To save SE, they most play to their strength...

[Xatsh]

I would say for SE to scrap it, if I had any faith in any of the new mmos coming out. I do not like WoW's game play style and unfortunately that is what 90% if the mmos coming out now days are replicating.

Solo Focused Quest based Level, Optional Grouping until endgame, keeping everything crazy rewarding no matter the difficulty, remove the barrier between Hardcore and Casual players, Focus on Lower man groups, Quick fast paced content all designed for casuals (too easy to get and do everything), Sacrificing PvE abilities for PvP focus. All of these things I completely despise.

GW2 is a solo based game with scalable mobs if other soloers help you kill it, Starwars is a solo mmo with the option to group according to the devs, Tera is the same Solo quest based outside of raids and what not, Tera whole no tank and spank model is mindlessly running in circles around the mob more or less from what I seen, Rift is WoW reskinned with a better pvp system nothing I like there.

I use to say I love mmos, I mean between EQ and FFXI I spent over 30,000 hrs playing mmos. I tried Rift, DCU, WoW, Aion and honestly I either beat the game in a month (DCU) or I simply cannot stand playing it for more then 1-2 hrs at a time (Wow, Aion, Rift).

I do not know, I guess I can sadly say I freaken despise mmos now. FFXIV honestly is the first mmo I could play for more then 2hrs since FFXI and EQ. And talking to the people in my LS and my other ls that I hold I am not the only one with those feelings.

I think that will be saving grace for FFXIV, it is not like everything else. The fact that SE ignored every "innovation" WoW made actully made something that I was interested in as well as many others. I feel the game will never be a big success the whole "1 mill sub unwritten rule thing" but I feel it will be a successful nitch game.

I think They just need more stuff in the game. I have a feeling half the people would not say it was a bad game if say there was 10 large raids, 200 more quest, 30 mission quest, 10 classes to level all with advanced jobs, multiple minigames, chocobos/Airships, Player created dungeons, player housing, Force Spawned NMS, more difficulty random spawn nms, 4 more regions unlocked, ishguard unlocked, defensive battles, and group related quest.

Basically this is how I look at it I am bored now, but will I like it when it is "complete" as in they add endgame and the rest of the story quest and classes and such.

I could leave the game and go to something I already know is designed in the image of a play style I do not like, or I could wait FFXIV out and let them sculpt it into a game just like they did FFXI.

[viion]

Ya... let SE scrap it so we can wait another 5 years for them to bring out another game which will just face the same issues.............

[Rydin]

The good and bad of it is that SE was not satisfied with FFXI

But no expansion ever sold more than 250,000....
While FFX did 8 mill, and XII and XIII did roughly 6 mill each
I know... offline console vs MMO
But you have to think that FFXI did well under 10% of the console numbered titles
So from a business standpoint... SE wanted to figure out how to get people from Column A into Column B
The Secret... FFXIV
Create a console based MMO and you reach an untapped market
FFXI was great but SE doesn't want that... they want more...
I know you're thinking its comparing apples and oranges... but in this case SE looks at both apples and oranges and sees nothing but GREEN
Japan alone is RIPE for an FF MMO
Monster hunter does 4 million per release in Japan alone on the PSP
Tri did over a million in Japan on the Wii
In the west we've already shown how much we love MMOs
It's time... the console MMO revolution will come.... SE was just in a rush to spearhead the movement and went to market WAY prematurely

[_C-a-e-r-i-t-h_]

Hoo boy...

To save S-E, they need a time machine back to go back and cancel The Spirits Within, prevent Wada from becoming President, and continue the legacy that was 1990s Squaresoft for a whole 'nother decade. But since I'm not letting them use my TARDIS, going forward they need to...

1. Get rid of Wada.
2. Put Nomura back on KH3 and Versus and launch those damn games already.
3. Contract Sakaguchi etc to do an HD remake of Final Fantasy VII. Everyone wants it, so you might as well cash in on it.
4. Upgrade FFXI to FFXI-2, same game same world but now in HD. Roll out a few HD-only servers for current players to transfer to if they want to, and roll out a few HD servers specific for people who want to start over in a fresh economy.
5. Use the money from HD FFVII and FFXI for the following:
6. Cancel FFXIV and completely scrap it. Give all the people who bought it a refund or a voucher for the next project.
7. Announce Final Fantasy Online, put Yoshida in charge of it and give him unlimited staff to make it happen in two years or less. If Crystal Tools can't be salvaged within 6 months, license an engine that works (Frostbite comes to mind).
8. Hire back Matsuno and give him unlimited time and money to make any game he wants to make. Stock up on as many drugs and hookers as necessary to keep his stress under control.
9. Purchase Vanillaware and Atlus - let them keep doing what they do best (with no interference) but provide their games with a much wider market and no crappy Ignition dubs.

