chewey
08-21-2010, 05:35 PM
I've been playing a bit of FF14 and I'm not too impressed. The interface is primarily designed for a gamepad and the result is extremely tedious. I have not yet found a key that opens the menu. Instead, I have to mouse over to a little icon in the bottom right corner of the screen. If you want to use something (such as an elevator) you have to mouse towards a speech bubble icon with an exclamation mark inside it, which simply opens the menu like the menu key already does, and then has you point on the action you wish to perform (use elevator). I have no idea why they couldn't let me use the elevator simply by pressing the action button. Actually, I have no idea why they couldn't just let me press a key to use the elevator.
NPCs have no information under/above their name. There's no indication of what they do and the only way to find out is to talk to them. There's also no quest markers above their heads, nor on the map for that matter. This isn't them catering to the "core" gamer, it's just poor design.
The battles seem rather dull to me and entering battles is pretty cumbersome. I can't quite explain why it seems to tedious, though. There's no actual Attack attack. You can't just left or right click to attack something. This doesn't sound all too cumbersome in writing, but in practice it bothers me a lot for some reason. I guess the only way to find out if it bothers you (the reader!) too is to go play yourself.
As of now, there's absolutely no way to skip the introduction. That's fine the first playthrough, but I had to create a second character on a different server to play with Skanker (he wasn't awake when the download finished) and so I was forced to sit through it again. I couldn't just leave it run until it was all over though, since it requires every now and then that you walk around a tiny bit and talk to an NPC. My problem with the intro and subsequent quest doesn't simply end with my inability to skip it on a second playthrough, though. No, I also dislike that this game forces you to play through a cinematic storyline that's not really all that interesting or immersive given the limitation of the genre. In my two/three hours spent with the game I've gone about doing a few quests that all begin and end with cinematics occupied by characters I have no reason to care about talking about corruption in a guild I have no reason to care about. My reaction to the story could simply be because I've never played an MMO with such an emphasis on story before, though. It did take me by surprise.
I can't think of much else to complain about right now. The game is really pretty, at least. Really, really pretty.
NPCs have no information under/above their name. There's no indication of what they do and the only way to find out is to talk to them. There's also no quest markers above their heads, nor on the map for that matter. This isn't them catering to the "core" gamer, it's just poor design.
The battles seem rather dull to me and entering battles is pretty cumbersome. I can't quite explain why it seems to tedious, though. There's no actual Attack attack. You can't just left or right click to attack something. This doesn't sound all too cumbersome in writing, but in practice it bothers me a lot for some reason. I guess the only way to find out if it bothers you (the reader!) too is to go play yourself.
As of now, there's absolutely no way to skip the introduction. That's fine the first playthrough, but I had to create a second character on a different server to play with Skanker (he wasn't awake when the download finished) and so I was forced to sit through it again. I couldn't just leave it run until it was all over though, since it requires every now and then that you walk around a tiny bit and talk to an NPC. My problem with the intro and subsequent quest doesn't simply end with my inability to skip it on a second playthrough, though. No, I also dislike that this game forces you to play through a cinematic storyline that's not really all that interesting or immersive given the limitation of the genre. In my two/three hours spent with the game I've gone about doing a few quests that all begin and end with cinematics occupied by characters I have no reason to care about talking about corruption in a guild I have no reason to care about. My reaction to the story could simply be because I've never played an MMO with such an emphasis on story before, though. It did take me by surprise.
I can't think of much else to complain about right now. The game is really pretty, at least. Really, really pretty.