To harass PS2 users or not?

[aurik]

From your signature I can see you have put some great time and effort into becoming what you are in FFXI
For however many years you have played this game (game was released in JP in 2002, so 5 years for that) and all the things you have gone through, you want something new to be replaced with the old, but the content remain the same, do you realize how much of an ironic thinking that is.

I'm saying I'd like to see the game keep progressing. PS2 is dead weight, and is severely impairing the development of new content. The dev team probably spends 20% of their time designing new shit and 80% of their time sitting around saying "how the fuck am I gonna fit this in 32mb of ram?"

Also as I can see by you signature/post record that you are in tune with ffxi, and mostly know all the knowings that surrond this MMORPG and its company, including that SE is working on a new MMO project which has taken up their time

Yes, instead of hiring more people, let's cannibalize our cash cow and develop a hugely risky product! (That's not how the business works)

[aurik]

And they should have to because you said so? SE isn't even thinking of doing this.

Where in my post do you see "should"? Don't put words in my mouth.

[FinalJustice]

Also as I can see by you signature/post record that you are in tune with ffxi, and mostly know all the knowings that surrond this MMORPG and its company, including that SE is working on a new MMO project which has taken up their time

I'm pretty sure SE has multiple teams working on different projects at any given time. Including the new mmorpg.

[Royal]

Anyone who plays FFXI on the PS3 at this stage probably already has, or otherwise can afford a PC that can play the game.

So you think people never save up for anything?

[aurik]

Question Aurik, what is so vital to your needs that requires a whole different branch of players to be cut off?

More than 60 inventory slots? A better UI? A better macro system? More armor models, more monster models, more animations, a better chat filter system, more detailed zones? Faster development courtesy of not having to develop, debug, and test everything on 3 separate platforms?

Redoing the graphical engine so that it's not ass-backwards and actually makes good use of modern graphics cards would be nice too but I'm not holding my breath for that one.

The PS2 is holding back the game in so many ways its not even funny. As I said before, they probably spend the lion's share of their development time not developing but rather trying to fit what they've got working for the PC on the PS2.

[aurik]

Anyone who plays FFXI on the PS3 at this stage probably already has, or otherwise can afford a PC that can play the game.

So you think people never save up for anything?

Why don't you put more words in my mouth next time, and tie it to starving children in Uganda or something.

[GraveRobberX]

You know I had an inkling to setup my PS3 for FFXI
(I wanted to just see, how everything was going)

Then I realized all the good times I had with this game, and all the bad moments

It got me to thinking, should I invest my time with something I had grown tire of? , and for still some reason I can get the most out of the game just by cruisng a magnificent site such as BG

As aurik keeps stating some gamers will change to the new format as he keeps stating every other post, some might quit, but for people playing, and keep playing, it "May" bring a new experience to the table

From all the sides/viewpoints of my own, auriks, all the other posters, the thing hovering above all of us is the What If? factor

What if SE does drop the PS2?
What if they lose 100k subscribers?
What if gamers who wanted the change.....see the change, but dont approve of it, does that call for another change?
What is I am adopted? (joking sorry)
What if all of the things we have been arguing about is just a recyclical argument that is solely based on arguning until someone throws in the towel?

[Royal]

Question Aurik, what is so vital to your needs that requires a whole different branch of players to be cut off?

More than 60 inventory slots? A better UI? A better macro system? More armor models, more monster models, more animations, a better chat filter system, more detailed zones? Faster development courtesy of not having to develop, debug, and test everything on 3 separate platforms?

Redoing the graphical engine so that it's not ass-backwards and actually makes good use of modern graphics cards would be nice too but I'm not holding my breath for that one.

The PS2 is holding back the game in so many ways its not even funny. As I said before, they probably spend the lion's share of their development time not developing but rather trying to fit what they've got working for the PC on the PS2.

Yet you still play the game and love it right? I understand you want to improve the game but still.

Why don't you put more words in my mouth next time, and tie it to starving children in Uganda or something.

I guess I did shove that in your mouth. I'm sorry. You still made it sound like if they bought a PS3 they obviously have money.

[aurik]

Most people that do own a PS3 at this point do have money. I mean, it is a $600 purchase whose prime features are blu-ray and 1080 HD support...

[Hitoshura]

Question Aurik, what is so vital to your needs that requires a whole different branch of players to be cut off?

More than 60 inventory slots? A better UI? A better macro system? More armor models, more monster models, more animations, a better chat filter system, more detailed zones? Faster development courtesy of not having to develop, debug, and test everything on 3 separate platforms?

Redoing the graphical engine so that it's not ass-backwards and actually makes good use of modern graphics cards would be nice too but I'm not holding my breath for that one.

The PS2 is holding back the game in so many ways its not even funny. As I said before, they probably spend the lion's share of their development time not developing but rather trying to fit what they've got working for the PC on the PS2.

Granted most hardcore players on PS2 would most likely switch to PC if they actually did cut the support. If they are really being held back this much, I almost wish they would had done so when Aht Urghan hit. Sure I have heard of the positive things, but the game itself just looks terrible, almost unplayable. I hooked mine up recently and it almost freezes the game when I try to switch UI skins, Whitegate itself was pretty hard to get around. I haven't dared tried Besieged.

[Royal]

Most people that do own a PS3 at this point do have money. I mean, it is a $600 purchase whose prime features are blu-ray and 1080 HD support...

I'm sure some people save up for those. They don't just go buy one, then the next day go out and buy a computer.

