FFXIV Windower (Square is Lazy)

Sorry, another XIV rant... but this is getting over the top.

Apparently there's a version of Windower, a popular set of extensions for Final Fantasy XI, that is now available for XIV. The sad thing is, all it does is fix things that shouldn't be there in the first place: Windower XIV allows hardware mouse support, allows you to alt-tab in fullscreen mode without crashing the game, keeps it from crashing when you come up against something UAC related, and makes the game run faster than it does on it's own.

Seriously? Seriously?! Come on, Square, your game hasn't even launched yet and already people are fixing things that should've been fixed long before the final stage of the beta (and I wouldn't be shocked if these things aren't fixed by the time the game officially releases). Worse yet, if it's like XI, they'll punish you (through suspensions or bans) for using any sort of third party programs.

Only in Square's MMO world are burns and powerleveling allowed, things typically illegal in an MMO, and the most innocuous of third party applications a bannable offense. The fatigue system is supposed to cater to casuals, but XIV requires high specs to run, and tools that make the game more palatable aren't allowed. WoW, on the other hand, by having lower requirements and allowing third party tools at the users discretion, is hugely popular with casuals, telling us either SE doesn't understand the fanbase it's aiming for, or the whole "catering to casuals" is just an excuse to keep you from leveling too quick for whatever reason, buying themselves endgame time or just trying to keep you around longer.

I've heard Square Enix referred to as lovable "mad professors," trying to be "innovative," but is it possible maybe they're a massive corporation who could care less about the little guy when they know their legions of fans will clean up and run interference for them? Fanboys can't even entertain the notion SE is just as shady as, say, Microsoft, and I'm sure simply comparing SE to MS would set some of them into a raaaage, hah hah.

I'm not knocking FFXIV. I'm stoked for it, I really am. I've sank money into a video card upgrade as well as the Limited Edition. But it's inexcusable the way SE has been handling itself lately, and it's perfectly okay for us to admit that. We don't have to blindly defend every single one of their actions, to pass off every flaw as intentional and brilliant, to be fans. If we do, then we've just become drones.

Adventures in FFXIV Graphical Settings (Rambling)

What I'd like to do is run Final Fantasy XIV at 1080p Windowed mode with close to the highest settings, like I do with XI. The problem I have is both financial (can't just slap in a $600 card, unfortunately) and XIV's relative instability at this stage.

My initial attempts were windowed at 1080p. Starting off with a Radeon HD 5770 1 GB GDDR5, I was struggling at the highest settings, scoring a frame rate between high single digits and into the mid teens at best. The only way I could near a solid 30 frames per second was to put all the settings on the lowest. Even going fullscreen didn't seem to add more than a few FPS in total, although dropping to 720p earned several more digits.

I threw in a second 5770, only to learn CrossFire was not officially supported. This quick little fix from Voices of the Twelve was a significant help. At 1080p, fullscreen, with settings on almost the max (Ambient Occlusion and Multisampling turned off), I was rocking an FPS mostly in the high twenties up to the early forties.

I turned CrossFire off just to go back and compare, and with the same settings but in windowed mode I was pushing close to a constant 30fps in most areas, only dropped into the low twenties near camp.




Okay, now I'm just confused, because it was absolutely not running that well on one card when I first gave XIV a whirl several days ago. I'm not sure if I just did something without realizing it, or if it's because there seems to be significantly less people on now after the initial rush, or because SE made some genuine improvements over the past few days worth of updates. Heck, it might be a combination of the three, but I'm not complaining! Would be useful to know, though!

On a side note, it turns out my second 5770 has a core clock speed of 900Mhz, faster by 50 than my other one, so I need to get back inside the computer and swap them so the primary is the faster one. Whoops, guess I need to pay more attention to that sort of thing!


Issues I'd like to see addressed:

Stability. You can't tab out of fullscreen, or even open a window that requires Administrator permission if you're in windowed mode, without killing the game. XI's an old game, it's somewhat understandable. But Phantasy Star Universe came out in '06, and by then it was already inexcusable. Now we're in 2010... it's just absurd.

Official CrossFire support, including CrossFire in Windowed mode. If I'm running it at 20-30 frames per second at 1080p, windowed, with CrossFireX going I imagine I could crank up the mutliesampling and still get a boost in frames!

