Come on SE you think I can get 4 people to play mahjong?

Wanted to play a game with just the one friend I could find who was willing to play this with me, I figured we could queue together in DF or play 2 people and 2 NPCs.

Nope, you either queue solo or with a group of 4. No middle ground, no option to play part NPC and part players or even an option to just queue via DF as a duo.

Maybe this is popular enough in Japan to just group up, but I was laughed out of my ls when I asked if anyone wanted to do a group game of mahjong.

I agree that you should be able to queue with a group of more than one - but I also get the feeling that more folks will be interested in it when they're through the new wave of MSQ, raids, crafting, etc. I'm not unhappy about mahjong, but it's also not in my top goals for the new content.

I don't even know how to play mahjong. I think my grandma likes it on her phone. Mom too.

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Originally Posted by SturmChurro

I don't even know how to play mahjong. I think my grandma likes it on her phone. Mom too.

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I have it on my phone too >_>

Anyway, yeah its a fun little time killer to play when out and nothing else is going on, but yeah. Logging in an MMO the last thing I would ever think is "Yaaaay time to play some mahjong!" or any other board game for that matter. I guess like Triple Triad and small games on phone in real life it's just...something to do to pass the time just for the sake of doing something.

I think it's a cultural thing.

Most of my FC are from Singapore or other Asian countries, and they're pretty excited about it. Like, ignore-major-content-and-get-straight-into-playing-mahjong level excitement. (Only a few to that degree, but still.)

Give me an FFXIV Tactics Online version and I will play the heck out of it, does not have to be multiplayer but an option to would be nice. Not interested in normal board games but happy for the japanese players if they enjoy it.

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Originally Posted by Aylis

I have it on my phone too >_>

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Shut up Grandma ;)

I played this morning and the match took foooooooorever... I just quit out if it

Thats where your sub money went, an ingame version of mahjong which no one wanted, no one understands and no one plays, enjoy.

That'd be really nice!

I haven't had a chance to learn the Japanese version yet (I will shortly in game!) but my wife and I, when her family isn't around, play just two player mahjong in different variants, like playing two sets (four player game played by two) but taking turns to limit the power of some moves (isn't perfect, but can be funny), or limiting certain moves and using only two sets. Obviously it'd be better balanced with two AI but we're playing with real pieces, let me know when the roomba can play mahjong :3. A game that tends to work quite alright is better than no game lol.

Anyway, definitely would like to see 2/3 queue options and AI fill (and different rule variants, like other country's).

I find it as interesting as Lords of Verminion. In other words, a complete waste of time and something I'll never touch.

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Originally Posted by Viscount

Thats where your sub money went, an ingame version of mahjong which no one wanted, no one understands and no one plays, enjoy.

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As I posted earlier, my mostly-Asian FC is quite excited about this. Some are playing it as a first choice over MSQ or raids. They're having discussions about when we can get a version that can be placed in houses, and whether they can turn the FC into a gambling den. Even though I don't have any familiarity with the game beyond the solo version that came with Windows, it's clear that it's a big thing for them, that they will talk and joke about and play together.

Maybe they'll put in poker or chess or something later to cater to the Western market more. But don't assume that this is something that nobody wants just because you don't want it.



(A quick Wikipedia search tells me it is/was "the most popular table game in Japan as of 2010" and there is an entire culture around it, particularly in China and Hong Kong. It does sound like it's the cultural equivalent of playing cards.)

Its disappointing they locked an orchestrion roll behind the achievement where you need to get a 1600 rating. The game atm is quite confusing for me. I get the basic objective of the game it's those kan chi rin etc things that mess me up.

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Originally Posted by Krokov

Its disappointing they locked an orchestrion roll behind the achievement where you need to get a 1600 rating. The game atm is quite confusing for me. I get the basic objective of the game it's those kan chi rin etc things that mess me up.

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They could have localized some (more) of the wordings to make it easier to understand. I don't know what all the Japanese wordings/titles mean so maybe they're meaningless for them. However, knowing some Mandarin and then using the words Mandarin speakers use in the game (Taiwan rules) it is easy to pick up (but would be very cumbersome in trying to learn otherwise if I didn't know what was being said, I think).

At least I imagine that'd help learn the game when the words make sense to what's going on (rather than "asdfasdijfasjdfjasdkfjieje" your brain would be hearing "eat", "steal", "red 5", etc). So it's not like you're speaking a foreign language to you the player in order to play in the first place.

Definitely, imo, a barrier to entry is that they kept those words when giving it to us. Although it adds an element of "authenticity", personally would prefer the words in mandarin since that's how I first learned the game though lol.

I enjoy the mahjong, and so do some of my Asian friends. They are different kind of what I normally play, but still very enjoyable to kill time, not that I have much with Challenges Log to complete and all. SE do a good job in giving us options on activities in end game, something that many MMO lack of these days.

I really hate how you need a score of 1600 just to get one of the orchestron rolls.

