Problems letting go of XI? Japanese too.

[Majidah]

I'm pretty sure tanaka wanted to make ffxi 2.0 but they forced him to release too early so they had to burn it down to look good.

[Rydin]

I'm pretty sure tanaka wanted to make ffxi 2.0 but they forced him to release too early so they had to burn it down to look good.

that's definitely not what Tanaka said
from this interview

Final Fantasy XI was more like related to the first early games in the series, and it's something that we always wanted to achieve online, but we think we've done what we can do for FFXI, so with FFXIV, we're looking for a next generation Final Fantasy game -- so it's going to be quite different.

and also from this interview

We will have a casual aspect, but we're not going to only target the casual players. Its really a users choice. We will be able to provide a variety of aspects to the game that casual players will enjoy but the hardcore players will enjoy it as well. And also for FFXI and FFXIV we aim to support both players, although FFXIV is using a new graphics engine, so we're providing current FFXI players with an option if they want to play FFXI of course that is fine, but they're also very welcome to play FFXIV.

Hiromichi Tanaka also says that it would be very nice if the players of other Final Fantasy games who never played FFXI would play FFXIV. So that is one of the goals.

So basically they're aiming at the Final Fantasy fans who haven't played MMO's due to having a casual aspect of FFXIV, but also at the same time giving the hardcore MMO players something to enjoy as well.

[Wirritosama]

The people who quit xiv will return it never fails. I believe 2.0 will have a huge influx of new players making the community better than it already is and add some fun/new blood. With the addition of name changes and gender changes at 2.0 everything will feel new/fresh. We also have to remember that xi had a year plus to develope when it was Japan only. As far as Tanaka I can't put all the blame on him, in Japan you cannot do anything in a company without permission. So I'm sure some higher ups in the company who know nothing about the game are also to blame. ( hence why he was t fired ) at the same time they should have put someone who has played mmo and has experience as a gamer as well from day one. ( Naoki Yoshida )

[ArnoMorley]

The people who quit xiv will return it never fails. I believe 2.0 will have a huge influx of new players making the community better than it already is and add some fun/new blood. With the addition of name changes and gender changes at 2.0 everything will feel new/fresh. We also have to remember that xi had a year plus to develope when it was Japan only. As far as Tanaka I can't put all the blame on him, in Japan you cannot do anything in a company without permission. So I'm sure some higher ups in the company who know nothing about the game are also to blame. ( hence why he was t fired ) at the same time they should have put someone who has played mmo and has experience as a gamer as well from day one. ( Naoki Yoshida )

I'm sure 2.0 will see new players but there is one thing that concerns me. All the updates we're getting are supposed to be huge but I don't see anybody returning, in fact it seems to me like the numbers are still going down.

They also aren't future proofing content, if other things had been patched to be kept relevant we'd have a lot of end game. However the way they're doing it now every patch nerfs all the new stuff from the last patch so we only have 2 things to do. I found that it wasn't that 1.0 wasn't a fun game, it was the bad UI and lack of content.


And I agree, you can't blame Tanaka. Tanaka is a brilliant game designer but when you're given strict rules you have to follow how can you put your full creativeness into a project? SE also makes a big mistake when they get the "Next-Gen" concept in mind. Next-Gen graphics, sure but when you change gameplay too much your fan base isn't going to like it.

I can't believe the same company that makes dragon quest games doesn't realize that, Dragon quest 8/9's battle systems are nearly identical to all their old games and people loved it. In fact 9 set a sales record in Japan.

[Wirritosama]

I'm sure 2.0 will see new players but there is one thing that concerns me. All the updates we're getting are supposed to be huge but I don't see anybody returning, in fact it seems to me like the numbers are still going down.

They also aren't future proofing content, if other things had been patched to be kept relevant we'd have a lot of end game. However the way they're doing it now every patch nerfs all the new stuff from the last patch so we only have 2 things to do. I found that it wasn't that 1.0 wasn't a fun game, it was the bad UI and lack of content.


And I agree, you can't blame Tanaka. Tanaka is a brilliant game designer but when you're given strict rules you have to follow how can you put your full creativeness into a project? SE also makes a big mistake when they get the "Next-Gen" concept in mind. Next-Gen graphics, sure but when you change gameplay too much your fan base isn't going to like it.

I can't believe the same company that makes dragon quest games doesn't realize that, Dragon quest 8/9's battle systems are nearly identical to all their old games and people loved it. In fact 9 set a sales record in Japan.

They should def future proof content. Also I have seen new players just last week I spend a few hours showing a group of 4 new players the game and how to get about etc and a day prior to that 2 new ones. I think the numbers going down where the return of level 50 on all jobs getting AF the first week then getting bored again.

