How to save Final Fantasy (The easy/risk free way)

[Daniolaut]

"About me"
(Just a short quick look at who I am, and why I know what I know.)

I have about 50,000 hours of gameplay in the Final Fantasy series.

I have defeated the final boss in all of the following Final Fantasy games.
(I also have created an ultimate weapon in a vast majority of the following Final Fantasy games.)

I, II, III, IV, IV:TAY, V, VI, Before Crisis, VII, Dirge of Cerberus, VIII, IX, X, X-2, XI, XII, XII:RW, XIII, XIII-2, XIII:LR, XIV 1.23b-5.4, XV.

As well as: FFT, FFTA, FFCC:EoT, FFCC:RoF, FFCC:TCB, WoFF, FF:T4HoL, Dissidia, 012.

I also have a total of 24 high level characters (with only about 3-4 slightly "potion" boosted XIV characters) across FFXI, and FFXIV. (Totaling over 30,000 hours of gameplay in these games alone.)

The reason I share this, is to prove I am the most experienced English speaking person, and more experienced in the Final Fantasy series, than most likely all of Square-Enix employees, as well as a vast majority of Japanese players as well.

I don't know a single other person on the internet that speaks English with this degree of experience with the franchise.

Unlike people such YouTubers, and Twitch streamers, and other content creators where their job is to play Final Fantasy, I still maintain a personal job, and continue to retain and gather more gaming experience, and online data from players across the internet, and outpace such content creators.




How to save the series:


Very easy,

Step 1.) Provide a roadmap for FFXI's development future, stick to it.
______(Note: You do not "need" to provide dates, just that it is planned, and don't break the promise.)

Step 2.) Advertise FFXI on the FFXI YouTube Channel.
______(Note:Include translations to all relevant information released in the Japanese broadcasts.)

Step 3.) Dedicate 1 or 2 employees to read both the FFXI and FFXIV forums, and provide feedback weekly, so the players know SE cares about these games.

Step 4.) Re-release FFXIV 1.23b
______(Note: It is extremely important that you release 1.23b, not any previous version of the game.)
_____(Note: This will be the easiest biggest money maker here.)

Step 4a.) Require people to have purchased Dawntrail to enter into an "access" pool of players.

Step 4b.) Create only 1 server, and determine the "safe" maximum simultaneous connection stress, and cut that number in half and only invite that many players.
_____(Note: Giving priority to Legacy players naturally.)

Step 4c.) When (not if) the server reaches constant half maximum connections over 1 month of access, add more servers and more players with the same restrictions.

Step 4d.) When (not if) the servers continue to show popularity, release more servers until they overtake the current FFXIV's playerbase.

Step 5.) With the revenue from FFXIV 1.23b, prepare more servers for FFXI.

Step 5a.) Release 3-5 "fresh" FFXI servers, and restrict transferring of existing characters to these servers.
______(Note: This is not a "classic" server, this is a normal retail current version of FFXI. Just simply a fresh server, with transfers restricted to them.)



When, (not if) all the above proves very profitable for very low investment, consider hiring a consultant that has gaming experience with the Final Fantasy franchise to ensure all future projects are profitable.

[Daniolaut]

Why Step 4 and 5 will be profitable:

Step 4 will require sales of the worst FFXIV expansion, and bring back a very large portion of "retired" FFXIV legacy and veteran players, including myself.

It will require extremely low investment (Naoki Yoshida said he did in fact keep the FFXIV 1.x source code, so I assume, he has still kept it, and it is simply a matter of uploading the data back to a new server), and provide years of gameplay for all those players, but do not allow them to load back up their legacy characters, so they can play fresh, and the servers will be fresh, but instead be a proper not broken release. All the data will be fixed/optimized, and the XIV team will have little work to do to maintain the game, as its already produced/developed, and will simply need to be maintained. Also current day PC's can easily run FFXIV 1.23b, so there is no concern about PC struggles as with the initial launch. Essentially all the issues with the original version are essentially resolved, and it will be a stellar launch.

Step 5 will be profitable, as players will need to create new characters, and the low level, and new player experience will be exciting to new players and veterans who have become "burned out" on the existing game. It will also bring back retired players, for them to have a chance to re-live the low level experience. Again this is not a "classic" just an opportunity for new and veteran players to start on a fresh server. This concept alone is very profitable for every low development/investment on SE's part.

