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No Graphics Upgrade for 360 FFXI

Posted by Zonk on from the isn't-it-about-time-for-one? dept.

GamesIndustry.biz has the word that Final Fantasy XI, as it will appear on the Xbox 360 console, will be a straight port of the title with no proposed graphics upgrade. From the article: "The company also revealed that Final Fantasy XI was originally in development for the current generation Xbox console, but that an agreement couldn't be reached with Microsoft that would allow Square Enix to implement its custom PlayOnline online gaming service on Xbox Live. The restrictions on this have been eased significantly with the Xbox 360, the firm's spokespeople explained, and players will log into PlayOnline in order to play FFXI, not the Live service."

44 comments

  1. FFXI = Worthless by mconeone · · Score: 1

    Not would you pay more for FFXI than you would on a PC or other console, it has the same graphics. What a waste! That and everyone else has a few year head start on you...

    1. Re:FFXI = Worthless by ZephyrXero · · Score: 1

      Well, the Xbox 360 version is aimed at people who don't already have it for their PC. It's a different audience/market... People who have crappy video cards and whatnot, or people who aren't fans of gaming with their keyboard and mouse will welcome even a straight port... Hell, integrated voice chat would almost make it worthwhile by itself.

      --
      "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
    2. Re:FFXI = Worthless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Hell, integrated voice chat would almost make it worthwhile by itself.

      Too bad Square-Enix has said that they aren't ever going to implement voice chat.

      This is yet another webpage that doesn't bother sticking anchors in the page so I can't like directly to the question, but I can quote it:

      (Allakhazam) Kind of a simple question, will SE be implementing a live chat feature for Linkshells or Parties? You know what I mean, the head set thing that can be plugged into a USB so people in the PT or LS can talk to each other rather than type.
      (Tanaka)
      For XI, there are issues with harassment that require us to track text log for verifying ingame activities so at the moment we have no plans to add this feature. If we were to implement such feature, we would apply it to a title such as Front Mission Online where data is exchanged between a P2P network. We also believe that from a role-playing aspect it doesn't appeal as much, I mean a husky male voice coming out from a Mithra or a Tarutaru or a high pitched voice from a Galka would be quite strange.
    3. Re:FFXI = Worthless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I mean a husky male voice coming out from a Mithra

      Wow, they acknowledged the Mangina problem - that's class!

    4. Re:FFXI = Worthless by ZephyrXero · · Score: 1

      That's not class, that's overkill. If people really care, they can talk in a fake voice like some people do in old school D&D games. It's just an RPG...even if it's a video game you can still use a little bit of your imagination...And I'm pretty doubtful on MS allowing them to not have the voice chat if it's used in conjunction with Live.

      --
      "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
    5. Re:FFXI = Worthless by djdanlib · · Score: 1

      I know, having to play with people who've been where you are before really sucks. It's terrible! I mean, there's even SO MANY people to play with now, that you can't brag about being the only lowbie in town. Gosh, what a rotten experience.

      You sound like one of the whiny forum posters who pretends to quit five times just to see if anyone goes OMG I WANT TO BEAR YOUR BABIES COME BACK. Knock it off, already.

    6. Re:FFXI = Worthless by joshsisk · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty doubtful on MS allowing them to not have the voice chat if it's used in conjunction with Live.

      From the top of this very page:

      players will log into PlayOnline in order to play FFXI, not the Live service.

  2. X-Box strategy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Silly Square-Enix didn't they get that the X-Box is about Microsoft "synergy"? It doesn't matter if it gives the users a better experience to host thier own online services. It's all about Microsoft's market share and the future of selling services in the living room.

  3. Bad precedent by llevity · · Score: 3, Interesting
    The restrictions on this have been eased significantly with the Xbox 360, the firm's spokespeople explained, and players will log into PlayOnline in order to play FFXI, not the Live service."

    One of the great things about the Xbox's online strategy is its uniform. I can be playing Game A, and if a buddy logs on to Game B, he can join my game, or invite me over to his game.

    If they start a precedent where logging into Live isn't necessary for online play, then online could quickly decentralize and lose one of its best features.

    I like the flexibility, but to me, a better solution would be to integrate Playonline with Live Aware features.

    1. Re:Bad precedent by mconeone · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "The restrictions on this have been eased significantly with the Xbox 360, the firm's spokespeople explained, and players will log into PlayOnline in order to play FFXI, not the Live service."

