FINAL FANTASY XI® Seekers of Adoulin

[Spiritreaver]

The way I see it they did what they did because it was the most profitable course of action. The number of PS2 users in Japan is likely a lot higher than in the NA region, and I think it'll eventually disappear as well. And the number of PS2 users in NA is likely not high enough to warrant distributing the game all across the continent.

As for their recent hard drive related efforts, what I meant by global is that they didn't care for NA individually, but that they just did it for the "PS2", independent of region. The NA PS2s being dragged into it may be a mere consequence of that fact. But that was just my assumption, I'm not good at politics and policies in that regard to know for a fact.

Again, all of that is why i'm asking. Them. As in a SE community rep, who will possible have more than an opinion that can be shared with us.

I mean its in the TOS that we agree to every time we log on that 'SE can do whatever SE want' and i'm good with that. I'd just like a little more info. Don't see anything puzzling or out of the question in that.

[Infidi]

Don't they still sell ps2 games consoles and the hdd in Japan ? Makes sense they would get on ps2 also. Big box retailers most likely don't have shelf space/ dont want ps2 games in NA anymore. SE probably thinks it Wouldnt make sense to just sell the ps2 disc version in online stores.

[bungiefanNA]

Thanks for the bit of info Bayohne.

I have this followup question though as a FFXI player who utilizes both PC and PS2 platforms: Why did SE decide to even bother with the HDD space increase on PS2s in the NA market in the first place if SoA isn't going to be available for that system?

Personally i wont be effected much by this move, i'll have 2 less instances of FFXI to update in my home. Just trying to get my head around you guys and gals' reasoning here. Despite the the sentiment that is everywhere on this and other FFXI sites, i know plenty of ppl that are solely playing the game on a PS2 or PS2 emulated environment on a PS3. Gonna be sad to see them go when a new expansion hits

Any more info you can share would be great.

Probably because the core program is the same, just the language files vary, so they tend to have to do the same updates to the shared files between the NA and JP versions. Remember, there are seperate DATs for JP and EN/DE/FR text in the game, for items and NPCs and menus. Everything else tends to be the same files.

Don't they still sell ps2 games consoles and the hdd in Japan ? Makes sense they would get on ps2 also. Big box retailers most likely don't have shelf space/ dont want ps2 games in NA anymore. SE probably thinks it Wouldnt make sense to just sell the ps2 disc version in online stores.

HDDs yes, non-slim PS2 no. Model 50000 new PS2s were finally removed from Sony's online shop in Japan in 2010 or 2009. However, Japan has an impressive used product market, electronics there tend to last a long time and be well taken care of, same with some other products. SO it shouldn't be too hard for someone to dig up a PS2 there. Also, AFAIK, computers are comparitively expensive there, as well as software like Windows, so consoles are the preferred gaming system.

As for why someone would detest playing on a PC compared to a game console, besides lack of a controller (USB solves this), or a large screen like a TV (HDMI solves this, which most graphics cards have, and most HDTVs have standard monitor plugins too and are really just computer monitors with more inputs and lower pixels per inch), the answer is the support software you have running in the background. You have driver issues, antivirus and firewall software conflicts, background programs popping up or crashing, etc. Consoles tend to not have that and only run one program at a time, though the current generation has kind of changed that with the dashboard you can call up at any time.

I have spent more time on PC troubleshooting issues that cause FFXI to not run or not run well than I ever have on PS2. SE even broke support for my graphics card on my last computer with the release of WotG, so I went back to PS2 for a long while. They told me to use a driver from 2004 for a card from 2007, and it only gave me a running rate of 12 FPS when it used to do 30 before the expansion.

There's also the matter that my PC tends to get purposed for work projects, and I can't shut off all the other programs that are in use when I'm gaming. I can't afford both a home server and a gaming machine, so my machine does double duty.

[Jackstin]

I realise it sucks that they're not releasing the new expansion on PS2 but they're not dropping support! You can still play the game, just not the new stuff starting next year. That gives you 6 months to save up and buy an Xbox 360 which will give you the same gaming experience as the PS2. You can get one for less than a hundred dollars now. I think its more of a shame they didn't drop PS2 support in Japan as well, that way its possible the new expansion could have been slightly prettier.

[Arcon]

That gives you 6 months to save up and buy an Xbox 360 which will give you the same a better gaming experience as the PS2.

