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Final Fantasy XIV: FFXI to FFXIV Jurassic Park to The Lost World
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
MMORPG.com contributor Eric Barnett writes this look at what will happen to Final Fantasy XI when Final Fantasy XIV launches.
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Love it or hate it, Final Fantasy Eleven has been out and going strong for eight years (six years for US players). The first MMO incarnation of the Final Fantasy series, Eleven had some major expectations to live up to amongst its legions of followers. Originally launching with only a limited number of classes, it has now expanded to a whopping twenty class system. The game has had its ups and downs like all MMOs of its time, however FFXI has always remained steadfast in its niche. With Square Enix now on the cusp of their beta stages we must ask ourselves, why a part two?
People have always joked that the series title was a play on itself, "How can they say it's a FINAL fantasy if there are so many of them?" Fans of the series will always argue, "Because each game is its own story!" This however, is becoming more of a convoluted statement with each game released lately. With endless spinoffs to popular games in the series now sprouting out of every direction, fans are hard-pressed to stick to their guns. The question now resounds, "Why not just make this an expansion to FFXI instead of calling it FFXIV if you are already using the same world?" Players have been debating this endlessly since fourteen was announced, but should we see this as a big deal? If we already saw games like FFX-2 become popular as spin-off, stand alone titles, then why should giving this game a new number be any different? It's all in the lore and game-play for me; if Square Enix can convince me that this is indeed a new world to explore, then I'm sold.
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
From what we know so far, XI and XIV are going to cater to different play styles. XI will stay for those who enjoy party grinding, a set class system, and just old school gameplay in general. XIV is planning to bring instant teleporting to any quest hub, lots of solo content, and lots of flexibility in the class system. I, personally, think XIV will be too "easy" for me. It's like doing the same thing Bethesda did from Morrowind to Oblivion. Auto travel, lack of skills, etc. just made it too shallow for me to enjoy.
Playing - EVE, Wurm
Retired - Final Fantasy XI, Anarchy Online, Mabinogi
Waiting - ArcheAge, Salem
Great to see an FFXI/XIV article here on MMORPG.com once in a while
What will happen to XI once XIV comes out? I think I have a good guess as to what will happen.
The version updates will obviously be slowing down at a steady pace. As the game's population shrinks, it's not really a good decision business-wise to keep supporting it as much as before if the profit/effort ratio doesn't match up.
There are things SE can do to not make it feel so bad though, and what they have done already shows how they're going to handle the situation.
For one, SE is making add-ons for extra cash which actually gives them a good effort/profit margin, than if they gave these features for "free" along with the version updates. The players also gain from this, since it's extra content they wouldn't be getting otherwise.
Secondly, SE has been making content that is long-lasting by default and can support itself even without the developers really being involved. It gives the players something to do at all times, even if SE isn't there to add content every few months.
Then we come to my last point: raising the level cap. TONS of content for the players, which don't take lots of resources from the developers; it's the best way to give players content with the least amount of resources as possible. Most problems stem from job, monster, exp balancing and so on, but that is a lot less resource consuming than creating whole new events, areas, etc. Only hard work is thinking up new ideas and working out the issues that may arise from a balance standpoint, the implementation itself is quite cheap.
So, what SE is basically trying to do is make the game support itself without the need for developers to be constantly making new content for the game that has a constantly decreasing userbase. The people who stick around will always have something to do, and the company can aim all possible resources to their new MMO flagship.
I'm pretty sure FFXI will lose it's largest linkshells to 14, most of these are social entities that are not about the brutal hardcore devotion that is demanded in XI, accessibility however should not be mistaken for casual, SE has something up it's sleeve and that something is akin to what Ncsofts Aion Vision trailer showed us, but in this case it isn't a lie. SE are masters at telling stories and building strong communities and if you take that and add an accessible game that can be picked up quickly you will have a huge success.
This sword here at my side dont act the way it should
Keeps calling me its master, but I feel like its slave
Hauling me faster and faster to an early, early grave
And it howls! it howls like hell!
Nice to see some FFXIV publicity on here. I agree with most of the points raised in the interview, although the main article is a little misinformed.
You ask "Why not just make this an expansion to FFXI instead of calling it FFXIV if you are already using the same world?" and yet XIV isn't using the same world, it's using an entirely new one... the only things that are similar are the appearances of the player races. There isn't really any debate there at all. Players will still love and/or hate both but the comparison is nowhere near the FFX/FFX-2 level since X-2 was a direct story continuation in the same setting. XIV is not a continuation, in any way. XI was built on the premise of a two way war, XIV is built on the premise of a three way war, that alone shakes any possibility of the setting or story being similar.
You also mention 'whispers of subjobs still being in the game' despite SE emphatically stating that they are not. XIV uses a new system entirely that allows access to a combination of skills from any other classes you've levelled regardless of your curent class.
Sorry to be a litle fanboy-ish in raising those points but a lot of people who haven't looked into XIV much are going to read this article and get the wrong impression.
