FFXI is the most atmospheric, well-written, and unique computer-game of all time.

[Stompa]

So, yesterday I was reading the latest Square Enix economic declaration, about how they lost another couple hundred million in their latest experiments in game development.

This obviously saddens me, because back in the 90s, I handled my FF7 and FF8 Playstation discs like they were priceless holy relics. To me, Squaresoft was a divine superpower, granting gifts to the poor unfortunate mortals down here in meat-world.

When FFXI arrived in Europe in 2004, it totally swallowed me whole, I couldn't believe that such a beautiful and exciting computer-game could ever exist.

I marvelled at the combat-engine, game mechanics, menu system and macros. I rejoiced at the courteous behaviour of most players, </bow>ing courteously, and saying <Congratulations!> every time somebody dinged a level-up.

To me, FFXI was exactly the life I had always dreamed of online. Exciting, friendly, beautiful, and deeply, profoundly Role-Playing oriented.

And the text-writing. NPCs said things like "I'm saving up for a new parrot" in pirate-town Norg. Campaign NPC heroes said things like "behold the true embodiment of my sorrow" during pitched battles in war-ravaged hill-top stone forts.

The level of penmanship and wordsmithing involved in all of the quests, even the small humdrum throway lines, were so eloquent and beautifully written, that even William Shakespeare would have put down his quill in defeat, to go and raise goats somewhere instead, knowing that he could never write as beautifully as the FFXI mission/quest text writers were writing.

Dozens of vastly unique and fascinating jobs to play, millions of equips and items, wondrous monsters that were more Manga than any Manga I've ever seen. I still rate Moblins and WOTG-era Goblins as the coolest-looking animated creatures in all of computer-game and Anime history.

A living world, with days, nights, seasons, festivals. A cybernetic ecology of souls. Despite the toy-soldier / dolls graphical simplicity, the NPCs felt real, because they were alive in a world that was so intricately detailed.

And people played FFXI for 20+ years, and still love playing it after all these years. People still pay subs, willingly, and many cases, grateful for the continued opportunity to log-in at all.

FFXI was never "working the format" or "template concept." FFXI was truly unique. Even though it had AD&D elements, etc. FFXI was unlike any other game in history. There was no riding-on-coattails, no looting earlier franchises, no cheap-shot gimmicks. It was ground-breaking, exploring uncharted possibilities, a true masterpiece of imaginitive creation.

I've said before, that FFXI is the greatest computer-game ever made, in all of human history.

And it was a huge success. It still is. Somebody should tell SE this <fact>, because they seem to be struggling to create something successful and popular these days.

[Immortal]

FFXI deserves so much better... I hate how they have removed almost all funding for the game even tho it has been a stable source of income from them for over two decades. It deserves more and it would help them retain that revenue even longer instead of investing it into complete failures like Forspoken and such. FFXI is the best game ever made by them, and it is very unique and special to me. I think its quite an achievement to have a game still going after over two decades. While there are others also out there as long, this game has broken many records and achieved a lot of firsts. I wish we could continue it strong, but what can we do.

[Stompa]

FFXI deserves so much better... I hate how they have removed almost all funding for the game even tho it has been a stable source of income from them for over two decades. It deserves more and it would help them retain that revenue even longer instead of investing it into complete failures like Forspoken and such. FFXI is the best game ever made by them, and it is very unique and special to me. I think its quite an achievement to have a game still going after over two decades. While there are others also out there as long, this game has broken many records and achieved a lot of firsts. I wish we could continue it strong, but what can we do.

Forspoken is clumsy and oafish. Foamstars is garish and insulting.

Octopath is well-intentioned and well-executed but it is still a step backwards. Jrpgs were a 'thing of their time' and I really enjoyed Jrpgs before FFXI arrived.

The core problem with Jrpgs is the same problem we saw with FF titles (excluding FFXI), which is that they are too Linear.

Simply put, RPG games by their very nature, can never be Linear. The whole point of RPG games is choices. A real RPG should always start with Character Creation, and at no point during the game, should the game force you to play another character just for plot reasons.

Back in the early years of computer-games, we accepted that the technology limited us to playing a little stick-figure. I myself coded a ZX80 game in 1981, forty-three years ago, which was literally a stick figure. And later in Jrpgs we accepted that tech limitations meant that we had to play the pre-created heroes. But with the digital age, there was enough dataspace to accomodate actual Player Characters, designed by the player. That was FFXI, it was the first FF title to be a true RPG, as you could grow attached to, and fond of, your character. Your character felt comfortable and familiar to you. By contrast, FF titles that are completely Linear, and force you to play pre-made characters, and even swap characters just for plot reasons, were the opposite of RPG.

In actual physical Gaming style, there is a huge difference. A character you are comfortable with, and identify with, a personal character you created, is faster to play. There is less delay. I am a woman, so when I see the screen with a male character for me to control, there is the tiniest delay while my brain jumps the cognitive hurdle of "that can't be me" and realises "that is who I am playing."

I am quite a small lady, and so my Tarutaru girl feels the most automatic and responsive. My reflex-time, hand-eye co-ordination, is much faster on a Taru girl, than it is on a Galka male. Simply because it takes my brain a micro-second longer to realise that the character is supposed to be me.

But FF titles that are Linear also suffer from lack of freedom, you can't just say I'm going fishing for a year, maybe go punch some goblins, help a friend with AF quests, etc. With Linear games, such as most FF and Jrpg games, there is a Plan For You, and you literally can't change the plan in any way. Again, this is the opposite of RPG in the true Role-Playing sense, because Role-Playing is all about freedom and imagination.

