BT Podcast 55: Suck My XBone
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Thumb Wars: Ep 37: Ninten-Dont’s?: Of LPs & Twitter
Posted By Shaun K. about 8 months, 1 week ago
Fact: Chocobos automatically make any game they show up in 20% cooler.
I have to admit that I continue to be fascinated by the saga of Final Fantasy XIV. And for once I am not talking about the in-game lore. The way this game launched to utter disaster only for its developers to continue to work and fight to make it the game they wanted to release has been utterly fascinating to watch. It is, as EA in an unrelated but similar story noted, something unique to the MMO subset of games: the way they can continue to change, evolve, and even improve in the intervening months & years following release. No other kind of game can really duplicate that and I find its imminently interesting to watch. I have always been as fascinated by what goes on behind-the-scenes in the creation of media as the media itself and MMOs are a unique way of experiencing that in real time. And this is why, even if I never end up playing the game, FFXIV has had my interest since the word go and I continue to follow its progress attentively.
But maybe that is just me. Regardless, the big reboot/relaunch for Final Fantasy XIV, subtitled A Realm Reborn, is barreling ever closer and along with it Square Enix’s promise to bring the game up to the level of its original promise. Now the folks working on said reboot have gone so far as to hold an hour-plus talk session where they lay out in detail all the changes, additions, and more coming to the game later this year/early next year. Be sure to turn on English subtitles by clicking the ‘CC’ button on the bottom right corner of the embedded YouTube video below.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is currently being aimed for a release late 2012/early 2013 on both PC and PS3. Stay tuned to Blistered Thumbs for continuing coverage of all things Final Fantasy and Square Enix and be sure to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Well, it’s nice to know that SE is picking it up, especially with FFXIV having that horrible release and the outright boring and confusing nature it once had, but it almost seems like too little too late. The MMO market has drastically changed since FFXI was first released, and it has changed even more since FFXIV was first released. Let’s hope that SE does not underestimate the market again, but with competitors such as Tera, Guild Wars 2, and Star Wars: The Old Republic, SE will have to play catch-up and try to shove themselves into the market. As for me, I’ve moved on to other MMO’s and I don’t think anything will entice me to turn away from what I’m currently playing.
I’ve been playing FFXI for a little over 6 years. FFXIV since Alpha. I’m extremely excited for ARR. The FF MMO’s are very unique from other MMO’s and I love it.
I love war chickens! They go great with teryaki sauce!
thats all well and good but what about the Horsebird
I can’t help but wonder if this is too little too late for them. Square/Enix has used up much of it’s good name and abused it’s fan loyalty a little too often.
A complete overhaul is just half the step. If they want to turn this disaster around they will have sell this game to us and sell it hard. They will have to sell this like they haven’t had to sell a game in over a decade. Otherwise they are not going to get the people on their side just by slapping their logo on the box and putting Final Fantasy on the title.
Honestly, Guild Wars 2 is likely going to be the better game overall, but Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn still has the potential and opportunity to be the best pay-to-play model, if not one of the best MMOs on the market.
I refuse to say “WoW-killer” as it’s a stupid phrase, but I do feel like this game, once it hits the market and sticks around for a while, might attract more people into wanting to try something other than WoW.
Guild Wars 2 and FFXIV are going to be running the show before long.