Hiromichi Tanaka joins GungHo Online EntertainmentFollow

And thats why Tanaka got the boot. He can take credit for what XI used to be (not now he cant because all the major changes appeared when XIV was being released on 1.0).

He can also take credit for XIV 1.0 but not 2.0.

Its the same in any business, sports team, department - if a bad job is being done the question is raised with the boss.

What I really don't understand is why did he pass the buck to the crew? If he had came out and said he was under pressure from higher up to move it out the door and his hands were tied then that would fall in line with what many people thought happen. He could have even throw in how he objected to this and got overruled. So many ways to save a little face with out throwing the people UNDER him under the bus.

FFXI is far behind games like WoW with how much the RNG comes into play. FFXI uses it to such a extent that people just stop doing the content not because something better came along but simply the reward to effort is just to high. While Abyssea is very much like WoW with rewards but the Devs decided that was a mistake and we got VW and neo-nni.

That is a bit different though. Tanaka was trying to save face. Blaming the higher ups would have saved him more and the people who bought 14 would have accepted that more then blaming the crew. Was the guy who made the first Diablo have anything to do with the third game.

I can't stop laughing.

I wish Tanaka the best in anything he now takes on in life.

That said, im quite happy a new guy is in charge, coming back after a few years away i could not have been more happy to see some of the "titans grip" attitude on "fun" being lessened with Abyssea, changes to dynamis accessability etc. ++1 imo.

ffxi could do so much better profit wise if they could simply learn to r e l a x...ease up and enter this century with their line of thinking.. its an old game yup, but the core isnt too bad still, its huge and still has potential to lure a new fanbase IF they could finally realize fun=reward , fun=realistic time frames and "fun" should exist with similar rewards, for every playstyle.

honestly if the new team can see through that, ffxi would draw in a larger playerbase even to this day.Oo

perhaps not millions....but definatley it would appeal to many more people. im very suprised that over the years they chose "non rewarding ultra drool-inducing timesinks" as their base design....errr....and by doing so they directly chose to make less money. somewhat....bizarre imo

i adore ff11 for many reasons!!!! , but rng, and old school thinking is certainly not the reason nor ever was.

11 will always be better then 14 no matter what they do to 14., just modernize it...upgrade the look to 2012 lv graphics, the feel of the game, the mindset of the profitable games nowadays, do away with the tedious time sinks and utter ridiculous/extreme gil sinks that prove nothing other then some have way to much time on their hands Oo.

allow 11 to be what it always could have been, let loose, lighten up and start to see what makes games popular today and......change!....its OK :oD

at any rate good luck to Tanaka and i have my fingers crossed (and toes) for our new leaders ^^

SE has zero experience with MMOs and very little experience with PC gaming. They chose Tanaka due to his stellar involvement with previous Final Fantasy installments. Back in 2000~2002 when SE was making this game MMO's were not nearly as advanced as they are now, EQ was the "big boy" in the market and the primary focus was attaining the next level not obtain super loot. FFXI was designed as a social RPG that forced it's players to work as a team to achieve their objective which typically was leveling up. Heck AF was considered "end game" content.

From what I remember of the news back from 2002 which I came across again when I did my NM research a few years ago, which included reading a bunch of translated pages and discussions that were in Japanese, a lot of the tumult was settled by July 2002 (all active discussion of the game, not widespread griping about technical issues) and it seems by mid-late June most of it was settled. There was intense server congestion early on (took someone 12 hours just to enter all their info and log in for the 1st time. Tried it at the noon launch, they got in after 12AM), disconnects, and all the usual stuff. Many companies didn't prepare for the spike of demand right at launch, or they know about it and do nothing and just accept it as part of the process, fixing whatever issues come up. Practically all the issues were technical issues which were often the result of the company being brand new to MMOs. EverQuest's launch had technical problems too. The period of chaos was not as prolonged as indicated. Of course, the pace was slower then and a few weeks of issues (issues gradually declining over that time) might seem outrageous now, but people were more patient then (and had fewer MMOs to choose from).

FFXI & FFXIV were like a yin yang in their launches. FFXI had a lot of technical issues at launch (par for the old school MMO course) but once people got in, they loved the world and updates regularly added a bunch of content, did balancing, and more (2002 had updates in June, July, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, and Dec- they were monthly). FFXIV's launch went smoothly on the technical front but once people got in, they loathed the world and the world was slow to update, get new content (just compare the NM timeline. FFXI got a huge load in June, a few weeks in, FFXIV took months just to get a small batch and half a year to get a larger batch).


I think in that whole wall o' grievances against Tanaka the big picture was missed- FFXI stabilized, became profitable very quickly, and attracted and retained many players. FFXI is properly credited to Tanaka as a success, of course, he bears responsibilities for all the complaints people have about it. He seems very old school in how he approached game development. Quite simply, he wasn't cut out for feedback and a back & forth. Might be an issue where a lot of people who were 30+ when the 1st logged onto the internet in Japan just can't take professional critique and criticism from a mass of customers (which online can resemble an angry mob). Younger developers grew up online so they are used to the back & forth process of interacting with people, some happy, some angry in all the online discussions they were a part of as teens and into adulthood. And of course, FFXIV 1.0 is properly credit to Tanaka as a failure. Big success (FFXI), big failure (FFXIV), mixed result.

I'm well aware of that.

I've got that printed out and posted on my cubicle wall. It seems to help.

You think your place is bad?

Try creating a database-driven website from scratch that integrates real time geo-location technology coded by hand that allows for easy identification of customer-engineer compatibility issues on the fly. A website that utilises SMS integration techniques to ensure that the latest information can be relayed to any interested party wherever they are. A site that marries technologies such as PHP, Python, Ruby and Java with HTML5 and a host of JavaScript frameworks to create an interactive experience that maximises resources and enhances the customer experience, ensuring that no matter what browser or OS they are using or what platform, either PC or phone or tablet or whatever, the site operates at peak efficiency with no design flaws.

Try creating that and working round the clock to finish by the ludicrously unrealistic deadline only to show the whole thing to the ever-demanding client who moves the mouse around the homepage and watches a link change colour when he rolls over it, causing him to exclaim, 'I really like that bit'.

Try this, my friend, then you will know true job satisfaction.