Clearing Confusion - MMORPG differentiation

[Reaujien]

Whenever someone brings up FFXI people immediately thinks they want a clone of FFXI and that "Bawww FFXIV is supposed to be different go back to XI!!!!1".

Though I think it is possible that there exist a few people who would rather want a clone of FFXI, however, I think you're absolutely right that people often mistake the point/intentions of other peoples' posts/comments when they bring up anything from FFXI (and thus make the "intelligent" reply such as the example you provided).

Another good example is Sci-fi, there's Star Wars and Star Trek, both have similarities but both are also very different however both are of the same genre.

Even going further with what you said -

Star Wars: How many "Star Wars games" have there been? They all have the same Star Wars look and feel to them - that is, what a fan of Star Wars would expect to have in a "Star Wars game" - but yet they are different games. They did not reinvent the lightsabre, or reinvent the Jedi, or reinvent the Sith, etc. etc. They took what was good - what was solid - and either improved upon that or created a new story/gameplay built around that.

Star Trek: Think of the numerous and successful spin-offs, movies, and games of the original Star Trek TV series that have been created. They're all different - different stories, different characters, different species, different technologies... hell even different eras in time! - but yet they're all unarguably and indistinguishably Star Trek at the core.

[Arcell]

Even going further with what you said -

Star Wars: How many "Star Wars games" have there been? They all have the same Star Wars look and feel to them - that is, what a fan of Star Wars would expect to have in a "Star Wars game" - but yet they are different games. They did not reinvent the lightsabre, or reinvent the Jedi, or reinvent the Sith, etc. etc. They took what was good - what was solid - and either improved upon that or created a new story/gameplay built around that.

The problem with the Star Wars argument is that it all takes place in the same universe. Final Fantasy games generally do not take place on the same world. We don't know any further out than that but at the very least, they are not connected. There are a few exceptions but FFXIV is not one of them. And yes I know what you're going to say next, "What about the FF standards?" True, Final Fantasy does have some standards (Chocobos, melee and magic, airships, classes/jobs, etc...). However there are Final Fantasy games with drastic differences in setting and general time period/technological advancement. Each Final Fantasy world generally has its own variation on the things that are standard to Final Fantasy.

[Reaujien]

The problem with the Star Wars argument is that it all takes place in the same universe.

I wasn't attempting to formulate an argument though. I was only further adding on what the OP provided as examples to illustrate that even in those individual series/themes there have been many installations and recreations that despite the various differences and similarities of each there is a "feeling" that persists within each individual installation and recreation together - whether or not they were meant to be direct sequels of one another or not.

Much like FF titles; they have their differences and their similarities - sometimes they're different in the same way (e.g., always being a new world and/or new universe) and sometimes they're similar in different ways (e.g., some have chocobos that can help you in battle, while others can only help you get from point 'A' to point 'B'.). Even so, some are completely different stories being only related by familiar content from previous titles, while others are direct sequels but still having different new additions or changes to them.

There's a... Star Trek "feel", a.... Star Wars "feel", a... Final Fantasy "feel", and though there's little doubt that fans for either could probably go to great lengths in attempting to explain their interpretation(s) of what this "feel" is, there exists one regardless. That's all I was trying to illustrate with the ST/SW examples.