[aurik]

Again, if they have a ps3, they probably already have a computer made in the last 4 years which is capable of running FFXI. The amount of PS3 owners who
a) play FFXI
b) don't have a computer that can run FFXI
and
c) can't afford a computer that can run FFXI
is probably extremely small.

[Charismatic]

And they should have to because you said so? SE isn't even thinking of doing this.

Where in my post do you see "should"? Don't put words in my mouth.

The fact that you think they should do this is implied by the fact that you are arguing for it, you didn't have to say it.

[Shuvo]

I know people don't want to migrate--that's why SE throws in freebies (here have PC installation disks for all the expansions, here have a $1 converter cable, here have a free month) to go along with the bitter pill of forced migration. A spoonful of sugar~

If SE wants to continue to develop their MMO and not just cut and run onto the next, they're going to have to amputate the PS2 support sooner or later. And as far as business sense goes, it's much wiser to amputate the gangrenous limb and keep milking the cash cow you have than to let the cow die and hope you can get another one.

You're argueing buisness choices against a company that pulls in over $7M USD/month for just one game.... How much do you earn?

What you said isn't really accurate either. I never once said they are letting FFXI die, it won't for a very long time if they keep adding in content at the rate they are atm, as indicated by having a consistant 500k players for the last year or so. The only time where the player base significantly dropped was after a newer, better designed MMO came out (WoW), which killed 2/3rds of their market. Seems obvious to me what SE's next step should be. Allocate enough resources to keep the remaining players happy, while focusing on making a better MMO at the same time.

It's doubtful that dropping ps2 support would make more players join FFXI, it's way too old a game. It's more likely to piss off a lot more existing players then please. Just look at the response you've gotten so far from this thread alone, ratio of for and against dropping ps2 is like 1:10. Also, did they really stop production on the ps2? I tried googling it and found nothing.

I'm not a ps2 player, btw.

[Royal]

I don't think they stopped it. I still see it in shops. Those could always be ones they bought awhile ago and still have though.

[aurik]

Fat PS2 has been stopped for a long long time. New thin PS2s don't support the HD attachment.

[aurik]

I know people don't want to migrate--that's why SE throws in freebies (here have PC installation disks for all the expansions, here have a $1 converter cable, here have a free month) to go along with the bitter pill of forced migration. A spoonful of sugar~

If SE wants to continue to develop their MMO and not just cut and run onto the next, they're going to have to amputate the PS2 support sooner or later. And as far as business sense goes, it's much wiser to amputate the gangrenous limb and keep milking the cash cow you have than to let the cow die and hope you can get another one.

You're argueing buisness choices against a company that pulls in over $7M USD/month for just one game.... How much do you earn?

That's a pretty retarded line of argument.

What you said isn't really accurate either. I never once said they are letting FFXI die, it won't for a very long time if they keep adding in content at the rate they are atm, as indicated by having a consistant 500k players for the last year or so. The only time where the player base significantly dropped was after a newer, better designed MMO came out (WoW), which killed 2/3rds of their market. Seems obvious to me what SE's next step should be. Allocate enough resources to keep the remaining players happy, while focusing on making a better MMO at the same time.

They should do what it takes to maximize ROI, which could very well include dropping PS2 in order to increase rapport with the PC base.

It's doubtful that dropping ps2 support would make more players join FFXI, it's way too old a game. It's more likely to piss off a lot more existing players then please.

No, but they might hold onto a large portion of their subscriber base for longer, and they will save a lot of development time.

Just look at the response you've gotten so far from this thread alone, ratio of for and against dropping ps2 is like 1:10.

You can't gauge support for PS2 because a few PS2 players are acting like I kicked their dog by suggesting that it makes sense for SE to kill off their platform of choice.

[LinktheDeme]

It is not worth SE's time and rescources to drop the PS2 and upgrade the equipment from any point of view with a new mmorpg. It just doesn't make sense financial and I really can't see how Aurik can't comprehend it. To everyone else if you keep argueing about this against aurik he'll just keep bitching and dumb you down to his level on the matter. Also last post on the matter because all this thread is people saying to aurik that SE will lose money on this and then aurik saying WHO CARES ABOUT THAT I WANT STUFF!

[fussel]

They'll need to buy the usb convertor, buy a new copy of FFXI + all expansions.

I have bought FFXI US + CoP + ToAU for PC and my girlfriend bought the FFXI US PS2-Version with Harddisk + CoP + ToAU, but we're both
playing on PC. Account management works fine cross-platform (but not cross-region, we're in the EU and unfortunately needed to import ToAU despite the EU release). I'm not sure if you could use a PS2 ToAU code on a PC installation up to CoP, though, we always bought both versions.

In some of the WoG-Interviews, SE already announced an all-in-one install pack without registration codes for something like $4 (I'd probably buying it, recently installed FFXI on another machine, that was 1 CD POL, 3 CDs FFXI, 1 CD Zilart, 2 CDs CoP and one DVD ToAU... all-in-one-installer {Can I have it?}).

Another possibility to get the install media would be a backup from a friend. Technically, this would be illegal, but I suppose SE wouldn't care - what matters is the account with its registers expansions, not the software.

A dual PS2 gamepad to USB adapter costs ten bucks. The game also plays fine using the keyboard.

[Gere]

I'm sorry if this has been brought up but do any of you remember the millions of topics on alla bitching that toau was DVD only and threatening to quit over it?