Gamespot ARR article. HOW DARE YOU DOUBT OUR YOSHI-P!!

[Gramul]

you're still hung up on it all being the same and can't see the forest for the trees.

I hate repeated phasing like that. If you think I didn't get it, try rewording it.

The celebrity idea for the marketing team stemmed from various celebrities already talking about the game. Blizzard encouraged it and their community to grow and communicate. The reason why "all the games which tout themselves as being 'different' end up with a fraction of that number before fizzling out and fading away completely" is because they aren't different. Really all they do is add one or two minor features and glorify it like the second coming. In the end, you get the same core structure. The same uninspired quest goals, the same mad dash to endgame, the same instanced dungeon runs, the same holy trinity. We get tens of MMO's a year claiming to radically reshape the genre, but they only tackle the unimportant side features leaving the truly stagnated components to rot.

Let's look back at the FPS genre. I mentioned Portal earlier. It's a popular FPS that radically different. Genres don't need to cater to the expected to survive or even thrive, and that's something I feel most MMO developers are afraid of because of the mass amount of cost it takes to make them (even though almost all of them have sputtered into the forgotten void.)

This game has a few things going for it:
1. Better graphics (doesn't seem to sway consumers based on the last few releases.)
2. A story (Won't keep people around long. Story has been done in MMOs before. Once it's done, they're out.)
3. FF Fanservice (could be a big draw for FF fans not crazy about MMOs)
4. The revival. ("It's better now, so it must be good". This might actually be the biggest draw.)

WoW was a one time thing. No one's going to repeat it, or even come close just by rehearsing the same song and dance, no matter how well they do it. They don't flourish, they just live. And I see very little reason why this game, as great as it's looking, will break that trend.

And seriously. Caps help me read. Don't tell me you can't. I see those question marks.

[Velhart]

Let's look back at the FPS genre. I mentioned Portal earlier. It's a popular FPS that radically different. Genres don't need to cater to the expected to survive or even thrive, and that's something I feel most MMO developers are afraid of because of the mass amount of cost it takes to make them (even though almost all of them have sputtered into the forgotten void.)

Problem with this is that Portal is not an FPS per se, it is a puzzle game with first person elements. It would be better to compare a game that has gone a unique approach to an FPS in comparison with games like Halo and Call of Duty. Look at CoD and Halo, what are their biggest difference? Just story, setting, and what your weapons do. I look at MMO's the same way, and I am glad Yoshida is also.

(Now to kind of something else, this part not targeted at you.)
I would actually agree to an extent if Yoshida was trying to convince you that FFXIV was a complete unique experience that redefines the genre. He has already expressed several times that he doesn't believe being too unique is a successful approach to this game and creating a sense of familiarity with proper FF elements will make it a success. I completely agree with him, and he knows how we think.

I am willing to bet Gamespot twisted the story a bit, with how much confidence Yoshida speaks in all his interviews, I am sure he wasn't just sitting there, scratching his head going, "Uhh graphics?". I am sure he was asked this a million times and knew the question was coming up and would be a popular one. I am sure he said "Graphics" because he isn't going out of his way to make you think this is a genre breaker like other failed MMO's have tried to convince you. People will disagree with me, but I love how he approaches this. The only thing he wants to convince you is that this is a great "Final Fantasy" and "MMO" experience, that is it.

If you don't like what is coming because it lacks originality, then that is your opinion and that is fine, but originality doesn't always make a game good.

To myself personally, I 100% welcome a great online Final Fantasy experience with familiar concepts. I guess you can just call me bland and a sucker if you want.

[Reaujien]

Problem with this is that Portal is not an FPS per se, it is a puzzle game with first person elements.

I don't know - playing that game you played in First Person, and you Shot stuff while aiming. Sure it wasn't bullets or rocket launchers, and yeah the goal was to further your exploration by opening portals instead of furthering your carnage by blowing things' innards all over the place, but in the end I'd still consider it 100% a FPS. And I think that's just his point: you weren't "shooting to kill" you were "shooting to solve puzzles", and what's probably expected of FPS games since games such as Doom and Duke Nukem is the bloody carnage caused by your sometimes over-the-top arsenal - not puzzle solving. He also gave another (for what I consider) great example of a FPS doing something new in a familiar genre: the Metroid Prime series. Which even despite being closer to the expected FPS-type game than Portal, it was still pretty darn different, and more than likely didn't appeal to the overwhelming amount of FPS-game-type fans; however clearly it appealed to enough to warrant more installments (and, even those additional installments were a great example of a developer taking gameplay/elements that worked and making a "new" game with them).

