I originally bought Final Fantasy 14 as an early adopter because I felt like I missed out on Final Fantasy 11. I wanted to get in on the ground floor of what I was hoping would be a great long-term community game with a solid IP.
As you all know, FF14 turned out to be a very big flop. The UI was horrible, the gameplay…heck, we all know it was a colossal failure with only a few redeemable qualities. Square Enix is trying hard to regain fan trust after their reputation took such a marring.
Producer Naoki Yoshida said the following:
“Losing your fans’ trust is very easy thing to do. Regaining it is very hard. We believe Final Fantasy 14 is a starting point, and that players joining us will think ‘oh wow, this is great, I’ll see what they can do with Final Fantasy 15 or 16’.”
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is like a complete reboot, or rebirth if you will, of the MMO. The whole game has been remade from the ground up according to the producer. I still haven’t figured out if it’s going to be a patch for those of us who bought FF14, or if they’re going to completely start fresh and sell new copies. Regardless, the game is coming to the PS3 and I might just get it for the console anyway.
I’m cautiously optimistic. I’ve been keeping my eye on trailers (like the one below featuring the reintroduction of limit breaks) and seeing what they release about the game to decide if I am going to give them a second chance.
While I used to be a Final Fantasy fan, my excitement for them has significantly disappeared over the years. I didn’t really see anything here to win me over other than the nice graphics. I don’t know if they realize that graphics can only go so far.
Is there any info on the changes they have made to the game? With GW2 hitting every angle for me, I think FFXIV is going to have to target their hardcore Final Fantasy market and perhaps provide another avenue for those WoW players who didn’t find GW2 an easy switch. And I’m not really sure if that market is large enough to keep this revamp afloat.
That being said, there isn’t anything to say that GW2 content will hold players until the release of this and many have brought up that GW2 could easily be a secondary MMO for many rather than a primary.
I am a huge closet FF fan. FFXI was the first MMO I ever played and some of my fondest gaming experience comes from my time there. I am also cautiously optimistic that the re-release will hit its mark.
It’s been a long time since I enjoyed any final fantasy, possibly since 9. I could never get into anything after 10 and sadly I feel Square Enix for years just rode the games name for sales. It’s caught up with them in recent years and I feel they have a lot of work to do to redeem themselves if they ever do at all.