[PATV] CheckPoint ep. 22 - Fantasies: How Not to Be Final

Arcell · October 2011

So I watched this and felt compelled to join up just to comment about it. The portrayal of FFXIV was absolutely awful and honestly wrong in a lot of cases. Now I'm not trying to be a fanboy and blindly rush to defend the game. A lot of their statements would have held true a year ago at launch which was, let's be completely honest, god awful. I got the game at launch and even I quit around October last year for a few months. When I came back however the development of the game had been turned over to Naoki Yoshida and the game has been getting much better with each patch.

Yes a lot of people seem to be focusing only on the fact that we're getting Chocobos and Airships a year later. The fact of the matter is though that before they could even think about transportation they had to consider the entire battle system, crafting system, SP gain system and of course all while adding content to keep people around. These were changed and addressed with each patch.

To understand the extent of the changes the game is undergoing currently, refer to the following:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/24910

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/24818

Those are the patch notes and recipe changes that the game is getting tomorrow. Far more than chocobos, airships and materia. I'm not saying the game's perfect either. It still has quite a way to go but it is certainly climbing it's way back up to the top. I'm just pissed the game continually gets a raw deal and people like to speak poorly of it without actually knowing about the changes that have happened in the past year. The game was horrible at launch yes but Yoshida has been completely turning the game around since. I think people should honestly keep an open mind about this game. It's not for everyone but it has been getting better over time and it does have a distinct audience. The PS3 launch of this game is its second chance and I hope some people can look past their previous bias and actually give it a chance at that point.

Framling · October 2011

Paul's jacket looks kinda weird on camera. All moiré-y.

Speed Racer · October 2011

I didn't even realize final fantasy 14 was out

GrahamS · October 2011

Arcell wrote:

Yes a lot of people seem to be focusing only on the fact that we're getting Chocobos and Airships a year later. The fact of the matter is though that before they could even think about transportation they had to consider the entire battle system, crafting system, SP gain system and of course all while adding content to keep people around. These were changed and addressed with each patch.

I would argue that they should have done all that in, or before, the Beta. Not after release.

We were hard on the game, for sure, but it's difficult to take it seriously when eve Square admits they're embarrassed of it to the point of redoing the whole game:
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/28/square-enix-ceo-feels-final-fantasy-14-greatly-damaged-brand/

Arcell · October 2011

GrahamS wrote:

Arcell wrote:

Yes a lot of people seem to be focusing only on the fact that we're getting Chocobos and Airships a year later. The fact of the matter is though that before they could even think about transportation they had to consider the entire battle system, crafting system, SP gain system and of course all while adding content to keep people around. These were changed and addressed with each patch.

I would argue that they should have done all that in, or before, the Beta. Not after release.

We were hard on the game, for sure, but it's difficult to take it seriously when eve Square admits they're embarrassed of it to the point of redoing the whole game:
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/28/square-enix-ceo-feels-final-fantasy-14-greatly-damaged-brand/

True they should have done that before release but that's not how it went down. Yes the release was absolutely awful, yes the game was terrible. There's no changing that though. What people should at least be acknowledging is that the current developers are working their asses off to bring this game up to par and beyond. SE admitted they were wrong though by choosing not to charge and by switching the management of the game. Yes they're embarrassed by how the game has been handled in the past but at least they're admitting it. A lot of other MMOs have gone down in flames because the devs just wouldn't man up to it and admit they were wrong.

Not to mention most of the complaints brought against it are/have been fixed. The party situation will be alleviated with the new claiming system. The whole thing about adding blitzball or tetra master, the devs have stated they are thinking about what kinds of mini-games they could add to the game but only once the core of the game is fixed.

Donovan Puppyfucker · October 2011

Speed Racer wrote:

I didn't even realize final fantasy 14 was out

Yep, me too. Will 15 be the next single-player game? And will it have a 30 hour tutorial?

