FFXIV major NA news release: Chocobo's and Airships (why?)

[BruceyBruceyBangBang]

SE just didnt pay them generously for accurate coverage, corrupt little journalist piggys

i dont give a damn about english gameing journalism cause unless its "ZOMG MASSEFFECT!!!11!" they say it sucks anyway 99% of the time, specially japanese games recently, not enough bald muscular space marine types in them i guess

I wouldn't call them journalists. I have friends who own tech review sites and sophisticated people are not really the first to go for that sort of thing including gaming reviews.

They just write a poorly written article that they usually submit to the site's editor (someone who most likely went to college) so they can piece the crap together into something legible. I would't doubt that MMORPG.com is one of these sites.

[Murugan]

when they are ready a big media push is important, but they still dont have enough in the game to put this game on the above avewrage side, so they should probably wait till then. If they reach that point, then all publicity will be good publicity

So everyone who works in Square Enix's PR department should sit on their ass until they are ready for the "big push".

That makes no sense. I could see some of you people's arguments if maybe these sites just weren't reporting on FFXIV at all. But they are reporting on piecemeal information which makes the development of this game seem pathetic and only strengthens the argument that this "game is dead".

Someone at SE needs to get off their ass, and give the gaming sites which are covering FFXIV something more interesting to cover than Chocobo's and Airships. They ran stories on Chocobo's and Airships ripped straight from the lodestone, it would be impossible to feed them a story that has less substance than that. Either SE are lazy or they are stupid.

Someone over there is clearly not doing their job, not everyone who plays this game lives in Japan and follows Japanese media. You look like fools!

[Konachibi]

Most gaming review websites are biased towards 'majority'. They'll keep putting FFXIV down because of it's bad launch and smaller population, but always big up games like Rift and WoW because they have a larger player-base, and by bigging up the game it makes that website sound 'cool'.

Besides, with most review websites, if one website says it's bad all the rest follow suit like a herd of sheep in hopes that the 'unified review' will get more people subscribed. Metacritic is the worst of the worst when it comes to this, never ever trust what that website says. In all honesty gaming websites are the worst places to look up what a game is like, the best way to find out what a game is like is to buy the game and try it yourself then make your own decision.

Heck, if most of us believed what review websites said about a game, most of us wouldn't be here playing FFXIV right now

[Murugan]

Most gaming review websites are biased towards 'majority'. They'll keep putting FFXIV down because of it's bad launch and smaller population, but always big up games like Rift and WoW because they have a larger player-base, and by bigging up the game it makes that website sound 'cool'.

Besides, with most review websites, if one website says it's bad all the rest follow suit like a herd of sheep in hopes that the 'unified review' will get more people subscribed. Metacritic is the worst of the worst when it comes to this, never ever trust what that website says. In all honesty gaming websites are the worst places to look up what a game is like, the best way to find out what a game is like is to buy the game and try it yourself then make your own decision.

Heck, if most of us believed what review websites said about a game, most of us wouldn't be here playing FFXIV right now

These are not reviews, they are news stories ripped directly from XIV's rss feed/lodestone. The FFXIV team simply needs to make sure that a more accurate depiction of their development is being projected than 1 year of development= a delay on a patch releasing only Chocobos and Airships.

[Konachibi]

These are not reviews, they are news stories ripped directly from XIV's rss feed/lodestone. The FFXIV team simply needs to make sure that a more accurate depiction of their development is being projected than 1 year of development= a delay on a patch releasing only Chocobos and Airships.

Well then that's just news that was misinterpreted (probably on purpose) by biased reporters. The forums can be looked through without logging in, and the director letters can be accessed at any time. Chocobos and airships are the main visual features of 1.19 so it's the first thing they'll see, if they chose to ignore the hundreds of other things other than that it's not S.E's fault, it's ignorant reviewers/reporters.

[Murugan]

Well then that's just news that was misinterpreted (probably on purpose) by biased reporters. The forums can be looked through without logging in, and the director letters can be accessed at any time. Chocobos and airships are the main visual features of 1.19 so it's the first thing they'll see, if they chose to ignore the hundreds of other things other than that it's not S.E's fault, it's ignorant reviewers/reporters.