      This may or may not be 100% true. The new xbox live service has a free membership, and will allow publishers to charge for playing their games online. This is different from the old xbox live, as you had to pay just to be able to log in. While they might completely circumvent this, my guess is that 360 users will have to use xbox live to be able to log into PlayOnline.

    2. Re:Bad precedent by hunterx11 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      EA combined their own servers with Live aware features. They were the first to be allowed to do so, and frankly the experience is markedly worse than any Live games which I've played.

      --
      English is easier said than done.
    3. Re:Bad precedent by -kertrats- · · Score: 1

      That would require Sony to acknowledge that Live exists...

      --
      The Braying and Neighing of Barnyard Animals Follows.
    4. Re:Bad precedent by ZephyrXero · · Score: 1

      What does Sony have to do with this? Playonline is a Square-Enix service.

      --
      "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
    5. Re:Bad precedent by -kertrats- · · Score: 1

      Well, whaddya know, I just checked and you're right. I thought it was connected with Sony somehow.

      Learn something new every day...

      --
      The Braying and Neighing of Barnyard Animals Follows.
    6. Re:Bad precedent by EggyToast · · Score: 1
      The precedent's been around for a while. EA was mentioned above, and Phantasy Star requires additional payments on top of the Live service.

      I'm personally curious why they opted for this. Why would they want to launch with an old MMORPG that has already been played by those interested on either PS2 or Xbox? Is it to get those console-only players who didn't want to dish out for the HDD? And for anyone getting introduced to the Xbox, why would you ever want to allow them to log on to a different, non-Live service? It took EA years to realize that their own service was appallingly bad compared to the Live service, and they were getting a lot of bad press for it (and reduced sales for online games).

      So now we know that one of the launch titles for the Brand New Xbox 360 that Microsoft hopes will cement a 1st place position is an aging MMORPG that looks just like the PC version and plays with a non-Live, pay-per-month system. Yeah... that's a system seller alright.

    7. Re:Bad precedent by yakitori · · Score: 1

      Simple guess would be so Microsoft can claim they have Final Fantasy running on their console. Final Fantasy was always credited for helping to push the original Playstation to the top of the market (especially in Japan). Perhaps Microsoft feels this will increase Japanese acceptance of the Xbox 360? Maybe this was a requirement by Squaresoft so they would develop for the Xbox 360?

    8. Re:Bad precedent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      because Sony = Square amirite

    9. Re:Bad precedent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It was called FFXI because at one point, every FF past ten was going to be an MMORPG.

      Given the amazing ... success ... of FFXI, they've since reversed that decision, and FFXII and FFXIII have both been confirmed as being normal single player RPGs.

  4. Nice graphics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Just another great showcase of the graphical prowess of the xbox360.

  5. Other PC MMORPGs on their way? by ZephyrXero · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I wonder if we'll see other PC MMORPGs coming to the 360, like World of Warcraft or Guild Wars? I'm sure EQ2 will be coming out on PS3 at some point too...

    --
    "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
    1. Re:Other PC MMORPGs on their way? by falcon5768 · · Score: 1

      Why would EQ2 come out for the PS3? EQ never came out for the PS2, only a bastardized version of it called EQ Online Adventures which pretty much dissapeared as fast as the Mac version which also was different did.

      --

      "Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."

    2. Re:Other PC MMORPGs on their way? by trevick · · Score: 1

      I wonder if we'll see other PC MMORPGs coming to the 360

      Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is rumored to be coming out for the Xbox 360.

    3. Re:Other PC MMORPGs on their way? by ZephyrXero · · Score: 1

      Probably b/c the PS2 couldn't handle everquest's RAM requirements, and the harddrive not being very well spread.

      --
      "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
    4. Re:Other PC MMORPGs on their way? by falcon5768 · · Score: 1

      nah If it can handle the much more graphically heavy FFXI it can handle the original EQ. SOE just doesnt see the reason to go to their systems.

      --

      "Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."

  6. Article not entirely accurate. by falcon5768 · · Score: 3, Informative
    It wont be a graphical update of the PC version, but it WILL be graphically better than the PS2 version. Realistically though anyone who buys a MMORPG or any game based on graphics alone is a moron.

    And the reason behind it is that they do not want to lose the PS2 fanbase which while smaller in America is well over 50% of the Japanese users.

    --

    "Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."

