Nice! I hope to see even more of VGChartz people there.

I've added links for Beta applications for each region. Will put this in front page as well. Sorry it took so long.

EU Beta: http://entry.ffxiv.com/beta/eu
German Beta Entry: http://entry.ffxiv.com/beta/de
North American Beta Access: http://entry.ffxiv.com/beta/na
France Beta: http://entry.ffxiv.com/beta/fr
Japanese Beta: http://entry.ffxiv.com/beta/de

It's good to be a Legacy player Phase 1, here I come!!

Can you give me any specific examples of where this game is losing its "Japanese" focus and how it's becoming more "western" and "centralized"? As a player of the original, I'm curious. I haven't been keeping up much with new info.

Legacy player here, will be online day -3

I can't go in too much detail without losing my account but I can point out some things based on the Alpha videos shown.

Take a look at the raid, combat, and questing videos for example. Links below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSO4DgXzeTs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe09gta0WAw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N4G854ANo0&list=PL0230435155E08820&index=5

They're exactly like they look. In Final Fantasy XI and XIV to an extent, almost every single quest had a cut-scene and storyline. In the new ARR they take the more western/korean approach of a thousand quests with throwaway story with bits of lore. The combat is very spammy and fast paced (ability/weaponskill every 3 seconds until you run out of TP) and there isn't much thinking to it. FFXI and FFXIV took a slower approach to combat but it isn't like that anymore. Now it's use your best weaponskill or combo and enemy is dead. The Alpha only had PC UI scheme as you can see. FFXI and FFXIV were built centered around a console. ARR feels more like that "standard MMO" rather then try to be a niche and centered around more console like controls.

Core systems will change, but I can mention that there was significant displeasure over the battle system in Alpha. I fear that they aren't going to do anything original. Final Fantasy XIV was a failure because it was rushed but it definitely had ideas that worked, and that it did well. I'm not a big fan of the standard MMO. So the game could do really well with people that like that type of game, but it isn't for me.

I hope i'm wrong, and I really hope SE takes feedback seriously to make the best game they can. However lately I can't help but be doubtful since they haven't been doing a good job at satisfying my desires.

Some key things you didn't mention or perhaps forgotten. The LVL cap in the alpha test is set at Lv20. Main story scenarios was removed to prevent spoilers. I'll also note that the battle algorithm in the alpha will change in the beta. The Limit Break feature was not implemented in the alpha. The controls in the alpha test are meant for keyboard and mouse because beta stage 3 I believe is when they'll add PS3 controls.

With that said, I think its a bit premature to judge it based on that, especually since its was in alpha stage.

Oh yeah i'm not calling foul just yet. However I will address some of your points.

1.) Level cap is fine. A battle system doesn't need to be fun at level 20 and below, but it needs to be tolerable. The one they have in place is mind numbing. I disliked the stamina crap they had back in 1.0 as well.

2.) Those quests I was talking about was specifically side quests. Not the main scenario. Can't judge those because they aren't out yet.

3.) The battle algorithms will change, but mine and most peoples problem is with the core foundation itself. I don't see it changing honestly. The limit break feature will not be enough to make it fun. They didn't need to even change the FFXIV battle system. They just had to improve on it. They created a problem to fix something that didn't need to be fixed.

Alpha is an alpha, but i'm not going to stand by and give free passes because it is an alpha. It needs to be said now so they can change things quicker and earlier. I'll be in the next part of ARR to see how it goes then, and then i'll rejudge and see if my stance changes.

I dunno about you but, I did a lot of side quest in Final Fantasy games lol. I know what you mean though.

Really interested to see how Odin fits in with the storyline. I wonder if he had anything to do with barring Bahamut from roaming around freely after he trounced everyone at the Battle of Carteanu.