@SquareEnix: Kickstarter campaign to get a graphic upgrade?

[Emdief]

I'm sorry if this has already been asked, but as a returning player I was wondering if this was actually a possibility.
I'm an editor for the italian videogames' press, and I'm in touch with several journalists and editors who would help to spread the word across the web. Is there any chance the community could help SE to re-do FFXI graphics or at least release some serious texture pack?
Beside console users, I believe a graphic boost would help a lot in terms of visibility and it could be a way to get new players into the game. I understand the game doesn't have many players online anymore, but letting the game slowly die wouldn't make much sense, if the company can still get some money out of it.
Can you guys discuss about how much money you would need to make some kind of texture pack? Or maybe release some tools for the community to start working on it?
Epic Games is doing a wonderful job with the new Unreal Tournament by working together with the community, and I believe we could help as well if you would allow us to.
I'm sure many of the players would pay to get a graphic boost in FFXI, and Kickstarter is a beautiful way to get things done nowadays. Please consider this possibility SE, the community would most likely assist you guys.

[Raydeus]

Personally I'd like an HD texture pack and a serious PC optimization (DX11/12 and maybe mantle and Open GL support) of the client. Things like a reworked UI that looked the same but had a much quicker response (at times it can take more than a few seconds to get the macro pallet to show up and be able to press macros for instance) and much longer draw distance that actually worked among many others.

Other than that the game looks good to me the way it is now, which is pretty awesome considering how old the game is and how it can still hold it's ground against many newer games that look flashy but have crappy models and style in comparison.

Either way a Kickstarter would be a great way to see how viable it would be for SE to invest in these things. We've talked about it in other threads before, but it has never been more than idle chatter.

[Sixtythree]

FFXI is in dire need of optimization for modern PC's. The performance of this game on modern hardware is pretty bad.

[Zarchery]

Square Enix is a rather large international corporation. Not some individual or fledgling startup. Kickstarter seems out of place.

[Raydeus]

Square Enix is a rather large international corporation. Not some individual or fledgling startup. Kickstarter seems out of place.

Not really, Kickstarter and others like it may have been popularized by indies, but in the end it isn't that different from all the market studies companies make all the time. The only difference is that here all the cost will be passed onto the costumer, so there will be zero risk involved for SE. If the kickstarter failed they can just shelve the idea and move on, and if it does succeed they will just have to deliver the improvements we'll be paying for in advance.

Many companies are actually starting to seriously consider Kickstarters and the sort for this very reason, zero risk for you as a company and some good potential for an easy profit on a success.

All Square needs to do is set a minimum goal that would make it worth it for them, then set additional goals for any extra money they obtain to fulfill other player requests. No matter how you look at it this would be way safer than something like Adoulin was, and it could potentially be far more successful and profitable for them.

If they can adapt their ways to work with the idea that is.

[Belmonts]

Take my monay already ! (´・ω・)

[Emdief]

Not really, Kickstarter and others like it may have been popularized by indies, but in the end it isn't that different from all the market studies companies make all the time. The only difference is that here all the cost will be passed onto the costumer, so there will be zero risk involved for SE. If the kickstarter failed they can just shelve the idea and move on, and if it does succeed they will just have to deliver the improvements we'll be paying for in advance.

Many companies are actually starting to seriously consider Kickstarters and the sort for this very reason, zero risk for you as a company and some good potential for an easy profit on a success.

All Square needs to do is set a minimum goal that would make it worth it for them, then set additional goals for any extra money they obtain to fulfill other player requests. No matter how you look at it this would be way safer than something like Adoulin was, and it could potentially be far more successful and profitable for them.

If they can adapt their ways to work with the idea that is.

Agreed, basically it would be a way to see if people are actually interested in spending money for a graphic upgrade. That being said, FFXI has a lot of maps and areas, and obviously it would take some time and money. To be honest I wouldn't mind spending another 60 euro for the game, if it was to get an up to date product. They should just discuss about it within the staff, and decide how much money they'd need to make it profitable for them. Then it would be up to us entirely.

[Damane]

Not really, Kickstarter and others like it may have been popularized by indies, but in the end it isn't that different from all the market studies companies make all the time. The only difference is that here all the cost will be passed onto the costumer, so there will be zero risk involved for SE. If the kickstarter failed they can just shelve the idea and move on, and if it does succeed they will just have to deliver the improvements we'll be paying for in advance.