Hardware mouse support. SE has come out and said they're not too worried about hardware mouse support, instead leaving us with a laggy cursor that varies with your framerate. While they never said why, the theory is Japanese gamers tend to prefer gamepads. And so, much like CrossFire support, it's been the community who fixed it for them. In-ex-cusable.

Sometimes I wonder if the internet allows developers to be lazy, because they can rely on a dedicated fanbase to do their work for them. Kind've like how George Lucas could do whatever the heck he wanted to with the new Star Wars trilogy, because legions of fans would jump to his defense to argue the rationality of every single niggling little plothole.


Something I didn't notice initially that blows my mind, however: "Disable cutscene effects." I thought this had to do with effects during cutscenes, but apparently with it checked you're able to skip cutscenes. XI was so chock-full of self-important, rambling dialog, this is pretty good news! I'm honestly surprised SE is letting us skip over their always brilliant, poignant storylines, but again I give them props!

FFXIV's Fatigue System Summed Up:

"The open beta has been postponed due to the confirmation of critical bugs. This includes a bug related to earned experience points disappearing over time, erroneously reported as a 'fatigue system.'"

The short, undeniable answer to this fatigue system debate is that removing the system would eliminate any issues, and the vast majority of people on both sides would be content. There's absolutely no deny that's the simplest, easiest answer, and it leaves far more happy people than any other solution.

It's obstinacy by both Square Enix and fanboys to defend it, when there's a simple, easy way to make everybody pleased.

That sums it up, but prepare yourself for the barrage, this might even be long enough I'll need to put in a table of contents.

Table of Contents
• There's No Real Argument For It
  
• The Myth of Equivalent EXP
  
• Square Knows Best
  
• It's Not Choice if We're Removing Options
  
• It Keeps Players Even
  
• The "I've Got Mine" Pro-Fatigue Crowd
  
• Square's Been Through This, and Caps will be Removed Eventually
  
• The Rationale Behind It
  
• The Bottom Line: It's the Principle
  
• Update 9/1/2010
  
• Update 9/1-2/2010 - Snarky Comments
  

There's No Real Argument For It

I recently had a well spoken debate with someone over this. After he dodged many of the questions, refusing to respond directly to many of the objections raised below, he finally said flatly, "You're right on all your points." The end result was that he admitted the reason the Fatigue System didn't bother him was because it wouldn't affect his personal style of play, and that XIV may simply not be for me. It's not that the system offers him any benefits, or that he could even argue there WERE worthwhile benefits, it's simply that it wouldn't affect him.

And that's fine, I'm genuinely happy for him. But for the rest of us, the system, at least on paper, is an awful idea.

The Myth of Equivalent EXP

One of the prime arguments for the system is that you'll receive the same amount of XP in fifteen hours that you would in a week, and that, while this is a different sort of time sink, the result is the same.

One of the strongest arguments for this point of view can be found here at a well-know XIV fansite (this of course calls into play potential bias, but I digress). This article operates on the assumption that developers of a grind based system target the maximum amount of physically possible EXP can achieve in a set time as the basis for their level intervals. This is highly unlikely to be the norm amongst MMO developers, otherwise it would be near impossible for casuals in any sort of online RPG to make headway.

The same article goes on to claim that "you get to have all the XP you’d normally get for the week anyway," and that's the crux of much of the pro-Fatigue argument.

This claim is almost undeniably false. All the XP I'd normally get is certainly not an entire week's worth equivalent to someone operating a Real Money Trade, both because that's an extremely high amount and because the fatigue system will allegedly hinder RMTs. Therefore we can safely say you are not getting the maximum possible EXP in a week under these limitations.

So how much are we getting? The amount we’d “normally get for the week.” What we could “normally” get in a week would wildly vary from person to person from almost nothing to insane amounts just short of RMT levels, so you’re rather more likely receiving an “average” based around what they’d assume a normal player would attain, which would indeed hinder hardcore players.

Secondly, if this is all based around time, it becomes a game of trying to decipher which mobs offer the best EXP in the shortest amount of time. Taking on a mob that takes too long to kill without an exponentially increased experience point gain would inhibit the total amount of EXP possible within the time constraints of SE's system. In other words, you need to make the highest possible quota within a certain amount of time, or you'll again be losing out on you're weekly gains.

Needless to say, this could punish the hardcore, but it will especially the casual player who may not know or even have the means to handle the most time-efficient enemies.