[Rydin]

[*]Put Nomura back on KH3 and Versus and launch those damn games already.

Is he not on it? I know Versus is taking forever.... but isn't that what he is doing?

[Joeking]

I think Square just needs to take there forte further to the point of Japanese seizure cartoons. Players getting seizures and getting sick will not pay much attention to the gameplay thus masking its horror... Make it 3D as well, so we get massive headaches so we can't pay attention to the story, but are left assume it was good because it was our own fault we couldn't pay attention.

Yes, agreed.

[Shai]

Is he not on it? I know Versus is taking forever.... but isn't that what he is doing?

He's on like 10 different projects.
He needs to be focused on games that are actually good and anticipated is the point, I think.

That's a good list of things SE should do to get into shape.

[Duelle]

[*]Contract Sakaguchi etc to do an HD remake of Final Fantasy VII. Everyone wants it, so you might as well cash in on it.
[*]Upgrade FFXI to FFXI-2, same game same world but now in HD. Roll out a few HD-only servers for current players to transfer to if they want to, and roll out a few HD servers specific for people who want to start over in a fresh economy.

The first one is something I know they're saving for a rainy day. The second one won't happen based on the mess of a programming code behind XI. That and PS2 limitations. :O

[*]Announce Final Fantasy Online, put Yoshida in charge of it and give him unlimited staff to make it happen in two years or less. If Crystal Tools can't be salvaged within 6 months, license an engine that works (Frostbite comes to mind).

I'd scrap crystal tools entirely and go for Frostbite or Unreal3. No need to waste 6 months of development time trying to salvage something that is clearly sub-optimal. And I agree in putting Yoshida in charge. The guy is known more for FFXI making the notable turn around under his watch, so he definitely knows what he's doing as director.

[_C-a-e-r-i-t-h_]

Is he not on it? I know Versus is taking forever.... but isn't that what he is doing?

Like Shai says below, he's on like every project. Versus and KH3 are technically his projects, but he can't work on (or at least release) them until all his other projects are completed. And we won't see Versus until after FFXIII-2 launches.

XIII-2 only exists because they need to "redeem" XIII-1. Any bets on XIII-2-2 if XIII-2 bombs?

He's on like 10 different projects.
He needs to be focused on games that are actually good and anticipated is the point, I think.

That's a good list of things SE should do to get into shape.

I wouldn't mind if his other projects were TWEWY2, but that's just an example of S-E saying, "Look, we tried something new and original and great, so let's stop with that and go back to doing what we did before."

The first one is something I know they're saving for a rainy day. The second one won't happen based on the mess of a programming code behind XI. That and PS2 limitations. :O
I'd scrap crystal tools entirely and go for Frostbite or Unreal3. No need to waste 6 months of development time trying to salvage something that is clearly sub-optimal. And I agree in putting Yoshida in charge. The guy is known more for FFXI making the notable turn around under his watch, so he definitely knows what he's doing as director.

Oh that's what I mean by XI-2, it can be a completely optional HD patch. PS2 and crappy PCs get left behind, but anyone who's advanced technologically could get into the brand new shiny game. I'd start over in Vana'diel HD if it was an option.

And yeah. As down as I am on S-E, I have faith in Yoshida. My dream project (besides an HD Vagrant Story/2 or bringing back all the old people and making Chrono Break) would be Yoshida teaming up with Matsuno and the rest of Team Ivalice to bring us Ivalice Online.

A boy has the right to dream.

[Elexia]

I'd scrap crystal tools entirely and go for Frostbite or Unreal3. No need to waste 6 months of development time trying to salvage something that is clearly sub-optimal..

And rather spend 1 1/2 - 2.5 years redoing the game in an entirely new engine?