Why they announced XIV about 10 years into XI

[Jeeqbit]

FF14 began development in 2005 - literally 3 years after the release of FF11, and released 5 years after that.

So if you wanted to pretend they were going to repeat history, a new MMO would have began development in 2016 and released in 2021.

That ignores the entire reasoning behind why they did it. Although I have done literally no research on this, it's pretty obvious that FF11 was designed for the PS2 and additionally began development in 1999 when technology was, let's just say, we were awaiting the year 2000 for the promise of an explosion of digital technology that companies were so obviously preparing for, given we had little glints of it with bad PCs, digital watches, etc.

Given the rapid technology advancements at the time and that it would have been using technology from the 1990s, there is no chance it was built to endure the unpredictable technology advancements through the 2010s, so once there was more of a better idea of that in 2005 it made sense they started on another.

Ironically they didn't have a better idea of it, as it turned out, since they were still having real life models of swords made when other companies were using modeling software, and well you know all the problems 1.0 had. Maybe it's just as well, because that meant it got remade again in an era when computer technology was far, far more predictable - at this point we know how it goes - a progressive increase in RAM, drive space, GPU capability, etc. and it's pretty consistent. We had so much precedent even by that point, so everything could be built with this steady growth in mind (and Yoshi-P has said that FF14 is made with the ability to progressively increase depth on things like the skeletons, from what I vagely recall).

I sure hope 17 is going to be a new MMO, or they are cooking another one. I think it's clear to me that changing XIV to FF online would be a massive mistake.

They once suggested they could simply rename or re-release FF14 as FF17 if people stopped playing it purely due to it being an "old" FF game, but I think what is pretty clear now is that isn't an issue and a lot of people go back and play the old FF games, especially after a new FF game releases and gets them interested in the series as a whole.

I think the devs didnt really understand that Dawntrail was supposed to be a fresh restart for the game both in gameplay and graphically.

I wouldn't say a fresh restart. The graphics were literally just meant to be upscaling it and adding a bit more detail such as more objects, more realistic shaders. And the gameplay wasn't meant to be a fresh restart so much as opening themselves up to the sort of design decisions they were making in Heavensward.

I think the best route here is to release a new MMO to provide a breath of fresh air and a vastly different gameplay experience most players are craving.

I think the current design is to paint as broad a brush as possible.

Let's compare it to MrBeast, who has hyper-optimized his videos and become the most successful person on YouTube. He achieved this by using subjects that are so generic that everyone can relate to them - money (and all the things people dream of relating to it), extreme scenarios from films people have watched, to the point you could call this formulaic to an extent. None of these subjects are exactly the most interesting, but he hyper-optimized it to make sure that no matter who you are, you can watch through the video without clicking it off.

...and that's essentially what a lot of games seem to be trying to do. Paint so broad a brush to capture the maximum possible audience, that they alienate whatever specific niche audiences they once had. Despite anybody's feelings towards FFXIV, they can get through a dungeon or teleport places instantly without it wasting their time and without significant friction, in similar fashion to how YouTubers now try to cut out time-wasting segments.

It may be the case that games just need to choose their niche, stick with it and accept it will be less profitable, so that they can feel they made a great game. But it's a brave company that does that, especially in the gaming industry which often struggles with funding.

It's a lazy fan-service and by extension, a lazy writing.

It's completely intentional. They view FFXIV as a "final fantasy themepark" - a coming together of all the final fantasy games. They know that different people have an entirely different definition of what "final fantasy" is depending on which ones they've played, so to solve that problem, they make it a themepark so you can play the elements that are inspired by the final fantasy games you like, and ignore the rest. But of course, any references are adjusted to fit into FFXIV's lore.