15 December, 2013

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn - Play Diary #3 - May the Twelve Guide Us

   It seems the better part of FFXIV's life cycle now is all about troubleshooting, which isn't so unorthodox for a young, teenage MMO; you deal with all sorts of existential crises.

When 2.0 was first launched, there was so much traffic and server congestion that Squeenix had to take such frowned-upon measures as character creation restrictions and withholding digital sale so new players couldn't get in and old players already in endured incessant server PMS. Even the best of my leniency to Square failed me and I almost quit myself when I had persistent logout and lockout issues. Well, I lost it for like half a day and went "Well, Squeenix, yuuuu SAKKU!" and literally 4 hours later, the issue got fixed and all was well with the world.

   Traffic eventually smoothed out due either to more worlds having been added or that many players simply ragequit altogether, apparently forgetting the fact that the game was not only an installment of one of the most popular franchises in the history of gaming but also a multiplayer online one and initial server issues are therefore a matter of course. My point is, whenever these issue surface people's first reflex is to point fingers at the development team without stopping to think for a second about what they went through to bring this game to life! they only think about their own immediate, selfish pleasures nowadays....the best word to describe what I feel about it is mou!! It's Japanese for...I don't know, frustration at the injustice of the world!

   So we played the game, marveled at the marvels and ranted at the inconveniences like everyone else. Wifey was a zealous disciple of the hand and the lack of a sort function drove those players in particular over the edge of tolerance. We also struggled during mid-level dungeons with connection lag, particularly those that required impeccable timing like the Temple of Qarn and Cutter's Cry. Popular FATEs and sanctuaries were equally hellish in terms of crowd lag.

BUT!

   Every single thing we did was so much bloody fun! From hardcore dungeon runs, tanking like a pro, helping people out, to crafting for our Free Company, enduring a certain bossy Falafel ordering us around to eat this meal, do that provisional quest and take that levequest, linkshelling with the most wonderful players (and the less wonderful..), even just hanging around and ogling/screenshotting each other and everything else while walking through town was absolutely addictive and I've got screenshot folders by the goobbueful to show for it. Of course, it was another perk that Squeenix kept seducing us with all these features coming up in only a few days.

   Ya did well, Squeenix! Looking forward to the upcoming patch that'll hopefully iron out whatever kinks left and add SO MUCH MORE CONTENT, I mean just look at this script from the last letter from the producer. :O


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