FFXIV on the Vita?

[Abriael]

Disclaimer: Yes, I know that ARR still hasn't even been released on its promised platforms, and they have a ton of work to do before even thinking about other platforms. This is a scenario for the future, when ARR will be already released, successful, and Yoshi-p will be swimming in pools of our money.

I was checking out the new video on the way of work, and it dawned on me how damn fantastic ARR looks on the bright little led screen of the Vita. The resolution is just perfect for the text to be nicely reradable and for the UI to be functional (maybe slightly scaled up). So I thought, how lovely would it be to just finish an all-nighter on FFXIV, walking out of the house to go to work, pulling out the Vita on the Subway and carry on where I left?

Considering the capability of the console, I'm quite confident that it could run an almost direct port of the PS3 version, with the textures and 3d models slightly downscaled, while the touch screen would be absolutely perfect to operate the action bar and target selection.

Personally, I think it'd be lovely.

If a full port isn't possible, it'd still be awesome for the PS3 version of the game to utilize the PS Vita remote play feature (that already works for some games).

Basically you go out (or anywhere in your house), activate the remote play, it automatically turns on the PS3 and starts the game, you can play it, then when you're done, it turns the PS3 off.

Of course a direct port would be preferable (as it could use the touch controls), but this would still be a nice have.

What do you guys think?

[Twiddle]

I think that's bad photo shop for one, and two NO... ps3 limitations is plenty to have to deal with Vita limitations... As well the UI doesn't look like that for the PS3...

[Zehira]

If it requires the PS3, sure. Otherwise, Vita limitation no thanks.

[Abriael]

I think that's bad photo shop for one

You know that the Vita runs youtube, rite? Just giving you a heads up.

As well the UI doesn't look like that for the PS3...

That's not really a problem.

and two NO... ps3 limitations is plenty to have to deal with Vita limitations...

If it requires the PS3, sure. Otherwise, Vita limitation no thanks.

What limitations?

The PS Vita wouldn't limit the game any more than the PS3 does, it wouldn't influence PC development in the slightest.

I see quite a limited knowledge on the technical side of things here.

[Shura]

I think that's bad photo shop for one, and two NO... ps3 limitations is plenty to have to deal with Vita limitations... As well the UI doesn't look like that for the PS3...

Considering there is a Alpha version logo on the bottom left, im assuming its just playing a video of ARR gameplay in fullscreen.

They already had to descale the game so much to get it to run on ps3, and i think they even said how they had to crop the resolution or something then stretch it just for it to work so doubt they'll waste time with a vita port.

[Zehira]

What limitations?

The PS Vita wouldn't limit the game any more than the PS3 does, it wouldn't influence PC development in the slightest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_Cortex-A9_MPCore

Do you want FFXIV to be a game for mobiles? I can't say that CPU will handle a huge MMO like XIV, WoW, and others. Otherwise, my 3.2 Ghz (2 cores) CPU was slow ass even in Ul'han where characters were popping.

[Abriael]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_Cortex-A9_MPCore

Do you want FFXIV to be a game for mobiles? I can't say that CPU will handle a huge MMO like XIV, WoW, and others. Otherwise, my 3.2 Ghz (2 cores) CPU was slow ass even in Ul'han where characters were popping.

Let me explain something that seems to be quite obscure. 3D models and textures are local assets. This means that they run entirely on the system you're using.

The PS3 version has its own downscaled models and textures, and it doesn't influence in any way the PC version. In the same way, the PS Vita version would have its own streamed locally in its own memory. It wouldn't influence either the PC version or the PS3 version in any way.

The PS Vita can handle whatever game you throw at it. All you need to do is to have its own dedicated textures fit the memory bandwidth (which is very high for a portable), and its own dedicated models stay under 133 million polygons per second.

Considering that assets are entirely local to the platform, there's absolutely no influence on the other platforms. Just as the PS3 version doesn't in any way "ruin" the capabilities of the PC version, a PS Vita version would do the same.

Some old FFXI users have the misguided misconception that a less powered platform badly influences the PC version of games due to how FFXI was developed.

The large difference is that the PS2 version of FFXI was developed *before* the PC version, and the PC version was ported from it.

This means that the PS2 version did limit the PC version in the fact that it was almost a straight conversion of PS2 assets.

When you downscale starting from the PC version for other platforms, the process is entirely different, and the PC version isn't negatively affected in any way.

[Reinheart]

It would probably be possible, but personally I think it would make some of the gameplay too difficult.
Maybe if it was for some minor stuff, side games, housing, chocobo stables, etc would be possible + like the smart phone apps they are making for FFXIV on Vita would most likely be possible but full on gameplay (battle, raids) would be too hard imo. Also say you had the content finder and you can select what platform they are on and you see people on "vita" I doubt much of them will get invited to battle related contents.

Btw didn't someone show a remote play version of FFXIV (current) on vita before?? I remember seeing something like that.

[Zehira]

Let me explain something that seems to be quite obscure. 3D models and textures are local assets. This means that they run entirely on the system you're using.

The PS3 version has its own downscaled models and textures, and it doesn't influence in any way the PC version. In the same way, the PS Vita version would have its own streamed locally in its own memory. It wouldn't influence either the PC version or the PS3 version in any way.

The PS Vita can handle whatever game you throw at it. All you need to do is to have its own dedicated textures fit the memory bandwidth (which is very high for a portable), and its own dedicated models stay under 133 million polygons per second.

Considering that assets are entirely local to the platform, there's absolutely no influence on the other platforms. Just as the PS3 version doesn't in any way "ruin" the capabilities of the PC version, a PS Vita version would do the same.

Are you a programmer? You should rethink about Vita's specs because graphics (GPU) don't matter but CPU does matter. I happened to be a web developer and server manager, I'd to optimize something on webpages so old computers can handle it as long as it doesn't hurt their video cards. You are right, Vita version doesn't affect PC and PS3 but does affect them from being improved.

[Abriael]

It would probably be possible, but personally I think it would make some of the gameplay too difficult.

The Vita has the full capabilities of a twin stick controller (all it lacks are two of the four shoulder buttons), with the addition of a front and a rear touch pads.

Manouver the character and camera with the sticks, activate abilities with touch, and target with touch. having done a few ergonomic tests using the youtube video as a backdrop, it's very confortable. Actually more than using just a controller.

Btw didn't someone show a remote play version of FFXIV (current) on vita before?? I remember seeing something like that.

Possible. you'd need a hacked vita capable of running homebrew software though.

Are you a programmer? You should rethink about Vita's specs because graphics (GPU) don't matter but CPU does matter. I happened to be a web developer and server manager, I'd to optimize something on webpages so old computers can handle it as long as it doesn't hurt their video cards. You are right, Vita version doesn't affect PC and PS3 but does affect them from being improved.

I have access to plenty programmers and game developers for work, including quite a lot of people that directly work on PS Vita and ports of games to PS Vita.

To be honest that's quite a bit more information than what someone that works on websites has access to.

The PS Vita's processor is quite powerful, supported by twice the system RAM as a PS3. All a port would need is downscaled assets to fit the video memory bandwidth and the polycount, which is made ecven easier because the Vita's hardware has to move half the pixels of a PS3 at 720p

It wouldn't influence in the slightest way the improvement of PC and PS3 versions because this kind of downscaling can easily be done by a separate team.