Square-Enix News: Producer Interviews
Posted by: Cuer - Tue Aug 02nd, 2005 02:08 am EDT
Update August 3: Another interview has shown up, at GameInformer. It has some more specifics of the X360 version of FFXI, and how it will work together with the other versions.

At the recent Square-Enix 2005 Party, FFXI Producer Hiromichi Tanaka gave out a number of interviews. Two English language ones are out. First up, a lengthy interview with 1up where a wide range of issues are covered, including the recent NPC Fellows, game balance, and the port of FFXI to the Xbox 360:

1UP: It's been reported that the draw distance on the Xbox 360 will be twice as long as the PC version. Will this give Xbox 360 players an added advantage because they can see enemies from a longer distance, helping 360 owners to camp rare monsters more efficiently?

HT: Actually, the draw distance will mostly affect the overall scenery of the game. The distance between the players and enemies will be the same as the Windows and PS2 version.

1UP: Was putting FFXI on Xbox 360 a way to sustain the game because Sony yanked hard-drive support for the PS2 (Thanks, Sony!)? Nowadays if you want to pick up FFXI and start playing, the PC version is the only option at the moment.

HT: It's not so much the survival of FFXI as is it giving players an option to play the game on next-generation hardware. Of course the added bonus for those players is to play the game in high-definition on widescreen HD televisions.

1UP: Will the 360 version support voice-chat? We sure hope not.

HT: No, it won't. The reason being is that we track player abuse through the chat logs, and if we removed the necessity of the chat log, it would be impossible to take action against abusive players.


Mr. Tanaka was questioned in the 1up interview about the still-unannounced third expansion pack, but would not give further information at this time.

In another short interview at Gamespot, the topics raised included the advance of MMOG on multiple platforms:

GS: What does the future hold for what you do? Can we look forward to another MMO with the Final Fantasy franchise? What platforms do you see yourself focusing on?

HT: For MMOs, the platform isn't that important anymore. The only real requirement is its ability to display the images from the game. As technology advances it should be possible to play one game across different platforms.

GS: Does that complicate things for you as you move forward, as typically developers have had to appeal to one specific audience such as console or PC players?

HT: Since MMOs require a keyboard, that's really the only requirement now. If the platform supports a keyboard it doesn't matter whether it's a console or PC. From this point on it should be possible to make games for either.

Copied and pasted from cannotlinkto

This is my opinion. I work full time and go to school also, but the last 3 updates/maintences have all fallen on my days off so another 18 hr maintence w/o being told anything more than "Updating Server" is a load of BS. As far as the POL Errors go, any network administrator can tell you that you have to plan for the largest ammount of host as possible when coming out with a title as big as this one, as such, SE need to fire their entire IT department and higher better ppl. I don't NEED this game but I live in Indiana......WTF am I gonna do here? Indiana is all corn fields and basketball, bother of which I hate and I can't be out in the sun much cuz of my Lupis so those who are freaking out cuz ppl are mad, TOUGH!

Just an opinion from somebody that has a life outside of FFXI, but loves to play a couple hors a day.

1. I think the programers are great, awsome content, the game itself is really something.
2. I do however have issue with the money, or lack of it that it seems they have spent to kept the gaming experience, basicly being able to connect, stay connected, and download updates in a "reasonable" ammount of time.
3. There are still some areas in FFXI that have some issues. One that i have noticed myself is the tunnel between the Cape and Valley of Sorrows. if you get more than 2 parties in there at once, somebody is gonna D/C, and i dont understand why. Also, they take security measures by changing the access ports to connect to the servers, which is nice, keeps hackers out, but ever since the update, every time they have done this, I get kicked off, and then cannot reconnect. Reset modem, a 20 minute ordeal, and I'M back on, 20 minutes of downtime for a party is like a death toll, we all know that.

So, my hope is that this 18 hr maintenace addresses these issues, as well as other hardware stability. And the thing about the DDoS attacks, I talked to my companies IT guys, and they couldnt beleive it. From what they said, DDoS attacks are pretty easy to protect against, and competent I.T. folks, especially those supporting online games, where these things are common, should have safegaurds in place against those things from the begining.

of course, like anything, just opinion. overall, 18 hrs of down time while annoying, isnt like its a waste. Monday Night Football anyone?

The thing is though, that it doesnt matter how long you play... You still have to pay the same amount...

If my phone company sent me a text saying from this day and time to this day and time we will need to interrupt service to make your life easier, I wouldnt be asking for a refund of my money.

The electricity thing is totally off because you dont pay a flat rate. You pay for what you use.


Another thing, most of these people are playing around this time, thats why they complain. I havent seen anyone complain about not being able to play at that time and want a refund.





though see the 24hr time is subjectable. After the last update, I didnt have to wait 24hrs.

Anyways, either equation is still not worth the complaining when you add up all the time the servers were up and running fine and compare that to the maintanances and downtime.

these updates are always on my day off, too! well, at least i get to stay at lvl 32 mnk..yay!!

I would catch some rays, but its 6pm here lol and a bit cold for it lol

Yeah, im on 56k. And recently had another hard drive failure. I was greeted with a 14 hour update. And seeing as dialup is on a 2hr cutoff, it spent the first 30 mins checking files, meaning i got 90 mins download time every 2 hours.
Ive learned my lesson
I backup onto DVD after every update..