PS3 a real problem or not

[ReplicaX]

Common Rebuttal:

"But you could have flowing capes!!!!!11111111"
"You can have no invisible walls! (every MMO does)"
"They can't do a lot of content!!! (Yet lists no content being held back by the PS3 with proof of concept, e.g development videos.)"
"The world is tiny because of the PS3! (even though it was our request to have smaller yet detailed area design."

So on and so forth.

Where is your counter to TP not being displayed?

Gonna take the SE limitation / too much info or learn to play player route?

[Edli]

"The world is tiny because of the PS3! (even though it was our request to have smaller yet detailed area design."

Fact is that this is the only MMO that I know of where even a damn city is divided in two parts with loading screens. That is just ridiculous. I don't think anyone asked for that.

[314159265358979323846264338327]

Once upon a time the PS3 couldn't even handle having a focus target. Literally just a tiny little UI element and the console was like "LOLNOPES".

The current maps in FINAL FANTASY XIV are not only massive, but allow for seamless passage across wide expanses of the realm.
In order to maintain this seamlessness, however, we were forced to heavily reuse assets, resulting in static, repetitive areas.
To provide our users with areas that feel fresh and dynamic throughout the extended lifespan of the game, we are both revamping and redesigning area maps. We hope that this, in turn, will equate to increased opportunities for adventure.

• Abolishing seamless areas to allow for more dynamic map design
• Implementing at least three unique themes to each area
• Complete overhaul of enemy and object placement using revamped development tools

We will continue to balance and improve existing maps to ensure an exciting, stress-free experience while playing during the months leading up to the unveiling of the new Eorzea.

Meanwhile, there are other MMOs out there that do exactly what they claim to have wanted to do, but being purely open world. You can have dynamic areas that are vastly different from one another in an open world environment, without needing to smash everything down into tiny zones.

Unless, of course, you throw a PS3 into the mix.

[Eggnook24]

Changed from PS3 to PS4, and never looked back. My 3 would lag, freeze up, and generally make me suckage every time Titan moved. Save up for the PS4, it really is night and day.

[Naraku_Diabolos]

Due to the low VRAM is also why we have such low resolution textures. Can really notice it when you zoom in on clothes.

And the rocks near the northern parts of the desert in Southern Thanalan with the anglers (monsters). Can't you see the block textures there? The only higher resolution texture I've seen is some of the moss on the ruins in the Floating Isles of Nym (or whatever).

[zar]

PS3 is a piece of junk. It even screams in pain when you play because of how hard it's being pushed.
Mine would overheat and cause major rendering issues like Levi splash telegraphs being displayed half a second before he dove through. Instant movement abilities like Shoulder Tackle would go on cooldown but you could run up to the boss before the dash went off.
It also freezes if it undergoes too much stress (which is like, 30min of AFKing in revenant's toll followed up with your favorite 8man that vomits a load of pretty animations all over the screen).

They skimp on so much to make it PS3 compatible and it STILL struggles.
I honestly wouldn't recommend this game to someone if they were going to play it on a PS3.

oh yes, I forgot about hunts and world bosses... I'll just let you figure out why I forgot about them.

[Tupsi]

Where is your counter to TP not being displayed?

Gonna take the SE limitation / too much info or learn to play player route?

Your snide remark aside - Like FFXI TP value is also fed to our client but isn't displayed, so it was indeed SE's choice to not have it displayed on our UI. I'm sure you think it's a PS3 limitation though.

[Payn]

Sure?
Many of them seem to be independent from the PS3. Like the open-world dungeon. There is really no difference between a open-world dungeon and a open-world field. So even with no PS3 there would be still no open-world dungeon.

The question was what the DEVS specifically said was limited due to ps3. I personally am sure there's a way around it however I'm pretty sure they just have to weigh, is it POSSIBLE? Sure.. If it takes TONS of time to optimize, is it worth it? No? Ok skip it. That's what I presume the conversation is like, and if they're priority based id expect nothing less. It's not a bad thing.

[Shioban]

I'll reiterate though, any limitations that are strictly limited to client end, have no impact in regards to holding back the game.

