Schfourteen-teen

I've been playing the Final Fantasy 14 Open Beta somewhat. I won't be paying for a subscription for this game. For how big of a name it is, it seems really unpolished. Twenty days for an open beta is not enough time for a game in this state. Getting client updates is a challenge in patience. They like to stick at 94.6%.

There is no direction on what you're supposed to do. When I started the game, at my first fight there was a message printed (eventually) to the screen indicating that I should go into battle mode. That's it. It didn't say how. It's 'F', by the way (though using a skill does it as well). After that, I get to the city and start doing the quest I'm on. Standard quest fare, except for the bit where you are supposed to talk to these children and perform an emote. What emote you say? Ask the internet. Somehow, when a child tells you that you are supposed to greet your dance partner to show respect and joy, the correct response is not the "Joy" emote, nor is it "Bow", nor "Greet". It's "Surprise". Of course. That's logical. If you didn't look it up, the only way to finish that portion of the quest is to perform every emote you have for six different NPCs.

Eventually you finish that quest and you can get a few simple ones and then...? Grind. I guess. That's fun. There is also the option to pick up a trade, or be a miner or something. I haven't tried a crafting profession yet, but I've tried mining. It's weird. You find an ore deposit and then a vertical slider shows up, asking you where you want to aim on the rock face. There's nothing that tells you what this means or how it affects things. I've put it in different places and haven't found any difference. Either way, then you swing at the rock and either hit harder or softer, depending on the messages you get. It's not bad, I just wish I knew what the slider did.

More complaints: poison. It's way too powerful. There doesn't appear to be any antidotes, so if you don't kill your enemy when you still have two hundred or so life and don't put your weapon away instantly after your battle is over, you will probably die.

The client crashes every so often and there are some words in dialog that haven't been translated to English.

The only part of all of this that I don't like is that my super-cute half-cat girl, Perin, will be gone forever. I need me some guild wars 2 and some mesmer love.