Sooo SE actually wants to know the numbers of PS2 users eh?

I just logged into POL, went to press 'play' and another dialog box popped up asking what platforms I play XI on... interesting lol

Could it be that SE finally wants to see what damage they would take if they dropped PS2? lol

At first I was like 0.0 but then I was like ^_^

It's dirt-cheap to upgrade from a PS2 to any other platform this game supports. If PS2 limitations are really holding the game back from continuing, then yes, something needs to be done. I play on 360, and if I found out that new content came to a halt because of my console of choice, I would upgrade to something else so the game can keep going.

This is not a new concept. How many of us "upgraded" from a NES to a SNES(SNES to 64, 64 to Gamecube, Gamecube to Wii, etc) to get the new Mario, Zelda, Metroid, or even FF titles? How many went from PS1 to PS2 in the first place? Times change, platforms upgrade, it's how it is. Been like this since the late 70's-early 80's.

I have a tiny bluebird of happiness within my heart.

I fully expect a horrifying high number of Japanese PS2 users to appear, and for that bluebird of happiness to drop dead and rot atop my diaphragm.

Yeah except I'm going to lie on all of my accounts and pick PS2 just in case they're checking to see if they should ban me.

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Originally Posted by SpankWustler

I have a tiny bluebird of happiness within my heart.

I fully expect a horrifying high number of Japanese PS2 users to appear, and for that bluebird of happiness to drop dead and rot atop my diaphragm.

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That imagery is just awesome lol

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Originally Posted by SpankWustler

I have a tiny bluebird of happiness within my heart.

I fully expect a horrifying high number of Japanese PS2 users to appear, and for that bluebird of happiness to drop dead and rot atop my diaphragm.

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The obsession over PS2's literally scares me. I work at an Anime convention, and seeing the fervor in japanese culture fans(all nationalities) is insane.

It's over, it's obsolete. Enjoy it in your own time, but not while it's holding a Massively Multi-player game back. I love my NES, but it's not getting in the way of an on-going, progressing game that other people play.

This brings up an interesting point. SE can't differentiate between clients on their end?
I may be a bit critical lately on SE, but that strikes me as a little odd.

First of all... Mayooo! :)
Second, I was a bit surprised myself when I logged in and was asked to answer the survey. This leaves me curious about what's to come.

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Originally Posted by DebbieGibson

Yeah except I'm going to lie on all of my accounts and pick PS2 just in case they're checking to see if they should ban me.

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The fact you made this post already leaves you open to be banned since you are suggesting that you play XI on the same computer. You are better off being honest about which platform you are playing on since if you don't you are just skewing the survey to be inaccurate. It's not like you have to answer the question for all your accounts, since you are just one person answer it once for pc then leave the rest unanswered.

as for current pricing on ps3/360 one would think now is the perfect time for a console change, perhaps if SE is really willing to reviatalize this game and add a new expansion pack they'll offer an incentive to buy a new console and play it on a different system. From a $210-320 investement for a new system now, it seems like this is the perfect time to switch over, of course if you wait it is very possible the price will continue to drop.

But ya, hopefully we'll get some good news in a week or two I"m curious as to what kind of news this survey will lead to. Heck XIV a game that's been free for a year would earn them about 180 a head. <_< If they were willing to take that investment into giving discounts for users of ps2 to switch over to a new console they would then at least have the possibility to allowing XI to continue it's life without having to be held back from the size of the ps2 hard drive and it's system.

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Originally Posted by DebbieGibson

Yeah except I'm going to lie on all of my accounts and pick PS2 just in case they're checking to see if they should ban me.

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My tiny bluebird of happiness just developed a slight cough, and it's all your fault!

serious let ps2 diiiiiiiieeeee

Let's recap the problem with the PS2 platform:

1. POL PS2 software not even implemented in the EU.

2. US PS2s do not have internal hard drive support. (Some do, but they're older models they don't make anu more.) POL does not support external hard drives. So in the US, you can not buy a PS2 that plays FFXI unless you find one used.

3. US PS3s do not have the PS2 BIOS to play PS2 games. (Some do, but they're older models they don't make anu more.) And even the ones that do, the PS2 emulation is buggy. Still more reliable than 360 but more prone to crashing than original ps2 and PC. So in the US, can't find a PS3 that will play FFXI unless you buy used.