Clearly you've never developed anything for a PS3 before. They're extremely limited on memory and processing power, it's an absolute nightmare to have to battle, adjust, tweak and CONSTANTLY watch your memory expenditure.

It is horrible when you've discovered that your combination of your; Engine, Game Scene, Systems and Assets have gone WAY over the limit and you have to cut back, remove and adjust.

THIS includes complex and interesting mechanics. A great example;

Leviathan;

Flat Ocean.
Still Boat.
Basic Particle Effects.

Instead of exploring the opportunities of a complex, rocky and generally quite visceral experience they've had to go with something as bog-standard and simple to support all platforms.
The memory constraint on what can be done at once in the scene SEVERELY limits your creativity in creating any content.

Inventory space was not the reason why PS3 is limited. It's already been said that, by adding more inventory space to everyone, it would pose a problem on the server, resulting in longer load times (via teleports, retainers....think 1.0? Maybe not that hard.)

Sadly it would be an issue, although we're no longer using a text-list based inventory and a grid-based icon inventory which uses less memory the UI is already pushing it's limits. Currently we have four inventory tabs in separate windows because of this memory constraint. (Which is why only the PC/PS4 get an expanded inventory).

We cannot have extra inventory storage and even BEARDS due to data limitations from how the PS3 is holding things back. Then again, my characters don't need beards lol

Beards aren't a PS3 limitation. It's a character-data limitation, as SE wish to keep character data as low as possible, new character data is generally avoided (for now).
The beards themselves are just a simple addition of topology ontop of the character body (hair does the same thing).

Those graphical assets take up memory. Which the ps3 is very low on. Add too many beards and now the average character requires more polys and therefore more memory. Graphical assets must take up ram to be used so any assets that add to memory directly contribute to the problem. Try to remember that they shrunk miq'ote butts for two reason. One was so that making new gear was easier across races, but if I remember correctly it was also mentioned that it helped put more on screen at once. That would be due to fewer poly's being used. Beards would be like bringing those butts back..

The topology for character buttocks wasn't changed that drastically, the lighting system used in 1.23 consequentially fully light characters no matter where they were, this complimented the normal maps on the character and the ever so slightly higher polygon count. And I stress EVER so slight.


As for beards, that's a complete lie. Currently model data isn't an issue, the character model data limitation imposed on the PS3 client would simply forbid the character to render as it does currently should the cap be reached.

The very slight change in topology helped a bit, most of the retopologising was done on environmental articles, the characters/gear have remained virtually unchanged (from what I can see of the old model data).

The question was what the DEVS specifically said was limited due to ps3. I personally am sure there's a way around it however I'm pretty sure they just have to weigh, is it POSSIBLE? Sure.. If it takes TONS of time to optimize, is it worth it? No? Ok skip it. That's what I presume the conversation is like, and if they're priority based id expect nothing less. It's not a bad thing.

Open World Dungeons weren't completely a PS3 concern, from what we were told they just simply didn't add any, they preferred to design dungeons as instanced content as opposed to open world content in 2.0, however took feedback from players for future expansion content into "consideration".

This wouldn't be a problem for a PS3 as there are various ways around it, such as simply adding in a zone-line such as;

Central Shroud > (The Mun-Tuy Cellars - Open Dungeon) > East Shroud.

It would simply act as an area to travel into or through, simply another area.

The PS3 is NOT the fault here, it is almost entirely a design choice by the development teams.



1.23's open world dungeons were just trash mobs you could find in the field an the occasional NM, there wasn't much appeal to them for 2.0's leveling style.

[Payn]

I'll give you a simple answer OP, the original game had open maps, and by open i mean, no zones. why do you think we have zones now? and that's not all, the game has a big lack of open world content because more players and events occurring in the open world would make a PS3 explode.

Actually as much as I absolutely loved the literally one zone world, that was one of the biggest reasons for all the problems we had. They also stated that they had come to the limit of how much land area they could have in the game (making any expansion packs DOA basically). So maybe if technology keeps going how it is, or maybe that's why they're working on that GIGANTOR cloud based world generator project they touted? I dunno. I just know that as much as I loved it... For the greater good it had to go
But I really wish they would add more open world dungeon zoned though. Open world as in new zones like FfXI, not as in new instanced dungeons.