NA PS2 - One Last Shot

[Alhanelem]

You are right that there is a collosal difference between advocating for a possible NA PS2 SoA release and fighting for civil rights, but your statement made no such distinction. It was quite sweeping:

I shouldn't need to make such distinctions. It's obvious what this topic is about, and my post was about this topic and nothing else. You were simply playing with fire.

I don't need to be a PS2-only player to advocate for an NA PS2 SoA release, please stop trying to say otherwise.

Well, you're arguing for the sake of arguing then.

[Bled]

Here is how I see things, is the PS2 holding FFXI back? absolutely. If PS2 FFXI services were dropped would that change the game? absolutely not.

Square Enix's problem is they put all their eggs in one basket with FFXIV and then impatiently pushed Tanaka to release an unfinished product with the slogan "we can fix it as we go". Thanks to people like Wada who single handedly destroyed not just FFXIV but SE in general, successful ventures like FFXI had to pay the price.

Even if SE dropped FFXI PS2 support they would still not invest the money needed to upgrade FFXI past the PS2. I have been extremely dissatisfied with SE in general lately. SE has been coasting on past successes and making excuses for their failed current products (like Tanaka for example that they used as an escape goat for the original FFXIV). There needs to be accountability on SE's part and a realization that the quality that made square soft so popular is missing. A lot of this can be seen through the mass exodus of all the great game designers from SE.

I do not have all the information, I realize that but it is not hard to see a drastic drop in quality from Square Enix. I have always been a raging SE fan, however I wont just blindly buy SE products because of the name alone. I want to see SE succeed and I want them to become the company that i know they can be and used to be.

[Alhanelem]

Here is how I see things, is the PS2 holding FFXI back? absolutely. If PS2 FFXI services were dropped would that change the game? absolutely not.

It would definitely change things- not in some big life altering way, but it would free up resources which would benefit the advancement of the remaining platforms.

[Justinb]

I've been playing FFXI for 8 years and even met my irl wife in the Kuftal Tunnel. I've been running my game this whole time on the PS2. I hate it that they came out with a new expansion that I can now not play with my wife! (she's a PC user). I don't have the money to invest in an X-box 360 or another computer just to play the new expansion! Frankly this is ruining the whole experience for me and my wife. I cannot play as the two new jobs, and I cannot go to the new continent. I cannot express how much I want them to come out with it in NA for the PS2 users. Why can they have it in Japan but not here?!?

[Sfchakan]

I've been playing FFXI for 8 years and even met my irl wife in the Kuftal Tunnel. I've been running my game this whole time on the PS2. I hate it that they came out with a new expansion that I can now not play with my wife! (she's a PC user). I don't have the money to invest in an X-box 360 or another computer just to play the new expansion! Frankly this is ruining the whole experience for me and my wife. I cannot play as the two new jobs, and I cannot go to the new continent. I cannot express how much I want them to come out with it in NA for the PS2 users. Why can they have it in Japan but not here?!?

My woman and I started on PS2 as well, but guess what? By the time Treasures came out, we wizened up and moved to PC.

[Volkai]

I've been playing FFXI for 8 years and even met my irl wife in the Kuftal Tunnel. I've been running my game this whole time on the PS2. I hate it that they came out with a new expansion that I can now not play with my wife! (she's a PC user). I don't have the money to invest in an X-box 360 or another computer just to play the new expansion! Frankly this is ruining the whole experience for me and my wife. I cannot play as the two new jobs, and I cannot go to the new continent. I cannot express how much I want them to come out with it in NA for the PS2 users. Why can they have it in Japan but not here?!?

That's what this thread is about. The reasoning so far is that not enough people would buy it to justify the cost a manufacturing and distribution - and with a fixed-price model set at the same price as other platforms have paid, it's probably true. The way around that is this backer-funded model, where we know how much must be invested for SE to act, and the player base either invests enough to make it worth making for SE... or doesn't.

[tyrantsyn]

Just let it die.

[Slaxx]

The Japanese got the expansion on PS2 because there are enough Japanese PS2 players to make it economically viable to release. The North American players did not get the expansion on PS2 because there are not enough North American PS2 players to make it economically viable to release.

I'm not sure what about this scenario is so difficult to understand. If the North American PS2 player base was large enough we would have the expansion on PS2. End of story.

[Kaisha]

It would definitely change things- not in some big life altering way, but it would free up resources which would benefit the advancement of the remaining platforms.

They can't even be bothered to optimize both PC and 360 clients of FFXI, things that aren't bound by "PS2 limitations", I doubt they'd do much if they dropped PS2.


Anyone remember when XI's engine was supposed to receive a DX9 engine upgrade? Boy would that have solved a lot of problems with modern drivers being picky with the game....

[Alhanelem]

They can't even be bothered to optimize both PC and 360 clients of FFXI, things that aren't bound by "PS2 limitations", I doubt they'd do much if they dropped PS2.


Anyone remember when XI's engine was supposed to receive a DX9 engine upgrade? Boy would that have solved a lot of problems with modern drivers being picky with the game....

It uses directX 9 for window management, nothing else. It was never promised to recieve an "upgrade" outside of that. They had to do it for windowed mode.

Also in case someone brings it up, xbox controllers use XInput, not DirectX, so fully utilizing directX 9 would not, for instance, solve the xbox controller troubles some people have complained about.

Still, it's more likely to happen if the PS2 is removed from the picture than if it isn't. Cynicism isn't a justification for continuing to support an ancient platform.