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#1 Nov 06 2013 at 1:39 PM Rating: Excellent
Good news!

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/11/05/final-fantasy-14-success-lifts-square-enixs-fortunes

Yoshi-P and the development team really knocked this out of the park.
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#2 Nov 06 2013 at 1:50 PM Rating: Good
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I have really high hopes for the future of this game...it seems like SE have really hit the nail on this head this time
#3 Nov 06 2013 at 2:42 PM Rating: Good
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Look to Square Enix, Yoshi and Team for how to do things right! On the other hand....

http://www.gameskinny.com/a5s9j/phantasy-star-online-2-ignores-western-audience-in-favor-of-2014-asia-release

Look to Sega if you want to know how to do things WRONG.

Edited, Nov 6th 2013 2:43pm by Valkayree
#4 Nov 06 2013 at 3:51 PM Rating: Decent
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Thayos wrote:
Good news!

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/11/05/final-fantasy-14-success-lifts-square-enixs-fortunes

Yoshi-P and the development team really knocked this out of the park.


Nice.. It has been along of string of loses. Hopefully pulls them out of the giant whole they made.

I would hate to see another game company gone or ate up by one of the big boys.
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#5 Nov 06 2013 at 11:37 PM Rating: Excellent
I just love that all the trolls totally left this game for dead, and claimed that SE was just digging itself into a giant hole...

And now, this game is very successful and turning things around for SE!

And it's P2P. :D
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#6 Nov 07 2013 at 6:19 AM Rating: Good
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I am glad, now lets hope the patches keep players paying.

I Need 2.1 nao!!
#7 Nov 07 2013 at 7:04 AM Rating: Good
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Thayos wrote:
I just love that all the trolls totally left this game for dead, and claimed that SE was just digging itself into a giant hole...


People left it for dead because it pretty much was for 3 years. The odds of it coming back to flourish were pretty low.

Also, they make their earnings available to the public. Go back over the past dozen or so quarters they've reported since XIV's launch and compare how many of those quarters are + or - and you'll see that the digging a hole comments were pretty accurate.

It's fair to link the projected profit to the success of ARR. I think it's also fair to link the previous several years of downturn to version 1.0

All that really matters as far as coming out of the red on ARR is retention. How many subscribers can you keep through 2.1? How many of those are still around for 3.0?

I think the biggest hurdle SE has to cross for the future success of ARR will be content. People leave when they chew through the content and get bored. If SE can keep people interested then they may have a future 'highest grossing FF title in history' milestone to celebrate. So far with the reports of what will and won't be in 2.1, it's not looking so great in my opinion Smiley: frown



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#8 Nov 07 2013 at 7:24 AM Rating: Decent
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This is great news!

I wish I had bought stock in SE back in July-August when I was playing the Beta, I had a feeling this was going to be huge!
#9 Nov 07 2013 at 7:33 AM Rating: Good
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FilthMcNasty wrote:
Thayos wrote:
I just love that all the trolls totally left this game for dead, and claimed that SE was just digging itself into a giant hole...


People left it for dead because it pretty much was for 3 years. The odds of it coming back to flourish were pretty low.

Also, they make their earnings available to the public. Go back over the past dozen or so quarters they've reported since XIV's launch and compare how many of those quarters are + or - and you'll see that the digging a hole comments were pretty accurate.

It's fair to link the projected profit to the success of ARR. I think it's also fair to link the previous several years of downturn to version 1.0

All that really matters as far as coming out of the red on ARR is retention. How many subscribers can you keep through 2.1? How many of those are still around for 3.0?

I think the biggest hurdle SE has to cross for the future success of ARR will be content. People leave when they chew through the content and get bored. If SE can keep people interested then they may have a future 'highest grossing FF title in history' milestone to celebrate. So far with the reports of what will and won't be in 2.1, it's not looking so great in my opinion Smiley: frown


As a whole I agree but what I have bolded. No way. FFXIII was a disaster. It deviated from every aspect of a FF game and sent the company a few steps back. Add in 1.0 and then you have a company on its heels trying to figure out where all its fans and money went. There is also the lack of releases of other games and quality games.