4. In the US, Square no longer makes PS2 software. The used software is hella expensive and good luck finding it.

Conclusion:
PS2 support is JP onry. No hardware, no software, no usage. As much as I love my PS2s that do play the software, I'd gladly ditch their support for a naitive PS3 client or more expansions by ditching the platform all together. All that being said, it's been a fantastic platform to develop the game. FFXI is larger than WoW in terms of explorable surface area but ¼ the size as far as instalation space. That's an amazing feat that makes this game viable for console platforms without a lot of storage space. Now that such a feat has been achieved, moving the size limit from 10 to 20 gb would allow for much more expansion and still take up less % of the HDD when the 10gb policy was originally created. PS2 was a great platform, but it's time to move on.

legacy coding says wut?

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Originally Posted by Rayik

It's dirt-cheap to upgrade from a PS2 to any other platform this game supports. If PS2 limitations are really holding the game back from continuing, then yes, something needs to be done. I play on 360, and if I found out that new content came to a halt because of my console of choice, I would upgrade to something else so the game can keep going.

This is not a new concept. How many of us "upgraded" from a NES to a SNES(SNES to 64, 64 to Gamecube, Gamecube to Wii, etc) to get the new Mario, Zelda, Metroid, or even FF titles? How many went from PS1 to PS2 in the first place? Times change, platforms upgrade, it's how it is. Been like this since the late 70's-early 80's.

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This ^


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Originally Posted by Frost

This brings up an interesting point. SE can't differentiate between clients on their end?
I may be a bit critical lately on SE, but that strikes me as a little odd.

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When the official forums opened and I was still naive, I supported SE firmly. I knew they had some quirks, but I thought it was in good conscience and I thought (or hoped) they were working on them (somehow). But lately the dishonesty in their answers to the community and the excuses they made pretty much ruined my confidence in them, so this isn't that shocking to me.

This, however, if it actually does mean what I think (or hope) it means, will change everything. I'm ready to forgive everything they put us through if they remove the PS2 from their supported architecture lineup. 500 inventory slots please. Then (maybe) I can gear my PLD again.

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This brings up an interesting point. SE can't differentiate between clients on their end?

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I'm sure they can but they are asking which platforms you use, not which you are using now.

If everyone they checked right now was PC that still doesn't mean there would be a huge ragesfest if they removed the ability to play on other platforms.

I'm all for phasing out PS2, letting ps3 take its place but thats why they are obviously asking.

I hope and pray that this is the first step to phasing out the PS2. GO SE!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is excellent news.

The PC version can be played on any run-of-the-mill PC now. I bought a $500 laptop earlier this year for school and even that can run FFXI at max settings at a solid framerate. It can even run The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion at mid-settings.

Many people also have a 360 too and picking up FFXI for that is easy as well.

But you wanna know which version is hard to find these days? THE PS2! XD

Just hope they keep the survey up for several months. A lot of people are going to be kicked out of the game because of snafus with the transfer and/or billing system preventing them from getting in game until they fix things with the new payment options coming in the fall. IDK if these people will even be logging in at all, so they won't be able to take the survey until they manage to fix their account so they can get into FFXI. So, they may be missing out on players who would otherwise be playing at the moment that (for whatever reason) can't/won't play until the mid/late fall, and so aren't logging in and getting the survey pop-up.

If SE could add the survey to the forums as well, they could get a larger sample. If they do though, they would need to somehow flag accounts that already voted through POL to prevent them from voting again here to keep the results accurate.

Just give free PS3's to those still playing on PS2. No problem!

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Originally Posted by Helel

Just give free PS3's to those still playing on PS2. No problem!

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lol :3! I'm sure that most the people that play on PS2 still have PS3 or Xbox360 anyway. I know my husband played on PS2 for a long time even though he had a computer and a xbox360 to choose from and now a ps3. He plays on PC now, I've always played on PC.

Just get rid of PS2. Bump XI to XIV graphics :P.(Personally I think they way over complicated things with XIV which is why it's terrible. They could have made XI-2 with the XIV graphics and I'd put money down people would be willing to play it all over again with a little bit of new story and better graphics alone.)

I guess thats sort of off topic, but I'm so down to kill the PS2... It doesn't even run that well anymore anyway. And you can't participate in anything with an alliance without killing the PS2 anyway. Die, die, die!!!!!!

Don't they have that kind of information already? Kind of strange that they need to take a survey...

Perhaps they're just disguising what they're really asking. (Hey, does anyone really give a #$@! about PS2?)

we don't know why we got the survey. Best to ask for more info b4 speculating. And 500 slot inventory is farfetched, even then ppl would complain for more.

