If I could interview Yoshida.

[Mychael]

1) Tanaka commented on this. It was to allow players of XI who were attached to their characters a chance to create an avatar similar to the one on which they spent so many years.

2) Get over it. The whole thing is blown out of proportion. It's just a fun little gift.

3) It was as much a masterpiece as are the crayon-covered sheets of paper on the refrigerators of parents the world over. XI was a decent game in which I personally invested a lot of time but it was far from the shining example of what a game should be that people make it out to be.

4) What parts of CoP do you want, exactly? If you mean the phenomenal story line, I'm there with you.

But if you're talking about things like a frustratingly long grind for non-flavor-of-the-month jobs, arbitrary fetch missions that require exorbant amounts of time to essentially just clear a hurdle, RMT-dominated economy, the absolute need for at least five other players willing to sacrifice their time to do anything of value and the absurd amount of time spent watching a Moogle spin because a healer and/or tank just wouldn't give your group the time of day because there was no refresher/SATA/Sam army, etc. etc. etc. then no thank you.

1 & 2 are perfect.

With your answers to 3/4, I agree with you wholheartedly on every point you make. Nonetheless, I think you missed the point the OP was making a little. I can't say for sure, but I don't think the reference was to the CoP content, but to the time period. The "CoP era" as she called it was more-or-less XI's prime. It was around a year or so* after the NA release and somewhere near two* after the JP release, but people were still joining regularly, keeping--as someone else said--a balance between noobs, normal players, and elitists. I don't know if you experienced a bad server, but during this "era" for me there wasn't a shortness of players of any level. The problems you describe didn't start for me until the population started dying--in fact, when I remember CoP coming out, I remember the leveling areas being so full that we'd have to find unusual, non-optimal zones to level in (i.e. Movalpolos). And I remember a thousand pickup shouts for just about every CoP mission going on for a year after the release, because some people didn't get the levels needed for that long.

I think the OP made a mistake by using "CoP era" as a sobriquet for "a game's prime."

That said, I think the OP needs to realize that this game's release doomed it, and that it will probably never reach a "prime" like XI experienced.

Just in case I misunderstood the OP, I want to say that I don't want a copy/paste of XI anymore than anyone else. The first two points are questionable. While I feel your concern for the "game's direction," I think it's important to remember that the game still hasn't really moved forward in any direction. While we get little updates here and there to 1.0, the major changes aren't supposed to hit until 2.0, and so it's difficult to judge the "direction" until we see the "real" content that SE is working on and saving for the 2.0 release. What we should ask to be carried from the "CoP era" is merely the playerbase and depth of storyline. Some of the CoP cutscenes made me cry. I'm lucky to get a raised eyebrow out of most of the XIV scenes. And sadly, the playerbase is something a game developer can only help so much. If you want to see tons of players like we did in XI around CoP, go out and hang signs in your local malls, and convince all of your friends to buy the game.


*I can't remember exactly...

[Chardrizard]

CoP was terrible except the storyline. Nothing was awesome, the BCNM involves class stacking and particular subjob was needed, alot of players needed to level classes they didn't like just to get through it. Nobody was ever gonna do CoP if sea didn't come as reward.

There was so much stress involved and there are very little people that will help anyone to do it again after they went through it one time.

If anyone helped anyone else after they were done with their CoP storyline, feel free to lift your finger, because i can assure you nobody wants to go through it again.

[Maxthunder]

For question 1 I've read that they wanted XI player to feel familiar when playing XIV. They've stated that their primary audience was XI players then other players.

I'm guessing they didn't follow more aspect like XI because they're making XIV, not XI-2 or something, plus doing so would mean that XI will most likely be shut down. It was their goal to have both game running concurrently because there was even a 'deal' when you're paying for both game simultaneously.

Edit:
Also for number 4, expect a high and likely no. Erozea is not Vana'diel nor should it be.

I left XI for XIV because I wanted something new and fresh, for better or for worst, not more of the same.

FFXI has been going down hill for years and sooner or later no one will play it. The fact is the new systems that they added to ffxiv is not as good as it was in FFXI. I can name a few and I doubt with this new system they will get it right. Some systems as the crafting and the DoL to my surprize was improved upon. At least now I dont have to sit and guess when I will level up. The command bar, the targeting system still needs work and is far from what it should be.

