For any MMO'ers in the crowd...

[MikeV]

So, I don't know who here plays MMORPGs, but I thought I'd share this trailer that SE just released recently for their major update to Final Fantasy XIV to 2.0. For those who don't know the history of the game, it had high expectations on it, and on its initial release ("1.0"), it bombed, horribly, in just about every conceivable way. So many bad decisions were made in the design of that game it's almost impressive.

 

It was bad enough that the lead Producer and Director stepped down and someone else took his place, they re-worked a lot of the team, and set about completely revising the game, almost entirely, from the ground up. The graphics engine, network and server tech, entire regions of the game, etc... everything was scrapped and rebuilt from the ground up. SE apologized, a few times, and halted subscription fees for about a year while they figured out what they'd be doing with XIV going forward.

 

2.0 is now set to launch sometime later this year, and they've now started their official marketing push for it, starting with a new website and this new video trailer...

 

 

Not too bad! Certainly more exciting than their past ones were for the earlier version of the game.

[Wildsided]

I've loved just about every cut scene or animation by the guys at S:E since the opening of FFVII. This as always is a gorgeous feast for the eyes, shame I don't have the time or money to invest in MMO's, I own a copy of FFXI on PC but never installed it because I couldn't afford the subscription. Ah well one day maybe. But anyway I say again first rate animation by the S:E guys.

[MikeV]

I've loved just about every cut scene or animation by the guys at S:E since the opening of FFVII. This as always is a gorgeous feast for the eyes, shame I don't have the time or money to invest in MMO's, I own a copy of FFXI on PC but never installed it because I couldn't afford the subscription. Ah well one day maybe. But anyway I say again first rate animation by the S:E guys.

 

Yep. If there's one thing SE does well, it's cinematics and storytelling (well I guess that's two things). And some of their environment design is fantastic. Okay, a lot of their environment design is lol. That trailer is a mash-up of different scenes from what is presumed will be the new full-length opening movie.

 

As for XI, it is still a good game, but not nearly as good as it used to be (in my opinion). They made some changes to the game starting a few years back now that really killed the feel it once had. XI used to be truly a game geared toward the adventure and the journey. It was about inhabiting this huge world with all this history and lore. The changes they made have reduced it to little more than a race to the "finish line". It's sad. It was my absolute favorite game for over 7 years, though.

 

In fact, the mood and feel of XI used to be summed up beautifully in its opening movie... click here to check it out. The story-telling in that 7 minute movie alone really "sells" the "somber but hopeful" feel XI had. Watching it even now really brings back some amazing memories from back when I first started playing it.

 

Over the past couple years, I've definitely lost that "hook" that MMOs used to have in me. And now with my newfound desire to do animation, and the absolute blast I'm having learning A:M, it's definitely helping keep me much more "grounded" in terms of the time I put into them.