So the game's in open beta now, if anyone was still curious to try it, and should be for a couple more weeks, I think. Copying my thoughts from the news thread.
The optimization issues have been somewhat addressed, but some folks (like me) had to disable the targeting icons. What that means is, unless I leave my own nameplate on all the time, I can't see my own hp bar. For whatever reason there's no hp bar on the hotbar/skill bar part of the HUD. So that's kind of annoying.
Combat's a bit smoother, though at low levels it is super boring. You have one basic ability (there is no auto-attack in this game) that you have to aim, as everything has a cast time of some sort and a target area (range/size changes based on the ability). Using your regular ability charges a class-based skill bar, allowing the use of a stronger attack that again, you aim and fire. Everyone has some kind of Super Sayajin Mode that lasts like 10 seconds and boosts your damage or something like that. All in all, it's a bit like Guild Wars 2 combat with skillshots, there's lots of dodging involved.
Starter areas, once you leave the tutorial ship, are kind of big, which is neat. It's still pretty much your typical MMO here, move from quest point 1 to 2, etc etc. There are things to find, like sidequests and points of interest, that give you xp and some cash, so exploring is encouraged. My biggest complaint here is you go from 2-3 quests to suddenly being overloaded with them. I spent more time checking my map than I did actually questing, it felt like, because it was so easy to get overwhelmed and forget where to go next without losing a lot of time running all over the place.
Outside of the class you pick, you also pick a Path. Depending on which you choose, you get different kinds of sidequests, some of which you actually have to explore to find. Soldier gets defend-the-tower and kill quests, Explorer has to 100% maps and find secluded-ish areas, Settler picks up items in the environment to set up sentry points (which can contain a shop, bonus quests, etc for any player to use), and then Scientist uses a droid to scan items in the world and other stuff.
Character and world design is pretty cool. Customization is a bit limited, only the face has sliders right now. However they added in different body types, so there's that, I guess. It feels and looks a lot like the Ratchet and Clank series.
All in all, I can see the game being fun, but in the way FF13 was. Slogging through uneventful low levels and starter quests to get to the meat of the game, which apparently is level 15+ when dungeons and other PvE content open (PvP is open at level 6 or something, I guess, haven't checked into that yet). Apparently raids and dungeons are going to be fairly challenging, and said raids are 40-man runs.
The optimization issues have been somewhat addressed, but some folks (like me) had to disable the targeting icons. What that means is, unless I leave my own nameplate on all the time, I can't see my own hp bar. For whatever reason there's no hp bar on the hotbar/skill bar part of the HUD. So that's kind of annoying.
Combat's a bit smoother, though at low levels it is super boring. You have one basic ability (there is no auto-attack in this game) that you have to aim, as everything has a cast time of some sort and a target area (range/size changes based on the ability). Using your regular ability charges a class-based skill bar, allowing the use of a stronger attack that again, you aim and fire. Everyone has some kind of Super Sayajin Mode that lasts like 10 seconds and boosts your damage or something like that. All in all, it's a bit like Guild Wars 2 combat with skillshots, there's lots of dodging involved.
Starter areas, once you leave the tutorial ship, are kind of big, which is neat. It's still pretty much your typical MMO here, move from quest point 1 to 2, etc etc. There are things to find, like sidequests and points of interest, that give you xp and some cash, so exploring is encouraged. My biggest complaint here is you go from 2-3 quests to suddenly being overloaded with them. I spent more time checking my map than I did actually questing, it felt like, because it was so easy to get overwhelmed and forget where to go next without losing a lot of time running all over the place.
Outside of the class you pick, you also pick a Path. Depending on which you choose, you get different kinds of sidequests, some of which you actually have to explore to find. Soldier gets defend-the-tower and kill quests, Explorer has to 100% maps and find secluded-ish areas, Settler picks up items in the environment to set up sentry points (which can contain a shop, bonus quests, etc for any player to use), and then Scientist uses a droid to scan items in the world and other stuff.
Character and world design is pretty cool. Customization is a bit limited, only the face has sliders right now. However they added in different body types, so there's that, I guess. It feels and looks a lot like the Ratchet and Clank series.
All in all, I can see the game being fun, but in the way FF13 was. Slogging through uneventful low levels and starter quests to get to the meat of the game, which apparently is level 15+ when dungeons and other PvE content open (PvP is open at level 6 or something, I guess, haven't checked into that yet). Apparently raids and dungeons are going to be fairly challenging, and said raids are 40-man runs.
