Rather... picked out the ones that are probably most interesting to FFXI players.
You can find the liveblog of the conference at: http://e3.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/696020/Live-Blog-Square-Enix-E3-2009-Press-Conference.html
Keep in mind this is official from Square Enix, not rumors/speculation
- Characters look the same only "so FFXI players could choose a similar type of race in the new game. For example, in movies, you might have an actor that plays many different roles."
- "FFXI will continue to be supported. There is another year of content planned. There are no plans for the near future to stop development on FFXI."
- "The current plans are to have worldwide servers that are cross-platform and cross-region."
- "We envision users that will hopefully play XI one day and XIV another. They will be independent, but users are free to play both."
- "There will not be any XI character transfers to XIV."
- "We will NOT be using PlayOnline, but friend lists will transfer over."
- It takes place entirely underwater and those flying drones in the cinematic trailer were actually Mutalisks from StarCraft.
My takeaways:
- Two separate games, just like Lineage I & II. No relation, no character transfer
- Current plans are to stop FFXI content development. We'll get the end of WotG (maybe, but I'm betting it'll be rushed and unsatisfying), and the next two "mini-expansions" (definitely for more $ into SE's pockets). After that, FFXI is on life support with at most a bit of token content every year. (Increasing drop rates for MMM weapons by 0.1% in the next update)
- I'm surprised that they would not be using PlayOnline... I mean, after they put so much effort into it, plus the new security token thing
- They're being lazy with character designs... story and background they can make up easily
- More cross-regional servers, so the whole NA/JP conflict, lag times, etc. are still going to be present.
- There is more hype about StarCraft II
It's FFXI being launched all over again. Cross-regional stuff, multi-countries... I guess the game is getting a graphics revamp, and new/tweaked storyline? I'm disappointed that they decided to re-use character races completely from XI... I mean, code reuse is good and stuff, but when it comes to content, I'd rather have something new. Seems like they were too lazy to at least throw in some new races... how about the FFXII bunnies?
Compared to the dozen of MMOs out there, this seems like a really weak offering at this time. Considering that they've announced this for just being 1 year out... with this little detail... almost seems like this project is being rushed out?
3 comments:
It's the EA Era. Companies all around the globe are only making games to make a profit anymore. No-one is making games to make them fun, interesting, and innovative. The only companies that actually make good games don't have the financial backing or advertising know-how to get the game out in the market so that people find out about it. Some of the best games, I'm predicting, will be made by companies no-one has ever heard of before, and half of them will be games that the majority of people put back on the shelf cause it doesn't have a big name on it like EA or Square-Enix, etc. or because it lacks a shiny feature like normal maps even though the gameplay may be awesome. Anyway, that's all I see from the midway point between gamer and developer.
Well, companies exist ONLY to make a profit. Period. If making a game fun, interesting and innovative gives them a profit, then they will do so.
However, companies also do not like risk. If something works, they'll take the formula and repeat it over and over as long as it's profitable. That's why you have Call of Duty 10 and Harry Potter VI coming out year after year.
It usually takes a desperate company to try something new... hence, the Nintendo Wii. What? You think they wouldn't have come out with the GameCube-128 if they didn't lose the last generation and actually had the money to develop a HD console?
You missed my point... my point was, games USED to be made as something people liked to do that they later turned into something they could make a profit from. Now they've been turned solely into something to make a profit on. They only make that profit because of all the stupid people out there that buy the game before actually trying it.
The world we currently live in is stuck too much on name brands. Many people will not try a new game simply because it's made by a company they don't know while they'll buy a crappy game from a company they do know on the sole basis that "All their previous games were good" and considering that software has a No Return after opening policy on it, the companies still make a profit off of it. This is the exact reason I do not buy games until I have either tried the demo, or seen someone else playing the game and or played their copy of the game for a while.
Reviews by actual people that play the game help, but you need to filter out the idiot reviews filled with bias from the actual people that gave the game a chance. Sometimes this can be more difficult than it seems, and as such, I prefer to try a game myself before deciding to buy it unless someone with similar interests in games as me says that they like it... then I MIGHT buy it before trying it if I'm hyped about the title enough.
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