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Games Entertainment

FF XI Goes Live in Japan 187

Posted by CmdrTaco from the wish-i-spoke-japanese dept.
Castolari writes "Gameforms reports about the Japanese launch of FF XI, Square's online venture with the series. Apparently, there's some serious technical problems with the server load as well." They also have some Screenshots. I'm still hoping that someone will get the MMORPG right in the not so distant future.
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FF XI Goes Live in Japan More

FF XI Goes Live in Japan

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  • It runs on linux right?
    well I wish, but I may get it anyway... here's hopin.

  • world forge (Score:2, Informative)

    by filth grinder ( 577043 )
    Check out the World Forge [worldforge.org] project. It's an open source attempt at creating a customizable MMORPG. They need help too with a bunch of stuff, but what they have so far looks really neat. Good stuff.
  • Looks like Square isn't the only one having serious problems with their servers ...

  • wow (Score:2)

    by tps12 ( 105590 )
    I think I speak for the entire population of the Universe when I say: "holy cow."

    This game looks good.

    The one to beat for this Christmas season, that's for sure. (You listening, MS?)

    We're rapidly approaching the point where games will be indistinguishable from real life.

    Actually, maybe that already happened.

    Something to consider.

    Stay safe out there, everyone.

    • Re:Stay safe out there, everyone (Score:4, Funny)

      by Te1waz ( 453498 ) on Friday May 17, 2002 @10:02AM (#3536707)
      You are not kidding.

      I had to take the bus to work for a month after playing GTA3...

      A. I'd lost the habit of driving on the left side of the road (I live in U.K/Ireland).
      B. I had the temptation to mount the pavement to get past slow moving traffic.
      C. I could not longer drive 1st person, I'd have to sit on the roof and control the car via a complicated set of cables through the sunroof.

      I'm hoping the next version of GTA will have some neato network gaming ability. Imagine being able to hook up with an online cartel, or the thrill of starting a riot with other players or foiling their missions with a well-aimed grenade...

    • Your life or my life ? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by MosesJones ( 55544 ) on Friday May 17, 2002 @10:03AM (#3536717) Homepage

      I don't know about you but for some strange reason playing football (soccer), basketball etc with my mates is for some reason alot more fun than looking at a computer game.

      Life isn't watching a TV set, and as good as graphics get, no game will ever equal that feeling as you blast in a shot from 20 yards, or nail a 3 pointer over your work mates.

      Games are fun, but if you can't tell the difference between a game and your life... then you need help.

      And no game ever will beat the smile you get from your kid first thing in the morning.

      Cool game, I might get it, but please... like real life ?
      • no game will ever equal that feeling as you blast in a shot from 20 yards, or nail a 3 pointer over your work mates.

        Well maybe your friends don't suck as much as mine. Oh, I forgot, we don't do anything that involves any excercise..
      • Yeah, keep the elitism to yourself please. You may not think it's elitism but it is. You've basically just said "the lifestyle I choose is better than the lifestyle you choose". Which is not only arrogant, but completely meanigless. There is no more inherent quality in say, playing a sports video game, as opposed to actually playing the sport. It's all part of the personality of the person in question.
        Your comment isn't insightful, it's worthless. Who are you to determine what life is, and how someone should live it. I'm sure for people who don't want children (and like games), a game is infinitely better than a smile from a kid.
        • You may not think it's elitism but it is. You've basically just said "the lifestyle I choose is better than the lifestyle you choose". Which is not only arrogant, but completely meanigless. There is no more inherent quality in say, playing a sports video game, as opposed to actually playing the sport. It's all part of the personality of the person in question.

          Elitest, maybe - but meaningless? I think not. Thousands of years of evolution have led our bodies to a configuration that depends on regular movement and activity. For those of us that are stuck in a chair for working hours, using our free time to sit on our asses for the hours at a stretch associated with online gaming isn't the greatest idea. Out of shape and suffering from repetitive stress injuries is no way to go through life.

          • And society changes. There is still nothing iherently good or bad in activity vs. inactivity.
            We are much less active than we were 100 years ago, is this bad, of course not, is our quality of life better, who knows, in general I'd say yes, but that's just an opinion. Out of shape is a term laced with opinion, it means nothing. Out of shape for what?
          • For those of us that are stuck in a chair for working hours, using our free time to sit on our asses for the hours at a stretch associated with online gaming isn't the greatest idea. Out of shape and suffering from repetitive stress injuries is no way to go through life.

