[Dev] PS2 and the new expansion

[Zerich]

To what end? They're not going to overhaul the PC client to do away with all the "PS2 Limitations."

maybe we'll get a working auto- auto-translate...btw, that was one of the ps2 limitations.

[oliveira]

maybe we'll get a working auto- auto-translate...btw, that was one of the ps2 limitations.

Funny enough, the auto translate "ps2 limitations" issue concern only Japanese players, because for US PS2 players the auto translate feature is not programmable, meaning the auto-translate terms are hard coded on the game ...

Programmable ? Yes, on the Japanese PS2 POL there's a download page where players download the dictionaries for updating the auto translate. And there's a limit of "256" blocks in it. The most up to date FFXI set uses 97 blocks out of the 256 blocks. If you unload the PlayOnline specific terms you free 113 blocks of the dictionary. Since there's no longer Tetra Master neither the PS2 exclusive Mah Jongg game you can ditch their dictionaries too, leaving you with 159 blocks of memory for text. Remember that on the english version you don't even get the option to choose the dictionaries so ...

There's plenty of space for them to fix the auto translate now.

[Natenn]

Just looking for a reply from a dev, its a simple question -_-

[Llana_Virren]

Just looking for a reply from a dev, its a simple question -_-

The expansion pack is 12 months away from release, and not even complete yet. Might be waiting a while for any real answer.

[Camiie]

Just looking for a reply from a dev, its a simple question -_-

It's Sunday, I doubt you get a response until business hours.

[Nala]

Get an xbox its just like ps2 but with slightly better picture and .. well thats about it lol

Hmm havent played on ps2 in ages but isnt xbox version more crashy? then again from what i understand they are both pretty crashy these days.

[Gilraen]

I like how everyone early in the thread was calling this a troll thread in spite of the original post's very valid concerns. I, too, would like a real response to this oversight. I play on the P2 verson (on a 1st gen PS3) as well and don't want to have to get the PC version just to play one expansion.

[Zerich]

I like how everyone early in the thread was calling this a troll thread in spite of the original post's very valid concerns. I, too, would like a real response to this oversight. I play on the P2 verson (on a 1st gen PS3) as well and don't want to have to get the PC version just to play one expansion.

if you can't afford a shitty computer or laptop (or even have one) then you might have more important things to do than worry about PS2 support. that's what they're trying to convey.

[JouriStarz]

I am sure they will allow PS2 players to buy the codes online and download the content like the add-ons. There is no other reason for them to have been adding the new zones in the game except maybe for test server purposes. In all honesty though only a handful of people in the US still use the ps2 so you can't expect them to manufacture actual discs if they aren't gonna be sold.

[RAIST]

The problem is that the PS2 is simply extremely dated hardware, using extremely dated software/firmware. Eventually it simply becomes too much trouble with the legacy code to be worth supporting it anymore compared to the more efficient way of supporting it on newer platforms. If they are to keep this game alive and well for the future, they may very well one day have to scrap some of that problematic code and do some recompiling to keep it stable on the newer platforms. We've already begun to see problem with Win7 and video card driver support issues. There are some older i486 based games (written in the Win3.x and Win95 era) that throw up on themselves when you try to run them on today's systems. The same can potentially happen with the legacy coding/emulation going on with FFXI---eventually, it just isn't worth it to try to support that older code in newer environments, and some of it simply has to go.

Many companies don't want to incure the added expense of continuing to support platforms no longer viable in the marketplace. Sure, you may manage to still run the older version on the newer hardware/OS, or still have an older machine it runs fine on--but if you have problems, they won't help you fix them under their support agreements. Typically, they would rather spend the resources to put out updated versions geared for the more mainstream environments--often with some bonus features to encourage consumers to purchase the newer versions. We saw a lot of this happen fairly recently with older games (Re-releases of PC series games like Myst and Hasbro classics like Monopoly, older PS2 games getting HD revamps on the PS3, etc.) We may very well be reaching that point where attrition needs to take place and everyone sluffs off the 12 year old software/hardware and moves to some more updated code/machines. This 5th expansion could very well be just that, an opportunity for SE to get people to move away from PS2 environments onto more robust platforms so they can continue to advance development of the franchise. Vanadiel still has what, 4 or 5 other continents on it's map we have yet to explore?