I do hope that they'll listen attentively to the players and impove the game in many ways cuz it needs those improvements.. i've been playing (an hour or so a-day) since the collectors edition came out and have really had a love-hate relationship with this game. the LOVE comes from the simple fact that it's FF (and i've been a huge fan for ages), and that this game itself it quite unique. the HATE come's from the poorly programmed un-user-friendly UI, from the laaaaggggg that seems to be alllllways there, from the lack of perfect 'polishedness' a released game should have, and sooo many more LITTLE but annoying things! this shouldn't seem like some beta or alpha..
it's funny how you mentioned about not being able to "get a sandwich" or whatever if you need to craft/synthesize something. it's sad, though, that you'd have plenty of time to make a sandwich while waiting for all the NPC's and others characters to load. frustrating, yes, but the hope of improvement hasn't been entirely crushed.
i have a slight theory on Why crafting's annoying and isn't always consistent. it's not strictly tied solely to your CLASS RANK and TOOL OPTIMAL RANK but i believe it has quite a bit to do with both the Elements and the Chronology of EORZEA: i've noticed that everything about the chronology of the game is subdivided into SIX elements. actually six Astral (light) and six Umbral (dark) elements.
the succession is this: ice (light), ice (dark), water (light), water (dark), wind (l), wind (d), lightning (l), lightning (d), fire (l), fire (d), earth (l), earth (d). Six elements x 2 = 12 (i had read this in a book at Ul'Dah's Thaumaturgy Guild which explained that time and the elements are intimately connected.) each Eorzean month has an element. if i'm not mistaken Eorzea time goes like this: 1 Eorzean day = 48 Earth minutes, therefor, 1 Eorzean month = 1 Earth day and every Eorzea month corresponds to an element (total of 12).. if you are Crafting you need to not only take into account your character's affinities to the elements (when you lvl up via point allotment) but also the crystals you USE when crafting, also each of an element.
lets say the element of the Eorzean Calendar at the time of crafting is Earth, and you have a high affitity to earth (at least higher than the other elements), AND coincidentally the shard or crystal you need to use is an Earth one, the synthesis in this case would go smoothly.
i think this is what, most likely, could be held accountable for many folks' frustrations.. it's just a theory and i could be wronger than wrong :/
please forgive all that unnecessary rambling, and thank you truely on the Great Review!!
ZAM's In-Depth Look at Final Fantasy XIV
To coincide with the launch of the Final Fantasy XIV Standard Edition, Editor Chris "Pwyff" Tom decided to take an in-depth look at this ambitious and immersive MMORPG.
Changing Perspectives
I noted earlier that Final Fantasy XI was a unique MMORPG in the industry, and if I were ever to expand on that, I think I would ultimately say that Final Fantasy XIV is, like its predecessor, a "lifestyle" MMORPG. What I mean by this is that it seems as though Square Enix has set out to create an MMO where players can simply exist and enjoy themselves freely. When it comes to North American MMORPGs, one mindset that players like to get into is to focus almost entirely upon grinding their way to endgame, where they can then get the best equipment possible. In Final Fantasy XIV, however, there is a great deal of emphasis being placed on the journey, with the hope that players will learn to integrate and immerse themselves into the game. Unfortunately, for players who don't want to take the time to really get into their server's community, they may be missing out on everything that FFXIV has to offer.
Take, for example, the crafting system in FFXIV. Because every craft is so dependent on other crafts, there have been a lot of complaints from players who simply want to pick one craft (and maybe one subcraft) and to be allowed to create all of their equipment for their selected job. Unfortunately, crafting in FFXIV has gotten so complicated that if one wants to be a completely self-sufficient crafter, one will need to pick up at least three or four different crafts in order to be able to reliably create a single weapon. Alternatively, having arrived at this server with a premade group, my linkshell has managed to sort itself into a menagerie of crafting specialties, with friends collaborating to get specific items created. Obviously, this is quite different from other MMORPGs, like World of Warcraft, where crafting is a relatively self-sufficient concept.
Hoping For The Futre
Ultimately, however, Final Fantasy XIV is not without its flaws, and it does have significant ones. The in-game user interface, for example, is one of the slowest and clunkiest things I have ever had to deal with, and I was appalled to hear that it is actually faster than it was in closed beta. Even Final Fantasy XI has a smoother interface than FFXIV, and this can become incredibly frustrating when trying to equip different gear, or when looking through the market wards. Browsing through dozens of player shops in FFXI was a breeze because it simply involved targeting them, pressing CTRL + C, and then checking out their bazaar. Here, players must go through a few menus in order to browse a shop, with the game UI slowly loading the entire time. The lack of an auction house in FFXIV would not be so bad if browsing the market wards wasn't such an incredible trial in patience.
In reality, sluggish response times appear to be the root of many qualms that users have had with the game thus far. One of the things I really enjoyed in Final Fantasy XI, skillchains, is present within Final Fantasy XIV in the form of battle regiments (where users time their attacks in sequence to create a bonus effect), but very few players are willing to put up with the delay in combat to actually go through with persistent battle regiments. Maintaining control of the battle also becomes quite difficult because of the delay, as monsters can sometimes decide to run off and players simply can't use their abilities fast enough to stop the mob from getting away.
Final Thoughts
I need to reiterate here that I am truly enjoying Final Fantasy XIV, but it does feel as though much of my enjoyment predicates on the anticipation of more to come. It's true that almost all MMORPGs are quite rough on launch, and while FFXIV does not lack content or breadth in its scope, it does lack a significant amount of polish. Right now, there are just too many little counter-intuitive problems that, when added together, can lead to an exceptionally frustrating experience. For example: having under-armor that can get damaged via loss in durability, but being unable to de-equip your under-armor when doing basic tasks; having your inventory fill up within 20 minutes because you have one Copper Ore, one Copper Ore +1, one Copper Ore +2 and one Copper Ore +3 in your bag, each taking up an inventory slot; taking an hour to store items and retrieve items from your retainer; having your healer die because your tank couldn't provoke the monster due to delay. All of these little problems add up into one very large annoyance.
In the end, however, Final Fantasy XIV is certainly an ambitious MMORPG that continues in the proud tradition of Final Fantasy games that break out of their genre molds. I cannot stress just how unique FFXIV is in comparison to other MMOs, and if you are looking for something far more immersive than the norm, then look no further. This is a truly stunning game with an amazing soundtrack (Nobuo Uematsu makes his return here), and there are very real ideas at play here that no other MMORPG has come close to imitating. Final Fantasy XIV sought to be the first of the next-gen MMOs, and they've done that out the gate. Now, however, if Square Enix is really planning to compete, they will need to put a pause on that progress bar to raise the quality of their MMO with some bold strokes and a good amount of touching up.
Chris "Pwyff" Tom, Senior News Editor / Staff Writer
