Yoichi Wada: "Final Fantasy XIV" Greatly Damaged the Brand's Name
Square Enix kind of owns up to some of FF's shortcomings
Opinions are strongly divided over much of Square's work on the Final Fantasy series, but even the company itself is prepared to state that Final Fantasy XIV has "greatly damaged" the brand's name.
Specifically, Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada has strong words about the way the company's most recent stab at an MMO has hurt Final Fantasy as a whole. He says, "The Final Fantasy brand has been greatly damaged … We'll continue with our reform work, which basically amounts to fully redoing the game, and hope to revive the FFXIV that should have been released."
Final Fantasy XIV's myriad issues—from stability and performance problems at launch to more general gameplay gaffes—have been widely documented ever since the title was released on PC last September.
It remains to be seen whether or not Square Enix will be able to fix Final Fantasy XIV. What do you think? Was XIV the straw that broke the Chocobo's back, or does the franchise have issues that creep further into the past?
Via Gamasutra
Other Top News
Discussion
58 Comments
Please Login to write a Comment!
Yea XIV was a giant ball of crap,all it did was look pretty as far as gameplay and stuff from XI hell no.You know a game is bad when right after release the creators come out and say,"We messed up,we r re-doing the game!"
9/27/11 by fefifofum88
Totally agree. I played FFXI for a year or so and while it wasn't the MMORPG to end all others, it was alright. FFXIV is just plain unplayable. That being said, I don't think the FF brand lives and dies by its MMOs. I have to agree with the guy who mentionned FFXIII. That's the title that greatly diminished Square Enix in my eyes. It was so self indulgant and linear. Oh well, at least we have Atlus now. XP
no 13 hurt the name, although I replayed it and it's more like a visual novel with rpg elements... it's not to bad but I can't say anything about 14
9/27/11 by kitsuneshoujo
Yeah... I dunno what happened with SE. The game was beautifully done, had great customization, the storylines were great... and then you actually play the game (leveling up) and it sucked to high heaven. You would think they would actually do some research as to what is popular in the Western mmo market (beyond warcrack)... maybe they just read some blogs of some whiney mouthbreather and decided that was what they would do for game play? lol
9/27/11 by Twomix888
I played the Beta, the game was a huge pile of mess. The game is almost unplayable, the controls suck, the user interface suck, the quests are bland and boring, the leve (aka guild quest) sucks. And to top it all off .. the game is neigh unplayable unless you have a super computer (so you can't even admire the pretty graphics). From what I heard Square Enix sank over $75 million dollars dressing up this holiday turkey and nobody bothered to buy it. Even the most ardent fan turn away in disgust at the stink that it is giving off. I'm glad they tried to make ammends and due to the nature of MMO it's either a hit or a miss when they release this giant turkey half cooked (or was it half cocked). It would be extremely difficult for them to regain the player's trust. However this is still salvagable. Fix the game and go F2P so it won't be a total lost. Many games that failed the first time was given a second life as a F2P game and they are doing quite well.
9/27/11 by Twomix888
What the original developer did was try to bring the "feel and experience" of FFXI (a game designed back in 2001) to modern day (2009) which doesn't really work anymore. Vast majority of players nowadays has been exposed to WoW style MMO and like it or not, simplified intuitive user interface is very important compared to the totally menu driven system (seriously the game makes you go thru half a dozen menus just to craft something). The original game failed on all levels. I'll probably take a look at the game again only if they go F2P.
9/27/11 by metalsmith
My favorite part of XI was the idea that to finish a quest, you really had to read what the NPC was saying. There was no summary or quest tracker on the screen. But the quests were simply explained, and easy to quickly follow and complete. Something about the writing in XI's quests really got me hooked, and it's something that has not been duplicated in ANY MMO since. Every quest in XI felt like the main story arc of every other MMO I've ever played. It's detailed, but doesn't spam you with a wall of text sort of thing.
Whenever I talk about MMO's anymore, I sorta get rantish, but XI is the only game where I've ever felt involved in any of the quests. Also, the idea that NPC's won't even talk to you unless you have a certain amount of reputation (for completing other quests) as well as level is something that I've not seen another MMO ever do. The idea that you start off as a nobody and have to really build a reputation with the NPC's is something awesome, it just feels like those great RPG's I always loved in the past, and doesn't exclude the idea that more than a single person is the hero of the game.