Square Knows Best

One of the common arguments put out by SE and furthered through sarcastic forum posts is that taking away the main benefit of leveling forces you to do other things, and, in some people's pretentious words, requires you to "actually enjoy leveling."

This is based on the assumption that you enjoy taking time doing other things. Many players enjoy learning every aspect of a single class, focusing on that job's depth. Some players play for months or even years focusing on a specific job, constantly tweaking, questing, leveling, equipping, and adjusting just to find that ideal balance. These players make up a sizeable chunk of the fanbase; if they can only play their desired class for fifteen hours a week, why should they stick with XIV when they could go to any number of other MMOs that will allow them the choice to play as they desire?

Nobody knows what I enjoy better than I do, and similarly I am not the final arbiter of what you enjoy, and vice versa. To say it's good because it forces other people to indulge in the aspects you enjoy is equivalent to me saying, "I enjoy playing as Guile in Street Fighter IV, so everyone should be limited to playing as Guile." (And on the flip side, why should I be limited to only three hours a week of using Guile if that's what I enjoy? Why not let me throw Sonic Booms till Seth is dead a hundred times over?) It's absurd to appoint myself the executor of what you SHOULD be enjoying, and similarly it's abhorrent for Fatigue defenders to try to do that to everyone else.

There's even some arguing "it's for your health." No, I'm not kidding, people actually putting forth the notion that some faceless corporation knows your capability and health better than you do. If that's not insulting in the first place, it's a completely bunk argument: you can still and are in fact encouraged to do other things in the game outside of gaining EXP, essentially replacing one thing detrimental to your health with another that has the same effect.

It's Not Choice if We're Removing Options

Another odd argument is that it gives you the ability to do something besides level. The previously mentioned article says with some self-importance that you'll get all the EXP you'll normally get in a week (demonstrably false, as covered above) and that now if you want you can craft, explore or quest.

But it's own wording is it's undoing: it keeps talking about if you "want to" do something, and the simple response is, "But what if I WANT to keep leveling?" The simple fact is that forcibly removing an option cuts down on choice no matter how you might try to phrase it. And there's no reason to remove this choice when both camps can be happy, which brings it to the incorrect argument that...

It Keeps Players Even

Perhaps the biggest reason touted behind this system is that it's intended to keep people with more time from getting too far ahead of players with less time. There are numerous issues with this, from the notion that it's arguably unfair to the simple fact that it won't work anyway.

Hardcore players will, no matter how hard developers try, surpass the casual. That being the case, once the former group hits the max level, casual players are left trying to catch and limited to how quick they can do it, thus increasing the gap between the two groups. No longer can casual players put in a long weekend of leveling to make up for time lost during weekdays, leaving them to languish at middling levels while the capped players have moved on to bigger and better things.

There's a third group being overlooked that will suffer further, and that's new players. Those who pick up the game after it's release day will find themselves far behind the hardcore and even potentially the casual player. The thing new players tend to want most is to catch up to their buddies sporting higher levels, but a hard fast weekly wall is there to stop them. And from a financial standpoint, that's a good way to kill a player's interest in a game when they're hopelessly behind the general crowd, especially if they have friends far past them.

Besides that, why shouldn't players who put in more get more out of it? How can you entice people to play diligently when diligence is not rewarded? The whole premise is flawed. Think of it this way: the lazy bum next to you at work puts in far less hard work, but gets promoted the same, gets paid the same, and overall makes the exact some progress as you. Are you really going to feel particularly motivated to dedicate yourself to your job (or in this case, FFXIV)?

In the end, we're left with a system that will not even the playing field by any means, it hampers any attempt by casual and new players to do so, and it punishes gamers for working hard. And while people defend it, there's no denying the easiest way to please everyone is to remove fatigue, because that will allow the casual to be casual and the hardcore to be hardcore.

The "I've Got Mine" Pro-Fatigue Crowd

Much of the general reaction from the pro-fatigue crowd boils down to, "It's not that bad, I personally can tolerate it so I'm cool with it," or worse "It's fine by me, it doesn't even affect my playstyle, so you can go suck a lemon, I've got mine." Either notion is essentially missing the point: it may work for you, but removing the system would make it work for you *and* the sizable crowd on the other side. If you truly felt comfortable with it there would be no need to vehemently campaign against abolishing it.

