Are We Wasting Our Time?

[Greatguardian]

Considering the only staff reading this are likely on our side already and unable to really do much of anything, I think the only reasonably effective course of action at this point would be to have a fluent Japanese speaker translate and summarize these grievances and then post them on the JP General Discussion board and await a reply there.

It's far more effective to go to the source than put Camate in a position where he would have to translate grievances as a staff member and then wait for a translated reply, if there even is a reply given to him. My second language is French, so I'm hardly any help here personally. I know I've seen a fair number of JP second language speakers posting here though.

As for white-knighting the JP boards, that's really just ridiculous. You think the NA boards are significantly more vile than any other community forum? We're ignored because we "Whine a lot"? This is the internet. It is vile. Everybody whines, regardless of language or culture.

If the Devs really only care about JP feedback, honestly that's fine. I don't particularly care. I simply think it's horribly disingenuous to request our feedback and then promptly ignore it.

[Daniel_Hatcher]

numbers for each?
maybe hypo won with a bigger gap in jp
if scorp won with 20 more votes than hypo in NA/EU but hypo won with 21 more in jp that make hypo won by 1!

They counted them combined across the forums, Scorpion won.

Doesn't matter what way SE tries to swing this they proved in one sweet that they could care less about English players.

[Sevvy]

Square-Enix = Japanesse Company Final Fantasy (Series) = Japanesse Series that NAs enjoy playing too.

[Sickel]

This is the first time I felt obligated to create an account and post on these forums, although I read them quite regularly. I agree with the OP on this being an issue that should see some sort of response.

To those replying with answers such as "well then quit the game," is there really any need for that? I have played this game since it released in NA for PC. I have hundreds and thousands of memories and I plan to continue making those memories in the game for some time to come. However, feeling wronged when being asked to add your input to a vote tally should be a legitimate concern, and not one which is only met with the answer of "quitting the game."

Many others are confusing the reason for concern here. I don't think many are bitter over the fact that hippo was chosen over scorp in terms of the way it'll affect gameplay. We are bitter because hippo was not anywhere near being the top choice in a vote tally that spanned two different language boards. There is no legitimate excuse for hippo being selected then. It shouldn't matter that the devs favored hippo if that is true - why even take a tally then? It shouldn't matter that "NA votes were all over the place while JP seriously wanted hippo." Who cares? And then to say, "well maybe the point of the tally wasn't that the highest one would win, but just to pick one randomly!"

I don't care if scorp will be added in the future, nor that hippo was selected, per se. I do care, however, in the circumstances in which it was decided. It's clear favoritism that needs to be addressed.

Lastly, to those saying we are showing concern over this issue that has gone on for the past 10 years, I'd ask you this: how recently were we actually given the opportunity to voice our concerns via an official forum? How many years of those 10 years did we even have a way of providing feedback to the devs?

[idx1]

This is the first time I felt obligated to create an account and post on these forums, although I read them quite regularly. I agree with the OP on this being an issue that should see some sort of response.

To those replying with answers such as "well then quit the game," is there really any need for that? I have played this game since it released in NA for PC. I have hundreds and thousands of memories and I plan to continue making those memories in the game for some time to come. However, feeling wronged when being asked to add your input to a vote tally should be a legitimate concern, and not one which is only met with the answer of "quitting the game."

NA players representing, is what you're seeing there. "Too cool to care", sums up the attitude just about right.
Or, simply rotten attitudes from rotten people. God knows what will happen if these sad individuals don't have the ability to bash people behind a computer screen!

I don't care if scorp will be added in the future, nor that hippo was selected, per se. I do care, however, in the circumstances in which it was decided. It's clear favoritism that needs to be addressed.

Lastly, to those saying we are showing concern over this issue that has gone on for the past 10 years, I'd ask you this: how recently were we actually given the opportunity to voice our concerns via an official forum? How many years of those 10 years did we even have a way of providing feedback to the devs?

I wouldn't give too much credit to the 'official forums' just yet. Nowadays, prior to ten years ago, it is much, much more common and .almost. expected for a system of communication to be put in place for player feedback and 'the administration'. The administration being SE, if you missed that.

They have conformed to upgrade a level of .service.
That is what a game is nowadays, an entertainment service, like a television network. Don't like the channel? Change the channel, change the cartridge, it's all the same.

I'd have to say ten years ago, yeah they did not give a f. You walk your ass back from Valkurm to Bastok to change your job to raise your party that took an hour to just form, to disband by the time you get back. The problem is not that they didn't care, they just didn't listen - whether intentionally or otherwise.

But now they .finally. put in 'official' forums, where they can hear the players - but they don't have to listen, much less take orders from - they have projects, deadlines...things set in stone that they cannot change.

