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Final Fantasy XIV 2.0 Won’t Be An Entirely Different Game, Says Producer

By Ishaan . November 19, 2011 . 4:30pm

Final Fantasy XIV 2.0 Wont Be An Entirely Different Game, Says Producer

While Final Fantasy XIV Ver. 2.0 is going to sport a different art style and a load of changes to the current game, the “reboot” is not going to be an entirely different game altogether, says producer, Naoki Yoshida.

 

All ongoing updates, including the upcoming 1.20 patch, are going to be part of the eventual 2.0 version, which is slated for release next year. Ver. 2.0 will use a new engine that is more suited to the requirements of an MMO, such as the ability to display numerous characters on the screen at once.

 

Yoshida says the current engine Final Fantasy XIV uses is more suited to offline games. This engine happens to be the Crystal Tools engine, which Square Enix are using to develop the Final Fantasy XIII games.


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  • http://twitter.com/FFNTony Tony Garsow

    I’m glad the game will continue to maintain its individuality. Any lesser director/producer would quickly fashion it into a WoW clone at once. It’s also great that they are continuing to differentiate the game from FFXI, which would also be an easy fallback option.

    Final Fantasy was -and is- a series that changes. Although XIV got off on to a terrible start, Yoshida has made many MANY great changes to set the game on the right path, and not at the expense of what makes a Final Fantasy game a Final Fantasy game.

  • neo_firenze

    New engine, new job system, new party mechanics, new art style, reworked zones/world… how exactly is it not for all practical purposes a whole new game?

    Not that I’m complaining in the least, I think Yoshida and team absolutely deserve a shot at making something that isn’t shackled by the AWFUL FFXIV made under Tanaka’s watch.  And any way they can distance themselves from that mess is good.  Yoshi-P seems to know what he’s doing, maybe this second try will produce a fun MMO.  Until then, I’m still playing FFXI!

  • Yesshua

    Oh, so THAT’s what’s up with Crystal Tools!  There was much talk about it early in this console cycle, it was supposed to be Square’s MT Framework.

    But then they liscensed the Unreal Engine for some games (and recently did again for thee more!), and they stopped releasing as many games from their Japanese offices.  And now they’re talking up their new engine, comparing screenshots to photos and the like.

    And Crystal Tools was no good for an MMO… huh.  So is all they’re getting out of this the FF XIII games?  That’s a terrible investment!

    • D K

      Versus still uses it…supposedly.  If that game actually exists.

      Edit: D’oh, you were probably including that in ‘FF XIII games’, weren’t you…I was just thinking XIII and XIII-2. Had to remind myself that Versus is technically a FF XIII as well…

      • badmoogle

        They should just rename Versus and call it FFXV.

        • Gatchaman1

          I’ve been saying that for years now

      • Solomon_Kano

        Actually, I recall Nomura saying that Versus has its own engine. This engine later incorporated elements of Luminous for lighting.

        • badmoogle

          Indeed…Now that you mentioned it i remember it too.

    • Skua

      Crystal Tools was never going to succeed. Square Enix went into it with the belief that they could still create an engine within months (as they had on previous consoles. PlayStation work started in 1995, which was after the system’s launch in Japan. PS2 R&D started in 1999 and picked up speed in 2000. I presume that PS3/Xbox360 R&D probably started in 2005, at which point individual teams were still researching their own engines from scratch. Crystal Tools proper kicked off in 2006 and was finished by 2008), so there was litle preparation for the next generation of consoles.

      Never mind the fact that it takes western developers years to create an extensible engine with cutting edge technology. Something like that requires massive R&D in advance, so you can’t wait for the new systems to arrive before starting work.

      The reason they’re talking about Luminous Engine is to show that they’re more prepared for the next transition.

    • Joanna

      Perhaps the renewed license for Unreal is for Version 2.0? I mean if Crystal Tools is unusable and Luminous is not yet finished, what else do they have?

  • Exand

    Sounds like an “entirely” new game to me… 

  • badmoogle

    How many engines for console and PC development SE currently has (excluding the Eidos branch)?
    Crystal Tools
    Luminous Engine
    Unreal 3
    a new one for XIV

    Is that all?

    • Skua

      The word “engine” tends to be misused by some people in the industry. Many use it to refer to the graphics renderer, but a game engine really encompasses the full suite. Tools, scripting system, renderer, animation system, AI, net code…..

