Final Fantasy XIV's Poor Launch Leads to Trial Extension

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

They really only need to do two things to convince me to pay for the game after the free trial:

1. Fix the UI, which they already promised will happen by late November.

2. Fix whatever the hell is causing the DirectX glitch, crashing the game every 10 minutes! This one they won't even admit exists, despite it being talked about on every fan site forum.

 

[EvolutionKills]

This is one of those interesting watershed type events. Where everyone is getting angry, not only because it's not what they've come to expect, but that in doing so it shatters a widely held preconception (in this case, that numerical FF games are always top class). One of those 'angry at god for not existing' moments.


Will Final Fantasy XIV be to that series what the Prequel Trilogy was to Star Wars? I'm interested to see what happens next, but it's not like George could 'patch' interesting characters and a sensible story into his movies after release...


Actually, now that I think about it, the re-released 'Special Editions' of the Original Trilogy where kind of just that. Only George made the movies worse, not better...

 

[MasterChief892039]

Square Enix may not have released the caliber of product that typically bears the Final Fantasy name.

You mean like FFXIII? Making a shitty movie interspersed player-controlled episodes of running from Point A to Point B does not count as a "game". At the very least they could have marketed it as a "minimally interactive film" rather than a "video game".

 

[xyrafhoan]

FFXIV looks even more broken and shallow than its predecessor... why release a new MMO if you have no ideas on how to improve your old game?

Seems like the only time you'll ever have fun playing Final Fantasy anymore is from the spinoffs.

 

[Veylon]

Just stop trying to make multiplayer ones and spend more time remaking FF7. You know we all want it anyway.

An FF7 remake would be the death knell of the series, the moment Square-Enix admits they have nothing left to offer. It would amount to giving up.

What Final Fantasy needs is a reboot. They've rolled the last batch of FF's as a blend between high tech, high fantasy, and high drama. Something different needs to be tried to reinvigorate the series. If FF15 bombs, they're in deep trouble.

 

[Andronicus]

Yeah, my friend picked it up and wasn't impressed. I got about a 15 minute look at it, and it looked very lacklustre. It had a godawful framerate too. As usual, I have yet to find the first MMO that I'd be willing to pay a subscription for.

Still, high hopes for Versus.

 

[2xDouble]

You know, I think the original announcement video (that I'm too lazy to look up right now, cookies for whoever finds it) says it all in one image and two sounds: Final Fantasy XIV "YAY!!" Online "argh!"

 

[Vierran]

This isn't enough to make me want to play it anymore then i have.

 

[Danpascooch]

Are you kidding me?

It's bad enough to try releasing a FFMMO considering:

1.) WoW has it nearly locked down
2.) They ALREADY TRIED ONE AND FAILED
3.) After FF13, brand loyalty is at the lowest point in its history


But not only do they do it anyway, but they release it half finished when there is no time pressure? I mean, why are they trying to get it out right now anyway? If anything, they should wait until about 4 months AFTER cataclysm, instead of losing their entire user base when it comes out.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

They need to make a FINAL Final Fantasy. It needs to be written by Yasumi Matsuno. You know, the guy who wrote the story for both Vargrant Story and Final Fantasy Tactics. The guy that got sick while writing the story for FFXII and had to leave. That's why FFXII's story felt so jumbled people. This guy needs to write what I guess we'll be calling FF15. It needs to be the last one we see for maybe a console generation. Square Enix needs to sit down and actually think about where they want to take it after that. They maybe should just even start remaking FF 7. That's all that they could do without making more people pissed off.

 

[yanipheonu]

Well maybe they should actually, y'know, FINISH THE GAME. Seriously, it's embarrassing they'd release it in this state.

 

[yanipheonu]

Square Enix may not have released the caliber of product that typically bears the Final Fantasy name.

You mean like FFXIII? Making a shitty movie interspersed player-controlled episodes of running from Point A to Point B does not count as a "game". At the very least they could have marketed it as a "minimally interactive film" rather than a "video game".

