New Square MMO anouncement coming soon!

[Maguspk]

Alot of people think SE can just up and change everything they don't like about the game and if they don't it's terrible. Almost everybody on these boards has played FFXI at some point and enjoyed it more or less, but soon realized there were things they'd prefer were done another way.

One of the biggest problems (non instanced HNMs) is one of the features which some would argue were better at some point in the games life. Back when I played my LS was the only one who killed Fafnir. We'd let it sit up in Aery until 6 PM everyday and then take it out. That way it'd pop from 3-6PM everyday without fail, and on maintenance days we just let it sit because we literally had no compeitition. This allowed us to both get items we wanted and ensure nobody else could try to get those items because they'd never get a chance to fight a Wyrm. For the longest time we monopolized it and it was cool, nobody knew any better and the majority of the game community just went "wtf is that" at Koenig Bodies or Dalamaticas and Ridills. Now you can't go to Aery during a window without seeing at least 100+ in the zone even after a maintenance; this sometimes pushes 200+ on servers, I believe. The game is much too old to accomodate all these players for the endgame SE made and as such, will seem horrible in those regards simply due to a lack of foresight on their part. Foresight isn't something you can go back and have, and hindsight is 20/20 so, in the next MMO we won't see these kinds of problems.

However, after the game has grown to the retarded rate it's grown now, nearly everybody and their retarded step cousin has a 75 job or multiple 75s and guess what, they can team up with a bunch of other 75 retards and kill just about anything the game has to offer because of the decreasing balance in the game as time goes on (hi2u ninja sub). It's not so much the game as it is the time it's stood. FFXI is too old to still be good because it wasn't made for the playerbase all being 75 nor for the playerbase sticking around this long. They are just milking the cash cow at this point, the game should have died awhile ago.

That being said, SE can't really just up and change a game made with a 6+ year old engine that can't support fully any changes we'd like to see(changing hnm to instanced zones or changing dynamis to be instanced, etc.) That'd probably require too large an investment to be worthwhile so they stick to stuff that is a bit better where they can make it. See Assault-esque game activities, they used what they had at their disposal and made something as close to what they knew was good for everyone. I think given a new engine and the obvious knowledge from FFXI they could make an MMO that is at least better than FFXI on the whole. It's foolish to sit in a forum and say "SE is stupid, lolol" when they are obviously successful and will, without fail, improve upon the mechanics that were in FFXI in the next game.

edit: Maybe I'm just being too optimistic though, but I like to give a top of the line game developing company a little benefit of the doubt when it comes to things like this.

[Exoduso]

Honestly the only way I see myself playing a new MMO of theirs is if HNMs will be instanced. I can't see myself wasting time and becoming addicted to a game again, at least you can work the game around your schedule rather than your schedul around the game when everything has a specific hour and you can attend it.

Too long have I woken up for 5am Fafnirs (yay PST) only to see a Fire Crystal in the loot pool before I got the items I wanted out of there.

[Izzy]

If something ever happens to this game, I'm waddling my ass right back to RagnarokOnline.

[Fhqwghads]

Alot of people think SE can just up and change everything they don't like about the game and if they don't it's terrible. Almost everybody on these boards has played FFXI at some point and enjoyed it more or less, but soon realized there were things they'd prefer were done another way.

One of the biggest problems (non instanced HNMs) is one of the features which some would argue were better at some point in the games life. Back when I played my LS was the only one who killed Fafnir. We'd let it sit up in Aery until 6 PM everyday and then take it out. That way it'd pop from 3-6PM everyday without fail, and on maintenance days we just let it sit because we literally had no compeitition. This allowed us to both get items we wanted and ensure nobody else could try to get those items because they'd never get a chance to fight a Wyrm. For the longest time we monopolized it and it was cool, nobody knew any better and the majority of the game community just went "wtf is that" at Koenig Bodies or Dalamaticas and Ridills. Now you can't go to Aery during a window without seeing at least 100+ in the zone even after a maintenance; this sometimes pushes 200+ on servers, I believe. The game is much too old to accomodate all these players for the endgame SE made and as such, will seem horrible in those regards simply due to a lack of foresight on their part. Foresight isn't something you can go back and have, and hindsight is 50/50 so, in the next MMO we won't see these kinds of problems.

However, after the game has grown to the retarded rate it's grown now, nearly everybody and their retarded step cousin has a 75 job or multiple 75s and guess what, they can team up with a bunch of other 75 retards and kill just about anything the game has to offer because of the decreasing balance in the game as time goes on (hi2u ninja sub). It's not so much the game as it is the time it's stood. FFXI is too old to still be good because it wasn't made for the playerbase all being 75 nor for the playerbase sticking around this long. They are just milking the cash cow at this point, the game should have died awhile ago.