            And what about a good frind of mine who offloads odd cargos in a port, hauling heavy boxes and crates onto a mover where they pass through customs? He works lifting heavy objects eight hours a day (and has the physical attributes that you would expect). When he gets home, he plays Ultima Online for several hours.

            Not everybody is "stuck in a chair" and then goes home and plays these games. I also know a beat cop who goes home and plays flight sims for hours. (I do work in a chair, but then, I go running for an hour every morning and don't play video games... I keep meaning to, but other things interest me more).

            --
            Evan

        • I'm sure for people who don't want children (and like games), a game is infinitely better than a smile from a kid.

          That attitude should get weeded out of the gene pool really fast.

      • Re:Your life or my life ? (Score:1, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Personally, I'd rather play through a world that people have poured their energy into over years than get all excited about kicking a plastic ball around. I'm not against exercise, or sports that actually have some sort of intrinsic enjoyment, but hockey, soccer, basketball/whatever just don't hold any appeal to me. Sports and Final Fantasy have almost nothing in common anyway... I think by "life-like" the original poster meant that the games were becoming more complicated and more pretty.

      • Re:Your life or my life ? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by chrysrobyn ( 106763 ) on Friday May 17, 2002 @11:12AM (#3537156)

        Life isn't watching a TV set, and as good as graphics get, no game will ever equal that feeling as you blast in a shot from 20 yards, or nail a 3 pointer over your work mates.

        I respect your opinion, MosesJones, but I disagree with the spirit of your statement. I'm a 26 year old engineer-- I'm not in the best of shape, but I work out three times a week. There's no way I can keep up with a true athlete, a few of which are my [co-workers|work mates]. "Blasting shots", "nailing 3 pointers", wouldn't mean much to me anyway. But when I can challenge my boss's boss to a game of Rush 2049 in Dave and Busters [daveandbusters.com], and actually compete, that means a great deal to me. Electronics in this case even the field. He may be 39, but he runs for an hour every day and helps his 16 year old son practice football (American). With my current goals, I couldn't hope to compete athletically. But, I can keep up in a game, and we can have experiences that he'll talk about for months. What does it mean when your boss's boss happily talks about how you almost ran him off the road in a game 4 months after the fact? To me, that means we used the false reality to actually share a personal experience that ends up benefitting our professional relationship in the end.

        And no game ever will beat the smile you get from your kid first thing in the morning.

        I can't disagree with you there. Some day, God willing, I hope to be able to agree with you.
    • The in-game shots [drac.org] are nice... but, you can really see the PS2 starting to show it's age and limitations.

      Ouch, and you NEED to by a modem AND a hard drive add-on just to play this. The XBOX, whose online service is kicking off really soon, at $199 with this stuff built in (well the hard drive and ethernet) is looking like the best deal right now.

      Plus, it's been hacked [copyxbox.com]. *cough* running unsigned code *cough*

    • Re:wow (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Dryth ( 544014 )
      I think the problem can be traced back to the statement "This game looks good."

      Admittedly I haven't been giving FFXI the attention it deserves (in lack of Sakaguchi), but taking into consideration the limited power of the PS2, and the graphic compromises in even the most advanced PC MMORPGs, I find myself wondering just how many characters we can expect to see on-screen? How many enemies? How many unique environment elements and NPCs?

      Part of the appeal of MMORPGs is the ability to have insane numbers of players all interacting simultaneously.

      The question I pose to those that've followed the progress of FFXI is whether it's truly an MMORPG, or simply an online RPG of the same sort as Phantasy Star Online, where clear limits are placed on the number of active characters?

      As for MS, if I were them, I'd be perfectly happy with Morrowind for the XBox. It's a beautiful, engrossing game for the PC. But then, it doesn't have the words "Final" and "Fantasy" anywhere in its name, so it's unlikely that the bulk of console RPG gamers'll give it any notice.
  • Apparently, there's some serious technical problems with the server load as well.

    And nothing helps server load problems like a good ol' slashdottin'!!!
  • So, are they using japan for testing before they release it to the US and Europe? I don't know the sizes of the different markets, but I'm under the impression that those kooky asians play videogames constantly over there, and would be a great group to break in a new technology for other markets that are less tolerant to bugs. Kinda a nationwide beta test, maybe.

    • Japan and bugs.... (Score:3, Informative)

      by MosesJones ( 55544 )

      Umm lets see so Japan tolerates bugs does it.

      Japan has Sony, Nintendo, Panasonic etc etc the consumer gods of planet earth. Why do we like them ? Because they work EVERYTIME.

