MMO on Rails

[Nonsensicles]

SWTOR was a mmo on rails and you see how that game is doing. my bet is its getting shutdown in the near future.

Actually, it's still got more active players than the vast majority of MMOs. Of course, it has indeed taken a huge fall since launch, and it fell greatly short of EA's moneygrubbing expectations. It's not getting shut down, though; it's just going free to play (officially confirmed and everything).

[Rau]

Needs rails, with lots of optional, worthwhile stops along the way.

[SuzakuCMX]

Isn't the game on rails right now? I mean there isn't very much content you can do without doing some GC quests first. Crappy public dungeons, NMs, faction leves are pretty much it.

[bobbygunz]

Yoshi said they were going to take a "Conductors" approach to FFXIV.

I guess this means they will usher you through various quest hubs to level cap?

And then have some cross-server thing on the side (why?)...

FFXI had something similiar. There was a process where you went to valkrum, Jueno, Qufim, Kazham, etc. So it's not like FFXIV will be the only game in history to be on rails. They can still conduct people through content without it getting annoying. But at the same time, there's merit in the argument that too much coercian and forced gameplay just gets boring fast.

We need some content that lets us think for ourselves, and do things with the community our own way.

I wish MMO designers would realise that some people just want to log in and do their own thing sometimes. Fortunately there will always be crafting and gathering too, which is a playstyle you can always just do on your own terms, generally speaking.

I think it's pretty damn rich, though, how in that same China Joy interview, Yoshi P completely shrugs off ArcheAge as "just another Korean MMO", when in reality, it looks to be the only upcoming game which really invests time into developing content where players can create gameplay around what THEY want to do, not just what the game tells them to.

[Nonsensicles]

Yoshi said they were going to take a "Conductors" approach to FFXIV.

I guess this means they will usher you through various quest hubs to level cap?

Yes. Lots of guessing on your part, but somewhere on the way you seem to have gotten lost and forgot it was just guessing.

'Conductor' to me means someone who facilitates you getting to where you want to go, but you still have to choose your own final destination and work out a lot of other details and detours on the way. And a public transport system is never the only option.

I think it's pretty rich how in that same China Joy interview, Yoshi P waives off ArcheAge as "just another Korean MMO"

'Q: Going up against heavy hitters such as Blade & Soul and ArcheAge, how will Final Fantasy XIV stand out?
A: Final Fantasy XIV has a more unique game history and culture, which is a big factor *refers to Final Fantasy 8, Faye Wong singing “Eyes on Me”*. Korean MMORPGs focus too much on the game itself, but not about the real life culture surrounding it.'

Nope. Not seeing that in there at all. You're just wilfully misinterpreting things, aren't you?

[bobbygunz]

Yes. Lots of guessing on your part, but somewhere on the way you seem to have gotten lost and forgot it was just guessing.

'Conductor' to me means someone who facilitates you getting to where you want to go, but you still have to choose your own final destination and work out a lot of other details and detours on the way. And a public transport system is never the only option.



'Q: Going up against heavy hitters such as Blade & Soul and ArcheAge, how will Final Fantasy XIV stand out?
A: Final Fantasy XIV has a more unique game history and culture, which is a big factor *refers to Final Fantasy 8, Faye Wong singing “Eyes on Me”*. Korean MMORPGs focus too much on the game itself, but not about the real life culture surrounding it.'

Nope. Not seeing that in there at all. You're just wilfully misinterpreting things, aren't you?

With all due respect (i.e., no respect), there's not much wilfull misinterpretation going on. All I did was paraphrase his attitude into words. You can't just lump Blade & Soul and Archeage into one group (Korean MMO) and treat them as identical and as just one-dimensional games. Korean MMORPG isn't exactly a genre.

I think it really shows a lot of ignorance to treat them as the same, since they are diamterically opposed in terms of subgenre (one is a theme park, the other a sandbox). So when I say he waives them off, there is actually a lot of validity to that claim, since it's obviously what he's doing.

If you read some articles on game-design by Jake Song (the director of ArcheAge) and compare it to Yoshi's blase approach, then you will see how far Yoshi falls short, and it comes across as arrogant to people who are up-to-date on other upcoming MMOs when Yoshi makes a throwaway phrase about korean MMORPS being all the same.

Last time i checked, FFXIV didn't have non-instanced house-building, shipbuilding, siege warfare, swimming, non-instanced airships, and multiple mounts (which can jump AND fight with you). Archeage does have those things. So he should be a little modest in the future, that's all.

[yukikaze_yanagi]

I think it's pretty damn rich, though, how in that same China Joy interview, Yoshi P completely shrugs off ArcheAge as "just another Korean MMO", when in reality, it looks to be the only upcoming game which really invests time into developing content where players can create gameplay around what THEY want to do, not just what the game tells them to.

That's the definition of sandbox, and we know this game is in direction of theme park.
Btw, sandboxes aren't wonderful all they time: they are very difficult to balance and if something goes wrong, the game will folllow. that's a reason why sandbox are so few

[Duelle]

That's the definition of sandbox, and we know this game is in direction of theme park.
Btw, sandboxes aren't wonderful all they time: they are very difficult to balance and if something goes wrong, the game will folllow. that's a reason why sandbox are so few

This. Sandbox MMOs are insanely difficult to balance because of the "freedom" that entails them. There's things that have to be left open for design purposes that can get abused. Likewise, it's a timesink-dependent model because of the simple fact that the game itself would have no clear direction. Sandbox is basically "here is the world. Live in it". Theme park is more along the lines of "here is the world, and this is your story/task/adventure".

PS: Well, damn, I forgot to look at who the OP was...

[Masamune1004]

But Rokien, I thought you wanted trains

[TokyieRage]

I noticed Rokien likes to start threads and never reply to the people in it. Is it your goal to make as many pointless threads as possible?