Global Agenda: Sandstorm phase II

    Global Agenda (GA)'s expansion, Sandstorm launched today. I didn't know about this, initially. I logged into GA hoping for some quick games on my sniper Recon. First thing I noticed was that the graphics were different... and shinier. Next, PVP matches were not popping up as fast as they usually do. Then, I remembered about Sandstorm, and how they were going to add new content and "open world" maps. So, I ran through the short quest chain to gain access to the "open world" map and stepped outside.



Sadly, the "outside world" seemed to be a lowbie PVE zone. I was hoping to run into some human enemies, but unfortunately they didn't make it an open PVP zone. The only other major addition that I noticed were 10-man raid instances and a few new lowbie PVE missions. So, Sandstorm turned out to be an expansion that added more PVE and "MMO"-esque content. I might try the 10-man raids at least once, but otherwise I'll be waiting for people to return to queueing for PVP matches. One nice thing that came out of the last round of changes is that GA is completely subscription-free now.

"How to fail at producing a competitive product", by Hiromichi Tanaka

The development of Final Fantasy XIV occupies all my time, so I do not have time to play other games. I am therefore sorry to say that the last game that pleased me as a player is Final Fantasy XI.
- Hiromichi Tanaka (exerpt from the interview below)

This is like saying, "We want to build the best car in the world. No, we did not test any other cars currently in the market. But, the car that pleased me most as a driver was the last one we built."



Translation below:

"I worked on Final Fantasy XI for 8 years. I was able to collect a lot of feedback and testimonials of MMORPG players. But I also heard many moving stories from the players. A lot of things happened between them. So I had a great pleasure in working on a new MMORPG and I will be able to hear many new stories written through the game. We do not try to compete with World of Warcraft. We really want to convince the fans of Final Fantasy who have never played an MMORPG. But also show to casual gamers that MMORPGs are very exciting to play. We really hope that Final Fantasy XIV will be a good first experience for those new players.

With this title we want to bring new players to the MMORPG experience, so we spent a lot of time to manage the play time. We know that MMORPGs can consume a lot of time for players. We have therefore created the "Guild Leaves" and an armory which will allow players to use their playing time effectively. This is one of the main novelties of this Final Fantasy XIV. We really wanted to make quests less repetitive as possible for players. In Final Fantasy XI, when you were done with a quest, it was not meant to be repeated. Instead in Final Fantasy XIV we really want the players to repeat them as many times as they want. Attempts are being made to make these quests as pleasant as possible so that players do not feel bored.

The development of Final Fantasy XIV occupies all my time, so I do not have time to play other games. I am therefore sorry to say that the last game that pleased me as a player is Final Fantasy XI.

We have not yet anything in mind to the Playstation Plus members. You'll have the traditional achievments for all players, but nothing special for Playstation Plus members. "

Source

I think FFXIV would be a better product if someone with more relevant production experience was at the helm, and Tanaka had the role of Lead Designer instead of Executive Producer. I'm going to assume that FFXI purists will be happy with FFXIV. But, if you have enjoyed other games, it will be unlikely that the things you enjoyed in those games will be in FFXIV. I further speculate that despite an initial spike in subscriber numbers, the game will struggle to expand its market (especially in the first few years) and settle somewhere close to current FFXI subscriber numbers; basically migrating players from older Final Fantasy games to FFXIV.

Medieval economics

I just remembered a podcast that I heard some time ago. It's titled "Hear: Bloody, Miserable Medieval Economics" from NPR's Planet Money. It describes the harsh reality of medieval economics and includes some concepts that we may have seen in MMOs or movies (such as guilds, knights, craftspeople, professions and kings). It was a world where knights were evil, guilds were oppressive, and the black plague helped usher in the industrial revolution. It's a good listen and it definitely changed my perspective on certain things.

