I'm curious

[Feynman]

I think the rehashed zones are more a reflection of the slim dev team rather than any limitations. My opinion though.

I played on the PS2 since it came out and only switched to PC in the last few months. Why? Because SE does NOT CURRENTLY support the PS2. Oh sure they do on paper. Sure they include updates for it as well. But what most, if not all, PS2 players can tell you, the game does not run properly on PS2 at all anymore. SE has not fixed the problem and refuses to acknowledge that it is a problem. I switched to PC when I realized I couldn't teleport to whitegate from sandy, I couldn't OP warp from sandy, I could not continue the CoP, ToAU, WotG, or ACP missions because the cutscenes did not work. I never bought abyssea because other PS2 users often complained of zoning into maws crashing their systems. So no missions, no abyssea, sketchy interactions with NPCs. This is the result of no support.

What would we get by dropping the ps2? Probably an even further reduced dev team that can't implement any new features.

Major graphics overhaul will not happen. If SE drops the ps2 they will lose some players. Maybe not tons but some at least. If the do a major graphics update they will lose even more from the number of people that can no longer play because they are on older PCs that can't handle the new updates. Sure new graphics might draw in new people but if there is one thing SE (at least in the USA) is horrible at, it is advertising. And remember they are still hoping FFXIV will take off. They aren't trying to attract new players to this game.

Plus enjoy all my typos because I have to run and don't have time to read through this again!

[Zarchery]

Probably not much is my guess. The Playstation 2 is the convenient scapegoat for everyone's frustrations. Bring up Playstation 2, and suddenly everyone is an expert on exactly how the game is designed.

[Yinnyth]

If memory serves, a while ago they had a severe problem in which suddenly PS2 HDDs couldn't fit the update until they retooled the coding. There have been updates (and even expansions) since then, but it should have served as a humbling reminder that the PS2 is quickly reaching full saturation on ffxi. There will be a time in which they simply can't fit anymore game on it, and that has become a part of the development process.

So, no, it is not a scapegoat. There is a real process which goes on when the development team designs an update in which they at the very least spend time making certain it can work on PS2 and at the very most actually spend time changing things specifically so they can work on PS2. If PS2 were dropped, it probably would not be an opening of the flood gates like many people think... ffxi won't suddenly have ffxiv graphics and 50 new zones to explore. But PS2 support has been holding back the game for a long time. If you really, truly love FFXI and want it to have another 10 years of meaningful updates, do it a favor and find something beefier than a PS2 to play it on.

[Economizer]

I'm not overly fussed about a graphical upgrade to the game

Nor am I. Aside from the possibility of a high resolution texture pack for the PC, I'm not really thinking we'll see an "upgrade" to the game's graphics aside from some tweaks. The graphics in this game can look very good, or somewhat bad, depending on what you are looking at. This game could even be consider to have a "look" of sorts. Characters fit this look. The background occasionally does and occasionally does not.

Although, on the "graphics" front, the biggest impact we'd have by loosing the PS2 is the possibility of way more mob variations and gear variations since the RAM would be increased from whatever the PS2's is (I think that's like 32MB?) to the 512 that the Xbox 360 has, assuming that the Xbox's hard drive would be able to handle it (this would be the next limitation unless SE was also willing to straight up tell 360 users they couldn't use the 20GB hard drive).

[FrankReynolds]

Im more concerned with all the mechanics that they say they can't fix, like Item Storage limits and Macro Lines.

[Krashport]

Here's a thought, If FFXIV is free-to-play cause of updates/Fix's Shouldn't FFXI be also after all we are playing a beta it seems, Maybe at least a price cut. I mean come on the game is totally out dated, Also Square Enix is catering to the Casual players and Hardcore players, What about the ones that are "Fans" that has been playing FFXI for a long time. (6~9+ years)

[Arkant]

Here's a thought, If FFXIV is free-to-play cause of updates/Fix's Shouldn't FFXI be also after all we are playing a beta it seems, Maybe at least a price cut. I mean come on the game is totally out dated, Also Square Enix is catering to the Casual players and Hardcore players, What about the ones that are "Fans" that has been playing FFXI for a long time. (6~9+ years)

Free would be nice....

[FrankReynolds]

UMmmm your on crack.

[Tagrineth]

Im more concerned with all the mechanics that they say they can't fix, like Item Storage limits and Macro Lines.

This is the #1 problem with continued PS2 support, and the main thing I pointed out in my last post too (though less directly...). The 80 slots per inventory limitation is a PS2 RAM limitation. The auto-translator dictionary stopping halfway through TAU is a PS2 RAM limitation. And the macro lines? Screen resolution limitation - PS2 is the only platform that cannot exceed 640x480.

[Arkant]

This is the #1 problem with continued PS2 support, and the main thing I pointed out in my last post too (though less directly...). The 80 slots per inventory limitation is a PS2 RAM limitation. The auto-translator dictionary stopping halfway through TAU is a PS2 RAM limitation. And the macro lines? Screen resolution limitation - PS2 is the only platform that cannot exceed 640x480.

Is this the right time to chant "Down with PS2!!!" ???