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June 21, 2010

A Fluffless Future and a Still-Broken Past

Sheesh, it feels like forever since I blogged. Yeah I know, I just posted something a few minutes ago. That was a saved post from last week that I had sitting on my computer and never published.

With this update, it looks like we're in for a lot of changes. Higher level caps, new abilities, spells...it looks to shake up the way we've played FFXI for years. That can be a good thing or very bad thing, depending on execution. I see a tons of changes in Wikipedia's future. One thing that I wish for though, isn't necessarily game changing.

It's fluff.

Yeah, the stuff developers put in games that don't really affect gameplay, but make things more enjoyable. I'm dead serious, where the hell are my fluffy updates? The last bit of fluff we got was when Dancers has their thunder stolen with the /danceX emotes. Yeah that's cute and all, but how about a little more? Where's the animation for /slap? Come on, you know that would be hot. Walk right up and bitch-slap someone into a /stagger animation. You could even have /slap1 and /slap2 for an open-handed bitch-slap or backhanded pimp-slap.

Hairstyles. Yes, I said hairstyles. I've been wearing a ponytail for 2 years now, and I want something different. We have costumes that change us into a ghost, pedo-bait, and fleas, but you're telling me we can't get an item that gives us a different hairdo? On that note, some new clothes would be nice. Clothes that could be crafted or bought, mind you. Not some dinner jacket that makes me look like my breasts went on vacation and left me flat-chested.

Now yes, these are fluffy things that would be good in town, but what about gameplay fluff? In particular, I'm referring to character animations with the new weaponskills. Truly, NONE of them look worthwhile, save for Fell Cleave. That shit looks great and makes me want to level Warrior. When I watched the video that was posted, all I could do was sigh. Sure, they might be highly damaging, but then again...it's SE we're talking about. If you've noticed, most people only use the WS right before the quested WS is available. (Tachi: Gekko, Dancing Edge, Penta Thrust, etc.) Still, would it kill SE to give us some awesome character animations during these moves instead of recycling the same crap we've seen for years?

They don't even have to look hard for inspiration. Just go watch any anime with fighting. Over the top and epic moves galore. So what if the WS takes 5 seconds to execute? Make that shit look awesome. Make me excited when I go to kill something. Make me feel like the shit you're adding to my goddamn game matters!! Don't give me a recycled Dragon Kick and call it a Tornado Kick.

/sigh. I just needed to get that out.

On another note, I'm happy about this update...somewhat. However, when is the broken crap going to get fixed? The guide button problem for Xbox users, the black screen of death, beseiged / campaign crashes, NPCs that don't load in town, etc, etc, et-freaking-cetera.

I'm all for adding content and things to keep the game going, but having a stable game is just as important. What do you think?

3 comments:

Lisa said...

Well it's the grand day... I'll probably be 75 while everyone will be 80, I'm sure of it.

About the "fluffy stuff", you'll have to wait till the last level cap rise. SE announced they doing Job Specific Emotes, like THF throwing smoke bombs and stuff like that. It's gonna be cool, but we gotta wait almost an year for it!

PS: I was missing your updates!

Jacinda said...

You always have been my #1 fan. ^_^

Now that we know there is a Genkai 6, I'm sure it might be awhile before lots of people can reach 76. I can only imagine that it's going to be some stupid fetch quest that will have zones camped and overcrowded like it was when ACP and MKD came out.

Or maybe we can get lucky and have to give Maat 30KS or something.

For the fluff...screw that. Why wait until every other update is out and then give us the fun stuff? I say give the fluff first so we have something to tide us over. Then again, what do I know.

Dizzmal said...

>< 76Drk/38Sam already.. Give maat 5KS and 3 Merit points and that gets you past G6. Now exp camps, that's a different story.