With Steps 4 and 5 bringing in large amounts of money for minimal investment, SE can know that RPG's that are engaging are worthwhile, and can reconsider their approach to producing video games.

It really is that simple.

[Daniolaut]

Note about "why require Dawntrail" in step 5.

I did not buy Dawntrail, and all the retired players did not, and do not have plans to buy (including myself) to buy this terrible expansion, and version of FFXIV.

With this, not only are they required to pay the subscription fee, which is revenue, since retired players, are in fact, retired, but also require them to pay even more money, to not only gain more revenue for SE, but to also show how dedicated these types of players are, and there are many of them, willing to pay a premium for a quality engaging RPG.

"Why new servers for existing FFXI?"

Again, this is very low investment for SE, and gives a lot of "content" and access and "experience" to brand new, and veteran players. A fresh brand new server provides a completely different economy and experience, than simply starting a fresh character on an existing server.

Again, it really is that simple.

[Alhanelem]

If we're talking about the whole series as a whole, I think it's even simpler than any of that stuff you posted. They should just stop moving the series towards straight up action and put the RPG back into RPG.

[Velner]

Incredible. You left out Final Fantasy Mystic Quest and you're holding yourself out as THE expert?

[Alhanelem]

Incredible. You left out Final Fantasy Mystic Quest and you're holding yourself out as THE expert?

Mystic Quest counts about as much as Final Fantasy Adventure and the FF Legend series counts- All of these games were other games that got rebranded as Final Fantasy for the US release to spur sales (though the stated reason for FFMC was to be an "intro" RPG for US players unfamiliar with the genre)

FFA is actually the first game in the Mana series. The GBA remake would be renamed Legend of Mana. Secret of Mana, the first game to bear the name in the US, is the second game in the series.
FFL 1~3 are an entirely unrelated RPG series that had the FF name slapped on it- specifically the SaGa series.
I suppose Mystic Quest is an original game with the FF name on it (released with "USA" on the end of the title in Japan, kind of like what happened with the North American Super Mario 2), but other than the name, there is very little to connect it to the Final Fantasy franchise.

[Zenion]

Mystic Quest counts about as much as Final Fantasy Adventure and the FF Legend series counts- All of these games were other games that got rebranded as Final Fantasy for the US release to spur sales (though the stated reason for FFMC was to be an "intro" RPG for US players unfamiliar with the genre)

FFA is actually the first game in the Mana series. The GBA remake would be renamed Legend of Mana. Secret of Mana, the first game to bear the name in the US, is the second game in the series.
FFL 1~3 are an entirely unrelated RPG series that had the FF name slapped on it- specifically the SaGa series.
I suppose Mystic Quest is an original game with the FF name on it (released with "USA" on the end of the title in Japan, kind of like what happened with the North American Super Mario 2), but other than the name, there is very little to connect it to the Final Fantasy franchise.

And then there's Bravely Default: basically a Final Fantasy with the serial numbers filed off. Literally the job system from Final Fantasy V, the recurring themes of crystals and worlds within worlds, the one evil nation that you work against for the first act of the story before discovering a greater evil behind it all, just a hint of religion is evil. All it's missing is moogles and chocobos.

Incredible. You left out Final Fantasy Mystic Quest and you're holding yourself out as THE expert?

Also Final Fantasy Type-0. If it's good enough for Theatrhythm, it's good enough for a real series fan.

[RichLester]

I've been a Final Fantasy fan from the PS1 days, played the main series, Type-0, Theatrhythm, even 3 & 4 on the DS. My concern is what is FFXVII gonna be like. I hope the FFIX remake that I hear is on the cards is gonna be playing FFIX in the CGI as the actual game itself. I don't think they need to have any voiceovers in it as FFIX is a very different kind of game in terms of look-n-feel. If they do a FFIX trilogy, that'll give SE some good revenue & time to figure out what they want to do for FFXVII.

[Alhanelem]

the way 16 plays its more like a spinoff, it's time for the next game to dial back the action and put the RPG back in RPG.

[Final_Farcity]

How to save Final Fantasy (The easy/risk free way)

Get a different producer.