Well SE has been working on a new MMO since 2005, and I was just wondering if anyone had any info on it besides the code name Rapture. SE is truely my last hope in finding a new MMO with a good difficulty level to it. All these new cake walk MMO's get boring after a month or two. FFXI had me hooked for 3 1/2 years. I regret giving my character away , but thats done and over. I wish SE would throw us a bone on "rapture" so I know they are atleast still working on it, and my faith is not misplaced.

Nope, no new info.

Nope there has not been any new info, other then a tiny snippet from a question in an interview months ago. What I'm hoping for is some info now that the S-E event is coming up in like two days, I'm hopeing one of the many MMO sites that are going asks when we can expect some new info on it. Or at least ask them to make some official forums for FFXI/Next project, since FFXi suffers froma lack of input from its playerbase, I mean honestly they only time they hear from us is at the big events...

I was looking into it for awhile and I saw one thread on here that had a lot of links to articles. Don't remember where it is but this is the general of what I got back then.

it's going to be released on 360 and PS3 possibly once again mainly PC. They are using the new engine they have for it. Forgot the name of that too! and I saw a couple articles that said it was a sequel to a previous FF game but not XI. The screenshots looked like it was IX kind of.

It's my last hope too. building a new comp and trying to get money. This new one will be my last hope as well for awhile. Hope they do release more info on it.

Originally posted by Erhun

I was looking into it for awhile and I saw one thread on here that had a lot of links to articles. Don't remember where it is but this is the general of what I got back then.

it's going to be released on 360 and PS3 possibly once again mainly PC. They are using the new engine they have for it. Forgot the name of that too! and I saw a couple articles that said it was a sequel to a previous FF game but not XI. The screenshots looked like it was IX kind of.

It's my last hope too. building a new comp and trying to get money. This new one will be my last hope as well for awhile. Hope they do release more info on it.

Last I heard on it was that, no, it isn't XI based but that most likely it's going to be it's own game and not based of any other previous games.  Yes, it will have a new graphics engine and a kick ass one to boot.  I'm getting a new laptop pretty soon so i'm hoping that it will be good enough in 15 years when the damn game is finally released to play it =)

Though I could go overboard and place several links about this subject, I find this site has all the relevant information with none of the speculation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XI_II

Do not be fooled by the image used for the "game" .  It was merely from a tech demo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgtZvn5c4e4

You may also see these images floating around certain web sites, again do not be fooled. These were created as a april fool's prank.

http://www.allakhazam.com/story.html?story=12898

I hope new info comes out at the FFXI fan festival event this month. Not sure of the dates on it.

Final Fantasy XI Fan Fest 2008 [12/05/2008 - 12/06/2008]

For those interested Tummie from Garuda server on Allakhazam is updating quite frequently:

http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10;mid=1228196574310569845;page=1

Events Planned for 12/06/2008

10:00am
Opening Ceremonies

10:30am - 11:30am
Development Presentation

11:30 - 3:30pm
Moblin Maze Mongers & The Swarm

3:30 - 4:30pm
Development Panel

4:30 - 6:30pm
Moblin Maze Mongers & The Swarm

5:00 - 6:00pm
Costume Contest

6:30 - 8:00pm
Award Ceremonies & Live Concert

I'm trying to keep up to date on information for "FFXI Fan Fest" through various channels but an announcement of this matter seems unlikely.

I'm not surprised we haven't heard more about it... SE is pretty tight-lipped about almost everything they do. And even when they do reveal info, it's seldom exactly "generous"

I do have one "wish" for the new MMO that is way high on my list...

If they're making it multi-platform... I *hope* they put the time into giving PC a proper client that doesn't throw a hissy-fit over seemingly every little thing.

That's one gripe I do have with the game. While I understand how FFXI came to the PC as an "afterthought" and it's their first time really trying to do a game of this type at all, much less cross-platform,.. it's highly annoying.

