Final Fantasy XIV
Final Fantasy 14‘s official launch was just a couple days ago. It was neat to be there when the floodgates opened. Thankfully, it appeared that 90% of the newcomers already had the basic gameplay down (as most came from XI).
The only real downsides are that the game is laggy (especially if you’re not current with your CPU/video) and is quite complex.
And the biggest up-side is that second listed “downside”: It’s quite complex.
If you’re a hardcore World of Warcraft fan, you’ll hate it because similarly to XI, XIV does NOT hold your hand and lead you along. This is Final Fantasy. It’s storytelling, beauty and community. It’s not about OMFGLEWT. (If grinding away for slightly better equipment is for you, stay out of XIV; SE doesn’t want you there, Eorzea’s community doesn’t want you there, and I do not want you there. Stick with your WoW pacifier.)
Instead of trying to explain the complexities of the crafting and gathering classes (not professions, classes) or anything else that makes XIV unique, I’ll just slam up some screenies. Why? Because I’m tired of the seriousness of this post!
Here’s the interface with the official release (combat bars are brought up when in combat and macro bars are brought up when commanded – neither shown here):
Everything on screen can be moved anywhere just by dragging it to a new location.
Damn straight!
I’ll never learn to dance without your help, kid! I’ll come, I’ll come!
Visually, it becomes even more stunning if you set the buffer to “Double” and start up. I’m trying to not cause a PC explosion so I don’t.
TA!
