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(on Wikipedia)
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/

Yet another MMO, but Japanese and built on a huge franchise and the smouldering remains of an abysmal failure.

I don’t understand how this is popular. It has boring repetitive abilities, a confusing layout and a terrible map system.

• Properly named Final Fantasy XIV
• Technically I’m looking at Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
• aka ファイナルファンタジーXIV: 新生エオルゼア

• aka Fainaru Fantajī Fōtīn: Shinsei Eoruzea

  • Apparently that’s not a joke.

• aka FF14, FFXIV

• https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/playguide/

2023-01-03 ∞

• It doesn’t allow a password with a space. It took me three tries to figure that out.
• I had to provide additional information to get into FF14.
• I had to Google to figure out how to actually get FF14
• On the FF14 page, it still didn’t let me log into a successfully-created Square Enix account.
• I had to reset my password, which admitted I did have an account.
• Upon giving a new password, it eventually succeeded but redirected me to a maintenance/404 page.
• I still had to hunt around on how to log in, and it worked this time.
• I had to hunt around for the installer.
• It uses the InstallShield Wizard. Wow.
• It installed quickly. Curious.

• Running it does nothing. There is nothing that appears.

  • I had to try it three times.
• God damn is the first launch oldschool.

• What the fuck am I even seeing?

Cannot launch FINAL FANTASY XIV. Cookies and JavaScript must be 
enabled under Internet Options. To do so, please carry out the following steps:
1.Open Internet Options.
2.Click the Security tab, then the Custom Level button.
3.Set Active Scripting to Enable.
4.Click the Privacy tab, then the Default button (if available).
5.Click OK.

Shut down FINAL FANTASY XIV.

• https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comments/9ktop0/odd_message_when_trying_to_log_in/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comments/eb5jnb/error_code_i2501_when_trying_to_register_a_new/

• Search > Internet Properties > Privacy

  • Allow ffxiv.com — doesn’t work

JavaScript Error

Cannot launch FINAL FANTASY XIV. Cookies and JavaScript must be 
enabled under Internet Options. To do so, please carry out the following steps:
1.Open Internet Options.
2.Click the Security tab, then the Custom Level button.
3.Set Active Scripting to Enable.
4.Click the Privacy tab, then the Default button (if available).
5.Click OK.

Shut down FINAL FANTASY XIV.

• .. but active scripting is enabled.

• The solution ended up being

  1. Exit the launcher.
  2. Windows Security > Firewall & network protection: [_] Off – Microsoft Defender Firewall
  3. Run the launcher.
• It asks for a one time password but I don’t know what that is. It wasn’t the stuff sent to me by email. I was able to leave it blank.
• God damn the font within it is terrible.
• It doesn’t give hours/minutes to install, just minutes.

• It is for all of the reasons above that I will not be paying a dime for this; make a proper fucking program.

Launcher:

• Launching it just gives me a black rectangle.

  • I waited for some time, but then had to click before it showed anything.
• It’s not fullscreen..

• It asks for controller calibration, but I don’t have one plugged in.

Character creation:

• Which server do I choose?
• Why the fuck would there be a “Smallclothes” option?
• What is a class? What do they all do?

• I can’t see stats until I select a race.

  • I don’t even know what stats are..
• I should be able to randomize my calendar.
• When selecting my class, it’s really difficult to read the text at the bottom-left.
• The random name generator can suggest invalid names.

• The sound mutes when I switch to another window. Did I miss that audio setting?

Starting cutscene

• What the fuck is on my head? Why is there a damned horn?
• So.. I have a vision while sleeping? What gives?
• Why am I on that boat? Where is anything?
• Oh, I couldn’t have guessed what ... meant.
• I get asked if it’s my first trip.. and I can’t answer ... again.
• Why would the guy give me things? I don’t see how I saved him..

• Then he says I should do something to consider us square? What?

Playing:

• I can’t go back and re-read something I accidentally clicked-through.
• It asks me if I want to use a gamepad, but I explicitly disabled it in configuration, and I don’t have one plugged in.

• left-hold and right-hold both turn the camera and not the character.

  • Oh, I have to click and dismiss the text.
• The chat box should be larger by default; it should know my resolution.
• How is the tavern keeper giving me visions of the outside of the city?

• Why am I being told about some cataclysmic event? That’s not related to signing up into the adventurer’s guild, and I don’t care.

