Happy October to all. Considering I have not written anything in this blog for quite a while, this is a good excuse to begin spamming it with articles of different variety. I have received quite a few incentives from my surroundings so I might as well make use of them. Here goes...
The first article I would like to post has to do with my first experience inside a MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing game). Despite my initial hesitations, I recently purchased Square-Enix's updated version of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. I was hesitant simply because I know what kind of player I am, and that having other people join in would only ruin my experience. I changed my mind because of the beauty of the game (both graphics and music are off the charts), the story behind it (which is always a big plus for me, especially in Final Fantasy games) and the fact that I was able to actually try the game before making any decision of buying it (since I applied for one of the beta testing stages and Square-Enix gracefully accepted my request).
So, despite my hesitations, I purchased the game. But, the first thing I noticed was that I wasn't really all that anxious for it. Like, even now, there are games that I can't wait to get my hands on, like South Park: The Stick Of Truth or Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. But this wasn't the case with XIV: ARR. Despite all it's problems at launch (they had to delay it since they weren't expecting such an overwhelming amount of people so people couldn't log in for about two weeks), I noticed I wasn't missing it. That wasn't a good sign.
Eventually I signed in, restored my character from the betas (if you must know I'm a paladin/blacksmith that goes by the name of Alexander Holyknight) and I continued where I had left off. I got addicted to it, I must admit. But the repetitiveness of this game was oh, so tiresome! Every time I moved to a new location on my map I immediately knew before hand that I would have to do quests in order to gain exp (experience points). And, the more you raise your level, the more experience points you need in order to raise it again. So basically what that means is just more of those quests. Over and over again it was the same thing. Go here, do missions, go there, do missions... I would not have minded it so much, but the missions weren't really relative to what was going on with the game's story, which was all that kept me going all the way to level 50.
And then there were the dungeons... Sometimes, during the story's progress, you would have to enter these special areas called "dungeons". The thing is, you weren't allowed to enter by yourself. You had to choose the specific dungeon you wanted to go in to from you Start menu, under the Duty Finder sub-command. This Duty Finder would then pit you up with 3 or 7 (depending the dungeon) total strangers, and you would all have to finish the dungeon together. This was the worst part of the game for me. Not knowing who I am playing with. And, because I am new at the genre, I didn't really understand my role in the group. So it's easy to imagine what was going on. From slander to people just giving up right in the middle of the game. Trying to play with strangers ends up ruining the experience for everyone.
Anyway, after clearing the game I felt like a big weight had been lifted off me, instead of how much fun I had or what a great story I saw (actually that's only partially true since there were some tidbits at the story's end that had me thinking that I might return to the game, but nah). I will definitely not be renewing my subscription to this tiresome game. While it was new and fresh, the game seemed like a great experience. But it got old very quickly. And it's storyline was weak. The only thing I'll keep from it was it's extraordinary scenery. So, in conclusion, they may have tried their best to save it (and considering some current numbers, they may have succeeded), but for me, 14 will always be a failed number in Final Fantasy history. On to XV!
The first article I would like to post has to do with my first experience inside a MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing game). Despite my initial hesitations, I recently purchased Square-Enix's updated version of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. I was hesitant simply because I know what kind of player I am, and that having other people join in would only ruin my experience. I changed my mind because of the beauty of the game (both graphics and music are off the charts), the story behind it (which is always a big plus for me, especially in Final Fantasy games) and the fact that I was able to actually try the game before making any decision of buying it (since I applied for one of the beta testing stages and Square-Enix gracefully accepted my request).
So, despite my hesitations, I purchased the game. But, the first thing I noticed was that I wasn't really all that anxious for it. Like, even now, there are games that I can't wait to get my hands on, like South Park: The Stick Of Truth or Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. But this wasn't the case with XIV: ARR. Despite all it's problems at launch (they had to delay it since they weren't expecting such an overwhelming amount of people so people couldn't log in for about two weeks), I noticed I wasn't missing it. That wasn't a good sign.
Eventually I signed in, restored my character from the betas (if you must know I'm a paladin/blacksmith that goes by the name of Alexander Holyknight) and I continued where I had left off. I got addicted to it, I must admit. But the repetitiveness of this game was oh, so tiresome! Every time I moved to a new location on my map I immediately knew before hand that I would have to do quests in order to gain exp (experience points). And, the more you raise your level, the more experience points you need in order to raise it again. So basically what that means is just more of those quests. Over and over again it was the same thing. Go here, do missions, go there, do missions... I would not have minded it so much, but the missions weren't really relative to what was going on with the game's story, which was all that kept me going all the way to level 50.
And then there were the dungeons... Sometimes, during the story's progress, you would have to enter these special areas called "dungeons". The thing is, you weren't allowed to enter by yourself. You had to choose the specific dungeon you wanted to go in to from you Start menu, under the Duty Finder sub-command. This Duty Finder would then pit you up with 3 or 7 (depending the dungeon) total strangers, and you would all have to finish the dungeon together. This was the worst part of the game for me. Not knowing who I am playing with. And, because I am new at the genre, I didn't really understand my role in the group. So it's easy to imagine what was going on. From slander to people just giving up right in the middle of the game. Trying to play with strangers ends up ruining the experience for everyone.
Anyway, after clearing the game I felt like a big weight had been lifted off me, instead of how much fun I had or what a great story I saw (actually that's only partially true since there were some tidbits at the story's end that had me thinking that I might return to the game, but nah). I will definitely not be renewing my subscription to this tiresome game. While it was new and fresh, the game seemed like a great experience. But it got old very quickly. And it's storyline was weak. The only thing I'll keep from it was it's extraordinary scenery. So, in conclusion, they may have tried their best to save it (and considering some current numbers, they may have succeeded), but for me, 14 will always be a failed number in Final Fantasy history. On to XV!
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