Single Player/Offline Mode?

[Vivivivi]

This is no way a complaint about SE's decision to take the game offline. I completely understand and support it, and my thoughts go out to our friends in Japan during this time of crisis.

It does beg the question though: What happens when FFXI eventually goes dark forever? Will FFXI only exist as a memory after that? Or are there plans to provide new and old players the option to play through XI offline as a single player or p2p experience/third party private servers?

Would players even be interested in this option? I know I would, Vana'diel is the most incredible Final Fantasy world I've ever seen and there are so many quests and missions to make a single player experience fun. Of course many key features wouldn't work like the auction house, and things would have to be altered such as gil drops to make it playable. Much like I've come back and played FFIV three or four times through over the years, I'm certain in ten years if this game is no longer supported I would LOVE to at least play through some of the windy missions for nostalgia's sake.

Just curious what people think ^^

[Aerius]

I remember asking myself the same thing about Phantasy Star Online back on the Gamecube.
But sadly, like any other company, I think when it goes dark, it just goes dark.
Although with PSO, people were fortunate that it was easy to emulate (and that the game was re-chewed over and over for a lot of consoles, and eventually PC (again))

It would be great if SE could somehow make it an offline experience after they decide to kill the servers, but it's highly doubtful.
And they wouldn't release their server software nor support private server software simply because if there are enough hardcore XI players out there, or those that have not finished the game yet, they could lose those potential customers to other services rather than their new Final Fantasy MMO.

[Vivivivi]

/panic /cry

[Jamesruglia]

My old copy of Final Fantasy for the Nintendo still works after over twenty years, and in another ten(at LEAST) I expect it still will-especially if I replace the battery at some point.

In twenty, thirty, even fourty years, I'll still be able to play every Final Fantasy game(especially through all the ports and remakes)... Except for two.

Final Fantasy XI isn't just one of my favorite Final Fantasy titles, it's one of my favorite games. The fact that it's online and played alongside others is secondary to the game itself for me. Will amateur novels and one-sided RPG Maker games be all that's left one day?

In another topic I mentioned the creepy, awkward feeling I get when I try to connect to the servers right now, and about how one day I'll have the Playonline Viewer shortcut still on my desktop, just sitting there, an empty shell. I'll keep installing the game on newer computers, even if I can't ever update it(much less play it).

Then there are other worries; if they did port it, what would and wouldn't they implement? If they went barebones in story adaption, would you still be able to make a linkshell/get married/etc.? Could you make multiple characters and use more than one at a time? etc. I guess you could call your character select screen a "linkshell"...

[Kjara]

Final Fantasy is a series that makes history amongst videogames and thus I doubt FFXI will be cancelled (fans of the next generations who would wish to collect FF games would miss a title if they did), but I don't expect SE to spend money to keep servers up forever. I think eventually we will get a private servers version of the game, when the game will stop giving SE a substantial profit.

[Luvbunny]

Well they could tweak the game, make it so that you can play with your Xbox Live friends or PS3 friend list, release this version as the ultimate one (with all the online contents in one disc or two), and make us pay for it all over again as their last desperate attempt to cash in. Maybe upgrade the graphic so that it is playable via PS3. They can also create NPCs so that if you play offline you can hire Prishe, Lion, and all of your favorite NPCs from the missions you have completed.

[Scruffybub]

I've been wanting this for years, since I quit FFXI due to not having the time. Like you said, the multiplayer features like the AH, linkshells, and so on would have to either be changed or disabled, but most of the game features would be able to stay in. Rather than just a solely singleplayer game, I'd love it if it had a system similar to NWN, or Borderlands, where singleplayer is an option, but you also have the option to play multiplayer with a few people, either hosted externally, or on your own PC. I never got the chance to fully experience FFXI, and I would pay big bux to be able to do it with an offline mode option.

[CaelThunderwing]

we Did have a third party solution awhile back Which you guys probbly dont remember Anymore.

"pXI/ProjectXI" i haveto admit of only 2 years of reverse engineering JUST teh packet data between client and server, they had a system that was ok WAY no wheres near retail but as they got closer and closer, SE sent them an C&D Letter and that was the end of that.

[arlais]

It would be sort of cool if they released it in a few years on a virtual console (or even a console) per-expansion. (RotZ, CoP, ToAU) Party members could be AI'ed pretty well, in the manner 12's were. A lot would need to be tweaked, remarkably more exp per kill for instance, and we'd have to become remarkably more powerful to deal with the bosses.

But the storylines would become a lot more linear though; even if Vana'diel remained fully intact, playing the game isn't as fun solo as it is with friends. It'd be nice to have something to switch on when you're really missing something like manaclipper rides though.

[Mirage]

What would be best, I think, would be if they after they shut down the servers, released the server software as free for non-commercial purposes. Even better, as open-source so the community could continue to fix bugs on their own. Still under a non-commercial license, though.

If this was done, we could get an app to edit the server-selection list at the character creation screen, with each server name leading to a private server of your choice. Or something like that.

I think this would be a much easier option than converting the game to a single-player game, or to somehow run on xbox-live (how would you even make that happen? Xbox live online games still require servers).

Releasing the server (and client) software as either free-noncommercial, or opensource-noncommercial would let the programmers of the FF11 community do all the work themselves, not costing SE a penny.