Quote Originally Posted by Milkymoo View Post
The problem here is you're arguing these points to a community that is simply media illiterate. As someone who has played many games, especially JRPGs and Final Fantasy, it's really not hard to see that the design philosophy of XIV is vastly inferior to XI and arguably a disgrace to its namesake ... moving away from a design rooted in the core experience of the FF franchise was the smartest move they could have made, consequently however the player base is now comprised of casual consumers with incredibly low (if any) expectations.
For you other 'media illiterates', here is a great run-down on how to build a JRPG:
https://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com...--gamedev-6676

The first two paragraphs (under Genre Talk) will give you all you need to know about the design philosophy that makes an RPG a JRPG. You will note that Final Fantasy XIV has everything there except "combat is often turn-based" ... which must be what the author is referencing when opining "the design philosophy of XIV is vastly inferior to XI".

To validate my own experiences, just like the author of the quote above: I have been playing computer games since there were computers to play them on. I have played console games where the console consisted of two rheostats attached to a logic board.

I have played Final Fantasy XI. It's design philosophy (if you can call it that) appears to have been "provide a Final Fantasy-like experience through a hodge-podge of aimless wandering with incredibly boring grinding in the least efficient manner possible." Not bad for a late 20th century MMO - but not especially timeless. This was the way that game designers approached MMO RPGs at the time: minimal story line, maximum grinding to keep players paying engaged.

This design philosophy was updated when World of Warcraft burst onto the scene several years later. Here was a story; here was [relative] ease of movement between one area and another; here was conflict between players [Alliance/Horde] which would lead to a PvP element; here was ..... you know, just go read a history of MMOs and figure out how much that design philosophy changed when WoW was released.

Final Fantasy XIV had to compete with WoW, not with Everquest or Final Fantasy XI.

I take issue with the idea that the 'core experience' of the Final Fantasy franchise was abandoned. The aesthetics are spot on, the story line is no less epic than any of the single-player games, the references to the other games are in line with those of other MMOs.

I also take issue with the absurd attitude about 'casual consumers', as if players are somehow duped into enjoying the game.