SE stop doing the "norm"

[BruceyBruceyBangBang]

Why does FFXI need to be the subject that we keep coming back to in this discussion? I'd like to point out first, a really large majority of the player base --or at least the player base at the first couple of player polls-- do not discuss on the official forums. This is a voice that will not be heard by many who frequent here. Maybe it's a case of out of sight; out of mind, but they are out there.

However, let's get back to why we bring up FFXI so much. This is something I've learned through the process of this game failing and on the road to being redeveloped. I've noticed, in the beginning, that I was looking quite forward to their next installment and felt like a kid again. I remembered running through Sarutabaruta leveling my BLM and it being the first Summerfest killing Rabai and running to the zone lines away from Yaguto. Then later, probably a week later knowing FFXI's progression, gathering all the BLM I could find to kill worms in The Maze of Shakhrami and warning them to be very conservative on using Stonega as it might hit another worm or Goblin with it's back turned.

I thought of these things then I played FFXIV. Maybe not for the same reasons, but I was incredibly let down. The game changed and was being salvaged with a new Director/Producer then an outline was made which completely changed what I had originally visioned the game to be and the feeling it would give me. However, I started to think differently than how I see most other players think. I thought of why I didn't feel the same way as I anticipated, rather than, what the game was or wasn't doing to make me feel how I wanted to feel. Then I remembered, I'm not a kid anymore.

I'm not terribly young where I have more free time and use that time to have more fun and form lasting impressions on a game as I would now. This is what we call nostalgia. Things are always better when you were younger. All of the, "In my day..." tales have a point to them indirectly and that point is, things are just way more fun when you are young. Understanding this was the best lesson going into ARR or any other MMO new to the market. I think if people just started to accept FFXIV is never going to give you the same feelings your last MMO gave you, we can have a discussion that holds ideas with more substance and creativity.

You will never get that feeling you got 10 years ago back, ever. You are not who you were 10 years ago. You just need to let that go and grow with whats new.