Anyways, XIV had no quests or anything at all at launch, and has relatively few still iirc. Thus if fails.
Whenever I talk about MMO's anymore, I sorta get rantish, but XI is the only game where I've ever felt involved in any of the quests. Also, the idea that NPC's won't even talk to you unless you have a certain amount of reputation (for completing other quests) as well as level is something that I've not seen another MMO ever do. The idea that you start off as a nobody and have to really build a reputation with the NPC's is something awesome, it just feels like those great RPG's I always loved in the past, and doesn't exclude the idea that more than a single person is the hero of the game.
Anyways, XIV had no quests or anything at all at launch, and has relatively few still iirc. Thus if fails.
9/27/11 by nerdfromhel
umm, not being able to talk to a character based on rep and level? That isn't something that is uncommon in a sense.
I mean, world of warcraft allowed you to talk to a character if it wasn't hostile and you were close enough, even if it was to tell you off because they were too busy. If they had something for you to do, there was a mark above there head and they would have more dialog.
And reputation played a huge role on whether they would give you a quest some areas. Some factions would even attack you on site until you gained enough reputation.
To make a character non-interactive based on rep (or level, which most games with a quest system have, usually both) doesn't bring anything new to the table, it just means the developers didn't want to add anything into the game just incase you did try to talk to someone before they had a quest for you.
Game worlds should be alive with characters and objects that function at all times and change dynamically based on which player interacts with them and how they try to do so!
It's much more fun to be told off in hilarious ways by the npc for being too weak or getting kicked out of a castle for wasting the the lord of the castle's time than just seeing no option to talk.
I mean, world of warcraft allowed you to talk to a character if it wasn't hostile and you were close enough, even if it was to tell you off because they were too busy. If they had something for you to do, there was a mark above there head and they would have more dialog.
And reputation played a huge role on whether they would give you a quest some areas. Some factions would even attack you on site until you gained enough reputation.
To make a character non-interactive based on rep (or level, which most games with a quest system have, usually both) doesn't bring anything new to the table, it just means the developers didn't want to add anything into the game just incase you did try to talk to someone before they had a quest for you.
Game worlds should be alive with characters and objects that function at all times and change dynamically based on which player interacts with them and how they try to do so!
It's much more fun to be told off in hilarious ways by the npc for being too weak or getting kicked out of a castle for wasting the the lord of the castle's time than just seeing no option to talk.
9/27/11 by metalsmith
My mistake, I say it is unique to XI, but it's the implementation that is unique.
XI has one major feature that other games don't, a lack of any GUI quest tracking.
As for getting kicked out of the castle, that does happen in one of the cities. You start to zone, then the guard comes on screen and calls you rabble that has no purpose there :o
I don't really explain it well, but the lack of a solid, constantly visible metric to use for quests, as well as the lack of any GUI hints as to where quests are is a lot of fun for me. You can talk to every NPC in the game, come back at level 20 to an area and suddenly you are getting quests and cutscene's for different side arcs left and right.
Again, I don't explain this well at all, but many things in XI I do like about how they implemented things. Quests not having a huge dialogue window with a 3 paragraph explanation about how you are saving the world by doing something with a 3 word summary like "Kill X bugs" is a huge plus for me.
Don't get me wrong, you can summarize and quest down into those simple words almost, but having a quest that can be told to you in less than 5 sentences but gives you get to read through it and feel like you want to help that NPC do something... It's really a great way to immerse a player.
XI was my first MMO, and is the only one that I've been able to play for more than a month simply because of how much it can involve a player in the quests. Other games, simple things like the small size of the text that makes you squint to read it just make enjoying the game a chore. I might as well read a book instead of play a game, as it's nothing more than one chapter interrupted by some keystrokes.
XI has one major feature that other games don't, a lack of any GUI quest tracking.
As for getting kicked out of the castle, that does happen in one of the cities. You start to zone, then the guard comes on screen and calls you rabble that has no purpose there :o
I don't really explain it well, but the lack of a solid, constantly visible metric to use for quests, as well as the lack of any GUI hints as to where quests are is a lot of fun for me. You can talk to every NPC in the game, come back at level 20 to an area and suddenly you are getting quests and cutscene's for different side arcs left and right.
