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Square, FFXI, and the MMORPG
LukeG writes "Squaresoft's latest instalment in the ubiquitous Final Fantasy series will mark huge departure from previous titles, as they gamble on the popularity of massively multiplayer gaming on consoles. The genre, already succesful on the PC, has yet to be tested on a console audience, but that is exactly what Square are planning with the groundbreaking release of Final Fantasy XI later this year on PS2." I'm interested to see the FF world taken to an MMORPG. If anyone can
make the genre not suck, it's Square.
It's called Phantasy Star Online. It did (and still does) quite well IIRC.
The sole purpose of the Internet is to get porn and bomb making plans into the hands of children.
If youd be predicting that online games would rule the market in 5 years Id be inclined to agree. MMORPGs however, like RPGs, are niche products. MMORPGs like AC and EQ require way too much time devoted to advancing your character. A lot of the people playing these games are fanatics and spend every free minute with those games. Not all of them Ill admit, but the game experience gets more rewarding the more you play, which is a problem for casual gamers - and Ill go out on a limb and claim that most gamers are casual gamers. I think concepts such as EAs Motor City might work in a couple of years, but MMORPGs are just too time intensive.
--[Nothing important]--
I've heard it commented many times that the series as a whole is slowly declining and even more whining over Uematsu's musical ability, yet none the less the game continue to be popular enough to warrent a decent fan following. Each release will the first introduction to the series to many gamers. I would venture that many of those gamers do not own a SNES or NES that they could play the older games on, so the only frame of referance they have are the more recent sequals.
:P
Square wouldn't be making another sequal if they didn't think there wasn't a demand for it.
Probably the same reason that almost half of the remixes at Overclocked Remix are from a Final Fantasy game.
How can people say Squaresoft is so good at making video games when the very design of their games is terrible? The latest installments in the final fantasy series have been marked by plot holes, lousy character development, poor and annoying combat systems, and too much combat to begin with. Everything that makes an RPG great as far as I'm concerned has been missing from the latest in the Final Fantasy series. The last good Final Fantasy was number IV. They should have just ended the series there. I think everyone is far too distracted by Square's flashy graphics to notice all the shoddy development in the games they've been producing as of late.
The success of FFXI will depend more on the continued support and continued subscription of their game rather than the one time purchase price which most console games offer. $9.95 / month to play something I already purchased is possible, but it's going to strip a lot of their audience away, especially the younger age groups of whom a credit card is still a few years off.
PlayOnline.com claims they'll be opening up much of their other services which previously required a monthly fee, but will still charge for select, premire attractions. I think EverQuest made this a possible marketing opportunity. Square's just hoping one of the largest videogame fan bases will let them cash in.
-Barkeep, a draft of your most hazardous brew, for the world is slowly stepping into focus, and I don't like what I see.
Yet another acronym that the Slashdot editors assume we just know. Maybe some of us don't cream over reading about games for 12 year olds, and would like to know that the fuck articles are about. Why don't they just call it a graphical MUD, that's much more accurate, and something more people are familiar with.
Make your multiplayer game NOT REQUIRE your companies servers to work.. The entire doom and Quake series is a testament to this.. and The best examples of how not to do it is anything that works with WON online. (SOF is a great game, and I finished it in single player mode. but then the game becomes a throw away.)
If I cant pop up the game, and select "play online" and then be presented with a list of games running from a list server (Open source so it's not that company hogging it) and play then it wont work.. WON games require you to sell your soul to them in personal information and then you have to go through their horribly slow servers. No I'm not going to create a login, no I'm not gonna watch your pepsi ad whil the game starts.
If Squarsoft screws up their Multiplayer with stupid "lock IN" devices then they will fail. and they will fail horribly.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I, evidently, am the only human on the planet who does NOT want his gameplaying experience to be sandwiched between 133t h7x0rz talking fractured, misspelled english at each other while wondering "any girlz out there?".
I happen to enjoy sitting by myself, undeterred by lag times or server outages, enjoying the content as provided. I may be the only one, but I hope not.
FF allows you to get into a movie, and play a role. I don't want to have to rely on anyone else to provide content, nor do I want to have to find people to go adventuring with.
If it's MMORPG only, I, for one, will not purchase it. Period.
end of rant.
ceci n'est pas un sig.