Final Fantasy XI Future love!

[Nashred]

They won't do a visual remaster/rerelease because it would probably not bring them enough money to be worth the cost. I'm fairly sure they commented on something like this at the original announcement of future plans for the game (where console support ending was announced).

The current dedicated FFXI players is not a large enough playerbase to justify something like this.

They could do a new mmo based on FFXI with the FFXIV engine.. There are allot of people playing FFXIV now that would love to go back to a new FFXI plus all the existing FFXI players and those that have left because the game changed over the years... Doing FFXI as a new mmo would also bring in some new blood/players. I know I would play it, FFXIV has some cool stuff in it but it is missing allot of what FFXI is and how you progress, it is not the same game. It is way to casual for FFXI player base.

[Pixela]

They could do a new mmo based on FFXI with the FFXIV engine.. There are allot of people playing FFXIV now that would love to go back to a new FFXI plus all the existing FFXI players and those that have left because the game changed over the years... Doing FFXI as a new mmo would also bring in some new blood/players. I know I would play it, FFXIV has some cool stuff in it but it is missing allot of what FFXI is and how you progress, it is not the same game. It is way to casual for FFXI player base.

You don't seem to see the elephant in the room so let me help you.

FFXIV is the flag shop mmo for Square, they are not going to boost FFXI which will 100% guarantee sub losses in XIV just to bring them to XI. Firstly it's not net gain for them because they will stop paying for one game and put the money into another, secondly they want more players on XIV and not more on XI.

Also you have to understand that many of us that still play XI do not like the XIV engine at all, I personally hate it with a passion and if they did change the graphics engine in any way other than upping the quality of the graphics maps I would bail on the game.

"updating" the graphics would the nail in the coffin of this game for many reasons.

[Stompa]

You don't seem to see the elephant in the room so let me help you.

FFXIV is the flag shop mmo for Square, they are not going to boost FFXI which will 100% guarantee sub losses in XIV just to bring them to XI. Firstly it's not net gain for them because they will stop paying for one game and put the money into another, secondly they want more players on XIV and not more on XI.

Also you have to understand that many of us that still play XI do not like the XIV engine at all, I personally hate it with a passion and if they did change the graphics engine in any way other than upping the quality of the graphics maps I would bail on the game.

"updating" the graphics would the nail in the coffin of this game for many reasons.

I do agree with you that updating the FFXI graphics would run the risk of the graphics losing their doll-like charm. There is a lot of beauty in simplicity, and in my opinion FFXI hit the perfect sweet-spot with graphics, they are functional and they have an old-school charm. FFXI is populated by toy-soldiers and dolls, very much like the paper-doll 2D roleplaying games on PC, that came prior to FFXI.

The FFXI graphics are a side-salad to the main course, which is the playability of the game, the engine itself, the myriad of weaponskills and spells available, the long list of jobs with their unique play-strategies. FFXI has a masterpiece game engine, it is a sublime work of art. The actual graphics are nice, they look fine to me, and infact I do prefer the basic dolls and toy-soldiers appearance, to the more modern games where everything is realistic and shiny. "If I wanted realism, I'd go outside!"

In terms of flagships, yes FF14 is the flagship now, if we use the most common meaning of flagship ; the current major product. Some people do use flagship to describe the most successful product too, in which case FFXI is SE's flagship product, with over a decade of sales and subs, totalling far in excess of FF14.

Staying with the ships metaphor though, FFXI is an ornate wooden frigate, beautifully carved, with billowing sails, it sails gracefully and elegantly, and plays fine on a basic budget PC. FF14 is more of a gold-plated tugboat, it keeps getting more gold attached to it, but underneath all the gold it is still a tugboat, a basic vessel designed with one primary purpose, and without the grace or elegance of a frigate in full sail. (This is only my opinion!)

And this is why I don't really see the whole "they want us to go to 14" thing. SE know that FFXI and FF14 are two completely different games. They are both very good games in their own ways, and appeal to different tastes. I'm sure that SE realise this, and never intended for people who like the complexity and perplexity of FFXI, to suddenly like the ABCDEFG follow-the-arrows gaming in FF14.

I think it is good that people enjoy FF14, and I hope it is a success. But it was never intended to replace FFXI, as they are two entirely different types of game. SE must have known from the start that gamer tastes differ, and some people would love FF14 and others would prefer to stay in FFXI. And so long as people keep playing and subbing FFXI, it should be around for quite some time.

[Alhanelem]

They could do a new mmo based on FFXI with the FFXIV engine..

FFXI plopped into a new engine simply wouldn't sell well in the current MMO market. And that's even if it was current XI. The "old" XI that some people have asked for would sell even worse today, because nobody has the patience for long waits and cooldowns anymore. We live in a world of instant gratification, so much so to the point where if they put even the slightest grind into FFXIV, everyone nerdrages and theratens to quit. And the biggest grind in XIV today, the anima weapons, isn't one quarter the grind of even a current relic weapon in XI.