Again, I don't explain this well at all, but many things in XI I do like about how they implemented things. Quests not having a huge dialogue window with a 3 paragraph explanation about how you are saving the world by doing something with a 3 word summary like "Kill X bugs" is a huge plus for me.
Don't get me wrong, you can summarize and quest down into those simple words almost, but having a quest that can be told to you in less than 5 sentences but gives you get to read through it and feel like you want to help that NPC do something... It's really a great way to immerse a player.
XI was my first MMO, and is the only one that I've been able to play for more than a month simply because of how much it can involve a player in the quests. Other games, simple things like the small size of the text that makes you squint to read it just make enjoying the game a chore. I might as well read a book instead of play a game, as it's nothing more than one chapter interrupted by some keystrokes.
9/27/11 by chuemlee
What do you expect? The original creator of the FF series left square a long time ago, hence the reason why square had to merge with Enix to survive the resignation of Sakaguchi. Final Fantasy hasn't been the same since FFIX. FFX had a good story but it lacked what made Final Fantasy, "Final Fantasy".
Everything after FFX was BS. The only thing good left in square is the Crisis Core team.
Everything after FFX was BS. The only thing good left in square is the Crisis Core team.
9/27/11 by ookanakka614
I haven't played ff xiv or ff xi so I cant speak for those, but I do think Square-Enix is going down hill. My personal favorite ff was ffx, but I think thats just because it was the first ff I played and beat. I really liked it too for having voice actors, but I have played ffxii and xiii since then and they were not the best imo. Although I enjoyed ff xiii, it just wasn't a final fantasy to me. Of the older stuff before ffx, i've played i, iv, vi, vii, ix, and I'm in the middle of playing viii. Out of those, I think I'd have to say i liked vi the best, but ix is a close second. Overall, I've liked pretty much every ff I've played, some more than others, but I do feel the series hasn't been living up to it's former status. I have high hopes for FF Type-0 and if and when it comes out, ff versus xiii, but we'll see after that.
I am a MASSIVE FF fan however i think they should keep as far away from MMO as possible. two tips first) stick to what u do well and
second) work to make what u do well unbelievably good.
fans are fans we will wait for a good FF, so take your time SE and rekindle what u seem to have lost
second) work to make what u do well unbelievably good.
fans are fans we will wait for a good FF, so take your time SE and rekindle what u seem to have lost
9/27/11 by chaokraze
As a continuing player of ffxiv I can easily say that most of the feedback you'll hear from people who tried the game will be bad. That being said, there are still many things to enjoy in-game. and personally as a fan of the franchise i support the new development team fully. And I'm happy to say that the game is getting better with every single patch. I advise people to give it another go after they finish the job update around december or so.
9/27/11 by Tristaen
I've played FFXIV since CE launch (Sept 22nd, 2010). It has it's faults still. But it is nothing like what it was. Most of the problems have been addressed, 1.19 patch is being released on October 4th which will be the single largest patch to the game (to date). And patch 1.20 and 1.21 will be addressing any remaining issues. Considering the sorry shape FFXIV was in a year ago, it should be ready for "re-launch" by the end of this year.
Had a friend that bought and played 13 and 14. I've watched to the side going, WTF happened to FF. All of my friends agree that they are greasy piles of poo.
I've never played FFXIV myself and I only heard that it was bad, but only that. This made me question if the fans only discriminated because it was a MMO, but in the end, I understood what they meant. From what I've heard, the game have improved a lot with it's latest patches and fixed about 80% of it's issues. While it's not perfect still, people seem to enjoy it.
9/27/11 by lordjeusechrist
every game after 10 damaged the brand name, stop trying to blame this one
9/27/11 by trainlovinfreak
Final Fantasy XIV damaged the brand? Really Square Enix? REALLY? In my eyes, the minute they started making direct sequels to the games was the minute the damage began and it hasn't stopped since. XII was a disaster thanks to the awful battle system and XIII goes from Linear and pretty fun to Non-linear and EVIL. This isn't damage Squenix, this is another nail in this franchise's coffin.