      The US has Microsoft, CDMA, Oracle and the gods of bloatware.

      They are testing in Japan because ITS A JAPANESE GAME!

      Don't be lulled into a feeling that they can't build things better in Japan.... imagine Honda v Harley Davidson in a race.
      • Don't be lulled into a feeling that they can't build things better in Japan.... imagine Honda v Harley Davidson in a race.

        Actually it depends on what kind of bike/race you're talking about. For pure 0 to 60 speed, no Harley can beat a rice rocket, but once a Harley get's up to speed, it can go indefinetly.
      • Japan has Sony, Nintendo, Panasonic etc etc the consumer gods of planet earth. Why do we like them ? Because they work EVERYTIME.

        Never owned a Sony, eh?

        Don't be lulled into a feeling that they can't build things better in Japan.... imagine Honda v Harley Davidson in a race.

        Image Honda vs. Harley Davidson in a game of chicken...

      • imagine Honda v Harley Davidson in a race.imagine Honda v Harley Davidson in a race.


        Don't need to, I've seen it. Well a Buell which is owned by HD. There wasn't a Japanese bike there that could beat the Buell's. In fact the best Japanese bike riders best time's weren't hitting the average Buell time. You want to talk top speed, then we'll talk Japanese bikes, you want to talk handling, we'll talk Buell. It's funny everytime I go to BattleTrax [battletrax.com] I see frustrated Japanese bike riders who realize that for all their elitism, Buell's handle better. It all depends on application. Want to run a superbike track, ok fine the Jap bikes are better. Want to run through the twisties, can't beat a Buell.


        I haven't even touched the quality of ride aspect of it, faster does not equal better.


        • Err so this is why the World Superbikes, 500cc, 250cc and in fact every division is dominated by European or Japanese bikes. This is the very top level of the sport, and not an American bike in sight.

          Bloody hell there really is none so blind as those that will not see.
          • What did I just get done saying? Talk about blind, SpuperBike is NOT the only racing for bikes out there. Did I not JUST get done talking about BattleTrax. Are you so completely stupid that you can't read a whole post and understand it. Again, bring your Jap bike to BattleTrax I'll smoke you on my Buell. Is it the best bike out there, no. There's no such thing, is it the best handling bike, yes. Is it American, yes. Will it lose on a superbike course, yes. Is Superbike the only thing that defines the quality of a bike, no.
    • Sony AND Square are both Japanese companies. That's why it's available over there before it is over here.

  • Shaky start on a risky road... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by supercytro ( 527265 ) on Friday May 17, 2002 @09:53AM (#3536662)
    After their unsuccessful movie venture, Square is walking a dangerous line especially as initial reports are saying that takeup has been relatively poor yet the technical infrastructure is unable to handle even this. Hence, large amounts of dissatisfaction even before the usual problems with cheating and administration...
    • A few other sites such as Magic Box [vgdirectory.com] are reporting pretty good sales. While expectations are probably different with console gamers versus PC gamers, I haven't seen a PC MMORPG do any better yet. Also, building an initial fanbase is always rocky but if Square is able to stick it out for the long term and the game is good enough that word spreads, they may have the first Everquest on consoles.
    • I don't know what 'initial reports' you're reading, but most reports from gaming sites and from people in Japan are saying that the game (and the hardware that goes with it) is sold out pretty much everywhere. Exactly what the initial print run was I have no idea, but that can't be a bad result by anyone's standards...
    • I don't know if the movie venture they mean is FF: Spirits Within, but I thought that was a pretty good film - good enough to make me want to go out and buy a copy on DVD.

  • If you're looking for a MMOG that gets it right, look at Shadowbane. (http://shadowbane.ubisoft.com/) Your typical MMOG is like Disney World, you go there, have fun, but have no impact on the place besides giving them money, and all the other people just get in the way. If there's a plot, it turns out the same whether you're there or not. In Shadowbane, you make the plot while building your kingdom Machiavelli-style, then coming after anyone you don't like with ballistas and trebuchets. That sure beats camping monsters, whether or not the monsters come from some big franchise like Star Wars or Final Fantasy.

    • "Right" means different things to different people (Score:4, Interesting)

      by JaredOfEuropa ( 526365 ) on Friday May 17, 2002 @10:28AM (#3536858) Journal
      Some people do not like to go after anyone they don't like. Some people even don't like to fight monsters.

