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Final Fantasy XIV leadership ejected, PS3 version delayed

Management of every area changed as Square Enix offers "sincerest of apologies," promises changes, extends free-play period indefinitely.

230 Comments

When the latest Final Fantasy massively multiplayer online game came out, it met a volley of criticism from players and critics alike. Today, Square Enix apologized to players, promised a further extension of Final Fantasy XIV's free trial period, announced a complete management restructuring, and confirmed the PlayStation 3 version would miss its March 2011 ship date.

No one will be taking up arms in Eorzea on the PS3 any time soon.
No one will be taking up arms in Eorzea on the PS3 any time soon.

The most high-profile departure is producer/director Hiromichi Tanaka, who has stepped down and been replaced by Naoki Yoshida. In a statement accompanying the news, Tanaka apologized for the current state of Final Fantasy XIV, taking full responsibility for the game's shortcomings. While Tanaka is stepping down from his current roles, he will "be continuing to support the development team in other capacities."

As well as a new director, the project now has a new assistant director, lead game designer, lead combat system designer, lead programmer, and lead artist, among others. The new team will be producing game updates more regularly, according to Square Enix. There are two scheduled before the end of the year, with more details on their content to follow.

Confirming the PS3 version delay, Square Enix "humbly" asked for a player's "continued patience and understanding." The firm said the game would not hit Sony's platform until it was "confident that the game has reached the level of enjoyability and service befitting the Final Fantasy name."

Square Enix president and CEO Yoichi Wada apologized to fans for the state of game and pledged to extend the game's free trial period "until we are able to confidently present [players] with a concrete plan outlining Final Fantasy XIV's new direction."

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decoy1978

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Instead of a new MMO, you morons at SE need to fix the one you have. Business 101: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Heres a free tip... FFXIV IS BROKEN!

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ciliek

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My problems so far is not being able to map the controller buttons in game or graphics settings. This goes hand in hand with making NPC targetting a b**** as well as everything else for that matter. I also didn't like how the game started me off. Half the time I was running around like a dumb ***. Mousing over the stats doesn't tell you what they do which also made me rage as a newcomer. I also wanted to physically abuse and beat the Quest NPC for being a vague c***. This game is packed with all these wonderful intricacies but with no direction most of the time. Oh yeah, and full screen is cutting off my menus. Could be user side. I don't really know. I don't know because I didn't really care for exiting the game to f*** the settings each and every time for optimization. That would be too tedious for me. Getting through to the game for a first run was painful enough. For some reason the game kept knocking down my network connection until I forwarded the ports for it. (required one hour to figure out to do). Not to mention I had just finished downloading updates at 20 KBs. I shouldn't be b***ing about the slow delivery of updates though. Just keep them coming for the love of god. By the way I'm seeing a lot of people complain about XI. If you didn't like it then with XIV fixed then I doubt that you're going to like this either. XIV right now has more problems than your dislike for the game concept and quit trying to expect something epic as good as VII to come out again.

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CLOCKWORKIAN

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Good. Now where is the apology for FF XI, XII and XIII?

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Nefthis

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I was player of FFXI for 6 years and am a player of FFXIV .The FFXI is the best MMORPG I've played (and I've played Aion, the Vanguard, the Age of Conan,and lots of games). A person who was only level 25 in FFXI would not comment on the FFXI. It's as if my opinion about WOW being level 2. The FFXI begins to be quite a great game from level 70. It's a very hard game, not for casual gamers. It has a wealth of story missions, lots of quests, their craft is based on the prevailing element that day and the position you have about the stars, has job / subjob, with one character can be all the jobs, the AH is one of the best I've seen in an online game, battle depends on your skill and coordination of the members of the party, not how fast you pressed 3 buttons, their bosses are epic: some have to be killed an alliance for 12 hours straight .As for FFXIV, I think it rushed out for sale. Still, I do not know any video game company that recognizes its mistakes, to put upgrades to every other day too, that does not charge fees for players of the game, and really listen to feedback.Yes, HE was wrong, but it is amending its mistakes at an incredible speed. Yet this does not mean that the FFXIV is a complete game. No. Although it lacks many things, correcting faults, but I have fun, and I know that SE will make a great game as did 8 years ago. << LINK REMOVED >> # home << LINK REMOVED >> 31

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lardo_simon

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I've never heard of development team offering their "sincerest of apologies" for a game before. lmao. Its that bad. But did they really need to fire the lead artist? I mean surely thats the one part of current FF games thats pretty f***ing good!

