FFXI Remaster - Remake

[Dihlyte]

While you certainly can leave feedback on these forums, it in fact is NOT the primary focus.

Well, going by Welcome to Forum: General Discussion! [1]:

The purpose of this forum is for players to discuss various topics on FINAL FANTASY XI with other players.

As for the forums in general, here's a quote from Welcome to the official FINAL FANTASY XI forums! [2]:

I personally choose not to argue. Sorry.

You're more then welcome to disagree, and make your points, but this will be the end of me responding in terms or appearing to argue.

I welcome you to reply with how ever you like, as much as you like, but I personally will not be participating in further arguing. I don't enjoy it and find it unproductive.

Gamepads don't work wireless?

Not on windows PC without 3rd party software. I mean they do work, but they have input lag. So you need to turn them off, and connect them with a wire for it to work properly.

Curious about this one. What exactly do you mean by bouncing off the walls?

Like, if you stand close to a wall, turn the camera, and it gets closer to you?

When you stand near a wall your camera just doesnt get closer. Your camera will actually persistently bounce off the wall continuously so that its constantly zooming in and out on its own in a very erratic manner. I'm sure you've see this.

I kind of like the fact that we actually need to face the enemy... the thing I don't like is how the lag I have to the servers can make it... well, something I need to take into account for when I do things. ^^;

I wasn't referring to the need to face the enemy. I was referring to when you pull multiple enemies and the one you're targeting gets so close to you that it keeps going "out of view" partially behind you so that your character is unable to attack. The enemies will move around constantly which results in you unable to perform any weapon skills. Its a very awkward experience. Even if you constantly move backwards the game still registers the enemy behind you even if its in front of you visually. It is very strange.

It only happens when you pull multiple mobs. It just would be a nice fix if they couldn't do that. Same with trusts, they get "inside" your character and constantly spin around on top of your character and its very odd.

Is it not already possible to hide them via Chat Filters?

I did not test just now, but as far as I can remember, and look at the list of them, it should be doable? Maybe I am missing something.

I'm not referring to chat filters.

For the shiny spots, I think I kind of appreaciate them for logging and mining and harvesting points for example.

I mean quest marker locations. Gathering locations are fine.

Is this the issue where you start combat, but your character just stands still while getting bombarded?

Yes. Regardless if you can move or not, this can result in death to many new players, and is really an unnecessary animation lock. I can personally circumvent this issue with practice, but it is odd, hurts new players, and unnecessary. (In my opinion of course.)

[Zenion]

When you stand near a wall your camera just doesnt get closer. Your camera will actually persistently bounce off the wall continuously so that its constantly zooming in and out on its own in a very erratic manner. I'm sure you've see this.

That one might be hard to fix; cameras in 3D space can be really tricky. Treat them as a physical object, and they can snag on things and do some really undesirable stuff - Sonic Adventure 2: Battle was awful for this, if you tried you could easily trap the camera and escape it entirely (and if you didn't try, it could still happen; the camera was the real villain of that game.) Don't treat them as a physical object, and they can clip into places they shouldn't, giving the player a glimpse into the void outside the game world (possibly with no idea how it happened.) You can clip the FFXI camera halfway into a lot of walls to get a taste of what that looks like.

What behavior would you consider acceptable? Should the camera lock in place when it hits a wall? Should it clip into the wall? Should it continue its motion in as close to a circle around the player as possible, knowing that this will result in some unwanted extreme closeups of the character model?

Serious question, I'm not trying to be argumentative here, I really want to hear what a good solution to this might look like.

[CrAZYVIC]

Square Enix has already announced that the game has entered "Maintenance Mode," meaning that the most we can expect are "Updates" for balancing the game, content, etc., which I will touch on later.

A remake is not viable, neither for the "Gamers" nor the "Company." The game would need to shift to an "Action-RPG" style like Monster Hunter World/Rise, Elden Ring, or Lies of P, because that's the META and what sells. It wouldn't have anything from FFXI except for the areas, characters, cities, and lore. However, it would have to be an entirely new game and "No," it couldn't be like FFXIV/WoW-Modern; having two FFXIVs would be too redundant.

A remaster could be viable, but the problem would be how to implement it in a way that would be profitable for the company and attract all the 40-something FFXI-Retail players.

Remember that in FFXI-RETAIL, using dgVoodoo and Windower, you can run it at 4K, 60 FPS, and "ULTRA" graphics quality. So, a graphical upgrade alone wouldn't be very appealing or engaging for us. Additionally, using gear-swap Lua, players essentially have a "Damn" bot that swaps their gear with minimal delay and is far superior to FFXI's macros. If the remaster doesn't support this, it would be even less attractive.

Here’s how I would implement the remaster:

Release it for PS5, SERIES-S, SERIES-X, Nintendo Switch 2, PC STEAM, EPIC GAMES, and Gamer-Mobiles, with cross-play, of course.

