Selling Items Impossible in Final Fantasy XIV Compared to WoW

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
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Selling Items Impossible in Final Fantasy XIV Compared to WoW


A perfect example has been provided for why gamers aren't taking to the world of Final Fantasy XIV like you'd expect.

For those of you wondering exactly what kinds of issues players are having with a free trial extension [http://www.amazon.com/Final-Fantasy-XIV-Pc/dp/B002I0JJ2U/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1287339451&sr=8-2], this video explains them perfectly. When a Final Fantasy XIV player attempts to perform the simple task of selling 20 items, it ends up taking way longer than it should.

Game Informer points us to the video that shows off the odd interface issues Final Fantasy XIV foists upon players. It takes nearly three minutes just to complete the task of selling twenty items in Final Fantasy XIV, while a comparison to World of Warcraft [http://www.amazon.com/World-Warcraft-Cataclysm-Pc/dp/B002I0HKIU/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1287339653&sr=1-1] at the end shows how item selling should work. In WoW, it takes less than ten seconds.

Part of the problem could stem from the fact that Final Fantasy XIV has to have an interface that works both for a mouse and keyboard and a controller, as it's also planned for release on consoles next year. Still, it's things like this that make me wonder what game designers are thinking sometimes.

Don't think the issues with the game are related only to item selling, because the frustration that players are finding in just this minuscule task are also found in multiple other aspects of the game. I'm not saying that every MMOG should copy World of Warcraft, but when a genre is taken backwards in the simplest of ways it's a real problem. In fact, it's sometimes frustration from the simple things that will make people quit playing MMOGs, or any game, because nobody wants to spend all day just trying to unload Chocobo beaks. Hopefully, Square Enix will somehow get it together and fix problems like this as soon as possible.

Source: Game Informer [http://gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2010/10/16/why-i-m-thinking-of-canceling-my-final-fantasy-xiv-account.aspx]

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Daemascus

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Mar 6, 2010
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This is a good example of how a crappy interface can make a any game worse.
 

McNinja

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Sep 21, 2008
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amaranth_dru said:
I see APB all over again.
Exactly. Square Enix should not have released the game in its current form. They should have done more testing with a larger audience (i.e. not entirely fanboys) so they get a feel of what does and does not suck.
 

digital warrior

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Oct 17, 2008
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Square has been to focused on graphics and not enough on gameplay. Its actually kind of sad to see how far they have fallen.
 

Twad

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Nov 19, 2009
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If something big isnt done soon to fix FF14, this game will fail. Hard.
But after seeing a number of revire/critiques on it (and the sheer ammount of bad design/gameplay decisions in it), i dont think this game will survive.
 

GundamSentinel

The leading man, who else?
Aug 23, 2009
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It's like no-one at Squeenix ever thought about what people would actually be doing in their game. This is really embarassing.
 

mad825

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Mar 28, 2010
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well...the video surely makes the point very blunt (obvious).

anyways this most certainly backfires from SE idea of "MMOs are the future" for Final Fantasies franchise.
 

Not G. Ivingname

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Nov 18, 2009
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Anybody else think that the FFXIV music was widely overblown for one of the most boring parts (which is saying a lot) of the game?
 

Calamity

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Aug 22, 2008
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So the Escapist is now featuring classic "WoW does X better" flame bait threads?
As much as I don't agree with XIV, this is pretty sad.
 

Azhrarn-101

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Jul 15, 2008
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Sir John the Net Knight said:
Forcing a console adaptation on PC players is part of the big issue. It makes even less sense when you consider FFXI was released on both PS2 and 360 and flopped on both systems. And I thought that was an auction interface at first. I can't believe that was selling to merchants. While not every game should copy WoW, they should at least pay attention to what goes on there. Most of the other successful MMOs at least have a streamlined interface. Squeenix has no excuse for such things.

And the more I look at video of FFXIV, the more I realize it really is FFXI with a fresh coat of paint slapped on.
Actually, from what I've heard it's a step backwards even from FFXI. It at least has an auction house (rather than a player bazaar without a search option).
 

Shoggoth2588

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Aug 31, 2009
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It was difficult to see what was going on in the FFXIV video compared to WoW. I'll take your word for it though since people don't normally go out of their way to bash Final Fantasy.

*watches fullscreen on youtube*

and now I see what the problem is. Well that's too bad. I'll add this to my list of reasons for not caring about FFXIV or MMOs in general
 

Abedeus

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Sep 14, 2008
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Calamity said:
So the Escapist is now featuring classic "WoW does X better" flame bait threads?
As much as I don't agree with XIV, this is pretty sad.
Compare XIV to any RPG in the last 10 games. Hell, selling 20 items in Diablo 2, even with going to stash five or ten times, and using shortcuts is a lot faster. cRPG, MMORPG, every single freaking game with inventory screen do it better.

Also the interface and gameplay sucks in FFXIV. It was supposed to be huge, now it's just a huge failure.
 

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
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Calamity said:
So the Escapist is now featuring classic "WoW does X better" flame bait threads?
As much as I don't agree with XIV, this is pretty sad.
You missed the point.
 

JediMB

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Oct 25, 2008
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Sir John the Net Knight said:
And the more I look at video of FFXIV, the more I realize it really is FFXI with a fresh coat of paint slapped on.
No.

It's Final Fantasy XI with all the bad stuff taken out, all the good stuff taken out, some new good things added, and a buttload of new bad things added. All they kept was the looks of the player races.

They'd have been much, much, much better off just remaking FFXI in a new engine and updated the crafting/leveling system to take the focus on crafting classes into account.
 

Danzaivar

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Jul 13, 2004
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JRPG focuses on graphics and spectacle. WRPG focuses on user experience. The world keeps spinning.

Reminds me of a video I saw a while ago for unzipping a file. Took 16 minutes on Windows Vista, 25 seconds on XP, or <4 seconds on Ubuntu Linux. Save the quick bit for the end and get a chuckle from the viewer. Does draw upon the same conclusion though, what the hell where they thinking with this game?
 

Icehearted

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A necessary and expected failure. The MMO money train isn't for everyone, and creating something basic and tacking a brand to it just to move copies warrants derision. Then again I really haven't cared much for the series since 6 (although 9 and 10 were passable). I hope they stay true to their word and consider innovating rather than overcomplicating the same tired formula again and again as usual.