FFXIV is not a failure, never was.

[Ostia]

This is mainly towards everyone that keeps saying and thinking "Will this & this & that will make people leave the game", just because the game is still in its development stages.

A majority of people who says that does not realize that Square Enix has the TIME and MONEY to make FFXIV in to a proper game.

Did you guys already forget how much time and money is in put in to each Final Fantasy title that is numbered?

S.E. has already invested a lot of money in to this project, so why would they abandon it? They will not, they will put more resources in to making it better, so to everyone that keeps suggesting that the game should be scrapped and re-newed, you guys are not looking at the bigger picture. They have the TIME & MONEY.

If anything, we should feel lucky that were playing such a big part in the development of the game by having them listen to our opinions and suggestions. Which is quite rare for any game.

So who wants to argue?

#1 They do not have infinite resources and #2 THEY DO NOT HAVE TIME

#2 Yes we should feel "Special" for playing a piece of garbage instead of a MMORPG. You got that one Right! <.<

[Shadowskill]

Hello.

One thing that I can't understand. SE is asking us for feedback, ideas. Everyone on this forum has a lot of experience with many types of games.

We have a fairly strong structure to build with as it stands, wouldn't this be the perfect time to let loose ideas to help SE create a game that can take in all types?

Instead of going after each other about opinions/views.... why not give SE so many ideas to use. Nothing is stopping them from creating a game that can cater to all, only limitation we have is what we are willing to ask for. SE can put their own little twist on the idea if it came from another game.

As for the OP's question, they have no real limitation to how long the game can be in this state. Obviously the longer it is in this state, the harder it will be plus costly.

I'd like to see the game fit the play styles of all the player base, Honestly can't see why that can't happen. Would be a nice challenge to take on. ^.^

[Rhianu]

Personally, I think the game is already unique compared to other MMOs. Specifically in it's open ended sandbox feel.

FFXIV is not a sandbox game. A sandbox game is something like Minecraft or SimCity, where there's not a whole lot of actual content, but the systems of the game allow you to have fun by manipulating things to create a seemingly endless variety of fun gameplay scenarios.

FFXIV shares the aspect of not having any content, but that in and of itself does not make it a sandbox game. To be a sandbox game, the gameplay mechanics have to allow for an incredibly high degree of malleability.

In other words, even though FFXIV may be severely lacking in content, it's still not a sandbox game because its gameplay systems are not malleable.

Having said that though, I have to say that the topic creator is completely and totally wrong. FFXIV is absolutely a failure. I'm sorry, I know that sounds harsh, but it's the truth.

A successful game does not get universally panned by every single professional critic on three continents, bleed players like a hemorrhaging artery, get its entire development team reorganized, replace key staff members, extend the free trial period indefinitely, or delay its release on a second platform. FFXIV has done all these things, and therefore cannot possibly be considered a success in its current state by any stretch of the imagination.

If SE plays their cards right, they might possibly be able to turn FFXIV around and mold it into something that can eventually become successful in the future. So there's still hope for the game down the line, but at the moment it's a failure, at least for the time being.

[Holy_Dragoon]

I believe that the game is not a failure in its current state. Many things have been learned from what has happened pre and post-launch. It will be up to SE to determine the good to pull from this process and what to improve on.

[Onidemon]

This is mainly towards everyone that keeps saying and thinking "Will this & this & that will make people leave the game", just because the game is still in its development stages.

A majority of people who says that does not realize that Square Enix has the TIME and MONEY to make FFXIV in to a proper game.


Did you guys already forget how much time and money is in put in to each Final Fantasy title that is numbered?

S.E. has already invested a lot of money in to this project, so why would they abandon it? They will not, they will put more resources in to making it better, so to everyone that keeps suggesting that the game should be scrapped and re-newed, you guys are not looking at the bigger picture. They have the TIME & MONEY.

If anything, we should feel lucky that were playing such a big part in the development of the game by having them listen to our opinions and suggestions. Which is quite rare for any game.

So who wants to argue?

I don't mean to be negative but... Time they don't have much of it. They already spent 5 years on this game. The other FF games in the series had as much time spent on them but they came out complete and a billion times more polished then FFXIV. Also it is not everyone who will wait a whole year or more to see this game completed.... So far the patches they releases were all minor tweaks that barely affect the game.

So no they don't have much time. As for money.... Didn't i read at the end of last year that they had some kind of financial troubles? They lowered sales forecast by 91% or something?

[Holy_Dragoon]

Financial troubles, no. They reduced profit by 91%. Yes it was a bad year for them, but they still managed a profit. They had banked on subscriptions of XIV and they were forced to waive them, which hurt them a lot. I would not expect a lot of expanding groundwork in the next while. I expect SE will focus on their main entries and less on the side-stuff.

[Abriael]

Financial troubles, no. They reduced profit by 91%. Yes it was a bad year for them, but they still managed a profit. They had banked on subscriptions of XIV and they were forced to waive them, which hurt them a lot. I would not expect a lot of expanding groundwork in the next while. I expect SE will focus on their main entries and less on the side-stuff.

People also forget that FFXIV brought home quite a lot of money even before release just from branding partnerships with PC manufacturers in Japan. There was a basically unprecedented amount of them (you couldn't browse a japanese gaming site or relate media outlet without seeing it plastered with at least 3-4 ads of PCs branded "FFXIV"), and that's not small money.

[Rhianu]

I believe that the game is not a failure in its current state. Many things have been learned from what has happened pre and post-launch. It will be up to SE to determine the good to pull from this process and what to improve on.

If the game was no longer a failure in its current state, then the monthly fees would have started by now. You can't say the game has become a success when the monthly fees haven't even started yet.

FFXIV is on the road to success, but is hasn't gotten there yet.

[Onidemon]

Anyone else agree that SE should share more info on the status of the development? They need to tell us in what direction they are going. I know they told us already what they will fix and what they will add but i think at this point we need to know more details.

How are they going to fix it? What systems will be in place? More info on content, grand companies.. etc. We don't need to know how long or when just what. They need to keep people hooked and interested and so far the info was very slow to come out and we don't have any idea where the game is going... it's like walking through fog.

The game is not a failure, it is incomplete... it's basically a beta or even alpha at this point but we need to know where it is going before we can say if its a failure or not...

[Sojiro]

If the game was no longer a failure in its current state, then the monthly fees would have started by now. You can't say the game has become a success when the monthly fees haven't even started yet.

FFXIV is on the road to success, but is hasn't gotten there yet.

I have to agree here. I really believe FFXIV will get there in time, but it still has a way to go until it does.