FFXI GIL- A Tough Task

Two games will be running at the same time -- and industry observers have seen from EverQuest II that MMO sequels are a difficult proposition. Tanaka was adamant that the new game is in a new world and will feature new characters -- but the new game also retains the same races and similar art direction to the original to ease fans of XI into the new world of XIV. But will players play both? "It is up to the community themselves," said Tanaka. "We hope the community will get on and play XI one day, and then the next, play XIV."

So why even make a new game when FFXI GIL is still popular, asked one journalist? Again, Tanaka: "We have been asked that question by a lot of people. It comes down to ¨C FFXI gil was originally designed for the PlayStation 2. A lot of people have asked for a port of it to current generation machines. Porting that would take too much time to convert it to the new technology. Rather than doing that... we decided to use that time to make something new."

So -- can players port their XI characters about FFXI GIL? Tanaka said, "The game system and world are completely different, and the progression system is completely different, so you can not port your character. But the character designs are similar so you create a similar character you have been playing. However, the friend lists you have, we hopefully will be moving over."