just wow...and in such a negative way
1. the game was designed for the PS2, with a specific audience in mind: the average Japanese male who owned a ps2 and not a PC (which would take up too much space in japan)
2. The interface was cluttered and hard to navigate
3. the quests all took too long, exp was too hard to gain and one level made too much of a difference when fighting field monsters. furthermore, distance travel was difficult, if not impossible due to agro rates and the size of the game world
4. most people played FFXI on THE PC!
one would have thought that Squenix would have tried to broaden its audience this time around, and make its game more accessible, but no;
I recently tested the FFXIV benchmark on my computer, which met or surpassed all the minimum requirements for the game, and got a score of 500; the minimum required score to run the game is 1500
the reason for this?
Square-Enix made all the same mistakes. AGAIN.
Square-Enix tailored FFXIV as a MMORPG specifically for the PS3, which is why it runs so poorly on computers, even at the lowest settings. Thus, the menu and signup system have been tailored for access on the PS3, where time consuming menus are a norm due to the lack of a keyboard.
Thus, while the battle system, character customization and graphics have definitely been improved, square enix and SOE have taken a massive step back in terms of accessability and audience, and have probably shed themselves of a large number of would-be continuing fans.
Square, Sony, you should really pay more attention to what your subscribers want. This is proof of what happens when you don't