Completely programmed in DX12, with Nvidia DLSS, AMD FSR + Frame-Generation, and a corrected net code that can handle up to 5000-S/5000-R if needed. Don't worry; 95% of the time, you'll be at an average of 1000-S/1000-R.

Fix the JA-WS delay and the other 100 things with similar issues. Also, allow players to "Skip" cut-scenes since it's a remaster, and we've done the MSQ about 20 times at this point...

Finally, add EASY-ANTI-CHEAT, DENUVO, and FFXIV's anti-cheat system to reduce bots/cheats by 90%.

Additionally, "Buying-Gil" and "Selling-Gil" would result in a permanent ban on a single strike, to reduce RMT and let players govern the server's economy.

**The Servers**

All current servers would merge into just three: ASURA, ODIN, and BAHAMUTH. The
original game and your old character wouldn't be touched or moved.

Three versions of the game would be released:

1. Three LV75 CLASSIC servers up to WoTG, one in NA, EUR, and JP, for better game responsiveness. GEO and RUN would be released in this version.

2. Three servers, the same regions (NA, EUR, JP), LV99 Abyssea, VW, Neo-Dynamis, Legion, and SoA era, without "ILV," just like Seekers of Adoulin was initially released. The difficulty would be adjusted since there are no "ILV" items. The proc-system would be removed because it’s annoying and only nerdy fifty-year-old virgins like that "Red" or "Blue" proc stuff...

3. Three servers in NA, EUR, and JP, like FFXI-RETAIL is now, with QoL changes. For example, entering Odyssey-Sortie with 18 players, and some adjustments to ultimate weapons and jobs. This update would also apply to the "Old-Retail-Game."

This would be the way to properly launch a well-done Remaster for FFXI, with multiple versions of the game. The price of the Remaster would be $60 USD, and the subscription would be $15 USD base, with an additional $2 USD per character.

A cash shop would also be implemented with "Fantasia-Potion," "Mounts," and races from FFXIV such as Auras, Miqotes, Hyurs, Roes, Lalafells, and Vieras, as well as glamours, but these would be very Job-Specific and medieval to maintain the essence of FFXI. Nothing crazy like FFXIV.

[Dragoy]

I personally choose not to argue. Sorry.

I definitely wasn't going for that there, if that is what it seemed like. I was just commenting on the purpose of these forums. :]

Not on windows PC without 3rd party software. I mean they do work, but they have input lag. So you need to turn them off, and connect them with a wire for it to work properly.

Ah, yeah, suppose there will always be lag with them. Not sure there's anything that can be done on the FFXI side to help with that.

When you stand near a wall your camera just doesnt get closer. Your camera will actually persistently bounce off the wall continuously so that its constantly zooming in and out on its own in a very erratic manner. I'm sure you've see this.

Oh, yeah, that does indeed happen.

I suppose it should be possible to detect that the camera started going wild, and stop it, but can't say how complicated that would be since I haven't seen the code.

I wasn't referring to the need to face the enemy. I was referring to when you pull multiple enemies and the one you're targeting gets so close to you that it keeps going "out of view" partially behind you so that your character is unable to attack. The enemies will move around constantly which results in you unable to perform any weapon skills. Its a very awkward experience. Even if you constantly move backwards the game still registers the enemy behind you even if its in front of you visually. It is very strange.

It only happens when you pull multiple mobs. It just would be a nice fix if they couldn't do that. Same with trusts, they get "inside" your character and constantly spin around on top of your character and its very odd.

Right, seen that too. I suppose I instinctively "correct" for it, so I don't feel like it happens that much, but yeah, indeed, can be very confusing and annoying.

I'm not referring to chat filters.

Right, but they are connected to the visible numbers, for example filtering damage from party members should stop them from appearing for them.

[Alhanelem]

I personally choose not to argue. Sorry.

You can choose to do whatever you like, but that doesn't stop anyone else from posting nor is there anything wrong with things other than feedback.

I welcome you to reply with how ever you like, as much as you like, but I personally will not be participating in further arguing. I don't enjoy it and find it unproductive.

Sorry you feel that way, but civilized arguments rooted in logical propositions are absolutely productive. Again: argument doesn't mean fighting. it means supporting your position and trying to convince others of it. It isn't something that is done for fun, you aren't supposed to "enjoy" it, so it seems like you misunderstand the fundamental purpose of logical argument.

Arguments != fighting.

[Alhanelem]

I was referring to Pokemon, fourth-highest selling video game franchise, the largest intellectual property in the world. And undeniably part of the RPG genre, so like... any discussion of what, in a general sense, makes a good RPG should probably look at that because the money says that's the one to beat.

