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Final Fantasy XIV Patch Brings New Hope

by Jake Weston, posted on 28 June 2011 / 3,427 Views

Final Fantasy XI, despite its faults, was a much loved MMO, and up until recently has long been the most played MMO in Japan. Unfortunately, Square Enix's online follow-up, Final Fantasy XIV, has not had the same success, quickly gaining infamy for its notoriously low quality. 

Following low review scores and complaints from many gamers, Square Enix has gone to great lengths to win back disgruntled gamers. The game has undergone an almost complete management shift, acquiring a new director, expanding the free trial indefinitely and putting the PS3 version on hold until the game is up to quality. 

Patch 1.18 was supposed to bring Final Fantasy XIV a few steps closer to that level of quality, but was recently delayed. Now, the patch release is just on the horizon, and Final Fantasy XIV fans (however many that remain) have many changes to look forward to. 

In the Final Fantasy XIV forums, producer Naoki Yoshida outlines all of the patch details. In particular, patch 1.18 will include instanced raids, an improved in-game map, the new stealth class, and improved crafting system, and more. 

While many have lashed out at Square Enix for releasing such a poor quality game to begin with, they really need to be commended for their long term support of their product, especially when it would just be easier to give up on the project. Final Fantasy XIV must be a financial drain on the company, between the amount of work that is going into rehauling the game and keeping the game's free trial extended for so long. Hopefully Square Enix can truly pull the game together, and give us an experience that's worthy of the Final Fantasy brand.


6 Comments

TT Makaveli
TT Makaveli (on 29 June 2011)

@gustave154: haha i hope that too...but for now i wait for XIII-2 but wouldnt mind a XIV release this year too

  • +2
Shadow)OS
Shadow)OS (on 28 June 2011)

The link supplied is broken. Also to settle any confusion (that I had as well), the game is actually "subscription free". You still have to purchase the base game, which is about 30 dollars. SE has also said in the past that they will re-instate subscriptions when they feel the quality is high enough, though I don't believe any recent updates in regards to that notion have surfaced. The game is visually stunning for what it's worth, and I've played on my friend's account and it really isn't as terrible as it's been made out to be... though to be fair you can easily see where improvement is needed. Square is still putting a lot of effort into the game, so people should be happy.

  • +2
devilmaydance
devilmaydance (on 28 June 2011)

Thanks for the heads up! Fixing it now.

  • +1
darthdevidem01
darthdevidem01 (on 28 June 2011)

Been playing it for the last week. This is not a bad game anymore, its decent now, better than FF2...not as good as the rest yet. But with this patch the game will get better.

  • +1
Teo
Teo (on 28 June 2011)

FF2? Of all the game to compare it to... like an MMO, or FFXI lol.

  • +1
gustave154
gustave154 (on 28 June 2011)

i hope the PS3 version releases before FFVersus 13 drops...

  • +1
brendude13
brendude13 (on 28 June 2011)

I'm looking for an MMO to play, Runescape lost my attention ages ago, and World of Warcraft is too expensive and generally a mediocre game. A Final Fantasy MMO sounds too good to be true, I guess it is. Fingers crossed they can fix the game before the PS3 release.

  • 0
Hephaestos
Hephaestos (on 28 June 2011)

Wow is in no way mediocre... Sure newer games may feel more complete from the start.... cause they are just about all templated on WoW...

  • -1
brendude13
brendude13 (on 28 June 2011)

The World of Warcraft trial was fun, but the world design was a mess, it wasn't as easy to explore as it should have been. There was nothing that made me want to come back for more.

  • 0
Zink120
Zink120 (on 28 June 2011)

"an experience that's worthy of the Final Fantasy brand"? It fits fine. Not hating on FF (FF9 is one of my fave games of all time), but it always has been a mixed bag, especially the spin-offs, and even the main numbered entries have been shaky in recent times.

  • 0