PS2 Limitations: What are Rumors, What is Truth?

[Gwynplaine]

So the ps2 is holding us all back for new skins and huge new expansions with all new zones an new jobs.

Not so far as we know, the only true limit acknowledged by Square so far has been for the auto translator. The rest seems unlikely. And as for jobs the only thing holding new jobs back is most likely the sheer difficulty of pointless redundancy at this point. But I really didn't want to turn this thread into an anti-PS2/new jobs discussion. Some interesting and useful stuff so far though.

[Antipika]

So the ps2 is holding us all back for new skins and huge new expansions with all new zones an new jobs. The game will eventually die if they stay going the way they are.(keeping everyone on same playing ground as ps2) SE now has a new dedicated team to XI, so that would lead me to believe they want to keep going with it. So what about the idea of having 2 versions of xi, one with the original servers for people that refuse to leave the ps2. These servers will continue on getting reskins and no new zones or jobs. (Maybe they can use the old servers that are being migrated)

Now there will also be new servers for pc/xbox/ps3 people to have the option to migrate to in order to enjoy new content. Now this may require another dedicated team to the ps2 people but it keeps everyone happy and playing. Maybe the ps2 people will see how well the game advanced and how fun it looks and decide to migrate to the newer systems.

That is just a terrible policy towards customers. You can't tell someone who purchased the game on PS2 : Ok so you'll enjoy a low tier version of the game, while your monthly fee will go toward the development of new content for PC/X360 users.

That is just completely wrong. Especially when PS2 users are the most loyal ones.
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Regarding the thread initial topic, asking "What is the truth" doesn't make much sense. If something isn't confirmed by SE, then we cannot be completely sure. And if anyone is giving precise facts that weren't released by SE it would mean either :

- Information were leaked from internal sources (Sony / SE / Microsoft etc.). Publishing them wouldn't be allowed.
- You have reverse engineered the game, which is a violation of the User Agreement.

At best what we can do is guess and then we fall into the "rumors" category.

[Ethereal]

That's why implementing something for both parties keeps everyone happy. I really don't see how that's unfair at all, could even adjust monthly fees if they feel the difference is worth a change. If you want to refer to the same type of updates we get now as a lower tier version of ffxi thats up to you...but i think unless we get some real new content I can see everyone dropping out eventually. Abyssea/reskinned zones was a nice addition with the new mobs and superpowered characters, but I already see people getting bored of it.

I read that the WOTG expansion pushed PS2 very close to it's limit, which is why we havent seen anything all new since. All it is, re-skins and tweaks to old content to make it seem like new stuff.

I'm not completely in this thread to bash on the ps2, I have a ps2 version (mainly for fishing lol) and pc myself... but like I said, if we did hit a cap for real new content because of the ps2, well I think something needs to be done about that, some sort of compromise.

Now this is an opinion, but for MMPORGs, I think they should evolve with technology. Expansions after expansions, the amount of disk space itself continues to grow. I'm sure SE wants to add stuff, and has so many ideas, but they are scratching their heads trying to come up with a way to implement it in a way where ps2 can handle it. I never really agreed with playing MMPORGs on a console anyway...anything that is typically played for very long periods of time per day should probably be done on a PC to be honest. I have 2 friends that had XI on ps2 and when their playstations died, they couldn't seem to get their hands on the fat ones for hard drives, only the slim ones. So I mean, it's an evolving ongoing game being played with a dead technology.

[Juri_Licious]

Square Enix do this.

1. Drop PS2 Support

2. Focus on updates that were not capable before due to 32 MB of Ram, PS2.

3. Later with these updates release a new collection with all the content and a release of that on Xbox 360, PC & PS3

-Side note

Apparently you can't even buy the PS2 version of FFXI anymore in America. And it's extremely expensive on ebay.

That's a sign already.

[Siros]

They will never drop ps2 support due ta the amount of JP players still using it.And not every1 can afford ta just up an buy a new system.Im lucky enough ta live in Japan an cofirm alot of them still use the ps2.Plus being military i am fortunate enough ta afford the other 3 platforms(had the original ps2 still working)so i have it on all 4 platforms.and the game sux ass on 360,it lagspikes everytime u zone into a new zone,and goodluck trying ta do any campain.. lol.The only good thing about FFXI being on 360 is the graphics are better than ps2.Plus how could u alienate all the ps2 players onto their own server?,then i couldnt play with my 2 brothers who play on ps2.That would cause way too many problems for ppl. But SE should release a ps3 version of the game for those who cant get the old ps2 anymore,i know it is hard ta come by now days.I mean seriously,how can u put it on 360 but cant figure it out for ps3?

[Rezeak]

The only potential issue with the ps2 is storage space thats it lol and even then i'm sure there work arounds like an option to uninstall old/unused content maybe who knows.

The main reason that there isn't gonna be another big expansion has nothing to do with ps2 limitations it has to do with a lesser player base meaning newer content has a smaller budget so old content being revamped or reused is the best way to get a large amount of content for a small price.

There was no zone cap to begin with they used 1 byte of data for the reference for each zone and once there reach the limit they just remade it so that it used 2 bytes instead or so i've read.

The problem with auto translate and items is probably more to do with them being hard wired into the game commands in such a way they can't be altered because it's prolly coded in such a way u'd need to probably debug the entire game or something along those lines or a ram issue like rog said.

Honestly theres no real issue with items anymore since locker, satchel and sack and the addition of the porter moogle and Auto translate honestly it does what it could potentially do anyway no amount of expansion on it will allow me to chat to other language more than it does already there some optimizing for SE to do on useless text like controller buttons and such.

At the end of the day the Dev team should really just comment on the questions asked so we can just leave this pointless discussion.

Either way do u really Squareenix will recode FFXI because it will take money and it can only come from what we spend on the game atm which is used for major updates which would mean we'd choose a year without any real update where even more pple will just give up on FFXI for a new FFXI which would need to be resold and compete against FFXIV?

And even if they did drop ps2 they'd prolly just say programming,xbox360,xp limitations next.

[rog]

And even if they did drop ps2 they'd prolly just say programming,xbox360,xp limitations next.

And if they did, we'd know they're lying.

[Rezeak]

Well we don't know how they did the 360 port so it could have the same or similar limitations to the ps2

[Cream_Soda]

Create new servers for ps3, xbox 360, PC and allow players if they choose to move there and update the game

Let the ps2 players stay on the current servers.

[slakyak]

Apparently you can't even buy the PS2 version of FFXI anymore in America. And it's extremely expensive on ebay.

That's a sign already.

It's rare/ex in the UK as well. There was a NA ps2 with it pre-loaded on eBay but it wasn't cheap and that's one console over the whole site!!