Rereleasing FFXI

[Kiroko]

Couldn't we get a re-release of FFXI with updated graphics for the Computer and other systems that can handle it, while keeping everyone on the same server and such? I know it could be a matter of not hurting anyone's feelings because some people wouldn't have the means to play the updated game, but I'm sure it would help bring it back to live some.

[Karbuncle]

As much as i would love the idea of FFXI With better graphics/FPS Rate/etc...

I think its just too late in the game to implement something like this. Plus the population is dwindling, Slowly, But still doing so. A lot come and a lot go.

Plus I'm pretty sure its expensive and time-heavy to do something like this, It would be for the most part redesigning a big chunk of the game. I just don't see the man-hours being put into it :\, if its even possible at all.

So while I like it... I don't see it happening =x

[Starcade]

I get the distinct impression that the OP wants all of us players without major-money gaming rigs (computer and console) to GTFO... Would I be correct in this assumption?

[Shiriokumo]

only you starcade. maybe casual also. stop looking to cause trouble where there wasnt any to begin with.

[Kiroko]

I get the distinct impression that the OP wants all of us players without major-money gaming rigs (computer and console) to GTFO... Would I be correct in this assumption?

No Not that at all! I just don't want that to be a factor holding the developers in redoing the game, because when I ask my friends what they think they say this cant handle it or that cant handle it. Can't we have two different types of games? One with revamped graphics and stuff and the original game?

[Kiroko]

I would have really liked if SE or who ever decides these things would have put the time and effort that they did in FF 14 into XI, I don't think it would be too late if they made a bigger effort for people to see the game out there. Everyone knows what Wow is because of TV etc, why don't they do something like that? (No Mr.T Please)

[Greatguardian]

I would have really liked if SE or who ever decides these things would have put the time and effort that they did in FF 14 into XI, I don't think it would be too late if they made a bigger effort for people to see the game out there. Everyone knows what Wow is because of TV etc, why don't they do something like that? (No Mr.T Please)

Blizzard is an American company, so we here in the US see a ton of their advertisements. Square Enix is a Japanese company, so people living in Japan see tons of Final Fantasy XI advertisements. They have magazines, billboards, posters, merchandise, the works.

I don't think FFXIV even got that much publicity over here aside from gaming-specific news outlets, which is all FFXI ever got. I've never seen a FF14 TV commercial or magazine ad. The company just does not seem to feel that the advertising dollars are worth spending overseas. It's not uncommon, really. The EU, as far as I know, gets that sort of treatment a lot.

Edit: On Topic, I'm sure the Dev team would love to do this. Hell, any Dev team would. But I highly doubt they'll get approval for the time, the man-hours, the extra workforce, etc. Even if the Devs we currently have were to attempt something like this (assuming they have even have people who can do this sort of work already on staff), we'd be looking at a year+ without any updates to the game while they worked on it.

[Celedh]

Thing is, we could have gotten a 'high resolution' version for this game long ago had they wanted it.

What we're using is a client, all of the textures and important data, like wall collisions and such, are already on our computer/console. The only thing the server does is passing position coordinates and data like text, actions, damage and such. How the data is managed and then drawn on screen is entirely the client's work.

So technically speaking they could make a PC version that far surpasses the looks of the PS2, the Xbox360 probably could as well. But that would require going back into the 7gb of data already there, and redraw all of the pieces of gear, zones and what not, so they would be higher quality. Each piece of gear is also drawn differently for all races, so that'd be 5 (or 8 if they also count gender differences) times redrawing and refitting the equipment every time they add new ones, plus redoing the older ones.

Also, it would obviously increase the game size by alot to support both types of renditions, the new textures alone would take more space. It's alot of time and effort spent for an 8 years old game on the decline.

If they could separate the consoles like that, while at it they could also break out of the whole 'PS2 limitations' thing, but then it would also break the 'sync' between the consoles, which they have tried to preserve. The developers wanted all consoles to be equal, without one having an 'unfair advantage'. PC being able to handle higher resolutions is not an unfair advantage per say, PS2 at least has constant framerate at what it does, PC has too many variables involved in hardware and software.

Just to say that while not impossible to have a higher rendition of the game on PC or 360, I doubt they would put the manpower on doing this.

[Mirage]

I get the distinct impression that the OP wants all of us players without major-money gaming rigs (computer and console) to GTFO... Would I be correct in this assumption?

Completely wrong. A more efficient graphics engine will benefit low and mid-end computers a lot as well. Even a low end (by 2006 standards) is only able to utilise a tiny fraction of its total power to run FF11. Graphics engines can be made to be very scalable, letting low-end computers run the game at low settings (which would look like FF11 does today), while high end computers would be able to make it look and run better.

Of course, I don't see something like this ever happening, but one can always hope. For me, it would be the best thing to happen to online gaming since a very long time ago.

@Celedh

I think the game could be made a lot prettier and better-performing without redoing any of the textures or 3D models. Just letting the game use the 3D card to do the rendering and antialiasing would improve a lot. Imagine 100 character/mob models on screen, 8x antialiasing, 1920x1200, still running at 60fps. That wouldn't even make a mid-end graphics card of today break a sweat.

-edit-
And real reflections in metallic surfaces!
And a bit of HDR!

[Celedh]

I think something that would be much more beneficial right now is allowing the PC version to use the full power of current computers and graphic cards.

The system doesn't even let you use Multi-Core processing, so you end up using only the speed of a single core. I'm sure there are alot of options that aren't supported by newer graphic cards, I don't have the feeling my game is running more smoothly even after getting a new card.