Interesting Little TidbitFollow

I can't believe the number of spam messages I get every time I log in. I'd forgotten what it was like from FFXI. WoW never seemed to have RMT spammers from 1.0 to BC (didn't play after that), nor did some of the other French MMO's I played so it was weird getting spammed now that I've started XIV.

Edited, Mar 20th 2014 5:49pm by baelnic

Did he ever say that switching to free to play could be in the best interests of SWTOR or Rift? From what I'm reading, he said that the developers were "forced" to make those games free to play, not by choice, as evidenced by the fact they they wanted to use a pay to play model instead of going free to play at the beginning. Considering that FFXIV: ARR is also a pay to play game, if I applied the logic that Yoshida applied to both SWTOR and Rift, the only reason that ARR should go free to play is if it's also "forced" to.

That doesn't change anything in regard to Yoshida's original comments.



This logic outright states that a pay to play game would not go free to play by choice. Yoshida now says that he would consider making ARR, a game that started pay to play, into a free to play game, suggesting that it is by choice. This is contradictory.

Edited, Mar 20th 2014 7:59pm by Susanoh

No, it doesn't.

He's saying if those developers really had wanted to make F2P games, they would have made F2P games from the get-go. That's all he's saying... we shouldn't put words into his mouth.

Statement 1: "I'm completely against free-to-play games."

Statement 2: "Those developers preferred P2P models over F2P models for their games, because they initially launched their games as P2P"

Now, you can disagree with that logic if you'd like... but Statement 1 is in no way connected with Statement 2.

Yoshi-P has always said he prefers P2P for ARR, and he's never hesitated to explain why. However, he's never said he's against F2P games. This interview quoted in this thread isn't even the first time he's said he'd be willing to consider F2P for ARR's future.

In other words, absolutely nothing has changed.

Edited, Mar 20th 2014 5:59pm by Thayos

All I'm saying is this. Yoshida used to be very anti-F2P. In one interview he apparently was seen laughing/snorting and saying "We'll never have to think about THAT." Yet now he's saying it's not off the table.

Just curious... did he not realize that for a P2P game to be successful you need people to stay subscribed? Something tells me he didn't think this whole thing through.

Edited, Mar 20th 2014 9:23pm by LucasNox

No, I said that your comments were just sugarcoating his comments by saying the exact same thing using different words. I never said anything about Yoshi sugarcoating anything. I've quoted the translations directly multiple times, they speak for themselves.

I believe I am guilty of a misunderstanding... I thought you were saying Yoshi-P was sugarcoating, not me. My apologies!

That said, I strongly disagree that I'm sugarcoating anything.

Read his translations that you posted, but just read them for what they are. Nowhere does he say he's anti-F2P. He's talking about why he prefers P2P for ARR, and he's explaining his reasoning.

Also, I can't emphasize this enough... THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME YOSHI HAS EXPRESSED AN OPENNESS OF ARR BEING F2P IN THE FUTURE.

The fact he's brought this up before (months ago) absolutely destroys any notion that he's anti-F2P.

EDIT: A quick google search turned up this article from a little more than a month ago. Do your own research, and you'll find several other interviews in which he says the same thing. http://www.gamerevolution.com/features/final-fantasy-xiv-arr-interview-with-producer-naoki-yoshida-we-could-consider-freetoplay-but-never-paytowin

Edited, Mar 20th 2014 6:50pm by Thayos

I provided a link.

Here's the link to the big interview from last June: http://venturebeat.com/2013/06/17/final-fantasy-online-director-defends-monthly-subscriptions-in-the-golden-age-of-free-to-play-exclusive/

In this interview, he covers pretty much the same ground he covers in this newest interview. This includes talking about games that launched as P2P, but then had to switch to F2P in order to stay alive.

Before going too far though, he says this:



He later talks about SWTOR, and how even though it's F2P, people don't really play it... I know Lucas would have big issues with this, but I don't think he's speaking literally about the number of player accounts... I believe he's talking about regular, daily logins, like the kind of stable playerbase games like FFXI enjoyed for so many years. It's that kind of playerbase (in my opinion) that makes MMO worlds come alive. That seems to be what Yoshi-P sees as the biggest positive in making ARR a P2P game... going for more of a stable playerbase rather than a larger, less-predictable playerbase.

However, nearly a year ago, he made it clear he's not against F2P.

Edited, Mar 20th 2014 7:19pm by Thayos

I didn't ask any questions.

FF games used to set themselves apart from other games in the same genre, almost to the point you'd think FF was in it's own. Their roots to me are mixing interesting gameplay mechanics with great storytelling, music and art direction to create an experience for players. I understand that it's hard to capture that in MMOs, but they still found a way to bring that to players with XI.

XIV doesn't even seem to be trying to make it's way back to it's roots. Seems like they're going further away from them to me which is why I made the comment.


The majority of the buying power in this country isn't old enough to wield a credit card. Just sayin...


Wanting to be segregated from people based solely on their method of payment. Congratulations on being the proud recipient of the 'most ignorant **** I've read all day' award.

I'm beginning to think that you might be ageist, Thayos. Do you just refuse to go shopping at the mall because some of us ignorant brats are going to be in your breathing space?

Oh, I'm so sorry that I'll be potentially occupying the same data space as you.

Seriously ignorant and offensive.

Edited, Mar 20th 2014 10:50pm by LucasNox