Because most PC games are Console ports....and single player with a set amount of assets.
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There's really no excuse for it. You won't see any MMO exceed those recommended system requirements for at least another 2 or 3 years, because they know that players want to have an enjoyable MMO experience even on an underpowered rig.
Furthermore, a PS3 doesn't really meet those recommended system requirements either. But a console shouldn't be compared to a PC.
The minimum specifications are indeed just as important as the recommended specifications. And those are also one of the highest of games on the market.
The GTX 460 released less than 2 years ago. So FFXIV was developed in such a way that someone with a PC over 2 years old wouldn't be able to run the game smoothly at default settings. And that is a problem when you're trying to establish a strong player base.
:Edit:
Actually, since FFXIV was released in September, anyone with a graphics card over 1 year old wouldn't meet recommended requirements. Recommended requirements equating to smooth gameplay at default settings.
There are plenty of Other MMOS for your underpowered rig. O_o This game isn't a console port so it isn't based around dated hardware.
A PS3 easilly meets the minimum requirements and the recommended settings are for the PC. Considering the PS3 version will be toned down.
Oh, and take note that the recommended Resolution is 1280 x 720. Which is not very demanding.
Agree with this thread, optimisation needs to be addressed, especially if you want to appeal to more players who can't afford beast PC configurations.
This game rarely uses more than 50% of my quad core or 60% of my GPU, some serious optimsation work needs to be done.
This game only uses about 15% CPU at peak times for me (core i-7 980x) but it will use upwards of 3gb of Ram. Although I can run this game for a month without restarting it and rarely crashes. One thing I do notice, is the longer I am running the game, the faster the stamina bar refills (doesn't really refill faster, but the graphics of it do) There has to be some sort of memory issue with that.
I was one of the alpha and beta testers for this game and believe me there has been ALOT of optimizations already, and I hope they continue. I could barely get this game running with a Quad Core/8800 GTX in alpha and beta finally got to play a little. There is hope :)
I'm using a 4870, 1080p @ 8xAA, getting around 25-30 FPS most of the time which is fine for me.
The problem isn't the framerate for me or even the heat of the CPU/GPU its the fact it doesn't utilize what I'm running it on, I heard FF14 is heavily bottlenecked by CPU issues though, so maybe SE need to look into optimsing their multithread compiler a bit better.
Edit:-
http://img864.imageshack.us/img864/9...ugputestbo.jpg