Even in windowed mode if you do anything to make it lose complete control of the screen it throws a fit and closes the game.

That and how it will R0 (disconnect) so easily. I can have another MMO playing, plus Ventrilo, plus Messenger.. If there's the slighest glitch in the internet, everything else is fine.. FFXI R0's and disconnects. Again.. it's so damn "fragile".

So.. let's hope their next MMO has a more robust and resilient PC client...

Well they could fix the client but the question is will they. I was pretty steamed yesterday when the client closed then tried to get back on and POL was just black screened.

Originally posted by Lexin

Well they could fix the client but the question is will they. I was pretty steamed yesterday when the client closed then tried to get back on and POL was just black screened.

Well, they can do an improved PC client for FFXI or, in terms of this thread, keep these things in mind for the new MMO, for at least a couple reasons (imo)..

- Improved stability under the circumstances I mentioined in my last post
- Allow for progressively improved texture and rendering quality that's not inhibited by the limitations of an aging console (a la PS2).

Basically, as PC graphics tech gets better, they could upgrade the renderer to support the latest DX versions, have higher resolution textures, more flexibility in rendering quality (LoD, draw distance, etc).

I think they *could* do this for FFXI, but for some reason continue to insist that it's limited by the PS2. It's true because they let it be true. It seems to be more a case that they haven't fully embraced the PC as an evolving and improving platform; it's not "stuck" in a final configuration like consoles are.

All that the server and client side send to each other are little packets of data indicating where you are, what you're doing, who/what's around you and other relevant info like that. Textures and such are not sent through the internet connection while you're playing.

Only influence the server side has in terms of what's rendered on screen is which set of models, textures, etc. the player should be seeing... all data stored and accessed locally on the player's PC.

So, they *could* have an improved renderer for the PC versions, they *could* have higher resolution textures... the server doesn't know the difference between DX9 and whether a texture is 1024x1024 or 256x256. That's for the client side renderer to worry about.

But anyway... Yeah.

I'm pretty sure they won't make that same mistake with the next MMO - or at least I'm hoping. It would be ridiculous to have another (potentially) great MMO look aged way before its time because of the vaporous "binds" of a console with fixed technology.

I would be willing to bet that the new mmo will have better client stability. Hell FFXI is older than WoW. MMO's are still in the growing stages, and alot has been learned since FFXI release.

Originally posted by toddze

 

I would be willing to bet that the new mmo will have better client stability. Hell FFXI is older than WoW. MMO's are still in the growing stages, and alot has been learned since FFXI release.

Well, the thing is, most MMOs aren't developed to be multi-platform... I think FFXI may have been the first to do that; at least I'm not aware of any others.

Thing is, it was originally created for PS2 with Windows coming later, so it could almost be considered that the Windows port was sort of a "hack job" more than anything. Also could explain why it's taken so long for them to implement things that are usually standard in Windows... like a windowed mode.

And, I'm sure it's quite a bit of work to create a separate client that is geared more specifically for Windows and would allow them to upgrade their rendering tech to new versions of DX, have variable texture qualities and such... They probably figure "it works fine as is... so why bother?". 

Regardless, it does get long in the tooth to have to accept that everything the game *could* do but doesn't is because "it has to remain compatible with PS2". Again... developing a separate client designed for Windows would allow them to circumvent that limitation. Seems they've simply decided it's not worth the time/investment.

And yeah, they  were learning like much of the rest of the industry when FFXI was created, so that certainly comes into play as well.

Hopefully they don't make those same mistakes with the new MMO and realize that limiting a multi-platform game's tech based on a single console that will eventually be out-dated is not a good plan in the long term.

I was searching around for this same topic. Does anyone know of a fan site for the project? Any community that is active about it? It might seem silly because of the lack of information... but I'm pretty much looking for a group of people that are as excited to find any piece of info for this game as I am.  

There was one site by the name of SquareEnixMMO.com that I frequented.

