Final Fantasy XIV Beta Hits One Million Registrations

[Fanghawk]

Final Fantasy XIV Beta Hits One Million Registrations

The original may have been poorly received, but players are flocking to the remake in droves.

Many Final Fantasy fans enjoy enthusiastic debates about their beloved series. They'll discuss which classic game was the best, or which recent entry was the worst, but everybody generally agrees on one thing: <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120780-Another-Final-Fantasy-XIV-Could-Destroy-Square-Enix>Final Fantasy XIV was all kinds of awful. The MMO first launched in 2010, suffered the withering gaze of reviewers, and ultimately closed its doors in 2012. (Compare this to Final Fantasy XI, which launched in 2003 <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_fantasy_xi>and is still being played.) All told, this makes the prospects for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, rather uncertain by comparison. Still, gamers may be a more forgiving bunch than we suspected after all; Square Enix has revealed that one million players are currently registered for the new FFXIV beta, a full two months before the finished game reaches store shelves.

The news must certainly be encouraging for Square Enix, since from all appearances <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122356-FFXIV-Director-We-Took-Final-Fantasy-For-Granted>the company was working hard to address the original's missteps. "Fans around the world were expecting something great, and we feel like we let them down and we lost their trust," director Naoki Yoshida <a href=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-07-02-a-million-registrations-for-final-fantasy-14-a-realm-reborn-beta>said at last year's Gamescom. "To regain that trust we have to show them we're still behind the project, and that Square Enix is dedicated to making something that's great ... In the 25-year history of the Final Fantasy series, there hasn't been a Final Fantasy that has failed. We can't - we just can't - let this game end in failure."

If you'd like to see how A Realm Reborn is coming along, Square Enix is still taking beta applications through its website. Otherwise, the completed game will be made available to subscribers <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/124308-Square-Enix-Reveals-New-Final-Fantasy-XIV-Collectors-Edition>on August 27, 2013.

Source: <a href=http://www.destructoid.com/final-fantasy-xiv-beta-registrations-hit-1-million-mark-257321.phtml>Destructoid, via <a href=http://www.digitalspy.ca/gaming/news/a494781/final-fantasy-xiv-a-realm-reborn-attracts-one-million-at-beta.html>Digital Spy

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[Issurru]

I am one of these registrants. Totally useless as their stupid patcher won't work... Every time I update I get a error that makes me have to restart the download, thank god I don't have a cap on how much I can download otherwise I would be screwed for as many times as I've tried to downloaded this beta.

I have high hopes for this version, I bought the first versions collector edition and the game looks good. But this whole beta mess is leaving a sour taste in my mouth

 

[dragongit]

I'm one of those registered and I've played the beta. You have to wonder though of that many who registered for this, are going to stay around for the final product. Square-enix pumped a ton of money into this project not only to release it but to basically make the game a second time. Thats gotta be a lot of money. If they can't consistently get like a million subscribers for a solid year it's going to bite them hard.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

I've been a part of the beta...and it makes me wish that XI wasn't so archaic and slow these days. I mean, ARR is just fine and perfectly functional (especially compared to vanilla launch), but it's WoW: Final Fantasy Edition. One thing I do like though is the efforts they've made through NPC interaction and music to try and make it feel like a legitimate entry in the Final Fantasy series as opposed to being the "second online Final Fantasy". I'm not sure I'd pay $15/mo really.

 

[Tony2077]

its a drastic improvement over the original i may play it when its out of beta if its nice to my visa debit card

 

[hazabaza1]

It's still got a subscription fee so no dice.
If it were B2P or F2P I'd gladly give it a shot now that it's apparently not garbage though.

 

[Colt47]

Finally a game that is likely to stay with the P2P model other than World of Warcraft. It's like every F2P and B2P game I've tried fails to hold up beyond a week or so. Why people are for the cash grab models is beyond me...

 

[Lunar Templar]

I'm not one of the 1,000,000 but if they really have address the issues that made the original FF15 a joke, then it should be given a legit second chance.

Finally a game that is likely to stay with the P2P model other than World of Warcraft. It's like every F2P and B2P game I've tried fails to hold up beyond a week or so. Why people are for the cash grab models is beyond me...

You mean like ToR was gonna? Only reason WoW gets away with it is cause of its HUGE user base 9-10 million some odd people STILL paying to play with only minor signs of a down hill slide visible, means they don't have to go F2P for a good long time.

