Dev Tracker: Discussion

[Draylo]

It is usually the same pessimistic posters that are doing it, just ignore them.

[Sechs]

Baseless assumption, for all we know it was never worth their time, they could have just misjudged it when they decided to implement it.

I'm kinda with Fake here.
I think it was never worth, EU players are already the minority. A minority of these are French/German, and even a smaller minority of these are those who ever used/keep using the German/French translation.

At the same time it's something that, once implemented, makes you look bad if you take it off.
They probably evaluated the pros of removing it and judged it was worth to do it now.

Or maybe I'm just being optimistic, I don't know, but I don't really see any catastrophic consequence behind this choice, it could actually be positive for all of us.

[Damane]

I'm kinda with Fake here.
I think it was never worth, EU players are already the minority. A minority of these are French/German, and even a smaller minority of these are those who ever used/keep using the German/French translation.

At the same time it's something that, once implemented, makes you look bad if you take it off.
They probably evaluated the pros of removing it and judged it was worth to do it now.

Or maybe I'm just being optimistic, I don't know, but I don't really see any catastrophic consequence behind this choice, it could actually be positive for all of us.

I am not saying the choice is bad, infact it makes sense and is a good choice. But it tells you alot about the current state of the game.

[Priran]

FR/DE translations were dead to me the day they removed your ability to use foreign auto translates. RIP in peace Ass-Helm

[Draylo]

Ah the Ass-Helm lol

[pancakesandsex]

MP cost is definitely one of the things they absolutely have to adjust.
In the past they replied something like: "We feel the cost is allright if you considered it's undispellable" blahblahblah.
I think the fact that you have to stand close to the DDs is a con big enough to counterbalance the pros of the buff/debuff, considering it's not even stronger than other forms of buffs of the same kind.
So yeah, they need to adjust MP cost for sure.

That won't be enough of course, but it would be a good start to begin with.

Stacking conserve mp gear does wonders. It's not a complete solution, but if you have a good set, it's noticable.

[Fake]

I am not saying the choice is bad, infact it makes sense and is a good choice. But it tells you alot about the current state of the game.

Except it doesn't. For all you know it was a bad idea when they implemented it. Take your crystal ball and chuck it in the bin

[Sechs]

The game is clearly not in his golden years, but aside from the total number of players, if I were to judge the overall status of the game and the dev team, I'd say it's in a better position now than it was during the Abyssea days and after.
(and I loved Abyssea, not trying to use this sentence to say it sucked)

[Malithar]

For the PC version, other languages translations are stored in the .dat right? Is this the case for the PS2 and Xbox? If so, how much space are we talking to remove all the text translations for all the missions, quests, and items in the game? Could be a space saver to buy those systems some extra memory, if it's somewhat substantial, as well as reduce their costs as mentioned.

[dasva]

I am not saying the choice is bad, infact it makes sense and is a good choice. But it tells you alot about the current state of the game.

It only tells you about the current state of a small subsect of the game. And even at that they can still play and most probably know some English. Now if the completely cut English or a whole console that a lot of people still used that might be somewhat telling that if they would completely drop that many people

[Foldypaws]

For the PC version, other languages translations are stored in the .dat right? Is this the case for the PS2 and Xbox? If so, how much space are we talking to remove all the text translations for all the missions, quests, and items in the game? Could be a space saver to buy those systems some extra memory, if it's somewhat substantial, as well as reduce their costs as mentioned.

I'm not well versed in how SE stores dialogue, but in general, the amount of space required to store text is *very* small. A phone book is about 10 Megs, for example.

[gaira]

SE please think of Pchan!

[shepardG]

SE please think of Pchan!

I lol'd

[Kohan]

Seriously—all of my laughter. You can't pay to have dedicated localization for two commonly-spoken languages, and the insertion of their strings into regional versions of the game? Really? Hysterical.

I'm not at all surprised, though. When it comes to customer support, Square Enix is more of a miserly penny-pincher than the average grandparent.

The decisions are completely ass-backward, too—for example, why not consider reducing the subscription fee, and investing a little marketing into the stricken regions? Why not push with better promotions to try to give the subscription numbers a bump? Why not, oh, I don't know, do anything that practically anyone who understood the importance of customer care would do?

[NynJa]

I dont really think you can advertise an 11 year old game. Most people know about it. And reducing subscription fee for EU players will send the majority (NA/JP) into a huge backlash

[Kohan]

I dont really think you can advertise an 11 year old game. Most people know about it. And reducing subscription fee for EU players will send the majority (NA/JP) into a huge backlash

I never said it couldn't be a universal change in fees, and you absolutely can advertise an old game. Why not? You can advertise anything you want. Your product doesn't need to be new. You can have a whole campaign asking people to come back, or offering it as an established alternative. Sony didn't stop advertising EQ after it had been out for a few years. Blizzard still advertises for WoW. Square pushed hard with FFXIV 2.0 again despite the deserved black eye that 1.0 had earned. There's no rule that you can't push a product that isn't brand new, especially when it's still supported. Hell, there's a whole audience that was too young to play FFXI when it came out that could now.

There's literally no reason not to have a reevaluation of their pricing model and marketing methodologies besides laziness. I doubt they've thoroughly crunched their data and determined how to improve their profits in this regard, as customer care—alongside internal employee training—has long been considered one of the most long-term profitable offerings a company can provide. This isn't even strictly related to the video game industry, but companies at large.

[Karbuncle]

yah, I mean think about this... there were people who were 8 years old when this game came out and it would probably go over their heads, and now they're 20.

Think about that. There are people who were 8 when this game came out, now in their 20's.

you're old.

[dasva]

and you absolutely can advertise an old game. Why not? You can advertise anything you want. Your product doesn't need to be new. You can have a whole campaign asking people to come back, or offering it as an established alternative.

[Draylo]

They would need to revamp the graphics before any kind of commercials on TV imo (the graphics are still nice though.) People are very vain, I know a lot of people who play FFXIV solely for that reason... lol

[shepardG]

I dont really think you can advertise an 11 year old game. Most people know about it. And reducing subscription fee for EU players will send the majority (NA/JP) into a huge backlash

Very valid concern but I would change one thing. Most people KNEW about it.
The game, sans some of the nicer things that modern MMOs have (duty finders, quest hubs, cross server stuff) I would wager to say most people don't know about. Hell, telpoint warping alone is fucking amazing. And while the frame work is there to support tons of casual content, the population isnt. In korea I am literally hosed because there arent any shouts, japanesse or otherwise. I have one friend thats on at the same time as me, and he has to go out of his way to accomplish that. And definitely I could shout, but 2-3 hours a night would bw consumed in simply making a functional 6man.