With all of the limitations holding FFXIV back, why not make a new FF MMORPG?

[Floortank]

This is not a "FFXIV is dying" thread, because I don't believe it is. For my part, I'll keep playing as long as they keep delivering stellar content.

However, at every turn, we're told we can't have XYZ because of memory limitations, server limitations, etc.

We can't have butt sliders, we can't have tattoos or scars, we can't have more facial features or different body types, we can't have linked retainer inventories (cough), we can't have a glamour codex we can open in the field, we can't have male viera or female hrothgar, and our viera and hrothgar can equip every kind of headgear but you won't be able to see most of it. So no Dragoon or Red Mage or Black Mage viera in that iconic look.

Which brings me all the way back to my question. When is enough, enough? Yoshi P and his team built ARR on top of a dead and broken game, and made it a triumphant success. But it's been clear for years that building on the shoddy framework of the original FFXIV has limited everything that could ever be possible from 2.0 onward.

They've done magnificently, and gone beyond the call of duty. But Shadowbringers looks like the thinnest expansion of the three they've done. Two incomplete races, because they didn't have time to finish them; no new healer because they didn't have time to balance a new one against the old ones. No butt slider because it's too much work to go back and redo the way all the leg gear appears, no iconic headgear on the new races because it's too much work to go in and altar meticulously altar the headgear for each new head, and so on and so forth.

When you get to the point that you're cutting this many corners and calling it an expansion, it makes me wonder if you should move on. I love this game and I plan to play it for the foreseeable future, but it's not WOW, and it shouldn't go on for another decade past its prime like WOW has. WOW is in a deplorable state, and should have died with dignity... Look, I don't want to turn this into a WOW analog.

Suffice it to say, Yoshi P and his developers did a heroic thing in saving Final Fantasy XIV. They deserve to move on to new and better projects. We deserve to play new and better games. If Final Fantasy XIV starts to lower the bar, it's time to make the choice that's better for all of us--gamers and developers--and start fresh.

If that happens, it's time for a new Final Fantasy MMORPG.

[Vanitas]

No.
/10char

[Daralii]

The MMO genre isn't what it used to be, and making one is a massive undertaking(easily 5+ years of development, tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars) with no guarantee of success. It would be a big gamble.

[Kalise]

With all of the limitations holding FFXIV back, why not make a new FF MMORPG?

Because if they can't get the resources to allow them to work on FFXIV at the rate they wish to be able to, in what world will SE decide to spend the egregious amount of resources it would take to build a new MMO game from scratch?

Like, it'd only take a fraction of the resources to hire a few more developers for XIV to allow them to undertake some of the major tasks, such as rewriting the character creation code in 2.0 fashion instead of 1.0 spaghetti fashion.

[Kaedan]

It's not that they CAN'T do all those things. They have full control over their engine and the tools they use, so they could do all those things. It's that they are choosing not to.

The lack of showing helmets on Viera/Hrothgar is a design choice. They could have made their heads less "unique" and just treat them like the other races, but they chose not to to give us more options (what those options are we don't know yet).

They could do "butt sliders", but they have chosen not to because it would be too much work for what they get out of it (seriously, we don't need butt sliders, that's a rather niche thing).

They could have made a healer but CHOSE not to in favor of balancing the other healers.

What I think you are confusing, OP, are choices vs limitations. There aren't any real limitations other than TIME. And it's how they CHOOSE to spend their TIME, not that they are limited by the engine/code.

[Valdegarde]

I agree, although possibly not for the reasons you've listed. Really, this applies to Final Fantasy as a whole, I feel that unfortunately FFXIV is keeping the series afloat all on its own for quite some years now, and that's frankly pretty unfair. I think this contributes to some of the loftier expectations for the game. I'm guilty of it, I admit. I feel it is what's representing Final Fantasy as a whole right now, especially considering FFXV....wasn't it. Even if you're a fan of the game, it was quite the departure.

I don't necessarily disagree with what you've mentioned are possible limitations, but I also feel a more pressing reason for a new Final Fantasy (MMO or not) is the series needs to move past it and XV and get a fresh face. I feel this will also free up FFXIV to go at its own pace and have more freedom to accomplish its own goals, instead of being forced into THE Final Fantasy for a while now.

[Kazrah]

Why does it have to be a FF MMO? Why not a StarOcean MMO?

[cicatriz313]

Lol, make a whole new game because we can't get male Viera? This is getting pretty ridiculous. The reason of course is because this game is doing well, and it takes too much money.

[MPK]

Why not print money?

[Serenno]

Lol, make a whole new game because we can't get male Viera? This is getting pretty ridiculous. The reason of course is because this game is doing well, and it takes too much money.

That's not what they said though. I get the whole hyperbolic reactions regarding male Viera gets annoying but that's not what this thread is. I don't necessarily agree but I do recognize that they're constantly limited by the fact that they rebuilt FFXIV using the messy 1.0 engine, and it really does seem to put the devs in a tough spot from time to time. I don't think it's realistic for them to build a new MMO considering SE isn't even giving the existing team more resources.