• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Future of Final Fantasy XI press conference ended [OP updated with details]

dark_chris

Member
This is just my opinion, but I actually miss a lot of the gameplay style of Ffxi vs wow or ffiv.

The world in Ffxi felt real. You went out into a huge open wilderness and explored. There was no icon on the map showing you your next mission. If you needed to find an item in a cave, you had to go find the cave. And chances are you may not make it there alive because the world was freaking dangerous.

The fact that you lost xp for dying sucked ass, but then again it really made you fear death. The further out you explored the more white knuckle it became.

If you wanted to level, you had to find a good place to hunt. Yeah it was a grind, but it made every nook and cranny of the world feel important. I remember finding tucked away a areas of the valkyrm dunes away from other hunters and spending a evening with a party just hunting away.

A lot about modern mmos are better, don't get me wrong. But that sense of exploring an unknown world is just plain gone in today's quest logs and map markers and high speed leveling treadmills.

This!
This is what made me love FFXI a lot yet hate it. I loved exploring the unknown and vast amount of land. Simple enemies could be dangerous as hell, it was literally a dangerous world out there.
 
Yeah that was probably my least favourite thing about XIV's Paladin. I loved being a capable tank/healer in XI.

I mained WAR and SMN and also preferred the way those jobs worked in XI. I really liked that WAR was set up as a master of most weapon types, while it wouldn't work with the armory system in XIV I always hoped WAR could be reworked to be a more capable tank with certain weapons, or a DPS with others. I loved it's versatility.

Yup

One of the biggest draws of XI was that it had a MASSIVE set of tools and techniques at your disposal that lead to some really interesting discovery scenarios for players.

It was enriching stuff to play with for the most part (a lot of stuff didnt scale properly rendering over half of learned abilities utterly useless).
 

Moobabe

Member
PS4, Vita, full HD remake or a F2P announcement would have me excited.

I suspect some of those are wholly unlikely though.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
I'd say a PS4/Now-gen remake is a lot more likely than a shutdown or a F2P transition.

I still think its most likely to be announcing the end of service for PS2 with some sort of deal sweetener to buffer the reaction from the JP-core userbase.
 

Ixian

Member
I couldn't get into, though I tried. Is it because XI is less "theme-park MMO" than XIV?
As someone who played FFXI for... way too many years, I think the way I'd sum it up is FFXI was developed at a time when a lot of rules about how MMOs "should" be developed didn't exist yet, which makes it deeply flawed in some ways but is also part of its charm. The original EverQuest is viewed the same way by many who were heavily into that game; a lot of the things they loved about it would be considered design flaws that you just don't see in modern MMOs. I do play XIV but I'm super casual about it, if I played it anymore than I do the hamster wheels become apparent and I feel deeply bored.
Slow the fuck down....people still play this online on PS2s?
Primarily in Japan, yeah.
 

Alex

Member
XIV is a great Final Fantasy game and a very poor MMO. It's not surprising for people to yearn for XI which held it's balance in that regard significantly better.

I could never go back to XI, it's just too archaic and I despise some of the idiosyncrasies that popped up eons ago but I understand entirely. I'll be really surprised if they put it down... Wouldn't make a lot of sense.
 
As someone who played FFXI for... way too many years, I think the way I'd sum it up is FFXI was developed at a time when a lot of rules about how MMOs "should" be developed didn't exist yet, which makes it deeply flawed in some ways but is also part of its charm. The original EverQuest is viewed the same way by many who were heavily into that game; a lot of the things they loved about it would be considered design flaws that you just don't see in modern MMOs. I do play XIV but I'm super casual about it, if I played it anymore than I do the hamster wheels become apparent and I feel deeply bored.

Primarily in Japan, yeah.

Nail on the head on FFXIV

ITs a shame that the game shed so much of its JRPG roots. It was kind of a nasty tradoff since its so pretty and has MANY awesome QOL improvements that allow you to make the most out of play sessions.. (FFXI did not respect your time very well)

That said the gameplay itself... is far less rewarding the further into you go. Its a game that dazzles at the start and fizzles at the finish
 

Allard

Member
Slow the fuck down....people still play this online on PS2s?

