This review is outdated as hell and contains statements that were false even 3-4 months ago. Only a small section was written after the release of the PS4 version.
The game is even better now :)
Patch 2.2 just came out and it's like a small expansion. Content comes in waves in MMOs, that's just how it is. If you play a lot, which you obviously did, you'll run out until more comes. The last month before 2.2 I only did coil once a week. Now I play hours every day. 2.2 is awesome.
You don't seem to realize that North America has some of the worst internet in the world. Where I live bandwidth caps have never existed and I get 50mbit up/down for the less than the prize of a big pizza. My mother even has fiber.
I'd rather have a lot of new content regularly. Besides, since FFXIV came out I have spent less money per month because I get my fill of entertainment from that game alone. Where I live 12€ a month is nothing anyway. The 125g burger I ate on friday cost more than that.
You just need to learn the encounter. Normal-mode garuda isn't hard, but it's unforgiving if you don't know what's going on.
You can't sell green gear that drop in dungeons on the market, so you clearly don't know what you're talking about.
It won't happen. SE made this game with their own money so there's no pressure to make a quick buck by going F2P to pay investors back. All other MMOs I know of after WoW have been backed by investors.
Movies have natural motion blur due to being filmed with a camera.
Or in the case of rendered movies, high quality motion blur which no computer yet is even close to do in real time.
24 fps without motion blur makes my eyes bleed.
The crappy "motion blur" you see in some games is not a good approximation to natural motion blur and does next to nothing to create the illusion of a smooth video.
You seem kinda butthurt that so many do in fact like it. Too bad for you that you don't. For me, FFXIV is only game to give me the "first MMO" feeling again. I'm addicted; played it every single day the servers have been up since beta phase 2. I could explain why I like it, but that's all subjective anyway so there's little point.
Yes, too soon for most of the world. Everyone I know however, me included, up here in a middle sized town in Northern Europe, loathes discs. Stores only have discs for the most popular games now, because they sell so little of them. If it's not GTA or something you'll pretty much have to order online if you want a disc.
That being said, a 50GB download isn't even a 2 hour wait if the speeds are as good as on Steam. Also, download limits per month are unheard of up...
It's mildly annoying yes, but I doubt anyone has ever quit an mmo due to gold spam. You included.
If you get the PS3 version now, you can upgrade to the PS4 version for free.
Yes, people are evil, and both NSA and the police consists of people. Who's gonna watch over the watchers?
It's hardly early to review the early levels. Many people have played in several beta phases and the full game has been out for 8 days now.
Personally, FFXIV make me feel like I'm playing my first MMO again. I haven't been this addicted since WoW came out 8(?) years ago.
The early levels aren't even this game's strong point. It just gets better and better as more features and stuff unlock. Here's an image illustrating this:
I'm just level 30 at the moment, but from what I hear endgame is already in - and it's very hard. 3 months from now endgame will be expanded further.
But even if there was no endgame; the game cost $30 and you get 1 month for free. It's worth it just for the story and 1-50 experience alone.
I haven't had a single disconnect since a few days after release.
Usually I agree, but for this particular site all the slides are actually loaded at the same time when you open the page the first time. When clicking prev/next page the new slide is shown using javascript (which is why it is very fast and smooth). You can confirm this by using the browser debugger (F12).
The javascript does some additional requests when clicking prev/next page though. 1 to www.google-analytics.com and 2 to ad.doubleclick.net. The last host is blocked by defa...
"Again, speaking personally, the one thing that I truly hate is the idea that expression of my own opinion towards Square and the FFXIII titles might be souring the enjoyment others still have towards them."
Don't worry about it. I can assure you that liking a game brings more enjoyment than hating a game. And personally, I only feel increased enjoyment by knowing that I can enjoy something the haters can't :)
It's also interesting that ...
I feel sad for those whose decision to buy a game depends on whether it's 720p or 1080p.
I'm 35 years old, but I will never buy another disk if I can help it.