And you know what? If the system doesn't bother you, more power to you. I've had a few debates over this that were more than just trolling, and typically they eventually said something to the effect of, "You know what? You're right on Fatigue System issue, but it won't affect my own style of play and I still intend to like the game, maybe XIV just won't be the game for you."

That's completely fine, and I'm genuinely happy for people it won't affect, because they're not dealing with the annoyance I am. Just be honest about it: you don't need to defend a bad idea because it won't personally bother you, it's okay to acknowledge it's flawed and still enjoy it.

Square's Been Through This, and Caps Will Be Removed Eventually

Now remember, many of the areas in XI were previously capped, like many of the Chains of Promothia areas, and this was supposed to be a good thing, because it would promote teamwork and cohesion and bring people together. Flash forward a few years, and Square is removing the level limits and advertising it as a glorious day opening the world to more players and new adventures, because the limits were off. That's just one example, and it's par for the course.

The Rationale Behind It

Why would Square Enix want to slow down a player's progress? We've debunked the "even playing field theory": the hardcore will still advance past the casual, and new players will have larger hills to climb to catch up to those who have been playing for a significant amount of time. We know they have learned from XI that caps hinder more than help in the long run, and that this system as a time sink will be equivalent in managing progress to a typical XP system.

There are three likely explanations for this. The first is that they genuinely feel so strongly that players will enjoy doing things outside of leveling to the point where things like crafting will be acceptable substitutes. If this is their prevailing thought, it's still an example of "Square knows best," effectively limiting the player's choice because they know better what you'll like than you do.

The evidence for the second is twofold: they're buying themselves time, either to finish an endgame they've so much as said isn't really there yet or to slow the progress of PC players, who get the game in their hands almost half a year before the Playstation 3's release. And the third goes hand-in-hand with the second, and that's the thought that maybe they want to force players to play longer by requiring more months to max their characters rather than letting the more dedicated plow through it with abandon and then quite.

The sad truth is, these are the most likely theories, and unfortunately none of them are particularly appealing.

The Bottom Line: It's the Principle

Those of us campaigning against the system will be vindicated someday. This gameplay mechanic that is so important to the core gameplay, that's part of the philosophy the entire game was supposedly built around... will eventually be removed. Maybe sooner, maybe later. But I promise you this vital aspect of the game's system will disappear at some point, and it will be delivered with much fanfare.

The system may be nerfed to the point of irrelevancy or even removed entirely by the time the game launches and over the course of it's infancy, further vindicating this position. Maybe it won't be so bad after all. But that's not the point. The point is Square thinks it knows best, and legions of fans will argue for even the worst of decisions. I'll reiterate: the simple solution is to ditch the system, and everyone will be happy, and the only reason to fight against that answer is because you've already got yours, or else you're just invincibly ignorant to your own blind adoration for Squenix.

If the system won't affect how you like to play MMOs, then rock on, my brothers and sisters. But don't defend the idea simply because you love Square Enix; it's perfectly reasonably to say, "Hey man, the system sucks for YOU, but I'm cool with it because it won't get in my personal way." Square's brought me some of my best memories in life, experiences and games I'll never forget, but they are a human entity and therefore prone to mistakes. There's no reason to defend the indefensibly bad ideas, and it doesn't make you any less of a fan: in fact, it keeps you from becoming a mere fanboy, and becoming a yes-man is one of the worst things you can do for someone - or something - you love.

Update 9/1/2010

While the open beta has been postponed, the developers have straight out came and said that the fatigue system will be more lenient than it was during the last phase of the closed beta, and that they'll continue to tweak it. Obviously vindication is already en route, and I seriously expect it will be seriously gimped if not irrelevant by launch, and certainly so over the long haul.

Update 9/1-2/2010 - Snarky Comments

The open beta website where you apply to be in the open beta (er, that's not an open beta...) kicked me off right as I was about to submit an application. Alas, I must've hit my fatigue limit for SE website usage for the week. It's all good though, because in the two minutes I was logged into the site I managed to get the same amount of time on the site as I would've for the entire week.

Meanwhile I mentioned to someone I was fixing some of the images on my blog here, and she informed me that, "It's unhealthy to fix all your images at once. You should take advantage of this time to laterally develop your blog. You can actually ENJOY blogging now!"