Hiromichi Tanaka: "we're not sure" on FFXI future...Follow

It is so sad how they handled this. When I first heard about 14 I was really excited about it hoping to either play both equally or play both and maybe gradually move more onto 14. That soon changed to annoyance seeing updates decline and be of far lower quality due to pilfering devs from XI to work on 14. The constantly confirmed fears of looming demise is also very upsetting. I wanted and indeed expected lots more exciting and full content for FFXI and a new game that I could also play and maybe move onto when the time was right, but this is just sad and makes me really angry with them as a developer.

Very few of the people that play FFXI want it to become stagnant and never be updated forcing them to move on so why make enemies of those they hope to pull into a new subscriber base. Given how desperate they are to drag FFXI players into 14 it's staggering how stupid they are being by angering the userbase in the way they are.

The only thing I can think is that they basically see us as stupid sheep that wont be able to resist this new game, so no matter how they treat us or disregard what we want we will still play. I honestly think they are in for a suprise at how a loyal long term userbase can turn on you if you treat them badly enough.

You have got to be kidding me. There are currently active posts about the problems with /NIN and stuck up tanks, and yet you all still want to be playing XI? What's the appeal the game is broken and has been for a while now?

To quote from another thread:


Indeed! I haven't played this game since March 2008, and I only came back today to see if there was any buzz about XIV. Instead I just find a bunch of WATB complaining that SE is abandoning them. Puh-lease! The new game has the potential (I'm hoping at least...) to fix everything that was broken in XI, so lets start looking forward instead of looking back.

(Although for the life of me I don't understand how people are still playing Ultima Online and Everquest after all these years either.)

What people should do -- is play if they think it is fun, do not play if they do not think so. I am not trying to stop people ranting, but a lot of rant is really creating very little signal and information, and tons of noise.

I guess it is "Welcome to the Internet" -- place to rant, get angry, act like as a$$ with no need of accountability. I love the old days when we have no Internet, you either pick up the phone, write a "snail" mail with your full name completely reviled, or get that guy out to talk to you in some food place or office. We were far less anonymous.


Edited, Aug 25th 2009 4:31pm by scchan

Same reason they still play XI-they enjoy it. Some people like to jump to the next shiny, some people like to stick with what they know. Nothing wrong with either, but there's plenty wrong with slamming people just because they play a game they like.

While I agree with this, they virtually never give us any feedback. Due to SE's prolongated silence and questionable policy changes, the "SE is killing FFXI for FXIV" crowd is starting to make more and more sense. It makes sense in a twisted logic sort-of way.

Just for fun :









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Finally, some actual input from a bridge between both sides. I know about indirectness and subtlety in Japanese (all East Asian?) communication. I remember reading one example about a Japanese politician/figure being asked how many months he thought the prime minister had left in office (this is an old story mind you, not linked to Aso, or his revolving door of predecessors), and the person said something like you cannot be sure about these things, but tapped the table with 3 or 4 fingers in kind of a subtle clue saying 3-4 months.

What seems baffling to me and perhaps others is he's doing this interview for an English-language website. I know he was involved in FFIII, not sure about before then, and just looking at his age, he's been in the industry for 20 years (an industry in Japan that knows the US/Canada is a big market for their products) and been head of FFXI, an international MMORPG for 7 years. The level of lost in translation is surprising when those elements are considered. Do Japanese companies not brief their employees that give interviews that are for foreign audiences? Of course, I don't know how American companies do it, but one would think the interviewee would be given a crash course in the cultural differences to be mindful of.

Most SE FFXI interviews for the past few years feel like that while what is transcribed is intelligible, it feels like something isn't quite translating over. Of course, the verbal landmines, as I called them, seem to be a big blinking indicator of something being off because in the US, gaffe machines aren't this common and with every employee coming off like one, it points away from them individually being a little clumsy with words being translated or oblivious and towards the meaning/connotation of words, the substance beneath the letters strung together, being lost in translation.