That being said, SE can't really just up and change a game made with a 6+ year old engine that can't support fully any changes we'd like to see(changing hnm to instanced zones or changing dynamis to be instanced, etc.) That'd probably require too large an investment to be worthwhile so they stick to stuff that is a bit better where they can make it. See Assault-esque game activities, they used what they had at their disposal and made something as close to what they knew was good for everyone. I think given a new engine and the obvious knowledge from FFXI they could make an MMO that is at least better than FFXI on the whole. It's foolish to sit in a forum and say "SE is stupid, lolol" when they are obviously successful and will, without fail, improve upon the mechanics that were in FFXI in the next game.

edit: Maybe I'm just being too optimistic though, but I like to give a top of the line game developing company a little benefit of the doubt when it comes to things like this.

I call bullshit on your whole post. They have instanced zones all over the place. Some of them even contain the same freakin' mobs you find in the problem areas (faf, behemoth, adamantoise.) I have no idea what reason SE has to not change the conditions for these mobs. Maybe they don't want to spend the dev resources on coding up a few new instanced zones to plop them in. If that's the case, then lame on their part. I'd expect most people would be happy to have them available in an untextured white square box if that would give them an opportunity to fight it. I know personally I couldn't care less about some fancy zone, re-use textures if they have to, just give access via an instance. Personally I think it's because they're stubborn JP fucks who don't want to admit their system doesn't work anymore. Either that or they're sadists who enjoy watching people torture themselves 3 or more hours a day.

The bottom line is they can make sweeping changes, and it wouldn't be that difficult.

[kisada]

Any gameplay mechanics, engine, game flaws, whatever, will all be totally irrelevant and secondary to their incompetence in dealing with the player as a consumer.

Everything could be amazing from a gameplay standpoint, but that doesn't justify eating their shit for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every single day you play their new game. Well, unless you don't mind that kind of thing i guess. But i'm a principle guy and knowing how they treat the players is enough to make me never want to deal with them again.

Personally, i've dealt with all the frustrations in the actual game that you guys have. The retard GM's, the MPK's, the ridiculous camps. But all of that annoyance didn't even sniff their idiocy when it came to the stolen accounts. So going back for more of that shit would be a disservice to myself. I just wouldn't be able to do it.

[Gulkeeva]

I dunno I soorta had fun in FFXI, mithra kept me playing for countless thousands of hours. I hope their new MMO has a mithra like race... O_o

Or atleast something sexy looking that can wear sexy looking gear

and yeah currently just spending alot time on wow now, after spending probably 300-400 Playtime days out of my total in dragons aery/sky and such needed a change

[Jefe]

FFXI was my first MMwhatever, and will be the last (L2 doesn't count). FFXI was a new, and exciting experience for me, It was cool to actually play with my rl friends and make new ones. However, SE "policies" leave a lot to be desire, and even though I was never a victim of hax, it deters my desire to even consider playing any MMOwhatever again.

PS: Fuk KH series.

[sb]

I hope they are smart enough to build a character recall function (this time around).

[Jimmayus]

I've come to a decision, having played several MMO's now (WoW and FFXI the most prominent), and I realize that I had my most fun in FF. But, if a new game is like FF in terms of the endgame shafting, then I doubt I'd ever return.

Now a Pokemon MMO, that I'd sell the rest of my life off for.

[Akiyama]

No Final Fantasy anything, please. Thank you D:

[Viq]

FFXI was my first MMwhatever, and will be the last (L2 doesn't count). FFXI was a new, and exciting experience for me, It was cool to actually play with my rl friends and make new ones. However, SE "policies" leave a lot to be desire, and even though I was never a victim of hax, it deters my desire to even consider playing any MMOwhatever again.

PS: Fuk KH series.

How does L2 not count when you have a 80/78? I imagine that took far longer than your FFXI jobs, unless you just botted your L2 character/played on private server.

[Xavier]

I'd play another Square MMO just for the hilarious head scratching wtf comments its development team cluelessly spews out with their unjustified swagger and sense of accomplishment.

I never understood Fafnir until I learned I was supposed to be afraid of him.

[Charla]

What, you were never in a lame LS that wiped to Fafnir back in the day? Being afraid of Fafnir made perfect sense when 2/3 of the alliance was under 70.

[Jefe]

How does L2 not count when you have a 80/78?

