This weekend, I had a very weird culture shock. I'm not gonna lie.
I played FFXIV back in 2010, when the game was first released. Back then, I was super hyped for the game and even purchased the collectors edition of it. I still have it stored somewhere with all the weird little things it contains.
Back then, I really tried to like FFXIV 1.0, but I couldn't get myself to play the game a lot.
I didn't really like the controls a lot and the entire game felt very empty. There was almost no UI visible during regular gameplay, which made the game feel even more "empty".
As it was the first MMORPG for me after WoW, I didn't really want to compare the games.
I took the game as it was and just thought to myself: 'I just didn't really get it yet'.
I really like some aspects of the game back then. Instead of being bound to a class, you could choose different abilities from different classes and create your "own" unique class in theory. I loved that mechanic.
But at some point, I lost interest in the game, because I was a real "hardcore" player back then and strongly disliked all the mechanics, which forced me to play less. I could only play around 8 Quests each day or something like that. I would gain less EXP after a certain time, which actually caused me to play "more", because I wanted to get "all out" of the available EXP cap each week.
That caused me to turn away from FFXIV 1.0 and get back to WoW at the time.
After not having played MMORPG for about 2-3 years, I finally got some interest again, after having played around in WoW Classic. I didn't touch FFXIV 2.0 back in the day, because I still had those "bad memories" and didn't really think it could be that different.
I saw some Youtube Videos about good MMORPGs in 2019 and FFXIV popped up in almost all of them.
Naturally, I was a little bit confused, so I informed myself a little bit more.
After some research, I decided to give the game a shot and tried it out.
But before actually playing anything, I was first very confused about the monetization model of the game and its expansions. Do I need to buy a new starter for my old account? Do I need to buy all expansions? Do I only need to buy the latest expansion? What is this Steam vs PC platform talk? Is there a free trial?
After some more research, I finally created a free trial on a new account.
And let me tell you, my mind was blown.
But not before being very skeptical for the very first minutes, because of the introduction cutscenes.
In 1.0 you started with a nice little voiced cutscene, which really helped to create a nice atmosphere.
The presentation was so good (or at least it was in my memory) that I was a little bit disappointed in the introduction of the current version.
Especially my wife was very puzzled about there not being any voice over in the game. I could understand it a little bit more, but I was still worried about the rest of the game.
Usually, you really want to present all your "good" sides as early as possible to really hook a player. So I expected a similar (or even the same) cutscene from FFXIV 1.0.
I remained sceptical for a little bit longer afterwards, because I couldn't really see a lot of other people. Although all the symbols on the minimap gave me hope about the actual content of the game.
As soon as I finished my "tutorial quest", I could see all the other players and my mind was blown.
Just seeing all the NPCs in this "dead city" from 1.0 was already weird enough. But now, there are even people!
And there are a lot of them!
I cannot empathize enough how weird this feeling is to see this old world being so full.
It feels kind of like time traveling or alternative universe to me. It's really weird. It is really difficult to put it into words.
Not only that, but I also have things to do in this world. A lot of things! In the beginning, it even feels like there is "too much", when you look at the minimap and see all the different icons and what you can do there.
Now that I'm thinking about it... Was there even a minimap in 1.0?
With all those limitations of 1.0, you really didn't feel like you were progressing at all.
You didn't get any gear unless you craft it. You had to be in some weird "room" to buy/sell stuff from individual players. You never felt like the game was actually designed for Mouse/Keyboard.
The game is a lot more now how other MMOs are being without losing too much of its own identity and I really love it.
I played all weekend and it's still very weird to come across some areas (or assets) I remember from the past.
I'm still suprised about how many new bits of content I unlock when doing my Story Quests. It is really a lot and I hope there's still a lot to do, once you're in the "endgame".
I love how the game teaches you combat movement very early on and reminds you constantly about it. I even completed my first Dungeons and was completely suprised by how "readable" all the mechanics are being structured. I have never played those bosses before, yet the abilities are indicated in a really great self-explanatory way.
I feel really stupid for not having tried the game earlier, but it still feels very surreal to me. Even now.
I want to give a huge compliment to the developers. You did a fantastic job.
I already purchased the complete edition and will explore this world even more.
I've never been this invested into a game since the good old days of WoW. I'm so happy about it and can't wait to continue playing.
Just thank you!
TLDR: Time-Traveling/Alternate Universe Experience of former FFXIV 1.0 Player who enjoys this "new" version of FFXIV.
Gamedevs did an amazing job! Love the game! Will play a lot more!
submitted by /u/iatrik
[link] [comments]
Continue reading...
