Did squenix make a mistake by investing too much in graphics and not enough in

[Fensfield]

When you take into consideration that MMO have historically started in horribly bad condition and the fact that every other MMO on the market has essentially the worst possible graphics for this era and the fact that SE want and MMO that will run for ten years, the answer is simply no. You can fix system level problems and you can make new content but you can't go back and redo the all the graphics in an MMO to update it to the present. Look at Cataclysm, Blizzard basically spent enough to make a new game on that and it managed to extend the life of WoWs outer core player base by one year. There has basically never been an MMO that was what we would consider now to be successful in its first year. 9 time out of ten that is because of the problems FFXIV had at launch. By focussing heavily on graphics SE has ensured that the game will remain visually appealing for the life of the MMO and simplly has to deal with the same problems that every MMO from UO to Everquest to WoW had to deal with. Rejected Mechanics and Server Issues. If the game makes it to next year the horrible launch will become the equivalent to a camp fire ghost story. Someone will cringe but mostly will just not give a crap. Thje graphics, however, will be the best graphics of any MMO for the next Decade because no other company even tries.

I've liked your post because, for the most part, I do agree.

But it bears pointing out that it is not completely impossible for a game to tear out its entire graphics engine and all of the resources therein because, well, EVE Online did it, and Square-Enix seriously considered doing it to Final Fantasy XI before committing to XIV (and in a way, I still wish they had). I think another game did a similar total rebuild, too, but I can't remember which it was.

Still you're right it's a massive undertaking, and extremely unlikely even when a game would very likely see a significant financial benefit, part-wise because of the problem of predictable lifespans in non-player-driven MMO games that I brought up in my previous post. It certainly isn't something to count on, and that is indeed why most MMO's do try to have the highest possible graphics for their time and budget at the moment of their release. In fact some, like Everquest 2 and to a lesser extent our Final Fantasy XIV (see the General and Background Drawing Quality options under Video Settings) deliberately overstep the capabilities of current graphics technology with the hope of compensating for technological progress over the course of the game's lifespan.