PS2 - Real info request.

[Nattack]

sony's cryptofail and jacking linux support means they deserve every little bad thing that happens to them.

[Joslyn]

When people talk about dropping PS2 support, typically people cite figures that JPs have a lot more PS2-onry players than we do. However, after the update a few times ago that messed up a bunch of PS2 installs (and considering that many big box PS2s no longer read disks), I wonder how many PS2 users are really left subscribing.

I have to imagine that the software is currently optimized for the PS2, which is why it's such a horrendous CPU hog on PCs. If we lost PS2 support, perhaps its PC load would be more what we'd expect from a game that's approaching a decade old.

Cost/benefit, I know, but I really wonder if it's worth it for SE to continue dumping money into the failure that is FFXIV when they could just drop PS2 support and massively upgrade FFXI.

I have a better Idea just give everyone what they want and Make FFXIV into FFXI-2, give the jobs back, the quests and missions are like they should be, open up the AH, remove the lvling limitation, make it so I can just pay like I am for FFXI no stupid monthly time buying...And while there at it let those that still play FFXI be able to transfer there account info over so I dont have to start a new one

[Mirage]

Backwards compatibility with PS2 wouldn't help anyway, because the PS2 would be emulating the PS2 version of the game, with the same limitations as the game has got on PS2.

[JagerForrester]

Cost/benefit, I know, but I really wonder if it's worth it for SE to continue dumping money into the failure that is FFXIV when they could just drop PS2 support and massively upgrade FFXI.

FFXIV was their original plan to answer FFXI's growing PS2 problem. I remember reading that they didn't expect FFXI to live this long. So maybe they still believe FFXI isn't going to last even if they drop PS2 support. Or maybe their sole focus is to get FFXIV running successfully and let FFXI kill itself slowly... that didn't sound right.

[Nattack]

and then ff14... hurhur, oh how the tables turn.

[InfamousDS]

Backwards compatibility with PS2 wouldn't help anyway, because the PS2 would be emulating the PS2 version of the game, with the same limitations as the game has got on PS2.

VMs (Virtual Machines) use a host system to emulate an OS. They bear all the specs of host specifically tailored by the user to meet their demands and the demands of the OS. Therefore, an emulated system is bound by the host and not restricted by itself. As a result, PS3 could have a VM (or Cloud for you Microsoft Fans) that replicates the OS of the PS2, allowing all PS2 compatibility using the physical hardware of the PS3. I do it all the time to play old PC games, and run FF through my XP VM because it runs smoother.

[Satyr]

*sigh* PC users grow up... stop using the PS2 as a scape goat. FFXI is a PS2 game... ported to the PC and 360. It still is a PS2 game. That's always going to be the way it is. People have been using the "PS2 limitations" argument since at least 2006.

I'd be very interested to know what major things the PS2 version lacks that the PC version has...

...oh how about the fact that FFXI looks absolutely gorgeous when you crank up the graphics on PC. Have you ever seen FFXI on full graphics on a large widescreen monitor? It is amazing how good it can look compared to what is considered "current" mmos. FFXI always looks terrible on PS2, whether you are running it through a 13in kitchen TV or a 55in 1080p LDC HDTV.

With that said if you look at FFXI said by side with other MMOs, the others will look significantly better. I doubt that anyone would argue that FFXI looks better than the current incarnation(lol their next expansion is called incarna) of EVE online. But lets look at EVE online for example, and to a lesser extent WOW. If you compare screenshots from EVE when it was launched to screenshots taken now, it has had some massive graphics upgrades. So much so that EVE now would be very difficult to run on a computer that could have ran it when it was released. Wow is another example to a lesser extent. While it does not look like it to someone who has never played WOW, the system requirements and the load on the graphics card has increased significantly between vanilla WOW and it's current expansion, even if you run the game on it's lowest settings.

When I used to play WOW, the computer that I had when the game launched had no problems running the game. But by the time the second expansion rolled around (WotLK), I had trouble running it even on the lowest graphics settings. I remedied this by saving up for a bit and dropping 600 bucks at newegg to get the parts to build my own PC. In the end I was able to run 3 instances of WOW at the same time, all on ultra graphics settings with no noticeable graphics lag at all.

The point here is that I wanted to play WOW enough so that I was willing to adapt, and I did, and it was one of the best things I have ever spent money on because now i have a PC that is 2 years old that still has no problems running current games on the highest graphics settings and if the issue ever arises where I cannot do so I can just get a new graphics card and I am set, no need to buy a completely new machine. And believe it or not, when you aren't playing FFXI....*whispers* a computer is still useful...unlike a PS2 (360 has netflix lol). And in the case of the players from the other games...neither EVE nor WOW lost customers despite basically forcing people to upgrade. In fact both companies gained customers overall.

[Mirage]

VMs (Virtual Machines) use a host system to emulate an OS. They bear all the specs of host specifically tailored by the user to meet their demands and the demands of the OS. Therefore, an emulated system is bound by the host and not restricted by itself. As a result, PS3 could have a VM (or Cloud for you Microsoft Fans) that replicates the OS of the PS2, allowing all PS2 compatibility using the physical hardware of the PS3. I do it all the time to play old PC games, and run FF through my XP VM because it runs smoother.

I don't think Sony is able to make a VM that can run PS2 games on PS3 anyway. They used PS2 hardware in the PS3s earlier to make it work, and dropped support completely when they stopped using those.

Anyway, my point is that it's not something S-E can do alone without porting the game to run on PS3 natively, like they did with the xb360 version.

[Satyr]

Another thing...people are talking about how this game is so old and that SE should be focusing on newer things and that it is not worth it for them drop PS2 support because it is so old. EVE is older than FFXI and it still continues to get new players and is in no danger of going away any time soon. It is in SE's best interest to update the game for modern times. This game is dying not because of how old it is, but because it is stuck in 2003 (mostly due to the PS2).

[Nattack]

indeed, i was hoping - although realistically knew otherwise - that rapture was going to be a revamped ffxi engine.