Okay, so lets start at the start.
I'm an old school gamer. Have been since 1983. Run Rabbit Run for the Speccy being the first memory I have of gaming. Back then, the only thing that could save a game was how it played. Visuals and sounds were important, sure, but if a game didn't keep you pressing "Start Game" then it was a dud.
FFXIV:ARR on PS3 is one of those games. Graphics aren't incredible, some music is dull, and it isn't without it's fair share of dickheads. However, it has enough content to keep me paying £7.49 a month.
In November I paid £435 for a PS4 and I've used it for a total of around 10 hours - just enough to beat Killzone Shadow Fall, get to the basement in Outlast, and beat Resogun. So imagine my joy when I heard FFXIV:ARR was coming to PS4 - and for free, seeing as I had the PS3 version.
The beta is this weekend, and after a spot of internet drama, I've finally given it a go.
And it's just the same game with a fresh lick of paint.
"But dude, you're missing the point..." I hear one person say.
"It's more responsive, it's got less delay, it's got a whole bunch of improvements that make the PS3 version redundant!".
And therein lies my problem.
I had no responsiveness issues on PS3. I had no lag issue on PS3. I had no delay issue on PS3.
Christ, I've actually beaten the main story (which I think other than Crabstick I'm the only one here who has) and you don't get to do that - especially as a Healer - if your game suffers from responsiveness issues, lag, and input delay.
But to set the record straight, the PS3 version does have it's faults. Or did. When fighting some bosses, if there were a lot of enemies around, sometimes the bosses wouldn't appear, as their priority wasn't as high as the players.
However, that's been fixed, and now bosses have highest priority. Sure, there's issues when there's 50+ players crammed into 10 square feet, but that's a given. Besides, I don't give two shits about some random Archer who I have no affiliation with.
There is also a spot of lag when you kill one of the tree things, especially if it falls on you, but it's dead, and I'm running to the next enemy, so it doesn't bother me. There was also a spot of lag in FATEs when everyone's casting and fighting, not to mention I couldn't see what the fuck was going on, so I turned off all the enemy and other player's battle effects, which improved performance AND let me me see what the fuck I was doing.
I've beaten Titan four times, and Garuda twice, and with the sole exception of the first Garuda battle, I've aced them all (as in, beaten without dying). Given that both fights have instances where split second timing is needed, if there were responsiveness issues or other lag issues, then I'm fairly certain I wouldn't have done that.
I was part of an 8-man party who took down Ultima first time, again not possible if there were responsiveness issues, especially as a Healer.
Since playing in the PS3 beta since, what, June last year, there has never been a time where I have had a bad experience due to a lack of responsiveness with the controls, or lag (unless I've left uTorrent running, which is my own bad). Every battle has had me act exactly as I want to, when I want to. Every loss I've had has been either because I wasn't concentrating, or because my party members were asshats.
I can honestly, hand on heart, say that I have never experienced any of the problems that I'm told have been "fixed".
Oh sure, everyone's moving at 60fps - including the other players - but given that when I play I'm more bothered about what I'M doing, not aforementioned random Archer. The resolution is higher, meaning more screen space, at the expense of being able to read what's on the screen.
However, I am aware that in the early days of the game's release, I've known people with connectivity issues linked to having the worst ISPs in the country, and many a time there were lags and timeouts and other such nastiness, but I never experienced that.
Could that be part of the "But you're missing the point!" argument I'm seeing? I don't know. Who does? Not me!
All I know is that I've played FFXIV:ARR almost daily since the beta in June of 2013. It is now February 2014. And after spending admittedly only a short time in Eorzea on PS4, I'm seeing NO difference in responsiveness during combat, I'm seeing NO difference in my characters reactions, I'm seeing NO lag issues (surprising for a beta when EVERYONE is in the same starting area), and all I really AM seeing is that other people I don't give a shit about move a little bit faster, things sparkle more, and holy fuck that text is small.
I know I'm going to get told I'm wrong, or that I'm not seeing the bigger picture, or something like that. To be frank, I don't care.
I've played this game for almost a full year, and I have enjoyed the piss out of it every single day. More frames and less jaggies have not improved the experience for me, just made it prettier.
Is that a bad thing? Not at all.
Does it change the game? Not at all.
However, I shall persevere and do everything from scratch, just like I did all those months ago, and should I see anything that makes me go "Actually, this IS better than the PS3 experience" - note I said "experience" and not "version" - then I shall post it here.
So with that in mind, this is likely to be my last post in this thread.
Laters!
_________________
╔══════════════ ೋღ☃ღೋ ══════════════╗ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Repost this if ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ you are a beautiful strong black woman ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ who don’t need no man ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ╚══════════════ ೋღ☃ღೋ ══════════════╝
|