Yoshi-P says discussions about FFXIV on Switch and Xbox One are "Positive"

[DeaconMoore]

Where's the problem with that?

-_-

It'll handle that the same way the PS3 did

This ^.

Seems like 1 step forward and 2 steps back if we're tying the game to a relatively new consoles life cycle that's pretty on par(?) with the ps3 that was just recently dropped.

I get that with the smaller screen you don't need the higher resolution to get a good looking game to the user but you're also talking just 30fps out of the deal too and not 60+fps. At 30fps you're fine but should that drop because of a sudden increase in intensity of graphic rendering needs your more likely to drop into visual lag territory of 15fps or lower and that can get you or a team member killed in a fight.

[Shouko]

I've talked to a friend that has a switch but has also played FFXIV pre SB and he said while it could handle the graphics and the mobs on screen, it would be horrible in handling the sheer amount of players in certain locations aka S ranks, boss fates, probably even raiding.

In short unless MS caves in and allows non gold, standard server sharing it's going to stay on Sony/Pc at this rate.

[Sebazy]

Seems like 1 step forward and 2 steps back if we're tying the game to a relatively new consoles life cycle that's pretty on par(?) with the ps3 that was just recently dropped.

Seems to me that you're too busy tunnel visioning down your 60 FPS or bust mentality to listen to a single point I've said. Correct?

The PS3 was a burden because at the risk of massively oversimplifying things, it required the game to fit into a 256mb footprint. I'd repeat that detail in 72pt bold if it'd help you absorb it. The GPU wasn't a problem, the CPU wasn't a problem, the critical failing here was the memory, do you think the comical UI limitations and decisions we saw were because of the GPU? Do you think the absurd housing item limitations were because of the CPU? Even if we're massively generous with the frame buffer, the switch has at least 8 times that to play with here. Maybe if Yoshida suddenly gets a AAA budget to start throwing around significantly more complex assets and animations then the switch will become an issue again, but uh, you're kidding yourself if you think that's going to happen at this stage.

but you're also talking just 30fps out of the deal too and not 60+fps.

Nonsense. For better or for worse, 30 FPS is an accepted baseline for the majority of games out there. This isn't Overwatch or Doom, 60fps+ is very nice for sure, but it's absolutely not required. Ask anyone unfortunate enough to still be running that horrible Wine wrapper pretending to be Mac client, or the multitude of more casual players who simply putz about on older laptops and PCs who wouldn't know 60fps if it hit them in a youtube stream and simply don't care. This is who a Switch release would appeal to, I dunno if you've seen the sales figures, but it's a startlingly big crowd btw.

From the PS3 it's 8 steps forward and it most certainly isn't 2 steps back. Get off your 60FPS or bust high horse because you most certainly aren't the majority, nor are you even the norm. For all the money I've sunk into my setup, at least I'm not so blind as to appreciate that.

[DeaconMoore]

Seems to me that you're too busy tunnel visioning down your 60 FPS or bust mentality to listen to a single point I've said. Correct?

I have been listening to your points. I get it you want a mobile platform to play FFXIV on. And I even said 30fps is fine, but that 30 fps needs to be under stress and not just sitting idle crafting or surfing the marketboard.

If people are going to be playing FFXIV on the Switch they need a platform capable of doing everything people can do in the game without it suddenly getting all choppy on them. It's not fair to Switch players or others playing with switch players if it can't handle it all seamlessly. The switch isn't like a PC, it's a console, the end user isn't going to be able to spend some cash to upgrade it so it doesn't chop out on them anymore.

Every argument you been bringing for how to make the game play on the switch has been to "seriously" downgrade the graphics to get it to fit and run. That'll also be extra development time for the team to handle. Will we all wait for the switch team to finish or will the switch players be the ones to wait?

Now as far as Yoshida getting a bigger budget to start throwing around significantly more complex assets and animations. It certainly isn't unheard of in the gaming world, even at this stage. We have what we have largely because of the PS3 and what it could handle. As things stand now they have the footprint of the PS4 to work with as far as how far they can push the animations and asset complexity. If they bring in another console the footprint they have to work with will be the footprint of the lesser console supported. Which, from what you say, would be the Switch. So yeah, they'd be taking steps backwards.

[Sebazy]

Every argument you been bringing for how to make the game play on the switch has been to "seriously" downgrade the graphics to get it to fit and run. That'll also be extra development time for the team to handle. Will we all wait for the switch team to finish or will the switch players be the ones to wait?