9/27/11 by Azureblaze
Thanks for your opinion, imo I LOVE FFXII, it's my favorite and I actually started playing it again recently <3
Wow, I really haven't been paying attention. Didn't even know this came out.
9/27/11 by dokudokugwo
Most people who say 14 isn't any good haven't played it since Beta or launch... the game is rapidly improving, and while we are only getting the game we should have gotten to begin with, I play 14 regularly and I'm having quite a lot of fun and am looking forward to the planned changes.
As far as it damaging the brand... 13 did damage... and since almost all of the final fantasy games have been standalone console games... no single MMO is going to hurt the brand. Most people when they think Final Fantasy don't think MMO... console and MMO players are usually two different breeds of players.
As far as it damaging the brand... 13 did damage... and since almost all of the final fantasy games have been standalone console games... no single MMO is going to hurt the brand. Most people when they think Final Fantasy don't think MMO... console and MMO players are usually two different breeds of players.
i did the beta for 14 "contradicts what i say" however I am still not fan of it. mmo's .. i don't care what they are on as long as the game is fun to play .. this is not... hell I have more hours in my life wasted on phantasy star online from my high school years than i am proud to admit "around 600 or so"
9/27/11 by Anonymooo
I think I'm the only person alive who liked FFXII. A great battle system that harkened back to older Western RPGs while providing a lot of customization and allowed me to automate certain tedious functions (like casting five buffs in a row on everybody), and some actual challenge in an RPG?
Okay, yeah, Vaan was a bad pick for a POV character, but the bulk of the story (Basch's redemption and Ashe reclaiming her kingdom) was actually pretty good, it's just that leading a story with Vaan and Penelo is like leading Star Wars with C3PO and R2D2.
Okay, yeah, Vaan was a bad pick for a POV character, but the bulk of the story (Basch's redemption and Ashe reclaiming her kingdom) was actually pretty good, it's just that leading a story with Vaan and Penelo is like leading Star Wars with C3PO and R2D2.
I'm a very alive person and like FFXII as well. I'm glad there is someone who is not criticizing it.
9/27/11 by Mergies
To be fair the game has been improved quite a bit since its release date. Its not like they are sitting on their thumbs. They are actively taking in comments and adjusting where they can. Playing the game is much more enjoyable then what it was a year ago for sure. Its still their bad for releasing pretty much an incomplete game. I think it was pretty stupid of them however to announce the release of a new MMO next year. Finish what you started then continue, don't just keep adding weight you can't handle.
9/27/11 by mikes01
Killing the brand name started with X-2, continued with XIII, and reached epic fail status with XIV. Will this keep me from buying SE's next release? Probably not for the console, but another game like XIII and I will probably not pre-order and just play it on gamefly eventually. I think XIV killed any chance of me giving them another penny for a MMO though.
9/27/11 by Yakk37
I don't think there was a single redeeming quality to FF XIV. You got lost in the towns, the performance sucked, the quests sucked, the controls were designed by someone who had a deep hatred for players and it felt like a console game not an MMO. How do you fix a game that had zero right?
9/27/11 by JumperPrime
This is what happens when you cancel the Beta Test and rush straight into production. My copy of FF XIII had a voucher code that was supposed to get me into the FF XIV beta test. I registered the code on the Square Enix website, got confirmation that the code was accepted, and never got the expected Beta invite. I was quite surprised when I heard the game was being released for PC with still no word of the PS3 Beta.
9/27/11 by seansbink
They need to make a new Final Fantasy Tactics! That was one of the greatest games they ever made. The original Final Fantasy is still the best game I have ever played. I think they should go old school and go away from this "fantasy-tech" genre and just make a sword and sorcery rpg like they used to!
9/27/11 by TurboTaco
I think most people think square went down when FF went MMO. ZING!
In all seriousness, I think FF XIII hurt the brand the most and the fact Kingdom Hearts 3 is taking so long; the patience of the more dedicated fans of the company are starting to wain. XIII is oddly the most "successful" of FF games in terms of sales and time in market, but definitely not the most loved and the later sales show. Alot of people bought the game, but a good chunk of them also never finished and/or returned the game. I think FF games have always had a decent replay value to them but XIII's neutered, locked-in storyline and 15 hour neutered gameplay was a deal breaker for alot of fans and casuals. A beautiful game with what I thought was one of the better battle systems of the series, but story makes a weird shift at the end and 15 hours is just too long to wait before you actually get some freedom with your party and exploring.
