If FFXIV Fails... What Does That Mean For FFXI?

I'm genuinely curious what you guys think it will do to FFXI if FFXIV fails, which a lot of people are currently assuming it will. (This thread isn't about if ffxiv will fail or not, its only theoretical in the case it does).

I literally have no input because I have no idea what it would mean. Of course, FFXIV was taking resources from SE which is probably why we haven't seen a full blown FFXI expansion in a long time. That being said, if FFXIV fails do you think it will be GOOD for ffxi? Have no impact? Be bad for FFXI since SE just took a huge financial blow?

What do you guys think?

i believe you mean "When" sir

FFXIV failing (I honestly don't think it will, I think it'll maintain a niche subscriber base like FFXI) would be devastating for Square Enix, and thus FFXI. No questions asked.

I just thought of this today, too. If ffxiv failed, I would think think that it would be good for ffxi, if SE wants to remain in MMO market - because ffxi would be their only choice at the moment. But as far as what SE might actually DO? I have no idea. I worry about simply adding more content, though, because I think a point would come where the basic hardware/engines of the game can no longer support. (I don't really know.) What I daydreamed happening was a sort of reissue of ffxi, containing everything there is now, plus a TON of new content, and redesigned graphics. Basically ffxi that looks like ffxiv. I pretty much doubt that will happen, though.

On the other hand, if ffxiv is failing, or if it looks like it is, SE could decide that it's the players remaining loyal to ffxi that are hurting it. They might decide that a lot more people WOULD play, if they weren't already immersed in ffxi... and then pull the plug. I would think that this would alienate a ton of people and turn them (more?) against SE, but corporate decisions don't always make sense.

I don't know though, but it's really interesting to think about.

I have to say, from a business perspective. XIV is looking really really bad. Basically they invested a *** of time money and effort into it only to have it bomb on them; similar to the incident with Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within movie. SE ended up owing Sony a *** of money over many many years for their failed movie, and without a doubt that failed project alone held them back significantly over many of the projects thereafter.

Can you imagine how awesome X, XI or even XII would have been if they had a few extra million dollars to pour into them?

I think the fact that FFXI's staff have all been taken away to work on FFXIV is a common misconception. FFXIV has been in production for years using a different crew. Both games are made by the same company, and both have a lot of the same people that worked on them INITIALLY, but I doubt the team that made FFXI still has a lot to do with it aside from a few select people that lead up the expansion/update team/s.

So with that out of the way, IF 14 fails, I don't think it'll have any effect on FFXI at all really. Some of the people that quit 11 for 14 will come back, some won't. Either way, 11 is an old game, and as much as I'm enjoying it right now with abyssea and level cap increases, it'll always have a declining population no matter what happens. That's not to say it won't last years more, there's still 24 servers running, so while as population declines that'll decrease, but as it decreases the cost of maintaining the game will also decrease. I'm sure at some stage it'll decrease to the point where it's not making enough money to continue with updates, but as long as there's enough people for it to make a profit, it'll continue to run, and that's a long way off.

As for 14, I hope it doesn't die, because there's massive potential there on a very solid base, just a lot of little ***that brings it all undone. IMO, the ***that does bring it undone are things like a slow UI, lack of an AH and little insignificant bugs. The story is all good from what I've seen. The battle system, while not what we're used to and perhaps a little too solo oriented at this stage, is solid at it's core, and again, has great potential with just a few tweaks here and there. The crafting system is incredibly in-depth, and even quite realistic in it's recipes which keeps it interesting. The errors add up, and for a lot of people is obviously too much, but I do actually have faith that they can bring it together, because while I really think they released it about 3 months before they were truly ready, it actually IS a very good game in a lot of ways, if you can just look past or wait out the issues to be resolved.

I can't see any company being stupid enough to pull the plug on a successful product to try drive people to an unsuccessful one. SE has it's issues but they're not THAT bad.

If anything I think FFXIV failing would bring some people back to FFXI. SE is too big to go under from one failed game so I doubt it would have a negative effect on FFXI.

Also, I think the reason we haven't seen a full blown expansion in a while is because that's what the developers think we want. I mean look at the attitude people have toward doing the old missions now. No one wants to do them, they just want the reward at the end. So SE must figure why should we bother with fancy CSs and such if we can just make "battle area" expansion (e.g. Abyssea).

What makes me sad is this majority based attitude you mention here doesn't reflect my wants in the game; and ironically, this is why I chose FFXI over WoW or Aion or Guild Wars. Because XI had substance to it. Enjoyable stories, music, history, lore, environments etc.

Frankly I couldn't care less how shiny my armor is in the end because the nature of an MMO is that there will eventually be bigger sticks to fight bigger monsters which in turn will drop even bigger sticks.

That makes sense for sure, and it is ridiculous. I am probably just paranoid is all. (I am having a lot of fun playing still.)

Though some negativity expressed from the players of XIV is justified in many ways, I think what XIV needs more than anything is time.

Yeah it was SE's fault to release the game before a reasonable amount of content was available at hand; however, for comparison's sake, I probably wouldn't have continued to play FFXI if it weren't for CoP.

