FFXI Remaster - Remake

[Alhanelem]

"RPGs are not supposed to be simple or easy."

RPGs have never carried a specific inherent level of difficulty. Your argument is flawed on this premise alone.

RPGs are as much "role playing" as they are "game." That's why they're called RPGs. They aren't called RPHGs or role playing hard games, nor RPEGs, or role playing easy games. There is no implication of any specific level of difficulty (which itself is abstract and subjective anyway) inherent to the genre.

You want harder games, and that's fine. But most people are not looking to have their balls busted, they just want the experience to be fun. And further than that, having a game be "easy" doesn't mean you want to "watch a movie." such players still want the interactive elements that come with a video game that a movie doesn't offer. And there's nothing wrong with that.

I'm not saying this game or any particular game should be "easy" or "hard." but in the majority of cases, the level of challenge is not the primary factor attracting players to the game. It is a factor, but it is usually secondary to other factors of the experience.

Turning FFXI into a boring bland cheese pizza so more people "buy it" is an insult to people who enjoy something special, and takes away what makes FFXI, FFXI.

Difficulty isn't what puts the toppings on the FFXI pizza . Or any other game pizza for that matter. What does that depends on the individual. If all you wanted was a hard game, you probably wouldn't be playing FFXI. There are harder games out there, espeically that don't require an internet connection or other people at all, and you named some of them yourself.

If you want to use the analogy, difficulty is on the menu of toppings for you to choose from when you order a pizza. it is not an explicitly required component for the pizza to be called a pizza.

Ultimately, you are projecting your own personal desires onto others. If difficulty is all that matters to you, that's fine. But you can't just look at two hard games that were successful and conclude that the difficulty is what sold them because it would have sold them to you.

FFXIV has been wildly successful, particularly compared to many of SE's other projects, and while it has some fairly difficult elements, it isn't specifically known for its difficulty. It's pretty clear to me that this isn't one of the primary attractors for the game.