Developers, SquareEnix: What are the REAL chances of us seeing NEW areas?

[TwistedAx]

Yes, I am well aware that the PS2 has to use the rest of the system besides the HDD... but wait... isn't that kinda redundantly OBVIOUS?! I was merely pointing out that their claim on HDD space being so limited is just slightly bogus.

No, the partition is NOT capped at 8gb, because all I have on my PS2's HDD is PlayOnline at 1gb, FFXI (which I just checked) is currently at 10,240MB, Tetra Master at 128MB, and Socom II at 256MB. Nothing else installed.

I am also WELL aware there are over 100+ Japanese games that utilize the HDD, and barely 29 USA games that do. the thing is... How many of those games is one person really going to own? I mean, seriously. And the fact that, most of them, once played.. Will most likely be uninstalled. The MAJORITY of the PS2 games (USA, Japanese, Otherwise...) still do NOT use the HDD. I've owned well into 70~80 PS2 games (Lost track, lol). 3 Of them utilized the HDD at all, And it was NOT by much.

I'm all for new zones. I would LOVE a real, new Story Line. New, Unique enemies. I DO love my PS2, but I am NOT a PS2 fanboy. I play on PC, I USED to play on PS2 when that's ALL THERE FK'N' WAS to play on (During Pre-US release, Mind you. Yes, I had a Japanese PS2. Just for playing XI.) (Love for ones console is VASTLY different from fanboyism.)

The thing is, they DO do things very differently. Each of the zones may be just a reskin, but the entire zone is packaged in its in its OWN .dat file. This is done for EVERY zone. Its the reason a game that should now only be about 7gb is actually more like 10gb now on the ps2. And it has always been at LEAST 8+gb.

Adding new Content is one thing. But changing the base code to lower space required is impossible. Changing the code for any truly brand new features is also more less impossible (Such as disabling character blinking when changing gear, For PC making a REAL, decent windowed mode [no, their windowed mode is not a real windowed mode, its a wannabe. it puts the entire game in its own special little emulated instance and forces that into a window.. in extremely simple terms.], parses, information overlays, ......how the game accesses data it has stored on the system thus making it impossible to save much space compared to the current system [the .dat system]).

Take into consideration, that its far to late in the game for them to change such base coding, the data is buried FAR too deep in the game for them to change anything so drastically game changing because they just don't have the resources to do so or the documentation on what everything does where and how, because old people left and never made the proper documents on it (most likely scenario..) They would have to completely reverse engineer their own games base coding.

Also. If the PS2 is a bane on FFXI, then you would have to count xblolx as well, since they use the same code, just repackaged to work on that platform. (PS3 in rare instances too, Such as my Release 60gb [500gb upgraded hdd] PS3 Phat, which runs XI quite happily. Not to mention every other PS2 game in existence.)

[Catsby]

It seems like the technical design for the game didn't plan on exceeding the PS2's life span. (once again) Hopefully development is seriously considering a ground up rebuild of the game or a migration to existing tech so they have more to work with.

[Laraul]

They're are six or so unused area id numbers. Do you people realize though, that creating a new area from scratch is the most time intensive part of development? The development team isn't anywhere near the size it was. Besides no one started complaining about areas until Abyssea came out.

[Starcade]

Since, allegedly, FF14 is fail, SE is going to keep it's money on FFXI, but, as yet, I am guessing, does not have the money/staff/man hours to expand to new areas, nor can it afford to risk losing a lot of it's PS2 player base.

The fact is that I believe that their entire MMO division is failing. Partially, IMHO, because of their unwillingness to discipline their playerbase (why think they can work two MMOs properly if they can't do one?), and partially because they tried to rush out XIV so they could kill XI.

[Simian]

It has already been stated more than once that we can not get the new translations everyone wants without sacrificing some old ones due to the space limitations of the PS2. Microsoft will in the near future pull support for Windows XP and will only officially support Vista and 7 but we all know there will still be XP users just as there are still some Win98 users still out there, but those older systems can not handle newer web content and if you do not need the newer content then people are happy with their old reliables.

The point is that PS2 is near capacity as it is. There will be a point in time where support for it will have to be pulled for the game to improve beyond reskinning the areas we currently have.

There are several ways this can go. SE can offer slightly different versions for each operating platform or perhaps link up with a computer manufacturer to offer a better economical system in a partnership as it was already suggested. Players want new stuffs. SE has taken the track of adding content to old areas to breathe life into them. Is this merely lazy on their part, or a keeping the cost down measure, or is it simply because the PS2 can not handle new content. I think it is likely a combination of all three.

[Retsujo]

I don't know about you guys, but I would absolute love to see Batallia Downs, Beaucedine Glacier, and Qufim Island before the Zilart fucked it all up.

Other than that... The Far East would be nice, just to have a completed continental map of sorts. Also to see the origins of practically every item and piece of equipment ever.

[Camate]

New areas are definitely in high demand and the development team is well aware of this. For the year ahead of us, the development team’s main focus is on raising the level cap to 99, the adjustments surrounding this, as well as the addition of content to go along with it. Due to this, the development team does not have any immediate plans to implement new areas; however, they would like to try their best to do so going forward.

[Kagato]

Basically, the possibility is still open. Just not the current agenda.

That's a HELL of a lot better than saying "Unfortunately, chances for new areas are low."

[Zarchery]

The fact is that I believe that their entire MMO division is failing. Partially, IMHO, because of their unwillingness to discipline their playerbase (why think they can work two MMOs properly if they can't do one?), and partially because they tried to rush out XIV so they could kill XI.

I'm surprised at how many people who don't work for SE nevertheless apparently have access to their balance sheets and sales records.

[Mirage]

You're talking as if it is a secret how few players there are in FF14.