Cercei
Star-Crossed Psychopath
So with the Open Beta weekend past us I can share some of my impressions of the game to hopefully give others here some insight and helpful info in case they are thinking about picking up the game.
Graphics: I'm not going to lie or exaggerate here. Prior to playing ARR, Age of Conan and Secret World were the most beautifully designed MMOs that I had ever played. After having some serious sit down time with ARR I can honestly say that I have found a game that surpasses both. It isn't by much, but ARR is beautifully designed with attention paid to even the smallest details. Ezorea (sp) feels like a living, breathing world that I actually want to explore. SE gets two thumbs up on this one in my opinion.
Controls: ARR allows for you to use either a Keyboard and Mouse or a game controller (on the PC, not sure what options the PS3 offers). I personally play with the Keyboard and Mouse and have found the controls to be tight and responsive overall. Tab targeting to be honest can be an utter pain in the ass at points, but that might just be because I like to tab target through large mobs that are grouped together. That is just a personal hangup and I wouldn't dock the game points off based on that complaint which is likely just my play style.
Questing / Leveling Pace: My biggest complaint with XIV 1.0 was the utter lack of quests and ability to progress without needing to grind everything to hell and back. SE seems to have resolved this issue in ARR by including a plethora of main storyline quests, side quests, FATE events, Hunt Logs and Leve Missions. There are also Duty Events and Dungeons to take part in which (thankfully) SE has included a cross-realm Duty Finder that will locate and auto-group players for Duty Events, Dungeons, Primal Battles and Raids. In other words the leveling pace is incredibly smooth and more importantly, you can get your main class to 50 without needing to grind and group if you should choose to do so.
Classes and Character Progression: As stated before getting your main class to 50 is no issue. The one really cool thing about ARR is the fact that you can level ALL of the classes on a single character. Granted that will take some patience and dedication but SE has made it a bit more approachable by including Hunting Logs for EACH class, plus giving each class access to Duty Finder as well as FATE events. At the end of the day you'll have no need for alts as you can do everything on a single character, and the game has included a player Armory System (which is basically a gear manager) which also allows for bonuses of some sort as you level the other classes. One other thing to note, you are allowed to mix and match talents from classes.
Content: At launch ARR is loaded up with plenty to do including PvP (although I have heard PvP is rather basic at the moment). There are a number of dungeons that have been included for launch, high end Primal Battles (to my knowledge these are battled with Final Fantasy iconics such as Ifrit, Shiva...etc...) as well as TWO raids at launch which are The Crystal Tower (from FF3) and Bahamut's Labyrinth. In addition there are an absolute ton of quests to do, exploring to be done, crafting, and TONS of achievements. And in my opinion the great thing about achievements is that they are all personal achievements, not ones that you can link to other players, AND 99% of them are for non-dungeon and non-raid things such as exploring, crafting, leveling classes...etc...so its very casual player friendly.
My Final Thoughts...
If you are looking for a challenging, enriching experience then I would highly recommend Final Fantasy: A Realm Reborn. Legacy (1.0) Players have been allowed to keep their characters and play on Legacy Servers, or choose to start over and play on a Fresh Start Server. I find that this game should have plenty to keep it going for quite some time and to be honest I am happy that there is a monthly sub involved, it will keep a constant flow of revenue coming into SE which will ensure regular content and fixes coming for the game. I would be happy to answer any other questions anyone has in regards to the game, just post them here.
More than once I thought...now THIS would be a great game to open up a LoMS Branch in. I have no idea if we have enough interest here to do so, but I would gladly help put something together if there was interest
Graphics: I'm not going to lie or exaggerate here. Prior to playing ARR, Age of Conan and Secret World were the most beautifully designed MMOs that I had ever played. After having some serious sit down time with ARR I can honestly say that I have found a game that surpasses both. It isn't by much, but ARR is beautifully designed with attention paid to even the smallest details. Ezorea (sp) feels like a living, breathing world that I actually want to explore. SE gets two thumbs up on this one in my opinion.
Controls: ARR allows for you to use either a Keyboard and Mouse or a game controller (on the PC, not sure what options the PS3 offers). I personally play with the Keyboard and Mouse and have found the controls to be tight and responsive overall. Tab targeting to be honest can be an utter pain in the ass at points, but that might just be because I like to tab target through large mobs that are grouped together. That is just a personal hangup and I wouldn't dock the game points off based on that complaint which is likely just my play style.
Questing / Leveling Pace: My biggest complaint with XIV 1.0 was the utter lack of quests and ability to progress without needing to grind everything to hell and back. SE seems to have resolved this issue in ARR by including a plethora of main storyline quests, side quests, FATE events, Hunt Logs and Leve Missions. There are also Duty Events and Dungeons to take part in which (thankfully) SE has included a cross-realm Duty Finder that will locate and auto-group players for Duty Events, Dungeons, Primal Battles and Raids. In other words the leveling pace is incredibly smooth and more importantly, you can get your main class to 50 without needing to grind and group if you should choose to do so.
Classes and Character Progression: As stated before getting your main class to 50 is no issue. The one really cool thing about ARR is the fact that you can level ALL of the classes on a single character. Granted that will take some patience and dedication but SE has made it a bit more approachable by including Hunting Logs for EACH class, plus giving each class access to Duty Finder as well as FATE events. At the end of the day you'll have no need for alts as you can do everything on a single character, and the game has included a player Armory System (which is basically a gear manager) which also allows for bonuses of some sort as you level the other classes. One other thing to note, you are allowed to mix and match talents from classes.
Content: At launch ARR is loaded up with plenty to do including PvP (although I have heard PvP is rather basic at the moment). There are a number of dungeons that have been included for launch, high end Primal Battles (to my knowledge these are battled with Final Fantasy iconics such as Ifrit, Shiva...etc...) as well as TWO raids at launch which are The Crystal Tower (from FF3) and Bahamut's Labyrinth. In addition there are an absolute ton of quests to do, exploring to be done, crafting, and TONS of achievements. And in my opinion the great thing about achievements is that they are all personal achievements, not ones that you can link to other players, AND 99% of them are for non-dungeon and non-raid things such as exploring, crafting, leveling classes...etc...so its very casual player friendly.
My Final Thoughts...
If you are looking for a challenging, enriching experience then I would highly recommend Final Fantasy: A Realm Reborn. Legacy (1.0) Players have been allowed to keep their characters and play on Legacy Servers, or choose to start over and play on a Fresh Start Server. I find that this game should have plenty to keep it going for quite some time and to be honest I am happy that there is a monthly sub involved, it will keep a constant flow of revenue coming into SE which will ensure regular content and fixes coming for the game. I would be happy to answer any other questions anyone has in regards to the game, just post them here.
More than once I thought...now THIS would be a great game to open up a LoMS Branch in. I have no idea if we have enough interest here to do so, but I would gladly help put something together if there was interest