Any chance of distributing a trial for FFXI anytime soon?

[favian]

Re: Any chance of distributing a trial for FFXI anytime soon?

Trials manage to get the idea across for virtually every other MMO on the market today. As a long time FFXI player, I can certainly see where there would be limitations, but honestly, there is enough to figure out if you want to play or not.

For some FFXI players, I think they are just so used to everything coming only after a lot of time and hard work that the very idea of something coming easily is completely foreign to them, and they just dismiss it outright due to habit.

thanks murphie,

I am watching the live square 'webcam' in vana'diel from their playonline.com page.

this is the closest i've come to sampling/experiencing this game.

if i wanted to compare the two at this point..i would have to compare my two week trial of wow with this webcam footage of vana'diel.. (oh and their benchmark program, which only demonstrates graphics)



update:

only 2 days and 6 hours left for the download to finish! thats 54 hours left to test this software (assuming someone is kind enough to give me a buddypass). in my opinion, square should be trying hard to obtain me as a customer, not the other way around.

[Ameroth]

Re: Any chance of distributing a trial for FFXI anytime soon?

Let me ask you this: How many video games have you bought in your life that you:

a) did not finish
b) did not like
c) both

If the answer is one or more, then i fail to see the real grievance in this topic. In the world of video games, we all take chances when it comes to buying a new game or system. You can read all the good reviews in the world about a game, and still end up disliking it.

I'm not trying to come off as an ass or anything, but honestly, a $30 investment to play 1 game (and all 3 of its expansions) for 30 days "free", isn't really that bad.

Think about people who paid almost $50 for Superman 64, and didn't play it for more than an hour. :\

[Icemage]

Re: Any chance of distributing a trial for FFXI anytime soon?

Considering that the average console game is $40-60 dollars these days, $30 with a free month of service isn't a bad rate at all. Obviously a free trial would be better for a new user to evaluate the game, but it would also cause all kinds of havoc on the servers as far as load, stability, and community atmosphere.

Personally, I'm of the opinion that if $30 matters that much to you compared to a base monthly fee of $13 for FFXI (and for that matter WoW costs $15/month), you might want to reconsider playing a fee-based MMORPG of any sort.


Icemage

[favian]

Re: Any chance of distributing a trial for FFXI anytime soon?

In response to the last two posts:

The average console game lasts more for 30 days, especially if online play is a feature. (Windows and PS offers this for free typically)

An MMO is a different animal. Paying monthly for a game i know i will enjoy is not a problem. Paying $30 for the 2007 Vana'diel collection is something i dont mind as long as i know i will be enjoying the game. I dont know if i will enjoy the game. I can't stress that enough. I dont know any rational person that would spend $30 on a game that they could potentially end up cancelling a mere 2 weeks after purchasing it. Paying $30 is not a problem, paying $30 for something i might hate is the problem.

As it currently stands, i don't know if i will enjoy it, and there is only so much you can read about the game before you want to give it a trial run.

Knowing you LIKE an MMORPG before you purchase it is a luxury that many wow players have because they completed a trial before they purchased the game. This is obviously a successful strategy for blizzard, they have repeated their trial runs several times.

Smart consumers do not gamble when they invest money in a game. If i purchase a game, chances are i've played a demo, or played the full version, seen it in action, and enjoyed it. Personally, i have never had any regrets purchasing a game because i know enough about it or have played it so i know i'm not wasting money. So in other words, i have never purchased a game with my own money that i didnt enjoy.

Since tastes in video games are so subjective, there are elements that i need to test myself in order to see if i enjoy it or not. I have frequently read about the awkward controls of FFXI. It may be awkward for someone else, it may not be awkward for me. Without a demonstration or a trial, there is no way i could possibly know that. I do know i had no problems with the controls in WOW. I have to factor that in when i decide which MMO to pick.

