Please Add BOSS Attack Names to Auto Translator

[Bayohne]

Hi Camate,
Thanks for the reply. I understand it might be a lot of work if you had to add all attacks ever made into the Auto-Translate Dictionary, but I have to ask:
1. How is adding *text* "consum(ing) quite a bit of space"? It's literally text (no fancy VFX, Textures, etc.).!

Perhaps we weren't clear enough in our explanation, so please allow me to clarify on this point specifically.

As Camate mentioned first "there is a limit for the number of words and phrases that can be added to the auto-translate dictionary" - this is how the system currently exists and there is a limit to how many terms can be added to the dictionary. He then goes on to state "and adding all of these attacks would consume quite a bit of space" - "space" here refers to the number of slots that are available to use in the dictionary, a currently finite number. Hopefully that answers your question!

[Canadane]

That is how I personally understood it, but I'm glad you came back to clarify as I guess others didn't.
You probably don't get enough praise for delivering news people don't wanna hear, so thank you!

[Zfz]

I see 2 problems with the autotranslate:

1. Very limited number of words. As you say this is a limit of the system, then you need to improve this system. This is not 1980. This is 2015 and an Input Method on the PC easily handles tens of thousands of entries in just one language. All it means is that you designed the system to have a very limited capacity. "We're not going to need that many entries anyway." This is something that can and should be improved if you ever want to make the auto-translate more than a pair of pretty curly brackets that sometimes pop up in the chat.

2. Very limited matching ability. It only matches from the first letter/word and doesn't do partial matches. Typing "blade" and activating auto-translate will not match "Savage Blade", "Fast Blade", "Riot Blade". That is not intuitive. It effectively means we have know exactly what we are looking for before we can use it, which translates to learning the entries off by heart.

If you could only improve on these two aspects of the system, you make the auto-translate ten times more useful if not more.

[Elusana_Celah]

Lack of space seems to be the most common reason used by SE for their inability to add specific kinds of content but I fail to understand how a bunch of string data in your code can add a significant amount of space to the game when your typical minor content updates are like 50-300 megs each? I've done my fair share of hundreds to thousands of string entries in my own code and it wasn't nearly that bloated.

Of course I have no idea how this game was programmed so I am sure the limitations they keep talking about are validated to some degree but I question the inflexible program design direction and the apparent lack of server space(?) in the MMORPG game genre of a pay to play game where the expectations are to be constantly expanding the usability and content of the game.

Not trying to sound rude or anything but this is just the concerns and opinions from someone who doesn't have much information about how the game is programmed and setup.

[EinherjarLucian]

Perhaps we weren't clear enough in our explanation, so please allow me to clarify on this point specifically.

As Camate mentioned first "there is a limit for the number of words and phrases that can be added to the auto-translate dictionary" - this is how the system currently exists and there is a limit to how many terms can be added to the dictionary. He then goes on to state "and adding all of these attacks would consume quite a bit of space" - "space" here refers to the number of slots that are available to use in the dictionary, a currently finite number. Hopefully that answers your question!

Keep in mind that they still have to deal with the limited nature of the PS3... if they're using something like a lookup table that's using a short (16-bit) integer as an index, they really could run into a limit on the number of phrases in their table, if there's literally thousands of attacks and enemies.

There's more involved than just raw memory usage, especially when dealing with a development environment that likely uses C++.

[niwaar]

Perhaps we weren't clear enough in our explanation, so please allow me to clarify on this point specifically.

"and adding all of these attacks would consume quite a bit of space" - "space" here refers to the number of slots that are available to use in the dictionary, a currently finite number. Hopefully that answers your question!

Could we not create a new "Raid/Dungeon Dictionary" in order to place these terms in a new resource? We all understand about space issues. But I will be 100% honest when I say, that a lot of just here "PS2 Limitations" when we hear this type of response. We spent 10+ years being given this line while we played FFXI, and now we are all hoping we never have to hear "PS3 Limitations".

[EinherjarLucian]

I see 2 problems with the autotranslate:

1. Very limited number of words.

2. Very limited matching ability.

If you could only improve on these two aspects of the system, you make the auto-translate ten times more useful if not more.

They could "improve" the system at the cost of consuming more memory, which is an issue on PS3 systems with highly limited resources. You have to understand that there are some incredible trade-offs that have to be made in order to land a game as complex as FF14 on a platform like the PS3.

What you're proposing is implementing a full-text search on the list of phrases. Full-text searches are horribly inefficient without taking measures that would consume more memory than they'd be able to spare on it. That's also why they implement a StartsWith search instead of a Contains search. It's way more efficient, especially since they can map whole sections of the list by alphabet. If they know in advance the starting index of all "D" phrases and all "E" phrases, they can now limit the search through the table to just those entries. You just can't get that kind of search optimization with a full-text search.

[Zfz]

I know. I'm just pointing out the problems. In other words, I'm saying, the compromises are limiting its uses severely.

And yes, I'm hinting at the idea of dropping PS3 support. It's a feat to make FF14 run on PS3, indeed. But when you consider that this "feat" is achieved by chopping off fingers and toes so it fits into the extremely limited capabilities that PS3 provide, then it taints that feat.

I know PS3 support is entirely a commercial decision. If ARR came out in 2014 instead, then not supporting PS3 could have been a very real option. Hopefully by 4.0 PS3 support can be dropped completely and we can finally have a proper UI that isn't limited anymore by 2006 hardware performance.

[Lemuria]

And yes, I'm hinting at the idea of dropping PS3 support. It's a feat to make FF14 run on PS3, indeed. But when you consider that this "feat" is achieved by chopping off fingers and toes so it fits into the extremely limited capabilities that PS3 provide, then it taints that feat.

I know PS3 support is entirely a commercial decision. If ARR came out in 2014 instead, then not supporting PS3 could have been a very real option. Hopefully by 4.0 PS3 support can be dropped completely and we can finally have a proper UI that isn't limited anymore by 2006 hardware performance.

It's false to assume this is a PS3 only issue. PS4 has hardware limitations too, and there's only so much they can do to keep everything running at a good pace on every system. Often that means keeping things optimal. I doubt it's even all that easy to put on the PC. If they've set a limited number of spaces for translate features, then my guess is it would require a redo of the entire translator to add in more 'space' or at least, reworking the searches to an extensive degree.

That being said, I knew sooner or later someone would mention console limitations and ask for support to be dropped.

[Zfz]

Yes PS4 has its limitations, but it's hard to believe that the same system would hit PS4's limitations first before it hits PS3 limitations. PS3 is clearly the least capable of all the platforms currently officially supported by FF14:ARR. Some people may be playing on 10 year old PCs, but if one is using a PC for gaming, then one should realize that 5 year old PCs are already too old. PCs spec hurdles are raised much faster than consoles.

So when talking about hardware limitations, it doesn't make sense to not talk about the least capable platform, i.e. the PS3. Even PC's have limitations, but when PS3 is sitting there at 1-star level, there's no point talking about a 3-star level limitation.