Letter from the Producer XXVIII

[Fliegar]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXVIII

I could care less

I'm sorry for being off topic, but I think someone posted this a year or two ago.

[Malacite]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXVIII

Personally I was ecstatic to see that the majority feel the characters & plot are a big driver. That was a large part of why I enjoyed XI so much, as SE put a lot of work into (most) of the plots (especially CoP). The emphasis on "FF-yness" or w/e sounds wonderful as well. Lord knows they could use more of it in the offline games as of late.

---------- Post added at 02:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:55 PM ----------

I could care less if they had a trailer for E3. The game is out anyway, so why bother? I can understand hyping a new release, but everyone and their mother's secret boyfriends know that FFXIV has rolled around in shit enough (to the general public) that no one is going to care even if they had any kind of media available at E3.

Gonna have to disagree with you big time here. It's unfortunate that they don't have all the info ready to go along with the trailer just yet, as releasing all that stuff at E3 when a lot of people will be tuned in (last year GT was broadcasting it off Spike TV) would have a far greater positive PR impact than doing thier own little press release further down the road to a much narrower audience.

At the very least they should still go along with the trailer to stir a little buzz and get people who've written the game off wondering about it again. I understand that they want to have a large impact all at once by having the information to go along with the trailer, but I honestly feel that will come back to bite them in the ass. Plus SE as a whole could do with some more nice things at E3 - they were extremely lacking at last year's show as well and it was very disappointing. All they had was that crappy XIII-2 trailer.

[jenova_9]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXVIII

One of key features of a successful PR campaign is timeliness. If they don't have their supplementary material ready then releasing their 'center-piece' (trailer) now with no follow up for 2-3 months would be wasted. That's what ppl have to understand. The trailer would give more oomph to the August material marketing if it's saved until then! Also, while I respect story and stuff, that isn't what drives most people to continue playing mmorpg. New stories are told once, gameplay is experienced longer and more frequently than that. So while story is important, there has to be content and gameplay there to give lots of fun and rewarding things to do with that content expanded on for more things to do. Story only makes up 20-40% of mmorpg gaming experience. There has to be actual things to do (as well as repeatable content) and strive for to give people more reason to stay active. So ya all aspects have importance. to me, the most important story beyond scripted, is our personal world adventures

[Aeni]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXVIII

I'm sorry for being off topic, but I think someone posted this a year or two ago.

If you were trying for a gotcha, then you failed miserably, since I didn't post that video. And yes, I made a grammatical error, but you're completely off-base considering you do not make similar responses for others.

Gonna have to disagree with you big time here. It's unfortunate that they don't have all the info ready to go along with the trailer just yet, as releasing all that stuff at E3 when a lot of people will be tuned in (last year GT was broadcasting it off Spike TV) would have a far greater positive PR impact than doing thier own little press release further down the road to a much narrower audience.

At the very least they should still go along with the trailer to stir a little buzz and get people who've written the game off wondering about it again. I understand that they want to have a large impact all at once by having the information to go along with the trailer, but I honestly feel that will come back to bite them in the ass. Plus SE as a whole could do with some more nice things at E3 - they were extremely lacking at last year's show as well and it was very disappointing. All they had was that crappy XIII-2 trailer.

The problem with your logic is you assume every title that is being shown at E3 will get equally deserving focus by the media at large. Unless someone is preparing to cover E3 in entirety, 24/7, with multiple streams, FFXIV is pretty low priority. There is more risk to SE than benefit in hyping an update to a game that was both trashed and abandoned by the very same group of media outlets a couple of years ago (one only has to read the reviews over at Metacritic to see the spite and contempt for the game)

At the very onset of his arrival, I knew Yoshi-P would have an uphill battle to recover what little trust and goodwill the players had for the game. To be honest, I was already starting to lose hope for the game, but I still played it knowing how bad it was. What was appealing for me was the characters, the story and the environment and the pretty graphics that enabled them to come to life. All Yoshi-P did for me, personally, was renew my faith in the game, but not my trust in the company. And for every person, like myself, that he has managed to convince, I'm sure there are scores that have turned their back on the game and the company for good.

