FINAL FANTASY XIV, The Lodestone (http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com/pl/teaser/)

holy fucktits, they're rebuilding the game. And the kicker is that they're going to start charging us before it's out.

Thoughts?

Not surprised SE is slugging out a charge for this... considering it's been a year since it's release, and for that year has been a financial sinkhole for them. In all honesty, SE should just stop with MMO's and stick to console games. A case of too little, too late imo.

I agree. And I really don't like the idea of them charging people a subscription to a game that hasn't improved yet.

I will be canceling my sub, and waiting for the 2.0 free trial.

or just go to a private server.

Ah, Purrr, I actually disagree with you here. The game has come a considerable way since it's terrible release a year ago. FFXIV has greatly improved particularly in the past six months or so (especially with the abolition of the stupid Fatigue system, the elimination of physical levels, the addition of chocobos and airships, and much else besides).

Besides, we all purchased the game with the knowledge that we would have to pay to play eventually. It seems to me people have gotten so used to not paying to play the game now that it's finally time to cough up people are getting shirty about it. If fifteen dollars a month or whatever FFXIV's fees are is too much, just sacrifice something else that you can easily live without. It's all a matter of priorities.

As for Version 2.0, apart from the silly new GUI which looks like it was pinched straight outof FFXIII (and then fused with WoW's interface) - no doubt to appeal to the PS3 crowd - I'm actually excited about the new direction SE are planning to take FFXIV. People have long complained about FFXIV's environments being copied and pasted from FFXI, so now they have a reason to change it - slamming a big rock into La Noscaa and causing general upheaval throughout the world. It's just sad that the current content will be no longer available for new players after the change (i.e. all the current story quests etc), but that's the price that has to be paid. Either way, it's going to be an interesting fourteen months for FFXIV. ;)

Plus, finally, White Mage is coming to the game! :D

Well yes it has definitely improved with the last couple of patches, but I can't help but think that they are trying to get money from players solely based on a promise of 2.0 which is a year away.

I can't wait until everyone starts complaining about the New Final Fantasy XIV, forcing Square to go back to its original formula and renaming it Final Fantasy XIV Classic.

Looking over some of that concept art, I'm impressed! In fact, if the overall quality can match that of the concepts, perhaps they really can regain their integrity after their slip-up :) They should ditch the "2.0", seeing as it was already FFXI 2.0 to begin with :p Now it's actually beginning to take on an identity of its own :)

http://cdn.pimpmyspace.org/media/pms/c/fj/a8/hi/kefka.gif

The game has already improved greatly and I enjoy it moreso now than when I started playing.

It's a shame they didn't finish the story with the Garlean Empire yet.

fuck you square enix

http://cdn.pimpmyspace.org/media/pms/c/fj/a8/hi/kefka.gif

The game has already improved greatly and I enjoy it moreso now than when I started playing.

It's a shame they didn't finish the story with the Garlean Empire yet.

The fact that :

A: The game was released before it was in any complete state.
B: A bullshit registration method involving a disreputable third party company (Click and Buy).
C: Missing a lot of story content.
D: Missing a lot of game content.
E: No new character races, just reusing the ones in FFXI with different names.
F: While they did have large zones, they seemed to of been reusing similar zones from XI, just graphically touched up.
G: The amount of time for SE to admit they made mistakes and appoint a new team leader/team members to try and rectify the matter.
H: Complete overhaul of the game now, with payment being taken from gamers BEFORE it's even completed.
I: The PC specs needed to run the game optimally, require a high end machine. Those with older PC's are left out.

... are some of the reasons I dislike this game. This whole 'Version 2.0', while may be what some FFXIV fans are wanting, the fact that they will still have to pay for it, while it is in Beta is ridiculous. Just a move on SE's part to scramble and accrue more monetary income, and after what's happened to Japan and SE in the last 12 months, who can blame them for wanting money fast?

Still, the whole experiment with Click and Buy has bitten SE in the ass, what with SE now looking at reinstating the direct payment option for FFXI again (Due to the outcry by many of XI's fanbase) and maybe have them looking at perhaps implementing the same thing for XIV. Though for people complaining about having to pay for it or say that they'll cancel their subscription now that XIV will require a monthly subscription fee is ridiculous. Do they really think XIV was going to be free to play forever? That defeats the purpose of SE making the game in the first place. Although there are a lot of shallow/cheap gamers out there...

What I think SE needs to do is put FFXIV on the backburner for like another year; just don't even mess with it. They've got all kinds of other projects underway, notably FFXIII-2, FF: Type-0 (previously called Agito), FFXIII Versus, and the new MMO in the works (which really should've been put off for a while, IMHO). Since they screwed up with XIV so badly, it's probably best that they set it aside and let things cool down, then come back and think things through a little more sensibly. As Darth Revan pointed out, it's entirely understandable that they're trying to make a quick buck, after the tragedy that happened in Japan. But sticking their fans with an entirely unfinished and underdeveloped product was never a good idea.

Having realized the error of their ways, I do think they're still jumping the gun a little bit. FFXIII is still relatively new, if you look at the time between most previous installments. X and XI were only about a year apart, taking into consideration the date of Japan's release date of FFXI. Between XI and XII was four years, between XII and XIII was three, and finally between XIII and XIV was . . . what, a few months, it seems like? Really, SE were pushing for bonus cash long before the earthquakes hit, and I'd even heard rumors of FFXV (or whatever 15's numeral is) being in the works at around the same time (in fact I think I read it here somewhere). Still, they seemed to just divebomb us with games all at once, all of which have received massive amounts of criticism despite good sales. FFXIII has done extremely well, but I've never seen a FF title get as criticized in so many areas. The story, the lack of towns, the linearity, the characters, the battle system; none of it has been berated this much in previous titles, as far as I've seen. FFXIII does all the things I care about right; I don't mind the linearity, I don't even mind battles being somewhat less involving. I have problems keeping things straight in my head as it is, so having a game that's a little more . . . focused? on one straightforward agenda is not entirely the worst thing in the world. I just don't like having no control over my partner character in battle >.< Sure, the paradigms handle that, but . . . bah. I'm derailing now. Back to XIV.

SE just seems to be entirely in shambles with all the million things they try to work on at once. Before they started making direct sequels to the games, everything seemed to be in nice working order, with just numbered titles coming out every few years. Now they've got FFX-2, XII-2: Revenant Wings, expansions to FFXI, XIII-2, the Compilation of FFVII, FF movies, the Dissidia titles, Kingdom Hearts, remakes/ports/reboots galore, the Fabula Nova Crystallis series, several MMOs they're struggling to maintain, screwing over their fans withe the payment options for said MMOs, lack of much Uematsu contributions to recent scores (save for FFXIV, apparently), and some of the best recent titles being outside the numbered franchise (Dissidia, Crisis Core, etc. IMO). Some would call this expanding and broadening their horizons. But since they don't give adequate time for each thing, I call it cluttering their agenda. I only say this because it seems that they try to tackle these things all at once nowadays, losing their touch in the process. It just seems they're in total disarray these days and need some kind of order to be returned. I hope that order does return, because although I still hold faith in them, it seems my faith is not entirely mutual with their major fanbase >.<

Yeah there is no doubt that this game is one of my favorite games and i am playing this game since first version of this game had revealed and continually i am trying new versions as it comes and i feel joy to play this game.

private server available ???