Single Player Future

[Draylo-]

For a company like SE, again that just sounds like BS. They don't wanna pursue the costs yet they keep pumping out games left and right. There are profits from FFXI they just don't wanna invest in it. How many times have they told us x only to do y? We never even imagined a new expansion would come out with how often they threw around "PS2 limitations" and Adoulin was made anyway. I'm not doubting there are some limitations as I don't fully understand the dev kit thing. I am just doubting its impossible to do it. Anyways its a moot point as we aren't changing their minds at this point. I just hope we get to keep our characters for a while. To a previous poster, if I had the money I would. I am that crazy about XI but I'm not a millionaire or anything to donate a substantial amount lol.

[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.

[Stompa]

I play FFXI because I like seeing my friends, and watching them play their favourite jobs in their own unique ways, and chatting with them and stuff.

Quite honestly I already know how I play games, I know all my responses etc. I like to see other FF fans, I like to watch them play, check their responses, and chat together about our favourite FF7/FF8 moments lol.

Actually when FFXI came out, it was like some giant Global Gathering, all these FF fans around the world, who had all played the old FF games on solo, were suddenly able to meet and play in this beautiful virtual world together. That was magic. To suddenly be united as FF fans, it was really special after all those years sitting alone replaying FF7/8 etc. over and over again on our Playstations lol.

[Zarchery]

I love that even when the man in charge of development for this game said "we can't make a single player version" and gave detailed reasons why, fans are still "That's nonsense! A single player version would be easy!"

[Bluestar2kx]

I love that even when the man in charge of development for this game said "we can't make a single player version" and gave detailed reasons why, fans are still "That's nonsense! A single player version would be easy!"

Because he focused on single player, as in no internet or lan requirement, playing by yourself.

Some of us aren't asking for that, we're asking for what's already there, the only thing I mentioned as being outside that is about game master controls, but I don't know if that could be done with the way the game was written, but maybe. Me at least, am also offering to pay a fair market price for buying such a kit to alleviate costs. (As I think selling it to players is perfectly reasonable for unlimited access to such a wonderful game, as an MMO.)

[steellords]

I love that even when the man in charge of development for this game said "we can't make a single player version" and gave detailed reasons why, fans are still "That's nonsense! A single player version would be easy!"

Because it's complete crap. Just give me the ability to make as many characters as i want and alt tab, and i can probably solo just about anything in the game now.

Of course, soloing is not what 11 was made for. Imagine trying that on dynamis when it was new. People are just fearing the servers will be shutdown entirely within a couple years and want a way to keep playing.

[steellords]

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)?

So according to them, the primary reason for current events is a lack of functional development tools/kits (Because the game's codebase is on the PS2) and that they can't get new ones because the hardware is no longer supported by sony. That's understandable, but I think this goes to show why MMOs should not be based on fixed hardware systems. FFXIV has gotten around this problem by basing the game on PC and branching out to other platforms, which they can and are prepared to drop if they can no longer keep up with the game's requirements or if the development hardware no longer exists.

The reason this is going to be hard for many people to accept is simply because it's been around so long. I've had a subscription to this game for nearly half my life now. I now also play FFXIV and it has a lot going for it, but FFXI has a sort of old school charm that just can't be matched by anything else.

Yeah the ps2 really did kill this game in the end. Others like everquest are still around and getting updates. This game was made for the japanese market from the start, and they were overwhelmingly ps2. We just had to accept from the start we were "guests" in their game.

But now that i'm not a naive teenager and realize all this, there's no chance i'm getting hooked on 14 to deal with ps3 limitations and "jp onry"

[steellords]

Those answers are all BS, it all boils down to dollar bills or yen or whatever. I find it highly unbelievable they couldn't redo the game just like they did for XIV, it the cost that stopped them and potential profits weren't there.

Well what pisses me off is that during that complete manure expansion WoTG, they decided to make a new mmo, then using subs from this game to keep it afloat

Now they are shuttering this game and to add insult, keeping full monthly fee instead of divert some miniscule funds from 14 to make this FTP come november

I'm sure in 2019 they'll give 14 the same treatment and blame ps3 limitations, which is their own fault for using a console again. Yeah i'm done with this company after the "finale"

[Bluestar2kx]

Well what pisses me off is that during that complete manure expansion WoTG, they decided to make a new mmo, then using subs from this game to keep it afloat

Now they are shuttering this game and to add insult, keeping full monthly fee instead of divert some miniscule funds from 14 to make this FTP come november

I'm sure in 2019 they'll give 14 the same treatment and blame ps3 limitations, which is their own fault for using a console again. Yeah i'm done with this company after the "finale"

What was wrong with wings of the goddess?
About a thousand times better then abby that came out not too long later.

I'm sure they did use funds from XI to keep XIV going (Even though money is money to them for use no matter its origin), companies don't like losing money, and just think what could have happened in worst case.... FFXI could have been shut down with XIV 1.0, and SE discontinued major games and just focused on re-releases and small mobile titles to cut costs as profits plummeted.

It could have been a lot worse then it was for both us and them.

Personally, I'll keep paying my fee (at the current price), I'd rather pay that and support FFXI and get what we can and show continued interest and dedication to XI, then leech off XIV like you just complained XIV did to XI (an eye for an eye isn't the best solution here), and potentially watch it die faster.

Assuming XIV makes it to 2019, no, they'll just cut off the PS3.
XIV was made for PC first so it's development kit is windows based, it's support will be much easier then XI's is, and if the PS3 becomes a problem, just turn it off and focus on the PS4 and PC, which both use the same architecture. If by some miracle it makes it to end of life for the PS4, it will still be easy to end it and run on the PS5 (assuming it also uses x64 instruction sets).

[Elemmire]

Pretty sure SE has the money where they could spend the time/energy to get the game to work in a "single player" way. I'm not quite sure what they think would have to be removed if so. If they release the server code in a such a way to run your own private server (with perhaps ToS stating it can't be for profit or make money off it) and change the client so you can choose to connect to your private server, well, I don't see what would need be lost. But it's hard to say without reading the code myself. If it's programmed well, it should be doable though.

The only thing then would be having to balance group content to be doable with trusts + the character, but even then maybe not, could just have it so friends can connect to your server/world and help.