Fast forward to 2013. You have the re-release of 2.0, a successful campaign for FFXIII-3, Tomb Raider (arguably one of the top 5 games of the year), KH 1.5, FFX HD, KH3 and FFXV announced, Thief. This company has jumped back on the path that made them so successful in 1997-2005. Although 2.0 has been a great success it is not the only reason why SE has started to see a turn around and neither was 1.0 the reason they started to see a loss in profit.

Last note. SE was on the same path as CAPCOM, Comcast, and any other company that has had a lack of competition over the years. They fell into a rut and cruise control, pumping out the same generic crap over and over because the title is what sells. Well add in the new players over the last four years, naughty dog, Bandi (with JRPG remakes and Ni No Kuni) with some of the others, older companies making a little better game and suddenly the money train slows down to these companies who think they are so good and so valuable that we will always be there. I think the last few years have been good for gaming, unless you are a war game fan, see Call of Duty: Groundhog's Day. We are starting to see some innovative and unique games pop up and its making the big dogs rethink because our money is going somewhere else.
#10 Nov 07 2013 at 8:17 AM Rating: Good
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It's good news for sure. I hate to say it though, but delivery of the quarterly patches is going is going to be crucial in the first year. I now have 5/8 DoH, 1/3 DoL and 4/8 DoW/M capped and have finished the story. I've activated my first relic quest and now have the unenviable prospect of spamming dungeons for Tomes to get gear, which is capped weekly. I'll probably have MNK, CUL and WVR done by the end of next week, and I stopped playing 1.0 about a year before they closed the game. I can't start Coil until I have gear, but I can't get gear quickly (or at least quicker) because of the weekly Tomes ceiling.

Most of my social have all classes @ 50 and I'm starting to see less and less of them online. While there is still a huge amount of content for new players those of us who are legacy and had a healthy start have the prospect of less to do. I've zero urge to go and complete the Hunting Logs for MRD, LNC and ARC as they started at 50, if I could have avoided it I would have skipped the class/job questlines.

I really enjoy this game, and I want it to succeed, but I really think to combat legacy drop off the dev team are going to have to deliver the spectacular over the next two or three patches.

Not a negative post - just a point of view, mmm'kay?
#11 Nov 07 2013 at 8:50 AM Rating: Excellent
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WFOAssassin wrote:

Last note. SE was on the same path as CAPCOM, Comcast, and any other company that has had a lack of competition over the years. They fell into a rut and cruise control, pumping out the same generic crap over and over because the title is what sells. Well add in the new players over the last four years, naughty dog, Bandi (with JRPG remakes and Ni No Kuni) with some of the others, older companies making a little better game and suddenly the money train slows down to these companies who think they are so good and so valuable that we will always be there. I think the last few years have been good for gaming, unless you are a war game fan, see Call of Duty: Groundhog's Day. We are starting to see some innovative and unique games pop up and its making the big dogs rethink because our money is going somewhere else.


I like RPGs, and apparantly I am in the minority of these gaming company's market trend indicators which seem to group gamers into two categories: boys that like to shoot things and girls who like puzzles. I completely left the Xbox 360 and 100+ friends because literally the only thing I hook up the system to do is play Rock Band II and let my kid play the Kinect. Other than that I could play Skyrim for the 850 billionth time. Once I realized that out of ten games made for the Xbox 360, six were first person shooters, one was side scrolling arcade junk, two were racing, and the last was a sport of some kind, I sort of realized that those werent the games I wanted to play. Am I going to digitally shoot a terrorist in the head in front of my four year old? Steal a car in GTA V and run someone over? Maybe if I didn't have kids. But now I do. So I took my money elsewhere.

I ended up carrying a 3DS with me for a while. Really cool, especially since I got in when Shin Megami Tensei IV and Fire Emblem IV were released. I played Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate and stuck around for Rune Factory IV. Really cool game, I still play it on the toilet. But the content and games for the system were released at snails pace. You know CAPCOM is on the ropes when Project X Zone (a game where they run the same mechanics over and over and chunk 9 billion of their franchises in your face) was their hit game on the 3DS! And the 3DS is a really fragile system, despite the fact they make you want to carry it around with you. I have to blow air into it on a daily basis to get my L bumper to work. And my 3D mode is stuck in overdrive and I cant turn it off. Bleh.