Scaling the visuals to fit and run smoothly would actually be pretty easy. Half sized textures, disable the fill rate intensive effects and post processing and you're pretty much there. Remember that the Switch practically meets this games requirements as is right out of the gate with no work done. The real work would porting the game engine to the switch's ARM based CPU.

Now as far as Yoshida getting a bigger budget to start throwing around significantly more complex assets and animations. It certainly isn't unheard of in the gaming world, even at this stage.

It is in the MMO world tho. Whilst FFXIV bucked the trend by getting quite significant infrastructure upgrades over the years, it's always felt like the content team has rarely seen a penny of that outside of perhaps a bit more voice acting. Don't get me wrong, I'd absolutely love to be siding with you on this one even going as far as to comment in the tank/healer role thread that I'd love nothing more than to be fighting complex multipart dragons that are flailing and hacking away at the raid with multiple levels of animation. As it is, the only noticeable thing I've seen since SB is Shinryu's fancy tail, even then he still fell short of what he could have been in the animation department IMHO.

Realistically, do I think a Switch version will happen? Despite all my protesting and preaching here, I can't see it. I don't think it'll fail because of the hardware, rather I suspect red tape and bureaucracy will end it before it ever goes beyond a bored programming lead's dev kit.

[ReplicaX]

Recently its been all Sony, like with Rocket League and Minecraft both which they refuse to allow cross plat play.

Which has nothing to do with FFXIV, just like it had nothing to do with XI back in the day. Sony and MS do not need to share their networks at all for FFXIV. You know why?
- The game is managed by SE Servers and requires SE Accounts for its users.
- It needs only authentication of the user's console network, nothing more.
- No information needs to be shared between the 2 console networks at all.

Rocket League & Minecraft need:
- PSN IDs and XBL IDs shared between their networks, period.

The issue with MS always has been.
- XBL Gold requirement (XI was the only exception back in the day, period)
- Dedicated XBL servers (SE does not want to fracture its communities)

[Juxtapose]

I think you are confusing Sony with Microsoft. Sony already allows it, Microsoft wants it closed off from PC and PS4.

I know this is like 4 months old, but I have no idea how this has 7 likes. Microsoft's playbook has been crossplay...they are even giving players both copies for Xbox One and PC if you purchase the cross platform game (Sea of Thieves, etc). This has been a major selling point for all current multiplayer games and a large focus for MS in general. MS's Phil Spencer has reached out to Sony on several occasions to partner on cross-platform play and has been turned down by Sony several times:

http://bgr.com/2018/03/13/xbox-one-v...-play-support/

Posts like yours only serve to confuse and muddy the waters for any advancement. The ball is in Sony's court and they have declined on several major occasions to work with MS, Nintendo or any other company. We're talking about a company that still refuses online gamertag changes...

[Kurando]

snip .

FFXIV works seperately from Sony and Microsoft though as SE can put the game on whatever platform they want (obviously considering tech requirements), and on this occasion it's Microsoft that have issues with it. Sony would have no problem if FFXIV went on Xbox, as they don't have any exclusivity to the title and it doesn't require the PS Network

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

I know this is like 4 months old, but I have no idea how this has 7 likes. Microsoft's playbook has been crossplay...they are even giving players both copies for Xbox One and PC if you purchase the cross platform game (Sea of Thieves, etc). This has been a major selling point for all current multiplayer games and a large focus for MS in general. MS's Phil Spencer has reached out to Sony on several occasions to partner on cross-platform play and has been turned down by Sony several times:

http://bgr.com/2018/03/13/xbox-one-v...-play-support/

Posts like yours only serve to confuse and muddy the waters for any advancement. The ball is in Sony's court and they have declined on several major occasions to work with MS, Nintendo or any other company. We're talking about a company that still refuses online gamertag changes...

In the case of this game, and this game only, it is Microsoft causing the issues, as the dev's, and Yoshi-P have mentioned several times. Part of Microsoft's requirement for cross-play is that Xbox Live users have the option to play with Xbox Live users only, which goes against the all inclusiveness that XIV currently has. I believe MS also still has the requirement that Gold Live is needed even for MMO's that do not use their servers, which SE does not want. PS+ is not required for XIV.

[Juxtapose]

Please link to me any article where Yoshi-P states its MS fault and unwillingness to cross-platform. I know Gold is a requirement for every online game (minus free ones). That has nothing to do with cross-play and everything to do with maintaining a strict structure on the games requiring Xbox Live Gold. FFXI worked with Xbox, and they made an exception to the Xbox Live Gold rule specifically for that title, but they adamantly refused to do it for Xbox One and any game going forward.