Has FFXI been discontinued on PS2

[Xephar]

I just wanna get this clear,

Has Final Fantasy XI been discontinued on PS2 ? Has the playonline service and FFXI been shut down for PS2 ? some places say this where others say theres nothing of the sort.

[neighbortaru]

Re: Has FFXI been discontinued on PS2

no it still works on the PS2. However, sony no longer sells the HDD for PS2.

[Mithrael]

Re: Has FFXI been discontinued on PS2

It's still unclear if the next expansion will be released for ps2. Some sources have said that FFXI for ps2 has reached EOL and will only receive the monthly/bimonthly updates from here out.

You can still find copies for PS2 for now, however, you can't buy a new PS2 to use the HDD in, so you're stuck with refurb/used hardware.

[Xephar]

Re: Has FFXI been discontinued on PS2

Im from uk and i might buy a copy off ebay and use my exsisitng account, any one here recon it would work on a PAL ps2 using Swap Magic ?

[Pai Pai Master]

Re: Has FFXI been discontinued on PS2

Sony sucks and they decided to kill off support for the Hard Disk Drive for Playstation 2, even after running TV ads promising such things along the lines of "Persistant Online World(s), downloadable and streaming media, and massive storage."

We have one persistant online world in FFXI, we don't have downloadable and streaming media, and we can't even save our games directly to the HDD.

This was all done before Final Fantasy XI made it to Europe, so plans to release the HDD in the UK and surrounding areas were scrapped long before FFXI PC launched on your side.

If you absolutely cannot play Final Fantasy XI on your PC, your only bet would be to import a North American PS2 (the original version, not the new Slimline PS2 which doesn't support the HDD) and HDD/FFXI Combo. The North American HDD will not work with a European PS2, nor will you be able to even read the FFXI install discs on your system.

Sorry!


Just a sidenote: Square Enix obviously has no intention of ever discontinuing their own support for the Playstation 2. As many people don't know, Final Fantasy XI is mainly played on the PS2 in Japan, PC gaming - especially MMORPGs on PC - is seen at a much lower degree than in the states or Europe. A major portion of FFXI's Japanese userbase plays on the PS2, so much that it would be a major mistake for SE to forego future expansion releases for PS2, at least until the Xbox360 version has a strong hold on the FFXI userbase, and if a successful number of those PS2 users moves onto the X360 or even Playstation 3, should an updated version for Sony's next-gen console be released as Tanaka hopes.

While you may be out of luck as far as playing the Playstation 2 version in Europe, most of us can rest assured that Square Enix will continue supporting their game on the system it was originally made for.

[lionx]

Re: Has FFXI been discontinued on PS2

You know i am just wondering, future expansions will be on all platforms right? Should SE discontinue PS2 (more like Sony but you know) would that mean they will not release a PS2 version of a future expansion..? Including America?

[kuu]

Re: Has FFXI been discontinued on PS2

Considering the ps2 itself is EOL, it's obvious that no more copies are going to be made.

Expansions though will probably be made, as it doesn't require any reworking, due to the nature of MMO cross platform.

You can't "break" ps2 version while not breaking pc version, because backward compatiblity for all users, makes it a support issue.
i.e.: even if no ps2 user buys expansion3, S-E still has to give them the latest updates, eqs, bug fixes, even if they don't have access to zones.

It's really a non issue unless you're thinking 4-5yrs down the road, when supply of either ps2 black box and/or ffxi HDD becomes a collectors item.

By that time FFxi itself would be end of life and would be on xbox360, and possiblity PS3. With FFxiv online ready to be a sucessor.

On another topic PS2 slim, was a cost cut issue, and not really totally on Sony's fault.

Heck about 70% of it was our fault, with the US's lackluster broadband rollout. JP was all ready for the "online generation" heck JP PS2 network adaptor didn't even have modem ports. It's all broadband. Sony even tried for PSX(the multimedia) to boaster the idea of "total entertainment"

When Sony got bummed by the reports the market wasn't big enough to support a online, and thus HDD, revolution...things died out, and made ps2 slim, to squeeze out the remaining life of ps2.

PS3 though carries the shatter dreams of PS2.
It's the same concept except the market and the technology is better this time around. PS3 has the juice to run multi-app senerio, the gpu to even have dual screens, the outputs of usb, and bluetooth, and the online market 5 years later (NA still sucks at broadband rollout, but it's better now)

You can blame sony on some things, like the lack of HDD to promote EQonline, and the lack of support, and other stuff... but you can't blame them for making PS2slim, and slicing off HDD.

[Pai Pai Master]

Re: Has FFXI been discontinued on PS2

Like I said, Square Enix probably knows that a great number of its Japanese player base, if not most of it, plays on PS2. They will not discontinue support for the PS2 version, unless the use of it dwindles to such a percent that it would be a loss to produce PS2 expansions. However, even if stores order only small amounts of the PS2 expansions and not restock them, Square Enix will always sell them in their own store.

Sony does not publish the PS2 expansions, Square Enix does. So I doubt SE would do something so financially ridiculous as cutting off a large portion of their customers from buying a product such as future expansions.

[tdh]

Re: Has FFXI been discontinued on PS2

Oddly enough, as of late, I've been seeing a lot of HDDs on sale at various stores. (Meijers, Michigan) Every one I go to, I see a number of HDDs on sale.

A friend of mine just got his PS2 back from a friend who he loaned it to, and the guy goes out of town for a year. So he gets it back, and buys the HDD. Idiot doesn't even know that it requires a monthly fee, and all that jazz. But he bought it brand new at EB Games.

My problem is this though. I can't find the PS2 CoP expansion. I've been out of the game for almost a full year now for various reasons, and I'm about ready to jump back into the game, but I can't find the damn expansion pack. I can't find it on line, or in any stores. Anybody know of a place on line I can snatch it up?

[lionx]

Re: Has FFXI been discontinued on PS2

http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/shop/

Which one of the links, goes to =>

http://www.kbtoys.com/genProduct.htm...QIa377985A711B

[Xephar]

Re: Has FFXI been discontinued on PS2

I have a swap magic Kit for my PS2 which allows me to play Copied games and imports ive been playing the NTSC version of FFX-2 on my PS2 for a while now and it works fine since im booting it with the swap magic, would the HDD Installer work fine also if i did the same thing with that ?

[kuu]

Re: Has FFXI been discontinued on PS2

I'm assuming you mean that you have an account on the PC version already.

Then yes..but there is next to no ffxi PS2 install disk online, as no one feels the need to have one. If you can have it personally made for you, then I guess...

The real protection is in the CD keys anyway.

S-E doesn't really put disk protection beyond the PS2 built-in identifier. And you still need to get yourself a HDD, and network adapter, usb keyboard, etc.

[Xephar]

Re: Has FFXI been discontinued on PS2

Yer, then i might get one as yes i do have an account on the PC version

[Pai Pai Master]

Re: Has FFXI been discontinued on PS2

The US HDD will not work on a PAL PS2, as far as I know. It was that way with Japanese BB Units and American PS2s, and the other way around.

[Kaylik]

Re: Has FFXI been discontinued on PS2

Man that sux