Swan Song of Vana'diel; ~Why I Won't Play the Mobile Native App~

[Altered]

the age of ffxi is done!

[Draylo-]

Never !

[Moppet]

I was really hoping they would have:
- Made a PS4 port of the FFXI client (The PS4 has a -much- easier framework to deal with then the PS3).
- This would also make it possible to remote play it with the Vita's remote play functionality.
- Have the FFXI PS4 client available for digital purchase/download from PSN.
- Reinstate the FFXI/FFXIV combo subscription discount.
- Plan more collaboration between FFXI and FFXIV events.

This would do a number of things:
- Give players who left friends on FFXI to play FFXIV a good reason to keep a FFXI sub.
- Give new players that liked FFXIV an easy way to try out FFXI.
- Have a central console location for all the FF SE MMOs.
- Allow for more media exposure of FFXI through the PS4's streaming/sharing options.
- Foster a feeling of the two player bases being unified instead of FFXI vs. FFXIV.
- Give players left in the cold from the PS2/XBox service ending an excuse to buy a PS4.

It feels like they are directly marketing to the Japanese game market now with their move to mobile. Such an odd choice... Do they really think that platform with resonate with people who love and still play a 12 year old game that is considered "outdated" by many people?

It's pretty heartbreaking that one game we won't even get, and the other is disconnected from actual FFXI.

[Stompa]

One of the mysteries to me is that they didn't repackage FFXI as a luxury disc/book set with all the expansions, a book of the beautiful art we have seen during the course of FFXI's life, wall-posters and keyring etc. all bundled into the set. I would buy that, even though I have multiple copies of the game already.

I personally find FF14 unplayable, I have nothing at all against FF14 players and I hope they have a lot of fun in FF14, and that the game is a success. But I really hate playing it lol. And yet (here comes my point) even though I knew I hated it, I actually paid out money for the recent FF14 luxury box set, with the artbooks and cards and all. I paid that because I collect SE games, and I will always support them by buying their box-sets and random merch, it is Brand Loyalty that I've had since FF7.

We know that transient mainstream playerbase moves away from games after a few months or a few years, they move to the newer stuff as a matter of course. And we know that FFXI is old, we know that most people download game data instead of using discs, and so I can understand why there hasn't been a really luxury repackaged FFXI box set with books and trinkets and cards/poster etc. But I still think that if this were on the shop shelves, people would buy it, and new players would discover FFXI, a game that has been almost hidden from casual shopper browsing for absolutely years.

[Lisotte]

Except it's not, the more like a watered down version. The FFXIV analogue to mithras are just generic anime catgirls, the world is generic high fantasy, etc.

You misunderstand me: I'm not saying FFXIV the new version of FFXI, it's the brand-new MMO they made. One meant to appeal more to modern MMORPG gamers, to recoup the ginormous costs of development. Making a game that looks as pretty as FFXIV in this day and age costs far more than FFXI and requires far more paying subscribers than FFXI was ever able to get.

I agree the world is less fully realised, but it's real beautiful, caters to people who played classic FF, and while the catgirls are not mithra, they're not unsufferable. Being able to make female... whatever the analogue to galka are, is pretty neat. And the new race is cool.

If you gave me a choice, between FFXI and FFXIV, I'd probably still pick FFXI. But XI's not the game it once was, it plays much different now. The content is alot different now. The community is a bit different now (same people, but those remaining are mostly pretty hardcore). I like FFXIV if nothing else than for the pretty FF world and that feeling of playing a fresh MMO just coming into its own.

[Belmonts]

Well, it seems SE put its foot down about the future of FFXI, which is sad imho.

FFXI generation were, by far, the most patient grinding-wise. We had good and bad things, from both playerbase and development team.

As for FFXIV goes, Square Enix will have it tougher with its playerbase. The reason ?: A lot of them are used to very soon/instant gratification. Nothing compared to the grind FFXI gave us. And because of that, they will have to make quite large update after update to keep their customers hooked in. Yes, FF14 has amazing graphics, but if their aesthetics and playability are kept as they are (pretty much healer tank DD combo and 1 or 2 lolsupport spells/JA's) iced with somewhat odd choreography, is probably that its lifespan will be even shorter than FFXI.

It will be nice to end up my projects in game, finish the storyline they will implement and stay as much as I can till they decide to shutdown the servers.

My two cents.

[Atomic_Skull]

Blame Tanaka, it's really all his fault.

If they had started in 2007/08 an engine/graphics update would have been viable from a financial standpoint but Tanaka was obsessed with maintaining a lowest common denominator across all platforms. That and he was taking the portion of FFXI's subscription fees that should have been reinvested into maintaining and improving the game and flushing it down the toilet funneling it into developing what ended up looking like a 2006 game engine but with 2010 hardware requirements while leaving FFXI with a skeleton crew.

Remember the DirextX 9 update for the PC version that was supposed to come out with COP? That, and all the other improvements that should have been done to the PC version over the years were sacrificed on the alter of Tanaka's failed project.

[Alhanelem]

Except it's not, the more like a watered down version. The FFXIV analogue to mithras are just generic anime catgirls, the world is generic high fantasy, etc.

I don't agree with "watered down." I play both and have enjoyed both for as long as they have existed for different reasons. FFXI just has a certain charm to it that can never be copied, even if SE tries it again it will never be the same. The catgirls in XIV look pretty much exactly the same as in XI. In BOTH cases they're generic anime catgirls, to be honest. And I'm not sure what's not "generic high fantasy" about XI's world. I think the teams of both games gave proper care and attention to their worlds, so let's not have a bashing contest. There's a reason why SE's getting more than $12.95 from me each month, and its not because either game is bad or generic or whatever.

Remember the DirextX 9 update for the PC version that was supposed to come out with COP?

To be fair that was never actually a thing and the only extent of relation FFXI was ever going to have with directx 9 was enabling official windowed mode. They never said or intended to do anything else there. Which is a different problem. You're right about the lowest common denominator thing though. If he had allowed non-gameplay differences to exist between platforms from the start, we'd have a client in a much better state than it is now.

[Allestra]

Ffxi needed major upgrading many manyyyy years ago, they chose not to. This was the inevitable result imo. Their refusal to enter modern times with ffxi could only last so long...errr for the same reason I dont enjoy "pong" anymore, you gotta keep up and adapt to survive and remain a lure, in any business....they chose to remain stagnant.

I would never ever play a mobile version...just ewww no thanks. But would have eagerly anticipated an upgraded look/ui for the pc long ago.

But I am grateful the pc version will be remaining even if there will be no patches, just minor tweaking and adjustments Ffxi will always feel special for all the memories it has created.

Ffxi has some awfully good points but so does ffxiv. I play both and will continue to do so for as long as both last!

[Crevox]

You won't be playing the native app because it's not coming to NA, not because of your choice