    1. Re:Article not entirely accurate. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too bad the PC version looks almost entirely like the PS2 version, except on a VGA monitor, so you can really see how low-res everything is.

      Apparently the best I can do for a screenshot page is their Vana'diel Wind page. The textures are all very low-res by PC standards, not to mention that they're very flat and colorless (apparently another PS2 limitation).

      The XBox 360 news had made me hope that maybe they were going to update the game to make it look less like a muddy watercolor painting, but unfortunately, that will not be the case.

      They also won't be fixing the absolutely horrendous PC client either.

      I can live with the sub-par graphics, but the PC client is enough to ensure I'm never going to play FFXI until they fix it.

    2. Re:Article not entirely accurate. by Ben+Esacove · · Score: 1

      Actually, while it's undocumented and unsupported, there are ways to increase the effective resolution in the PC version of FFXI by editing the registry. (When I played FFXI, I had it running at 1280x1280 with a 1280x1024 resolution, and it was pretty sharp, though the graphics aren't anything too special even then.)

    3. Re:Article not entirely accurate. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, I did that - it only accented how low-res the textures were.

      I wound up running the game at 1024x768 on my 1280x1024 monitor soley to pretend the textures weren't horrendously low-res.

      I'd honestly love to see Square-Enix do a graphics update and PC client upgrade at some point. Vana'diel's a neat place, but the client issues keep from enjoying playing it. I hate having to download a windower soley to be able to play the game without some random Windows program disconnecting me.

      Plus I really wish there were more hotkey/macro options.

    4. Re:Article not entirely accurate. by djdanlib · · Score: 3, Informative

      The ideal 3D resolution seems to be 512x512 at 800x600 2D resolution. I think the textures were designed at that resolution, because the geometry and textures seem to line up very well at those settings. I've got a 22" monitor that I usually run at 1600x1200 and I can tell you that FFXI does look best at 512x512. I've played it at 2048x1536... not a happy experience for the eyes.

      Setting up MIP mapping at above-normal settings (like 4 or 5) in the registry and forcing anisotropic filtering in your display driver both help it look better. Also, sitting more than a foot away from your monitor helps immensely.

      For more details... check out my old Allakhazam post on all the registry settings. AFAIK, I am the only one to have ever gone into that much detail.

    5. Re:Article not entirely accurate. by falcon5768 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Well the windower thing will never be fixed they would rather a few people not play then lay the relm open to easily be botted. As it is now they constantly update the PC client to stop windower from working since its against the TOS.

      honestly I continue to not see the point in it, maybe its because I grew up in a time where you couldnt have other programs running on a PC and play a graphics heavy game, but I see no point in leaving a chat program or my email when I am playing a game.

      --

      "Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."

    6. Re:Article not entirely accurate. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...then lay the relm open to easily be botted.

      Well, since this is Slashdot, and there would hopefully be technically skilled people here,

      HOW THE FUCK WOULD ALLOWING PEOPLE TO MINIMIZE THE GAME ALLOW PEOPLE TO BOT?!

      Oh, wait, IT WOULDN'T! Square-Enix is just incompetant!

      Seriously, there is absolutely NO WAY that allowing the game to be minimized would allow people to bot. It might, on the other hand, allow people to use the "bazaar" feature without losing the ability to use their computer. I suppose that would be horribly unbalancing.

      And I'm not talking about minor things like a chat or email running in the background, I'm talking about system processes that I can't stop popping up alerts. It's annoying, but I'm not going to turn off my anti-virus program just so that FFXI will run. (Which, come to think of it, has been required in the past.)

      The windower thing is minor, compared to the other general suckage of the client. (Ugly textures, lousy menu system, inability to bind keys to macros, no hot keys.)

    7. Re:Article not entirely accurate. by falcon5768 · · Score: 1
      Well since your not technically capable to figure it out yourself.

      Botting programs are seperate programs running under the client, SE DID figure out a way to prevent you from botting, you just cant run other programs while you play. Windower allows you to though by being able to minimize and launch a program.

      Botting programs typically cant be launched before you log in, you usually have to launch them after your already in the game by tabbing out and launching the program.

      Course a simple search would have given you this information.

      and well what is SE to do about the fact that 90% of the world is stupid enough to be running a virus filled OS that would have a anti-virus program warn you every hour.

      I get a message from my program maybe one a week.... but then again I'm smart, I run OS X.

      --

      "Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."

