On the FFXIV Open Beta

So, I've played for a bit, and I feel it only appropriate to vocalize my reactions. As a preface, I think it's appropriate to regard XIV as an upgrade or continuation of XI. Many of the players are the same, the development crew, hell, the director wanted the virtual worlds of each game to be linked, allowing characters to pass from one to the next and back again.

That being said, I feel like XIV is like some horrible marketing pitch gone awry. For every thing they've done right, there's something horrible lurking just behind it, whispered in a tone barely audible so as to hide its dark nature.

We've greatly improved character customization!
But we're taking away the auction house.

You can now move elements of the HUD to any part of the screen you want!
But we've removed all the Final Fantasy job classes.

We've made combat more active and engaging!
But you'll never figure out how to equip new actions or abilities.


Fighting, Crafting, and Harvesting all grant experience!
But you can only get full exp for 8 hours a week. 

We've drastically improved the graphics and transitions between zones!
But we're optimizing it for the eventual PS3 launch, have fun PC users.


Don't get me wrong. I am a Squaresoft fanboy above all else, and if the last two years of XI taught us anything, it's that SE will do whatever it takes to hang on to any patrons they have left. I'm sure, with the masses flocking to the open beta to see whether or not it's worth dropping $75 on the collector's edition (which also entitles owners to access one week before the official launch), SE will be forced to face the fact that many of their changes are bullets being fired directly into their executives' feet. I'm also fully aware that this is still a work in progress and there are many parts of the game that haven't even been translated from the original Japanese yet (terrifying as that concept seems with less than 20 days to the commercial launch).


All I'm saying is, as it stands, running poorly on my computer, granting a few novelties and a lot of regrets, I'm not impressed.