Then FFXIV:ARR was released and the hallelujah gates opened. I bought a PS3. Now I'm hearing that the game will be on PS4 so I can finally turn back on my spell effects. Im stoked about that. And I am eager to try Assassins Creed: Black Flag on PS4. Pirates are cool.

Bottom line, you are right. Microsoft hasnt released a good RPG in a year and Nintendo is at a trickle. My PC sucks. So I stick with Playstation because at least the Japanese still like RPGs and I am good with that.

Edited, Nov 7th 2013 8:53am by Valkayree
#12 Nov 07 2013 at 10:47 AM Rating: Good
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Valkayree wrote:
WFOAssassin wrote:

Last note. SE was on the same path as CAPCOM, Comcast, and any other company that has had a lack of competition over the years. They fell into a rut and cruise control, pumping out the same generic crap over and over because the title is what sells. Well add in the new players over the last four years, naughty dog, Bandi (with JRPG remakes and Ni No Kuni) with some of the others, older companies making a little better game and suddenly the money train slows down to these companies who think they are so good and so valuable that we will always be there. I think the last few years have been good for gaming, unless you are a war game fan, see Call of Duty: Groundhog's Day. We are starting to see some innovative and unique games pop up and its making the big dogs rethink because our money is going somewhere else.


I like RPGs, and apparantly I am in the minority of these gaming company's market trend indicators which seem to group gamers into two categories: boys that like to shoot things and girls who like puzzles. I completely left the Xbox 360 and 100+ friends because literally the only thing I hook up the system to do is play Rock Band II and let my kid play the Kinect. Other than that I could play Skyrim for the 850 billionth time. Once I realized that out of ten games made for the Xbox 360, six were first person shooters, one was side scrolling arcade junk, two were racing, and the last was a sport of some kind, I sort of realized that those werent the games I wanted to play. Am I going to digitally shoot a terrorist in the head in front of my four year old? Steal a car in GTA V and run someone over? Maybe if I didn't have kids. But now I do. So I took my money elsewhere.

I ended up carrying a 3DS with me for a while. Really cool, especially since I got in when Shin Megami Tensei IV and Fire Emblem IV were released. I played Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate and stuck around for Rune Factory IV. Really cool game, I still play it on the toilet. But the content and games for the system were released at snails pace. You know CAPCOM is on the ropes when Project X Zone (a game where they run the same mechanics over and over and chunk 9 billion of their franchises in your face) was their hit game on the 3DS! And the 3DS is a really fragile system, despite the fact they make you want to carry it around with you. I have to blow air into it on a daily basis to get my L bumper to work. And my 3D mode is stuck in overdrive and I cant turn it off. Bleh.

Then FFXIV:ARR was released and the hallelujah gates opened. I bought a PS3. Now I'm hearing that the game will be on PS4 so I can finally turn back on my spell effects. Im stoked about that. And I am eager to try Assassins Creed: Black Flag on PS4. Pirates are cool.

Bottom line, you are right. Microsoft hasnt released a good RPG in a year and Nintendo is at a trickle. My PC sucks. So I stick with Playstation because at least the Japanese still like RPGs and I am good with that.

Edited, Nov 7th 2013 8:53am by Valkayree


Pretty much the same for me...
I love rpg's.
I did compete for years in a clan for COD and GR. We came in second for ghost recon in the world. Anyway I got burned out on that. Started FFXI on the 360 and was hooked for ever. Found out FFXIV was starting too look good and only on the ps3 so picked up a ps3 and dumped my 3 xboxes. Funny thing is I am on the PC right now play FXIV.

I dont get when people will get bored of 1st and 3rd person shooters, they are all getting to be the same. Cod is out every year and is nothing but new guns and a map pack upgrade. The game is exactly the same. How many times can someone spend 60 dollars on the exact same game with new maps and guns.

I have a ps4 on order and Sony has not shied away from rpg's..