I pretty much guarantee when WoW finally starts to go into its LONG OVER DUE nose dive it'll go F2P.

 

[aceman67]

I've played the last two Beta-Rounds, and I have to say, the game is a vast improvement over the vanilla launch. While I do agree with DrunkonEstus, it is a bit of a WoW-clone, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that's a bad thing.

The only class I've played so far is the Conjurer (mix between Black and White mage), and I wish the class had more variety of spells to use at lower levels (for the first 10 levels you're spamming a single attack while refreshing one DoT).

The NPC interaction is way better then most other MMOs I've played so far, the only ones that do it better is TOR (for obvious reasons), and the recent Legacy of Romulus content for STO.

They also need to improve on showing players where things are, especially where Crafting trainers are for example, First time I went into ARR, I literally got lost for 20 min trying to find something. As it is right now, if you're objective is on a different map, there's no indication on your current map showing you the exit to where you need to go to complete an objective.

 

[Colt47]

I'm not one of the 1,000,000 but if they really have address the issues that made the original FF15 a joke, then it should be given a legit second chance.

Finally a game that is likely to stay with the P2P model other than World of Warcraft. It's like every F2P and B2P game I've tried fails to hold up beyond a week or so. Why people are for the cash grab models is beyond me...

You mean like ToR was gonna? Only reason WoW gets away with it is cause of its HUGE user base 9-10 million some odd people STILL paying to play with only minor signs of a down hill slide visible, means they don't have to go F2P for a good long time.

I pretty much guarantee when WoW finally starts to go into its LONG OVER DUE nose dive it'll go F2P.

Oh yes, TOR. The game that the second things started going down hill the entire investor board went up into a frenzied panic and forced the company to make it into a F2P / P2P hybrid.

 

[Lunar Templar]

I'm not one of the 1,000,000 but if they really have address the issues that made the original FF15 a joke, then it should be given a legit second chance.

Finally a game that is likely to stay with the P2P model other than World of Warcraft. It's like every F2P and B2P game I've tried fails to hold up beyond a week or so. Why people are for the cash grab models is beyond me...

You mean like ToR was gonna? Only reason WoW gets away with it is cause of its HUGE user base 9-10 million some odd people STILL paying to play with only minor signs of a down hill slide visible, means they don't have to go F2P for a good long time.

I pretty much guarantee when WoW finally starts to go into its LONG OVER DUE nose dive it'll go F2P.

Oh yes, TOR. The game that the second things started going down hill the entire investor board went up into a frenzied panic and forced the company to make it into a F2P / P2P hybrid.

kinda not the point, they said 'we're never going free to play' and then did. The fact Tor is just 'WoW in space with more story and VO work' doesn't help it any.

 

[Colt47]

I'm not one of the 1,000,000 but if they really have address the issues that made the original FF15 a joke, then it should be given a legit second chance.

Finally a game that is likely to stay with the P2P model other than World of Warcraft. It's like every F2P and B2P game I've tried fails to hold up beyond a week or so. Why people are for the cash grab models is beyond me...

You mean like ToR was gonna? Only reason WoW gets away with it is cause of its HUGE user base 9-10 million some odd people STILL paying to play with only minor signs of a down hill slide visible, means they don't have to go F2P for a good long time.

I pretty much guarantee when WoW finally starts to go into its LONG OVER DUE nose dive it'll go F2P.

Oh yes, TOR. The game that the second things started going down hill the entire investor board went up into a frenzied panic and forced the company to make it into a F2P / P2P hybrid.

kinda not the point, they said 'we're never going free to play' and then did. The fact Tor is just 'WoW in space with more story and VO work' doesn't help it any.

Yeah, the problem it ran into was that they invested too much into the voice work. If they tried to expand on content with the way it was set up, they would have to pay for even more voice work on top of development costs. That and they picked Star Wars: A franchise whose best games were Rogue Squadron, Jedi Knight, Dark Forces, Tie Fighter, and Star Wars Galaxies. Out of all the games they wanted to emulate, they picked World of Warcraft, a game that isn't even designed to emulate a typical Star Wars Universe.