  • I mean, I guess the cutscene at the start needed explaining, but I still don’t care.
• Fishwife
• These giants/orcs/humans with smooth bare chests just seem wrong.
• The odd lighting makes the area around my eyes look strange.
• The help says I can cast the spell Summon from my hotbar, but I cannot.
• Why have the quest “Making a Name” be optional and yet I’m not allowed to leave?
• Why the hell would there be mysterious herbs just laying about?
• Sprinting is awesome.
• I already had the Return spell learned.
• Why does it have a help tutorial about transportation when there was a bunch of roleplay about that?
• Murie: Why would I be told about my own class? I am it. Maybe say all this before I make the choice. Maybe have some early pseudo-cutscene stuff talking about choosing a class beforehand. Maybe start off classless?
• When I use a teleport, and I select something in the map, how do I “go back” to the previous view?
• City layout is frustrating as fuck.
• I accidentally clicked the green question mark in the middle without reading through every page of the help. I guess I can’t know those things.
• When opening the map, my immediate need is to wiggle around to figure out where my arrow is.
• The maps are a clutter of icons, and I can’t see anything.

• God combat is boring with just one ability.

  • I didn’t even see an auto-attack.
• Why do I have this odd rabbit icon on my screen?
• I have “Summon Ruby” but I can’t use it for some reason.

• I don’t like / understand the abilities. I’ll figure out how to “switch classes”.

  • What the fuck does “ACN SMN SCH” mean?
• I can’t actually switch classes until some time later, however that works.
• There is no feature to sell back an item I bought.
• How do I know if I have or have not attuned to a shard?
• I hit level 10 and now it tells me how to interact with things by right-clicking but that was my first herb-picking quest.
• I can’t zoom in/out of the teleport map, and it’s difficult to find quests..
• You can initiate the completion of a quest but be too far to use an item.
• I found a river with Pugil in it, but it looks like they are flying because the water level is too low.
• It claims I learned the spell Teleport but I’ve had it all along.

• Oh great, I have to have item level 5 gear, but I’ve been specifically avoiding gear quest rewards because gear has been irrelevant..

  • So I have to put on poorer-stat gear to pass this quest.
• I don’t understand this game.. has so many things and a big winding city that I have to use a map to get around. I just have the map open and run to destinations without knowing where anything is. It’s too annoying to use the map because I can’t actually get between zones easily or figure out the arrows and levels and icons overtop of icons.. this is the game. This is bad.

• Ultimately I’m unhappy with my class and I have no idea how to switch. I don’t want to reroll. Uninstalling.

2015-10-03 second pass ∞

• I’m trying with keyboard controls now.
• The login screen is confusing as hell. It took me some time to figure out how to log in with the current and only character.
• God damn it was frustrating to figure out how to change things to make my fucking keyboard fucking fucking fuck work fucking dammit. It was character configuration > mouse mode.
• Fucking hell I’m tired of fullscreen alt-tab speed.
• Well apparently borderless windowed.. is fullscreen borderless windowed and not the 1280×720 it claimed. What the hell.
• I got a quest reward that’s too high level for me to wear. Sigh.
• Items have odd attributes, like ‘projection’. I guess that’s transmogrification.
• Do the pins on the map mean anything? I expected to be able to mouse over them to learn the name of the area.

• I despise not knowing the name of aethernet sharts. Why the fuck would they be useful if I have to keep some sort of manual map?

Connection to server was lost.

Interest in game was lost.

(it was my net connection, but whatever)

2015-10-03 ∞

• Wow, the installer has some terrible oldness to it.
• If you begin the installer, then choose to abort it, it will remain in memory and you have to enter the task manager to kill it.
• The installation is ridiculously quick, for a download over 100MB.
• I had to run the desktop shortcut twice before the updater started.
• The updater has more of that terrible oldness.

• I am unable to copy-paste a password, so I’m not allowed an extremely complex password. Then I get:

Alphanumeric characters and the following symbols can be used for your password:
” ( # $ % & ‘ ) = ~ | ` { + * } < > ? _ – ^ \ @ [ ; : ] , . /

.. which I guess does not include space, which is bloody common for a password.

• I clicked on a link in the email by mistake, which sent me to some sort of error page in .. Chinese? That’s what it looked like to me. I would think it would be Japanese though. At any rate, it’s not English.
• I was unable to log in, with some noise about a one time password. It wasn’t the thing that was sent to me by email. Leaving it blank let me pass through. This is amateur night.