If the answer to those questions is yes and no respectively, then I will probably buy it. I haven't bought a Final Fantasy game since 10, it's about time I dove back in.

Donovan Puppyfucker · October 2011

Also, good episode, LRR.

GrahamS · October 2011

Arcell wrote:

True they should have done that before release but that's not how it went down. Yes the release was absolutely awful, yes the game was terrible. There's no changing that though. What people should at least be acknowledging is that the current developers are working their asses off to bring this game up to par and beyond. SE admitted they were wrong though by choosing not to charge and by switching the management of the game. Yes they're embarrassed by how the game has been handled in the past but at least they're admitting it. A lot of other MMOs have gone down in flames because the devs just wouldn't man up to it and admit they were wrong.

Then we agree!
All we were doing in the episode was making (albeit silly and comedically-grounded suggestions) for what they should fix.

PaperLuigi44 · October 2011

Yeah, with a launch like FF 14's it kinda deserves a good-natured ribbing.

Darkewolfe · October 2011

You get yelled at if you post in the FF 14 thread with anything but praise.

What a terrible fucking game. I'm so angry I spent $50 on it.

Aurich · October 2011

FF14 is equally the most offensively unfun MMO I've ever played and the only MMO with a credit line long enough to endure all the discussed missteps. The idea of running around in a persistent FF world with my friends is still hawt as hell. After they've burned this thing to the ground and have something entirely new to show, I'll be back. And excited.

Peewi · October 2011

The Dota 2 tournament actually also had 1.6 million dollars in prizes, so it's the same size prizepool.

pariah164 · October 2011

"Why, because the ladies love Sephy?"
"No, so you can kick that asshole right in the balls like he deserves!"

Hear hear, Kathleen! I agree somuch. Awesome vid as always.

Nergy · October 2011

Anyone notice the very sly dig at the 3DS in the ticker? Isn't digging at the 3DS getting a bit dated, Considering it's actually doing well.

If my laptop could run the game, i'd actually give FF14 a try just so other games would seem awesome in comparison.

Tleilaxu · October 2011

3DS digs are a kind of a Checkpoint theme.

GrahamS · October 2011

Funny thing is, I'm planning to buy one. They've just made so many missteps that we feel like it's a pet project to rib them

PaperLuigi44 · October 2011

Well, Tetris is coming out for the 3DS so that'll be a litmus test for just how well it's doing.

TheySlashThem · October 2011

look, if a game is bad enough at launch that players give up it, even if things get fixed later, those launch players are well within their rights to continue shitting on said game indefinitely, because a shitty game is what they paid for and wound up playing

if square went back and improved it later, good on them for doing that, but it doesn't make releasing a bad game not have happened

plufim · October 2011

PaperLuigi44 wrote:

Well, Tetris is coming out for the 3DS so that'll be a litmus test for just how well it's doing.

It's Tetris as made by Hudson though, so..... could go either way.

PaperLuigi44 · October 2011

There's a quick look on giantbomb that pretty much sold me on it.

Icefall · October 2011

I've been saying for ages that I wish they would put Triple Triad in FFXI, so if they put it in 14 that would be cool too. I really liked Triple Triad much more than Tetra Master.

I've been playing 14 since alpha and really I enjoyed the that build the most compared to the general system up now, but they have been honestly trying really hard to make the game better and address all the reasons of why people haven't liked the game up until now. Was the game rushed to release? Yes, but at least they aren't charging us monthly fees to essentially play test for them. I don't know if they'll be able to slip in a monthly fee later at this point though. With so many MMOs ending up shifting to a free to play model, its going to be hard for SE to later come in and add a monthly fee.

Also of note, the game is gonna need a lot of work still to become console friendly. I play on PC with a controller and compared to FFXI, it just isn't controller intuitive for things like targeting, using macros, etc.

Penny Arcade

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[PATV] CheckPoint ep. 22 - Fantasies: How Not to Be Final

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