    8. Re:Article not entirely accurate. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Botting programs are seperate programs running under the client, SE DID figure out a way to prevent you from botting, you just cant run other programs while you play. Windower allows you to though by being able to minimize and launch a program.

      Bullshit. Pure and simple. First of all, it's not that hard to run programs while FFXI is running, I did it all the time with one called "Fraps", maybe you've heard of it?

      Secondly, the windower proves two things:
      1. There is a demand for being able to minimize the game and run it windowed.
      2. Whatever anti-bot stuff there was has FAILED because the windower defeats it.

      Finally, there are plenty of other neat ways to run programs while FFXI is running. On XP, you can use the "AT" command if you're feeling clever. Or you can try something more complicated like running a telnet or an SSH server. Or you can run an HTTP server and do it that way.

      And, since Fraps has no problem overlaying the FFXI window and reading keystrokes, it stands to reason any botting program should have no problem doing it either.

      I get a message from my program maybe one a week.... but then again I'm smart, I run OS X.

      Sounds about right for me too - a message indicating that it updated the virus definitions. Which is still FREAKING ANNOYING to have boot me from the game, even if it is "only" weekly.

      Plus my UPS likes to occasionally run self tests and warn about power glitches. That I can't really control.

      And Microsoft Anti-Spyware just reminded me of yet another program that likes to randomly update and tell you about it.

      Plus, Windows is a multi-tasking OS. It's freaking weak that I have to close my email client and IM client soley because they might open a window and log me off a freaking video game.

      Disallowing Alt-Tab solves NOTHING, it just makes the game pointlessly harder to use. (Which sums up a lot about FFXI, actually.)

      The only logical reason I can think of why they might disallow Alt-Tab is because their programmers were so bad at DirectX that they couldn't figure out how to restore texture memory after primary mode was lost.

    9. Re:Article not entirely accurate. by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      I can tell you that FFXI does look best at 512x512.


      I'm betting this varies with your video-card. I'm also betting you have an nVidia. I have a Radeon 9800 and I will tell you that 512x512 on my machine produces jaggies that make me want to tear out my eyeballs. 1024z1024 is the only acceptable setting. I use 1024x768 as my resolution mainly because my machine can't *quite* keep up in crunch times with 1280x1024, which is the max my monitor supports. But 1280x1024 looks just fine.

      Chris Mattern
    10. Re:Article not entirely accurate. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd mod this up if I could. Stopping you from alt-tabbing doesn't stop botters -- they can get around it easily enough. It just stops the legitimate users who might want to surf the web while they're waiting on the airship, or hundreds of other reasons.

    11. Re:Article not entirely accurate. by djdanlib · · Score: 1

      Just a lowly 128MB Radeon 9600 Pro.

      Might want to reset your GFX settings to the defaults and try again.

  7. Some graphical upgrade.. by hollismb · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I would think that being 720p (which is a requirement on XBOX 360) would at the very least count for something, at least over the PS2 and canned XBOX version. Especially when you consider that it probably would've been ported from the PC version, and downgraded somewhat to run on the original XBOX. Heck, that new Tony Hawk game isn't getting much of a graphical upgrade over the PS2 and XBOX versions either. Looks about the same to me. That's the problem with ports sometimes. No biggie.

    1. Re:Some graphical upgrade.. by trainedCodeMonkey · · Score: 1

      FFxi now supports resolutions of 1080I (2048*1080), as I sometimes play it from my computer onto my tv at those resolutions. no updates are really *necessary* to the game for this support.

    2. Re:Some graphical upgrade.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, except then the graphics go from low-res colorless crap to high-res blurry colorless crap.

      I play on the PC, I'd love to see them fix their crappy graphics engine and was really hoping this announcement meant they planned on it. Too bad that it didn't.

  8. No, it isn't. by enigmathegreat · · Score: 1

    From the article:
    Final Fantasy XI, as it will appear on the Xbox 360 console, will be a straight port of the title with no proposed graphics upgrade.

    The "graphical prowess" of which you speak would be understated, not showcased. A "great showcase" would be a game designed specifically with the 360's capabilities in mind.

    1. Re:No, it isn't. by ZephyrXero · · Score: 2, Informative

      I think the GP was trying to make a joke...

      --
      "A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
    2. Re:No, it isn't. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Slashdot: Serious Business

  9. The Xbox/Xbox 360 Are The Console World Junkyard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "crap out an xbox version"

    That is what we call it. Other devs may have their own terminology...