11:18 Running a bit late, guys. Waiting to go in.
11:18 Blogging from my iPhone outside the room.
11:19 Hoping for more on Final Fantasy XIV
11:20 Also, Square Enix isn't allowing cameras so this will be a live blog
only event.
11:21 Fun fact: I saw Itagaki here at the show. It's unclear if he's here for meetings or announcing something with Square or Konami, which both have press conferences today.
11:22 Itagaki being the creator of Ninja Gaiden.
11:23 I hope there are a lot of comments, but I can't see them on the iPhone version of this software.
11:24 Also, if you didn't catch our late story last night, FFXIV will also be released on the PC.
11:24 Being developed by the primary team behind FFXI
11:25 I just hope it's less grindy!
11:27 Looks like we're going in soon. Still running late. I think the localization team for FFXIII is running this event.
11:30 I'm really hoping for some Chris Taylor action. Square is publishing Supreme Commander II.
11:32 Been hearing that there could be a major announcement here, but that might have been FFXIV yesterday.
11:34 Just got moved to the VIP line. Bling.
11:42 Still in line. Just more VIP'ier. Be patient, y'all.
11:45 Okay, inside now! I can see your comments now.
11:45 For those just joining us, no video :( Square-Enix isn't allowing it, but I'm here to live blog all the news for you guys.
11:46 The chair is super comfortable!
11:46 As always, I won't be publishing your comments, but can see them all and might
respond to some ;)
11:46 As far as I know, this is a straight press conference. Don't know about a Q&A yet, but if there is, I'll ask you guys for questions.
11:47 For those interested in the Konami conference later today, there will be video tonight. We can't live stream it based on the room it's being held in :( But we are filming it for later.
11:48 I really want to see more of FFXIII, not just what was in the Japanese demo or cinematics. Kupo!
11:48 FFXIV is an MMO so expect a fee on both PC and PS3. Nothing concrete has been announced for pricing as far as I know.
11:49 If they give FFXIV details, you'll get them. Or I could make stuff up if you really need something now?
11:50 That "confirmation" of FFXIV being Free 2 Play seems shaky, but I could believe it if the game was based around a paid "premium" experience or micro-transactions.
11:51 Ok, here's some made up stuff for FFXIV: It takes place entirely underwater and those flying drones in the cinematic trailer were actually Mutalisks from StarCraft.
11:52 People are still filing in, but we should be starting soon.
11:53 This just in, I see name placards for the two leads on FFXIV.
11:53 And away we go!
11:53 This is Brian Leahy from TheFeed.
11:54 It seems like this is very much about FFXIV.
11:54 Update on exclusivity confusion.
11:55 Please be patient as this is going to be translated from Japanese.
11:56 FFXIV will be coming to the PS3 & PC. They are currently considering other hardware (including Microsoft hardware!)
11:56 Q: What are the ties to Final Fantasy XI, if any?
11:58 A: While you may have noticed that some of the same type of races appeared in the trailer, the world of FFXIV is different from FFXI. The reason that we made the races similar to the FFXI races is so FFXI players could choose a similar type of race in the new game. For example, in movies, you might have an actor that plays many different roles. Please, think of it that way.
11:59 Q: What happens to Final Fantasy XI now that we're moving to FFXIV? Are you going to phase it out or continue to publish new content for XI? How will the development team be split?
11:59 XIV does not take place in Vana'deil.
12:00 A: The development for FFXIV started 4 or 5 years ago with primary ideas. Development started a few years ago, while FFXI was still being supported. FFXI will continue to be supported. There is another year of content planned. There are no plans for the near future to stop development on FFXI.
12:01 Q: What influence have games like World of WarCraft have on the development of FFXIV?
12:02 A: As with WoW, we want to aim a bit for the casual user. However, we don't want to make a copy of WoW. We believe we will have things that are unique and will stand out from that game.
12:02 Q: Will combat be more action oriented or turn-based?
12:02 A: We cannot talk about the battle system at this time.
12:03 Q: FFXI has evolved a lot over the years, especially in the areas of player accessibility and the ability to solo. Will you carry over features like level sync and other features to FFXIV?
12:04 A: Yes. All of the knowledge and experience we gained from FFXI will be used in
the development of FFXIV. At the launch, we intend to have content for solo players as well as large-scale battles. We want a wide-variety from the start.
12:04 Q: Are you planning a simultaneous worldwide release or will it be released in Japan first?12:05 A: Yes. At the launch, this will be a worldwide simultaneous launch on PS3 and Windows PC. English, Japanese, German, and French versions released at launch.
12:05 Q: Will all servers be worldwide or split by territory?
12:07 A: The current plans are to have worldwide servers that are cross-platform and cross-region. We will do a beta test and look at the balance and player experience. We want to look for a good balance between region and cross-region play.
12:07 There's your beta!
12:08 Q: Will you be taking feedback from your FFXI users?
12:08 A: Yes, we still get a lot of feedback from our FFXI players and will continue to take feedback as we move into beta. The game will change as it goes.
12:09 Q: Will you try to move players from XI to XIV or will they be separate communities?