That mother of all expansions made the game significantly larger and more interesting with countless additions in gameplay and an incredible storyline to top it off.

Hopefully SE is putting their nose to the grindstone and hurrying up to make what will hopefully open the door to XIV's potential, which sadly is just at the tip of the iceberg for the time being.

Oh I would cream my pants if XI had the same graphical makeup as XIV.

Actually, one of the reasons I started playing XIV, was because FFXI has no story elements anymore. It's become what WoW is, a never-ending armor grind. Don't get me wrong, I like getting new stuff, and decking out the character as part of character development, but decking out a character, for it's own sake, is kind of pointless.

I mean, am I seriously the only one who enjoyed doing Post rank5 (Up to then, it was stupid, generic and boring) Nation missions, Zilart, Chains of Promathia, Treasures of Aht Derpgan, and even Wings of the Goddess missions, for reasons other than The ring, earring or whatever?

psh, thats oldschool and tl;dr. nobody cares about that anymore, i mean, beautiful graphics, in depth meaningful story, sense of immersion and feeling attached to the characters? LAMEFACE. shinies or GTFO

/sarcasm

I for one really enjoy the story/CSs. However in my experience it is both hard to find people to do them and those that do just mash enter and don't read them.

I'm not too upset that the Abyssea expansions have been light on the story mostly because I thought the previous mini-expansions missions sucked (ACP & MKE at least, I didn't buy ASA). That and I'm still behind on WotG missions.

It's actually quite pitiable how little you really understand about game design.

There is no rule that says an MMO cannot have a compelling storyline, even if they have isolated story arcs (IE expansions) there is no reason narrative cannot be introduced to further the experience.

An MMO's only hallmark is a persistent social world to interact with other people. Beyond that, there is no criteria to meet, or avoid, just because you think otherwise.

NO.. I absolutely *** loved CoPs story, as well as AU and WoTG (though not finished) and ACP/MKD/ASA stories

i've never understood how people can do this and not feel like theyre missing out on something, i mean, just mind blown about it

Story arc says hi

I didn't like A Crystalline Prophecy's scenario, but AMKD was charming in sort of that silly FFIX way. I guess I'd call it the Quina to the Amarant of the rest of the game, with constant srsface engaged.

One thing that disappointing me about abyssea, is how it fails to compel it as a scenario. I was generally curious as to what was going on in the realm, what happened to everyone why and what the *** a Limule is. Instead, it was "Kill this,g et armor, lolsweet dawg"

If I had to compare Abyssea to anything, it'd be the Levequests of FFXIV. Get Objective (99% of the time, kill a monster) Complete Objective. Profit. The only thing that compels the player, is the end reward, and like it or not, that is weak design.

Chains of Promathia was the example of "Doing it right" (Minus the level cap ***) where it gives you a crumb-trail of rewards, (Usually zone access) as well as a surprisingly good narrative. Generally, because of the lag and ***, you can mash enter and still pick up most of it, and can always re-visit for details.

I just saw this, and just have to throw a defense out there for WoW.

Your argument here assumes that WoW has no storyline and is just a "never-ending armor grind". Have you even played it? That's just not fair at all.

Now I quit that game, but it is a very well-done piece of work. The lore and story behind it could take weeks, months, or LONGER to delve into and through. FFXI could be summed up in a 5 page essay, instead of multiple books (and then some).

Sorry, but the fanboys/fangirls of FFXI really need to give WoW a fair chance before immediately trashing it.

/WhiteKnight off

tbh i think theres a higher chance of stan becoming the most liked person than there is for the fanpeople to give wow a fair chance =/

edit for spelling because typing while blind doesnt work well

I never said WoW's story was bad (It is, from a writing standpoint) I merely said it had become a never-ending armor grind, which it has. FFXI hadn't become that until recently as well, but WoW started way back when with the Laughable Lich king expansion.


To Delve deeper into WoW's horrible writing, much of it suffers from the "Hideo Kojima" effect, of being overwritten and wholly unnecessary(Which is why it can fill so many "Books"). It's a much greater feat of writing, to be able to insinuate something, and plant a thought, than flat out declare the idea.



Exactly, so why is it laughable to want the social interaction, with a well-constructive narrative to compel the player?

Term be sexy

Vista was a piece of ***when it came out, still is, but people still buy/use it.

edit: derp, need to go to bed

Almost all of WoW's lore relies entirely on retcons and material spanning three games. I can't really say that's even remotely comparable.

Still, I really don't get the devteam's current *** for Moogles and Abyssea's grimdark ***.

By Abyssea, I mean their little hints they kept dropping. That Evolith synergy armor technically implemented ages ago counts as "Abyssean lore".

There is so much more to be added to FFXI... the far south/west/and north... I doubt SE will totally scrap such a popular game for something that has only just surfaced.... on that note, if FFXIV does fail, i can see them lowering monthly subscription fee's or for that matter making it free to play if it totally bombs..(if anything to try to get more of a player base)

One thing i hope they dont do is totally turn their backs on FFXI, this would be the downfall of SE in my opinion...

Time will tell though, FFXI didnt get near the negative feedback when it first hit the stores.... even though alot of content was missing and added after the first couple years, from the get go XI had a strong and supportive following