FFXIV alpha: not pleased

Due to the NDA I can't say much, but I'll say that it was incredibly disappointing to see very basic issues (in Alpha and with low population no less!) when the game is slated to be released in a month. It is making me suspicious of Hiromichi Tanaka's competence. I found out that he is the producer of the FFXIV game so I looked up his resume and began speculating. Most of his experience seems to be in game design, so I'm sure he's a brilliant/solid game designer. But does he have experience leading large-scale software projects? Developing massively-multiplayer games? Working on games like Chrono Cross or Seiken Densetsu does not qualify someone to develop MMOGs, since they are on a different order of complexity. So, the only real MMOG experience he has is from FFXI. Has he learned enough from FFXI?

Not having comprehensive technical expertise is not a dealbreaker for a leader, as long as he is humble and wise enough to identify what is important, recognize his shortcomings, then hire and manage the right talent to fill in the gaps. But then I wondered: what if Tanaka-san doesn't get it? Is there someone else overseeing the production of the game that has the influence to change his mind? Someone who could keep Tanaka honest or redirect the heading of the game? Since Tanaka produced FFXI and was brought back for FFXIV, I am thinking not. He's probably the best guy that Square Enix has for the job, and has even more influence in FFXIV than he did in FFXI.

But, what about his subordinates? Surely someone lower in rank can raise concerns or influence some change. I recalled Tanaka-san's resume. If his resume is any indication of how it is in the game industry, there is probably a lot of inbreeding and incest. Tanaka started out as a programmer for games, and went on to being a designer for game after game. He has little professional experience outside of the game industry, and now he's on top of the totem pole. So, if someone like Tanaka-san cannot recognize problems in the development, and everyone in the organization is similar to him, it's very likely that no one will be able to steer the ship away from any impending doom or toward better methods/technology. This would be particularly so because of the Japanese work culture.

The other concern is that Tanaka has tons of experience designing games. While this is good news for the PVE content and gameplay in FFXIV, it could be bad if he allows himself to get too distracted or consumed by the game design components that he is so fond of. This is a common pitfall for managers that have come up from the trenches --- they tend to see things from the point of view that they are most familiar with. He is a producer after all, and at some point he needs to detach himself, assume a more global stance, delegate, and give fair attention to the other important parts of the game.

I hope that I'm wrong about the FFXIV production, despite FFXIV (and FFXI under Tanaka's leadership also) having succumbed to sloppy scheduling, undefined-deadline releases, basic/fundamental issues in Alpha, and Beta testing only less than a month before release! If a real company producing Operating Systems, CAD tools, microprocessors or even online tax software were run like these game companies, they would most certainly not be successful. Somehow gaming companies are held to a different standard, or have more room for error. Please prove me wrong, Tanaka-san!

WAR: Zealot OPVP compilation now on youtube!

Some time ago, I made a Zealot PVP movie using all the footage I have collected. I finally got around to splitting it into youtube-sized chunks and fixing it so that youtube didn't eat my audio. So here it is, the last days of my Zealot before his death.

Part 1 : Early exploration (solo)

• BW + BW + SM
• WP → Engi
• SM
• BW
• Engi

Part 2 : Getting comfy (solo/duo)

• WH duel
• (Zealot + Sorc) WH + Engi
• (Zealot + Sorc) Engi + WH + SM
• (Zealot + Sorc) WP + Engi + WH
• evading SM + WL
• stalking the zerg
• WH + IB
• IB

Part 3 : Learning to pick fights (solo)

• Engi
• BW
• scouting, stalking the zerg, hunting stragglers

Part 4 : Waterfall battle (solo)

• IB + WL + AM + IB + rezzes

Part 5 : Double trouble (solo/duo)

• (Zealot + Sorc) Engi + WH
• (Zealot + Sorc) KoTBS + Engi
• Slayer + AM
• ninja stealth hiding in tree
• (Zealot + Sorc) SW + KotBS + Engi + AM + WH + SM + SW + WH
• SM

