You have to pay to play FF11

It does cost more money.  Here are differences:

In PSO practically EVERYTHING is on the client side, this includes characters, graphics, sound, etc.  In fact, the only thing that the servers host is probably the downloadable quests.  Otherwise the thing simply acts like a hub that sends signals giving locations of characters so that your DC can draw the game correctly.
Unlike, PC games like that though you can\'t add patches or other upgrades to PSO so that\'s why you have to buy the upgrade PSO version 2 to get stuff most other games would get in free updates.


Games like FFXI, Asheron\'s Call, etc.  keep the world and graphics on client side -- since downloading all the graphics everytime you connect would be cumbersome.  Of course, if they add a new area there will have to be an update to get the new graphics onto the client.  

Unlike PSO, these RPGs keep the character information on the server side for security reasons.  This makes altering your character outside the game difficult to do since your character information isn\'t stored on your client computer like in PSO.  You can\'t cheat and alter your inventory as readily because you don\'t have access to it.  This also requires more hacking security but its better than keeping the characters floating about for anyone to mess with.

Basically, static information is kept on the client, just like in PSO.  The major difference is that in persistent worlds there is continuous variation that the servers have to maintain and get to the players, a requirement PSO doesn\'t have since it\'s just the same four levels over and over and over again.  This also involves keeping programming teams on the game 24/7 implementing gameplay tweaks and fixing any unbalances in the game.

It doesn\'t cost more money. I\'m not whining, I\'m telling the truth. You stfu.

My poll so far has proved me right in how popular this idea is.

It does cost more money, But I won\'t bother to show why. Teiresias has already shown good examples. Don\'t assume something that you don\'t know anything about. And who gives a damn about your poll. It represents this forum and not the entire world.

- dm
- the trick is to keep breathing.

Originally posted by datamage


It does cost more money, But I won\'t bother to show why. Teiresias has already shown good examples. Don\'t assume something that you don\'t know anything about. And who gives a damn about your poll. It represents this forum and not the entire world.

- dm
- the trick is to keep breathing.

Uhhh, gamers on this board represent people who are into gaming more than the general public. If the idea isn\'t popular here, it won\'t be popular anywhere.

200 servers hosting a \'persistant online world\' for 300,000 gamers costs exactly the same as 200 servers hosting temporary online worlds for 300,000 gamers. You know nothing about it, as common sense is above your head.

Uhhh, gamers on this board represent people who are into gaming more than the general public. If the idea isn\'t popular here, it won\'t be popular anywhere.

200 servers hosting a \'persistant online world\' for 300,000 gamers costs exactly the same as 200 servers hosting temporary online worlds for 300,000 gamers. You know nothing about it, as common sense is above your head.

Yup. What an easy way to determine that FFXI will be a failure. Wow, you are truly brilliant. I\'ll stop replying to your useless and meaningless logic. If you want to keep assuming junk, knock yourself out.

\'Oh EverQuest sucks even though I\'ve never played it - is the same as the X-box sucks even though I\'ve never used it.\' Talk about double-standards.

- dm
- the trick is to keep breathing.

Originally posted by datamage


Yup. What an easy way to determine that FFXI will be a failure. Wow, you are truly brilliant. I\'ll stop replying to your useless and meaningless logic. If you want to keep assuming junk, knock yourself out.

\'Oh EverQuest sucks even though I\'ve never played it - is the same as the X-box sucks even though I\'ve never used it.\' Talk about double-standards.

- dm
- the trick is to keep breathing.

:rolleyes: I\'m glad I can\'t see you. I\'d feel ill watching the bullsh1t spewing out of your mouth.

refrane from swear words even if the are "cleverly" hidden.

There really is no reason to have a bummer here. You can play the game off-line! Even if the game had free online play the game itself would be more expensive.

Originally posted by ViVi
There really is no reason to have a bummer here. You can play the game off-line! Even if the game had free online play the game itself would be more expensive.

Is this true???? Before people were saying it was online ONLY. If there\'s a offline game, this changes a lot of my opinion on the situation. (although I still think PO is a bad idea)

People who update a game from time to time charge money for their services and it also costs money to update a server with new information and it also costs money to keep those servers running.  If keeping servers constantly updated with brand new content and add-ons were a free thing, then why would Squaresoft say this:

Square requires 300,000 paying users in order to break even on the PlayOnline service.

Break even rates are generally only used for console manufacturers who produce HARDWARE at expensive rates, only to offer them at a cheap price with the hopes of breaking even on the costs down the road through some other means.  I guess these things must cost an awful lot to need to announce this information to anyone.

On the note of Sega with PSO and PSO version 2, I\'d like to point out that PSO has been out for about four months now, free of charge, to DC users.  PSO version 2 will be out in about a month and a half, giving the first PSO a total of 5.5 months of release time before an upgrade is released which addresses many issues.  In case you people haven\'t been keeping count, that\'s about 100 bucks on basically one game in 5.5 months.  Now, let\'s just drop a quick comparison on that one shall we...

Squaresoft releases FFXI in the US at the tail end of 2002, going into 2003.  The game retails for 39.99 (yes, it will be this price because of the price drop in all territories SS promised, especially since most JP games retail for about 74 US dollars, 8800 yen).  Now, lets look at the monthly cost of roughly 5-15 dollars, which is obviously a rough estimate.  By the time the costs even themselves out between PSO with PSO v 2 and FFXI, I could have had 3 different upgrades to FFXI along with constant protection against any cheats if any are shown.  It may cost a bit more in the long run, but over the year, the cost is negligable.

As with all games, choosing to play online or off is a players choice.  I myself opted to not play PSO since I heard about the n00b cheaters.  Anyone can play FFXI as they sefit, but understand, the online fee for the servers is very necessary in maintaining the network and keeping it constantly upgraded.  These things do no pay for themselves, regardless of what people may think.

Ryu, they did not need an update to PSO to fix the cheating problem. It was readily crushed by Sonic Team. ANd if you got duped weapons, they would tell you to drop them. If you were caught using game enhancers, you would be banned and so on. The upgrade just adds new levels, graphics, characters, mags, weapons, etc. If DC had a hard-drive and standard ethernet, I am betting you that instead of PSO V.2 it would be dowloadable, such is the bad things about being first out the door with online play.


Eric Jacob

If DC had a hard-drive and standard ethernet, I am betting you that instead of PSO V.2 it would be dowloadable, such is the bad things about being first out the door with online play.

Cheating is still going on today though, or so says everyone who continues to play it on the ign staff (now that\'s staff, not message boards).  Like I said, I don\'t play it online because of cheaters and knowing if they still exist or not is very important to me so I am constantly asking those who still play it in their offices.

Moving back to topic, I\'m sure if all that existed, the world would be a better place, but since it doesn\'t and Sonic Team needs to charge you for every version, then it still costs us money to have it regardless.  Either way, it\'s going to cost people money to continue to play wether they like it or not.  It\'s just a sad fact, but that\'s life in a capatilistic world.

No Ethugg I think you opinions should stay the same. Final Fantasy XI is completly Online. You can not play it offline.

Originally posted by Caspian
No Ethugg I think you opinions should stay the same. Final Fantasy XI is completly Online. You can not play it offline.

Then I stand by what I said.

I guess FFX is the last Final Fantasy I purcase then..........I will not pay to play a game I have to shell out 50 bucks for....big loss for Square doing this!  Unless I can use my broadband..and not have to pay.....then it will all be good!




end of line-----MCP

Final Fantasy XI is being released between FFX and FFXII. They have a different group of programers working on that game. FFXI is the only game thats going to be online. FFXII and so on will all be off-line like the pre-FFXI games.