:O Final fantasy 14

[RuneLateralus]

Woke up to a beta key for the PS3 version. I heard it also works with PC beta as well if I download that client, but I will have to figure that out later as right now my HD on my Windows partition is pretty full at the moment. However, I am sure I can adjust to the controller if I give myself enough time.

I will be on Ultros.

[Palle]

The bug with the Magicked Blade at the Lifemend Stump caused a nice line to form as everyone tried to get the instance to load. Shades of TERA beta. In all seriousness though, it's a treat to kill time with players who just seem nicer by nature.

Spoiler!

(Many ladybugs met their maker that day.)

...

Rolled up one of these bad boys, thought he fit the "moody, solitary" bill pretty well.

Spoiler!

Been enjoying Archer, which I had never really leveled before today. Might make a nice break from GLD when retail drops.

One thing I am really surprised by is the performance on what is fairly low-grade hardware, even with most settings mid to high. On my GTS 350M, the game plays smooth (not a stellar framerate, 25~30 FPS), no stuttering frames or hang-ups with environmental and skill effects on-screen. Part of that may be that the game is more zoned now (I think) than in 1.x, especially the cities.

Been good times, but I need to find more bugs.

[Zeota]

I played 1.0 during closed and open beta, and was even one of the "schmucks" that got the special edition. I didn't hate 1.0, but there just wasn't much to keep me there. My character didn't get any of the classes past 30.

From what I played of phase 3, it's a definite 180 from the original game. Not sure if I'll be on board for the real thing since I'm still enjoying PSO2 and I don't think any of my friends will be playing. Plus I don't think my life in the coming years will be able to support another MMO.

[Weeaboolits]

I didn't realize that phase was gonna be so short or I woulda played more, I made a Lalafell conjurer, was having a hard time aiming my spells sometimes, the targeting system is really wonky, I'd try to heal someone, but couldn't get the reticule to go to them despite my best efforts.

I played the PS3 version, so no screens.

[Palle]

I didn't realize that phase was gonna be so short or I woulda played more, I made a Lalafell conjurer, was having a hard time aiming my spells sometimes, the targeting system is really wonky, I'd try to heal someone, but couldn't get the reticule to go to them despite my best efforts.

I played the PS3 version, so no screens.

Phase 3 continues next weekend too, at least it does for PC so I don't see why it wouldn't for PS3 as well. Also, if you haven't, I'd recommend submitting your feedback on the PS3 controls, as I expect they will be making substantial adjustments to the PS3 version before Phase 4.

[Tetsaru]

My first impressions of this phase:

The gameplay was very smooth and responsive compared to Phase 2, even during FATE's involving multiple monsters and players. I don't recall having any particular lag issues, save for some of the instanced quests where multiple people were trying to enter.

FATE's and Guildhests are fun additions and great ways to earn exp. I just wish some of the quests showed as much diversity; the vast majority of them were "collect X of these" or "kill X of these," "talk to this guy, then talk to that guy," etc. I will say though, that some of the more storyline/class-oriented quests had a good degree of difficulty to them, and encouraged you to learn how to play your class in certain situations.

The character creator is much improved from Phase 2, but I still think it could be expanded upon even further. I would've liked to see different "build" options for skinny, fat, etc. types of characters, as everyone of the same race/gender are still built almost identical, regardless of other features like muscle tone, hair, etc. I guess this was to avoid making various armor models looking too odd or stretched out, I dunno. I did hear that a "barber shop" was being planned for additional hairstyles, so that's a start.

Bust sizes are still too small at maximum (yes, I just went there, mock me if you must), and I was playing as a female Roegadyn. In contrast, they're too big at minimum as well, so even the pettanko lovers out there would probably be upset too. I didn't really mess around with it much on the other races during this phase, but I suspect they left it unchanged.

The Armoury Chest and gearset list is a very welcome addition to the game - weapons, tools, and armor now have their own separate inventory space, and you no longer have to use macros to switch classes easily. Major props to whoever came up with this.