Part 6 : Baiting for fights before zone lock, getting a little more than we asked for & sweet victory (duo)

• fishing WL + WL + KotBS
• fishing WL + WL (2nd attempt)
• (Zealot + Sorc) BW → BW → BW + WH → SM + SW → BW + WL + WH + RP + Slayer

Part 7 : We just want to PVP, not PVE (duo/trio)

• (Zealot + Chosen) WP + AM + SW + BW → KotBS + RP
• (Zealot + Chosen + Sorc) SW + RP + SM + WP + KotBS

Part 8 : Against the odds (solo)

• BW + IB + WP → + WL + WP + WH
• WH → BW + WL + WP → WH
• AM + BW

Part 9 : Gear, spec & outtakes

Challenge to WAR designers: can you incentivize ORVR such that it encourages fights like the ones I found in these videos?

WAR: Zealot changes on the horizon?

May 2010 Producer's Letter: In patch 1.3.6, we want to make further improvements upon the Zealot and Runepriest careers. We wanted to give options to the healers that train a mastery path for a delivery method rather than a playstyle. When thinking of changes, we kept coming back to one thing: “HARBINGER OF DOOM” (BIG FOR EFFECT). I can already tell the Zealots are cringing and thinking, “What is that crazy person doing to my Harbinger?” The meat of the change is that Harbinger of Doom becomes an active toggle. You start in “healing mode” by default and by activating the toggle you switch to “damage mode”. This will allow Zealots to pick a Mastery path for the type of abilities that they want, without being forced to then pick again between damage and healing. While the actual effect of the toggle is still being discussed, we are leaning towards flipping magic to healing and vice versa to achieve this goal. Some of you are probably saying, “What about Runepriests? I didn’t hear him say anything about Runepriest!” The plan is to mirror this ability on the Runepriest career as well."

Did someone just say Zealot changes?

No way! That's the first time anything significant has been mentioned for the Zealot since the release of the game. Is the Harbinger of DOOM finally going to live up to its name? Will the Zealot finally play like the official class description? Will the Zealot finally be more than a gimpy wannabe Shaman? Can the Zealot excel at something other than being a boring healbot? Will the Zealot class finally be interesting? Gee golly giggity gosh darn wow!

But then again, considering Mythic's track record, I'm not holding my breath. I wish they'd ask all the unsubscribed RR 70+ Zealots why we stopped playing our class (or the game for that matter).

Fantasy Earth Zero: broken targeting kills game

As I mentioned in my last Fantasy Earth Zero (FEZ) post, it has a sloppy FPS-esque point-and-shoot system. Having such a targeting system makes the game sensitive to a variety of issues. Most important of all: lag. In FEZ, I constantly feel like I'm shooting at ghosts of the past. I shoot at my targets, expecting them to be where they appear to be, but in reality that's only where they USED to be. I often see my attack animations pass right through my targets' bodies. I can probably snipe a rabbit in Global Agenda (with its bullet travel delay) or even in America's Army (with its pseudo-realistic breathing cycles and rifle/bullet physics) more easily than trying to hit a group of people with a ranged AOE in FEZ.

Trying to hit targets in FEZ is like trying to play wack-a-mole with a soggy and crooked stick. Observe how the server blatantly ignores my attacks even though my game client clearly shows them hitting my targets (I'm firing an AOE snare "web"):



For completeness, I'll post the videos I made for how to get into PVP. First video shows the elements involved in a PVP battle:



Second video shows that getting into a battle is as easy has opening the map and selecting a territory to fight for:



And finally, my girlfriend shows me the huge boobs the game gave her toon:



I will no longer be playing FEZ. I cannot tolerate the broken "FPS-wannabe" targeting/lag issue when there's the fast-paced, action-packed, super-slick and polished Global Agenda as an alternative. It's simply unacceptable for a 4-year old game. What's ironic to me is that FEZ's differentiating aim-and-shoot system is the keystone of its failure.