So, after FFXI, there were several Linear FF games, and that is a step backwards. And for SE to go from FFXI to Foamstars in two decades, is proper astonishing backwardsness. If they go backwards any further, we'll have to use flint and rocks to start fires in our caves again.

As for what you said,"what can we do" obviously nothing, except politely point out to SE that the reason they lose hundreds of millions is because not all formulas are winning formulas, and that FFXI was and still is a winning formula.

[Jordache]

I am quite a small lady, and so my Tarutaru girl feels the most automatic and responsive. My reflex-time, hand-eye co-ordination, is much faster on a Taru girl, than it is on a Galka male. Simply because it takes my brain a micro-second longer to realise that the character is supposed to be me.

I highly suggest making a character with your own real life name, I think you would really enjoy it. A lot of people at release could not do this because of a popular name being taken like Michael, or Sephiroth. I've been using my name for my whole life.

[Alhanelem]

I highly suggest making a character with your own real life name, I think you would really enjoy it. A lot of people at release could not do this because of a popular name being taken like Michael, or Sephiroth. I've been using my name for my whole life.

Most people don't use their real names on the internet wherever they don't have to because anonymity. The internet is like Vegas and nobody wants to take it back into the real world.

[Jordache]

Most people don't use their real names on the internet wherever they don't have to because anonymity. The internet is like Vegas and nobody wants to take it back into the real world.

I know, that's why it works so well for me.

[Alhanelem]

while my feelings aren't quite as... superlative... as yours, I'd still agree FFXI was really something special and it does deserve better.

[Haldarn]

Despite the toy-soldier / dolls graphical simplicity, the NPCs felt real, because they were alive in a world that was so intricately detailed.

This is a key point that is oft-missed. The models standing there in a space in-game (and most of the game environs) are like words on a page - it's my brain that interprets them and creates the living world of Vana'diel based on the information provided to it. In one way, more modern graphics and animations make that easier, but in another it's unnecessary; build the dialogue, people and events, paint the pictures of the environments, flora and fauna, embody richness and attention to detail (not to mention a game system that keeps the other side of your brain busy) - that is the way developers should focus their time; not designing intricate details in corridors that 99% of players will run past without really looking at in a game area that's only briefly passed through once in a 100-hr playthrough.

[Stompa]

This is a key point that is oft-missed. The models standing there in a space in-game (and most of the game environs) are like words on a page - it's my brain that interprets them and creates the living world of Vana'diel based on the information provided to it. In one way, more modern graphics and animations make that easier, but in another it's unnecessary; build the dialogue, people and events, paint the pictures of the environments, flora and fauna, embody richness and attention to detail (not to mention a game system that keeps the other side of your brain busy) - that is the way developers should focus their time; not designing intricate details in corridors that 99% of players will run past without really looking at in a game area that's only briefly passed through once in a 100-hr playthrough.

From a purely Player-side perspective, I'm running FFXI on a 10 ten year-old PC which was cheap and low-end when I bought it. FFXI runs smoothly on this old cheap PC. Not all players can afford high-end machines. My PC won't run any modern shiny-graphics games.

I could buy a good new PC, and play the new games, but I've seen a lot of footage of the new games on YT, and the games just don't appeal to me.

Planetary Scientists often refer to the "Goldilocks Zone" or the "Sweet Spot" to describe planets that are not too hot, not too cold, but just right.

To me, FFXI hits the Goldilocks Zone, the Sweet Spot. It is not Too Cold, with 1980s blocky 2D graphics, and it is not Too Hot, with ultra-realistic fancy new graphics.

I love FFXI partly because it is realistic enough to give us the clear impression of what the NPCs and Monsters look like, while also remaining doll-like and simple enough for my imagination to run riot and build my own impressions, adding my own details from my own memory.

Also, as mentioned before, not everyone has a high-end PC, and FFXI offers nice graphics that run smoothly, even on low-end machines. To me, this is the Goldilocks Zone, offering both nice basic graphics, while at the same time good kinetics, good movement, outstanding playability.

Doll-like simplicity is frowned-upon in the West, but in Asia where I live, dolls are considered sacred, precisely because they are simple. In the movie "GITS2 Innocence", the hacker-guy says that [paraphrased] "only God and dolls can achieve perfection." The point is that humans are too complicated, too detailed, too mired in the reality of life, to ever be perfect. But dolls are simple and graceful, thus perfect.

So, from an esoteric perspective, FFXI is actually perfect, in terms of doll-like / toy-soldier simplicity.

[Jordache]

and simple enough for my imagination to run riot and build my own impressions, adding my own details from my own memory.

*This* ungodly and undoubtedly *this*.

The totality of game development ethos isn't about graphics, it's about everything else besides graphics: how all of the other game's systems have to compensate for the graphics which make it ~better~ overall. It's the love that goes missing because everyone is pushing for graphics like mindless zombie robots instead of artstyle, music, mechanics, AND imagination. You absolutely killed it with: the imagination call there.

I. Can't. Use. MY. Imagination. with perfect graphics.

I can't get that same personal feeling of success from games like FFXVI because they're a moss and rock photography simulator (a good one mind you), but they are mentally exhausting, and not enjoyable. And don't get me started about that Final Fantasy mode they pulled: 120 hours later I have to replay your stupid game just to be able to play the game that I wanted to play.

And why can't I use my own name in SE games anymore? That's where half the fun comes from! I don't like being Clive or Noctus, I want the opportunity to be MYSELF. If i'm good enough for the real world then I'm good enough for your fantasy. AHAHHA