Single Player Future

[Draylo-]

I meant the answer of "we can't continue updates due to PS2 limitations" is BS. The real answer is "we don't see any profit so we are winding things down"

[Bluestar2kx]

I meant the answer of "we can't continue updates due to PS2 limitations" is BS. The real answer is "we don't see any profit so we are winding things down"

Well of course, they could likely redesign the code to run off a PC development kit, but that too takes A LOT of money, and isn't feasible for FFXI or SE without a promise of funds to do so. If players helped pitch in, then maybe they could get it done.

At that point, FFXI development could continue, and perhaps even ported to PC like platforms like the PS4 to increase the playerbase with much smaller development costs.

But like any business, they need a strong knowledge that it won't be a money sink.

FFXIV is an example of SE not letting a FF title die, and is further proof of my requests validity.
But they also did so by revamping it into a more casual friendly title to sell to a wide audience, and it got lucky and worked well, but that kind of casual play that XIV uses is something that would utterly kill FFXI, so SE has to be more careful with plans for FFXI, that's why they said themselves they weren't taking that route in their digest.

We have a devoted fan base, but it's not a massive one.

It's not going to die, but it is going to reinvent itself. I'm still not clear what the deal is with the mobile version though. It sounds like its going to be the same game, but a seperate entity (not connected to the PC servers)?

Well, I didn't mean die anytime soon.
But we all know it will happen someday. There just won't be enough players to fund servers, and staff to keep going. Esp if the mobile version is similar but separate from PC.
That day is likely years off, but, if FFXI took a turn at it's worst point then, it could become highly profitable for SE again, and fund other developments, esp if players helped do so.

I really don't understand the mobile version, and I get that phone/tablet games are hot these days, but it's not something I want to play to replace FFXI, I like my PC for gaming mostly, my phone barely sees me ever even turn on angry birds. So I'm offering suggestions and plans to help fund those worst case scenarios for the PC version.

[Alhanelem]

I meant the answer of "we can't continue updates due to PS2 limitations" is BS. The real answer is "we don't see any profit so we are winding things down"

If you don't have access to the development hardware, how are you supposed to change anything that requires a code change? Granted, things like balance tweaks, items, etc can be changed by merely updating datafiles, but they explained that they are inposession of many of the development machines that remain, and when they fail, they can't work on it anymore (I suppose they could use an emulator/virtual machine if one exists but agreements with Sony might not allow that)

[bungiefanNA]

I meant the answer of "we can't continue updates due to PS2 limitations" is BS. The real answer is "we don't see any profit so we are winding things down"

PS2 development kit limitations, they say they're down to about a dozen left, and that's after acquiring every dev kit they could get their hands on from around the world, Sony doesn't make them anymore. The gist of their explanation is that the resources like graphics, music, sounds, zones, etc, are made on PS2 dev kits, and then ostensibly converted to DirectX-compatible data from there. They don't have tools to just make such content for PC, it has to be converted. making new tools or overhauling the engine, they say is as expensive as making a game like FFXIV from scratch.

I do find it weird the DAT-modding community has been so easily able to make new models (but then not so much in the way of new animations), while SE says it would be hard to do themselves. Still, when the last dev kit dies, they lose the ability to make new content. They might as well draw a line in the sand while they still have working units, rather than have them fail in mid-development and release of an expansion.

[Alhanelem]

PS2 development kit limitations, they say they're down to about a dozen left, and that's after acquiring every dev kit they could get their hands on from around the world, Sony doesn't make them anymore. The gist of their explanation is that the resources like graphics, music, sounds, zones, etc, are made on PS2 dev kits, and then ostensibly converted to DirectX-compatible data from there. They don't have tools to just make such content for PC, it has to be converted. making new tools or overhauling the engine, they say is as expensive as making a game like FFXIV from scratch.

I do find it weird the DAT-modding community has been so easily able to make new models (but then not so much in the way of new animations), while SE says it would be hard to do themselves. Still, when the last dev kit dies, they lose the ability to make new content. They might as well draw a line in the sand while they still have working units, rather than have them fail in mid-development and release of an expansion.

This, it's just an unfortunate reality of developing the game for console first. Today I don't think it's as big of an issue since I"m pretty sure both PS4 and Xbox One use an x64-based CPU and thus software for them can easily be developed on a PC, but from the ps3 era and prior, you needed dedicated dev hardware.

For a company like SE, again that just sounds like BS.

It's really a reasonable, plausible explanation. It's also hard to argue SE can't get more bang for its buck on a new game than it can get for searching the entire world to find working ps2 dev kits to keep updating this game. It's not bullshit, it's just business. It sounded to me like they genuinely wanted to keep going but found it impractical to do so.