In all seriousness, I think FF XIII hurt the brand the most and the fact Kingdom Hearts 3 is taking so long; the patience of the more dedicated fans of the company are starting to wain. XIII is oddly the most "successful" of FF games in terms of sales and time in market, but definitely not the most loved and the later sales show. Alot of people bought the game, but a good chunk of them also never finished and/or returned the game. I think FF games have always had a decent replay value to them but XIII's neutered, locked-in storyline and 15 hour neutered gameplay was a deal breaker for alot of fans and casuals. A beautiful game with what I thought was one of the better battle systems of the series, but story makes a weird shift at the end and 15 hours is just too long to wait before you actually get some freedom with your party and exploring.
9/27/11 by KJGriever
As far as FF is concerned the VI and VII are still hands down the best of the series and most everything that has been released under SquareEnix has be varying degrees of crap. I want the old Squaresoft back, with games like FF VI, FF VII, Chrono Trigger, and Mario RPG.
If SquareEnix wants to rebuild their rep they need to release something seriously mindblowingly good, not the mediocrity be have been recieving for the past 10 years.
If SquareEnix wants to rebuild their rep they need to release something seriously mindblowingly good, not the mediocrity be have been recieving for the past 10 years.
9/27/11 by HimuraKenshin_Battosai
XIV is just crap. Final Fantasy should just stick to being a story driven RPG rather than attempting to be an MMORPG. Rather than trying to be something different, it should remain as what made it great in the first place.
9/27/11 by TerraGamerX
So many strong opinions. Having not participated, I can't know what the quality is like. But I assume that XIV is irrecoverable. So much trust sounds broken, how could they get players to return?
I wonder if this problem can be associated with Squaresoft becoming Square Enix. I don't think I ever heard any complaints about Squaresoft's old games, only battles between fanatics. As such, the bar was set high in the past and everyone holds high expectations. But from all the complaining, it sounds like Square is hardly coming close to those expectations in their main franchise...
I'm glad I have companies to look forward to that can always outdo themselves, like From Software. Not to mention sights like this are why indie games are ever booming. And then there's the traitors at Capcom...
I wonder if this problem can be associated with Squaresoft becoming Square Enix. I don't think I ever heard any complaints about Squaresoft's old games, only battles between fanatics. As such, the bar was set high in the past and everyone holds high expectations. But from all the complaining, it sounds like Square is hardly coming close to those expectations in their main franchise...
I'm glad I have companies to look forward to that can always outdo themselves, like From Software. Not to mention sights like this are why indie games are ever booming. And then there's the traitors at Capcom...
9/28/11 by Arsenette
14's biggest mistake was not listening to their own beta testers. Having played 5 years in 11 and beta testing both 11 and 14.. it was startling how they said it was a "beta" when it was clearly in alpha stage. If Squeenix wasn't so damn pig headed they wouldn't be in this mess. They spent 3 months bad mouthing those people who tested the game saying we were prejudiced and misinformed.. only to find out that they didn't even address a single issue in the beta until it was clear the game was broken. They had every intention of riding the 11 players devotion to Squeenix and the MMO world all the way to the PS3 beta (which was Japan's market.. not the PC market).. then they realized too late after the mechanic of the game was broken and they had to scrap everything and start over that it was clearly a mistake they had only themselves to blame. here we are 1 full year after launch and they still haven't fixed the game to the point where they feel they can charge for it. On top of that they can't even begin PS3 testing since they haven't addressed the core problems of the game to begin with.
I agree with others saying that FF10 and on are were it down hill. I enjoyed FF5-to 7, hated FF8 but like 9 and 10 (but hated the main character in 10).
9/28/11 by ARX8
Final Fantasy started to fall apart when every game needed to have an over the top love ballad, and graphics became the main focus instead of likable characters in an interesting story.
Ever since merging with Enix, they've just been mashing together the same old tropes and hoping the FF name would be enough to make gamers happy.
