Did Sqeenix Fiddle While Eorzea Burns...?
[One of my saddest "game days" was the moment that my son put down his FF guns...]
My kid got me started on Final Fantasy back in the day...and through FFXI. We have 5 other R/L friends and their wives and g/f's who have played for years.
My son talked and waited for FFXIV...He sometimes drove me crazy with the speculations and the anticipation of it's arrival.
He scrimped a little to obtain the pre-release, and did so. But already, at the Beta One stage, he was starting to get a cloud of gloom around his gaming mindset....He saw this current problem coming and hated it.
I had argued that the game was not even close to release-ready, and he countered that Square always started this way...then fine tuned at or shortly after release. It was the Beta Blues, nothing more.
And indeed, for a bit, it seemed so.
The Beta progressed and many things were touched up--the first post alpha was horrible play. But it seemed to be smoothing out....
Then, as time elapsed I kept arguing that it just wasn't ready...not even close. It was fun, but not enough to hold people's interest across a wide margin.
> But we both hoped for the best and waited for the release. It came, he went. <
Oh, he played the first week..then "retail" came out. But it did not come with any "now that's what I"M talkin' about" suprises.
He was actually depressed for a day or two, and then mad as all Hell for a few more. Still, we waited for Square to get their head out of their ass and quit playing on the cheap...
Spend a couple Yen and smooth it out...get some story--Maybe more paste and less cut. Nope.
For him, it was like when I tried to play FFX etc. Ewww. SUX!
He almost couldn't get me to play FFXIV because of 10. I never did play the other later ones (excepting FFXI--Which I played far too long:)
He hung it (FFXIV) up though. 75 US Dollars poorer, and with a cat-girl still awaiting his return. I am sad for his cat-girl because she (in one form or another over time) has fought 10's of thousands of beasts....and won.
He hasn't totally given up...but he won't pay to play until it's fixed--and fixed pretty well, I might add. And he's a big time fan...
Me, I like the solo aspects so I still craft and roam about. I do my thing and when I get bored I quit for a while. Most players are not that patient.
Some bigwigs at Square, and whoever's been in their ears about doing a FF on the cheap--
Needs their ass handed to them.
Now I personally believe it all started when the last stages of FFXI went into the "past"...It wasn't the theme, but the "type" of play that changed. (the "past" had a hollow feel to it...empty, forbooding and lonely)
The one thing that cements a game is an identity with a character--and a town. At least as I see it. There's gotta be the love.
Doubt me? Then you never played the Chrono's. There was an emptyness--But "love" conquered it.
I hated the Dunes in FFXI (well, love hate actually)...because when I entered town and the "Sea Fareing" music cued up, I was "home." I felt good and like a soldier returning to a long remembered place.
L.L. in FFXIV has the haunting music, and COULD be that for me...but, unfortunately--the game is a shell still. I LIKE my character, but the love isn't there YET...because we have never experienced what approximates real-life trials and tribulations together. What BINDS a player to his character(s).
Playing at this still Beta stage is similar to the movie "Ground Hog Day"...events repeat, but there is an empty sadness to it all.
For Emo-Assholeos, perhaps that is the point...But it sux.
See, Square, if a person BINDS with his/her character and has a "home"...then playing what is deemed by all to be a "marathon" of a game (where WoW is a 100 yard-dash) is acceptable.
Pain however, without Pleasure is a losing proposition--Except with Emo-Assholeos.
Like I said: Whoever has been in Square's ear needs their ass handed to them--on a crafted Silver Platter!
Now I WILL keep playing, and I WILL hope it all works out...Because I guess I'm a bigger fanboy than I thought.
I want this to work...and I think it can. Can it work in time? Will Square do a desperation fix which is worse?
They will unless they get rid of whoever is in their ears. Get back to basics. Get back to characterization and hominess...get special quested gear for each job...storylines. Connectivity.
Make me love it again. But mostly, make my son love it again. His cat-girl awaits his return.
And you really can't imagine just how sad that is....
tammany tzu
October 6, 2010
Edited by user Saturday, November 06, 2010 3:22:45 AM(UTC)
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