In Japan yes. I don't have the numbers off-hand but even though the PS2 version of the most recent expansion was not released outside of Japan it still garnered like 12k sells on the PS2 when it released in Japan a couple years ago. Not exactly an amount worthy of keeping the support alive but they did still sell it and support it up to now. Some of the more recent changes to the game are more focused on expanding functionality for PC support and neglecting the consoles so there is 'hope' they are finally going to kill PS2 support soon which should in turn hopefully open up limitations for the game to do new things in a hypothetical expansion announcement. FYI the game is still designed not just for the PS2 in mind but for a Dial up Modem lol.
 

Darksol

Member
Casual FF fans must be so confused. Three releases for 13, then they put out 14, then they release type 0 with a demo for 15 and now they have news for 11 :p
 

RuGalz

Member
I will forever consider SE to be God if and when they decide to shutdown the game they open source the server...

I can dream I guess...
 
D

Deleted member 20920

Unconfirmed Member
In Japan yes. I don't have the numbers off-hand but even though the PS2 version of the most recent expansion was not released outside of Japan it still garnered like 12k sells on the PS2 when it released in Japan a couple years ago. Not exactly an amount worthy of keeping the support alive but they did still sell it and support it up to now. Some of the more recent changes to the game are more focused on expanding functionality for PC support and neglecting the consoles so there is 'hope' they are finally going to kill PS2 support soon which should in turn hopefully open up limitations for the game to do new things in a hypothetical expansion announcement. FYI the game is still designed not just for the PS2 in mind but for a Dial up Modem lol.

Were there any known reasons as to why SE didn't release the game on the PS3? Seems like an obvious thing to do and would have probably help move the players from the PS2 to the PS3 instead.
 

Moobabe

Member
Were there any known reasons as to why SE didn't release the game on the PS3? Seems like an obvious thing to do and would have probably help move the players from the PS2 to the PS3 instead.

Was there some kind of deal in place? It did appear on 360 after all
 

Tiops

Member
You need to be more careful when skimming. The 1 million subscriber number accounts for all of FF14, FF11, and DQ10, of which FF14 and DQ10 make up the majority of the 1 million. Possibly more towards FF14 than DQ10, since 14 is operational worldwide as opposed to DQ10 which is JP only. FF11 is not bringing in mad cash.

They only have 1 million subscribers for those 3 games? That doesn't sound really good.
 

Zee-Row

Banned
Would converting the game into single player be a massive undertaking? It seems like there would be so much balancing issues to iron out.
 
Would converting the game into single player be a massive undertaking? It seems like there would be so much balancing issues to iron out.

The entire game could use a massive Edit and retooling in much the same way FFXIV 1.0 was

I just highly doubt they would do it given the sheer amount of investment it would take. Seems very unrealistic.
 
If they re-make this any form - remastered, singleplayer version, anything, I will be right on it. Best game ever made, hands down.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
The entire game could use a massive Edit and retooling in much the same way FFXIV 1.0 was

I just highly doubt they would do it given the sheer amount of investment it would take. Seems very unrealistic.

Not really, the game is basically fully soloable apart from some of the highest level content already.
 

OsirisBlack

Banned
cuz its a fucking terrible game...

As someone still playing XI, I fear this cant be good news

I wouldn't say 14 is a terrible game but it is not as good as XI. I am actually of a different mind and think this announcement will be good news. If they did a HD remaster of this game it would make a lot of vets come back and give me a reason to pull out the aegis..... would love to see a graphical overhaul of XI.
 
Not really, the game is basically fully soloable apart from some of the highest level content already.

Yeah but think of the adjustments they made to get it there

AI companions, handouts, bonuses... it kind of flies in the face of the original. Did they modify enemy damage and HP? Stat scaling?

And any other ingame mechanics tha needed balancing?

