Yes... FF XIII hasn't even been released yet, but that's also consistent with what they did with FFX and FFXI back in the day.
I'm basically calling it FFXI-2 at this point. If you look through the video trailer, you'll see many familiar themes and characters... and I don't mean FF staples like Chocobos and Moogles, but rather, Galka, Mithra, Elvaan, Tarutaru, as well as certain designs that I associate with FFXI specifically such as the scenery of (sky), the airship designs and the design of the mobs being similar to those that you'd find in the Promys.
Now, the big questions are: What does this mean for FFXI? Will people move to XIV? Will I start up XIV?
My guesses:
- Possibility #1: Keep FFXI running side by side as long as it generates more money than it keeps to maintain
- Possibility #2: Open a migration path for FFXI players to move over to XIV in some manner... character migration + some special items/achievements to incite people to make the move
#1 makes the most sense from a business and development point of view... You don't need to spend extra effort coding to support a migration of characters, and you get to keep the revenue stream from your old game going for as long as possible until people finally quit. You can also cut down on the amount of $ you spend supporting FFXI, first by stopping all development to it (will we ever see the end of WotG? I'm starting to wonder), then as FFXIV comes closer to release, shift support human resources over to handle support for the new game and put XI on life support.
#2 actually has some merits for marketing purposes... first off, you'd be able to get a jump start if you succeed in convincing the FFXI players to make the jump over to the new game. That would be a good initial... what, 500k users that would be a good start for a new MMO? Plus it has the advantage of being able to shut down FFXI sooner (assuming that they succeed in attracting people to the new game) and cutting down on support costs for an older game with aging/failing hardware.
Normally I'd dismiss option #2 as simple wishful thinking on the part of existing players... except that the video shows what looks like a FFXI environment and characters, making it possible that they would try a link between the two... If it looked like a brand new world/story (like most other Final Fantasy games), I'd definitely assume that it would be option #1 and evaluate it just like any other brand new MMO.
Now the next question... what does it mean for players? Would people move to XIV? I can't answer that... but I can answer it from my own personal perspective...
I like shiny new things. I like new toys and tend to pick things up pretty quickly. I like the cutting edge, which probably also explains why I've leveled both DNC & SCH instead of the older jobs. Unfortunately, that also means that I'm attracted to shiny new games, so... when FFXIV comes out, I'll definitely be looking to evaluate it.
However, if SE choses option #1, then that would put FFXIV back on the same playing field as any other MMO on the market... While I'm generally a fan of Final Fantasy games, I haven't been too impressed by SE's handling of FFXI players as customers... lack of communication, respect for people's time, and issues with 3rd party tools. On the other hand, there are also lots of other MMOs coming out in the near future, that is... around the Fall'09/Spring'10 timeframe.
Personally, I'm more excited about the new Star Wars MMO "The Old Republic".
On the other hand, if they go by the 2nd route, then... that will most likely mean that I would at... the very least check out XIV ~.~
3 comments:
Bah, I still have issues with SE making these online versions part of the mainline FF games. Call them FFOnline or something. They're too stylistically different to be part of the main series. It wouldn't be right if they made a new FF Tactics and called it FFXV! /end rant
I think Possibility#2 might work for them for reasons you mentioned. Additionlly, I think if they announced it early enough, they would probably renew or incite new interest in FFXI for some players. They'd get ppl wanting to get on FFXI to build up their character (or try it for the 1st time) and so they can rest assured that whatever time they spent now would not be 'wasted'.
It'd be nice if they just somehow just copied your character info, and still kept it intact for FFXI. Double up on subscriptions for players wanting to play both, and making current FFXI players happy. I know. Fiction right? SE keeping ppl happpy?
There may be a method to the madness here. As Ascy stated, FFXI is running on aging and badly failing (now) hardware. They're restricted by the PS2 version of the game, and because of it, they cannot improve the game engine for the other systems without fully dropping their PS2 player base. This move allows them to improve the game with minimal effort in artistic concept for character development purposes (a field I'm finding out this quarter just how long and grueling it can be). It will allow them to improve upon existing models by simply adding polygons and/or normal maps, both of which FFXI is falling behind in.
Texture quality is also quite far behind other games of the current generation. While FFXI looks nice from a distance... once you get up close and actually look at the textures, you can see the pixelation like no other. I am glad to see it won't be available for Xbox considering FFXI's current issues when running on the 360. SE made the right move to support only the PS3 if any console (personally I'd scrap consoles all together for any online game because of upgrade restrictions like seen in FFXI) and they chose the most powerful console currently available.
While it is still possible that SE may allow you to port characters to this game from XI, I find it doubtful or if it does happen, your characters will be returned to level 1 with nothing more than their name and maybe some specialty starter gear for making the transfer. The reason I say this is that, more than likely, the game will have a completely different play style than FFXI currently has if SE decides to make the same move with these online games as the rest of the series... changing the way players level and customize their characters as they advance, and more importantly... if you port people over with fully leveled characters, they won't have much reason to stay longer in the game and will be more likely to give the game up sooner than if they start from scratch.
And lastly, besides the instance with SE banning those they found exploiting certain events, they seem to be doing the best they can to make the game more accessible to their customers. The drop rates, in my opinion, are the only thing keeping this game alive atm. As frustrating as they may be, people will still play until they get that next item, and then the next, and the next... Anyway, you see my point. As far as the lack of content upgrades for FFXI; well, that might be due to the fact they're working on 2 MMOs at once and have been working feverishly to release this content by E3. I'd expect an announcement in the next week or 2 about a new content patch coming up.
Anyway, that's just how I'm seeing it right now from the halfway point between gamer and developer... well, and 100% stressed out and tired as fuck human being...
It's option #1, and it makes sense financially.
People will buy the new game, but they won't give up their level 75 relic wielding character... so you get to double dip!
However, I *am* surprised that they recently expanded their "reactivate" service... From a business POV, I would have kept the old policy of making sure people thought that their characters would be deleted after 3 months so they'd be afraid of shutting their service down.
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