Alas they closed down for unknown reason to myself, and I've yet to discover another dedicated to this topic.

Yea i vistited that website as well until it went down several months ago. It's to bad too becasue that site was a lot of fun.

I can tell you what i know lol.

The original concept i read years ago and it was the WHITE engine[2005],confirmed by present day reports.the White engine,was just a concept and they have officially named there engine the Crystal Tools.

Couple things about the guy who leads this team behind the Crystal tools engine,witch BTW was not created solely for use in a new mmo for FFXI.He was responsible for FFXII,to me the worst game in there series lol.The original guy behind FFXi has moved onto i believe his own studio making games.

I posted a video from the original WHITE ENGINE concept quite awhile ago,nothing has changed since then.other than they have the engine officially in the state they strive for.This goes way back to 2005 so you can see how long it takes to make a multi platform engine and they are still only offically at version 1.0.

www..youtube.com/watch?v=sgtZvn5c4e4

Back then there was a pretty good interview,they hinted at migrating players from FFXI,into the new game.They admitted the engine has limitations but was developed for there own staff,so making games would be easier and centred around what they already knew.So in other words ,this engine was not made to compete with UE3 or to sell to outside sources.It was designed for ease of use and Multi Platform development.

The sad news.....They have already announced THREE more expansion packs,so it is obvious the migration into a new game is further away than sooner.If it took them from 2004/5 till 2007 just to get a working version of the engine,they are probably only now at a plausible stage to begin making a game.

Then you have the long haul of designing one at a time the new mmo for each console and they are also trying to make it happen for the WIi.It took them about 1 year to port the ffxi to the xbox 360 ,so doing some quick math,we are a VERY long way from seeing the new mmo.

If you watch that old video again,it shows how great Square is at designing a world and show great looking graphics considering limitations.I believe that we won't have a UE3 looking game,but it wil lstil be a great looking game and a notch up on FFXi limitations.I Just pray to god ,this guy doesn't try to incorporate FFXII into this game or any of that stuff i have seen lately like operating 3 players at once,i hate that concept.I like 6 players run by 6 real life players.

If i was tortured into a date release?late 2010.,like near Christmas time,at the earliest.

They are not attempting to create a Nintendo Wii version.

Several sites became confused when they announced the creation of their Crystal Tools engine.  When Square Enix released information on the new mmo, they stated it would use the Crystal Tools engine.

They followed this by stating the engine was created to be used for all systems, Wii included.

The only mention of the Nintendo Wii was that the Crystal Tools engine is capable of programing for it.

http://squaremmo.blogspot.com/ thats the web blog ive been using since the other website went down, its not as nice but its probly a free site unlike the other.

also there was a game before FFXI on consoles EverQuest Online Avdentures on PS2...i think it came out in 2001 or so. that was the game my bro played (and eventually me) before FFXI (wich we both crapped our pants for and played for 2+yrs each.

honestly i love console MMOs, its a diffrent style, i like the controler over the mouse, dont like the constant clicking on the screen, and having it that way also elimintates filling up the screen with hotkeys.

i do know SOE (EQ/Vanguard/SWG) are going to be focusing alot of their new games into being Multiplat. Hopefully this is true, i long for a new console MMO, its always just been more my taste.

also there wont be a Wii version, for the obvious reasons.

1) lack of graphical capabilitys

2) lack on consistant control (i doubt they wanna make motion control crap and normal)

3) lack of online support (we all know nintento is way way behind on this...just look at Wiis online)

4) no harddrive whatsoever, where as the other 2 have them easyly avalible/built in.

If anything MMO like will come to wii i can very much bet it will be something gimmiky that uses WiiMote controls (unless a truely good company does somthing) i mean i love nintendo but this console took a preverbial "sh!t" on its hardcore crowd. its way too many half baked, poor quiality mini game fests or some fitness/teaching crap.....just not for me.....and to think i stood in below freezing weather for one @5am....