Final Fantasy XIV First Impressions – Roll on PS3 version!

– September 3, 2010Posted in: Final Fantasy XIV

As you may be aware, the Final Fantasy XIV open beta has been launched and currently there have been a large number of hickups even before getting into the game, the main ones being a delayed registration period due to bugs with the client, and more painfully, the fact that less then a minute after registrations opened, the site was flooded with people that caused the site to break, with me being at the last page before getting my key when it crashed. Of course, they are slowly fixing it with keys no longer being given out until a later date, but I the main priority of this is to give my first impressions of the game from when I logged in a few hours ago.

All I can say is that this game is currently a complete and utter lag fest, it is either in my opinion due to the large number of people bombarding the servers or my 6 year old computer that has finally met its match after suffering through every other game I have thrown at it. Basically after 5 minutes I cannot take anymore and just quit out of boredom, the same going for my 1 year old laptop. Anyway, I shall try it a few days later when the novelty runs out, but at the moment, the core gameplay seems really good, but it isnt that friendly to older computers, therefore, ROLL ON PS3 VERSION! Anyway, I managed to make my characters, so might as well share the screenshots of the characters that could be featured in my future blog posts!

Sam Temperance
Lalafell – Conjurer

Yea, naming sucks but heck, it is a beta character and random word that came to head….. My generic mage main character, never been one for warrior classes.

Neko Mata
Miqo’te – Thaumaturge

Named after the Persona I used all the way through P3P. I got curious to what this annoyingly named class was…

Loki Trickster
Hyur – Lancer

Random name again….. it was between a warrior character and a production character, and there was no way in the world that I was going to make my own weapons or armor, so instead I opted for a Lancer, since if you want to use a weapon, might as well make it a big ol’ one!

So yes, the beta didnt kick off well for me, but I do hope that it is fixed over the course of the open beta and either way, look forward to a potential PS3 beta in the months to come! Everyone else enjoying themselves?

About Sam

Your average, perhaps slightly geeky 21 year old University student who spends his days studying but his nights watching, reviewing and reporting on video games, anime and manga. Has been writing for The Otaku's Study ever since it opened in 2006 as Sam's Anime Study.

Anonymous

LOL, I saw your Neko Mata earlier before in the pub!
Ragnar

It’s probably your comp Sam, I’m playing relatively lag free if you take out the latency (of course there would be latency, Australia just can’t seem to host MMO =/ ). What server are you on Sam? I’m on Gysahl, um Mariya Shidou the Miqo’te sunseeker.

Probably my biggest complain would be the control scheme, it’s so gamepad-ish that it annoys me who would only favours mouse + keyboard. Apart from that and some minor bug (which, I can’t report because I can’t post in beta forum, LOL), the game is very exciting for me.

PS3 version is rumoured to be degraded badly though, and I don’t own PS3/Xbox360 so
http://www.sam.animeblogger.net Sam

Hey Ragnar,

Yea, I am on Gysahl as well, I will add you if I can get on (Once I sneak onto my brothers newish PC =P). Yea, I also prefer Mouse + keyboard, no to gamepad
Ragnar

Server is down for maintenance, going back in an hour and 17 minutes. How about sneak your brother’s newish PC onto yours =P and you otakus should know Rie Tanaka is also playing.
http://www.sam.animeblogger.net Sam

Haha, it would be hard to get his computer into my room when he is currently on it (No doubt trying to get himself a key to Final Fantasy XIV xD). Hopefully this maintenance does something about the speed, even if it is my comp.
Ragnar

At least you don’t have to “Need good excuse to con my wife”. Consider to upgrade your comp soon? Tell me what’s its spec.
http://www.sam.animeblogger.net Sam

I am considering it, however at the moment, no funds

I won’t embarass myself by posting my specs, lets just say it has had seemingly everything replaced within it at some point during its life (Including 3 Power Supply Units, 2 Graphics Cards and something like 3 fans)
sae-chan

so yes… i would be trying to play FF XIV if i had a better laptop, currently running stuff on an eepc… its awfully crap but it runs my current mmo and it seems that it will run vindictus which i’m currently looking forward to…
http://www.sam.animeblogger.net Sam

@Ragnar

Even adding you as a friend seems to be crashing my client…. yay!
Ragnar

Er no, server is down again it seems. Can’t even log in to beta site atm.
hfghdfgh

fyi: the game is being ran in debugging mode so every button you hit is being sent and logged to the server, there will undoubtedly be lag when the server has to process everything that you do. btw they also have minimum requirements up for you to check against your specs. and if your specs are low, they have options that will allow you to run at full frames in the config menu.

you should really read the manual when youre beta testing, lots of useful info there.
http://www.sam.animeblogger.net Sam

Please do not get me wrong, I am looking forward to this game and simply stating that I will be waiting for the PS3 version to come out before I can really play this. Spec options did very little for me, and basically just decreased the slow down a little bit. My main concern is with all these problems, specifically ones that are not linked to the overload lag, if they will be ironed out before the official release in September.

Yea, I did read the beta testing manual as well.

Still, glad you seem to be interested in the game, since from what I have seen, it isn’t a bad game by any means, just one that I will have to wait just a little while longer to enjoy.
John

Have no idea what lagfest ur talking about ingame obviously it is a hardware problem or a problem with your own network I have been playing since beta launched and frankly havent had that much lag. The game is pretty solid for a beta mostly without bugs at all. But, I think the gameplay seems to be a little wierd, first off if ur not using a controler and playing with the regular mouse/keyboard ur screwed the targeting system is terrible and even more terrible if u use a mouse, there is also the mouse lag problem.
Other then that thew game is pretty standart they xcept u have ur physical level and ur class rank.
http://www.sam.animeblogger.net Sam

As I stated, my computer is rather old so I was expecting it, althrough it surprised me how slow it did run even with it being old. Anyway, as I said, I am not giving up on the game, just waiting for it to come out on a console that won’t lag for me.

So there is a mouse lag problem then? That was actually one of the major issues I had that made me just give up on it, the actual slowdown of the gameplay was better then the mouse lag lol!
Ragnar

No, it’s just that Squeenix use Software mouse instead of Hardware mouse. There’s a player-made patch to fix that problem and I’ve been playing with Hardware mouse ever since.

There IS lag, mainly in cities/camps at night or occasionally before/after maintenance. There are a lot of bugs as of now, if you say it’s without bugs probably you haven’t been far yet. But none of the bugs are game-breaking and easy to fix, and they are already fixing many.

The UI is another complaint, they just have to add in so much steps for confirmation for almost any action, making selling loot a hassle. I’m not complaining about the slow response of the UI, that’s obviously because of the latency. I’m complaining about “click on sell -> click on sheepskin -> click on sell -> click on amount -> confirm amount -> click on sell -> click return (if the item you don’t want to sell is not directly under sheepskin) -> click down/up -> click sheepskin +1 -> click on sell -> click on amount -> confirm amount -> click on sell… Can’t they just allow you to set amount of units for sale directly in the sell list then click sell confirmation for the whole lots? There are tons of console RPG with that kind of system.
Ragnar

And when I said in cities at night, it’s when it’s night in Japan and there are too many Japanese on Gysahl so the server just can’t handle it. Probably a bad idea that all Aussies stick to Gysahl as of now because of this, it’s the most crowded in all of the servers/worlds.

Final Fantasy XIV First Impressions – Roll on PS3 version!

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