[BotageL]

Controller mode didn't seem too bad, but I did wish there was an option to increase the UI size all at once in the PC version, so I could play it on the HDTV. Ended up switching back to the keyboard and mouse at the desk, which is how I prefer to play these games, but I want options, man, options.
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http://www.mdgeist.com/

[rye]

It's funny, I had a really hard time naming my character too. I'll have to think of something better for a proper character.

I wouldn't be surprised if they added UI scaling options later.
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[LandRoverAttack]

I didn't even get to play the game this weekend and now it's hell of on my mind again. I'll be more than glad to play with you folks on Open Beta. Glad it seems like folks enjoyed it, I know I enjoyed the latter days of 1.0. Hope it keeps the spirit alive in a much-improved shell.
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[BotageL]

Looks like another test was confirmed for this weekend, Friday @ 2am Pacific until Sunday @ 2am Pacific. I'll probably be on most of Saturday, so I can be sure to burn out before release.
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http://www.mdgeist.com/

[rye]

I'll be there a good chunk of saturday, and probably Friday night too.
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[LandRoverAttack]

where's my invite squeenix :< you said it was coming!!
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[BotageL]

Oh hey the social network features are up

e: Oh yeah, if I don't already have your character name and you're playing this, let me know it so I can send you guys the linkshell and we can do chats in-game.
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http://www.mdgeist.com/

[TXTSWORD]

Is it safe to assume the first month will be free?

http://na.beta.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/1817335/

[rye]

(*･∀･)／＼(･∀･*)

http://na.beta.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/1796018/
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[bort]

http://na.beta.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/1799840/

i had fun with this game but... i will articulate how pointless and sloppy it feels later, i guess. there's cool stuff about it but i don't really GET mmos like this. that said, i will play with you folks this weekend, as i did enjoy myself for whatever reason. can't see myself paying for it though. i ran into botagel at some point in the main town by me but it was only for a few seconds. i'm at a little bit lower of a level than you guys but hopefully i can fit in all the same.

[rye]

I will probably try out another class this weekend, bort, which will make my level lower than yours.

I didn't really enjoy the game until we did our first dungeon. Then I saw the potential.

This is definitely a game to chill out with some people more than anything else. In a sense, MMOs are sort of like glorified chatrooms, except it's a chatWORLD, a theme park, and there's lots of other stuff to do while you are chatting. I can see the appeal.
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[tacotaskforce]

here is me

http://na.beta.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/2248621/
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[BotageL]

You're going to have to pick a different dye color for your outfit, you realize. Something that looks less like me.
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http://www.mdgeist.com/

[Takashi]

Me in my rush-to-level-up-as-cheaply-as-possible grab.

http://na.beta.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/2145682/
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low-end.net | Whimsy (soon) | Serfdom 2.0

[rye]

Which version of the game is this screenshot from? Or is it just a mock-up?


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[mauve]

It's a mockup, I remember that image from when they were trying to figure out what the new interface should look like.
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twit

[rye]

I really like all the little extra icons and colored text. Kinda bummed the final version lacks that, but I am sure it is much more processor intensive.
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[BotageL]

All the little icons on the bottom right, representing the menu options and your inventory, are in the current PC build. It's surprisingly close to what they actually went with!
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http://www.mdgeist.com/

[CubaLibre]

aggrrgh HUD
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Let's Play, starring me.

[rye]

looks like the servers are up
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[TXTSWORD]

can't wait to be hooooome

[radish]

A friend had a spare key he couldn't use, so I'm in this weekend!

Playing with IRL friends on Goblin, so probably won't run into any of y'all (you're on Ultros, right?)
Game is great! I got to lvl 13 before I spent forever fucking around with all the class switching and crafting stuff

http://na.beta.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/2819351/

[BotageL]

Good times with the Ultros Crew as usual. We need one more SBer to show up on Saturday evening to get an all-SB group going for dungeons! Gamepad controls are relaxing except for targetting specific enemies in clusters, which sucks. Party selection is easy for healing, though.

Tonight's vanity shot, brought to you by random, undyeable mage drops:

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http://www.mdgeist.com/

[Takashi]

Define "evening" in terms of an hour and a timezone.
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low-end.net | Whimsy (soon) | Serfdom 2.0

[Toptube]

OM NOM SCREEN$HAWTZ

[BotageL]

[rye]

Screenshot report.



After meeting up with BotageL & TXT, we proceeded to knock-out two of my story-quest line dungeons. Seems like all of the dungeons come through the story-line, but aside from some quick travel between cities, there wasn't a whole lot of fluff between them. Seems like after you hit level 15 they stop giving you grindy missions for the story.

You're not allowed to go into a dungeon until you have the appropriate quest. If you're above the level cap, the game will "sync" you to the dungeon's max allowable level, so that it remains a challenge. (you will still get experience) I actually like this idea.

If FF14 is a themepark, Dungeons are rides. When you go into them, your party is kept separate from other parties running that same dungeon (the game creates a separate instance of each dungeon, hence they are called "instanced quests"). You are given a time-limit to complete it.



The first dungeon was in a column-like layout, and we ran through trying to get to these cultists who were summoning some big bad guy (who was the end-boss).

