Dear SE - What happened?

[bsphil]

Effects that have to be calculated are normally more hardware-intensive than fixed effects.

They have made plenty amends. I guess for some haters it'll never be enough.

Hardly. It amazes me how inefficiently the game engine runs, if anything that's why these better ideas couldn't be implemented (or SE reasoned away their implementation) because the engine was already taxed so heavily despite having fairly mediocre graphics.

Yeah, the character models are pretty. Everything else is extremely bland.

[Abriael]

Hardly. It amazes me how inefficiently the game engine runs, if anything that's why these better ideas couldn't be implemented (or SE reasoned away their implementation) because the engine was already taxed so heavily despite having fairly mediocre graphics.

Yeah, the character models are pretty. Everything else is extremely bland.

The character models are pretty because they include normal mapping, high resolution textures and an extremely high number of polygons for MMORPG standards (the highest in the market). That's the whole reason of the inefficency of the engine, that is actually helped by the static effects.

[Suzaku]

Consoles are a big market. MMORPGs live on numbers. I'm sure you can do the math

That argument works for offline games. Not MMOs which have proven that not only does developing down for consoles hamstring them, but that a good MMO does not need console subscribers to survive. Also note that there is currently no launch date for the PS3 version on the horizon.

Logic dictates that if you need a certain level of hardware to do something right, you don't support hardware levels below that. Even if that means ignoring consoles. In this case, the hardware requirements to build a proper environment are beyond what the PS3 can offer. Tanaka already spoke at length earlier on as to the issues they were having shoehorning the game into a form the PS3 could handle. Now we have a product that the PC users aren't happy with, and that the PS3 users don't have access to. I'm not seeing a lot of people winning here.

That's not to say it's all bad. The environment may be a done deal, but there is still much that can be done to fix the other aspects of the game. And it seems that the new team is progressing quite well in that direction.

[Blitz0309]

That argument works for offline games. Not MMOs which have proven that not only does developing down for consoles hamstring them, but that a good MMO does not need console subscribers to survive. Also note that there is currently no launch date for the PS3 version on the horizon.

Logic dictates that if you need a certain level of hardware to do something right, you don't support hardware levels below that. Even if that means ignoring consoles. In this case, the hardware requirements to build a proper environment are beyond what the PS3 can offer. Tanaka already spoke at length earlier on as to the issues they were having shoehorning the game into a form the PS3 could handle. Now we have a product that the PC users aren't happy with, and that the PS3 users don't have access to. I'm not seeing a lot of people winning here.

That's not to say it's all bad. The environment may be a done deal, but there is still much that can be done to fix the other aspects of the game. And it seems that the new team is progressing quite well in that direction.

I do agree, however there are a lot of ffxi fans whose computers can't run ffxiv and are planning on playing on the ps3.

But it is pointless to release a broken game across multiple consoles at this point.

[Abriael]

That argument works for offline games. Not MMOs which have proven that not only does developing down for consoles hamstring them, but that a good MMO does not need console subscribers to survive. Also note that there is currently no launch date for the PS3 version on the horizon.

There might not be a launch date, but they do seem determined to accomplish that.

"good" mmorpg, nowadays do need to look into different and new markets, as the PC mmorpg market is by now absolutely saturated. Consoles are the biggest of them.

Care to name a Pay to play non-wow PC mmorpg over the million subscribers?

Also, and ultimately, Final Fantasy is a primaily console-related franchise. Most of final fantasy fans are console gamers. No marketing team worth a little bit of their salt would suggest to exclude consoles from a Final Fantasy release, as no marketing team worth their salt would ever cut off their main target from their product. And the main target of the Final Fantasy Franchise is playing on consoles.

If there's ONE single thing that will make FFXIV pick up from the launch blunder it will be a PS3 launch when the game will be in a good state (another, even if secondary, would be a heavily discounted and publicized Steam launch). Second opportunities are gold for MMORPGs.

[Xatsh]

What happened, they released a game 18 months early >.>.

Now they have to fix it with an extremely unforgiving fanbase. I would hate to have the new dev teams job, atm it seems nothing they can do besides make a brand new mmo in 6 months will please the masses.

[Harle]

What happened, they released a game 18 months early >.>.

Now they have to fix it with an extremely unforgiving fanbase. I would hate to have the new dev teams job, atm it seems nothing they can do besides make a brand new mmo in 6 months will please the masses.

I'd say they released this game in time...

In time enough not to repeat this mistake sometime later this very month. I'm glad that they have a new working attitude toward the game, and I'm glad that they're doing something about it instead of just twiddling their thumbs away until the very last players quit this game.

[SilvertearRen]

There are two problems with Square Enix. The first is the company culture towards the game development process - it doesn't exactly inspire their workers. Read up on articles that have been posted to Kotaku about this - there have even been allegations that Square Enix does not consider much for the welfare of their workers.

The second problem is inextricably linked to the first - because of the company culture towards game development in general, and their "shareholder"-centric focus, it has hamstrung creativity in Square Enix, which is why Tanaka was received very poorly by the community with his attitude and perceptions on what an MMORPG game should be.

If Square Enix had a more flexible and capable culture that took some elements of Western Game Design Theory, it's possible that they would have been able to produce a more complete product with FFXIV than what we had at its initial launch. When XIV has been in development for four years or more, and turns out a lackluster product, it's the result of a bad feedback process that was used late in the development cycle, which is counter to what most western MMO developers do - they have longer closed beta cycles than what we had with XIV.

I'm aware they have problems still with the mentality of the higher ups in Square Enix, but I'm hoping that after the failure of Final Fantasy 13, in terms of how it came off as a product (it feels very empty and soulless, just like XIV), that the company as a whole will improve their ability to create games that are enjoyable.

As it is now, I'm getting the feeling Square Enix has been behaving more like a publisher, than a game developer - that's usually the first sign that indicates that there are misplaced focuses.

[Verecund]

Considering the state of the game 6 months from launch, as well as the nature of the patch updates and the speed of their release (not extremely fast)... I would wager that they might've run into some major issues while developping their game engine. But it's still pretty much speculation at this point

[Nipa]

I'd like to link you to a blog from Vanguard SoH lead developer:
http://www.bradmcquaid.com/Brad_McQu...em_Part_1.html

This is only the first of a 4 posts (the other are here). For those who were on the moon during the last ten years VG was a PvE MMO, with that hardcore EQ 1 feeling and some impressive budget that failed *very* hard.

Those 4 posts basically answer the question asked in this thread, "What happened?", but of course for Vanguard. This has been written as a post-mortem, and obviously didn't have any effect on the game. Yet it is the most interesting read you can have on a recent MMO (the EA Louse blog being probably the second one).

I feel that having a similar explanation for Final Fantasy XIV could be the best way SE could regain our trust - and by our, I mean all the buyers, not the few remaining players.