What's square going to do now?

[Adventurer]

FFXI is the opposite, the amount of love and inspiration that went into the original content/lore side of the game is staggering, and the graphics are still OK but less important to me than the playable world.

I agree with this completely. When FFXI was created we were in different times. We didn't expect and demand so much from a MMO. Much like cars now days, where if it doesn't have bluetooth connectivity, iPod hookups, towing capability and gets over 40mpg we don't want to touch it. Long ago people were so happy and excited just to have one of these motorized contraptions that allowed them to commute and explore.

Back then, when FFXI was created it was done so with such heart, feeling and emotion. They set out to make an online world, some where that completely removes you from reality and puts you some where else. I agree completely with the notion that the difficulty also had a big part to play in it. It made you appreciate the friendships you made and the hardships you overcame, much like we do in the real world, whereas games like FFXIV just feel like some pretty 3D environment where people can play dress up doll with an online persona. These games like FFXIV will never feel like FFXI.

I personally think at some point people will realize what's going on. I hold onto the hope that some day people will once again change what they demand so that they can experience a true online adventure. I really hope that they keep FFXI hanging on for this reason. I hate people who say things like "Everything must come to an end." While it may be true for each of our own lives, look at how many things have lived through so many generations and have been passed down for so many years and will most likely continue in such a way. 15 years is nothing, it's a tiny spec of time so small in the cosmic realm that it's almost impossible to even calculate. We just entered into this electronic era of computers and internet. Why in the world could Vana'Diel not be expanded and enjoyed for hundreds if not thousands of years? Look at the Olympics, did those come to an end? No, people continue to expand on it, perfect it, participate in it and enjoy it.

I think by letting Vana'Diel wither away humanity is losing something truly unique that it may not produce ever again or for a very long time. A True online world of adventure, something that makes you feel like the story of your life is more real in a virtual land than in reality. Again, to me FFXI was much more than just a game with a lot more heart and creativity put into it. It was one of the first of it's kind and I believe that's what they set out to create when they made it, where as the new MMO's like FFXIV have been created solely for profit, to tickle some one's fancy just long enough to get some quick cash and move on to a new project. What's the fun in that?

I still am confused about the future of FFXI. I hear a lot of people saying it is about to die, yet SE said they are just going to stop making major updates but that they will continue to maintain the game. Perhaps this is a sign that they do want it to hang on. Why couldn't it be here hanging on for many many more years? As others have said, if they're making a good 20 million or so a year off of this game, that's more than enough to pay some programmer's salaries, office space, equipment, utilities and still turn a good profit.

[Stompa]

..............................I still am confused about the future of FFXI. I hear a lot of people saying it is about to die, yet SE said they are just going to stop making major updates but that they will continue to maintain the game. Perhaps this is a sign that they do want it to hang on. Why couldn't it be here hanging on for many many more years? As others have said, if they're making a good 20 million or so a year off of this game, that's more than enough to pay some programmer's salaries, office space, equipment, utilities and still turn a good profit.

I liked this post, thankyou for writing it.

On the whole "dated graphics" thing, I have been forming a theory of why I like FFXI graphics better than the shiny new games. In FFXI the characters and NPCs look a lot like dolls and toy soldiers, they have a simple and pure doll-like quality, which is very charming and attractive.

Its like in real life, I think actual real dolls, toys and manga characters etc. are often more beautiful than real people, even though real people are in super-realistic high definition. I still prefer my clunky old Motoko Kusanagi films from decades ago, even though she looks nothing like a real person, she looks like a doll. And I like that, there is a certain simple gracefulness to dolls that isn't the same when we look at a human being, with all their complexity and details.

So I'm starting to think that the FFXI doll-like simplicity of character graphics, is actually like the "Goldilocks Effect" of videogames. It is not "too cold" like the old 2D stickman games, but not "too hot" like the hyper-realistic shiny new games. It may be that FFXI-era graphics was actually the perfect sweet-spot inbetween too simple and too complex graphics.

So its like, where do we get off the Realism Bus. I've been on this computer-graphics bus since 1981, when I was running home from school to load my cassette-tape games with their 2D graphics. Do I keep riding this bus until games look more realistic than real life, or do I get off the bus at the point in time where games have a certain magical doll-like charm, with toy soldiers and dolls, which are elegant in a simple and pure way, like all the best dolls and manga always were.

Speaking for myself, I've been on this computer-graphics bus for a long time, and this place here is my stop. The FFXI level of graphics is where I want to get off the bus.

[Adventurer]

I liked this post, thankyou for writing it.

On the whole "dated graphics" thing, I have been forming a theory of why I like FFXI graphics better than the shiny new games. In FFXI the characters and NPCs look a lot like dolls and toy soldiers, they have a simple and pure doll-like quality, which is very charming and attractive.

Its like in real life, I think actual real dolls, toys and manga characters etc. are often more beautiful than real people, even though real people are in super-realistic high definition. I still prefer my clunky old Motoko Kusanagi films from decades ago, even though she looks nothing like a real person, she looks like a doll. And I like that, there is a certain simple gracefulness to dolls that isn't the same when we look at a human being, with all their complexity and details.

So I'm starting to think that the FFXI doll-like simplicity of character graphics, is actually like the "Goldilocks Effect" of videogames. It is not "too cold" like the old 2D stickman games, but not "too hot" like the hyper-realistic shiny new games. It may be that FFXI-era graphics was actually the perfect sweet-spot inbetween too simple and too complex graphics.

So its like, where do we get off the Realism Bus. I've been on this computer-graphics bus since 1981, when I was running home from school to load my cassette-tape games with their 2D graphics. Do I keep riding this bus until games look more realistic than real life, or do I get off the bus at the point in time where games have a certain magical doll-like charm, with toy soldiers and dolls, which are elegant in a simple and pure way, like all the best dolls and manga always were.

Speaking for myself, I've been on this computer-graphics bus for a long time, and this place here is my stop. The FFXI level of graphics is where I want to get off the bus.

I've also noticed that when you look at the worlds themselves you see the same effect. Look at Eorzea. You look up into the sky and there are about 50 trillion stars visible to the naked eye. You can see halfway across the very world itself and there's less of a sense of "What's around the corner or over the hill." Not to mention they DOWSED the world in CRYSTAL GOODNESS instead of making crystals these mysterious things that appear seldom in long forgotten places. I loved how in Vana'Diel it felt like a world that could really exist, with amazing beauty and TRUE diversity but then you had certain areas that were slightly different, more on the fantasy side and maybe a crystal or odd structure every here and there. To me, Eorzea just feels way too overdone, but it's not just FFXIV, most newer MMO's have that feel. Trillions of crystals, being able to see the next closest planet in detail, being able to see every single monster across the what feels like a limited horizon. To me, Vana'Diel stretched your imagination, it let you ponder what was out there, beyond that hazy horizon or through that labyrinth. This is why I believe Square Enix had something truly special and artfully made with FFXI, something that will be impossible to recreate. I wish dearly they would have just concentrated their efforts on what they already had, especially with such a loyal core instead of just wanting to put out the next shiny iMMO.