In terms of how XIV will affect XI though, I expect most people will move to XIV at first, then as the significant differences become clear some will stay and some will move back to XI. Personally I'm most looking forward to simply being able to have a fresh start on launch day, rather than feeling like I'm trying to catch up with everyone further down the line. That alone will go a long way to keep me playing XIV even if, at launch, it isn't quite the game XI has become.
Ok this made me laugh. FFXI and FFXIV share the same races but the world, the story, the lore, the classess, the gameplay, etc etc etc are all different. I dont know anyone who has been "enlessly debating" this, and I dont know where this guy came up with this. FFXI= vanadiel created by 2 gods. FFXIV = Eorzea and so far they have mentioned the 12 gods a couple times.
I for one enjoyed FFXI and am looking forward to FFXIV as a new and different experience. I dont think SE will dumb this down like people are afraid they will this is after all an asian made MMO and they seem to like things to be challenging (grouping, grinding, lots and lots of money) from what I've seen. my 2 cents
I am currently subbed with a half dozen other friends to FFXI, waiting for FFXIVs release (eagerly). They are both niche focused and FFXI will keep its classic-style player base, as much as EQ and Asheron's Call have kept theirs. I agree with everyone as well, focusing on other boards like those of FFXIVcore, etc...there is no debate on if FFXIV being anything the same FFXI; actually quite the opposite, most people are more eager to find similarities in functionality and prepping to compare the two...more of positive outlook on its coming, not a "its going be the same" perspective.
Also I think FFXI players moving to FFXIV are going to look onto it fondly, as its one of the best MMOs around and has a rock solid community & content base. I'd like to think of it more of a Jurassic Park to Avatar, type of move
This is why I want to play FFXIV, and I like how the article brought it up. If FFXIV doesn't live up to current FFXI players expectations and they retract back to thier game, that leaves a fresh new community of players that like it and want to play the game. And I don't intend this like it's a bad thing for the FFXI players either. You love your game for that reason, it yours. Which is why I'll try as hard as I can with the others that take it up to make FFXIV ours. Who knows? Maybe later on you grizzeled vets can comeby sometime and show us how you guys did it back in the day. :P
P.S.- If you cant tell, I really cant wait to play this game.
I honestly wished I played FFXI. I gave it two solid tries.. but the controls and UI did me in. Yes it was made for a PS2, but come on... how hard is it to do a solid port to PC?
If FFIV has similiar content, updated graphics and the UI and controls fixed... I will give it a try. Otherwise... sorry.
I remember when FFXI came out all too well; I had to go out and buy a new video card just to run it on my PC. Playing it for the first time was like Christmas for me. There were highs and lows, but I still look back on the game fondly as the epitome of a group-required experience (at the time I played, which was just after US launch). Playing a white mage was like wearing a large neon sign above my head that said, "VIP - Group me before someone else does!". I had some great times playing the game for almost two years back in the day.
My appetites for MMOs have changed over the years, and while I love grouping, I don't enjoy forced grouping. Grouping takes time and coordination; I have precious little gaming time available in my life and am more interested in immediate gratification. Regardless of where I stand on the minority/majority on this mindset, I think FFXIV will cater better to the experience I want at this point in my gaming career.
I wish FFXI well, but at this stage its future is of little consequence to me in the face of FFXIV.
Regardless of how FFXIV is, I'll still play it....BUT for **** sakes, remove the need to swap gear before you do weapon skills. I know it improve your damage by putting on str and atk gear for ws or etc for other ws, but its so annoying every time. I just don't want to do that anymore.
I think there is no way to really know without playing the game at least 30 lvls. With that said I do agree that ffxi was great, and where I have no problem with changes to make it more solo friendly as I do like solo and grp play, they should not change everything because why mess with sucess as ffxi is still one of the most populated mmos. PS: Without the class system of jobs where you can change them without changing char its just not FF as that was ffxi's strongest feature in my opinion. Anyway just my thoughts please leave me some feedback let me know if you agree or not.
"Well for one, fourteen has better graphics and coding for it. The reason that I initially quit eleven was because my high end computer couldn't run the game well because of the poor coding."
Um, I ran XI on a PIII 800mhz with a 64 mb pci card that was -way way- out of date back in nov of 2003. I was even on dial-up! Poor coding my ass.
This article is crap by the way, extremely bland and non-informative writing.
Even if low-end machines ran the game decently, you could never get acceptable framerate in some situations no matter how good of a PC you had.
Yes, that is poor coding at its worst.
LOL @ artical start. Seriously how is an editor of an MMO site so uninformed about an MMO? the games are COMPLETEly diffrent besides races and some classic FF stuff like monsters. seriously do some research before you spew non-scense to your readers sir.
I have limited information about FFXI, though it is a game I have been following loosely -- so I'll keep my comment loose and general in response to the OP.
The article wasn't ideal, though I think the analogy can still hold firm. As the Dinosaurs in Jurassic Park did, if the game does not evolve it will die. If FFXIV doesn't plan on changing any core fundamentals, or at least perfecting the previous iteration (for instance, the addition of the hotbar) then you're basically selling a graphical update.