12:09 (I'm on my laptop + 3G now ;) )
12:10 A: It's up to the community themselves. We envision users that will hopefully play XI one day and XIV another. They will be independent, but users are free to play both.
12:10 Q: Are there plans to localize the game in Spanish?
12:11 A: Currently, there is no Spanish version in development. We'll consider it if enough Spanish-speaking users demand it from us. Getting good translators in Japan is hard, but if there's enough demand we will consider it.
12:11 Q: How can users transmit this demand?
12:12 A: We will conduct marketing research.
12:12 Q: Is there any special element in the MMO genre that you will improve with this game?
12:13 A: Our plan from the beginning was to make the best Final Fantasy game available. That is our vision for XIV. Then we thought, how can we make the best FF game and we came to the conclusion that it would be an MMORPG. It was decided to make the best FF first, then led to the decision to make it an MMORG and use that genre.
12:13 A: However, we are trying to implement a lot of new systems that other MMO's haven't used in the past.
12:14 Q: Why did you decide to make a new game rather than continue to evolve FFXI?
12:16 A: It all comes down to, originally, FFXI was designed for the PS2. It then moved to PC and Xbox 360. A lot of people have asked for a port to the PS3. With an MMORPG of this size, you have to develop new content. Porting to a new technology would take a lot of effort. Instead, we decided to use that time to make something new.
12:17 Q: Yesterday's trailer that was shown, was that running of a console or was it pre-rendered?
12:18 A: There were parts that were pre-rendered and parts that were running on the in-game engine.
12:18 Q: Is that the quality you're aiming for? The scene with the Galka fighting, is that what you're aiming for?
12:19 A: Yes, that is the part that was running in-engine.
12:19 Q: In that scene, we saw many parties and many enemies. Is this the new focus: many parties fighting many enemies?
12:20 A: I cannot say too much, but we hope to have battles that are many vs. many and many vs. one.
12:20 This is a Q&A for FFXIV, not a press conference. It was added at the last minute. FFXIV will be the only title discussed.
12:20 Q: What would you like to emphasize with this game? What is different from FFXI?
12:21 We're asking questions, but they are currently going through the international and Japanese press.
12:22 A: For FFXIV, the keyword that we've been using is "The Growth and Development of the Character." We will have the same type of storytelling and high-quality graphics. We also want to expand and create new in-game systems. The player can grow & develop in a more natural way without putting too much weight on the player. We will expand the job system to make it fairly different from the one in FFXI.
12:23 A: Another very important concept that takes a different direction from FFXI, for FFXIV we want to make it so the player can choose to play solo, in a party, 40 minutes, all-day... there will be content for ALL of those play styles and systems for all of those play styles.
12:24 Q: On the beta process, will current XI players get in?
12:25 A: As with the actual release date of the game, we don't have a concrete beta schedule yet. We will have a beta and look forward to more information about then shortly.
12:25 Q: Will FFXI characters be portable to XIV in any way?
12:26 A: The game is completely different. There will not be any XI character transfers to XIV. However, the character design is familiar and XI players will be able to create a similar character.
12:26 A: We will NOT be using PlayOnline, but friend lists will transfer over.
12:27 Q: If I'm new to the MMO genre, why would I choose FFXIV over other games?
12:27 A: We believe that players will fall in love with the world & story that we have created.
12:31 Q: I've been seeing information that the title is free to play, is this
true?
12:31 A: No pricing has been decided at this time. It is still TBD.
12:33 That wraps it up for the Q&A. Thank you all for following along and I hope you had some of your questions answered. That last one about pricing was mine, by the way.
12:34 Remember to come back later for Konami's press conference. I'm guessing they will reveal what the "Mask" game is that is being teased on Kojima's site.
So yeah, there's some pretty important tidbits of information to absorb here. I'll break it down with my thoughts on the matter.
Game-Engine
They specifically state that the fight scene with the Galka on the ship is rendered by the game-engine itself. While they say that they hope to achieve that level for in-game activities, do not be fooled by the quality of that footage. A lot of games use a combination of pre-rendered footage and game-engine rendered footage for their cutscenes and the FF series is no different. I would expect in-game footage that eventually shows up to look a little less...stellar. Especially on the PS3 and lower-mid ranged PCs. If the upper end gaming rigs can achieve that level of fluidity and detail, then holy shit, SE's really outdone themselves, but that's something I don't really expect people to go and spend upwards of $2000+ to get to.
Job System
Let the rampant speculation begin. They offered no concrete facts about the job system in this Q&A other than it will be different from FFXI.
The thing that makes FFXI so popular is that you can really grow attached to your character. You don't have to create new characters every time you want to level a new job. Despite the limitations a Job/Subjob combination can impose as far as actual usefulness to the overall picture (re: /nin or /sam for damn near every melee now is the only way to go), the amount of time spent making your own character better is astounding.
