GIZORAMA - It is no secret that Square Enix have had more than a few miss-steps in recent years. Between unrealistic targets and more than a few changes in the upper personnel, it’s clear that all is not as well as it could be in the Enix camp. But Square is a proven survivor and over the last few months has begun to identify why it isn’t quite the company it used to be.
Few examples illustrate this better than the turbulent tale of Square’s latest online-only entry in to its long running Final Fantasy series. Initially launched in 2010, Final Fantasy XIV was met with a disappointing response from both fans and critics alike, forcing Square Enix to even apologise to customers for the games lack of quality on several occasions. However, despite the damage to the brand, Square are determined to rectify past mistakes and have been hard at work on FFXIV’s re-launch, aptly titled Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. So the question is, will the damage that was done by its predecessor be forgotten or is FFXIV doomed in any form?
Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu discusses the dropping player count of Final Fantasy XIV and the numerous projects of YoshiP.
Also who wants to keep paying a monthly fee every month, there are other options like Guild Wars 2 😁with no monthly fee and while not that many people overall compared to FF XIV, it did increase to about 21 mil now.
I prefer to pay since i do not like guild wars and it keep kids away, but FF14 decreased on quality since they started to make it "more accessible", tried throne and liberty and while it was okay it has so many issues, same for dune awakening... Its time to start making a new FF MMO
Looks like Square Enix is self-aware but still stuck in place, they see the player drop and apologize for the bugs, but nothing really changes. Shame, FFXIV used to be the gold standard
My entire free company has stopped playing. The writing has consistently gotten worse and the content is sparse and lacking; unless you are a hardcore player there's very little for you to do. They are over-catering to the people who will grind three+ times a week on a single fight for multiple months when the playerbase by large doesn't want that sort of content. Square needs to dedicate more resources to the game instead of wasting them on mobile and other live service slop.
The biggest factor for me is the way they butchered job design over the years , the casualization and over simplification really hurt a good chunk of enjoyment I used to have . Jobs lost any form of complexity and just became " press glowing button" DDR style for fighting where the gameplay loop is a about the 2 minute burst window . They removed most DoTS, timer mechanics , cast times, pets, RNG ect and all around homogenized everything . When you try and can cater to everyone ... you cater to no one .
YoshiP, the director and producer of Final Fantasy 14, has apologised for the state of the game at the time of writing.
Do you not see this happening during development? Like, why are we apologizing after the fact instead of stopping it during development?
Criticism and reflection occur after the fact. The apology acknowledges the past criticisms with the new expansion and they're keeping transparency with players about it. Now that they've acknowledged it - it will be interesting to see what kind of cycle we'll get with a new expansion and I wonder if they're planning something special with beast master since they didn't mention it in the last live letter.
The base game and expansion go on sale all the time and doesn't stay full price for very long since a new expansion is on the horizon.
If you're stating they should reduce the price of new expansions or the sub fee, no, that's not gonna happen lmao people aren't even complaining about that. They are criticizing the same old pattern of content that releases and how it is devolving into mediocracy.
"They are criticizing the same old pattern of content that releases and how it is devolving into mediocracy."
The product should be cheaper then.
I was unhappy with DT and have spent far less time in it than any other expansion but it's things like this that makes me respect Yoshi P. It's rare for such a high profile developer to be so candid in his assessment on a live game.
Same, i've found my self resubbing every two patches instead of keeping it up. Don't own a home in the game so there's no point in keeping a constant sub going. The post story is getting interesting though.
Square Enix released new screenshots of the upcoming patch 7.25 for its popular MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, including the Occult Crescent.
