will keep you busy for the next 3 years, this is not it, not yet. FFXI differs from EQ in it's staying power because, well, EQ has been there a lot longer. They've had more time to make new models, devise new skills, come up with new zones, create expansions, expand their world and offer more content. FFXI has been out somewhat over a year, and had to tackle coming TO the West, where as other companies launched and started thinking about what they could do next. As I play, I sometimes worry that I'm moving through it all at a fast pace, and I could find myself having seen it all and done it all in 6 to 7 months. I don't pay MMOs to have nothing to do at the top of the food chain. Having said that, I have high hopes. This is a really great game, and if the developers are as serious about making it big as Sony was with Everquest, FFXI has a bright, bright future. Thanks for reading. Edited by: Nenjin at: 11/16/03 2:06 pm