You can read all the reviews in the world for a game, buy it, and still not end up liking it. But at least with a trial, i can decide that i do not like it within the context of a free trial. I am sure you've played a game demo, decided you didnt like it, and steered clear of it when you saw it in a store. Something you wouldn't have done if you hadnt played a demo, correct?

Also lets stop calling the initial 30 days of FFXI free, its not free. Its $30. And as far as server overload, i doubt square would initiate a widespread trial campaign without preparing for the resources required for a trial of that scale. (Assuming many players sign up).

[Icemage]

Re: Any chance of distributing a trial for FFXI anytime soon?

I'm not disagreeing with you. I think having a free trial would be nice for newcomers wanting to check out what all the buzz is about - that's exactly what the Buddy Pass system is designed to do, without opening the possibility of massive server overload.

Personally, I think Square-Enix really should expand the Buddy Pass system by allowing more ways to acquire a Buddy Pass registration key aside from having to purchase a copy of Vana'diel Collection. It certainly couldn't hurt things too much, and would make people who are curious about the game (such as yourself) very happy.


Icemage

[favian]

Re: Any chance of distributing a trial for FFXI anytime soon?

I agree, i mean, i really want to try it, but i also partially want to see square do well because i've been such a great big fan of theirs for so many years. I'd like to see them take a larger market share, but it doesnt seem like they are using enough aggressive tactics to get more users.

What did blizzard do right to get so many users?

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Any chance of distributing a trial for FFXI anytime soon?

If the average console game lasts longer than 30 days, why do Blockbuster and other places offer game rental? I mean, for the price of renting for 30 days or more, one can just buy the games. (As far as I know, most people don't end up buying many games they've rented, otherwise, I guess you can call that test driving games.)

As for the control scheme, it's user configurable, like most games. Personally, I liked the PS2 layout, so I play on PC with a similar layout controller on the USB port.

* * *

Seems to me you're just looking for excuses not to try FFXI. Which is... fine.

FFXI is a difficult and challenging MMORPG, and really isn't appropriate for everyone anyway.

p.s. I do agree that S-E can do a better job at marketing this game. For now, though, the price of entry is $30, and looks to be above what you're willing to pay.

[Legal Fish]

Re: Any chance of distributing a trial for FFXI anytime soon?

The game does a very bad job at attracting new players in the beginning. Two reasons: FFXI is a game that slowly gives players more power/accessibility as they progress and the area of the game new players will be starting in is about 5 years old and SE has no plans on touching it anymore.

A trial could actually hurt FFXI unless SE starts revamping the first 20-25 levels.

[Murphie]

Re: Any chance of distributing a trial for FFXI anytime soon?

The difference, of course, between buying a console game that you don't like and an MMO that you don't like, is that you can sell one back to a store and buy something else you'd prefer. With an MMO you're pretty much stuck.

The Buddy Pass system hasn't seemed to chase people away from the game, so I don't see why a trial would either. It's obvious that they have the structure in place for a trial (the Buddy Pass), so providing more options for people who would like to try the game certainly wouldn't kill them.

But this is SE we're talking about here.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Any chance of distributing a trial for FFXI anytime soon?

Icemage mentioned potential server load problems. SE is rather tight about how many people get on a server to start with. For example, some MMOs will allow you to have up to ten characters on any given server. This is partially due to job/race restrictions those games have and I'm sure they want their users to get a broader experiance. But a resulting problem is that everyone tries to make a character on the very first server they see. and may try to assign as many characters to that server as possible.

SE doesn't let you pick your server without a world pass issued by an in-game player and it doesn't let you create additional characters without paying a extra dollar per month. Its sounds very shrewd, but the end result is less strain on the servers and its easier to get online at any time. People actually ridiculed SE for this approach, thinking it was ridiculous.

Then WoW came out. It allowed you to make multiple characters. You could put them all on the same server if you wanted, you could pick any server you wanted to be on. Lost of people picked the first ones they saw and login difficulties ensued. It came to the point where players were placed in a login "waiting line" or "queue" on many servers. People were waiting 20-30 mins just to log in and play.

