Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Beta Review

Yeah, so far ... I can't say that I'm a fan.

Here's why:

This game wasn't really on my radar, to be honest.  I've never been a big Final Fantasy guy.  But I had heard about some people talking about it and one day I get a message in my PSN box from Square Enix inviting me to the beta (I think I entered originally by like downloading a video off off PlayStation Plus or the like).

Great.  So I click on the attachment in the message.  This is what this message looked like:

It downloads a 28MB launcher, which in turn sits there and downloads some untold gigs of actual game software.

Slowly.  OK, so there went using the PS3 for a while.  I go about and do ... some other Friday night thing for a while.  I come back.  Still downloading.  Wash, rinse and repeat about five times.  Finally downloaded.  It's late now, but I can stay up for a bit to smoke test the first few moments of the game.

Except, there's no play button.  Instead I first have to enter in my Beta Code.

What Beta Code?  I don't have a Beta Code.  I have a huge amount of software that got downloaded from a small amount of software that I downloaded from that ....

Oh, right - that message.  So I go back to the message.  The Beta Code can be found if you artfully scroll down a bit.  It's 20 characters long.  There is no concept of cutting and pasting on the PS3.  Thankfully I've got an iPhone with a camera and a USB keyboard.

OK.  Beta Code in.  Time to kill some ... I don't know ... bird things.  Whatever they kill in Final Fantasy a lot.  Seriously, I haven't played Final Fantasy since like ... well at least before they needed more than a few Roman numerals.  But now I can play - right?

Nope.  Now I get to create a Square Enix account, and then I have to tie that to my PSN account. Usually typing in a promo code isn't really needed if you get it through PSN because it just gets passed through - but OK.  And sure, I've had to link accounts before - but usually that can be done pretty smoothly either through my browser or through the PS3 - this was pretty much neither.  I had to create account information, confirm account information, follow my confirmation instructions, confirm my other account information and so on.

Usually "closed beta" means "exclusive rights to download", not really "fill out enough forms to get a new rate on your loan".   After about three more screens and a couple user agreements, though, I've got it.  I'm all signed up, linked up, and I have every single code I could possibly have entered in.

Time to kill some Cocoa Birds, right?

Wrong.  I just get a message thanking me for joining the Square Enix community and come back when there's a beta not already in progress.  Don't call us, we'll call you.  We'll do lunch.  So days turns into weeks and I get bored with having this downloaded beta I can't play ... so I delete it.

Fast forward to yesterday.  I get this in the old inbox:

Now, there's just one teeeeny tiny little problem here.  I mean, really, so insignificant that I hesitate to mention.  Really, it might not be worth your time.  I should just go, really.  I mean - oh, well, OK - here's the thing.

I don't own a PC.

And I really would have thought you would have known that from the thirty minutes of paperwork you forced me to do just to have the privilege of not playing your game.

Sigh.  OK, probably a simple misunderstanding. Whatever, no big deal - like I said.  I mean, I spent all that time registering with Square Enix, surely I can just download the beta again and then login and then we'll be fine.  I go back to my PSN inbox, click on the attachment.

I get prompted for a 12 digit promo code.  I don't have a 12 digit promo code.  I have a 20 digit beta code.

 I got to the support center noted in the email.  I log into my account (which at this point I assume that Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn might just be the most subtle ARG ever made).  I fumble around until I find some forums in English.  I put a post there, and a fellow gamer tells me that I should have gotten a 12 digit code in my email.

You know, the email inviting me to download the beta client for my non-existent PC.

So I find Customer Support.  Square's concept of Customer Support seems to embrace the often used tactic of "fend them off with FAQ's and then ignore them completely".  I get past their measly FAQ's and submit a "ticket".

Of course, a "ticket" would imply that a) someone received it and that b) I could go back and check the status of the "ticket".  Only, there is no open tickets area in Square's Customer Support mindset.  So what they've really created is email.  And since I have no confirmation email, it might be email that goes nowhere.

So now I stumble onto the Technical Support forums, where I find the grandest of all the grand punchlines this little saga could have ... a thread entitled:

• Played Phase 3 PS3 beta but received Phase 4 PC beta email >.<

OK.  now we are getting somewhere.  Surely out of eight pages of Internet wisdom will be the answer, or at least some kind of response from Square Enix on the situation.  Right?

Right?

Oh, hell no.  There are, and I shit you not because I respect you as a person and would not do that you this late in a long post, eight pages of people posting their public email addresses to an international Internet forum in the hopes of someone sending them a beta key.

Because, I should mentioned, these forums do not have private messages.  So the thing is - I don't even really blame people for posting in the hopes of getting a code.  Several have.  Square is completely silent on the issue and have left them no other choice.

Eight pages ... and growing.  Of personal email addresses.

Nicely played, Square, you have managed to fuck up a process the gaming industry has been honing for like decades into a process where people are willing to forego their personal information for a 12 digit code.

So yeah.