People who are not following the game don't do any of those things.

Everyone who visits those websites however sees their featured stories on XIV and either forms an impression based on them, or has their impression strengthened in reaction to it. It is called bad press, and it is absolutely Square Enix's job to try and counter it. They run a business, and their product is being tarnished by their mismanagement of information being released to the broader public.

[Konachibi]

People who are not following the game don't do any of those things.

Everyone who visits those websites however sees their featured stories on XIV and either forms an impression based on them, or has their impression strengthened in reaction to it. It is called bad press, and it is absolutely Square Enix's job to try and counter it. They run a business, and their product is being tarnished by their mismanagement of information being released to the broader public.

I can understand what you're saying but it's not as simple as that. S.E can only provide the information to these websites, it's not their choice as to what's written in regards to it. If a reporter is biased about a game when he gets the information he's going to write a biased opinion. Because of FFXIV's bad launch most websites are biased against it and will always say it's a bad game untill eventually something REALLY big comes out to change their tune. Chocobos, airships and the huge pile of fixes, changes and additions coming in 1.19 are great news for us, but they aren't massive, so those websites will still see it as "the same game, just less rough around the edges". Now if an expansion pack comes out with a whole host of awesome stuff THAT would be what could change the tune of a website like that.

[Murugan]

I can understand what you're saying but it's not as simple as that. S.E can only provide the information to these websites, it's not their choice as to what's written in regards to it. If a reporter is biased about a game when he gets the information he's going to write a biased opinion. Because of FFXIV's bad launch most websites are biased against it and will always say it's a bad game untill eventually something REALLY big comes out to change their tune. Chocobos, airships and the huge pile of fixes, changes and additions coming in 1.19 are great news for us, but they aren't massive, so those websites will still see it as "the same game, just less rough around the edges". Now if an expansion pack comes out with a whole host of awesome stuff THAT would be what could change the tune of a website like that.

It is as easy as releasing information to them, they are news sites they run off of information. Square Enix chooses not to engage them, which works to I guess keep a game they are embarassed of off the radar, however when it appears on the radar like it has with the release of these stories they need to manage the information by feeding these sites more than simply "airships and chocobos".

They engage the JP gaming press and they neglect the western press. It is an extremely poor and ill advised business decision. Every person whose opinion of this game is made worse by seeing such dismal progress will be that much harder to convince at a later date to purchase the game. No company in any industry (down to the smallest Mom and Pop store) should be as irresponsible with their PR as Square Enix USA is currently being regarding FFXIV.

[Konachibi]

They're probably just holding off untill they've decided the game is running as it should have done at launch. They're holding off the PS3 launch untill they feel the game is ready for that kind of thing and will pull in more players. I don't see why they'd be any different with the pc game. Besides, the games free to play at the moment, if people REALLY want to know what it's like it's not like it'd cost them very much.

Better to wait it out then hit those websites with a "Woo look at this!" release than a "oh hey look what we just added to the game we're still building."

[Murugan]

They're probably just holding off untill they've decided the game is running as it should have done at launch. They're holding off the PS3 launch untill they feel the game is ready for that kind of thing and will pull in more players. I don't see why they'd be any different with the pc game. Besides, the games free to play at the moment, if people REALLY want to know what it's like it's not like it'd cost them very much.

Better to wait it out then hit those websites with a "Woo look at this!" release than a "oh hey look what we just added to the game we're still building."

These websites just did a story on FFXIV about Chocobos and Airships and a patch delay. What the hell are you talking about, holding back? Holding back what? They just did a story on the most mundane aspect of a "delayed patch" which wasn't actually delayed. Screw the PS3 release, or marketing pushes.

It is called information management it is an [SIZE="5"]everyday[/SIZE] part of the job of the PR department. If this were a Japanese website I guarantee you Square Enix would care and do something however their US branch seems to be completely worthless for anything other than making redundant posts on this forum.