FFXI and HDD details announced (1 Viewer)

[Morgan Jolley]

http://www.gamers.com/news/1465896

Cool. $100 for the HDD with FFXI pre-installed. Sounds like a good deal, IMO.

 

[Brian Kleinke]

Interesting, pre-installed is a good thing. I have the beta and it tooke a bout an hour just to install it, not to mention then it had to patch it

I wonder how this will work for us beta testers, since we're told we get a free retail HDD when we return our beta drives.

 

[DonRoeber]

Sounds interesting. I'm wondering if it's any good though. A friend of mine who is a beta tester was -very- unimpressed, to the point of saying it sucks. And he's a die hard FF fan. However, I'll probably withhold judgement until reviews of the final release are out.

 

[Chris Duran]

Way to expensive, not that many games are going to support the hdd anyway, the only other game I know of is Resident Evil Online. Plus you have deal with the monthly fees just to play which will more then likely be $10+. This game would be perfect for the XBOX, already has the HDD.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

The monthly fee is $12.95 according to GameSpot.

$100 for a game AND the HDD is a sweet package. Add in a free month of FFXI, then $12.95 beyond that, and it doesn't look too bad if you enjoy the game. The thing is, FFXI is not like any of the other FFs, so the die-hard audience in America might not catch on.

OTOH, I know people who want the game even though it's not like the others in the series.

I still want to hear more about FFXII.

 

[JamesH]

$12.95 is CRAZY expensive for one month of one game when you've already paid money for the game itself.

 

[Jean-Michel]

$12.95 is pretty much the standard monthly fee for MMORPGs nowadays.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Meh, I'm skipping out on this one. I don't love FF that much.

 

[JamieD]

I have Final Fantasy 1-3 and 7-10 (North American numbering), Tactics, Anthology, Chronicles, Origins, Mystic Quest, Legend, Saga, you name it, if it's Final Fantasy and available here, I have it, including several sets of figures, soundtracks for all the PSX/PS2 games, and a few art books.

I'm not buying this game. I cannot justify that kind of expense, nor that kind of portion of my life. MMORPGs are not really my bag to begin with, but to end up spending (probably) 140 or so Canadian, plus (to be fair, I'll say) $15 more to play? And get a HDD that no other developer seems all that interested in, from a company whose current console's design was problematic at best? No thanks, I like being able to make my car payment, which won't be much higher than the initial payment to get this game.

 

[Shane Martin]

$12.95 is CRAZY expensive for one month of one game when you've already paid money for the game itself.

Tell that to 200,000+ people who pay for Star Wars, Everquest(the most successful of the bunch) and other MMORPG's monthly. I'd say the proof is in the pudding.

The problem is that console gamers are not used to this and for a chunk of them, a monthly fee won't pass the parents factor.

Being FF I expect it to be a nice hit but I wouldn't expect it to be a long term success on a console.

$100 for the game and the HDD isn't a bad price but if no other developer is going to see a benefit then I can only see the HDD as a marketing tool to sell a higher priced version of FF to the masses.

 

[John-Miles]

ah but the real kicker is 12.95 a month, plus 1 dollar extra for every character you have above the default of one???? damn that bits, i wouldn't buy into that unless they paid me.

 

[Shane Martin]

Sounds like they are simplifying the issue that Star Wars has currently. Everquest allows you to play up to 10 characters(not at once) per server to let you try them out. I would assume Square soft is going to allow you to delete your character to try another out otherwise I really don't see this taking off especially for console gamers.

 

[Kenneth Cummings]

I love Final Fantasy, fan of the series since the NES, but I can't get this. It not that I don't online gaming, as you can see in my signature that I am on XBox Live. But not with monthy fees for a different verison of Final Fantasy that will not be as fun of the older games. I stick with FFTA or FF:CC instead.

 

[Brian Kleinke]

SWG gives you 1 character per server, and charges $15 a month... collectors edition was $70 and it's WAY more buggy then FFXI....

The money issues are more or less moot, if you like the game you will pay ... period

FFXI is interesting, it's VERY VERY group oriented. My problem with the beat is there just wasn't enough people in it yet, so I had issues finding groups (my main class is white mage... not so good at soloing)

It's got the harshest death of any MMORPG out there, which again will appeal to the die hard gammers. The world is huge, is very much like the other FFs where if you go some area too soon you get your ass handed to you on a plate

Overall FFXI is very bug free, and offers a game different then that of SWG, EQ, DAOC, and UO. It's one of the few games that allows and rewards you for making an UBER character. High levels take a LONG time to gain, but some of the stuff I'd seen (I created a character the first day the US beta went live, before most people even had their HDDs) from even the mid lvl 20 characters was impressive! I stopped playing when I was 17 or so, because finding groups that were not full of whiney kids was a PITA. 90%+ of people I met during the beta were teenagers who cared more about talking smack about other players then forming a good cohesive group.