I remember that a lof of the bosses had the arena level cap removed which would trivialize them had you power leveled (which is now encouraged)

I dont want a rebalance of a game to just hand me an express ticket to the finish line. Thats not a rebalance... thats a band aid
 

jiggle

Member
I'd be satisfied with FF Hype-0's level of remake

Doesn't seem feasible given the amount of contents though
Unless they stagger the release of expansions
 

Aeana

Member
Isn't the game still super popular and making money? Didn't they just come out with another expansion?
The most recent expansion came out in 2013, and was only developed because FF14 1.0 tanked. They've said it's the last one several times since. As for popularity, I would not call it super popular. It has a community of dedicated players, but it isn't huge. If they're not ending service, they would do well to do some server merges.
 
I'd be satisfied with FF Hype-0's level of remake

Doesn't seem feasible given the amount of contents though
Unless they stagger the release of expansions

They have too much history and too many long held accounts to shake things up the way they would need to be

Would be too disruptive which is a shame because the game would greatly benefit form a huge disruption on the scale of what they did for ARR (minus turning it into WOW/Diablo)
 

Kyoufu

Member
The most recent expansion came out in 2013, and was only developed because FF14 1.0 tanked. They've said it's the last one several times since. As for popularity, I would not call it super popular. It has a community of dedicated players, but it isn't huge. If they're not ending service, they would do well to do some server merges.

Maybe it was the last expansion... for PS2.
 

ViciousDS

Banned
I actually really liked the slowness of the combat that FFXI was when out leveling. To me it felt more natural then just spam skill for the sake of damage output. It also was very very controller friendly due to that design.
 

ash_ag

Member
I'm not into MMOs, but I was always interested in FFXI's story and lore. I planned on playing it eventually, if only to get a short taste -- but a single-player remake/reworking of the game would be a godsend. It could sell me on a Vita if it secured an exclusivity, although I reckon it would release on PS4 and beyond before Vita at this point.
 

Allard

Member
Were there any known reasons as to why SE didn't release the game on the PS3? Seems like an obvious thing to do and would have probably help move the players from the PS2 to the PS3 instead.

You could play the game on the original PS3 hardware but only as a PS2 game. My guess is the 360 release muddied up any hopes of it releasing on the PS3 properly especially given Microsoft's increasing stance on no multiplatform servers, they probably gave a bone to FFXI because 1) they really, really wanted to be able to say they had a Final Fantasy Game on their system to get more Japanese developer support and 2) It was released on Ps2 and not the current console they were competing with, the other release was on PC which they have shown reluctance but not out right disregard to having shared servers with.

This is in part why I think 360 support alongside PS2 support dying might be required for them to port the game to the PS4. Its a calculated risk but I think if they port the game using the PC client to the PS4, and made a pricing bundle with FFXIV alongside an expansion announcement it could really breath some life into the game, that and open a cash shop (I loathe saying this) for all the Trust NPCs people missed during login campaigns.

The largest barometer for me coming back into the game at the moment is all the content I missed because I didn't login into the game every single day due to those campaigns. What was once a boon to get people to stick around has now become a detractor for people wanting to return knowing a ton of content either can't be seen again or won't be for a year plus, at least having those in a cash shop would give players the option of getting those NPC's again while also giving the game some much needed additional revenue.
 
I actually really liked the slowness of the combat that FFXI was when out leveling. To me it felt more natural then just spam skill for the sake of damage output. It also was very very controller friendly due to that design.

Oh the combat was much more satisfying.... for the most part

You still ran into issues because the game was so tightly balanced for 6-man party play to the point of being painful

There were a lot of limitations placed on the player, every enemy felt like a brick wall, and abilities didn't scale in logical ways which made them obsolete, inaccurate and ineffective.

Damnit man... all those XI memories. The good always comes with the bad in that game but damn if it wasn't compelling
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Yeah but think of the adjustments they made to get it there

AI companions, handouts, bonuses... it kind of flies in the face of the original. Did they modify enemy damage and HP? Stat scaling?