      Which is fine! A problem that has often been mentioned in relation to MMORPGs is that everyone wants to be a king, a mighty warrior or a mage, and no one wants to play a peasant, underdog or craftsman. Existing MMORPGS have shown that that is not true: plenty of people do not mind roleplaying such a role. The truly succesful MMORPG will either cater to a sufficiently large group of one particular kind of player, or combine a multitude of play-styles, both within the game-world, and by having different worlds for different people (like the normal and the roleplay servers of Dark age of Camelot). I would prefer the second, since it will result in diversity, and create an opportunity to try different playstyles.

      That is the hard part, try and make all of the following play styles and roles viable:
      - people who like to play solo
      - people who like to team up
      - Hardcore / casual PvP'ers
      - Both casual and full-time players. A big, big problem with many of these games is that low-level characters cannot join up with the more experienced warriors and go hunting together
      - Craftsmen, peasants, merchants, diplomats, etc.
      - People playing for fame, for gold, for fun or for company.
      Also take in mind that people will switch from one role to the other often.

      Next is your environment. You need stable servers and good staff, to help out players in trouble, catch grief players and cheaters, and perhaps provide content as well.

      Lastly, players need to have an impact on the environment. This can take many forms, but the idea that your actions matter in the game is a big draw for many people.

      Most of todays MMORPSs seem to focus on fighting and/or PvP, and have no viable crafter classes. The ever so popular 1st person view makes having conversations with more than 2 people rather hard Compare looking at a tiny chat window that shows all text around you, to the overhead view of Ultima Online, where speech text appears over the heads of the people speaking. Whatever faults that game may have, they got that part right. Lack of meaningful, non-aggressive interaction and having only combat characters as a viable class makes all the current MMORPGs a rather bland experience. Excepting Ultima Online: I have tried all the others, but I have never given up on that one. It is still the game with by far the widest possible range of play styles.
      • Ultima Online had plenty of options for crafting, but it loses its appeal when you see someone selling on eBay the exact same products your charcter labored to make. Guess whos stuff sells faster?
      • The post implies "Right" has something to do with a bug-free launch. Which Dark Age of Camelot did - it was playable from Day 1. No framerate issues, no server issues - they were the *first MMOG in HISTORY* to get this right. UO had server issues, EQ had server issuses, not sure about AC - but I bet it had server issues, and let's not even get into AO or WWIIO (ie, massive problems that rendered the games unplayable for months).

        The other MMOGs had stuff going for them, but DAoC has been the only one with a good launch.

        -lw
      • Well said.
        Unfortunately, the game I have been most looking forward to seems to have been placed on hold.

        http://www.worldofmidgard.com/

        From the descriptions, it sounds like a game that tries to emphasize role-playing, and politics rather than orc-bashing. I like smacking orcs as well as the next hu-man, but it would be refreshing to see a game offer something more than the kill->levelup->repeat treadmill.
      • I agree with you - some people want to play tradesman, some want to play peasants, and some want to play adventurers. And there's all kinds of other things and shades in between.

        The real issue is that you have to allow for this without forcing it. What if nobody wants to play a serf? Ok, that's fine... but how do you replace the function that they were supposed to serve, without making who play the role have to compete too much against the game itself? If they don't serve a function then what's the point of having them at all?

        And you have to balance the need/not-needed very, very finely or else things get out of whack badly (look at clerics in EQ - single most necessary class in the game and the single most boring, mind-numbing class to play too, especially at the uber end of the game. My wife played one. I played an enchanter. Neither of us play anymore.)

        The craft issue becomes a problem because it's a lot easier to add an item to a monster than it is to add 5 items in various spots in the world and add a recipe to create the original item you wanted to create in the first place. Plus you start entering trust issues with tradesman in a world where there's little recourse.
  • Sometimes it seems that the better looking these games are graphically the worse their gameplay is.

    Sometimes eyecandy isnt all it's cracked up to be.

  • More info (Score:3, Insightful)

    by jwinter1 ( 147688 ) on Friday May 17, 2002 @09:57AM (#3536683) Homepage
    Check out drac.org for more info (here's their FAQ) [drac.org]

    Some of the highlights:
    FFXI requires the USB modem and the PS2 harddrive
    and CANNOT be played offline.
  • According to the bank of canada 1280 yen is about 9.99$ US a month. Not too bad, especially at a flat rate.
  • Apparently it's not just the FFXI servers that can't handle the load.. anything related to FFXI in any way will buckle because there are zillions of SquareSoft fans hitting "Reload" 18 times per second, a nervous twitch left over from pulling off huge GF boosts in FF8.
  • I was trying to read that site, and then it got slashdotted!

