Final Fantasy 11 (possibly) going free2play

Square Enix will hold a press conference about the future of Final Fantasy XI this Thursday, March 19 in Japan.

“We will be holding a press conference regarding our plans for Final Fantasy XI going forward, with the event broadcast live on the internet,” Square Enix said in the announcement.

The presentation will be live streamed on YouTube starting at 16:00 Japan time (midnight PST / 3 a.m. EST).

Further details were not announced.

http://gematsu.com/2015/03/future-of-final-fantasy-xi-press-conference-slated-for-march-19#DrA2JsIQ71PeYOHV.99

If only they could figure out how to make it Fun2Play...

-Byshop

hah ah... nice

You could say... it's shit as ****.

Actually I haven't played it: but I will check it out if it is free2play for curiosity sake.

This game was excellent back in its heyday. And quite innovative too. Sadly, all good things must come to an end and some rather questionable design choices ruined it. Even if it goes free to play, it would not be worth the time investment.

This game still has the best class system of any mmorpg, with far more character roles that fall out of the holy trinity (but are still more than viable) and a multiclass system that was better than FFXIV's.

I put quite a lot of time into it back in the day. I had it on two PS2s as well as the PC version. The crafting system was an excesize in frustration with a high probability for wasting those valuable fire gems you farmed with no reward. I was a human monk which meant like my character looked like he was into bondage. I remember monster trains and it basically becoming impossible to solo above level 20.

What I did like, though, was the art style, overall graphics, music, and community.

-Byshop

Agreed. Currently the best supported as well.

Naoki Yoshida deserves big props.

I didn't mind it when I first played it.. for some reason what put me off was the map (hard to read for me), that some quests didn't have voice dialogue but their mouths moved... and that the quests were too fetch most of the time.

I prefer reading. The writing is actually pretty good imo. Even the most mundane things are explained with some thought behind them, usually a couple of paragraphs. It gives context to the NPC's standing like woodstumps. Without context, thats what they are to me, woodstumps.

Part of the reason I deeply disliked Wildstar, it was designed for (obviously World Of Warcraft Players) to spam click the single player content in order to get to the raiding.

Lord Of The Rings Online was pretty good as well in that regard back in the day. Unfortunately the combat was shite and it felt like a very cheap game overall.

I guess games like Guild Wars 2 and SWTOR have ruined me :P

I don't mind reading... most of the time I'm reading through a book and I remember reading heaps in games like Baldurs Gate and Neverwinter Nights, but since technology allows it now I don't mind voice dialogue either, as long as the voice acting is decent (which those two games are most of the time).

I hate MMOs like Wildstar where all they care about is getting to "end-game" and the SP content is just a grindfest.... that's why I respect games like GW2, SWTOR and LOTRO and even ESO where they have put thought and effort into the journey, not just the destination.

Well, if it will be going the f2p route, I just might try it out at some point...

When there is voice overs, I tend to focus on how bad the voice overs are. When therer are no voice overs, my mind fills in the voices for me. I also tend to progress through dialogue so much faster. Dialogue is roughly around 3 times faster without voice overs for me.

Full voice overs are one of the cancers killing gaming.

It's like the old saying about your own imagination being better.

Stop saying nonsense, lol.... if technology allows full voice over and the developer decides to go down that path then it's fine... it doesn't ruin any game. There are still plenty of text only games as well. It's always about telling a story in the end.

Voice overs cause more problems than they do good.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/columns/experienced-points/7588-Voice-vs-Choice

http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/06/voice-acting-in-rpgs-may-be-more-trouble-than-its-worth/

Emphasis on fully voice overed conversations is one of the (many) reasons BioWare C&C has always been piss poor. The best C&C from BioWare was from Baldur's Gate before it had full voice overs. I have played RPGs made with less than a percentage of BioWare's budget, that allowed for much greater reactivity towards choices (as well as beating it in pretty much every other area save for presentation). Full voice overs are also expensive. Not only do you need to write text, but the dialogue also needs to be animated and voiced, more than tripling the cost. Full voice overs means that going back is also waaaaaay harder, and editing the writing now a lot more difficult.

With the emphasis on full voice overs, it comes to no suprise that htis happened,

It's still not killing anything, both systems have pros and cons like everything, and both systems are in full flight now anyway.

Old text games gave you heaps more options to respond, but most of the time it was still the same outcome, just different ways to get there. Voice actors bring something that can never be done in text, and that's emotion. Heck, voice acting was what made some of the side quests in SWTOR worth doing.

Honestly, same outcome is even more abundant in Full Voice Over games. Hell, you can select different dialogue options in the dialogue wheel, and you will still say the EXACT same thing, followed by the exact same response.

Furthermore, emotion can still be done without voice overs. Just by the general tone of the writing, and clever usage of the english vocabulary. Sometimes, a character doesnt even need words to express emotion, the hero of wind and the hero of time have both been capable of expressing emotion when need be. And those guys don't even speak.

The best system is partial voice acting. But I would rather have no voice acting than full voice acting.