I have said it before and Ill say it again: the devs need to take what was good from FFXI and use it in FFXIV but improve on it. I personally dont care if it is related to FFXI in the least. What I care about is a game that works and works well. FFXIV has many issues and at this point the only way to actually fix this game would be use what made FFXI great and improve on it. Players can say well its too much like FFXI but if we look at the current FFXI, it will be in no way resemble it. Seeing as FFXI has change way to much from its roots (and not for the better) it would still be 2 different games.

The issue at hand is the devs as well as some players dont want to use the things that made FFXI so great. Its all about a completely new game but look at what we actually got in FFXIV. There is nothing wrong w useing something from a preveious game and improve on it, devs have been doing it for years. So I ask whats the problem with them not doing it now? Now you can sit there and say all you want and make excuses but using things from FFXI will not make this FFXI-2. What I would like to see and some may not agree is a game that if you will dares to be different. FFXIV dosent need to be like WoW or other games, but the devs need to take from their previous Final Fantasy titles and use it.

Players want faster combat but than complain about this and that. SE wants to cater to all hardcore and casuals alike but in doing so they have yet to find a way to do it right. It is not the casual players that will support this game in the long run it is the hardcore. So the big question is what dose SE and the devs do to try and make FFXIV the best it can be. The devs and the players know half that answer but they refuse to embrase it and I have said it through this post. I dont say this because I want FFXIV to be exactly like FFXI, I dont. What I want as a player is a game that works, a game that is great and we all know even with the improvements there is a lot of work to go before it gets there. I know SE can make this game great they just need to buckle down and use what they know. Final Fantasy is there flagship, so there reason to do what they need to do but.... do they have the will to do it, or have they become as so many other game companies like sega and akklaim just to name a few?

[Mireille]

neorei:

Why is XI-2 a bad thing? Taking a concept that works and giving it new graphics and upgrades is not a bad thing.

I loved XI, but I hold no illusions about a horde of players returning or starting to do besieged/campaign battle again if SE updated the graphics.

[Jericho]

Nobody wants an XI-HD. Thats not what we're talking about. I just recently said this same thing in another thread...

-Horizontal progression gives lasting value to end-game acquired items.
-Slow leveling gives value to items ranged 1 to Cap, and the level capped content that rewards them.
-Both of these keep you in the game longer.

Vertical progression won't keep people playing. Don't kid yourselves thinking every time the level cap rises you'll feel like its a new game. Everything you spent soooooo long trying to get (2 weeks?) will be useless, and it'll feel like you're starting over. That won't keep anyone in the game for 8 years. Years 1-7 will be wasted time, the only stuff you'll use will be from year 8. No thanks.

[SniperRifle]

So many questions that should've been asked prior to the release of FFXIV. The list is endless. Sadly they were asked post release, and it seems like 2.0 is the only feasible answer.

5 zones? 1-50 in 1 zone? No VA or Custom UI? Way to narrow your subscriber base to only diehard FF fans. Lack of balanced PVP can be the result in why 50% of all mmo/pc gamers won't touch/consider this game. No, 14 doesn't need to appeal to a PVP audience to make the game good, but if they wanted to make more money, they should.

It just seems like 14 was meant to not be good. Like it was mistakenly not aborted from the womb, and some how managed to survive. If it was not titled FF14, everything would make sense. But because this is Square Enix, and it's their MMO, nothing made sense... until they announced 2.0, the baby that was suppose to be born in 2010.

[Zezlar]

3 Posts in, and we already have a dumb ass response.

He/She has the right to want an experience similar to what the CoP era was. It was 1000x better than what we have now. CoP through WoTG had difficulty (WHOA!!!!) and a fantastic storyline. Those are non-existent in Final Fantasy XIV. Unless you consider basic movement patterns to be tough.

[Isaveron]

neorei:
In the aftermath of the rejection to XIV's new style

XIV was rejected because it sucked at release.

[Isaveron]

CoP through WoTG had difficulty (WHOA!!!!

Time sinks =/= difficulty, I wish you people would stop confusing the two.

[Isaveron]

Nobody wants an XI-HD. Thats not what we're talking about.

You can't go a day without someone saying in almost exactly those words they want XI regurgitated into XIV.