As long as Yoshi-P keeps the welfare and integrity of the game in mind, and not that of the loudest and whiniest complainers, I'll continue to support him in his endeavors. But if he leaves or if SE removes him or he loses sight and wanders off focus, I'll quit the game and swear off any future MMOs that SE develops (at least in the FF family and created by the development staff in Tokyo)

---------- Post added at 04:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:11 PM ----------

One of key features of a successful PR campaign is timeliness. If they don't have their supplementary material ready then releasing their 'center-piece' (trailer) now with no follow up for 2-3 months would be wasted. That's what ppl have to understand. The trailer would give more oomph to the August material marketing if it's saved until then! Also, while I respect story and stuff, that isn't what drives most people to continue playing mmorpg. New stories are told once, gameplay is experienced longer and more frequently than that. So while story is important, there has to be content and gameplay there to give lots of fun and rewarding things to do with that content expanded on for more things to do. Story only makes up 20-40% of mmorpg gaming experience. There has to be actual things to do (as well as repeatable content) and strive for to give people more reason to stay active. So ya all aspects have importance. to me, the most important story beyond scripted, is our personal world adventures

To be honest, I've never once had a trailer excite me or make me anticipate a release of a title. I'm usually a "last kid on the block" when it comes to games, sometimes to my own detriment (where a title will sell out and the company has no plans to reissue more copies) If I like a series enough, I'll put in a pre-order for a sequel. I've done that for Disgaea, FF and Pokemon, so I'm not really straying far from my usual behavior. I take a more pragmatic approach, usually adopting the sense of other players who I feel I have similar interests with, or sometimes just read game reviews and see if the game sparks my interest. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one, especially in this economy. People can't be spending their hard earned money in a haphazard fashion -- unless they are wealthy.

[Fliegar]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXVIII

If you were trying for a gotcha, then you failed miserably, since I didn't post that video. And yes, I made a grammatical error, but you're completely off-base considering you do not make similar responses for others.

I don't read the forums looking for grammar mistakes. I read what you said, thought of the video, and posted it. I'm actually not sure who posted the video originally, however.

[Mezlo]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXVIII

I'm just looking forward to 2.0.

[Malacite]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXVIII

Spike/GT had very good coverage of E3 last year and IIRC it had extremely high ratings.

Besides, when they first showed off XIV it was at Sony's E3 conference which I would figure would be the best time to do it again what with the PS3 port coming and all (as opposed to their own conference which would likely garner far fewer viewers.)

[Aeni]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXVIII

Spike/GT had very good coverage of E3 last year and IIRC it had extremely high ratings.

Besides, when they first showed off XIV it was at Sony's E3 conference which I would figure would be the best time to do it again what with the PS3 port coming and all (as opposed to their own conference which would likely garner far fewer viewers.)

Isn't the PS Vita (new games, feature updates, etc.) and PS4 news going to take center stage at Sony's E3 Conference? I'm pretty sure SE got an inside peek on what's going to be happening and didn't want to compete for attention. I also take anything Spike/GT puts out with a grain of salt. If there was such enthusiasm for the game last year, you would've seen a tremendous leap forward in subscription, not the continual backsliding (and the subsequent "piling up" of inactive accounts paralyzing anything SE wants to do with server migration, etc.)

I'll wait and see what kind of numbers get pushed out (or lack thereof) when 2.0 is finally released.

[Malacite]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXVIII

Both MS and Sony are denying the new consoles, but I actually believe MS on that front - they're more interested in promoting xbox as an all-inclusive experience and are in no rush to get the next one out. That will come at next E3 I'm sure. Sony is a different story - they need to push Vita hard, cut the PS3's price again and announce the new PS4 or w/e they going to call it. They're in 3rd right now and can't afford to let MS get the jump on them again.