I only got to run around Ul'dah and Thanalan last weekend, but the zones are much more interesting now. I think they could've made them a little bit bigger though. In contrast, I'm having to get used to how the towns are split up into two zones now.

Mobs use AOE rings now! Good to know exactly how far one needs to GTFO in response to an attack, especially if you're tanking.

One of my biggest complaints so far is with the map functionality. For one, it just looks bland in general. I know they were going for the old-school parchment look like in FF11, but it doesn't show much detail in that regard. It also would've been nice to set personal markings or waypoints, ping locations to show party members, click on aetherytes to warp to them, etc.

Some problems that seem to have persisted from Phase 2: still no mid-air jump control. Once you've chosen your jump trajectory, you're locked into it until you hit the ground again. Also, taking falling damage is delayed and has no animations associated with it (face-planting the ground, etc.). Also, characters also still slide around when moving during weaponskills and during right-click camera rotation.

Classes are tied to your starting city, and you must get to Lv. 10 with that class before gaining access to the Armoury and other classes. Also, you cannot start out as a Disciple of the Hand or Land. I'm not sure how I feel about this change. I know it's supposed to help players get used to their starting class by putting them in the same town where that class's guild is, but at the same time, for the version 1.0 veterans out there, we could do without the hand-holding. Some of us just want to all start out in the same city regardless of class, so we can level up alongside our friends, etc.

Some other small rants:

- Still can't resize UI elements. Things like the icons for status effects are really small and difficult to see.

- Queuing for certain quest instances. I'm sure this has to do with the initial server-crowding associated with the start of Beta tests like this, but I hope it gets addressed. As mentioned, some people were actually forming lines in-game, lol.

- I miss some of Uematsu's music that was taken out. Granted, there's nothing wrong with Soken's new music.

- Still concerned about how housing and retainers are going to work. I heard rumors that they were going to test Free Company housing first, to get an idea of how much resources, space, etc. would be needed for individual players. As for retainers, I know the market wards were removed in Ul'dah (thank God) and replaced with boards where you could search for items, but I have no idea how the retainer hiring/item selling process works now, and I'm not sure if it was implemented in-game yet.

- I'm also concerned about how Arcanist, Summoner, Scholar, and Fisher are going to be implemented, as to my knowledge, they'll be ready upon release, NOT during the Beta test.



Overall, I'm very pleased with the improvements made so far, and I can't wait to start playing again with my old 1.0 character!

[Zeota]

I hope they plan to keep the number of jobs fairly small compared to XI since exclusion was a huge problem in that game. Before the level cap went up, if you were anything other than a WAR/SAM/DRG/BRD/COR/RDM and wanted merits, you were SOL.

[Randomness]

Fisher will probably be the same as Botanist and Miner - I don't see them going too nuts with differentiating Hand and Land.


Overall, the beta was a nice step up from 1.0 - the quality of life changes are innumerable.

I second Tetsaru's concern about the level 10 lock on Armory, mainly because it's possible for someone to have to grind to get out of a job they aren't enjoying, especially since a number of xp sources are gated (Hunting log, leves). I got ARC to 10 much faster than LNC (although to be fair, I had more risky quests available due to the LNC level that gave me a lot of xp, and I remembered that I had the goggles for xp bonus). Gating off the non-combat classes is a lesser issue, in my opinion... simply because people who will do nothing but craft are extremely rare.

The fall damage could use polishing up. I'll concede that - if nothing else tightening up the damage to occur at impact would improve the feel tremendously.

I have to say the bust slider's limits were kind of refreshing, actually... plus none of the sizes looked weird (most sliders look odd at max and min, and things get strangely deformed)

[Zeota]

Some guy on another board I frequent supposedly figured out how to mod the game allowing them (the boobs) to be bigger.

[Palle]

Time to flex those Legacy characters, Phase 3 Part 2 starts 0200 PDT Friday.

1.0 Transfer test details.