First of all, if you are going to force me to jump through so many registration hoops - I should get some benefit of it.  That I had to create like three accounts, pinky swear four times and what not - but you have absolutely no way of giving me a beta code except email? Ludicrous.  Absolutely ludicrous.  This is like when the phone company asks you to put in your phone number so that they can put you through to a human whose first question will be what is your phone number.

Second - I am so tired of first rate game companies with third rate customer support systems.  I'm kinda glad I already played Tomb Raider - because now knowing that Square Enix basically has no customer support, I am far less likely to buy their games in the future.

And thirdly ... Square, if you are reading this - don't even respond to me until you have responded to that forum thread.  Like you should have done at least a day ago.


The Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Beta?

I am not a fan.

Not at all. 

It Came From E3: Sony Versus Microsoft

This next generation of consoles is proving to be far, far more interesting than I would have thought.  Early rumors and expectations seem to suggest that if anything - this generation would basically be two consoles with little distinction except a brand, and something called a Wii U.

But then Microsoft had to go and throw sand in the face of my long standing prediction that no console manufacturer would be so stupid as to actually try and block buying used games.  My assumption has always been that eventually everything would just go disc-less ... but just not this generation.

Oh no, Microsoft is proving to be just that stupid.  The Xbox One (more on that later) will require an Internet connection at least once every 24 hours to play even offline games and the ability to use a game has been left completely to the mercy of the publisher.

Microsoft has made a clear stance: you do not really own any actual physical media.  You are paying for a license to use software and perhaps that software happens to come on a disc - perhaps not, but it does not actually matter.  Once you've bought a game, you are only buying the privilege to use that game in the manner the publisher desires.  Technically and legally, Microsoft is on strong footing - this is actually pretty much how software distribution has always worked.

But nobody ... nobody, has ever considered taking it to the draconian levels the Xbox One will enforce.  Purchasing an Xbox One is effectively voting against your rights as a consumer, plain and simple.

Microsoft's missteps don't end there.  First of all - I don't know what marketing genius decided on "Xbox One" as a name ... but it is clearly someone who thinks of themselves as a "marketing genius".  It is an utterly moronic name only held aloft by a cool factor in itself supported only by clever advertising.

The Xbox One is the third Xbox.

The Xbox One has two distinct pieces.

The Xbox One has many different purposes.

In short, there is nothing "One" about the Xbox One except that it sounds cool.

Sony has made it pretty clear that they don't share Microsoft's beliefs about sharing your games - and that alone is going to give them miles and miles of traction with gamers.  Also, "PS4" has a very nice logical feel to it.  But then they had to go and give the coup de grace:

The PS4 will also be cheaper.  Even though it will probably be marginally more powerful.

If you twist your crystal ball around just enough, you can maybe, almost possibly, perhaps see what Microsoft was thinking: They assumed that Kinect would be a huge value add, one that Sony can't compete with.  They assumed Sony would probably duplicate their mistake with the PS3 and charge a premium.  They possibly even assumed that the lucrative potential of DRM was too attractive for Sony to pass up and that gamers could hard grumble much if both major consoles had matching handcuffs.

Except none of those would seem to be true.  Finally, Microsoft seems to have fallen back on their original strategy - dating all the way back to the first Xbox:

You'll buy our console because of the exclusive games on it.

And why wouldn't they think that?  Halo single-handedly launched a million Xboxes, or you know - something like that.  Gamers might forgive having their purchasing power tied behind their back, a console that is more expensive with less power and name that reeks of marketing stiffs if only they can play the next Halo.

And while Microsoft's exclusives - which comprised the majority of their E3 keynote if you have no doubt that this is there main strategy - are interesting, the flagship title appears to be Titanfall.

Titanfall looks interesting, but brothers and sisters - I've played Halo and Titanfall is no Halo.  Halo was a ground-breaking shooter on many levels whose mechanics still echo through virtually every FPS game on any platform.  Titanfall is pretty, but it is basically a futuristic shooter with parkour and mechs.

Honestly - what all the talk about Titanfall reminds me of?  Brink.  Think on that for a moment.

The thing is - Sony is doing nothing terribly revolutionary here.  The PS4 is a PS3 with modern hardware and something more akin to PC specs and less Cell Processor weirdness.  The next generation PlayStation Plus will be pretty much this generation of PlayStation Plus.  The OS will get some updates.

Sony isn't going to win the next generation - it's more that Microsoft is going to lose by constantly punching itself in the face.  For Microsoft to even keep pace with Sony at this point, Titanfall would need to be the best game ever made in the history of gaming ... but unfortunately for Microsoft, Bungie is already making Destiny.

Don't get me wrong - the XBO will sell plenty of units for sure ... the brand has too much raw weight and inertia.  But it's going to sell like ice for igloos abroad where its already-too-high price point will be painfully-that-much-higher (one forum comment noted that the XBO would be higher than than their month's rent by far too wide a margin) ... and even here in the good old US of A, loyal 360 users are going to start wondering about their ability to buy cheap games from the used racks between now and the holidays.

Nintendo has basically nailed third place into the ground with the Wii U being far too little and way too late.

Microsoft apparently found second place too tempting to pass up.