In other MMO's, once you reach max level, that's mostly it. Go get your end-game gear, participate in a few raids, then done. You end up being known by MANY names for the various characters you level. In FFXI, I am Qtipus. I've never been anyone else (unless I'm ferreting an account for mule purposes or as a favor). Most know me as a Dragoon, but instead of having Qtipusjr the WHM or Qtipusthethird as PLD, I have all these on one character and can change to fill a need or I can level another job. That is simply more time I've put into this one character. Which leads me to the next critical point...
No Character Transfers
I griped a little bit yesterday about the potential of having to start from scratch again after investing so much time in this one character. I'm not going to go into full blown rage after the confirmation of this yesterday, but I will say the following...
If SE expects me to "play FFXI one day and play FFXIV the next", they better damn well make sure the games are so drastically different that I can justify paying them potentially twice the amount of money I'm currently paying them for their services. If FFXIV turns out to be rehash of FFXI, I'll be sticking with FFXI no matter how shiny FFXIV turns out to be. After 6+ years, I've made a ton of friends, acquired a ton of items and turned Qtipus into a character that can generally participate in more than effectively in any event this game has to offer.
This is the caveat though. This is what lures people back to this game after they've spent a substantial amount of time with it or what makes it so hard to quit. Your character in this game is not something you simply throw by the wayside once you hit 75. You go do it again 19 more times with another job. You participate in various events as various jobs lending a ton of variety to your game play (whether you like the job or not...). You can continue to make your character stronger through the merit system. The list goes on. Some will say they come back to this game cause their friends play. That's awesome and all, but don't be naive to think that this is the only reason they come back. There is a level of attachment to these characters unlike any other MMO out there and if SE fails to recognize this, they just might be in for a rude awakening when it comes to FFXIV.
I get that the MMO market is a business and SE is looking to capitalize on what I term as "burst income" from players paying for FFXI and FFXIV at the same time. SE has a chance to do something truly unique though. If FFXIV is going to be truly different from FFXI in almost every way, I get that transferring characters from one game to the other would be detrimental in facilitating this. However, offering up a fee-based service for select items to be transferred from FFXI to FFXIV would likely be a boon for business just as a simple thank you to the people who truly made FFXI successful would likely help SE gain what they truly want. Which is multiple people paying for multiple subscriptions.
Platforms
PS3 and PC. That's all that's confirmed at this time. SE needs to get this game on the XBox or the Wii as well. The PS3's installed base (as of March 2009) is approx 7.5 million units compared to the XBox's installed base of 14.9 million and the Wii's installed base of a rather astonishing 19.6 million units. Compare this to the near TWENTY MILLION install PS2 units at the NA launch of FFXI and it's pretty easy to see that SE likely isn't going to come close to their initial FFXI numbers.
Worldwide numbers are a little different, but still in the same pattern. As of March 2009, Wii's world wide base exceeds 50 million units. As of Jan 2009, Xbox360's installed base world wide is 28 million and as of Dec 2008, PS3's worldwide installed base is 21 million. Compared to the Sept 2003 (month before NA FFXI launch) PS2 installed base of 60 million, SE's decision to stick with the PS3 in the short term looks...short sighted.
All it takes, obviously, is a small fraction of those PS3 owners to at least give FFXIV a try, but the PS3's pricepoint makes it far less likely that someone is going to go out and buy this unit specifically for FFXIV. Nintendo's Wii price point and rather unique approach to gaming is what's causing the huge installed base numbers for it and the XBox360's numbers are what they are because of how long the thing has been out (5 years now?). If Sony drops the price of the PS3 down to the same price range as the XBox360 is currently, look the hell out, but Sony is going to have to figure out how to cut the costs of what basically amounts to a netbook in a shiny box.
With SE moving towards digital media downloads for all their content, having copies of FFXIV on store shelves likely won't have as dramatic an effect on sales as placing the software up for download in the online shopping malls provided by each system. I don't know what numbers SE is looking to gain from simply offering it up on the PS3 and the PC initially, but if they truly want to make something that's going bring in a veritable fuckton of money, they need to get it ported to one of the cheaper consoles. This game will not sell PS3s. SE says they're looking into other hardware naming "Microsoft hardware" specifically, which is mostly smart, but if the lessons of FFXI are truly learned, they'll figure out a way ahead of time to avoid using the phrase that's ultimately become the catchphrase of FFXI...
"PS2 limitations."
Go for the Wii SE. Go for the Wii.
Conclusion
I'm not particularly excited or disappointed with the news that came out yesterday. I'm still waiting to see and experience some in-game footage before I really form an opinion. The fact that they want to keep FFXI and FFXIV characters completely separate bugs me and lowers the chance that I'll dive into FFXIV in the same way that I did FFXI, but I'm certainly going to give FFXIV a try to see if it's worth it.
I know SE is a business and it's all about making as many people happy as possible, but it would be nice if some form of a nod was given to the people who put them in this position in the first place as a bit of an enticement.
Expand the platforms definitively, entice your FFXI playerbase to switch with more than "we hope that our fans will play FFXI one day and FFXIV the next cause our story and world we created is awesome" and make sure the ability to stick with one character remains and FFXIV could easily become a juggernaut in the MMO world.
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