    Dammit peoples, what the hell is wrong with you?!

    ;-)

  • Wow, a server crash that /. didn't cause.

  • MMORPG Right? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Rayonic ( 462789 ) on Friday May 17, 2002 @10:08AM (#3536750) Homepage Journal
    > I'm still hoping that someone will get the MMORPG right in the not so distant future.

    Are you talking about this MMORPG, or MMORPGs in general? IIRC, FFXI isn't trying anything drastically new in the Massively Online RPG arena (besides being on a console. Whoop.)

  • Watch the past & Are Consoles Ready (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    UO, EQ, AO, AC all had problem starting. Only Camelot had a decent start up and that's only because they've done it all before. Funcom even lost a large chunk of their workforce due to the poor launch and its taken about 6 months to get back on track.
    MMPORGs are nothing to be taken lightly and they usually take a minimum of about 2-3 years of development. I honestly don't feel Square is up to the task, a RPG and MMPORG are completely differnet genres and require a completely different approach to games. With thousands of people playing and paying everday your customer service and community connections becomes a large factor, costs, hardware, in game and out of game support, patching, exploiting, bugs and a hundred other things become a daily task that is daunting to say the least.

    The other large thing to look at is the console vs. pc. PC users are used to patching things, downloading, dealing with other people, dealing with connectivity issues and with 10 years and counting of online gaming things still work well but not great. Its a slow process and one I don't think the console user is ready for. Your average PC gamer understands ping and packet loss a little bit more and your average MMPORG user knows not to expect to log onto a new server let alone a new game the first week it goes live.

    Going from a static game to a MMPORG is like a car making deciding to make planes all of a sudden. Its kind of the same, but not at all.

    I congratulate Square in trying to do something new to the console but I think they are going to be nothing more then a guninea pig :)
  • I know the big markets are Asia, US and Europe. But there are thousands of fans here in Mexico and in the rest of Latin America.

    Does anyone know of plans for releasing the needed accesories in Mexico?. The local Sony shop does not have a clue about when and if they will sell the PS2 harddrive and modem.

  • Due to it's huge complexity... MMORPG are bound to be launched with bugs...

    Always had and it will be a long time til one is launched without bugs (if ever).

    Cheers...

    P.S.- mayhappen i will play another MMORPG (played UO, EQ, AO and DAoC)... but they all lack something... when i find what it is...

  • The online console wars (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Dark Paladin ( 116525 ) <jhummel.johnhummel@net> on Friday May 17, 2002 @10:15AM (#3536788) Homepage
    So, Round 1 of the console wars is over, with Sony far in 1st place, and Nintendo and the Xbox somewhere in second. (Most of my figures say Nintendo is in the 2nd place slot, but its so close nobody can tell.)

    Round 2 has now begun - and it's over before it's even started. Look at the competition:

    Sony - spend $150 on a 40 Gigabyte hard drive with ethernet and modem ports. Use with any ISP you with. Developers provide the servers.

    The games: Final Fantasy XI, Everquest, and Star Wars: Galaxies

    Nintendo - spend $35 on either an ethernet adapter, or a modem. Use with any ISP you want. Developers provide the servers.

    The Games: Phantasy Star Online 1 and 2.

    Xbox - spend $0 dollars - but you have to sign up for a fee (price unknown, assumed to be $5-$10 a month). Servers maintained by Microsoft (a point that kept that kept EA out of the Xbox online system [slashdot.org].

    The Games: Um....

    This is why I sold my Xbox yesterday. (And have exactly enough in store credit that I could get a new one in case the Xbox comes out with something pretty damn cool.)

    But so far, Sony is far and away doing the best job with online gaming, and with their partnership with AOL, and the Linux system on the PS2, I think the fears Microsoft had (as detailed in the first part of the book Opening the Xbox [gamerspress.com], where the Xbox was mainly a reaction to the fear that the PS2 would become a hoome computer), are all coming true.
    • "Xbox - spend $0 dollars - but you have to sign up for a fee (price unknown, assumed to be $5-$10 a month). Servers maintained by Microsoft (a point that kept that kept EA out of the Xbox online system [slashdot.org].

      The Games: Um...."

      Halo ?
      • Halo was fine on the Xbox - but since I still believe MS's promise to allow Halo to come to the PC/Mac (especially the Mac), I don't see the need to spend another $300 just for one game.

        Unreal Championship - I'll wait for Unreal Tournament 2003 and, again, won't have to spend $300 on the Xbox.

