Choose your "FFXIV need this" top 5

[Tibian]

Sounds like they should instead scrap the PC development and stop trying to appeal to the fickle MMO audience that will change games in a heartbeat anyway and focus on the core audience of the franchise on the platform they are most familiar with.

You aren't as important as you'd like to believe.

Ok, sure go full PS3 development then. Either or. But I don't think they can do both unless they are separately developed. The UI for the PS3 has to be menu-centric due to the limitations of a pad. They need to develop the PS3 interface separately from the PC then.

I'd like to point out Dungeon Siege III as a great example for this. If you download the demo on PC, you can easily tell the PC version was just a port of the controls of a console. A lot of PC ports suffer from the same issues because developers are too lazy to develop functioning controls that work better and more efficiently than a console menu. If you time someone and count how many input functions it takes for a console vs PC, you'll find PC is drastically more efficient (quicker and fewer inputs). This leads to an improved gameplay performance overall. People are still entitled to wanting to use a more cumbersome and clunky menu system if they want, but I'd prefer to play on a UI that was developed and works for the main focus of the game right now -- the PC.

Developing both systems at once doesn't mean PS3 and PC users cant play together, it just means they'll be using a different UI. But currently the PC menu is being held back by the PS3, which has been put on in indefinite hold. Which means, the UI development is on hold? No thanks, it needs to be updated to PC standards and then PS3 can be developed on its own.

Furthermore, PS2 limitations = XI. Enough said.

Also, I have no idea where you get "fickle audience" from, because as far as I am aware, console games have a drastically shorter lifespan than most PC games. CoD is a great example. I know several people who have played the same MMO's with me over a span of 8-10 years.

[Rowyne]

Developing both systems at once doesn't mean PS3 and PC users cant play together, it just means they'll be using a different UI. But currently the PC menu is being held back by the PS3, which has been put on in indefinite hold. Which means, the UI development is on hold? No thanks, it needs to be updated to PC standards and then PS3 can be developed on its own.

Furthermore, PS2 limitations = XI. Enough said.

I agree 100%. This has been a huge point of annoyance for me.

As far back as the beta feedback forums, it's been said that dual UI's need to be developed for this game. One for PC (keyboard/mouse) and one for PS3 (controller). If feasible, they could implement an option so that you could choose which style you prefer (such as for those who want to play on their PC but use a controller). The one-size-fits-all approach is making both parties unhappy.

I want to be able to single-click options with my mouse instead of going through layers and layers of menus. I want right-click functionality. I want my left-mouse-click to manually pan my camera, and the right-mouse-click to pivot my character. I want drag-and-drop functionality when I load up my action bar. And while we're on the subject, I don't want to flip through action bars, I want all of them visible all the time. I want to be able to target NPCs on my screen without having to click my mouse 3 times before selecting them because my nameplate is in the way and it keeps targeting me.

I'm seriously tired of feeling like I'm playing a console port, and that the keyboard/mouse players are an afterthought.

FFXI was near and dear to my heart, and I played for 4 years. I've considered playing again, but the fact that it is purely a console-style menu driven interface with zero mouse functionality is the single biggest thing that's keeping me from doing it. I only put up with it back in 2004 because it was my first MMO. But I know trying to pick it up again would frustrate the heck out of me.

I do believe Yoshi-P said at one point down the line they'll be looking into developing dual UI's. It can't come soon enough for me.