If anyone even considering playing this game heard about the aeonic weapons, or mythics, or the upcoming relic upgrades, they would go "hell no" because (almost) nobody has the patience for that kind of thing anymore. The people that do are the ones that are already playing this game, or original everquest, or any other early generation MMO. It's unfortunate, but true.

[Nashred]

FFXI plopped into a new engine simply wouldn't sell well in the current MMO market. And that's even if it was current XI. The "old" XI that some people have asked for would sell even worse today, because nobody has the patience for long waits and cooldowns anymore. We live in a world of instant gratification, so much so to the point where if they put even the slightest grind into FFXIV, everyone nerdrages and theratens to quit. And the biggest grind in XIV today, the anima weapons, isn't one quarter the grind of even a current relic weapon in XI.

If anyone even considering playing this game heard about the aeonic weapons, or mythics, or the upcoming relic upgrades, they would go "hell no" because (almost) nobody has the patience for that kind of thing anymore. The people that do are the ones that are already playing this game, or original everquest, or any other early generation MMO. It's unfortunate, but true.

I agree allot has changed with players and allot want instant gratification.
I think there is enough though, I think you underestimate the amount of people who would want this ... You would not believe the people sick of FFXIV and want something like FFXI again.. FFXIV probably beat out FFXI in subscription in no time but why cant a game just do well, why does it have to be a mega hit... FFXI was never a huge game but it did well enough to be SE #1 money maker and save FFXIV.
I doubt it will ever happen but I can dream..

[Naraku_Diabolos]

Also do not forget, there are only two variations of each character model. There's really nothing that sets you apart based on your face from other people. Everyone looks the same; I ran into tons of people who had my character model on FFXI. What I liked in FFXIV is that I can feel more unique.

[Nashred]

Also do not forget, there are only two variations of each character model. There's really nothing that sets you apart based on your face from other people. Everyone looks the same; I ran into tons of people who had my character model on FFXI. What I liked in FFXIV is that I can feel more unique.

Really a game a game 15 years newer would have better and more character models? Really imagine that. But I guess that is why making a new FFXI with the FFXIV engine would make sense!

[Zehira]

Really a game a game 15 years newer would have better and more character models? Really imagine that. But I guess that is why making a new FFXI with the FFXIV engine would make sense!

Don't touch FFXIV's new engine... ever. Gear/hair clippings are no better than FFXI's gear we have and most of Miqo'te don't look as good as Mithra.
If they drop the PS3 limitations then maybe.

[Alhanelem]

Don't touch FFXIV's new engine... ever. Gear/hair clippings are no better than FFXI's gear we have and most of Miqo'te don't look as good as Mithra.
If they drop the PS3 limitations then maybe.

That's being super nitpicky. No 3D game is immune to clipping issues, FFXI doesn't have a lot but that's because the models are simpler, there's fewer of them, and the races are more similar than most games, minimizing the possibility of race/size specific issues. As you turn the detail up and introduce more complexity, clipping is almost inevitable. Also FFXI is rather cape- and longhair-free, so that minimizes issues as well. People asked for long hairstyles, the team said there would likely be unavoidable clipping issuesm and of course when they were put in the game people complained about the clipping.

Your opinion of miqotes and mithra is completely subjective, although frankly I don't like either of them and don't understand people's (or rather, men's) obsession with cat people. You could remove them from both games and they'd be better for it in my not-so-humble opinion

Finally, PS3 has nothing to do with why there is any clipping. Dropping the PS3 (which will actually happen eventually, possibly following the second expansion to XIV) wouldn't change it for better or worse.

[Alhanelem]

You would not believe the people sick of FFXIV

I do believe, and I also do believe the people who still enjoy it. The thing is, the things annoying people in FFXIV are things that would annoy them even worse in FFXI. Frankly I think the entire MMORPG bubble might be about to burst.

The target audience of typical MMOs, young adults, which grew up with the original ones and FFXI and even WoW, are all now much older and most of them have full time jobs and will hate any game that has big grinds in it (even if it isn't necessairly an MMORPG). FFXIV has this problem, but so does FFXI, and every other MMORPG on the market. Love or hate FFXI, it still has big grinds, even with all the help the RoV KIs give. FFXIV has big grinds, WoW has big grinds, they all do. And that's what people are getting tired of. (I myself have been unable to get full time work in my field for years, and now I"m soon expecting to take full time work in a totally different area and will likely not have time to play an MMO seriously anymore at that point. I currently am actively subscribed to both FFXI and FFXIV and dabble in both. I will almost certainly have to cancel one of them once I start working 40-50 hours a week...)

why does it have to be a mega hit...

Honestly, the FFXI staff is probably asking the same question, but if it doesn't make a certain amount of money X dollars, they won't be able to leverage more staff/resources to do what we want them to do. I think DQX is in essentially the same boat as FFXI at this point, even though it's a newer game (and not available in the US).

I'm willing to bet that RoV performed better than devs expected, however, and that's why we're getting more new content than was originally planned.