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Tripwolf

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For everybody that tried to defend FFXIV. Faced! Totally Faced!

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Ajaycloud

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hmm that sux i was really looking forward to this on ps3..but i didn't know it was getting such bad reviews then again i like to make my own mind up about a game...still ffv13 is my main hope of a ps3 final fantasy with the elements i love.

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Quezakolt

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The thing is that FFXIV is truly awful. The game mechanics, nor the world, makes any sense. It's deeply flawed in design. The sentiment I have, which is the same of many players, is that all this may not be enough to save it. People have been quitting the game and cancelling their accounts even if the game free-months had already been pushed twice since release. The thing is that the game is not made for you to come back play it. It's repetitive, unimaginative, complicated, and a bore, not to mention broken. It's quite sad. Maybe they can fix it by making it into something else as much as they can.

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deactivated-5b22e52515bf4

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Unfortunately, this doesn't surprise me. Final Fantasy had been my absolute favourite series of game since FF7. Before it came across across multiple platforms, Final Fantasy would literally dictate what console I purchased. Ever since FFX-2 however, the series seems to be in free fall. I've been complaining for years now that they seem to be concentrating on films, games for the DS, failing online mmorpgs.... everything but the very format that made them great - a large, open, epic RPG. I've long since lost patience with the totally-linear FF13 now as well. They've literally destroyed their reputation in my eyes and I won't be buying another Final Fantasy game until gamespot / ign give them a great review (talking all about how they've brought back all the old features everyone loved so much). Square Enix seem to have a statistic for everything; boasting how everyone loves Final Fantasy more than ever. I guess that's what happens when you fill a company full of bad management though - an office full of yes-men grind their company into the dirt in one massive circle jerk. Thanks a lot Square Enix - rather than acknowledging and apologizing for your mistakes, can you not just fix them already? You've had years now.

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Gater85

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@ philly1uper "ff7 wasnt that great" uh yes it was that great,first rpg i ever played and i've played them ever since in the hope that i may get a game like it.It had everything. great music cutscene graphics were very good for the time,and in battle graphics were great. charachters were very good. lots of subquests and extra things to do. and mostly the storyline was amazing, all in all i dont ever think this game will be beat for me,but even if they did make a remake of it or any of the other great games mentioned I'm sure they will just let us down.Just hope they prove me wrong......

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IceDefenseGod

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People love to hate FFVII, don't let it bother you. If anything, FFVII's underrated (not a typo). People who claim to love it don't even realize how good it is. People also say that they hate FFX, yet love FFVI. I stopped caring about other people's opinions long ago, since they're absolutely insane most of the time.

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ryogapower

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i've no idea why they decided to rush XIV, were used to waiting an age for FF games anyway, two in a year was too ambitious. i know they were developed by different teams but noone was in a rush for XIV, they could have got it right before releasing it and embarrassing themselves. hats off for the apology though.

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rpawloski2458

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Good move, and my hat's off to Square for realizing major changes are needed. Hopefully the restructuring will allow it to live up to it's potential.

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blackace

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2NeoIostars you gotta hand it to the Japanese, they knew when to apologize and be humble when they made a mistake. *************************************************** SquareEnix does, yes. Sony would never apologize though. They would say the game is running as designed and would have people in the back working to fix all the issues. FF XIV is a mess. I played FFXI for a year and even though that game functioned better, it became a total bore after you passed L25. Everything was a grind and there was no fun or reward for it at all. You could spend 24-48 mining for resource to craft items and then watch you attempt fail over and over again as your hard earned resourced disappeared. lol!! You could spend a huge sum of gil (money) for resources as well. Trying to level your character was just as hard. You'd fight for hours and hours just to get like 2-3% closer to the next level. The fighting wasn't any fun. The items that dropped were never epic. After my friends quit, I played for 5 more months and then left. We started out with about 80 players and our clan. When I left the game there was like 7 left. Those people were either going to join another clan or quit. Stick with the single player FF games. The MMO games are horrible. SE should skip the PS3. It'll literally take them another year to fix this mess.

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LeviHarris

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Now if only Activision would have some sort of similarly profound realization.