All this talk about FFXI makes me want to fire up my copy and see how the game has changed over the last 6 weeks (though I'm sure i've got a mega patch to DL first)

Anyway, that's my rant. FFXI is making money in Japan... there are a LOT of people who import it and play on those servers. It's offering the chance for people who want to play a new MMORPG and don't own a fast computer to play (this was the excuse of most of the PS2 owners I played with, I just registered for the PS2 beta and my wife registered for the PC beta, I got in. she didn't)

Basically FFXI is an interesting game, it won't interest everyone (if you want to craft this is NOT the game for you.. the crafting system is hair pulingly crazy!) but for some people it's just what they've been waiting for.

O, and don't forget... there is a PC version too... it still requires a hard drive... but funny thing.. I think most people with a PC have one

Brian

 

[Morgan Jolley]

$12.95 is CRAZY expensive for one month of one game when you've already paid money for the game itself

Actually, it's not. You're getting the game for free with the purchase of the HDD, essentially. So for the price of the game + the HDD, that's $150, which would give you about 5 months of service in the game (1 free month + 4 months of service). If you plan on playing this game EVERYDAY like it's supposed to be played, then $12.95 a month is pretty nominal.

Honestly, my paycheck from working only 2 or 3 days a week while a senior in high school would allow me to get this game and support the monthly fee with a LOT of spare cash. The game is meant to supply a LOT of gametime, so spending $12.95 a month for nearly endless playtime is not that much to spend. Think how much people spend on MUCH useless crap like cigarettes or bubble gum each month.

And other games WILL support the HDD.

 

[Peter Manojlovich]

I have Final Fantasy 1-3 and 7-10 (North American numbering), Tactics, Anthology, Chronicles, Origins, Mystic Quest, Legend, Saga, you name it, if it's Final Fantasy and available here, I have it, including several sets of figures, soundtracks for all the PSX/PS2 games, and a few art books.

I'm not buying this game. I cannot justify that kind of expense, nor that kind of portion of my life. MMORPGs are not really my bag to begin with, but to end up spending (probably) 140 or so Canadian, plus (to be fair, I'll say) $15 more to play? And get a HDD that no other developer seems all that interested in, from a company whose current console's design was problematic at best? No thanks, I like being able to make my car payment, which won't be much higher than the initial payment to get this game.
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I found your response interesting. Obviously, you're a final fantasy fan, and if sony is going to have trouble selling this package to a FF fan, then how are they going to sell it to non-fans. I'm canadian as well, and I estimate the monthly fee probably at $18/mo.

March 2004 for a peripheral that will be coming at the 31/2 year mark for the ps2. This really has me shaking my head. What developer is going to bother supporting the hard drive. A 40gig hd with FFXI and some tunes is a bit of a cruel joke in my opinion.

 

[Jean-Michel]

Sony mentioned at Gamers Day today that GT4 will support the HD for "downloadable content" (not specified). So that's three games confirmed to support it so far, not including FFXI (the other two are SOCOM II and Syphon Filter). Not that bad really.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

And if you want, you could get the PC version, which is probably half the price of the console version and with the same monthly fee.

 

[JamesH]

Actually, it's not. You're getting the game for free with the purchase of the HDD, essentially. So for the price of the game + the HDD, that's $150, which would give you about 5 months of service in the game (1 free month + 4 months of service). If you plan on playing this game EVERYDAY like it's supposed to be played, then $12.95 a month is pretty nominal.

That's an interesting way to look at it. The way I see it is that you're not really getting a harddrive that will get a lot of use, you're getting a peripheral that is necessary for one game and will probably get extremely limited support in a select few other games. In fact, I doubt you'll even be able to use the HD in lieu of memory cards, lest Sony lose a revenue stream. A peripheral that expensive just doesn't make sense when the PS2 is entering the latter part of its life unless it provides a mind blowing experience(ie:Steel Battalion controller or Logitech Gran Turismo wheel). Plus, even if you view the HD as an investment and not just a cost of FFXI, the $100 "value" you assign it is off base. A smart shopper can probably land a 40GB HD for $50ish by scanning the papers for a few weeks.

I'm almost forgetting the other thing. You still have to buy a network adapter as well, which I haven't due to the lack of worthwhile online games. It just seems like the addons are getting out of hand here and I'll probably spend my cash on games instead.

 

[JamieD]

And if you want, you could get the PC version, which is probably half the price of the console version and with the same monthly fee.

I'll need to wait on System Requirements/Reviews once it's out, but likely upgrading to be decently powered enough to run it will be far more expensive.

That's why I like buying consoles, I don't have to go through the "Upgrade-new games-Upgrade" cycle quite as often. Basically, there's no way this game can appeal to me right now, if they're going to be charging a nearly $20 fee per month to play it.

I have a full life outside videogames, I'm not going to give more of it up so I don't feel ripped off. Ah well. When's FFXII coming out?