E3 ’10: Hands-On with Final Fantasy XIV

When Final Fantasy XIV was first announced, I met the news with trepidation and curiosity. I really liked Final Fantasy XI, but couldn’t stick out the massive grind that the first year or so of the game required. I quit and looked back with regret later upon hearing that they’d actually improved things quite a bit over the years. I am a fan of the series to the bitter end. There has not been a game I didn’t love, despite the criticisms levied against the majority of them lately. It was with all this in mind that I sat down at a computer at Square Enix’s massive E3 booth for some hands on time with Final Fantasy XIV. My opinion has changed, but not drastically because I’m still hesitant to endorse the direction it’s headed. However, I also find myself wanting to play more, and have a hunch that this might be the game that brings me back into the MMORPG fold.

The first thing we were shown after sitting down was the character creation screen, a staple important for any MMO that seeks to let players truly customize how they look in the world. The races are basically the same as they were in 11, though with slightly different names. It was explained to us that they were kind of like the same actors playing different roles. I struggled not to sniff disdainfully at this explanation simply because it seems like a cop-out. When you have the opportunity to create completely new classes for an entirely new world, why not take it? I was never a fan of the races in 11 to begin with, so a revamping would have been more than welcome.

I made my decision, taking a Hyur (at this point in the game, there is no bonus to choosing any race over any other), and moved on to the feature customization screen. It’s quite deep, and the version of the game I played was only the first phase of beta so the final number of customizable options wasn’t yet finalized. It’s all fairly standard. You pick hair, nose, jaw, facial features, etc. Anyone who has played an MMO can pretty much guess what you’ll have access to. There was an absence of the slider bars present in some customization processes, but honestly who has ever had success creating a realistic looking character with one of those bars? I applaud a lack of them as they only ever succeed in making one’s character look like a gross mutation, but they’re certainly an eventual possibility.

Once I’d gotten my appearance down, I moved on to the class screen. This is the first area where I notice the game really changing things up. I started out picking from one of four disciplines: War, Magic, the Land, the Hand. Picking a class in the beginning of the game is almost pointless though because what class you are is based on what weapon you’re equipping. Equip a sword and you’re a Gladiator. Equip a fist weapon and you’re a Pugilist. Equip a staff and you’re a Conjurer. Throw on a pickax and you’re a Miner. Yes, they even have classes for crafting and gathering. Players can choose to be a botanist, miner, blacksmith, leathercrafter, and even weaver. This is a departure from many MMOs, where crafting is merely a secondary skill that anyone can tack on, and such secondary skills are often limited. In Final Fantasy XIV the limit is only how many weapons you can carry (which is probably all of them as it is a Final Fantasy game and physics have no bearing on pack space). This is really an interesting mechanic for an MMO. It’s similar to the job system Final Fantasy games have seen in the past, but it also offers more versatility. Players can basically change class on the fly, or never change class at all if they’re feeling comfortable in a certain skin. And choosing a crafting class if you see a mining point to tap won’t completely cripple your character as even the crafters will still retain some combat abilities. I forgot to ask whether classes could be changed mid battle, nor did I get a chance to try such a thing when I finally did get into a combat area. I would wager a guess that once in battle, class is locked or weapons are unable to be switched simply because it would make a character very powerful if they could morph into healers and mages and tanks on the fly in one fight.

We were next allowed to load a pre-made character and venture out into the world to fight something, just to get a sense of the combat mechanics. The first thing that smacked me in the face and left me slightly jaw-unhinged was how gorgeous Eorzea looks. There hasn’t been an MMO this attractive yet, and with good reason. Online games try to keep graphical issues limited simply because there can be hundreds of people on a screen at any given time depending on where one is in the world. To craft something that is both graphically breathtaking and still technically smooth is an impressive undertaking. Final Fantasy XIV, at least when walking around on an open plain by oneself, is a feast for the eyes. The horizon literally stretches out in front of you in a vista worthy of any real-world mountain range. The characters themselves look crisp and fluid, with every detail depicted with pinpoint accuracy. The pommel of my Gladiator’s sword sparkled in the sunlight, the blade itself looking realistically sharp. In short, the game looks good.

I roamed around a bit playing with the interface (which is very crisp and easy to access, yet adequately deep) and eventually found a little monster to pound on. He didn’t provoke or attack me, but this is an MMO and it’s expected that you walk up to stuff and just start poking it with swords. The combat system is also a large departure from the previous game and from any MMO I think that I’ve played. There is TP bar that fills up as the battle goes on. It starts at zero and builds up over time, building up more when attacks are executed. Attacks range from simple, low-cost attacks needed to build up the meter, to devastating large TP attacks that deplete it but also provide hefty damage or other bonuses. I think this system has potential, unfortunately the bit of it I played felt intensely slow. Maybe it’s been too long since I was really into an online game, but even the small fights I was participating in seemed to drag. I felt like I was waiting for that TP to fill up, and much of my time was spent not attacking at all because the game lacks the auto-attack present in other MMORPGs. Was I playing wrong? It’s certainly possible. But I know what I’m doing when I sit down to this type of game, as many years of my life have been whittled away doing just that. I killed the hapless creature easily, nevertheless, and moved on to kill a few more. Looting is an automatic process, at least when roaming by oneself. It wasn’t explained to me how group looting would work just yet, but chances are good they have a fair system set up. Sheathing and unsheathing one’s weapon is also important as when it’s sheathed a different interface will pop up on the action bar, and the only way to initiate combat is to bring the weapon out again. This could be something that players grow accustomed to, but it’s also something I can see people forgetting to do and dying because of it.

Again, this is the first phase of the beta so combat speed could certainly change, as could plenty more, and I really hope it does because the taste I got of Final Fantasy XIV really stoked my appetite for the game. If nothing else, I want to see how it holds up graphically when in a crowded city with hundreds of people ogling the Auction House. If the PS3 can pull that kind of workload off without a hitch, I’ll start believing that it really can do everything. Be sure to check back with Spawn Kill as I, and possibly others, attempt to make my way into the beta testing phases of the game and continue to give impressions on how it’s coming along.