I hate partial, lol.... it's like the developer didn't have enough money to do it all voiced, lol.

Give me full voice acting or full text.

Granted, I know its opinion, but how the hell can you say the classes / dungeons are better than WoWs? FF14's gameplay is so simplistic its like the "introduction to the genre" .... the only aspect that makes it even remotely challenging in any of its content is the 1 hit kill mechanics that stump PuGs...

It's combat is poor and very limited by its engine....

It's flashy and has lots of charm... but in the gameplay department its outclassed by several MMOs.

Gold Saucer even felt souless... like the game can't handle anything on a large scale.... probably due to supporting a 9 year old friggin console....

I dunno... I went back to it last week, tried the new content... limited by its Engine... the Bahamut fight... was incredibly underwhelming, like any other fight, condemend to 8 players in a tiny circle room ... Bahamut is anormal size boss.... with the same standard mechanics and flashy spell effects... beyond that little substance.

The class system... is basic beyond belief.... and far worse than WoW's in customization and gameplay.

DISCLAIMER - I don't play WoW ..... but I find most FFXIV fans are just anime lovers that like pretty graphics and cutscenes.... more than the actual game they are playing... this tone is written all over the forums and their reddits.... more "look at me posting half naked in my house" than actual gameplay related stuff... because its so shallow in that regard.

/rant over.

Max leveled a Hunter/Monk/Death-Knight in World Of Warcraft and the complexity basically involved standing still waiting for cool-downs 99% of the time.

Yet to play an MMO with genuinely complex game-play other than Eve: Online, which is mostly due to the learning curve.

Bit odd to insult the community in comparison to World Of Warcraft. Part of the appeal of an MMO is playing with other people yes? If those people in qeastion, aren't pleasant, then chances are the experience will not be.

World Of Warcraft, is not pleasant. We can say it's possible to limit yourself by joining a guild but when it comes to random dungeons and raids, you will be placed alongside assholes on a regular basis.

Having maxed out in FF14 without even bothering with a guild, i'v only came across 1 single asshole (who coincidentally) was a World Of Warcraft player. Everyone has been very friendly, patient and understanding.

World Of Warcraft players are inflammatory to the point they will have random kicks for party members.

Given the choice between a perceived simplstic game full of pleasant people and a complex game full of dingdongs, the choice is pretty clear cut.

It's more complex than Final Fantasy 14. He's right about the limited size of the levels due to console hardware, personally I hate the constant load screens, it pissed me off.

That's something world of warcraft does get right, the maps are basically boundless and it can have hundreds of people on screen without even a drop past 60. It's one of the actual few games i'v played that has a sense of grandeur to it. People compliment games like Skyrim and Oblivion, those don't feel big and those environments are bland as ****. The players first trip into the Burning Crusade through the portal is jaw dropping.

Having said that, aside from easily the worst community in gaming outside of moba games, you also have to put up with bullshit.

Fucking selling gold, selling power-leveling, selling mounts, selling armor and shit. Base game price (for a fucking expansion to a decade old game) +30% more than the price of a full game.

There's a limit to how much bullshit a person can take. Unless of course, it's Blizzard fanboys, in which case they will eat this shit right up.

It seems even Realm Reborn has stopped to a fucking item shop. So far it hasn't stopped to anything as low as power leveling, gold selling or shoving all this shit in your face via in game menus, it's stuck purely on the account page.

The content they have been delivering as well makes me feel like my 8 quid a month is actually fucking gets used for something. I read it was something like 1/3 the size of the base game they have added since updating. They even added a new class as well as expected dungeons, raids and other shite.

Excellent response, the Anime avatar gives it away though... probably happy to do the inane daily grinds, take screenshots of your character and say ts the best MMO ever...

Haha funny stuff, and BARD on FFXIV is so incredibly complex...... oh sorry.... I mean archer with nearly useless songs.... because the game's class system has the depth of a puddle (though I agree WoW isn't amazing at it either anymore). Square don't even know what they are doing with their class system... the whole multi jobs to one class idea has amounted to NOTHING.

More competive is assholes? yea I hear this same crap on the MOBA scene... doesn't change their level of complexity and competitiveness.... who cares?

The FFXIV crowd barely raid.... leave PuGs after 2 whipes and just whine at eachother like any other MMO.... except... the actual challenging content is so limited the ammount of raid-orientated guilds on any given server is crap.

It's a casual mess, its questing system is incredibly dated, its movement system/engine is dated ... its combat design is dated.

Literally.... its for people that love pretty dolls dressing up, and grinding heavy ammoutns of RNG to avoid any real challenge.

If FF wasn't in the name, and it was the exact same game, it wouldn't have a fraction of its userbase. based on the quality as a modern MMO and gameplay.

I said it's less complex than WoW ... I said it has far less going for it in terms of engine, combat design, quest design ... and no, I'm not saying WoW is complex, do you understand now? THE BAR WAS ALREADY LOW AND FF MANAGED TO GO UNDER IT.

