The guy who made FFXIV into it's original mess that needed a whole new development team to clean up is stepping down from Square Enix.



But before you celebrate, allow me to make you feel bad about it. Supposedly the guy is stepping down due to health reasons. Rumor is that he's contracted some form of cancer (eye cancer or something maybe?).

Still, the FFXI lot are probably rejoicing right now. FFXI was always an incredibly grindy game, everything was a huge massive timesink to get anything done. From original exp parties, farming dynamis coins, to camping HNMs against a dozen other linkshell's claim bots for 3 hours every night for a chance at near-zero drop rates.

Word is (I'm going mostly on hear-say, I dont play FFXI but I read news about it occasionally) that around two years before the launch of FFXIV, FFXI got a lot better. The so called Abyssea team came and turned the game around, finally increased the level cap, made it much faster and casual friendly. This was of course because Tanaka left the FFXI team to helm FFXIV. And we all know how that turned out. While at the same time, the Abyssea team was actually helmed by our very own Yoshi-P.

Once Tanaka stepped off the FFXIV team to let Yoshi-P and his team take over though, he quietly went back to FFXI. Supposedly over the past year FFXI has had a shift back into being an incredibly grindy game again. I can't really explain how because, as I said, i haven't played it in years, but that's what I've heard people say. Something about "Voidwatch" or something I dunno.

Incidentally, did you know Tanaka was actually one of the designers for Final Fantasy 2 (NES)? The horrible grindy one where you didn't have exp and levels but instead gained SP in skills by hitting monsters or curing each other?

Yeah.

So anyhow, despite his ability to ruin games, he was a part of the core Square Enix team for almost 30 years and therefore helped make the games what they are today. Godspeed.

Sorry to hear about the Cancer. I don't wish that on anyone.

That being said, I do think FF2 was probably the worst Final Fantasy game I ever played. I know FF11 did get a lot better there for awhile. I played it a healthy amount. But the userbase was so tiny that I can only wish that FF11 was like it was then back when we all played it in 2003-2005. I still look back at the game fondly, but I think it's mainly nostalgia based around knowing you all and such. It was my first MMO, however, so back then I just didn't know any better.

Good luck, Tanaka.

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I study eye cancer. Eye cancer alone isn't so bad because you can get it irradiated or have your eye removed, and still live. However, if it spreads to your liver or lung before that happens, you are very likely to die.

Fortunately it doesn't look like he has eye cancer. The rumor started here but was explained to be a tongue-in-cheek reference to some other programmer with eye cancer.

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RIP Shiloh - I'll never forget ya

[quote="Whisp"]I study eye cancer. Eye cancer alone isn't so bad because you can get it irradiated or have your eye removed[/i]quote]

That sounds pretty bad to me lol. I don't want my eye removed.

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a very good friend of mine was diagnosed with a very rare form of eye cancer and had to have his eye removed, they told him there were only like 100 or so cases the last 30 years of the form he had.. i wish i could remember what it was called, anyway they gave him this new sponge-ish eye and it actually grew in, it moves just like the other one and everything, he can't see out of it but no one knows he has a missing eye except his friends.

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Aldy™
Kicker of Ass™