[Rydin]

I can't believe the same company that makes dragon quest games doesn't realize that, Dragon quest 8/9's battle systems are nearly identical to all their old games and people loved it. In fact 9 set a sales record in Japan.

On that same note... Final fantasy has been famous because it did change quite a bit from game to game...
ATB in FFIV, Sphere grid and battle in X, no random battles in FFXII. Unique faster fighting of FFXIII.
No 2 battle systems are exactly the same... no 2 games have the exact same classes and jobs...

thats the major thing about this game... It didn't fail because someone tried to be different... it failed because it was rushed, underdeveloped and laggy

edit: also SE didn't technically make DQ9, that was Level-5... remember Dark Cloud?

[ArnoMorley]

On that same note... Final fantasy has been famous because it did change quite a bit from game to game...
ATB in FFIV, Sphere grid and battle in X, no random battles in FFXII. Unique faster fighting of FFXIII.
No 2 battle systems are exactly the same... no 2 games have the exact same classes and jobs...

thats the major thing about this game... It didn't fail because someone tried to be different... it failed because it was rushed, underdeveloped and laggy

edit: also SE didn't technically make DQ9, that was Level-5... remember Dark Cloud?

There's a difference between changing a bit and changing too much though (and changing into something bad). The ATB was the biggest change they ever made but it was a good thing because it set it apart from other RPGs, but kept it a good RPG. I think 4-9 did the battle system right, different methods of growth but a similar battle style, turn based/atb.

I think that's what more people wanted, just like more people wanted an XI-2 than what 14 is. The problem is also that they're changing just for the sake of changing. They don't actually have some genius idea up their sleeve that warrants changing they're just trying to conform to a "mainstream" and always fail to do so.

[Sephrick]

I'm sure 2.0 will see new players but there is one thing that concerns me. All the updates we're getting are supposed to be huge but I don't see anybody returning, in fact it seems to me like the numbers are still going down.

Because SE hasn't advertised the game since, well, ever. They had that Japan-only live action trailer and Yoshida's 2.0 announcement media tour but to bring in players advertising needs to be persistent.

I know all about Rifts patches and I've never even bothered with even the free trial of the game. How do I know about it? Rift has a persistent marketing campaign for each and every content patch.

Even Blizzard still advertises the crap out of WoW. My Grandmother knew what WoW was and she didn't even know how to turn on a computer.

SE isn't advertising 1.x and rightfully so, it's just a pacifier for dedicated fans. That's why Yoshida went on a media tour to talk about 2.0, and why the E3 trailer will be 2.0 only. 1.x is dead to the general gaming community.

Most gamers don't know about any of the changes to 1.x because they aren't wishfully checking Lodestone in hopes of the patch that will bring them into the game. They've moved on and will stay away until SE puts it infront of their faces and shows them why they should spend their precious free time playing XIV instead of WoW/Rift/SW:TOR/Aoin/Tera/GW2/Blade & Soul/DC Universe/Dust 514 so on and so forth.

Not to mention a lot has changed since 2002. MMOs aren't the only way to play with friends anymore.

They also aren't future proofing content, if other things had been patched to be kept relevant we'd have a lot of end game. However the way they're doing it now every patch nerfs all the new stuff from the last patch so we only have 2 things to do. I found that it wasn't that 1.0 wasn't a fun game, it was the bad UI and lack of content.

They're not "future proofing" it because in about nine months it's all getting deleted.

We have a few months to gather Darklight gear, then a few months to farm Garuda weapons(1.22), then a few months to witness the Seventh Umbral Era events (1.23) that will change the face of Eorzea. Then it's 2.0 time.

1.x is only to keep us busy till 2.0. They said even the primal battles will be different in 2.0.

They won't advertise this game much till 2.0 when they fix the bad UI and the interface lag and the struggling engine and crippled servers.

And I agree, you can't blame Tanaka. Tanaka is a brilliant game designer but when you're given strict rules you have to follow how can you put your full creativeness into a project? SE also makes a big mistake when they get the "Next-Gen" concept in mind. Next-Gen graphics, sure but when you change gameplay too much your fan base isn't going to like it.

You put your full creativeness into a project by being a professional and doing your job. I have no dobt Tanaka's original vision could have been an awesome game. And he did have the rug pulled out from under him. But that said, 2002 gameplay won't sell a game today. XIV needed to be something fresh and still does.

[Rydin]

Because SE hasn't advertised the game since, well, ever. They had that Japan-only live action trailer and Yoshida's 2.0 announcement media tour but to bring in players advertising needs to be persistent.

To be fair... SE doesn't really advertise anything in NA....
I saw the Leona Lewis "My hands" commercial a few times for XIII and thats its... I've never seen SE on TV other than that