Ever since merging with Enix, they've just been mashing together the same old tropes and hoping the FF name would be enough to make gamers happy.
9/28/11 by otakutom
I agree. I loved FF IV and VI. VII was good, and I also really enjoyed VIII (possibly more for the fact that it was my first FF title than anything else), but by that point, the game had really started to shift away from making likable characters to having pretty much reskins of old ones (and not even the better ones). Almost every main character from VIII until now has tried to be Cloud, and I haven't liked most of them (I downright hated Tidus and Vaan)
9/28/11 by Professional007
Played FFXI Online for 5 years. Loved it very much. I think they should let this one go and waste their money, energy and time in the next MMO. Make it better then any MMO and invest in that instead.
Wada couldn't have been more right, atleast hes not pretending otherwise. this way Square as a whole can start to move forward in repairing the damage.
The problem didn't start from XIV.
Anything over FF X is just crap...
I play for the story, and what they lack is "Romance"!!!
FF VII, VIII, IX, X <-- great romance story, above than that, is just crap, no love! xD
Anything over FF X is just crap...
I play for the story, and what they lack is "Romance"!!!
FF VII, VIII, IX, X <-- great romance story, above than that, is just crap, no love! xD
i say 1-10 remakes because i havent played them, i wasn't born then and i only heard ff from 12 onwards
FF 12 = childhood love , man, it's nothing new or fresh
FF 13 = lonely lightning, seriously? no love at all? (except for sarah & snow, but that's minor)
I would recommend trying out FF VIII and X if you haven't do so, and you'll realize the great difference. Why people are crazy about those sequence? because there's a hero & a heroin, a Romeo & a Juliet (FF 12 does have a heroin, but i say Ashe is more like the main heroin, so Penelo is like a minor character.
FF 13 = lonely lightning, seriously? no love at all? (except for sarah & snow, but that's minor)
I would recommend trying out FF VIII and X if you haven't do so, and you'll realize the great difference. Why people are crazy about those sequence? because there's a hero & a heroin, a Romeo & a Juliet (FF 12 does have a heroin, but i say Ashe is more like the main heroin, so Penelo is like a minor character.
9/28/11 by MeanderCat
I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with Yoichi - what damaged the brand name was the rush to put out an inferior product, and to not provide the staff nor the software tools (FF XIV uses the same toolset as FF XIII) on a timely basis to produce a quality experience for the consumer. People also conveniently forget that FF XI had more than its share of ups and downs in the beginning, and it's had many years to add content & refine the professions.
Most of the stability issues in XIV have now been addressed, and although I don't necessarily agree with the profession changes that are in the works, the game is starting to be close to where it should have been about 3-6 months after launch.
To restate - what damages the Final Fantasy brand isn't direct sequels or returns to previous environs (FF X-2, FF XII), but the failure, from the CEO on down, to provide a professional, well crafted experience to the consumer. No one is likely to love every FF out there, but releasing a product before it's ready, with stability, balance, and overall lack of content issues is an insult to the customers.
Most of the stability issues in XIV have now been addressed, and although I don't necessarily agree with the profession changes that are in the works, the game is starting to be close to where it should have been about 3-6 months after launch.
To restate - what damages the Final Fantasy brand isn't direct sequels or returns to previous environs (FF X-2, FF XII), but the failure, from the CEO on down, to provide a professional, well crafted experience to the consumer. No one is likely to love every FF out there, but releasing a product before it's ready, with stability, balance, and overall lack of content issues is an insult to the customers.
9/28/11 by xxkazenokizuxx
i bought the game and i could not even figure out wear to get my gear or any thing. i mean its complete shit !
9/28/11 by Arsenette
actually MeanderCat he is correct. The problems with 14 were not just the delay in getting a product out that works.. Unlike 14.. 11 came out on the PS2. They built the game around that system. THIS one was built around the PS3 from the ground up completely ignoring the problems with the PC. They thought it was going to work out fine until they realized that people could read code and figured out the basic mechanic of the combat system was utterly destroyed. Even what you see NOW a year later is not what was intended. They still haven't instituted what they originally set out to do. That is the main reason why they are not charging money. They have to rebuild the combat system from scratch to get to where they intended and that's what we beta players were trying to tell them from the start. What killed it yes was partially what you said about the rush to bring the product to market in alpha stage.. but the game NOW is in beta stage which is why they had to finally own up to the fact that this is not the game they can charge money for. So what he said was correct. The 14 franchise.. with all of it's problems including technical and marketing was the reason that he stated damaged the brand. Remember also.. they are working on yet another MMO... so this is big news considering that it will impact THAT one also since people will look to 14's disaster in deciding when/if to pick up that MMO in the future.