I've played the Beta for FFXIV ARR long enough to get the fresh car smell off it, and it really isn't like World of Warcraft beyond having a GCD system and using the tank / healer / damage dealer trinity typical to World based MMOs since Everquest. I've actually liked everything I've seen and already got it on pre-order. The open beta will be out at the start of August so I recommend at least giving the game a shot if you like World based MMO games.

 

[Jman1236]

I've been playing in the beta, and I must say, I am a believer. Whether or not it will be able to compete with the big dogs even with a subscription fee, it's way too early to say but between being out not only worldwide but also for consoles, it could go ether way. It's also worth nothing that the game will be cheaper than most new games and even will have a sightly lower subscription fee.

 

[Severian]

I love this remake. I played the original from alpha until launch and it was terrible in every aspect of the word. This remade version is like an homage to all things FF and it is a true FF fans game I think. At least for me and I've been playing them since the NES days. Really dig it.

 

[Lunar Templar]

I'm not one of the 1,000,000 but if they really have address the issues that made the original FF15 a joke, then it should be given a legit second chance.

Finally a game that is likely to stay with the P2P model other than World of Warcraft. It's like every F2P and B2P game I've tried fails to hold up beyond a week or so. Why people are for the cash grab models is beyond me...

You mean like ToR was gonna? Only reason WoW gets away with it is cause of its HUGE user base 9-10 million some odd people STILL paying to play with only minor signs of a down hill slide visible, means they don't have to go F2P for a good long time.

I pretty much guarantee when WoW finally starts to go into its LONG OVER DUE nose dive it'll go F2P.

Oh yes, TOR. The game that the second things started going down hill the entire investor board went up into a frenzied panic and forced the company to make it into a F2P / P2P hybrid.

kinda not the point, they said 'we're never going free to play' and then did. The fact Tor is just 'WoW in space with more story and VO work' doesn't help it any.

Yeah, the problem it ran into was that they invested too much into the voice work. If they tried to expand on content with the way it was set up, they would have to pay for even more voice work on top of development costs. That and they picked Star Wars: A franchise whose best games were Rogue Squadron, Jedi Knight, Dark Forces, Tie Fighter, and Star Wars Galaxies. Out of all the games they wanted to emulate, they picked World of Warcraft, a game that isn't even designed to emulate a typical Star Wars Universe.

Yeah, not sure why MMOs need VO work now though, sure the over all quality of it is better, but i'm not sure an MMO is really 'in need' of quality voice work

I've played the Beta for FFXIV ARR long enough to get the fresh car smell off it, and it really isn't like World of Warcraft beyond having a GCD system and using the tank / healer / damage dealer trinity typical to World based MMOs since Everquest. I've actually liked everything I've seen and already got it on pre-order. The open beta will be out at the start of August so I recommend at least giving the game a shot if you like World based MMO games.

I probably will if a remember when open beta rolls around, wanted to try FF11 but no trail kinda killed that.

 

[Terramax]

I registered for the beta, but I can't figure out where the download client is. Their site is just stupid. Does anyone know where it is?

 

[EstrogenicMuscle]

I won't lie, my favourite part of Final Fantasy XIV is the lore and the races. That was my case in 1.0.

Sadly, I'm not even a part of this Beta. So there are clearly far more interested. I really hope Final Fantasy XIV really does improve enough to keep people around, though. Because no matter what, I can't put up with playing an MMORPG that is empty and not populated by anyone.

I really hope that Final Fantasy XIV makes up things and improves the game to be a success. Even if just a moderate success. Because I really like the lore and the races of Final Fantasy XIV.

 

[lifeat24fps]

I signed up for an invite during the E3/PS3 offer, then got invited to the Euro beta. &#1057;&#1087;&#1072;&#1089;&#1080;&#1073;&#1086;! I've been waiting more than a week now for a response from customer service, but no dice. It was a f-up big enough to make me cancel my preorder, though. I'd hate to have them ship me a copy from a different region, you know?

Just to prove I am not always so grumpy, I am enjoying fee-free Neverwinter!

 

[Arawn]

I still have my FFXI account, and I signed up for the XIV beta. Let's face it, I'm hooked on FF.

 

[dragongit]

I registered for the beta, but I can't figure out where the download client is. Their site is just stupid. Does anyone know where it is?

I believe it was somewhere in the actual forums. I remember the hassle trying to get in but the forums were down for maintenance, so I had to wait before I could actually load the darn thing. I think there is a link in the e-mail sent.