Not trying to ruffle your feathers; just my 2 cents~

[Velhart]

I don't know - playing that game you played in First Person, and you Shot stuff while aiming. Sure it wasn't bullets or rocket launchers, and yeah the goal was to further your exploration by opening portals instead of furthering your carnage by blowing things' innards all over the place, but in the end I'd still consider it 100% a FPS. And I think that's just his point: you weren't "shooting to kill" you were "shooting to solve puzzles", and what's probably expected of FPS games since games such as Doom and Duke Nukem is the bloody carnage caused by your sometimes over-the-top arsenal - not puzzle solving. He also gave another (for what I consider) great example of a FPS doing something new in a familiar genre: the Metroid Prime series. Which even despite being closer to the expected FPS-type game than Portal, it was still pretty darn different, and more than likely didn't appeal to the overwhelming amount of FPS-game-type fans; however clearly it appealed to enough to warrant more installments (and, even those additional installments were a great example of a developer taking gameplay/elements that worked and making a "new" game with them).

Not trying to ruffle your feathers; just my 2 cents~

And it is a fair point, but it really is the foundation and feel like it is an apples and oranges comparison. Metroid Prime is indeed an FPS (And my favorite one at that, along with being one of the greatest games of all time. <3), but it's adventure elements are so well implemented that I would call it a FPA (First Person Adventure), just my take on that. What I am saying is that between Portal and Call of Duty, you can't compare it in a sense like WoW and FFXIV, because really, you are looking for two different things when you compare Portal to Call of Duty.

[Gramul]

Problem with this is that Portal is not an FPS per se, it is a puzzle game with first person elements. It would be better to compare a game that has gone a unique approach to an FPS in comparison with games like Halo and Call of Duty. Look at CoD and Halo, what are their biggest difference? Just story, setting, and what your weapons do. I look at MMO's the same way, and I am glad Yoshida is also.

Well I can't stand Halo and CoD for exactly that reason, so maybe Metroid Prime would be a better example. It's adventure based with an open world and items that not only give you better firepower, but help you traverse the world more. Different, but within the same main genre because it takes elements from other genres to evolve it.

It doesn't make it not an FPS just because it handles the core elements in a different way. All the basic properties are still there, just expanded and grafted to new elements.

I'm sure many of us, myself included, could enjoy a themed standard MMO in our favor, but if it didn't work for Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, I wouldn't expect a particularly warm welcome. I'm expecting a lot of "yeah yeah we've seen it all before, this is nothing special, why bother?" if we don't get "Wow, they changed so much! It's better now!"

[Velhart]

Well I can't stand Halo and CoD for exactly that reason, so maybe Metroid Prime would be a better example. It's adventure based with an open world and items that not only give you better firepower, but help you traverse the world more. Different, but within the same main genre because it takes elements from other genres to evolve it.

It doesn't make it not an FPS just because it handles the core elements in a different way. All the basic properties are still there, just expanded and grafted to new elements.

I'm sure many of us, myself included, could enjoy a themed standard MMO in our favor, but if it didn't work for Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, I wouldn't expect a particularly warm welcome. I'm expecting a lot of "yeah yeah we've seen it all before, this is nothing special, why bother?" if we don't get "Wow, they changed so much! It's better now!"

Metroid Prime is a better example. It is one of those rare occasions where taking a unique approach to a genre worked in it's favor (This game was actually what got me into liking FPS's.). Here is one problem with FFXIV (at least how I see it), they attempted to take a unique approach to the MMO genre the first time. While even if they were to properly execute it, it would of gone into niche audience just like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.

Being unique and executed well unfortunately does not magically make a game a multi-million subscriber MMO. The only reason WoW has the numbers it has is because simply it was at the right place at the right time. With how many MMO's come out today, the count has spread and 10 million+ is an unrealistic number to anyone, not even Blizzard if they made a 2nd MMO. Being unique however I feel makes it a guarantee that you will only gain the niche audience.

Its only opinion, but as Yoshida said and I completely agree with him, is that you bring people in when a sense of familiarity, and then give them a great experience (Which is a Final Fantasy world.). In a MMO sense, I really believe this is a successful approach, you don't have to agree with me.

Since FFXIV was funded by SE themselves, it is very doubtful they will ever go F2P. Games like SW and LotR went free to play because the loaners were not getting their money back as quick as they were expected, and going F2P quickly racks up that cash. As Yoshida said, as long as SE keeps believing FFXIV will still succeed, that is how it will go. I believe it will.