The interview with a close friend revealed nothing a laymen couldn't really ascertain on their own. If people don't like FFXIV they'll go back to XI... Some changes sound great but we'd like to try it first... Upgrade but don't innovate...
If people are still playing XI in an age where there are plenty of games that do similar systems differently and still do them "right" then its obvious they stay in the game for either the atmosphere or they're attached to the gameplay. In this instance SE will be damned if they do and damned if they don't with those players. Either they give them exactly what the playerbase already has and they lost the chance to grow, or they change the system and run the risk of ostracizing the XI player base from playing XIV.
In that avenue at least they'll still have XI to go back to... as long as XI continues to stay open.
FF11 was as much of a flop as SWG. Yes SWG is still open too. Just because a game is still running doesn't mean it filled a niche or had any real measure of success. I believe FF11 may have had a moderate number of subs overseas, but not in the US market.
The game was horrible, and was the most un-FF like experience that could have been concieved. It was the epitome of a reskinned EQ.
The article is hilarious btw, you sat down with your friend Ganen. Wow. Journalism Fail.
And subs overseas do not matter, am I right?
Pretty cool that you know how many subs the game had in the west. Care to tell us where you got that information?
Based on what? Sounds like a speculative opinion, and biased at that. Comparing a game that's held a substantial subscription base to a game that lost, what, over 80% of it's original players due to an entire game overhaul?
Totally a fair comparison.
Now wait, if I'm not mistaken, XIV is taking place on a different "planet" than XI. XI, as we all know, being held in Vanadiel, but XIV, again as we all know, being held in Hydaelyn. Yes, they have the same characters, but it's a different landscape.
From Wikipedia:
"Previously Square Enix had announced that more than 500,000 users, using more than one million characters, were playing the game as of January 2004"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XI
With that single exception, from 13 March 2003 until the final reference on 14 January 2004,Sony releases that contained numbers referred only to more than 430,000 subscriptions, and/or more than 118,000 simultaneous logins. This leaves the peak and current number of subscriptions for EQ to secondary sources.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EverQuest#Subscription_history
Might I remind you that at that time EQ was the king of MMOs still and WoW was just a rumor of something new on the distant horizon. Now show me the numbers that indicate that this game was a flop? I mean if they started making a profit off of the game in December of 2003 that's 6 years 4 months of profit... That's pretty damn respectable in my book.
Everyone is entitled an opinion, but please try not to pass yours off as fact.
I was excited to see an article about FFXIV on the front-page, and delighted that it might address the differences between FFXI and FFXIV. After reading the article however, I was left unimpressed, stupefied really, at the level of misinformation.
A lot of people have already identified the flaws of the column, but here's a recap:
- FFXIV is not a continuation of FFXI, nor is it a spin-off. They are two separate games, each having their own particular worlds, storylines, lore, gameplay, and general mechanics.
- FFXIV does include a few things from FFXI, including races, which were added to give FFXI players a way to recreate the characters they had grown attached to, should they decide to play FFXIV. These similarities in no way recreate FFXI.
- Subjobs are not in FFXIV, although there is a system that allows you to use some abilities from other classes.
Please, in the future, do your homework before deciding to write a comparison between games, instead of basing certain things on assumption. Not only is it aggravating to read as a person who is following the progression of these games, but it misleads potential players by offering incorrect information. I understand this column may not be a serious one, but on such well-known site, it needs to be, at the very least, accurate.
As far as your question goes, my opinion is that it won't affect FFXI, not by any drastic degree. FFXIV has been designed to be a totally new experience, focusing on flexibility, concerning time management and party dynamics, and less emphasis on grouping. Considering that it's going to be a completely different game, including fresh rules and expectations, I foresee a similar outcome that one would observe when any person tries another MMO. FFXIV caters to a certain playstyle, and if it isn't familiar enough to FFXI in the ways people want it to be, those people will stay in FFXI.
I could see the concern if this was Vanadiel with a new paint job, but it's not. This is Eorzea.
Its both sad and encouraging that so many posters have had more information on FFXIV than the article writer. It'd be nice if all the writer on this site were of the same caliber, but some are clearly better at research. Oh well.
Only thing I'll add to what everyone else had pointed out is the history behind the name Final Fantasy. The first game was going to be Square's last game, because they were out of money and about to be out of business. It was their "final fantasy" so they decided to call it that. When the game sold so well, it rejuvenated the company and they have continued to name their flagship fantasy title after their savior.
Interesting, I ran into the same problem when I tried to play FF 11 on my high end computer. The game would just not play, so it is a coding issue as I had also suspected.
Hopefully FF 14 will be out by next year.
This is what I feared they have wow noobified a ff mmorpg..
"An MMORPG could be completely diffirent from WoW. Just look at games like Dofus, Wizard101 or EVE. But as it is, most of the Western MMOs are trying to succeed by out-WoWing WoW. It's like an army of 10 sports games made about same sports, and barely none about other sports. WoW clone is an accurate description of those games, it manages to convey much information with only two words."
-Poster on mmorpg.com
Rift: World of Warcraft clone #9321 Nothing special to see here move along.