make POL Viewer useful again

[wildsprite]

right now POL viewer just feels like a tedious wrapper just to start FFXI, since you cannot get rid of it due to various reasons, why not make it useful again, make portals within it to the Playonline Website, Forums, LS Community Portal and the SE account system, while I think this should be done across the board I really think it should be done most for the XBox360 and PS2* since many of the players I know do not have regular access to a PC this would be very helpful to them






*yes I know many of you want to be rid of the PS2 but lets face it, most of the players who still use it are not going to switch over unless either their PS2 dies or support for it is killed by SE, and I don't see that happening any time soon


I realized after making this post it should probably be in General Discussion, if that is the case can a mod please move it? thanks

[Arcon]

They should completely extract all of the POL Viewer's remaining features to the Account Management System and let it be just a FFXI log on manager, manage FFXI/POL accounts and necessary log in security with (possibly) certain messages on a successful connect (like server maintenance and updates).

Speeding up the ridiculously convoluted log on process is in absolutely everyone's best interest. Entering a successful SE/POL password should bring you directly to the character selection screen, everything else is just noise.

[wildsprite]

I think you missed the point, for one thing, many of those on the XB360 and the PS2 don't have regular access to a PC, therefore should have a way to access these features and POL viewer is the best solution

[Llana_Virren]

Kill the PS2. Problems solved.

[Twille]

I think they should strip POL completely bare with nothing more than a button to launch FFXI. Anything else is just a waste.

[Daniel_Hatcher]

They are basically getting rid on the PS2, hence only PC UI updates etc... The only reason they haven't dumped it is they're legally obliged to keep it working so long as the servers are online.

I agree with the others: Strip it away completely, use it to login then directly take you to FFXI, nothing more.

[Spiritreaver]

I think you missed the point, for one thing, many of those on the XB360 and the PS2 don't have regular access to a PC, therefore should have a way to access these features and POL viewer is the best solution

I think that's prolly not fully correct. As i type this post on my PC, i have FFXI currently loaded up and running on my PS3 across the room. I actually have three different instances of FFXI in my home atm-my PC, my PS2(which still runs fine btw), and my PS3.

Also let's not forget that, if i'm not mistaken, everyone playing FFXI atm has a SE account. And that can only be accessed through a PC.

Just pointing that stuff out tho. I'm all for POL being given some useful purpose again. It is only an annoyance atm.

Kill the PS2. Problems solved.

Awesome idea.

Too bad it won't happen until SE reworks the game's code from the floor up, purging all the PS2 bits. Essentially making a new game. The possibility of that happening though are...not very good sadly.

[Sarick]

They are basically getting rid on the PS2, hence only PC UI updates etc... The only reason they haven't dumped it is they're legally obliged to keep it working so long as the servers are online.

Reference please?

I wouldn't call the PS2 version working anymore. It crashs talking to NPCs for no reason and a lot of CS can put you in limbo state on log on.

[Glamdring]

I'm sorry, maybe I missed something. the title says to make the POL viewer useful again. This would imply that at one time it was useful. I've played since NA release but I don't recall there ever being such a time. Could someone please elaborate?

[bungiefanNA]

POL Viewer used to be like Steam or PSN. It was used to launch the 7 online games SquareEnix released that used it (FFXI, Tetra Master, JongHowLo, Front Mission Online, Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion, and Dirge of Cerberus. It let you send chat messages to other friends playing other games, and you could see what they were playing. It just didn't get that support outside of Japan. Originally, it was supposed to be a hub for Namco, Enix, and SquareSoft online games. PSBBN then came out a year or two later and did a similar job.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...DoCPOLMenu.jpg