The Better Commercials of Korea

[Kranel_San]

Because like Saraide said, they are trying to bring in new blood. Yeah the anime one would be good for someone already playing the game or in a circle to hear about the game, but what about Randy Rando dnd player who has put off this game cause its and "anime" game. Its a targeted ad for those outside the realm of JRPG fans.

Do you really think a DnD fan will play FFXIV instead of playing Runescape, WoW classic, Guild Wars, Elder scrolls and any other MMO that is more western and more DnDish?
I think it's better if SE tried to cater to the anime fanbase since they're the target audience of this game.

[Rilifane]

Do you really think a DnD fan will play FFXIV instead of playing Runescape, WoW classic, Guild Wars, Elder scrolls and any other MMO that is more western and more DnDish?
I think it's better if SE tried to cater to the anime fanbase since they're the target audience of this game.

I am that type of player. I have a strong preference for western RPGs, specificially cRPGs and enjoy games based on DnD and similar rulesets although that's optional. Pathfinder, Baldur's Gate series, IWD, NWN, Dragon Age serioes, Divinity series... these kind of games are what I enjoy. The only jRPGs I've ever played in my life were FF8, FF9 and FF10 although the latter only halfway because my PS2 broke after we got it.
FFXIV definitely put me off at first. But there are reasons to stay even when it doesn't match your preference, mainly friends, guilds and statics.
So all you really need to do is catch them, hold them for long enough to build some form of connection and you have succesfully caught someone outside your target audience. I'm here for my static and some friends. But if my static and friends decided to go for a different MMO, I would join in a heartbeat. I'd personally prefer to play the MMOs you listed over FFXIV.

They don't have to cater to the non-target audience, they only have to somehow capture them and keep them barely long enough for other factors to become more important than their preference. Easy enough to do in a MMO.
But that anime commercial definitely would've put me off even more. I'm indifferent to it now but if I had yet to decide on whether to play it or not, that would've more likely caused me to look to other games after all. That said, the cosplay commercial wasn't exactly my thing either, the whole bright-eyed adventurer that holds hands with everyone and touts friendship everywhere vibe never did it for me.