Sorry these aren't the best. It was hard for me to multitask.



One thing I don't like is that all of the battle animations are really flashy. They can be adjusted on the PC, but I couldn't find a way to do so on PS3.



It's not the most visually impressive game with graphics tech, but I think the art direction is still pretty great, and makes up for a lot of it. I don't have a crazy-powerful PC (which is my Mac), so it's nice to be able to run the game. I think the game looks pretty good on the PS3 too, considering it is six year old hardware with a weird chipset.



The mist you see at the bottom of the screen is game-speak for: This area will be sealed off 15 seconds after you all step into it.





It's like a screenshot from Myst! I still like this photo. I am not running at the highest graphic settings.



google search result for: "Catgirls in Dark Souls"
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[rye]

Here's a mini-boss that I really liked in the second dungeon that we did.

You could barely do any damage to it through physical attacks. You needed, instead, to use a switch in the room to spawn a bomb, which would eventually explode and divide it into smaller and smaller pieces (which you could then kill in a few hits). The bomb's explosion could easily take off a chunk of your life, and sometimes enemies would spawn and attack it from the site of the room and throw a wrench into your plans. It was a clever little fight.


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[BotageL]

There are more grindy story quests waiting before the next dungeon. I probably won't be on until after 10 pm Eastern tonight, so I suggest hitting those up as fast as you can.
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http://www.mdgeist.com/

[TXTSWORD]

Yeah there seems to be a long lineup of story fetchquests between the copper dungeon and whatever is next. Had to stop for a bit but I'll try and get back on to make sure I have the next dungeon so we can get together again. Or we could just do the guildhests whatever.

[rye]

I'll try. but I am also ok with guildhests, or running some of the lower ones again as another class or something?
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[TXTSWORD]

Hmm yeah I have to gain two levels to do the dungeon and there aren't really any quests running around for me to do it. Maybe guildhests are for the guildbest.

P.S. someone ask botagel how he feels about quest gating :)

[Toptube]

I like this games art direction a ton.

I'll probably give it a go a soon as it is possible. But probably won't stick with it. Sigh...

[radish]

Does the beta end tonight or sometime tomorrow?

I just did the quest that unlocks the airships and saw the cutscene with all the cool lookin evil magitek dudes and now I'm a cook and I want to keep playing.

[rye]

The beta ends tonight. I think next weekend is the last of Phase 3.

So tonight we fought Ifrit, which was a challenging battle that we had to do a few times, but not unfair challenging. it was a very satisfying victory.

Then we did a bunch of guildhests, which are now my favorite part of this game. I was on PS3 so I didn't take screenshots. I did figure out how to switch my text input to Japanese on my PS3 though, which is actually easier than doing it on windows. I'm sure that is important information for all of you

I will explain what they are tomorrow. now i am tired
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[rye]

Any Select Brothers around this weekend and playing this?

I think I'm done with this for now, but I'd be glad to run a dungeon or two with anybody from here.


Oh hey, I never explained Guildhests: They are basically challenge battles that you need to do in a 4-man party. They're pretty good and teach you how to play your class, and also net you tons of experience and Gil. (We were getting around 10k). The catch is, while you can do the battles whenever you like, you only get the bonus experience once.
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[wpham]

The latter guildhests are a pretty cool way of introducing raid-style PvE mechanics in bite-size pieces. The last boss in Brayflox's Longstop was broken last weekend, causing his core mechanic to not occur at all for a lot of people, but I like the general curve of the dungeons. I've spent the vast majority of my time testing L50 mechanics and rotations, and due to legacy I'm on the JP side until phase 4, but maybe I'll run into some of you after phase 4 starts (I play this character).
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last.fm

[TXTSWORD]

Yeah I'm gunna hold off until open beta.

[notbov]

so,

http://na.alienwarearena.com/giveaways/FINAL-FANTASY-XIV-A-Realm-Reborn-Closed-Beta-Key-Giveaway-NA

fresh beta keys, ~3300 left at time of posting
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[remote]

i actually thought i might try to log in and download this so i could play a little, but i've forgotten my password and resetting it is such a clusterfuck i don't even

this kind of shit is what's going to make this revamp fail all over again
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letterboxd | last.fm | steam

[notbov]

I played this too much today. I sorta like it, though it's very obvious whatshisname that Squenix brought in to clean things up is very versed MMOs since the whole thing feels like it's made up of little pieces lifted wholesale from other games. mostly WoW. even though my short (short) time with the original XIV was... not enjoyable, there was a sense that it was its own thing, even if I didn't find it very good. ARR is good, but it lost a lot of its personality along the way.

mostly, I'm impressed over how playable it is with a controller, though a lot of that has to due with the long-ass global cooldown, but combat is paced accordingly, so it's less something to count against it and more something to get used to. as someone who enjoys healing (i have brain problems and someone has to keep you assholes alive), I'm mostly bummed over not having enough outside of spamming Cure to do or enough skills to manage. hopefully that changes once you start mixing and matching classes and advanced classes come into play.

also, what the fuck, I was supposedly sold an awesome character creator. it's nice, but I've seen better. I mean, PSO2 lets you adjust breast size and perkiness



my cat lady conjurist-healer ended up looking really scholarly, for some reason
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