You mean like FFX right? Seriously, they stopped making open world FF games a while ago.

 

[MasterChief892039]

You mean like FFXIII? Making a shitty movie interspersed player-controlled episodes of running from Point A to Point B does not count as a "game". At the very least they could have marketed it as a "minimally interactive film" rather than a "video game".

You mean like FFX right? Seriously, they stopped making open world FF games a while ago.

That's true. But at least the combat in FFX required more player input than just pressing X. And the summons you got were actually useful, and they had some dignity instead of transforming into motorcycles or go-karts.

 

[nash_clovis]

Of all the things they could do to this series, remaking FF7 isn't among them. We already have Dirge of Cerberus, Advent Children, and Crisis Core. How much could you milk the game before it runs dry?

 

[jp201]

I bought the collectors edition which let me play early and it cost $75.

biggest waste of money I spent.

This MMO is just awful in it's current state and would take a massive amount of hotfixes and patches to be on par with other MMO games.

Should have spent one more year in development before release. If you can't even do simple things as get profession order correct (example is a low level craftable item 1 requires a materials that you would have to be a higher crafter at 10 to make). If you cant even get that right don't even bother releasing.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

Don't like the game? PLAY MORE OF IT!

Haha, this is what I was gonna say! Like, what kind of reward is letting them play a shit game for longer. If Square had guts, they could pull it from the shelf and do-over the whole thing. But they're Square Enix, so they don't.

I wonder if this is all just a ploy, akin to New Coke (I have my theories about this regarding Windows Vista, too). You release the crappiest product possible, dressed up all "good", and then you release your next thing and it's the saviour of your beloved franchise. Final Fantasy XV comes out and is the best Final Fantasy yet, and everyone looks back on XIV as "that shit one".

Happened with Windows Vista too, they burned out Vista in a few days amid a flurry of hype, it was shit, then the announce Windows 7 and it saves us from Vista and it's abundance of bugs and poorly thought out features.

But most likely scenario is, Square is just dumb.

 

[TheBaron87]

and instead Square Enix may not have released the caliber of product that typically bears the Final Fantasy name.

This is the part that always gets me. Who had high expectations for this game? I used to enjoy Square games, when they were actually good (pretty much just the SNES ones). We're talking about the company that made Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy 8, why isn't there a Square cycle like the Sonic cycle? Then again, we're talking about the gamer community that claims to enjoy Kingdom Hearts and FF8, so you get the game you deserve, I guess.

 

[TheBaron87]

Square Enix may not have released the caliber of product that typically bears the Final Fantasy name.

You mean like FFXIII? Making a shitty movie interspersed player-controlled episodes of running from Point A to Point B does not count as a "game". At the very least they could have marketed it as a "minimally interactive film" rather than a "video game".

You mean like FFX right? Seriously, they stopped making open world FF games a while ago.

There has never been an "open world" FF game.

 

[megs1120]

I still don't understand why they feel the need to release Final Fantasy MMOs.

I instantly am not going to play one because of subscription fees, I have an expensive enough lifestyle as it is without having to pay per month to play a game.

Just stop trying to make multiplayer ones and spend more time remaking FF7. You know we all want it anyway.

Thought we'd all been over that the remake is never gonna happen.

Given the massive dead start of FF14, which I assume the idea of which was to make a money printing machine (one of the side or even main goal of making an mmo in the first place), they might as well just make FF7 again, because that WOULD be a money printing machine, as all they'd have to do was add voice acting and improve the graphics, they've got everything else planned, all of which would make a successful and very lucrative game, so they might as well.

Well, if you remember, it would take ages to make even with the best developers, and Square just don't have the time or money to just focus on one game for that long a time.

I know they keep saying that, but the old Final Fantasy team made Lost Odyssey and that game was huge. Claiming it'd take forever is just an excuse not to try. Besides, all the people responsible for the good Final Fantasies left Square Enix years ago, so how good could a FFVII remake by the current team be?