With all of the limitations holding FFXIV back, why not make a new FF MMORPG?

[Floortank]

This is not a "FFXIV is dying" thread, because I don't believe it is. For my part, I'll keep playing as long as they keep delivering stellar content.

However, at every turn, we're told we can't have XYZ because of memory limitations, server limitations, etc.

We can't have butt sliders, we can't have tattoos or scars, we can't have more facial features or different body types, we can't have linked retainer inventories (cough), we can't have a glamour codex we can open in the field, we can't have male viera or female hrothgar, and our viera and hrothgar can equip every kind of headgear but you won't be able to see most of it. So no Dragoon or Red Mage or Black Mage viera in that iconic look.

Which brings me all the way back to my question. When is enough, enough? Yoshi P and his team built ARR on top of a dead and broken game, and made it a triumphant success. But it's been clear for years that building on the shoddy framework of the original FFXIV has limited everything that could ever be possible from 2.0 onward.

They've done magnificently, and gone beyond the call of duty. But Shadowbringers looks like the thinnest expansion of the three they've done. Two incomplete races, because they didn't have time to finish them; no new healer because they didn't have time to balance a new one against the old ones. No butt slider because it's too much work to go back and redo the way all the leg gear appears, no iconic headgear on the new races because it's too much work to go in and altar meticulously altar the headgear for each new head, and so on and so forth.

When you get to the point that you're cutting this many corners and calling it an expansion, it makes me wonder if you should move on. I love this game and I plan to play it for the foreseeable future, but it's not WOW, and it shouldn't go on for another decade past its prime like WOW has. WOW is in a deplorable state, and should have died with dignity... Look, I don't want to turn this into a WOW analog.

Suffice it to say, Yoshi P and his developers did a heroic thing in saving Final Fantasy XIV. They deserve to move on to new and better projects. We deserve to play new and better games. If Final Fantasy XIV starts to lower the bar, it's time to make the choice that's better for all of us--gamers and developers--and start fresh.

If that happens, it's time for a new Final Fantasy MMORPG.

[Vanitas]

No.
/10char

[Penthea]

No.
/10char

FFXIV is imperfect. But what game is perfect anyway? I adore this game, warts and all. Though some warts could do with a little attention *cough cough* housing *cough*.

[Ramesses]

No.
/10char

Perfect succinct response.

Apparently, the OP seems quite oblivious to the very expensive and expansive resources, talent, PR marketing, time and co-ordination required to develop a new MMO.

[Vahlnir]

Perfect succinct response.

Apparently, the OP seems quite oblivious to the very expensive and expansive resources, talent, PR marketing, time and co-ordination required to develop a new MMO.

Yeah, definitely. It's no small thing. To be completely honest it's almost a miracle that ARR hit the ground running and became a huge success, and the success is still going. It's clearly something that SE never expected either since they were ill prepared for 2.0's launch and had to add servers on the fly. I honestly don't expect SE to make another MMO for some time since the genre as a whole is on its way out the door. But I do think that it will be back in some form eventually.

[Daralii]

Yeah, definitely. It's no small thing. To be completely honest it's almost a miracle that ARR hit the ground running and became a huge success, and the success is still going. It's clearly something that SE never expected either since they were ill prepared for 2.0's launch and had to add servers on the fly. I honestly don't expect SE to make another MMO for some time since the genre as a whole is on its way out the door. But I do think that it will be back in some form eventually.

I don't think it'll ever really bounce back unless there's some major breakthroughs in tech(VRMMOs obviously being the dream for a lot of people) or an industry crash to hit the reset button. SWTOR cost $200m just to develop(never mind however much was spent on Blur's cinematics and the marketing) and it flopped almost immediately.

[Vahlnir]

I don't think it'll ever really bounce back unless there's some major breakthroughs in tech(VRMMOs obviously being the dream for a lot of people) or an industry crash to hit the reset button. SWTOR cost $200m just to develop(never mind however much was spent on Blur's cinematics and the marketing) and it flopped almost immediately.

It'd definitely have to change drastically, for sure. That's why I said I thought it'd come back in some form...but it'd definitely have to be different somehow.

[Daralii]

The MMO genre isn't what it used to be, and making one is a massive undertaking(easily 5+ years of development, tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars) with no guarantee of success. It would be a big gamble.

[Tint]

The MMO genre isn't what it used to be, and making one is a massive undertaking(easily 5+ years of development, tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars) with no guarantee of success. It would be a big gamble.

Yess

They startet with the development for FF14 in late 2004 and released it in 2010, that's 6 years of development time. And then they fell flat on the nose with it and had to rebuild the game on the old code to release it again in 2013. That's a total of 9 years of dev time and probably millions of dollars they invested before this game made them money.

So, even when they start with a new FF MMO now, don't expect it to be released anytime soon.

[username1234]

That's a total of 9 years of dev time

still less time than ff15 took and less than ff7 remake is going to take lol