For all we know, this whole pet thing - it could of just been a mishap when dealing with two player communities, NA and JP. The Hippo could of already been set in stone, as in - already developed, wrapped and package for implementation. If I was a higher-up from the admin side, I wouldn't put a full stop on that present just to begin wrapping another one - but the player input would definitely help me know how and what to package for the next, ya dig?

In the end, do any of us .really. know what happened?
Maybe even a better question, I wonder how many posts are in the JP forums are related to "You should just quit noob".

Maybe NA comes last because they just suck more, as people.

[FrankReynolds]

Take Google translate and go read the JP forums. They whine, complain, and talk shit just like us. They rarely even have a difference of opinion from English forums. Don't be so arrogant. Japanese people can and do whine, complain, talk shit and act like douche bags just as well as everyone else.

[Sasaraixx]

Yeah asking players to vote then after the votes are tallied choosing the option that received the 4th most votes makes sense to you?

I said that no where did they communicate to you that their decision would be based entirely on the results of the poll. As I've already said, there are probably other considerations that went into their decision and that the results on the JP forum were a lot more one-sided.

You say it was because of the language barrier?

No, I never said that.

There are multiple posts in that thread where people came and made an account strictly to voice their opinion on a topic they felt strongly about as evidenced by their post count of 1. Is this really the message we want to send to those players who came here, and joined the community solely for that purpose. To paying customers who for the 1st time in years (some of us upwards of 9) felt they were actually contributing to the development of a game they love.

They are contributing to the development of the game. They asked you for your input and said they would take it into consideration when making their decision. You just didn't get the outcome you wanted this time. I just see people throwing up their hands and complaining, instead of thinking critically about this. I have no problem with people caring about a game that they love, but when you are emotional to the point of not being reasonable, then I just can't sympathize.

[Sasaraixx]

You hardly made a point at all.

Our votes were more varied, so that means our winner doesn't count?

We were asked to vote on which jug pet we wanted implemented, but weren't guaranteed that anyone cared? (While the Japanese winner actually was implemented)

"You don't always get what you want."?

And finally, I see this as wrong and want an explanation for it- I should quit the game?

Your "points" are just you trying really hard not to see this for what it is.

Ugh.

I say that you should quit not because I disagree with voicing your concerns about a game that you pay money for, but because I think you are being silly and unreasonable.

I don't understand people who cry "favoritism" every time a maintenance doesn't happen during JP peak times, despite the fact that the JP players are clearly the majority. I don't understand people who think that being asked for your opinion means that you will get exactly what you ask for and ignore the fact that the JP forums are full of complaints about the development team not listening to them either. I don't understand people who seem to forget that there are a myriad of reasons behind any decision, but instead immediately go to "it's because we're not JP!" And I don't understand people who think that their opinions don't matter because they aren't Japanese, but continue to complain about Japanese players in a Japanese game run by a Japanese development team on the forums established by a Japanese company.

I doubt you will find many people on these forums (NA, EU and JP) who are happy 100% happy with the way the development team is handling things. I know I've let my voice be heard many times. I find this thread irrational given the amount of times we've seen the dev team both listen and not listen to suggestions on these forums.

[Ackman]

I have just one thing to said :

JP onry !

[Arcon]

I doubt you will find many people on these forums (NA, EU and JP) who are happy 100% happy with the way the development team is handling things. I know I've let my voice be heard many times. I find this thread irrational given the amount of times we've seen the dev team both listen and not listen to suggestions on these forums.

You don't seem to get it. Look at the thread title. It's a simple question and as accurate as it can be. Why does it matter if they just "considered it" and discarded it, or didn't consider it and discarded it? If neither one side winning nor losing would have made a difference, it was just a waste of our time. And don't even dare to say that our results may just not have been decisive enough, because if a 2-to-1 vote isn't significant, then nothing on here ever will be, and these polls are completely useless, and thus again a waste of our time.

That being said, they have been dishonest with us a lot. They lied straight to our faces, time and again. They did act preferential on the Japanese side a lot, regardless of whether or not this BST example qualifies. My example from the Lv99 vs. Lv100 thread still stands. At one point, they announce the results, and afterwards, after we've complained that our votes clearly indicated otherwise, they tell us why our votes were discarded ("because you looked at the abilities you'd gain from Lv50 sub instead of actually debating over Lv100"). That means they did recognize that our votes didn't count, and came upw ith a bullshit excuse for it. If you wanna keep on defending that, go right ahead and feel proud of yourself. Fact is, they're dishonest and they're wasting our time. Hence, this thread is perfectly justified.