Many companies are actually starting to seriously consider Kickstarters and the sort for this very reason, zero risk for you as a company and some good potential for an easy profit on a success.

All Square needs to do is set a minimum goal that would make it worth it for them, then set additional goals for any extra money they obtain to fulfill other player requests. No matter how you look at it this would be way safer than something like Adoulin was, and it could potentially be far more successful and profitable for them.

If they can adapt their ways to work with the idea that is.

SE doesnt have any interest in revamping FFXI, FFXI made them a shitton of money, which went towards FFXIV instead of revamping FFXI to some degree mostly. I would like a revamp, but honestly, they have milked the FFXI base enough the last 4 years in order to make FFXIV a success.

[Castanica]

I'm sorry if this has already been asked, but as a returning player I was wondering if this was actually a possibility.
I'm an editor for the italian videogames' press, and I'm in touch with several journalists and editors who would help to spread the word across the web. Is there any chance the community could help SE to re-do FFXI graphics or at least release some serious texture pack?
Beside console users, I believe a graphic boost would help a lot in terms of visibility and it could be a way to get new players into the game. I understand the game doesn't have many players online anymore, but letting the game slowly die wouldn't make much sense, if the company can still get some money out of it.
Can you guys discuss about how much money you would need to make some kind of texture pack? Or maybe release some tools for the community to start working on it?
Epic Games is doing a wonderful job with the new Unreal Tournament by working together with the community, and I believe we could help as well if you would allow us to.
I'm sure many of the players would pay to get a graphic boost in FFXI, and Kickstarter is a beautiful way to get things done nowadays. Please consider this possibility SE, the community would most likely assist you guys.

They won't do this for many reasons.

A)It would steal the main pull factor of FFXIV (XIV doesn't have much else apart from graphics to set it aside from XI), keep in mind their diabolical plan was always to make both games casual enough so that people played both and paid 2 subs. Which amazingly is actually working for a lot of people.

B)What if they upgrade the graphics and players don't like the upgrade style?, they sure won't change them again. Look how much work Blizzard put into WoW redesign.

C)The main claim to fame FFXI still has is it runs on a potato, graphics upgrades will require a big boost to min specs and it will also leave out Xbox and PS2 players, is it worth alienating those players? you could say it would just be for those with better graphics, but how many XI players are left with good computers? Have you seen the server population numbers?

D)The amount of work involved is incredible. I don't think you realise how much work would be involved due to the HUGE amount of areas, monsters and characters this game has. This game has more graphics than FFXIV by far, especially since they skimped a lot on that game by making a lot of universal animations etc.

E)Will a graphics upgrade bring players back? No. The game has been decimated from what it was, a graphics upgrade would be nice but it wouldn't fix the main issues this game has and most players that went off to play a game like XIV for instance will still never be able to stick with XI long-term now, after all the easy stuff like dungeon finders etc.

F) A graphics upgrade would not only be some artists working, it would require a huge engine rewrite (any modder will tell you that when they try adding hi-res mods the game very often crashes). Not only is the cost of that immense but they don't have the staff to spare either (don't say hire more, do you really want random people making the graphics?), especially since...as I said the benefits of doing it would not bring back many players anyway.

I could go on but lets pick the easiest one, the amount of money it would cost to do a meaningful graphics upgrade is well above what they could raise given the low players numbers this game now has. All the deserters crushed what little hope the game had of a rebirth in any meaningful way.

Also from past experience with returnees like yourself, they won't be here past a month or two anyway.

[Raydeus]

SE doesnt have any interest in revamping FFXI, FFXI made them a shitton of money, which went towards FFXIV instead of revamping FFXI to some degree mostly. I would like a revamp, but honestly, they have milked the FFXI base enough the last 4 years in order to make FFXIV a success.

You are right XI was sacrificed in order to make XIV "succeed" (although that success still remains in question long term considering how disposable content is in that game), but SE isn't allergic to money either. So if XI could still make money for them and players were willing to pay for the upgrade they have no reason to say no to that extra profit.

Snip

Most of what you say is precisely why a Kickstarter would be the best option for something like this.

Although personally I wouldn't want a change in models at all, just hi-res textures and a client upgrade (like I said DX11/12 support, Open GL and maybe Mantle for a stretch goal) that was completely focused on optimizations for PC. The performance gains the game would get would far surpass the extra requirements better textures would need so it would actually allow weaker PCs to run it much better. But gameplaywise nothing would/should change.