After that, people stopped ridiculing SE for how the decided to handle server load with FFXI.

[Murphie]

Re: Any chance of distributing a trial for FFXI anytime soon?

I don't see why having people automatically placed on a server would cause any undue server load problems.

And I still think it's a ridiculous system. Other MMOs manage to avoid the problem that WoW faces by limiting the characters you can have per server or globally. It seems to work perfectly fine for them.

[Grizzlebeard]

Re: Any chance of distributing a trial for FFXI anytime soon?

FFXI is a difficult and challenging MMORPG

Since when? Don't equate timesinks to difficulty.

Whilst I agree with most of what has been discussed on here I feel it's a waste of time expecting S-E to change something that would actually prove beneficial to them. BRP is quite rightly concerned about new player acquisition and their ultimate retention. The game is clunky and unhelpful from the moment you log in. I mean, there's the token quest and then... nothing. It's like the developers were forced to put something player-friendly in there for new players and they grudgingly tossed that in at the last minute. It doesn't lead anywhere, it just gets you to look at the map and run over to a mark. It's the first and last time I can remember anything ever being marked on the map for me when I was doing a quest.

I remember whenever friends started playing who I'd convinced to give FFXI a try. They all left after a week or so and these were seasoned MMoG'ers from EQ who were used to timesink quests that'd make your shit white. I'd honestly love to know the retention rate of the Xbox 360 players, I bet it's atrocious.

[Murphie]

Re: Any chance of distributing a trial for FFXI anytime soon?

Oh, it's totally a waste of time to expect SE to change their ways. That's just not going to happen. But so many people in this thread seem to have their own explanations for why it's impossible, which simply isn't true.

The only reason it's not possible is because SE doesn't want to do it. Period.

[Legal Fish]

Re: Any chance of distributing a trial for FFXI anytime soon?

I see an average of 3 to 5 new players everyday. I don't track to see if they last passed dunes, but I know a lot of them do.

[favian]

Re: Any chance of distributing a trial for FFXI anytime soon?

If the average console game lasts longer than 30 days, why do Blockbuster and other places offer game rental? I mean, for the price of renting for 30 days or more, one can just buy the games. (As far as I know, most people don't end up buying many games they've rented, otherwise, I guess you can call that test driving games.)

As for the control scheme, it's user configurable, like most games. Personally, I liked the PS2 layout, so I play on PC with a similar layout controller on the USB port.

* * *

Seems to me you're just looking for excuses not to try FFXI. Which is... fine.

FFXI is a difficult and challenging MMORPG, and really isn't appropriate for everyone anyway.

p.s. I do agree that S-E can do a better job at marketing this game. For now, though, the price of entry is $30, and looks to be above what you're willing to pay.

1) Blockbuster rents games to make money. Period. Games can be enjoyed in small doses, especially non-MMO games. Typically games are developed so that they have replay value after you have completed the game, with added features and online capabilities. You have never puchased a game you enjoyed during a rental?

2) There is only one way to know to see if i like FFxi and to see if i'm comfortable with the controls, play mechanics, overall system of gameplay. And thats playing the game itself. I dont know anyone who plays this game, i dont have access to any buddypasses, all i have are the opinions of ffxi subscribers and some webcam footage of vana'diel.


3) The price of entry of $30 is an absurd amount to pay for a trial, especially when their successful competitor has avoided the S-E method and been very successful at it. You can't argue with results.


4) Lastly, wherever did you get the idea that i am looking for reasons to avoid trying FFXI? i specifically joined this forum to find out if a trial was available. I have been inquiring on ways to get a buddypass for myself. I have the FFXI dvd downloading (48 hours left). For a person that "doesnt want to play FFXI", i am sure doing a lot in order to play it. Dont ya think? My earlier point still stands, i am doing an awful lot to try to be square's customer, when it should be the other way around.