Edited, Nov 7th 2013 11:49am by Nashred
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#13 Nov 07 2013 at 11:43 AM Rating: Excellent
Quote:
So far with the reports of what will and won't be in 2.1, it's not looking so great in my opinion


Two new primals, at least two new dungeons, the 24-man Crystal Tower raid, player housing... I think PvP, too...

Those are just some of the highlights, but looks to me like there will be plenty of content to keep the hardcore players happily grinding away.

You have to remember that most players are not hardcore, and many of those people are taking their time through the story. Most people didn't zerg all the content and "run out of things to do" after a month.

I'm also not really concerned about Legacy dropoff. Many Legacy players stuck around through all of 1.0. They're not going anywhere in 2.0.
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#14 Nov 07 2013 at 11:50 AM Rating: Decent
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you also have to remember that some people are contrarians, and will always take an opposite position to anything you say /shrug


but yeah, I play this game a buttload, have progressed well into what little endgame there is at this point (coil), and I'm not concerned at all with running out of things to do. I'm not sure how people are having that issue tbh. I guess I understand it can be an issue if people hate crafting/gathering/leveling new jobs/minmaxing/helping FC members gear up/perfecting coil runs/having beach parties in costa del sol/playing the game in general.
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#15 Nov 07 2013 at 11:57 AM Rating: Good
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Related: some anecdotal information about how this game is being perceived by people with no bias for or against SE:

Prior to starting I tried to get my gamer friends into it. 2 of them had never played a FF before. Between them all 8 copies of FF was purchased; some bought multiple copies for PC/PS3 access. Only one of the 6 no longer plays basically because he's not that into MMOs anymore, but all of the first-timers have subscribed and are loving their experience.
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#16 Nov 07 2013 at 12:07 PM Rating: Excellent
Quote:
Prior to starting I tried to get my gamer friends into it. 2 of them had never played a FF before. Between them all 8 copies of FF was purchased; some bought multiple copies for PC/PS3 access. Only one of the 6 no longer plays basically because he's not that into MMOs anymore, but all of the first-timers have subscribed and are loving their experience.


I have a coworker who is also pretty burned out on MMOs. We tried playing GW2, and neither of us could find the will to stick with it... that game was just so mindless.

She's playing FFXIV now and absolutely loves it.
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#17 Nov 07 2013 at 12:44 PM Rating: Decent
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Thayos wrote:
Quote:
Prior to starting I tried to get my gamer friends into it. 2 of them had never played a FF before. Between them all 8 copies of FF was purchased; some bought multiple copies for PC/PS3 access. Only one of the 6 no longer plays basically because he's not that into MMOs anymore, but all of the first-timers have subscribed and are loving their experience.


I have a coworker who is also pretty burned out on MMOs. We tried playing GW2, and neither of us could find the will to stick with it... that game was just so mindless.

She's playing FFXIV now and absolutely loves it.


I am wondering if I am having mmo burnout.
I like FFXIV mostly more than FFXI but I find myself having a harder time getting on or wanting too.. Might just be because I am working so much and feel left behind because I lack the time I feel needs to be stuck into this game..... MMO's just require such a large chunk of time. I was looking more too FFXIV because I thought it would be more casual but I still feel it requires allot of time.

I find myself wanting to go back and play some of the classics type games. No FPS or 3rd PS.. I almost want a WII U for like Mario Bros., Zelda etc.


Edited, Nov 7th 2013 1:46pm by Nashred
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#18 Nov 07 2013 at 1:11 PM Rating: Good
It's as casual as you want it to be. I'm still only level 35 on my conjurer because I made a bargain with myself that I would not be hardcore in an MMO ever again like I was in XI. (All those tears and years and drama in XI, and what do I have to justify it besides the friends I made? I would have made the friends regardless of how hard I played the game.)