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Rafass

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Chrono Trigger remake, Final Fantasy VI (III) remake and Secret of Mana remake. That would make my day.

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NeoIostars

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you gotta hand it to the Japanese, they knew when to apologize and be humble when they made a mistake.

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benur1

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hell yes. i vote for the Chrono Trigger remake

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WolfGrey

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@Philly1UPer Agree with you totally. Chrono Trigger remake would be a hell lot more awesome.

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Philly1UPer

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@HollowTonberry FF7 wasn't THAT great. How about a full blown Chrono Trigger remake instead?!

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WolfGrey

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I agree a remake of FFVII would sell well but i wouldnt buy it.Never liked FFVII.I enjoyed FFV alot more,FFVIII on top of that.To be honest a full remake of Legend of Dragoon would hit the spot for me alot more a hell of a lot more.Anyway. Im glad they have come to see that their game is total crap atm.I was quite amazed when Gamespot gave it a 4 out of 10.They usually rate anything final fantasy(besides ds iterations and wii ones) very highly.Im glad the ps3 one is delayed, way too many games that are better.Anyway good luck to them, i hope this game will be done how it should be.I mean no auction house in the beginning? Thats just unforgivable.

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noah10

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Im glad that they are working on it,but danm I was really looking forward 2 this game on the ps3.

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GenosHazard

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im glad that they decided to change it

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Katra

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@BetardxFoosier Like Vivi from FF9 for instance :)

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PDJ

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It's good to see they aren't in denial and recognize how bad this release turned out. Hopefully this means for an enjoyable game once it hits PS3.

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Katra

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@HollowTonberry I think Square will only remake the FF's when they are on their very last leg. Basically it's their trump card.

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Gov1

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He sounds like a Wow fan.

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zer0ne

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@yeager1 SE updates FF XI a bit too late when I went over to WoW. But its nice that they have done a lot to ease the players from the 3 reasons I've mention earlier.

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HollowTonberry

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Hey Square-Enix, how about you stop rushing to make crap FF games, tarnishing the once legendary series, and put in the effort for every FFfreak's dreams... a remake of VII. Duh. Does anyone else agree that it'd be one of the best if not the best selling RPG to date?

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acerpg007

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@Ex-DarkBlade LOL! They totally forgot about the Parasite Eve series! They have so much in their sleeves yet they neglect them.. rawr!

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DJCartmell

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I've not played FF14 because of its terrible reputation I think I'll cautiously wait for the review of this game for the PS3 before I consider the possibility of getting it I do hope that the new people drafted in can make all the difference to such a great franchise.

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FinalDuo1886

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If the delay is due to making the game better, then so be it. The lesson learn here for SE is "DON'T RUSH".

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sequekhan

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People have got to stop listening to what others say and just make up their own minds about it. Same with every FF game out there. Play it first then decide whether you like it or not. Especially true for Gamespot reviewers - who are epic wrong half the time anyway.

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RazorWolf327

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Makes me sad that the PS3 version is delayed but then again, it's good. Means that they're not giving up entirely screwing the fans over. Hopefully the new in charge will do it right. Personally I really like the game. My only issue was the interface really. If they fix that along with the other big issues people have, then it'll shine. At least to the one's that play/want to play/wanted to play.

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KnightsBlazing

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Personaly I love FFXI its better then any mmorpg IMO

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yeager1

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@zer0ne I guess you played the game a few years ago. I totally agree that those were very big short comings for the game. However I have played a lot of FF XI recently (My gamespot profile can vouch for that) and those problems have all been resolved within the past year. (In the order you listed) About 70% of the items in the game can be NPCed for gil now and at much higher prices. The game is vastly more solo friendly largely in part due to job adjustments, the "Fields of Valor" system and the fact that enemys give out a lot more EXP now a days. As long as you have "Signet" active, healing time is super quick now. Also, most of the popular monsters that everyone wants to kill, have been changed to "Force pops" instead of "Timed Spawns". I'm guessing SE thought that most people would jump out of FF XI and into FF XIV...boy were they wrong lol. In my opinion, zer0ne yes the game sucked 4-5 years ago but SE has really stepped up their game as far as FF XI. FFXIV...not so much lol

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zer0ne

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I've played FF XI for about a year before I jump ship to WoW. Why I jump ship? 3 reasons. Reason 1, Game economy. It's an outrage to make a player cough up about 10 times worth of gils than what you make grinding for a month to buy a bottle of healing potion. Not only that. 90% of item drops cannot be sold to npc vendors to earn some money to buy equipment and restorative potions. Reason 2, Solo gameplay. I understand that MMORPG means playing with others, but sometimes you wanted to level up by yourself. Reason 3, Waiting time. OMG, the waiting time really sux. After every battle, I need to rest about 3 minutes or so to rest up my HP. Cannot even afford a single healing potion thru out my play in FF XI for a year to use to speed up healing. Even I wanted to kill a specific foe to complete a quest takes one whole day to appear, if you can get it before others.

