Is most of FFXIV's failings due to their choice of engine?

[Nuru]

Crystal tools was designed with the intention to produce seamless cinematic cut-scenes using the in game engine.

That's fine for a single player experience but doesn't lend itself very well to a massive open world like an MMO, as previously mentioned Crystal tools doesn't utilise streaming very well and thats why we have huge copy and paste zones. (lets not forget that the PS3 is limiting this due to memory restraints, something the PC doesn't have an issue with so much)


Final Fantasy XIV = Crystal Tools + PS3 = pretty bad limitations.
Blade and Soul = UE3 + PS3 = much better streaming capabilities and doesn't have such an impact on limiting the PC version.

Pretty much couldn't they just rework the engine at all? I know they have spent an incredible amount of time on it, but it seems like they kind of have to work around the engine just to get everything to work and be able to port it to the PS3.

[Abriael]

Pretty much couldn't they just rework the engine at all? I know they have spent an incredible amount of time on it, but it seems like they kind of have to work around the engine just to get everything to work and be able to port it to the PS3.

You mean like with every engine out there?

[Evangelus]

does it mean that PS3 will cause limitation to the game?
like PS2 with FFXI .... ?

the same story again.

[Abriael]

does it mean that PS3 will cause limitation to the game?
like PS2 with FFXI .... ?

the same story again.

No. It means that the PS3 version wil run on lower resolution (720p), with a lower polycount and capped at 30 fps. As we already know.
Considering the fact that overally the graphics of this game are better than any other MMO on the market or that will hit in the foreseeable future, there's no indication than the PS3 is limiting the PC version.
That's why the PS3 version has been delayed to begin with, to solve the hardware issues it had *without* limiting the PC version.

[Nuru]

You mean like with every engine out there?

Wait what? >_>

Clearly im not all too knowledgeable about game engines, but what i meant to ask was if they could just remodel the engine just a bit, to serve a better role for an MMO instead of a single player game. Or would this have such a huge impact on the PS3 port that they wont even bother changing it?

No. It means that the PS3 version wil run on lower resolution (720p), with a lower polycount and capped at 30 fps. As we already know.
Considering the fact that overally the graphics of this game are better than any other MMO on the market or that will hit in the foreseeable future, there's no indication than the PS3 is limiting the PC version.
That's why the PS3 version has been delayed to begin with, to solve the hardware issues it had *without* limiting the PC version.

Wow, well this sucks for my friend, because I'm playing the game on a HD 6850 and Athlon II X2 3.0ghz and he believes the PS3 would be able to play the game better, since it will be optimized specifically for the PS3 components.

I'm not sure what to expect but 30 FPS is just horrible for a PS3. =/

[Jinko]

The unreal engine 3 is a multiplatform engine as well, and is just as limited. Put on blade and soul the same character details, the same polygon count and texture resolution and effects and then we'll talk

That's a completely different issue, nobody in their right mind would expect a PS3 game to compete visually with a PC game.

We are taking about level design and memory constraints here, not rendering capabilities and fill rates.

does it mean that PS3 will cause limitation to the game?
like PS2 with FFXI .... ?

the same story again.

Of course it will and it already is, the copy and paste design of the world is mostly down to memory restraints on the PS3.

Yosh-p said as much in one of his posts that if they were to redesign The black shroud they would either have to make the zone smaller or have multiple zones so that it would fit into the PS3's memory.

Considering the fact that overally the graphics of this game are better than any other MMO on the market or that will hit in the foreseeable future, there's no indication than the PS3 is limiting the PC version.

I think Tera would protest to that, and I am willing to bet Blade and Soul at maximum settings looks better than FFXIV.

But as others have said, B&S has dynamic real time shadowing and lighting which is a massive boost in visuals for me.

Of course I doubt it would take much for SE to implement shadowing in real time, but I imagine the performance hit would be massive.

[Abriael]

Wait what? >_>

Clearly im not all too knowledgeable about game engines, but what i meant to ask was if they could just remodel the engine just a bit, to serve a better role for an MMO instead of a single player game. Or would this have such a huge impact on the PS3 port that they wont even bother changing it?

Every multiplatform engine out there has some trouble and requires a degree of adjustment to work on the PS3, given the different architecture of the console.

They should have reworked the engine for what exactly? They achieved the best looking MMO in the market, and there's absolutely no realistic indication of having limitations in place due to the console version (That in fact has been delayed to solve the issues on that side only).

We are taking about level design and memory constraints here, not rendering capabilities and fill rates.

Which is why the game has been delayed on PS3. To solve the memory constraints *without* incluencing the PC version. People wrongly assume that since they used tiling for *some* areas of the game they did so due to memory constraints (and not simply due to time/dev resources management loke logic would dictate). Memory is so constrained that, unlike most other games, there's no zoning between cities and outside areas, and between outside areas and dungeons.

It's funny to see people throw wild theories about memory cpnstraints infliencing the engine when they didn't see a line of code of said engine.

That's a completely different issue, nobody in their right mind would expect a PS3 game to compete visually with a PC game.

Not comparing a PS3 game with a PC game.

I'm comparing Blade and Soul (PC), with FFXIV (PC). And the former comes out utterly crushed comparing overall graphics.

[Captaindownsyndrome]

You know, for a 'voice of reason' , you are not very reasonable.

lol well said

[Nuru]

Every multiplatform engine out there has some trouble and requires a degree of adjustment to work on the PS3, given the different architecture of the console.

They should have reworked the engine for what exactly? They achieved the best looking MMO in the market, and there's absolutely no realistic indication of having limitations in place due to the console version (That in fact has been delayed to solve the issues on that side only).

Oh i see, so then I guess I have been misinformed, or I just simply misunderstood something somewhere. Thanks for clearing that up, I appreciate it. ^^ I'm good with nerd-talk to an extent. I'm not nerd enough to be in the nerd club ;_;

[TessaJalloh]

don't worry, 30fps is more than enough for an mmo. The eye itself sees things at 30 fps if i remember my biology right, most games aim for 60fps only so that when the game slows, it won't dip below 30. keeps the images flowing smoothly.

Your friend probably won't notice the difference.