Another "Should i buy this" thread

[Faeldawn]

Not a lot of feedback was posted on Tilda's thread and i know there are a lot of players (Particularly Aurora) who are currently playing, so i am asking politely for constructive feedback on what players who are actually playing the game think (not those who simply have opinions based on zero experience).

So for those of us still undecided about whether to take the leap and import, please impart your opinions guys n gals

 

[~Mobius~]

Graphics 10/10 best on the market atm
Sound 10/10 of course Square's soundtrack is the best
Controls 5/10 takes a bit of getting used to and quite clunky, but once you master it, its ok.
Gameplay 9/10 - Excellent quests, cut scenes and you really feel as though you're part of the story. (Some bad translations though but to be expected)

All in all its excellent, but isnt everything after 1 days play.

 

[Jiggs]

class wise and gameplay wise i cant give you an 100% answer since i'm its all so new atm!

but its the first game i've played in a loooooong time where i had to struggle to find some negative aspect...

and the worst thing so far is that the controls are annoying until you get the hang of macros and re-map the keyboard.

the game world is just fantastic tho, when i saw that first airship swooping down at sunset over windhurst port i was just like w00

 

[-Nxs-]

Ok realisticaly...


Graphics 8/10 - Took some tweeking to get rid of the "haze" maybe its just using TFT screens ? anyway - its working better now character models are superb
Sound 8/10 - always room for improvements, although the battle music is inspiring
Controls 3/10 - Pathetic, apparently they get better after a few days - ive remaped some of the keys and would now give this a 7/10 but still needs some improvement.
Gameplay 9/10 - Agree here with 9/10 the game is stunning in appearance the combat system is very well thought out the classes WELL defined, it looks like the creators thought of game play over cash in pocket like (cough) Mythic.


Comming from a DAOC land, heres some other points
- Lack of character models - everyone looks the same to some extent.
- Being a tank seams pretty boring so far, Im level 5 and have 3 abilaties i can use, one is on a 2hr timer - yawn
- You ARE on a server with Jap's and it can get pretty frustrating with they say "NO ENGLISH" when you ask for a group
- no window mode, remember DAOC and the START key - same issue here, just tapping the key quits the game
- ALL text appears in one window - if your in battle i can be hard to see /sends from other people
+ You cant leech, its impossible to attack someones mob unless they call for help
+ No buffbots... yay !!!! well ok you could make one to cast some spells on you, but the'll run out - think of it like a theurg buffbot in DAOC
+ no PvP, i put this as a plus, mainly because they are adding it in 2004 - gives you time to level up and be ready before then

History.
Installed the game wednesday night - spent 1hr before bed getting very confused over the controlls
Played the game for a few hours Thursday night, reconfigured some keyboard setttings and chat colours - more DAOC like now and more easier to move around - leveled from 1 - 4 fairly easily with the new controls
Friday leveled from 4 to 6 so far, getting more abilaties and making some new freinds.

Conclusion
Remember your first day in DAOC ? Well relive it with FFXI - the game is stunning - but the controls a bitch if your used to any other MMORPG, still wtih 3 days of play now I am pleased I purchased this game. If you are comming from a previous MMORPG then there ARE many changes you NEED to take into account - dont expect this to be another DAOC, dont expect it to be something you can fit into like a silk glove, I got pretty anoyed with the controlls and frustration Thursday night, was tempted to say stuff this sodding game - but now im pleased i havent, things are getting better.

 

[-Nxs-]

Ohh and after being used to DAOC.... the con system in FFXI sucks

All players have grey names.... all mobs have grey names too

You need to target a player / mob then click the "Check" button - more realistic, but something new to learn

 

[Faeldawn]

Superb feedback, many, many thanks guys, please keep it coming

 

[Silent Shadow]

My opinion:

Graphics: 8/10 - it's good, not perfect

Sound 10/10 - Masterpiece

Controls 5/10 - OMFG. Took me 10 minutes till I figured out how to move Only thing I really hate in this game so far, you can live with it but it's really silly. No need to make stuff this complicated

Gameplay 9/10 - not seen that much but so far it's very good.

I'd give it about 8.5/10 in total

Note: Installation and patching etc is very messy, hate that part too

 

[Silent Shadow]

Might add that this is the only really gooood MMORPG I've played since DAoC released, will not go back to DAoC now that I have FFXI

 

[Lamia Acerbus]

Hmm...whats it like. *ponders*

Well after only a few hours play and only experience of mmpog * have being EQ, SWG, Legends of Cosrin (Text only game but had it all, except the graphics!) and Legends of Mir (kinda like baulders gate from what I have heard) Oh yes I am a big FF series fan!!

The game play looks nice...very smooth and not so bity appart from maybe a little grass clump here and there (guess this will be down to systems and graphics cards) it also runs smooth.

Zoning looks a little weird at first as I always think I get there too fast as npc's fade in after you have zoned in a few a couple of seconds later and you can watch it (although this makes it feela little more FF'ish)

Controls are a little weird at first as i keep using the cursor keys to move around and not the numpad cursor keys so keep moving the camera around. A lot easier to move about in 1st person but I prefer to see the world and charcter so run around in 3rd. Have a usb ps2 pad convertor coming so will go straight to the pad and then it will be like playing FF!! (once again this all comes down to preference and your style of play)

As for game play:

I like the system for combat (having played EQ for almost 2 years now) however unless you have played a lot of FF games you may find it a little awkward. Where as in EQ you had to keep memming spells was an issue of making sure you had the right ones, casting them was simple just click on the icon or use alt #.

Here you have access to all your spells at all times and can navigate to them and select the one you want using the menu system during combat. It is a little slower but you do not have to mem spells anymore. You can however map macro's to speed this up like the spell meming, but you will not be able to map all of them

Animation looks good for combat and the fact that nobody else can hit your mob unless you disengage is good too.

After playing SWG for a little while though, I think the character creation could of been done a lot better as here you can only choose hair style/colour race/gender and height of body although never really noticed the difference between the height options in my hundreds of character creations to get the right server.

Even EQ had more options like changing eyes and face, although nothing compared to swg and having everything changeable from nose to chin to how puffy your cheeks are and weight. Was funy to see a really short fat wookie running around, even more scarey when it start dancing!!

Things are a little tricky to find like vendors unless you go in some of the house and find the obvious ones behind counters and such, if you are a long time FF player it should not be so bad as you are used to asking everyone questions and not in such a rush will come across people that way (as this is how the game is desigend, it is a ff game but it is now multiplayer) if you are not a fan of the series I think you may struggle here as it is not your basic pick up and play and go around and hunt and level up, as there is a story here and you are part of that story now!

Umm...cannot really comment on much else as I have not really playerd to much now so still trying to work out a few things, but I can say one more thing. it would be nice to have a little tutorial to play to bring you into the game a little easier. It is lacking this, my best advice though is to talk to as manay nc's as you can in your starting city and they will help you a lot and take you throught things.