        I'm not dissin' the big, green X - but until I see a "must have" game, I don't see the need to own one. (Now, if they brought Sakura Taisen 1-4 for the Xbox to North America, and had Rachel Lillis [voicechasers.org] as a voice actor, then we'd talk.)
      • They will have to re-release HALO for the X-Box the current version doesn't work on the real internet afaik.

        That will piss some people off I know.
    • Like the AC said, you have to be really optimistic if you think that the console online wars are over. PS2 online games will also probably have fees (FFXI does). $150 for addons is quite a bit of money considering that the PS2 now only costs $200. I think the pricing will actually drop significantly to $100 or less for both eventually, but that's still a big chunk of change.

      X-Box has Unreal Championship and an online version of Halo probably as well as Asheron's Call. I don't recall if SW: Galaxies will be going to PS2, and a quick lookover the FAQ [sony.com] says its undecided.

      As a PS2 owner, I think Sony is the only one that has really announced concrete plans, and theirs will launch first in the US unless MS pulls something weird at E3. However, as far as who is in the better position, that's definitely undecided.

    • Console add-ons have never worked, ever. $150 for an add-on when an entire XBox is $199. XBox has a lot of online games coming. Just because EA doesn't want to play doesn't mean others won't. There are already one or two other NFL games, Midtown Madness, Unreal, and a few more I read about on IGN the other day. This Christmas should be the real beginning for online console games.
      • Memory cards sell. Extra controllers sell. Are those not add-ons? I am not saying that the PS2 ethernet/HD will sell, but saying add-ons don't sell is silly.
      • There are still surprises in the console market though. When everyone thought Sony would lower the price of the PS2 in reply to the X-Box lowered price they lowered the price of the PSOne. A lot of people seem to be sitting on the fence until prices don't go any lower before deciding which platform to buy.
    • "But so far, Sony is far and away doing the best job with online gaming, and with their partnership with AOL, and the Linux system on the PS2"

      Excuse me, but what do AOL and the Linux system have to do with online gaming? Nothing! the PS2 Linux is just for people wanting to play around with Linux. Also, I believe it's been noted that if you have Linux loaded on the hard drive, then you can't use the hard drive for normal game usage. Hardly great for online gaming.

      Also, you forgot to mention that there is a monthly fee to play Final Fantasy XI. If every game is going to have a fee to be played online, I'd rather just pay one flat fee and be able to play all my games online.

      I think the company that by far and away is doing the best online gaming is Sega. They have their experience from the Dreamcast to bring with them. They've already had their Sega Sports titles and Phantasy Star Online going online. They should be able to fairly quickly deliver a decent number of online games.

      E3 should give us some indications of what companies want to do online, but we really won't have a good feel of what's going to happen until late summer or fall.

  • FFX (Score:1)

    by wheany ( 460585 )
    Okay, so when do we Europeans get Final fantasy X? (Yeah, I know at the end of May)

    Final fantasy IV and V were just released (for PSX) and FFVI not long ago. Chrono cross was never released and now we are one game behind even with current Final fantasies.

    Good work Square! Fucking two thumbs up!
  • I'm still hoping that someone will get the MMORPG right in the not so distant future.

    They do. It's called a MUSH. (I'm only slightly kidding here.)

  • Fingers crossed (Score:3, Interesting)

    by torinth ( 216077 ) on Friday May 17, 2002 @10:23AM (#3536830) Homepage
    I'm still hoping that someone will get the MMORPG right in the not so distant future.

    Cross your fingers. If Neverwinter Nights [neverwinternights.com] turns out to be any good, it has the potential to be a peer-to-peer MMORPG. You can supposedly interconnect realms hosted on various machines through 'portals'. Granted, you may not be able to get 1000 users in one specific realm if some schmuck is running it in his basement on an overclocked 486, but with sufficient linking of portals, you can really pretend it's a huge single realm.

    -Andrew
    • You stole my thunder :)

      To get a MMORPG right, first take out the first M. In all of my years of enjoying RPG's whether it be pen & paper or video games, I have never enjoyed it with 2500 other people, I only enjoyed it with 4 or 5 other people.

      As soon as people realize that camping out spawns is not a true RPG, more and more people will realize that anything multi-massive anything is not the way to go.

      My hope is not for NWN to be kickass (because the geek boy in me is wishing to God that it is) but for the game to be revolutionary.