As far as changing FFXI's gameplay though... I mean, what we have now is good, yeah. I wouldn't want to see a version without skillchains and magic bursts - arguably I'd say they should be made more enticing to players in a remake. Bosses telegraphing their moves more wouldn't make the game easier so much as make it more playable. Gear swapping, which is at the heart of how we play FFXI now, is integral to the player experience but not to the play experience - a good remake would let you map sets of gear to specific weaponskills, job abilities, and actions and just swap in automatically without needing to concentrate on hitting the right macros at the right time (I still remember back in the day when I would hit, no word of a lie, ten macros to use a blood pact - that's not nearly as fun as just building the set and having it ready when you need it.)

Quests and missions... those need a lot of work. I know Mindartia better than I know the county I physically live in, but I'd never figure out what half of the older ones want without a guide. If that's the kind of challenge some old-timers want, that's fine, but for everyone else there should be some kind of help system available without having to rely on our crumbling wiki infrastructure.

I love most aspects of FFXI's combat system. If there was a remake, all I feel it needs is to be made more fluid and responsive. FFXI's movement and pervasive animation lock make things feel clunky compared to almost any game of any sort made today. We are all mostly fine with that because we grew up with it and are used to the jank inherent to it. But this would be a roadblock to almost anyone who isn't already playing FFXI now. Ditch the animation lock on most skills and spells, make things more responsive, and movement smoother. A lot of this is down to the servers only being in Japan. If we had local servers in a remake, that would help quite a lot by itself. Skillchains and bursts are one of the core things that makes combat in FFXI distinct from other games, as it encourages cooperation.

Also FFXI does have some very cryptic quests and missions that are almost impossible for a new user without referring to a guide ( Guide dang it! ). In a remake I'd like to see more information be available within the game itself. Adjust dialogue for quests so that it's easier to figure things out (I'm not asking for obvious quest markers like in FFXIV, but just making certain things a bit less cryptic- For example, some chapters of TVR start in different places from where the last mission ended, but there is ZERO information about where to go in-game. You either had to be around when it was releasd to know from the news, or read a guide).

[Zenion]

Also FFXI does have some very cryptic quests and missions that are almost impossible for a new user without referring to a guide ( Guide dang it! ).

Oh, are you the one user on TVTropes who knows FFXI still exists? I'd wondered how it was still getting mentioned as an example of stuff when, to most of the internet, the game's been dead and buried for over a decade.

Now, I know this is difficult, it gets into that undefinable "juiciness" factor of a game, but... what would a more fluid combat system look like, if it were to still feel like FFXI?

Animation lock is definitely a key thing - there are specific status effects which are intended to prevent the player from taking action, so just having things happen shouldn't do that; either allow player actions without running the animation, or give player animations highest priority to prevent loss of agency.

Streamlining combat menus would be good; I'd personally hate to see a move to all on-screen icons to click, but maybe having those as a supplement to the menus would be good? Typing out "/ma "flare ii" <bt>" in the heat of battle can be a bit much (go on, try doing it in under two seconds without any typos), and finding it in the menu is almost as bad; player-defined sub-groupings could speed things up (imagine how much faster being able to look up Magic > Fire > Flare II would be, for example.) Yes, I know, I know, we have macros for that, but those just become yet another menu to scroll through unless you pare your options down to the top twenty things you want to do; how many times have you been in the middle of a fight and realized you really need to use an ability or spell that you didn't think to put into your macros (perhaps because you needed room for dedicated gear swapping macros, for things like idle and refresh sets?)

I think maybe having a target queue would be good. Designate your current target, then tag, say, four or five more monsters that you will autotarget after that one is defeated. Action queue would be nifty too, line up spells or job abilities to use and have that visible somewhere; basically the same as throwing a few actions with <wait x> tokens between them into a macro, but visible somewhere and able to be modified on the fly.

Characters should always be facing the monster they're fighting unless the player decides they shouldn't be, that's a hill I'll readily die on. Lock-on should automatically face the character toward the monster they're locked onto, and if it's within melee range that should always be enough to attack it. Maybe have this only work within, say, 4 yalms of the target, so if there is an actual legitimate reason for a monster to move it's a bit more of a disruption.

Maybe add a three second delay before a character puts their weapons away, during which time if the player targets another monster they skip the draw weapons and engage animation? That's clunky and really slows the pace of large battles and it's kind of silly (imagine being surrounded by skeletons, defeating one, and brushing your hands off, putting your weapons away, and saying "well, glad that's over with.") Auto-engage sort of does that, if you're facing a monster that's already trying to fight you, but... I think we can do better.

Maybe make spellcasting more agile by giving spells a chance to be interrupted when you move, based on how far you go? Or make moving cancel the spell outright, rather than letting it run the whole casting time before being interrupted?

[Alhanelem]

Oh, are you the one user on TVTropes who knows FFXI still exists? I'd wondered how it was still getting mentioned as an example of stuff when, to most of the internet, the game's been dead and buried for over a decade.

Aint me, I'm not an editor on tvtropes.

[Beastorizer]

https://massivelyop.com/2024/08/05/t...l-fantasy-xiv/

https://www.thegamer.com/nexon-squar...-11-cancelled/