FFXIV 2.0 - Holy Shit!?

[Akanbe-]

SO, almost literally, they're dropping a bomb on the world and give it a "rebirth"?????  Pretty messed up, but definitely different.

Anyone else joining the new game??

Probably.  Depends how the combat ends up turning out.  I'm not really optimistic about the combat, but I hope it turns out well.  If it does, I'm there.

[Parn]

Alpha footage of the new Gridania.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQb_t5zkfoY

The music makes me think of Hobbiton.

[WDNall]

Anyone else joining the new game??

/wave Hi everyone! I'm still waiting on the PS3 version. I'm hoping to get into the beta. :) Been keeping an eye on FFXIV a while. I'm still planning on showing up on XIV sooner or later. Hope to see everyone there :3

WDN

[Fred Flintstone]

So, when Rebirth launches next year, is everybody starting fresh? As in, are SE purging all current accounts and their accompanying gil?

[Parn]

http://www.rpgfan.com/boards/index.php?topic=10216.msg263939#msg263939

[Fred Flintstone]

I see.

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

Eorzea burns in 9 hours. The final battle begins in 6 hours. Anyone going to the bash besides me?

[Agent D.]

No, but I'm curious, this final bash is a brawl with some big group of villians in game, right? What do you get out of it? Do you earn some reward when you start anew in 2.0?

[Taelus]

You know, I can't lie. Square Enix must know A Realm Reborn isn't going to do that great sales-wise. They must. Which is why I actually admire them for following through with it for all of the people already invested in and that have already bought FFXIV. It's a classy move and one that actually makes you think they give a damn about their players and their reputation. Even if ARR isn't that great, they've clearly put a lot of effort into it, and I think that says a lot.

[Agent D.]

You know, I can't lie. Square Enix must know A Realm Reborn isn't going to do that great sales-wise. They must. Which is why I actually admire them for following through with it for all of the people already invested in and that have already bought FFXIV. It's a classy move and one that actually makes you think they give a damn about their players and their reputation. Even if ARR isn't that great, they've clearly put a lot of effort into it, and I think that says a lot.

But that doesn't account for the last few titles that have been generally looked down upon for being fairly crappy and disliked. Square's spending more time doing what they want and all they want to do is make eye candy it seems. They oughta co.sider just making feature length films instead of 40 hour plus video game cutscenes.

[Taelus]

Nah, I can agree with that too-- I was going to make that point, but I forgot. Their last few titles have been pretty rough, but I can't totally discount this FFXIV thing. I mean, they're a business, they must have analysts saying "guys you're not going to make any money on FFXIV anymore." No matter how much eye candy you want to make, spending money and resources on something that is basically guaranteed to not perform financially MUST have some kind of motivation, don't you think?

[Agent D.]

Nah, I can agree with that too-- I was going to make that point, but I forgot. Their last few titles have been pretty rough, but I can't totally discount this FFXIV thing. I mean, they're a business, they must have analysts saying "guys you're not going to make any money on FFXIV anymore." No matter how much eye candy you want to make, spending money and resources on something that is basically guaranteed to not perform financially MUST have some kind of motivation, don't you think?

In the short term, it might not be a money maker, but long term....lets put it like this. Ffxi is still making squeenix money, and good amounts too. If XIV has a player base of 10,000+ per year for the next 5 years, that's 9 million dollars they've made in just subscription fees, 1.8 mil per year. I HIGHLY doubt that only 10,000 people will be playing it, and even so, including base cost of the game, I'm sure they won't lose as much money as we're thinking. I'd safely bet that at least that many people were playing XIV for this past year worldwide, in it's failed state.

Long story short, Squeenix's track record shows that enough people will buy it and play it to warrant them having done it.

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

No, but I'm curious, this final bash is a brawl with some big group of villians in game, right? What do you get out of it? Do you earn some reward when you start anew in 2.0?

Well, supposedly we will be getting some kind of mark/tattoo that indicates us as survivors of the impact.  Though those of us that have earned Legacy status also get a unique mount at the start of ARR along with the discounted subscription.

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

You know, I can't lie. Square Enix must know A Realm Reborn isn't going to do that great sales-wise. They must. Which is why I actually admire them for following through with it for all of the people already invested in and that have already bought FFXIV. It's a classy move and one that actually makes you think they give a damn about their players and their reputation. Even if ARR isn't that great, they've clearly put a lot of effort into it, and I think that says a lot.

They really have turned around a dying game. I don't think they've gotten back their initial investment nor the development costs for the redo, but it says a lot about the character of a company who is willing to take it on the nose and press on. I can't express to you how much of a different game it's become since launch. I mean some things couldn't change because of net code and engine limitations, but the fact that they overhauled damn near everything in the original client on top of redoing the ENTIRE game at the same time speaks volumes. They could have cut their losses like so many companies do (NCSoft) but they had enough pride in themselves and their name to fix the unfixable. And you know when all is said and done, I think there's more people looking forward to this reboot because of their commitment.

The relationship and open dialogue Yoshida has had with the international community has been a great balm on the gaping wound Tanaka left when he launched an unfinished game. The guy works tirelessly, cares so much about the players and the world he's trying to save that you can't help but root for the guy. Even though their single player games have lost a lot of the old magic, their work on both FFXI and FFXIV still shows me they still care about their fans. In the end, I can't fault them for doing the right thing.

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

Sorry for wall of text, but I wanted to add that since ARR is going to be the first time FFXIV has graced the PS3, that's a massive untapped market to consider. I know that of all the players I knew who started the game, nearly all of them plan to check ARR out. If you look at the initial worldwide sell through of the original PC release, if even half of those people resub, they are going to need to open more servers.

I don't know if you guys know this but anyone who bought the original game gets a free upgrade to the new client, all they need to do is resub. As long as they keep the retail version of ARR reasonable ($25-$40) then you'll open yourself up to more potential subs.  If they pull a full retail price act, that's not going to help win back trust for players still on the fence. With everyone else going F2P, it will be a miracle in itself if they can launch and regain a healthy population with a subscription, they just have to make sure players can see the value of their sub, and not sit on their laurels.