I think there are 2 very simple points I wish SE would take away from this:
1.) All employees doing interviews for other languages should be mindful of differences and try to avoid creating doubt or scandalous rumor (FFXI has no content for 2010! FFXI is dying!). It's simple: above all else, do no harm/cause no damage.
2.) FFXI players have gotten nothing in terms of hope. SE should know by now the add-ons are controversial and have sparked despair (fears cheap in quantity of substance and quality add-ons replacing full-fledged expansions), the content being reduced to 3 updates a year (seriously, who thinks FFXI has 2 more full updates in 2009?), with WotG just dragging on and on with sparse updates to its direct content. Expansions give hope. Look at how much hype and interest there was around ToAU from Fall 2005 to Spring 2006. Announcing a new expansion and having picture of lands players would love to explore (Far South/East the most) would really shake the players out of their melancholy and give them something to look forward to. Despair comes from lack of hope, i.e. not having something in the future to look forward to.



Tanaka gave the "FFXI iz dyeingzz!!" crowd some ammunition to support their argument (/rolls eyes). If SE puts the FFXI cash cow out to pasture early (early= before the # players falls to or below critical levels) and butchers it, then we can safely assume the company is utterly insane, with no sense of proper business at all, and FFXIV would be subject to their illogical whims. Of course, if that happens, I'd expect to see FF: Spirits Within II, with twice the budget and having learned nothing from the first because if its big enough it simply can't fail!




As for all the talk of the "clues" that say "hint hint, switch to FFXIV", I think that is only one possible interpretation. FFXIV is a new MMO. It's reasonable to add in lures to draw in existing company (i.e. FFXI) customers. Also, look to laziness. Why make up 5 new races when you can copy and paste 5 races, just updating the graphics and doing a little trimming (bye bye galka tail).

As for FFXIV taking longer than anticipated to develop, SE seems to have fallen prey to project creep often. FFXII was supposed to be released in late 2002- late 2003, it became so drawn out, it was released 4 years after its original desired release date and underwent one huge overhaul/redesign in the middle of that time. Something has happened to SE this decade that has made them get bogged down often in the game-making process.

Dekusutaa, you don't have a job in your sig that even uses king drops except your rdm with dalmatica. Many items are still valuable and while Odin can provide some drops, it requires a shell capable of defeating Einherjar. This is why some people have chosen to buy items from the HNM shells.

It's been said in an interview that the Kings system is a success. This is due to having a 100+ people in a zone trying to claim a king. Until people quit going to king pops, chances are they wont change it.

Here we are bickering about such trivial things as video games, and there you are... a victim of a true tragedy...

Personally, I would rather let the game designer to build the game they like -- and let them take their time, instead of pushing of a quick consumer product for people to buy -- there are tons of trash game out there, and the trash can be popular sometimes.

A quick consumer product do get the advantage of riding the wind, but imo far less artistic value. Quality work (art, research, and consumer product) takes time. I think sometimes people do not understand what quality means, and they would rather just consume first. I would rather eat less, but pay more per meal on something that tastes better and healthy >_>.

I know some people like the argument of corporate juicing money from hapless consumers. People always got the choice of not buying something unless it is like something to eat, drink and sleep. The people who run and get employed by the corporate themselves are also consumers themselves. I am not sure you want me to start calling you (working for a certain company) are ******** my money:P?

Be a smart consumer, and be a person that appreciates effort and artistic value. Your life will be better:P

Edited, Aug 25th 2009 6:46pm by scchan

Guys, come on. FFXI is freakin' huge. I've been playing the game for over four years now, and am probably just as many years away from experiencing the entire game. There's so much content. I know SE has had its problems in certain areas like customer service. But as far as content production, I can't really complain there, much less ask for even more than they've already done.

If SE is done growing FFXI, then they're done. The product is complete and there's no point in glopping more onto it. Keep playing until you've experienced it all and either quit, or join FFXIV (which I don't plan on doing because I'll be an old old man before I experience all of FFXI).

Some of us like kings. Fix the botting but leave the kings alone.

This.

Ban all the NASA botters. Boom, kings fixed.

I think from a stricly business sense, even if say 100k people stay on from the current 500k, that's 100k in add-on, expansion sales they can count on worldwide.

I know comparisons to EQ isn't apt, but EQ now has around 100k players (Sony claimed 120k a while ago but no one knows really how many plays) and they get yearly expansions, because it's clearly still profitable to do!

This has nothing to do with FFXI's place, or any sinister plans on SE's part, its just raw numbers and business.