2005-10-16 21:50:25 Final Fantasy XI not outside Japan?

I just noticed that I have seen no mention of Final Fantasy XI on any official announcements for outside Japan. At the same time the statement by Square was that the game demands a harddrive and won't be playable without. Add to that the fact that no 360 will be offered in Japan without a harddrive.
Got to wonder if that means MS has no intention to ever sell FF XI in western countries due to their prior statements that no game will be sold which doesn't run without a harddrive present due to them selling the core-system.
If so it would mean it will be rather unlikely to ever see any mmorpgs on the 360 in western countries as they so far all were depending on harddrives for caching, patches and adding of content.

2005-10-16 22:21:42

They would be stupid not to bring it out in other countries, especially since the XBOX fanbase is an untapped market. All they would need to do is clearly state on the front of the box that the hard drive is required. And besides I don't expect the core system to be around that long.

2005-10-16 22:28:21

I expect the core version to be around very long. Manufacturing prices for harddrives don't fall, the only thing which happens is that data density increases. That makes a harddrive the biggest problem when it comes to future pricecuts. You can expect the pricegap between core and premium package to widen with every future pricecut.

2005-10-17 20:56:08

this is a ps2 game, the only next gen thing about it is voice chat instead of text, and the only graphically upgrade is draw distance and resolution... plus the ps2 game was not a very good MMORPG

2005-10-18 08:22:49

It's an outdated game. Don't flame me because I used to play it too. It seems like multi platform MMORPGs take too long to come out on some systems. I was playing FFXI when the PS2 launch happened, and it was horrible. Thousands of new players with no keyboards. I read in OXM that City of Heros might be coming out for the 360. I hope they don't wait until most of the players leave for WOW.

2005-10-18 08:25:51

The issue isn't really that FF XI is an outdated game for which a release for the 360 is nothing short of ridiculous just as the absence of any announcements for other mmorpgs so far.
I really do wonder if MS has an interest in releasing any mmorpgs outside the asian market.

2005-10-18 08:34:45

Maybe they will be putting it on the HD like sony did. Everyone knows about this game, knows how old it is, and knows whether they are going to pay for a copy of it. They know they can't get the disc to sell, so maybe a free trial will get more monthly subscriptions. I don't know how well it worked when Sony did it, but I can't see any other way for them to make money off this game. Did they put it on the PS2 HDs in Japan too?

2005-10-18 09:26:38

It's a normally sold game. My point is that in Japan every 360 ships with a harddrive, they have no core system. MMORPGs depend on harddrive. No such game has been announced so far for regions which have core systems.

2005-10-18 09:38:57 In reply to thies (2005-10-18 09:26:38)

2005-10-18 12:51:49

Isn't that just another online shooter like Halo?

2005-10-19 02:41:52

No, actually.
It's a huge MMORPG; should be really cool.

[edit]
I think there are some shooter elements to it though.

2005-10-19 06:11:06

strange, so far saw it described as a mmofps with some rpg elements.

2005-10-19 07:06:25

lol.