Way, way too complicated of a "game" for me.

A board game made to spend time with other people taking up time in your day?! GASP!

lol that being said I expect Mahjong to be very niche. I like what they're doing and I do hope we get to see more board games like chess and the like as a previous thread once mentioned here.

This is probably the greatest thing SE have added to the game. It'd be even better if it could be 2 Players, 2 NPCs.

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Originally Posted by Viscount

Thats where your sub money went, an ingame version of mahjong which no one wanted, no one understands and no one plays, enjoy.

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I'll absolutely try it out when I'm done with other stuff that I want to try blind. It's a timekiller waiting for people. I do agree having more queue/npc combos might be nice. Dunno if it's easier to boost rankings like that, might be a reason to not have it, but that'd be like queueing at the same time.

Oh, and they did buy the game engine ready, so it's less work even though likely still took effort.

while i think filling up friendly matches with npc's would be a great idea (and square should really think about adding that) i get why it isn't possible. any kind of game for ranking is obviously out when you sign up with more then one person and the way Mahjong works would make it incredibly easy to boost a single person to victory if two or more were working together. but as for friendly matches ? damn let them fill up with npc's, and if two or three friends think they should team up to bully the npc and that's there way of having fun ? so what, the npc won't complain, and with zero rewards besides fun so what?

edit: another thing they could potentially add would be some kind of "team mahjong" allowing you to sign up with 2 people and get paired up with 2 other people playing the games in teams.

A big help for getting people into it would be to make it SINGLE SESSION, i.e everyone gets to be the dealer once then the game ends. Right now it's full session which can see the game going around 4 times.

WAY too long.

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Originally Posted by Sarevok_Thordin

A big help for getting people into it would be to make it SINGLE SESSION, i.e everyone gets to be the dealer once then the game ends. Right now it's full session which can see the game going around 4 times.

WAY too long.

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This. I went into it blind other than the written notes via the mentor npc, i just followed the tips but not once did i see any way to Riichi.
Well by the third hand I'd lost all interest but was stuck for another 13...

I'd like to be able to play Mahjong and learn the game in my spare time on FFXIV but that 2 hour game limit is actually no joke. Is there anyway to make the game half the time?

Would love to try it, but I know zero about that game irl.

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Originally Posted by Viscount

Thats where your sub money went, an ingame version of mahjong which no one wanted, no one understands and no one plays, enjoy.

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Plenty of people wanted it, actually. It just so happens to mostly be Eastern players. It isn't at all unfair for the developers to add it, though - since this is a Japanese game at the end of the day.

I unlocked it... went to read the rules.. got to the Pon and Yon thing and went, "I think I'd rather go fight a ex primal than learn how to play this."

I don't do EX Primals that often...

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Originally Posted by Theodric

Plenty of people wanted it, actually. It just so happens to mostly be Eastern players. It isn't at all unfair for the developers to add it, though - since this is a Japanese game at the end of the day.

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Plus I thought I heard some devs made it for fun in their spare time and then it was decided to add it to the release version of the game.

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Originally Posted by tinythinker

Plus I thought I heard some devs made it for fun in their spare time and then it was decided to add it to the release version of the game.

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I thought they said they'd outsourced it to a company that already made a popular Mahjong game.

It does sound like they should have put a bit more effort into trying to make this a more accessible, it might be a game made in Japan but most of it's player base is outside Japan.

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Originally Posted by jameseoakes

I thought they said they'd outsourced it to a company that already made a popular Mahjong game.

It does sound like they should have put a bit more effort into trying to make this a more accessible, it might be a game made in Japan but most of it's player base is outside Japan.

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Either way doesn't sound like they were using lots of staff that would otherwise be making new dungeons, etc.

It's kind of nice they add difference things to the saucer so that people of varied interest can find something to do.

Personally I would like a dummy mode, extreme novice setting, etc., that has no bearing on rankings but lets you just learn the game with lots of hand-holding. From what I'm reading don't think that's in the game, and I can see why. Many players in Asia and a good number elsewhere already know the game and this is largely directed towards them.

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Originally Posted by tinythinker

Either way doesn't sound like they were using lots of staff that would otherwise be making new dungeons, etc.

It's kind of nice they add difference things to the saucer so that people of varied interest can find something to do.

Personally I would like a dummy mode, extreme novice setting, etc., that has no bearing on rankings but lets you just learn the game with lots of hand-holding. From what I'm reading don't think that's in the game, and I can see why. Many players in Asia and a good number elsewhere already know the game and this is largely directed towards them.

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Yeah the idea of adding it seems fine, especially if they could outsource it. Just seems a shame they didn't try to make it more accessible.

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Originally Posted by Viscount

Thats where your sub money went, an ingame version of mahjong which no one wanted, no one understands and no one plays, enjoy.

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I didn't ask for it but I can't say I am annoyed it's in the game. What does annoy me is OP's issue. There does need to be a middle ground for how many can participate in a game.