Quote Originally Posted by Gramul View Post
Well I can't stand Halo and CoD for exactly that reason, so maybe Metroid Prime would be a better example. It's adventure based with an open world and items that not only give you better firepower, but help you traverse the world more. Different, but within the same main genre because it takes elements from other genres to evolve it.

It doesn't make it not an FPS just because it handles the core elements in a different way. All the basic properties are still there, just expanded and grafted to new elements.

I'm sure many of us, myself included, could enjoy a themed standard MMO in our favor, but if it didn't work for Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, I wouldn't expect a particularly warm welcome. I'm expecting a lot of "yeah yeah we've seen it all before, this is nothing special, why bother?" if we don't get "Wow, they changed so much! It's better now!"
Metroid Prime is a better example. It is one of those rare occasions where taking a unique approach to a genre worked in it's favor (This game was actually what got me into liking FPS's.). Here is one problem with FFXIV (at least how I see it), they attempted to take a unique approach to the MMO genre the first time. While even if they were to properly execute it, it would of gone into niche audience just like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.

Being unique and executed well unfortunately does not magically make a game a multi-million subscriber MMO. The only reason WoW has the numbers it has is because simply it was at the right place at the right time. With how many MMO's come out today, the count has spread and 10 million+ is an unrealistic number to anyone, not even Blizzard if they made a 2nd MMO. Being unique however I feel makes it a guarantee that you will only gain the niche audience.

Its only opinion, but as Yoshida said and I completely agree with him, is that you bring people in when a sense of familiarity, and then give them a great experience (Which is a Final Fantasy world.). In a MMO sense, I really believe this is a successful approach, you don't have to agree with me.

Since FFXIV was funded by SE themselves, it is very doubtful they will ever go F2P. Games like SW and LotR went free to play because the loaners were not getting their money back as quick as they were expected, and going F2P quickly racks up that cash. As Yoshida said, as long as SE keeps believing FFXIV will still succeed, that is how it will go. I believe it will.