But hye, 10 million vs 0.5 million people ... 9.5 vs 7-8 ....... as I've already stated, if the game wasn't FF in artstyle/music/title it woudl of been slammed for being a shallow RNG grindfest, with a very dated engine, very dated gameplay mechanics .... and the most lop sided end game content in recent years...

Any other name. the game would be near dead, free2play.

Here is a run down of everything that was discussed at the conference.

Key points were:
PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 service will cease in March 2016
Story coming to end in three parts, beginning with part one in May 2015, part two in August 2015 and part three in November 2015
Final Fantasy Grandmasters: An online RPG for smartphones which will take place in Vana'diel
No mention of the subscription being removed from the PC version

@geminontraveler said:

@MBirdy88 said:

@geminontraveler said:

@uninspiredcup said:

Max leveled a Hunter/Monk/Death-Knight in World Of Warcraft and the complexity basically involved standing still waiting for cool-downs 99% of the time.

Yet to play an MMO with genuinely complex game-play other than Eve: Online, which is mostly due to the learning curve.

Bit odd to insult the community in comparison to World Of Warcraft. Part of the appeal of an MMO is playing with other people yes? If those people in qeastion, aren't pleasant, then chances are the experience will not be.

World Of Warcraft, is not pleasant. We can say it's possible to limit yourself by joining a guild but when it comes to random dungeons and raids, you will be placed alongside assholes on a regular basis.

Having maxed out in FF14 without even bothering with a guild, i'v only came across 1 single asshole (who coincidentally) was a World Of Warcraft player. Everyone has been very friendly, patient and understanding.

World Of Warcraft players are inflammatory to the point they will have random kicks for party members.

Given the choice between a perceived simplstic game full of pleasant people and a complex game full of dingdongs, the choice is pretty clear cut.

FF14 isnt simplistic at all though. i dont even know what the hell MBirdy is talking about.

calling FF14 simplistic and trying to insinuate that WOW is complex.... is just... LOL no.

I said it's less complex than WoW ... I said it has far less going for it in terms of engine, combat design, quest design ... and no, I'm not saying WoW is complex, do you understand now? THE BAR WAS ALREADY LOW AND FF MANAGED TO GO UNDER IT.

But hye, 10 million vs 0.5 million people ... 9.5 vs 7-8 ....... as I've already stated, if the game wasn't FF in artstyle/music/title it woudl of been slammed for being a shallow RNG grindfest, with a very dated engine, very dated gameplay mechanics .... and the most lop sided end game content in recent years...

Any other name. the game would be near dead, free2play.

again, calling FF14's engine "dated" while insinuating that WOWs engine is not... is just... LOL no

FF14: Heavensward:

WoW Warlords of Draenor (max settings):

i think it is pretty clear which game is "dated" looking.

face it MBirdy, it is clear you know almost nothing about the game and your opinion is clearly WRONG. stop trying to bash a game you know so little about.

dear god, there is more to an engine than graphics. I thought I already made that clear to you? but thank you for re-enforcing my stereotyped I issued about FF fans... "all about the prettys". Even if we go beyond engine into the realm of creative gameplay design - WoW beats the living crap out of FFXIV's boss/fight design... (Again... NOT GRAPHICS RELATED.).

As does games like Guild Wars 2 ...

FFXIV ... great graphics, everything else decided to take 10 steps backwards....

I don't see you disputing my point about the game being dead if it didn't have the FF brand on it.... I'm very confident in that outcome.

As far as I'm aware, this video game launched form a wrecked reputation. Registered growing from 1 million to 4 million.

From a personal perspective, I do not like Final Fantasy as a series nor anime, coming Guild Wars 2 and World Of Warcraft.

I do, social interaction is a large part of the genre; complexity doesn't inherently make a game better; given the community it tends to attract ( gamers with social and emotional issues) it's possible to argue it does the opposite.

If I only care about complexity from my game, play something else, preferably single player.

Yea... and 99% of the FF population don't like challenge.... they join PuGs for Extremes and Turns .... and just rage quit after 2 whipes if not everyone knows what their doing...

Nobody barely says a word while running dungeons...

The only conversations that ever happens are roleplayers in guilds and general chat... oh wait... even that's rare.

Not quite as anti-social as GW2 mind you.. I'l give it that much.

I enjoyed both Final Fantasy MMOs, but I always go back to WoW. I was going to pick up Elder Scrolls yesterday and though, naw I will just start playing WoW again...

You really need to let go...... lol....

To be honest it is really hard somtimes. I always jump back because of friends that I have been with for awhile... Plus my wife plays etc. It makes it better with friends that you know.

The biggest problem with FF14 is that it doesnt really feel all that much like a FF.

Where are all the iconic jobs? Why wasnt the thief and Ninja in at launch. Why is there still no red mage. Why is the multiclass system so basic.

FF11 has 6 basic jobs. These are the Fighter, Thief, Monk, Black Mage, White Mage and Red Mage... notice something here? These are the 6 jobs in FF1.

Then the more advanced jobs were basically a lot of the jobs that would be found in FF4 and FF5. Not only that, but bards were actual bards instead of archers with the some weak music.