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Ex-DarkBlade

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Final Fantasy 13 versus and Final Fantasy 13 agito are my last hopes. Square Enix should give us Kingdom Hearts 3, I am tired of the spin-offs. They should even make a Parasite Eve game for the PS3.

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BetardxFoosier

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@The_Gaming_Baby Yep, the characters were extremely similar looking and similar in personalities as the previous three or four FF games. I just wish they'd go back to making unique characters that are lovable in their own respect, not annoying and bland characters that test your patience.

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The_Gaming_Baby

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@BigBigR FF13 had many things wrong with it, not just the fact it was too linear for an rpg. Take the characters for example.

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Hanzoadam

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I read on another site, the PC server will be free till people think its good

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BigBigR

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@The_Gaming_Baby FFXIII was a pretty good game, don't put it together with this. It wasn't your "typical" FF game, but people try to judge it based on previous "rules" and can't get over that linearity thing and just have fun. Uncharted 2 or God of War 3 are linear and still manage to be excellent games. Yes, they're not RPGs, but then if you look at FF13 not as a typical RPG, but something different, you can actually have fun with it. I did, and spent over 150 hours on it, having as much fun as I had with FF12, which is so open some say is the direct opposite of FF13. You know what? Both are great games, and people should stop picking on minor things and just have fun. Also, VII isn't the pinnacle of perfection as some point it out to be. Its great, not perfect. Current FFs are fine, not perfect but great nonetheless. Now FF14? Haven't played it (nor do I intend to) but it doesn't seem to be at the level of quality that FF13 displayed. Also waiting for FFvs13, which hopefully will not disappoint.

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Kid2812

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Hurry up and give me FFVersus13 and FF14 online already.

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The_Gaming_Baby

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The games are getting worse and worse. The people who made VII aren't the same people making the current games, it's a different time and Square Enix as it stand's is living off what it has done in the past.

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DLobotomist

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This is game is so bad that the reviewers said it was bad... I was gonna try it out until I read on the community forum that its so horrible that hardcore players are not even going to play it.... then I was like gotta stop right there

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Yu-Sen

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after ff11 the games started going bad :( what a happened did they get a new employee or fired a few? At least ff13versus is looking good :)

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TheTrueMagusX1

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@Afterthought_bt In your eyes, those are the key words. Despite what you see around here, there are plenty of people who liked the game. And there are those that are more vocal about their dislike. I enjoyed it, not the best FF but its surely not the bad game. The people who are saying its a horrible game have never truly played a horrible game. It has flaws but nothing broken to hurt the game. Play games like Fairy Tale Fights, Vampire Rain, or heck if you want to play a bad FF play FF XIV, because that FF is completely broken, but thirteen has no fatal flaws in it.

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Afterthought_bt

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@TheTrueMagusX1 I never said it was for quality. The point is that getting an award (of any type, come to think about it), for a game lowers the developers expectations of what they need to do. I'm sure the developers would prefer awards for selling lots above awards for good gameplay any day. Money talks. Seeing as it is your point, I struggle to see why you have difficulty with me agreeing with it. To make it absolutely clear - FFXIII did not deserve to make as money as it did in my eyes. Can I break it down for you any more?

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Afterthought_bt

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@ pkay45 I had no problem with the linearity of FFXIII, and the only problem I had with the gameplay mechanics were their implementations: for example they made it ridiculously easy, and they used some pathetic 'cheats' to hype up the difficulty (eg. making certain enemies always cast doom after a certain time had passed). But hey, it's easier to dismiss other people's opinions if you don't bother trying to represent them fairly (or even find out what they are), isn't it?

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McCarron

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Let's hope this last full measure gets the job done and makes FFXIV into an awesome game that doesn't burn me out after 10 minutes.

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