No Place Like Home

Coast to Coast has always been very welcoming, and I do miss their presense in this game as I recorded this. Being an explorer is something that I do love, but it definitely feels at odds with the knowledge that I have friends lurking around the edges. Friends were always essential in FFXI, not so much in other games. I've had tons of fun in the more solo, more casual games like City of Heroes. But being in another game so much like my last major timesink, it is odd being alone in the world, in a sense.

The game as a new MMO is nice, there is a lot of hand-holding and you get the feel of how to play without having to read the novel that was the original game's manual. But as a Final Fantasy, you can see the hardcore elements peering through the forest of newbie friendliness. The graphics are truly awesome, and the controls are responsive with the use of a controller rather than the keyboard and mouse. The guildleves as a replacement for Fields of Valor are decent enough, but the time limitations on getting more, and the limited number to can acquire are quite a pain. Also the fact that tutorial guildleves take the spot of experience gathering ones means choosing between learning the game and playing the game.

Party dynamics are broken. To search for a class, you have to have leveled that class to some degree. And anti power leveling script in the game is causing healers to trash melee's experience gain. And overall, what you see most is tons of people soloing their exp rather than bothering to talk.

The chat interface... well I will save that for my next blog entry. Instead, let's focus on the stuff I spoke about in the video for now.

My initial experiences have been mostly positive, but I have seen several bugbears in the game that I know will drive me from this game, not the least of which is the lack of true interaction with my fellow adventurers.
I will be going into all my thoughts on where this game is going soon, that entry is almost written (no video will accompany it).

I hope you guys are enjoying this new format, any complaints or suggestions can be left here or on the video.