ffxiv offline

[Zantetsuken]

Examples successful offline/online games:

• Demons Souls/Dark Souls - Mostly offline, but online content is a nice addition - online component is very well integrated and immersive.
• Monster Hunter - Online is optional but Online and Offline are balanced well (total death limit)
• Diablo - Offline is an option, but online is the most typical way to play.

Looking at that list, I would love to see a FF game in one of those veins at some point. But one thing that all those games have in common is high customization of your main character. So an offline/online FF game would have to be setup like an MMO and balanced rather carefully.

I would pay copious amounts of money for a offline/LAN style FFXI...

Literally, I'd pay $1000. Oh nostalgia, to be able to walk around that old world with no others!

I'm still hoping for an offline FFXI-2 someday (sequel/prequel/side-story). Maybe for a portable system or something. I do miss Vana'diel at times and it would be fun to have a game that you could just pick up and play a bit there.

[JDR388]

This is something I have thought about before and they way SE has been approaching each new numbered Final Fantasy entry as a suite of games (ie. the FFVII compilation, Ivalice Alliance, Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy) makes me think that both FFXIV and its sister, XI would be well served by it.

What I think would work best in this situation would be some short, single player entries set in the same world as its master game following a set of story characters that may or may not be already exist within the master title. Such a game could be a prequel story, focusing on the fall of Ala'Mhigo and give us a closer look at what is actually going on in the opening movie. Another idea could be to focus on some of our grand company leaders, giving them a short, single player side story to really flesh them out and make them multi-dimensional characters.

As such, the offline titles could allow new players to access the respective worlds of Eorzea and Vana'diel but would be divorced from the same game-play that we experience in the online versions. These single player versions could use many of the same assets of their original source material, sufficiently cutting down on production time and may even be served well by incorporating an episodic philosophy similar to how Final Fantasy 4: The After Years worked.

SE has always been admirable in my eyes because of the apparent company-wide focus on narrative, whether riddled with tropes and archetypes or not. Adding in a few single player adventures to the FFXIV or FFXI "suite" of games could not only significantly improve the narrative cohesion within the online worlds but would be an excellent move for SE to make in terms of improving the marketability of the online products. Think of it this way: how many Final Fantasy fans do you know of in your lives who chose to give the online titles a pass simply because they were mmorpgs or required a monthly fee. Inviting some of the these fans in on a one-off adventure, single player adventure set in the same world would work erode these selfsame barriers and make participation in the online experience a more thrilling idea.

Lets face it, who among you after completing a Final Fantasy game didn't wish that there could be more to the experience, more to the story? The ability to jump in and create your own adventures after completing a single player, narratively focused game makes for a very powerful and unique marketing point.