• Wow, a nearly 7 hour install. Is this really necessary for a free-to-play account? Will I have access to the entire game, all zones and any raid-type content? If not, WHY AM I DOWNLOADING IT ALL? Yearrrrrgh.

  • Oh, after a long while it adjusted itself to only 6 hours. Yay? I’m getting under a 1.5MB/s download speed.
• It took less than 4 hours in the end. I don’t know exactly how long.
• It doesn’t start fullscreen.
• It’s borderless windowed is maximum 1280x720! Hahahahaha!
• It’s full screen is 1920×1080 for me, when I set it as such.
• Hovering over a race shouldn’t switch to it, that’s odd because I have to click it to be able to mouse over the character and rotate it.
• ‘unique’ should be the default pose option. ‘standing’ shouldn’t even exist. Bah.
• What race is ‘Au Ra’ ?
• Attire ‘Smallclothes’ .. really, I want to see the race in its underwear? Is that relevant to my choice?
• I can change the background being displayed? Is that relevant to my choice?
• What class restrictions are there? What racial advantages and disadvantages are there?
• I’m given some shortform list of attributes when there’s enough space for a long form.
• What do those attributes mean? Shouldn’t they be right on the race selection screen so I can compare? Can I see a table?
• An option for bust size. How.. direct.
• Lots of interesting customizations, few of which are particularly attractive to me.
• I can change the voice being used. To that from another race? How inappropriate..
• Is the date of birth supposed to be meaningful to me?
• Selecting a patron deity lists ‘Elemental Attributes’, but they have no meaning to me.
• When choosing a class, there is text at the lower-left, which is very hard to read because of the image on the background.
• Selecting a random name .. told me the name cannot be used. What the fuck?
• The mouse should be hidden during cutscenes.
• No voiceover, seriously? Ugh. The most important introduction to the game .. it’s very beginning.. deserves this attention.
• I can’t press, say, space to skip text.. I’m expected to left-click.
• Apparently “…” gives no answer. I was expecting additional options, since an ellipse means more. Sigh.
• … aaaand I get gold spam. I see no way to report or ignore. /help doesn’t even exist.
• Do I get to keep the spear that was thrown at us?
• Why didn’t I hop out to help against the bandit things? I feel like a dick for driving by.
• Is the game seriously going to consider my character as being less than five years old, as though I didn’t live through the calamity? It should consider me a newcomer to that area, but now that I think of it where did I come from?
• Displaying my name by default is stupid, but I can understand why it’s default on. At least I can turn it off.
• WALLS OF TEXT
• Do I wish to embrace nature? I don’t understand any of the consequences of any decision I make. Not birth date, diety, joining an adventurer’s guide, going to that fucking city in the first place.. nothing makes sense.
• Oh my fucking god, I chose to not embrace nature, and now I have to do ALL OF THE WALL OF TEXT ALL OVER AGAIN. Oh my fucking hell and the default is ‘no’, so I have to be careful how I skip the wall of text for a third time.
• I tabbed out to type a little here, and tabbing back in gives me a dopey little kid waiting for an interaction and no UI. I can’t even alt-f4.
• Ok, I’ll nuke the task and start again.
• Ugh, it doesn’t remember my password.
• So when will I get to see combat?
• I seriously have to select items from my inventory to hand them over to turn in quests? Oh bother.
• Accidentally dismissed one of the help popups? Well fuck you, you can’t get back!
• The Internet Aethernet Shards should give me a map. Seriously, I’m supposed to remember where everything is, by name?
• Pulling up my map and looking at another Aethernet Shard doesn’t even tell me the name of that location.
• Even though I got threatened with being sent to the seventh hell for a stupid alias, I see a level 50 with a stupid name. Nice.
• Wow, I can’t move with the keyboard..
• “Could you go over there and press A twelve times for me? I’ll pay you.”
• It took me a bit to figure out where to go to actually test combat.
• I had to mess around before learning how to switch to a combat set. God, why wouldn’t this switch automatically when targeting a bad guy or entering combat?
• Kiting seems pretty trivial with this game. I wonder how necessary it would get later.

• This music makes me want to tear my eyes out.

I don’t think I really gave this much of a chance.. but it just doesn’t feel right to me. It’s very console-y and old.