I played FFXIV back in 2010, when the game was first released. Back then, I was super hyped for the game and even purchased the collectors edition of it. I still have it stored somewhere with all the weird little things it contains.
Back then, I really tried to like FFXIV 1.0, but I couldn't get myself to play the game a lot.
I didn't really like the controls a lot and the entire game felt very empty. There was almost no UI visible during regular gameplay, which made the game feel even more "empty".
As it was the first MMORPG for me after WoW, I didn't really want to compare the games.
I took the game as it was and just thought to myself: 'I just didn't really get it yet'.
I really like some aspects of the game back then. Instead of being bound to a class, you could choose different abilities from different classes and create your "own" unique class in theory. I loved that mechanic.
But at some point, I lost interest in the game, because I was a real "hardcore" player back then and strongly disliked all the mechanics, which forced me to play less. I could only play around 8 Quests each day or something like that. I would gain less EXP after a certain time, which actually caused me to play "more", because I wanted to get "all out" of the available EXP cap each week.
That caused me to turn away from FFXIV 1.0 and get back to WoW at the time.
After not having played MMORPG for about 2-3 years, I finally got some interest again, after having played around in WoW Classic. I didn't touch FFXIV 2.0 back in the day, because I still had those "bad memories" and didn't really think it could be that different.
I saw some Youtube Videos about good MMORPGs in 2019 and FFXIV popped up in almost all of them.
Naturally, I was a little bit confused, so I informed myself a little bit more.
After some research, I decided to give the game a shot and tried it out.
But before actually playing anything, I was first very confused about the monetization model of the game and its expansions. Do I need to buy a new starter for my old account? Do I need to buy all expansions? Do I only need to buy the latest expansion? What is this Steam vs PC platform talk? Is there a free trial?
After some more research, I finally created a free trial on a new account.
And let me tell you, my mind was blown.
But not before being very skeptical for the very first minutes, because of the introduction cutscenes.
In 1.0 you started with a nice little voiced cutscene, which really helped to create a nice atmosphere.
The presentation was so good (or at least it was in my memory) that I was a little bit disappointed in the introduction of the current version.
Especially my wife was very puzzled about there not being any voice over in the game. I could understand it a little bit more, but I was still worried about the rest of the game.
Usually, you really want to present all your "good" sides as early as possible to really hook a player. So I expected a similar (or even the same) cutscene from FFXIV 1.0.
I remained sceptical for a little bit longer afterwards, because I couldn't really see a lot of other people. Although all the symbols on the minimap gave me hope about the actual content of the game.
As soon as I finished my "tutorial quest", I could see all the other players and my mind was blown.
Just seeing all the NPCs in this "dead city" from 1.0 was already weird enough. But now, there are even people!
And there are a lot of them!
I cannot empathize enough how weird this feeling is to see this old world being so full.
It feels kind of like time traveling or alternative universe to me. It's really weird. It is really difficult to put it into words.
Not only that, but I also have things to do in this world. A lot of things! In the beginning, it even feels like there is "too much", when you look at the minimap and see all the different icons and what you can do there.
Now that I'm thinking about it... Was there even a minimap in 1.0?
With all those limitations of 1.0, you really didn't feel like you were progressing at all.
You didn't get any gear unless you craft it. You had to be in some weird "room" to buy/sell stuff from individual players. You never felt like the game was actually designed for Mouse/Keyboard.
The game is a lot more now how other MMOs are being without losing too much of its own identity and I really love it.
I played all weekend and it's still very weird to come across some areas (or assets) I remember from the past.
I'm still suprised about how many new bits of content I unlock when doing my Story Quests. It is really a lot and I hope there's still a lot to do, once you're in the "endgame".
I love how the game teaches you combat movement very early on and reminds you constantly about it. I even completed my first Dungeons and was completely suprised by how "readable" all the mechanics are being structured. I have never played those bosses before, yet the abilities are indicated in a really great self-explanatory way.
I feel really stupid for not having tried the game earlier, but it still feels very surreal to me. Even now.
I want to give a huge compliment to the developers. You did a fantastic job.
I already purchased the complete edition and will explore this world even more.
I've never been this invested into a game since the good old days of WoW. I'm so happy about it and can't wait to continue playing.
Just thank you!
TLDR: Time-Traveling/Alternate Universe Experience of former FFXIV 1.0 Player who enjoys this "new" version of FFXIV.
Gamedevs did an amazing job! Love the game! Will play a lot more!
submitted by /u/iatrik
[link] [comments]
Continue reading...