DDO vs. Final Fantasy 14

[Hearthing]

Hey everyone, I just started playing both DDO and FF14 Online, and here are my thoughts on the games. Granted, one is Free To Play and the other is subscription, but if DDO stepped up their game, I would gladly pay to play.


DDO Pros:

-Easy access to Instances
-Easy to level up
-You can't run through enemies
-Projectiles don't follow you all over the place (i.e. arrows turning corners)
-The forums are great, and the gamers are super helpful
-Quests are enjoyable and don't feel like chores
-The UI is pretty straightforward
-You can choose a path, and if you don't like that path, you can change it later
-A great storyline and dynamic characters
-NPC's actually have audio conversations

DDO Cons:

-The graphics are horrible. Even with the new expansion that came out a month ago. There's really no excuse for that
-I despise the fact that the environment isn't open. Sure, you can basically go anywhere, but unless you're in a marketplace, you're gonna end up in an instance, and that just kinda sucks
-No PvP except for dueling
-The scale of enemies isn't anywhere near as epic as basically every other MMO (i.e. WoW, SWTOR, LOTRO, FF14)
-I don't like the ranking system, where you level up within a rank. It just feels like you're taking a lot longer to accomplish the same thing as other MMO's
-The soundtrack is just terrible. The 90s called and want their synthesizers back...

And now for the flip side...

FF14 Pros:

-Amazing graphics
-Massive environment
-Exotic and extravagant characters
-Beautiful soundtrack created by an actual orchestra
-A great storyline
-Intuitive UI
-Character mounts right from the start
-NPC's actually look/feel like they're alive and not just static

FF14 Cons:

-The players suck. All of them. Seriously, ask for help and not a single person will reply, even if they're sitting around in a cave waiting to be rescued
-Main characters hardly speak during cutscenes, which is kind of weird when they actually do speak. It's certainly unbalanced
-No PvP (yet)
-Pay to Play
-The level cap is kinda low (50 is the highest right now)
-Some of the quests are extremely monotonous and boring (cleaning lice off sheep, for example...)
-You can use the airship, but it only takes you to 3 locations
-A lot of the cutscenes are extremely boring, and you can't skip past them. Watching characters reactions to epic events isn't exactly why I bought the game. I want to see the events as they happen, not stare at a static character for 30 seconds while they listen to stuff happening

So that's my far-from-perfect evaluation. DDO is fun, and for a free to play mmo, it does things remarkably well. FF14 is superior in many aspects, but lacks in quite a few. Then there's the fact that it's pay to play. For now, I think I'll stick with DDO. I've yet to try out LOTRO, and I can't play SWTOR because I have a Mac (which is really the only time I've truly been sad to own a Mac). Anyways, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the comparison.

[殺してあげる]

I find open world vs instancing to be well.. a meh arguement. Conceptually a nice open world with other people is a great thing..the world isn't empty...

...but you have people 'helping' you with fights when you don't want it (and in some cases cutting your exp, actually getting you killed, or claiming the loot). You have to line-up to get a chance to kill the mob you need for your quest, and risk a queue-jumper. You're the last hope to deliver this message to the Rangers of the North before the invasion.. you and the thirty other people beside you on the quest.

I rather find open world to be immersion-shattering in some cases. On the other hand, against using LOTRO... the invasion instance of mirkwood felt more alive when it was released as you and a few hundred other players were involved in the assault.

----

I'd agree the lack of PvP is a con. I rather enjoyed PvP in SWTOR and LOTRO (well, pre-moria lotro..annuminas was a great time to be a creep). Setting-wise though, in DDO we're all non-evil and the same 'faction', so a real PvP would be more appropriately 'murder'. Just doesn't fit with the ideal of being the Hero of the People (Free Agent title).

That and DDO just wouldn't be balanced for PvP..and then you run into that LOTRO issue of trying to balance PvP and PvM skills, and making every class 'equally valid'.

----

Graphics, dunno. Looks rather pretty on Ultra High graphics with everything maxed/enabled. Beats a lot of other games out (though yeah, it's no Tera or TSW and I imagine FF has gorgeous visuals as well). I just wouldn't rate ddo's graphics as a con, just a neutral. Don't expect to be stunned, but it's also not cartoony.

---

Music? Yeah... just no. Teamsspeak and Playlists on Winamp, the game music is just bleh. Definately give you a CON on it..but then again, that just allows you to substitute your own.

----

Ranking system inside levels is just a legacy of pnp dnd.. the levels were too far apart and a lack of progress felt, so rather than adjust, they bastardised Eberron Setting's Action Points (originally what AP were was a pool of points that let you (before you rolled) add a d6 to the roll. So if your chance to disable a trap was poor, you could spend an AP to have a 'heroic moment' and improve your odds. Action Boosts are their truest incarnation at current).

Pretty much they'd have to divorce further from their roots to change this, which does seem the direction they're going in. Purists will whine, but D&D's first rule was 'all rules are optional', so if it results in a better game, go for it.

----

AND ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ if i don't agree about the projectiles. I sooo hated in games like SWTOR and LOTRO where arrows curve to hit you if you dodge. I love that ddo let's you play danmaku under archer fire, grazing the shots. Now if only my party would let me try for a pacifist run :P

----

Anyhow, your opinion is yours, and valid for specific values of you, but you do have some good points. I was half expecting an unfair list, but this was nicely writ.

One day... one day a perfect game will be made. (and then ruined by a community of jerkasses but meh. life :D )

[Damiarch]

Walk into the back room of most any bar.There is where you find your ddo pvp.
They keep it behind the velvet rope as an nod to the pvp crowd.The vast bulk of the player base dosent care about pvp.(based on the amount of people in the bar backrooms)
Personally I like the system more than other,more free pvp allowed games.