Either way I'm bummed to have to wait another 2 months for the trailer and info, that was 1 of the big things I was eagerly awaiting next week damn it.

[Aeni]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXVIII

Both MS and Sony are denying the new consoles, but I actually believe MS on that front - they're more interested in promoting xbox as an all-inclusive experience and are in no rush to get the next one out. That will come at next E3 I'm sure. Sony is a different story - they need to push Vita hard, cut the PS3's price again and announce the new PS4 or w/e they going to call it. They're in 3rd right now and can't afford to let MS get the jump on them again.

If you're only speaking about the NA market, yes, Microsoft does not feel the need to do anything with regards to a "replacement" for their Xbox 360. However, it's another story in Europe and Asia, where PS3 still holds a slight advantage in both regions (well, in Japan, PS3 outsells Xbox 360 at a 5:1 ratio)

Now, neither Microsoft and Sony is at a bad position relative to Nintendo either, not like the way Nintendo was trailing so far behind them in the previous generation. So I don't actually feel Sony has "more to prove" than Microsoft in that respect, considering that both hardware sold for almost double what the Wii was selling not too long ago. What Sony is feeling, however, is a general sense of failure throughout the company, as their impending layoff plans and financial restructuring is still in the pipes for the rest of this year. This may or may not affect their PlayStation division; only time will tell.

Either way I'm bummed to have to wait another 2 months for the trailer and info, that was 1 of the big things I was eagerly awaiting next week damn it.

You can't rule out surprise announcements. Afterall, we are talking about E3 here, and crazier things have happened before with large software developers.

[Malacite]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXVIII

At this point MS is probably just going to write off the Japanese market. They've never had a strong foothold there and probably never will. With Europe it's largely due to XBL missing over half of the features that are in the NA region + costing much more as well. That's why PS3 does so much better there, Sony doesn't skimp on features just because you're in another region and PSN is free.

They are still not doing all that well as far as NA market goes though. Even though the sales numbers are fairly close, XBL still sees more use and garners more attention in the media as well and so the onus is on Sony to step their game up and start hammering back. As I mentioned before in another thread, the whole Activision & COD shit favoring 360 so heavily really hurts Sony as well given the popularity of that franchise and it's consistent placements at the very top of games played over XBL.

[neenja_jenkins]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXVIII

I'll admit, I'm rather bummed.
I'm anxious, among other things, to get a glimpse of the new engine in 2.0. There hasn't been much talk about it, and we still know so little.

[Mezlo]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXVIII

I'll admit, I'm rather bummed.
I'm anxious, among other things, to get a glimpse of the new engine in 2.0. There hasn't been much talk about it, and we still know so little.

I've heard from a certain source that will remain unnamed that version 2.0 will be totally mew!

[neenja_jenkins]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXVIII

I've heard from a certain source that will remain unamed that version 2.0 will be totally mew!

Yeah, that's what I keep hearing. I want to see it though!
I love the current engine aesthetically, it's beautiful, but it's just too hard on normal systems. I'm really hoping the new engine provides a similar (or better) level of eye candy, with better performance/optimization.

The "in-game" mockup picture first released with the 2.0 information looks pretty amazing though.

[Aeni]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXVIII

Yeah, that's what I keep hearing. I want to see it though!
I love the current engine aesthetically, it's beautiful, but it's just too hard on normal systems. I'm really hoping the new engine provides a similar (or better) level of eye candy, with better performance/optimization.

The "in-game" mockup picture first released with the 2.0 information looks pretty amazing though.

I'd settle for an engine that will not compromise quality in order for someone's POS PC to run the game. Seriously, I don't get why some people who "want" to game on their PCs don't bother upgrading their damn PC? If it costs so much, maybe they should rethink their hobbies and get on board something that's much more in their range of possibility, say, console gaming, where they don't need to worry about "hardware upgrades" for 5-7 years at a time.