I usually only log in 3-4 times a week. The game rewards me for not logging me in by giving me a yummy rested bonus and rebuilding my leve count. It's win/win.
#19 Nov 07 2013 at 3:27 PM Rating: Excellent
FF13 was the second-best selling FF ever, after 7.

http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy

Thats a pretty awesome "disaster".
#20 Nov 07 2013 at 4:47 PM Rating: Decent
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WFOAssassin wrote:
FilthMcNasty wrote:
I think it's also fair to link the previous several years of downturn to version 1.0

As a whole I agree but what I have bolded. No way. FFXIII was a disaster. It deviated from every aspect of a FF game and sent the company a few steps back. Add in 1.0 and then you have a company on its heels trying to figure out where all its fans and money went. There is also the lack of releases of other games and quality games.


I didn't think XIII was any good myself, but it did sell something like 5 million copies. Perhaps a disaster in terms of advancing the cause of single player RPGs, but not by any stretch a disaster, at least not from a financial standpoint.

I only chirped because when a thread came around back then about SE stocks falling or someone brought up the fact that they weren't turning profit people not only dismissed it, but they refused to attribute any of the responsibility to the failed first launch of XIV. Now we have a report of one great quarter, and XIV is the hero that saved the day Smiley: laugh

People also lose sight of the fact that it's just a projection. Keep in mind that modern MMOs retain something like a third of their initial launch influx. If SE can avoid shedding the surge and keep people interested beyond the first few major patches, then we can call it saved.


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Only hips + boobs all day and hips + boobs all over my icecream

HaibaneRenmei wrote:
30 bucks is almost free

cocodojo wrote:
Its personal preference and all, but yes we need to educate WoW players that this is OUR game, these are Characters and not Toons. Time to beat that into them one at a time.
#21 Nov 07 2013 at 5:24 PM Rating: Good
The thing that was hurting Square Enix so badly was arcade game sales, specifically, pachinko machines. Their arcade division showed a marked improvement this quarter too.
#22 Nov 07 2013 at 6:06 PM Rating: Good
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wildcardj wrote:
FF13 was the second-best selling FF ever, after 7.

http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy

Thats a pretty awesome "disaster".


A lot of people, myself included, pre-ordered XIII, it had been a long time since a FF release and this was the first one for PS3 which had a shortage of good RPG games available. I played my old copy of VII in the weeks leading up to release, when XIII finally arrived I found it didn't hold a candle to the older FF titles. The real indicator of success for XIII is in the sales #'s for XIII-2 which were pretty poor for the franchise. People just weren't lining up for another SE FF game the way they had in the past.

As for FFXIV, ARR is a huge improvement over 1.0, I'm still having fun in-game. I have most of my jobs in the 20's & 30's, playing when I have time after work. My wife & I both have subscriptions. The game definitely could use some improvements, but it does seem SE is listening to the player base. Hopefully this is a turning point for the company, they have made some of the best RPG games over the years and I'd like to see more of that from them. FFXIV being profitable is a good sign they are on the right track.
#23 Nov 08 2013 at 1:18 PM Rating: Excellent
I'm currently locked into endgame farming mode... really aiming for a Titan-level gear setup before proceeding past Ifrit HM.
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#24 Nov 08 2013 at 2:05 PM Rating: Good
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I feel like the 360/Wii/PS3 generation has been pretty dry on the RPG front, with most seemingly going to the (3)DS for cheaper production costs. Personal standouts for me would be Xenoblade, Tales of Vesperia, and Radiant Historia. I still can't help but think the last had a portion of it's late game chopped off due to potential rushing/budget issues, though. Still a decent game if you can get around some anomalies in timeline interactions.
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#25 Nov 08 2013 at 4:00 PM Rating: Good
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ARR will be fine, 200k or a million subs? That's an answer that only really good/deep or shallow content will answer in future expansions.

I don't see the visuals being much noticeably better this console generation. But I do so them having much better play-ability. I think the IP's that will flourish are the ones that don't try and push the envelope graphically. And just focus on making bigger, deeper worlds on which the games are set.

MIddle tier pcs and next gen consoles are similar in power so it should be cheaper to the developers who embrace it and don't cut corners too often.
#26 Nov 10 2013 at 3:27 PM Rating: Default
I just want to throw it out there since it's been a while:

White Knight THIS BIATCHES. Epic win for SE. Glad to see it, and I'm grateful for everyone that's stuck around and enjoyed the first few weeks of pain to get to this point.
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