And any other ingame mechanics tha needed balancing?

The game as a whole has been made drastically easier, everything from movement speed to weaponskill damage and gear availability has been improved.

Right now, just doing RoE quests augmented with GoV/FoV training regimes is all you need to do to reach 99. The limit breaks are all easily soloable and given the way that the xp curve has been tweaked some of the earlier hurdles (like getting sub-job) are now a lot less annoying to do. Bear in mind that not only do all mobs give more xp, the con-range (level difference within which mobs give xp) has been pushed out, making for levelling on fodder enemies being vastly more efficient than it was.

Itemizing all the quality-of-life tweaks would result in a post as long as my arm... it is literally night-and-day compared to how it was for the first half of the game's life.
 

ViciousDS

Banned
Oh the combat was much more satisfying.... for the most part

You still ran into issues because the game was so tightly balanced for 6-man party play to the point of being painful

There were a lot of limitations placed on the player, every enemy felt like a brick wall, and abilities didn't scale in logical ways which made them obsolete, inaccurate and ineffective.

Damnit man... all those XI memories. The good always comes with the bad in that game but damn if it wasn't compelling

its not to bad with FoV being around now though....you can solo a huge chunk of levels now.
 

nampad

Member
Vita port would be quite cool. Sad that there are no good portable MMO games
or should I say fortunately?
.
 

Baleoce

Member
If they're not ending service, they would do well to do some server merges.

I can't see them holding a press conference for the latter. (well, or the former tbh) Not in a clear cut way at least. Then again, if they're changing up the business model / restructuring in general, the merges will probably be a likely consequence of that.
 
First MMORPG I ever played... explicitly because they had a PS2 version, I didn't have a good PC at the time.

It cost $100 and came on a Hard Disk.

I found out that the network adapter that my PS2 came bundled with was bad and I had to track down a Gamestop with one in stock. Another $40.

Back then Aht'Urgan had just been released. I got up to level 54 (PLD). Never really touched that expansion despite buying it.

I gave up due to the insanely inflated economy, I couldn't afford anything and I didn't want to spend the zillion hours farming stuff just to be able to buy basic gear.

The fact that I was staring the class level quests in the face and they were stupid hard, even in a group, made me decide to stop playing.
 

Ferr986

Member
Aside from end game content all the new content has been designed with solo to extremely small groups in mind and the trust system made soloing most of the games original content amazingly easy, and not just because everyone is super high level. I don't expect them to announce such a change unless they felt the game was basically at the end of its life, but its also not something I see being too large a leap in the future. They are already designing most there new stuff with solo to low population in mind.

Even if the game is now solo friendly, the "structure" is vastly different than an SP game. It would need a huge retooling of the game (basically a remake), and I dont think it's worth for SE right now. (wish I would be wrong though, FFXI vanilla+RoTZ+CoP is IMO the best FF storyline.)

I also not see porting to PS4, when the platform has already XIV, that it's more popular now.

I guess the announcement will be new add-ons like Abyssea, and some kind of changes like maybe dropping PS2 support.
 

Einhander

Member
Guys, they're not going to have this event just to announce the servers are shutting down. That would be a depressing event, lol.

I'd guess an HD remake for PC, PS4 and Xbox One, a Vita port, or a single player version.
 
Even if the game is now solo friendly, the "structure" is vastly different than an SP game. It would need a huge retooling of the game (basically a remake), and I dont think it's worth for SE right now.

I also not see porting to PS4, when the platform has already XIV, that it's more popular now.

I guess the announcement will be new add-ons like Abyssea, and some kind of changes like maybe dropping PS2 support.

Exactly.

Using the a newer expansion as a power leveling platform is pretty lame. I would rather see a huge structural edit that, while preserving player freedom, still guides them on a logical path towards learning the game, experimenting with mechanics and moves them along at a more evenly curved path

Dropping new players in, handing them a bunch of shortcuts and shoving them into FoV to max out their character makes them miss out on so much
 
Top Bottom