  • slashdot effect (Score:3, Informative)

    by shawnmelliott ( 515892 ) on Friday May 17, 2002 @10:24AM (#3536833) Journal
    The site is down but for those who want to see some screens you can go

    here [fantasygamer.net]

    After looking at the level of detail on this and thinking this is supposed to be multiplayer I don't doubt they have "technical" issues

  • I would think they would open up the market for MMORPGs quite a bit. It seems likely that more younger gamers would be likely to play on the console rather than the computer. Also there are a lot of not so technical people who still like to play games. It will be interesting to see how sucessful FFXI, and the other console online games fare.
  • ummmm like.. whats an 'MMORPG'?
    • MMORPG stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. The gist of it is that a large server runs a game world, in which many players can connect and interact with each others and their environment with a role playing setting. Some prime examples are Everquest, Dark Age of Camelot, and the upcoming Star Wars Galaxies.
  • Anyone have a mirror? I'm bored at work!
  • try here [squareultima.com]for some more ffxi screenshots
  • I'm still hoping that someone will get the MMORPG right in the not so distant future

    I just recently found a small but well built MMORPG that is slowly gaining popularity. The game engine itself is constantly evolving to fix bugs and add new features - but is incredibly robust and stable. They have solved most of the MM issues in fairly interesting ways. Check it out! Astonia v3 [astonia.com] (of course, like most sites, a little slash-dotting would probably kill it ;).

  • One great thing about Square and its money making power, is that every now in then it can afford to try to do something different. The movie was a big failure, but from the look of things this game is already a hit in Japan. A few server problems will not destroy Square's chances. Many American MMORPG all had startup problems, but still managed to become a hit. Some consoles have had horrible launches over there and still have the largest installed base. However, the real reason is because it is Final Fantasy. It and Dragon Quest, are some of the most popular games over there. Its like Star Wars over here. You hear all these people talking about play the Star Wars MMORPG. Why, because its Star Wars.

    • Re:Why Final Fantasy XI will survive (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Square rarely ever does anything different, and their non-FF games were developed by third party companies and published by Square.

      FF Tactics- Quest Software
      Ehrgeiz- Namco and Lightweight
      Bouncer- Dream Factory
      Tobal- Dream Factory
      Vagrant Story- Mostly done by contracted Quest employees
      Bushido Blade- Lightweight

      Even the immortal Chrono Trigger was partially done by Enix Employees.

      And how many of these games are actually good? Only a handful. But wow, you can have great grphics with the new Final Fantasy games. I just don't get some people.

  • What's with MMORPGs? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by khyron664 ( 311649 )

    Seriously, what's so great about MMORPGs? Do people just like throwing money away? You have to pay to get the game on your system (whether it be PC or console) and then you have to pay a monthly fee to play the game. Let's take a normal rate of $10/month. That's $120/year just to PLAY a game you probably paid atleast $35 to get, plus the cost of an ISP. Does anyone realize that's just stupid? Do you REALLY need a game that never ends, sucks all your money out of the bank, and withdraws you from a real social life? Why are people happy this is coming to the console games?

    I realize everyone's tastes are different, but online games seem extremely expensive to me. Diablo II was a game that never really ended and I just paid a one time flat fee to buy the game. Why would I want to spend even more money to play such a game online?

    I've played almost every FF game since FF 1 on NES, and with the exception of FF8, I've largely enjoyed all of them. I am bummed that FFXI is a MMORPG game simply because I begin to wonder if they'll target all their future RPGs for onling play. I will not play online games with the current cost structure (I have a hard time justifying paying $50 for a game and usually wait until they become $20). Square has largely been a reliable source for great RPGs (with a few exceptions), and if they start making online games only, what's left to fill the void? I've always enjoyed RPG games and would be rather upset if they all went online and as such disappeared from my gaming life.

    I for one am bummed. Anyone know if FFXII will be online also?

    Khyron

    • Re:What's with MMORPGs? (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Seriously, what's so great about the internet? Do people just like throwing money away? You have to pay to get your system (whether it be PC or console) and then you have to pay a monthly fee to use it. Let's take a normal rate of $50/month. That's $600/year just to USE a computer you probably paid at least $1000 to get, plus the cost of an operating system. Does anyone realize that's just stupid? Do you REALLY need a web site that never ends, sucks all your money out of the bank, and withdraws you from a real social life? Why are people happy posting to /.?

      *smile* Sorry, couldn't resist.