      For FFXIV, they’re probably replacing parts of the Crystal Tools suite, such as the renderer. However, there’s no way they’re abandoning the existing framework.

  • d19xx

    “The Complete Idiot’s Guides on How not to make an MMO” by Squeenix…

  • doubletaco

    Too bad “an entirely different game” would have been the only way to salvage this.

    Nice to see they’re addressing the awful performance of the current engine I guess.

  • SuigetsuHiramura

    Final Fantasy XIV was a mistake.  Just move on to Final Fantasy XV already, Square Enix!  Or at least release Versus XIII -_-

    • Solomon_Kano

      Verus XIII will come when Versus XIII is ready. It not being done is no reason for them to give up on XIV, that’s all Nomura.XIV currently stands as a blemish on the series and they’re attempting to fix it. I find that commendable.

      Also, unless you’re expecting XV to be another MMO, that has to wait for XIII-2.

    • Gatchaman1

      Well the only thing I have of FF XIV is the controller because…well it’s a pretty awesome PC controller. Lookit:

      http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51SWYJkjNXL._AA1200_.jpg

  • http://tridus.livejournal.com/ Tridus

    Hard to believe they’re still sinking money into this black hole. Give it up guys, you failed.

    • Skua

      They’re only sinking in the money because it’s called Final Fantasy XIV. Given the emphasis on how the game has damaged the brand, I think a key goal is to ensure that the fixed product is reasonably well received instead of leaving it an unmitigated disaster on all fronts.

      • http://tridus.livejournal.com/ Tridus

        Maybe, but an overly long devotion to doing that will instead drag the entire company down with it. This is a highly expensive endeavour to keep going indefinitely in the hope that sooner or later it can draw enough paying customers to become self-sufficient.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1446063390 Zichri Lui

      It’s an attitude like this that makes games like FFXIV forever doomed to fail, as well as keeping its reputation with SE in shambles. Instead of constantly gloating about it maybe you should consider the fact that people work really hard to get this game back up and running as a Final Fantasy game, and you should appreciate the time, money and effort it takes to fix something like this.

      They’re actually listening to criticism instead of just letting it rot as a horrible game. And instead there’s always just some negativity to people who actually want to improve it. What, are you against progression and improvement or something?

      • Locklear93

        Results.  It’s not a present; it’s a commercial product, one so bad that they quit charging for it for an extended period of time.  Appreciation and gratitude are one thing, but at the end of the day, SE isn’t throwing money at this for appreciation and gratitude; they’re throwing money at it in order to get money back, and if you want money, you have to get results.  Maybe the 2.0 patch will, but they haven’t given people much cause for faith.

        With the huge amount of time since the game’s original launch, the extremely bad reputation the game justifiably earned, the mixed pedigree (FFXI had its moments, but still isn’t terribly well regarded) behind it, and the fact that the game is still, more than a year after release, in a state where they’re making apologies and drastic changes, it’s not unreasonable for someone to say it’s time to give it up.  No matter how much someone might want to keep their favorite (insert favorite thing here), if a year of constant repairs hasn’t done the job, maybe it IS just time to accept the situation.

        To be clear, I wanted to like FFXIV.  I really did.  In the end, though, I don’t believe it’s ever going to be commercially viable.  I think they blew it too badly, and failed to fix it for too long.  Not charging people was the right idea; it kept people playing, and kept things going for any new faces that might try to poke their heads in.  After over a year, though, I’m not sure it can be salvaged.  I certainly wouldn’t put any money on it.

      • Gatchaman1

        We can commend them for their tireless effort but he’s right; the damage seems too far done. AND they want to start charging people for online now with the current “beta” game? lol cmon now…

      • http://tridus.livejournal.com/ Tridus

        No, it’s doomed to fail because it already did. The MMO market is cutthroat and highly competitive. You get one chance to make an impression, and SE blew it in spectacular fashion.

        Sometimes the problems in a product simply run so deep that it can’t be fixed by making “changes”, since what they’re really doing is building an entirely new game. That’s going to cost a fortune and it will still have the same bad reputation in the market, AND it will be older and facing new (and really big) competition like TOR and Mists of Pandaria.

        At the end of the day this is a business, and the goal is to make money. With how much money they’re sinking into this game and how badly it turned out, there isn’t a snowballs chance in hell it ever turns a profit. That happens sometimes. A smart businessman knows when it’s time to cut your losses and move on.

        As for their reputation, it’s in shambles because of several weak games in a row. This one just happens to be the worst of the bunch.