Fixed that for you. Still not as good as the PC, but it's a start.

[Randwolf]

That's funny. "Up yours, Americans! We'll keep supporting PS2, we'll keep the limitations that ruin the game overall, we'll make a JP PS2 version, BUT, the rest of the world can suck it."

I don't play on my PS2, anymore. So, personally, I don't care. But, to make the version for one region in exclusion of others shows an incredible bias that is worse than any biased thing S/E has done to date. I know WoW ended up excluding people's systems that were archaic. But, I'm pretty certain that was a universal move, not aimed at a region. Or, is WoW a U.S. only game (sorry, I don't play it). Anyway, you probably didn't exclude a huge portion of your market. But, you did do so in a regionally biased way.

p.s. - Just to clarify. Since I started playing this game with the PS2 release, there has always been accusations of JP favoritism. Some of the things people pointed to seemed pretty sketchy. But, I wouldn't say they proved their case. I'm going to have to say, though, and although it may be a good short term financial decision, this move by S/E does seem to lock-down the notion that the US players (and other non-JP players) fall into a second class category.

[SpankWustler]

I'm sure the call made about the North American PS2 version is a good financial call for SquareEnix. That is why somebody made the call. I can understand that. Why release a product to an area with a highly limited market for that product?

Still, from my standpoint, I'd rather somebody poop or get off the toilet. That bro is just sitting there reading the paper, pushing out nary a thing, and I need to shower soon.

I have come to know it is a rare occasion when the Development Bros have the time and will and resources to do things that are not running around naked or painstakingly converting an old server into a working flamethrower. I severely doubt they could and would actually work on something as complex as adding more inventory space or creating new subligaria with lumpy and disturbing fabric effects.

Still, dropping PS2 support entirely might make such things possible if the Development Bros ever did have the time and will and resources to do such things. It would give me a feeling of optimism knowing that such things were possible, at least.

Conversely, I wonder how big a deal selling a North American PS2 version through only a few major North American online retailers would be. Or even the FFXI bit of the company's own online store. Or just selling it via (horribly long) download with no disc at all. Just making the thing may be a bigger deal than I'm imagining, and I'm sure any distribution model is more complex than I'm imagining, but I still wonder.

Much like dropping a two-hour deuce when I just need to wash under my fat rolls for fifteen minutes so I can go out, this course of action seems to both show and garner the least amount of good will possible while not actually doing anything wrong.

I don't know. This has been a pretty awful post because it's hard to put my really, really bland thoughts into any words other than, "Doesn't bother me, bro, but could have done better." I can't even work let loose with a good schizotypal hullabaloo over this, and those come more naturally to me than they probably should.

Or, is WoW a U.S. only game

Just in case this adds anything to the conversation:

What I gather is that World of Warcraft been released in most of Europe, Brazil, and obviously South Korea. It even has an official Chinese release that has some oddities due to some nations being weird about video-games. A friend of mine is really fond of killing imaginary stuff with Australians instead of sleeping, so I assume it's there too.

[Vivivivi]

Web developers and designers face a similar problem when it comes to supporting older browsers. It sounds like SE is taking the correct approach (in my opinion), by not disabling NA/EU players access to the game entirely, but at the same time moving forward with what I can only imagine is the vast majority of the player base. If you fire up a lot of popular websites in Internet Explorer 6, many of them will still work, but newer features like HTML5/CSS3 will only work for users on modern browsers.

I sympathize with the NA/EU players on PS2 who would like to see this expansion, but I can only imagine the return on investment wouldn't be profitable to create this for the PS2, localized, and boxed, and officially supported.

[RagingAvatar]

I would really like to hear a reason from Square-Enix rather than our speculation (that's not my way of saying 'SHUT UP COMMUNITY' - but you know what I mean, I'd like an official response.)

There really is no reason in my mind for not providing this content as a download for PS2 users.

EDIT: Especially given that PS2 users will have to receive the new equipment data for players or we won't be able to even see players with new expansion content(!). Again I say, there is really no reason for this not to be available as a download like Abyssea.

[FrankReynolds]

I think it's a good way to see how many of these hard core PS2 onry players will really cancel their accounts if PS2 support is dropped. If most of them go out and buy a 360, or swap to PC, then maybe they can consider doing the same thing in Japan. If they actually cancel, then we know why SE has to keep PS2 support.