Actually, if you compare L2 and the old FFXI (no signet & exp bonus, etc.) there isn't an abysmal difference. It was "easier" for me because I didn't have to worry about adena, aa, dances, equipment, etc. Most of the classes can use Draconic Gear/Major Arcana which I had. Hence, I don't count it as the "full experience." It felt like your typical rpg (really broken actually) lvling up, minus random kills by european faggots.

To tell you the truth, I wouldn't have gone as far (too time consuming, broken as kuya's heart, etc.), that game is just a fuking pain in the anus.

Edit: Retired them both, FFXI about a year ago or moar.

[Kaelan]

Meh. FFXI bores me now, but that's just due to having played it too much. It's still the most fun I've ever had with any MMO and better than 95% of what's out there. I hope in the next one they use what they learned from FFXI but keep having that different vision for MMOs that made them design XI the way they did. It definetly could learn ceirtain things from other companies (especially from Blizzard), but the reverse is true too. There's a lot of things in FFXI that aren't done in MMOs often enough.

Honestly, though, I could care less about them revealing what they're working on right now if there isn't a significant portion of it done yet, but I definetly want to hear more about the White Engine. Shame I won't be able to actually attend GDC this year :/

If it doesn't allow you to change jobs while retaining the same identity in game, I'm not even going to take a serious look at it at all.

For the love of god, yes. It boggles my mind why this game has been out for 5(?) years and virtually no developers have picked this idea up.

[Xavier]

Hindsight is 20/20 and while its easy for me to point out glaring flaws with the game today, I have to remember that at one point I obviously enjoyed it, otherwise I would never have played in the first place.

My first response was sarcastic, but I'd probably give Square another chance, albeit with extremely jaded eyes and very little forgiveness for shitty systems. I'd quit at the first sign of retardation creeping in.

[Gwynplaine]

I dunno, people bash FFXI a lot more than I think is warranted. Where are all of these amazing MMO's everyone's comparing this game to, that make FFXI so horrible in comparison. I can't think of many MMO's beside WoW that exceeded FFXI in terms of max playerbase, (Lineage and Lineage 2 I hardly count, due to them targeting such a HUGE audience.) Ontop of that I don't even feel they're games that warrant the huge playerbase they get, koreans will pretty much play just about any MMO that's thrown their way.
- yadda yadda -

Because of grass is greener type of thinking, simple as that. People should just enjoy what they choose to play, or not play. Otherwise you can choose to get your Flux on, which I've seen a hell of a lot of lately.

In regards to this specific article, it didn't say anything of particular interest. In so many words it just said "maybe there will be news soon, for real this time".

[levish]

Or they could get a clue that people (the people that I know and played ffxi) like/want certain things like gear progression (gtfo sidegrades / situational gear) and advancement and not have to sit at their computer for 9 hours at a time to get anywhere.

[Lockecole7]

I dunno, people bash FFXI a lot more than I think is warranted. Where are all of these amazing MMO's everyone's comparing this game to, that make FFXI so horrible in comparison. I can't think of many MMO's beside WoW that exceeded FFXI in terms of max playerbase, (Lineage and Lineage 2 I hardly count, due to them targeting such a HUGE audience.) Ontop of that I don't even feel they're games that warrant the huge playerbase they get, koreans will pretty much play just about any MMO that's thrown their way.
- yadda yadda -

Because of grass is greener type of thinking, simple as that. People should just enjoy what they choose to play, or not play. Otherwise you can choose to get your Flux on, which I've seen a hell of a lot of lately.

In regards to this specific article, it didn't say anything of particular interest. In so many words it just said "maybe there will be news soon, for real this time".

Did you just yadda yadda yadda my reply!?

Marcy would be proud.

[Kaelan]

Bump. Confirmation, for anyone who had doubts about the OP's source (including myself): https://www.cmpevents.com/GD08/a.asp?op ... essID=6854

The Technology of FINAL FANTASY
Speaker: Taku Murata (General Manager, Technical Research Divi, Square Enix Co.,Ltd)
Date/Time: Friday (February 22, 2008) 12:00pm — 1:00pm
Location (room): Room 135, North Hall
Track: Programming
Experience Level: All

Session Description
Taku Murata is the head of R&D of Square Enix. Under his leadership, Square Enix is now developing the common technology platform for the first time. The new game engine will be used for FINAL FANTASY XIII, new MMORPG under development, and other titles in the future. In this talk, Taku will describe the whole process of the engine development; why now, why not third party engine, what is unique, how it is being developed, what were challenges, etc. You'll be able to see the technological essence of FINAL FANTASY development.

It's happening this afternoon, hopefully videos/audio will be up on teh internets soon enough.