  • Locklear93

    This part hurts my head:

    “Ver. 2.0 will use a new engine that is more suited to the
    requirements of an MMO, such as the ability to display numerous
    characters on the screen at once.”

    Did they REALLY not think this was an important MMO feature when they chose the engine they used originally?  Really? -_-

    • badmoogle

      It would have been very interesting to read an interview with Hiromichi Tanaka where he could explain what went so terribly wrong.However i don’t think an interview like that would ever be possible (well at least a honest one) since a big part of the blame probably also goes to SE’s higher up executives whom Tanaka could never dare to blame.
      I think it’s very unfair to Tanaka and at the same time very convenient for SE’s executives to silently use him (and his team) as the black sheep of FFXIV by not taking any responsibility themselves.

      • Locklear93

        Yeah, I’m not prepared to lay the blame entirely on one person.  I work in the game business and have seen decisions I personally questioned come from all levels.  Still, if “displaying numerous characters on the screen at once” is a something new to FFXIV with the new engine, there were breakdowns across the board.  (I last saw FFXIV in beta.  It was very pretty, and ran inexcusably badly when there were multiple people around.)

  • Solomon_Kano

    Given the circumstances, Yoshida and his team are practically working a miracle here. I’m glad that they’re working to fix the issues rather than listening to the folks saying give up. That’s the mark of a good developer: taking criticism to heart and using it to better yourself. They did the same from XIII to XIII-2 it seems.

    I  dunno about the rest of you, but that’s commendable enough for me to give 2.0 a look when it hits… PS3 (my PC can’t handle it lol).

    • Gatchaman1

      FF XIV = the Michael Jackson comeback tour of video games

      • Solomon_Kano

        Hopefully it doesn’t die before it can comeback in full, though. No disrespect to Michael.

        • Gatchaman1

          no disrespect either but thats the closest musical analogy I could use besides Rick James

          • Solomon_Kano

            It was a good one.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Yuka-Hajima/100002694174786 Yuka Hajima

    Final Fantasy XIV had many problems over the pass year or so and now it’s actually worthy of the name Final Fantasy and am sure 2.0 will be more like a version of XI as people been explaining over in XIV forums and i really must say XIV is improving update since the last one we had.

    cant wait when they fix the classes. THM-BLM – Con-WHM  really looking 2.0

    also ifrit drop rate for weapons need to fix.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Max-Lestage/100001999473380 Max Lestage

    Is it bad that I wanted them to change this game into a single player jrpg instead of keeping the MMO format?

    • Gatchaman1

      No because MMO’s are bad in general

  • Gatchaman1

    So what are they going to use? Unreal Engine 3? lol

  • PrinceHeir

    i kinda wish they didn’t release the game early.

    imagine if they released this in 2012 with all the features above

    that would have be awesome for new players as well as FFXI players.

  • A A

    Every game they’ve produced using Crystal Tools has been a turd.

  • JustinConstantino

    not that much of a blemish. i still play and am going to pay and expect 2.0 to be the best mmo ever and teh first actually good one.

    • Solomon_Kano

      If you enjoy it that’s great, but at the moment it stands as a blemish. Bad press, which the game has no lack of, counts as a blemish.

  • JustinConstantino

    no cause if its not going back to something resembling the old battel sytem from 10 or earlier than they can go suck it cause im not playing anymore XIII auto battle bull.

  • JustinConstantino

    well said! hi-five!

    • Poradicus

      I have some high hopes for FFXIV 2.0, I often go back to loging in Final Fantasy XIV and seeing the changes they did. I like some of the improvements, but I feel they are long overdue.  I probably won’t pay subscription when they start it again in January, or possibly get FFXIV 2.0 and start playing it. The damage is already done, and as a beta tester for this game, before the release back in Oct 2010, I feel let down.

      I complained about the mechanics, bugs, UI, tedious menus, slow fighting, dynamics, and a lot of  other misc issues  regarding this game to SE. But SE did not listen to me, furthermore I felt like they didn’t give a whoot about what many of us beta testers said. Finally they listen, and realize what they did wrong? I think people should be given a chance to preview FFXIV 2.0 beta before the release, and give SE an opinion, that way they can learn from this.

      A lot of people are upset, and I understand their frustrations. Only way I see SE trying to bring in a new base of players is to continue having it free until FFXIV 2.0 is released to retail stores. I just hope for thier sake 2.0 will be a huge improvement.

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