      Hmmm, comparisons:

      MMPORPG - $10/month
      Cable Modem - $50/month
      Electricity - $100/month
      Food - $200/month
      Car - $400/month
      House - $700/month

      You know.. I don't think $10/month is gonna make much of a dent, and it will probably give me 5-10 hours of entertainment a week for a good 4-6 months. If it seems like alot of money to you... are you by chance a college student?
    • >Seriously, what's so great about MMORPGs? Do people just like throwing money away?

      I'm not a big fan myself.. but in some cases MMORPGs are more than worth the money. A friend of mine has a daughter that lives in another state (messy divorce, custody, and so forth) and he only gets to see her a few times a year. While talking on the phone provides a nice communication link... there is also something to be said for spending 'recreation time' with one's loved ones. In his case, EverQuest allows him an opportunity to "do something" with his daughter that he might otherwise not have. I believe he feels this is easily worth $120/yr.

      I doubt, however, that he is the typical MMORPG player ;) Just wanted to point out that its a nice way for people to spend time with each other without having to worry about pesky details like physical co-location. It certainly doesn't replace face-to-face time... but its better than nothing.

    • Re:What's with MMORPGs? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by gid ( 5195 )
      Not too mention you have to play constantly to build up a half ass character to compete with all the other people that play that game 8 hours a day while doing tech support or some other job that has the potential to give you free time.

      I have a real hard time spending $50 a game myself. Ok, buy FFXI and spend $120/year... or buy Dugeon Seige with a one time fee and play agains real life, or previously known net friends whenever I feel like it.

      I sit in front of a computer 8 hours a day during work and a fair ammount of time screwing around when at home. So I pick the games I play wisely. Just what a I need, another reason to site in front of my computer. I'm trying to ween myself away form the computer now and then. They don't call it evercrack for nothing...

      I've always avoided all games that suck up enourmous ammounts of time like the plauge. Civilaztion, The Simms, Settler, UO, EQ, etc, and now FFXI. Forget that, I wanna be entertained by a game, not sucked into for months on end. There's a reason movies only last 2 hours. :)
  • I'm not all that excited about this game.. I have played several of the past ones and found them lacking.. Sure the story and graphics draw you into the game but once you set the game down its very hard to pick back up if you have forgotten what your last objective was.. Then you end up wondering the map asking characters questions until you get an idea of whats going one.. Often I would wonder the map only to hit what seemed like hundreds of those stupid random encounters with monsters.. Sure it levels your characters up but I find the whole pause, click , pause fighting system boring. I'll admit some of the mini games where rather entertaining.

  • Butterfly Grid (Score:4, Interesting)

    by DeadBugs ( 546475 ) on Friday May 17, 2002 @11:30AM (#3537251) Homepage
    IBM and Butterfly.net [butterfly.net] are working to create a new network for Massive Mutliplayer Online Gaming. They are hoping to license the technology to companies such as Sony.
    Here are some of the highlights:

    Unlimited numbers of players within one persistent-state world

    Advance, Distributed Artificial Intelligence

    Every game genre

    Multiple, concurrent games

    Any connected device

    Hot-swappable components

    Shared-source developer sandbox

    • Re:Butterfly Grid (Score:2, Interesting)

      by GweeDo ( 127172 )
      I think it is also interesting to note that IBM is in a very tight relationship with Nintendo (they did develop Gekko, the Cube's CPU, after all). There is also talk that an IBM micro-drive will be the harddrive add-on used by the Cube (that would be darn cool). If this is true, what kind of relationship does Nintendo have with them in this deal???
  • Did anyone else notice that those shots have (c)2001 in the bottom right hand corner??
    2001 was almost half a year ago, am I missing something?
  • From my understanding of FFXI's play structure, it just doesn't appeal to me. You pretty much have to be in a group and someone has to be appointed a leader. I put up with that shit in my college courses, I don't want to deal with that when I'm playing games. And anyway, I'm turned off by team-based games (thanks to the whiners and assholes in Tribes); give me some good old-fashioned Free-for-all action!
  • Is a MMORPG based on Zork.

  • Misconceptions? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by haggar ( 72771 )
    I am not a gamer, but armed with a little bit of knowledge and common sense, find many posts a bit strange.

    People say: 150$ to get online is a lot/not a lot. Well, 150 is the HD + Eth. card, but since you don't need the HD, you can get online for 40$ (price of the Eth. addon).

    People say: PS2 doesn't have an advantage because Xbox will have online games, too. Well gee, PS2 has an online game right fucking now. If that's not an advantage, I don't know what is. And FF fanatics will get on the bandwagon, I believe. The Xbox doesn't have a title with a solid reputation and broad following.

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