PS Vita and Final Fantasy XIV

[Noir]

i bet my 1gil on FF14 dev team is working on PSV vers. as we speak!!!!!!!!!!!!

Me too at least I hope

[Majidah]

Me too at least I hope

actually they said they are releasing widgets for it, but no mention has been done about the game itself

[namasy]

Something BIG like FF14 2.0 on PSVita, you think SE would dare to leak any info's beside from minor apps.

This year E3 or next year one, we might have ff14 coming soon thingy ^^.

[Laraul]

People are really missing the elephant in the room here. All this talk about hardware and how it has any influence over a portable version of either FFXI or FFXIV is completely beside the point. It doesn't matter. What matters is how users expect to use the device, and how games and software make sure to conform to the users needs when using such a device. Hence the number of polygons or amount of memory is not the issue. The issue is that the Vita, like a Smartphone, is going to played on-the-go. While waiting in line, taking a bus, etc. It's not likely going to be exclusively played at home where an existing infrasturcture already exists.

For example, in order to properly function, games will need to power down when the user puts the unit in sleep mode, for example. This can be done at any moment at any time. How are games like FFXIV and FFXI supposed to handle such situations? Obviously it would require the user to spontaniously disconnect from the game. This would be considered unacceptable by the player base. And hence would kill any such version of the game.

So no FFXI or FFXIV for the PS Vita. No port for the iPhone or Android either. Best you might see is a gateway or communication tool to grasp a snapshot of what's going on, but even this I don't beleve is likely.

[Riaayo]

People are really missing the elephant in the room here. All this talk about hardware and how it has any influence over a portable version of either FFXI or FFXIV is completely beside the point. It doesn't matter. What matters is how users expect to use the device, and how games and software make sure to conform to the users needs when using such a device. Hence the number of polygons or amount of memory is not the issue. The issue is that the Vita, like a Smartphone, is going to played on-the-go. While waiting in line, taking a bus, etc. It's not likely going to be exclusively played at home where an existing infrasturcture already exists.

For example, in order to properly function, games will need to power down when the user puts the unit in sleep mode, for example. This can be done at any moment at any time. How are games like FFXIV and FFXI supposed to handle such situations? Obviously it would require the user to spontaniously disconnect from the game. This would be considered unacceptable by the player base. And hence would kill any such version of the game.

So no FFXI or FFXIV for the PS Vita. No port for the iPhone or Android either. Best you might see is a gateway or communication tool to grasp a snapshot of what's going on, but even this I don't beleve is likely.

While I think your overall point is extremely valid, I don't think it's exactly fair to say that the hardware limits have no influence. It's not just a manner of "could the system handle the polys" (though that is extremely important), but also a manner of could the Vita run the engine itself? Game consoles these days are essentially PCs at this point and look at how many bad ports we get to the computer from some console games? To a platform that is MORE powerful and virtually limitless... they screw up the port.

I think the whole idea of 14 on the Vita is extremely pie in the sky, especially when the idea of FF14 even existing in 2 years would be considered pie in the sky by some. I certainly hope this game flourishes, but as is I'm already concerned that the ps3 will effectively hold this game back in several years just as the ps2 effectively did for 11.

[Coldfire]

For example, in order to properly function, games will need to power down when the user puts the unit in sleep mode, for example. This can be done at any moment at any time. How are games like FFXIV and FFXI supposed to handle such situations? Obviously it would require the user to spontaniously disconnect from the game. This would be considered unacceptable by the player base. And hence would kill any such version of the game.

So you want to remove that functionality from the PC version too? I can go into character selection at any time, I can log out at any time and I can log back in right away. Don't see why a different system shouldn't be allowed to do that.

FFXIV is too much for the Vita to handle. Game would be hugely down graded to even run on a Vita.
Plus Keyboard and no R2/L2 buttons and etc.

Please read the thread before posting. It was already mentioned that the Vita has an onscreen keyboard and two touchscreen as extra controls. And you don't know anything about the performance of 2.0 so making claims like "FFXIV is too much for the Vita to handle" is 100% baseless.

[darkblade77]

The Vita is currently the most powerful mobile device in terms of specs out there. With downscaled assets and enough time spent on optimization, it can probably run any engine intended to run on the PS3.

The bigger problem, at least IMO, is storage space. Even downscaled, XIV is going to take up a lot of space and requires a lot of drive activity. The Vita doesn't have accessible internal storage, and Sony is charging a premium for memory cards. Who would want to pay an additional 50+ bucks past the cost of the game itself so they can fit a mandatory XIV install?

They could make the game cart big enough to hold all eventual patches, but the cost would still be passed on to us consumers, and I just can't see it being a pretty outcome.

[Noir]

The Vita is currently the most powerful mobile device in terms of specs out there. With downscaled assets and enough time spent on optimization, it can probably run any engine intended to run on the PS3.

The bigger problem, at least IMO, is storage space. Even downscaled, XIV is going to take up a lot of space and requires a lot of drive activity. The Vita doesn't have accessible internal storage, and Sony is charging a premium for memory cards. Who would want to pay an additional 50+ bucks past the cost of the game itself so they can fit a mandatory XIV install?

They could make the game cart big enough to hold all eventual patches, but the cost would still be passed on to us consumers, and I just can't see it being a pretty outcome.

The game cards are locked. You can't write on them. Just read. That's why for uncharted to work you need a memory card that allows writing to save your game data.

[Coldfire]

The game cards are locked. You can't write on them. Just read. That's why for uncharted to work you need a memory card that allows writing to save your game data.

I heard it's supposed to be used for DLC, patches and savegames o.O
Why the publishers don't use it for saving games is a different issue. Currently they are available as 2 and 4GB cards. Limit seems to be 32GB.

edit:
From an official Sony FAQ:
Q: What kind of game medium will PS Vita support? What is the official name? Why did you decide to introduce it?
A: It is a small flash memory based card, dedicated for PS Vita. Taking advantage of the flash memory feature, this innovative card can store add-on game content or the game save directly on the card. By adopting flash memory based card, SCE will be able to provide game cards with higher capacity in the future, allowing developers to store more game data to deliver rich, immersive games. We will announce the official name at a later date.

[Loki_Jortunn]

Just read the whole thread wow....

First up I will disclaim that i own a psv, i love it the near functionality with games like unit13 its great and shows that you can do online gaming on the go.

Battery life with brightness turned down and wifi still on i still get almost 4 hours out of it (playing shinobido 2), I really wouldn't be playing for a longer amount of time on a vita. Not having R2 L2 triggers is easy to fix with using the back touch as those, the on screen keyboard can be used for chat as well as "Party" which is pretty awesome.

Now to get on to FF14 specifics yes to get it to work really well they would need an optimized engine and scaled down textures, if version 2.0 is as great as they make it out to be then it should be able to handle it easy. Game size the game cartridges would hold the main part of the game and the memory stick would hold the patches as people have stated before patches are MB not GB in size so even a 4Gb would be enough if they are that worried use a 16 or 32GB card. The UI could be revamped something that they said would be possible anyway with 2.0.

Now getting to the realistic part of my post its all about money unless Sony is bank rolling the idea I don't think SE would gamble on putting XIV on the vita they have gambled enough with it already. If they did put it on the vita it could be a major seller, right up there with Monster Hunter and it could change the vita's sales just like MH did for the psp.

I just wish SE lets the PS3 version allow for remote play, i can't imagine i would be raids with it on the go but being able to gather and craft and chat i would really love that.

TLR IF done right vita could run XIV, but requires work and money which is unlikely.