Wint wrote:
People need to stop buying the crappy games then.
People are still convincing themselves that those qualities which make a game terrible make it good.
Wint wrote:
I can see the merit in both FFXI and WoW. I fluctuate between the two, I like them both equally. Am I such a rarity?
There is merit in FFXI, but what it has done right is separate from what it has done wrong. WoW has made vast improvement on the flaws of FFXI while making limited trade offs for that gain. Pure grinding on the same mobs--though occasionally recolored--with the same abilities for days on end shouldn't be touted as content. It's filler, sawdust. Quest based grinding was a huge step forward for MMOs, it offered a far more novel experience. But even then quest based grinds are still largely grinds. People need to understand that this change was a step forward so that game design may continue to progress. IF people pretend that that particular aspect of FFXI is better than how it is executed in WoW then developers become confused about what players want, and the problem continues.
I want to prevent situations such as Smash Bros. Brawl. Melee had flaws, but it there were a lot of great accidental features that vastly improved the game. With Brawl, the design team sough to impose their vision of what the franchise should be over the desires of the consumer base. In the end we got a good, but largely forgettable game. Overall a step backwards from melee.
Edited, Feb 20th 2009 5:29pm by Allegory