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Originally Posted by Kinrohk

Just get rid of PS2. Bump XI to XIV graphics :P.(Personally I think they way over complicated things with XIV which is why it's terrible. They could have made XI-2 with the XIV graphics and I'd put money down people would be willing to play it all over again with a little bit of new story and better graphics alone.)

I guess thats sort of off topic, but I'm so down to kill the PS2... It doesn't even run that well anymore anyway. And you can't participate in anything with an alliance without killing the PS2 anyway. Die, die, die!!!!!!

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No ff14 player wants ffxi-2. Heck most ff14 player trashes on they ways ff11 is now with the speed leveling.

I thought it was weird that they don't know how many are are still on PS2. Anyone know how many copies the PS2 version sold?

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Originally Posted by Rosina

No ff14 player wants ffxi-2. Heck most ff14 player trashes on they ways ff11 is now with the speed leveling.

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You're right, because all 30k or less of them aren't the five hundred thousand that bought it to date expecting FFXI-2.

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Originally Posted by Rosina

No ff14 player wants ffxi-2. Heck most ff14 player trashes on they ways ff11 is now with the speed leveling.

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I would buy FFXI-2 exactly as described above.

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Originally Posted by Rosina

we don't know why we got the survey. Best to ask for more info b4 speculating.

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It's far fetched to think the survey is anything but gauging how many people still use PS2.

The game is reaching 10gigs, which is the allotted space any game could possibly have on the PS2 HDD. Sony would have to change this, and they dropped PS2 support 3? years ago.

If that's not enough proof that SE is fed up with supporting this decade old system that is completely undermining them, then I don't know what is.

Like I said in the other thread, I think SE would make more money by dropping PS2 support than they would with all those subscriptions combined.

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Originally Posted by FrankReynolds

I would buy FFXI-2 exactly as described above.

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yeah.. they made it just enough like XI to make me want to check it out....but just different enough to drive me nuts and get frustrated with it.

Luckily, I was able to figure that out during beta and came back to XI....probly won't go back to 14 again until I'm ready to drop XI completely.

I'm sort of surprised they didn't code it to allow automatic platform auditing.

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Originally Posted by Limecat

I'm sort of surprised they didn't code it to allow automatic platform auditing.

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Because one account can be accessed via any of those systems. Just because i'm on my PC now, doesn't mean I won't log in on my 360 later on in the day.

I wish I had more accounts to go click "PC" for, lol.

ps2 shoudl died out with Xbox 1

But Sony never had faith in there own product and coudlnt let go of its old cash cow

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Originally Posted by SpankWustler

My tiny bluebird of happiness just developed a slight cough, and it's all your fault!

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Don't worry, I picked PC on all 4 of mine.

I don't even understand why they'd need this. Can't they just check which client people logs on with?

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Originally Posted by Mirage

I don't even understand why they'd need this. Can't they just check which client people logs on with?

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They probably can check which client you are currently using. Whether or not they can check which clients you use is another story. I suppose some people play on multiple platforms and that is what they want information about hence being able to check multiple platforms.

SE is about to take ol' yeller out the back behind the barn and set it free.
They're just looking to us for reassurance that they're doing the right thing.
that's what this survey is about.

You do what you have to do SE. We all support you. Good dogs go to hell.
what?



edit: if y'all wussy out pass me the shotgun, I'll gladly set this ol' bitch free.

Yeah.. the more I think about it, it's going to be hard to put a lot of faith in the results of the poll. So many different ways the results can get skewed, guess it's kind of a no-win situation, depending on just what the purpose of the survey is.

If they want just to see how many of each client are installed, then tracking the MAC address or other unique ID during the update check could be one route to take I guess--but that would require an updated client and then tracking the logins over time and such. May be more involved then they want to invest.

If they want to see some comparison of non-PS2 users vs. PS2 only users to determine the impact of dropping PS2 support, then tracking per account like they are doing works I guess. John Doe uses PS2 and PC--so he may not be impacted as badly by a PS2 drop as Jane that only plays on PS2. If that is what is up, I think some more direct questions in addition to this one question may be in order, more like:

Which platform(s) do you play FFXI on?
<check boxes for each platform>

If you play only on PS2, is another platform available for installing FFXI on?
<>yes <>no <>not applicable

Would you be willing to migrate from PS2 to an alternate platform if installation media were provided at a reduced cost?
<> yes <>no <>not applicable

If not, what would be the largest objection to migration:
<> no alternate platform available <> cost of installation media
<>complexity/inconvenience of re-installing/updating <>not applicable

That way SE could see just who is able/willing to migrate, and if not, what kind of issues would hold users back from migrating.