The Virtual World- Final Fantasy XIV (Other (Not Listed) Sample)

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Final Fantasy XIV
Final fantasy has also been widely referred to as Final Fantasy XIV Online. It is so far the fourteenth game in the Final fantasy series. The game was published and developed by Enix Square. It has also been widely regarded as an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) for personal computers operating on Microsoft Windows. Eorzea is the fictional land where the game takes place. There are rumors that there might be an invasion from the north by a group called the Garlean Empire. Avatars are created and customized by the players. These avatars act as the adventurers in the difficult times depicted in the game. The various cities of Eorzea form a grand company which is consolidated into a larger alliance in readiness for the war with the empire.The online version of the game was first made available between September 30, 2010, upto November 11, 2012. During this period, it was only available in French German, Japanese and English languages. The aim of this paper therefore is to critically analyze the various aspects considered in developing this game and the impact the game portrays on its players.
To play the game a player has to begin by creating a character that can be customized. Lacasa and Pilar (34),described the character creator as clunky but deep enough. At this stage the player enters the world. In the early stages of the game there are several tutorial quests that direct a player on how to play. After several tutorials the game opens up. The primary aim of the game is to become more and more powerful. This can be achieved in several ways such as the standard MMO quests, Levequests which are repeatable quests, Guildhests which are group affairs, straight-up grinding on enemies and Guild Wars two-style public quests which randomly appear throughout the game’s environments. All of these are easy to access and they sound simple. However, beneath the layers lies a form of genius. The developer, Enix, gives the player an opportunity to play the kind of MMORPG they want. Apart from just the enjoyment part the game also instills a varied range of interpersonal skills that are manifested differently on different players.
In need of a World of Warcraft style quest experience? Or maybe an old-school slaughtering of monsters similar to EverQuest? Or perhaps something that is more modern like what is experienced in Rift? Final Fantasy XIV has managed to encompass these entire genre styles while at the same time maintaining the high quality experience. As a player an individual is liberated, in that, he/she is capable of climbing the levels as he wishes and at the same time matching and mixing as the game continues to avoid burning out. Final Fantasy XIV class system lets a character choose what to eat, when it wants instead of sticking to the old-model which adhered to the rule of stick-to-what-you-picked. The game ties your class to a particular weapon you choose. If a player is fed up with acting like a gladiator, he can unequip his sword and switch to a spear. In this case, the class automatically changes to Lancer. If a staff is equipped thee character becomes a magic-wielding Thaumaturge. This creates a sort of freeing feeling to the player, knowing that they can invest their time in the game to whatever they want to and this will still lead to paying of dividends to a single character. A player in this game is also capable of changing the way they are playing easily without much investment. This helps by keeping the game enjoyable and fresh.
The current information generation has led to the cropping up of opportunities for symbolic experiences that directly affect the behavior of humans. The viewing of televised violence in the Final Fantasy XIV can be attributed as one of the causal agents in acquiring and displaying of actions of aggressiveness. Being a virtual reality game it needs a direction action for the game to be more interesting and to continue through the levels. A person has to kill his opponents or he will in turn be killed in this life like reality that is simulated by the computer. This aggressive behavior is at most times directly incorporated in the player and is likely to be physically manifested to his or her fellow peers or playmates. The arousal theory by Fox argues that the responses of physiological nature to aggression increases as a player continues to engage in threatening situations in this game. Once exposed to aggressive content in this and other similar games the content has a high likelihood of being retained in a player’s memory of which it would be reproduced in real life when the player is motivated to do so.
At later advanced levels however, the class systems in this game become more interesting. A player is able to carry over capabilities from other previous classes or levels.Russell (78), stated that in so doing the players are allowed to customize their characters and sidesteps which is a common feature in MMORPGs. Similarly, a player is able to increase an attribute of their choosing as they level, further ensuring the character feels like their own. This promotes the development of a creative mind on the player’s side. The player is also able to be proficient in multitasking and experience better memory capabilities.
The nature of combat in Final Fantasy XIV is stock MMORPG fare with a sprinkling of various systems that work to keep a player engaged. It is well polished and fast without sacrificing transparency and it creates a feeling of familiarity to previous MMORPG players with the use of hotbars, tab targeting technique, light active dodging and automatically delivered standard attacks. Each of the classes however contains a small wrinkle. This ensures that the player keeps his mind in the fight which in turn helps make the leveling curve to go by faster. For example, in the Gladiator category there are features with abilities that bring about more damage and are more likely to trigger additional effects when they are performed in the proper order. In some cases, in the game small mental calculations sometimes make fights and battles to feel so much less routine, with an addictive and engaging rhythm and flow (Fox, 92). This game has in some way become a way of life for a majority of Americans. It has been attributed with high levels of addiction with 42% of middle aged American players of this game confessing of committing an average of between 4 to 6 hours to the game per day. This can be taken as a positive attribute since the players become better in creating relationships online with their competitors
The game is more thrilling when played in a group scenario whereby a specific class can concentrate on performing specific roles. Group activities are particularly more difficult. Much is expected from the war tanks as they are required to hold the opponents attention through a combination of attacks. Damage dealers together with healers are expected to maintain a certain level of discipline in their output. If too much is exerted there is a likelihood of the monster turning its attention on them and increasing the chances of death. This type of experience is present in most of the MMORPGs. However, it is more amplified in this game to a greater benefit of the players. In this perspective players learn to be protectors of people around increasing their sense of security.
The game depicts a greater focus on the plot. According toFox (43), this game comes out as one of the most fleshed-out and well-executed MMORPG plotlines. It systematically tracks your progress from simple and not known adventurer to a celebrated hero. A player meets a large cast of various characters throughout the mission. The game’s initial idea performs a significantly good job of taking you into an unfamiliar outside world that is far away from your starting point. This works well in making sure that the developer’s work that was put in all of the aspects of the game are not wasted. The exciting part of this, is that they exist as more than just a leveling content. There are mind challenging tutorials that take a player through the role of his character in the game and his or her role in a group context.
Additionally, there are no significant major differences between the PC and the PS3 versions of the game. Personally, the PC version of the game looks prettier and the console offering’s draw distance will seem very underwhelming after playing on a computer. However, the important thing remains that the developer Enix Square produced a controller scheme which works very well for MMORPGs.
On interviewing one of the distinguished players of the game, Statrix, he lamented that:
"In the earlystages of the game the game activities and the mission seems hard to grasp. I experienced several accidental deaths brought about by getting my fingers in a knot at first. But after giving it several hours of practice and a handful of levels, it became a morethan-serviceable way to play the game. The game ignited...