9/29/11 by rodocite
Management in Square Enix is probably a mess. That's why shit changes around all the time and all this random stuff gets thrown into games. A company that has good management wouldn't be this messy. They'd isolate the formula and run with it over and over.
At least they're on the risk taking side of things. When they finally get their crap straight, the games we'll get will probably be really good.
At least they're on the risk taking side of things. When they finally get their crap straight, the games we'll get will probably be really good.
9/29/11 by FoxStirling
I played the bejesus out of this game and loved it. 40+ war classes, 50 for magic jobs, did a craft to 50. It was a solid game honestly. It was unique, playable and offered a minor challenge to experienced gamers. Definitely not a game for your first time gamer though. It didn't help that most people who bought it would immediately assume they were supposed to max out the graphics and then complain that their card would flip out and crash the video drivers. >_>
I really feel strongly to this day that a lot of the issue with a game like this is the forced international server approach to FFXI and FFXIV. When a server's population gets too low, a game dies off in most MMOs, and then you need mergers to salvage what is left so your die-hards don't also leave. However, when you're also splitting the low population by the fact that 70% of the players can't be bothered to interact with the other 30% english speaking minority, why on earth would those players stick around, especially when they're getting terrible ping on top of the fact that most of the server won't interact with them despite using ingame translation and google translate to try to learn enough japanese to chit-chat casually.
Square Enix has enough offices all over the place that they could reasonably set up game servers in other countries for English speaking players, so they're not forced into a japanese language server.. the marketed the game regionally, they should have done servers regionally.
If they ever offer free transfers in that game and start up an english US/EU server, I'll probably go back and play again, but I'm tired of wrestling with translators just to play this title.
I really feel strongly to this day that a lot of the issue with a game like this is the forced international server approach to FFXI and FFXIV. When a server's population gets too low, a game dies off in most MMOs, and then you need mergers to salvage what is left so your die-hards don't also leave. However, when you're also splitting the low population by the fact that 70% of the players can't be bothered to interact with the other 30% english speaking minority, why on earth would those players stick around, especially when they're getting terrible ping on top of the fact that most of the server won't interact with them despite using ingame translation and google translate to try to learn enough japanese to chit-chat casually.
Square Enix has enough offices all over the place that they could reasonably set up game servers in other countries for English speaking players, so they're not forced into a japanese language server.. the marketed the game regionally, they should have done servers regionally.
If they ever offer free transfers in that game and start up an english US/EU server, I'll probably go back and play again, but I'm tired of wrestling with translators just to play this title.
9/29/11 by ctoon0
heres why xiv failed
no us servers(at best i got 150ms latency, in my eyes anything over 50 is unacceptable and i will refuse to play)
garbage controls
failure to listen to player base(there are reports of players reporting huge issues months ahead of public beta, that went unfixed)
it was obviously forced to release before it was ready.
xi frankly was not that great either
heres how to fix it
fix everything above
make hardware requirements a tad lower
make ui less stupid
really, they need to ditch xiv, and start on xiv 2.0, recycling only the engine and some of the assets. give 2.0 to players who bought xiv or refund for a horrible product.
no us servers(at best i got 150ms latency, in my eyes anything over 50 is unacceptable and i will refuse to play)
garbage controls
failure to listen to player base(there are reports of players reporting huge issues months ahead of public beta, that went unfixed)
it was obviously forced to release before it was ready.
xi frankly was not that great either
heres how to fix it
fix everything above
make hardware requirements a tad lower
make ui less stupid
really, they need to ditch xiv, and start on xiv 2.0, recycling only the engine and some of the assets. give 2.0 to players who bought xiv or refund for a horrible product.
Popular Shows |
Platforms and Devices |
Premium MembershipsLanguage
|
Support |
Crunchyroll |
