Eorzea
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New FFXIV videos continue the tour of Eorzea, demo group finder
Back in February, Final Fantasy XIV fans were treated to a whole slew of great stuff, including a video tour -- composed of both PC and PS3 footage -- of A Realm Reborn's refurbished land of Eorzea. Come May, a second part of this series showed off even more. But not even two videos could cover all there is to see, so today's third installment continues the journey, allowing players to to travel through various areas in La Noscea, The Black Shroud, Thanalan, Coerthas, and Mor Dhona. Square Enix also released its fourth developers' commentary video. In it, Producer Naoki Yoshida and community team member Toshio Murouchi discuss and demonstrate the "Duty Finder," a feature that helps players to find and form balanced dungeon groups even while on different worlds. Once formed, the group will be automatically transported into the instance and then back to each member's original spot once completed. Before you run off to watch fireworks (if that's your thing), watch both the latest installment of the Eorzea tour and the devs' group-finding demo after the cut.
Square teases full FFXIV Realm Reborn opening cinematic [Updated]
Square has released the full opening cinematic for its Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn reboot. The clip clocks in at well over eight minutes, the last three of which contain never-before-seen footage. The new stuff includes a couple of heart-pounding chocobo calvary charges, glimpses of the game's unique races, and plenty of scenic shots from around the lush fantasy world. Have a look for yourself after the break. [Thanks to William for the tip!] [Update]: Square has also sent out a press release revealing signups for A Realm Reborn's beta test.
Final Fantasy XIV beckons former players with Legacy and Welcome Back campaigns
Square-Enix is rolling out the welcome mat for former players of its Final Fantasy XIV MMORPG. The company has announced two new promotional campaigns, the first of which is aimed at players who have paid for at least 90 days of sub time since January 6th, 2012. You should be getting an email from Square if you're eligible, and you'll receive a discount on your monthly sub ($9.99 for 30 days) as well as 40 playable character slots on your account (with a maximum of eight per world). Legacy members will also get an exclusive chocobo mount with version 2.0 as well as the option to have their names listed in the update's credits. Square's second announcement concerns the Welcome Back Campaign, which is intended to stoke the interest of former players with inactive service accounts. Eorzean ex-patriots can come back for free between May 9th and May 20th. During the 10-day trial, you can take part in the "once-in-a-lifetime" Seventh Umbral Era content and experience the new job system and inn room updates. Finally, Naoki Yoshida has published a new producer's letter that expounds on the campaigns as well as the game's future. [Thanks to William for the tip!]
The Mog Log: Who mourns for Eorzea?
Final Fantasy XIV takes place in Eorzea, which is one of the continents of Hydaelyn. It's also the smallest continent, and it's generally sort of off in the middle of nowhere. The land is surrounded by tiny islands, it's filled with bickering city-states of varying influence, and it generally seems to be seen as a place that's both wild and not always particularly pleasant. And from the player's perspective... well, we don't even see all of the continent. So every single player adventure has taken place on a small portion of the smallest continent in the world. And yet despite this, this tiny little land mass has apparently become massively important. The Garlean Empire is preparing to sweep into the land with all its might, and the land has become a hotbed of activity as the various city-states try to stop stabbing one another long enough to mount a defense. But all of that prompts the question about what, precisely, makes Eorzea noteworthy. Why is this tiny little corner so important?
Final Fantasy XIV merging servers in March
Square-Enix is slimming down its server roster for Final Fantasy XIV. After a year of free-play services due to its troubled launch, FFXIV began charging traditional subscription fees last month. Now, Square says that it will be merging servers beginning on March 27th, and the current lineup will be trimmed from 18 to 10. Character transfers are mandatory for players on one of the affected shards, and the transfer period starts on March 1st and continues through the 19th. Kotaku reports that the new servers will have temporary names (New World 01, 02, etc.), but Square states that "name assignments will be announced after the transfer selection period has ended."
FFXIV's Yoshida answers fan questions in live producer letter video
If you're a Final Fantasy XIV fan -- and you're looking for a way to kill 90 minutes -- you might want to take a gander at the new producer letter video that's just been posted on the game's official website. Naoki Yoshida recently answered fan questions during a lengthy livestream session, and we've embedded the complete clip after the cut. If wading through an hour and a half of rapid-fire Japanese (sans subtitles) isn't your thing, Square-Enix has provided a few text highlights to help you make sense of the Q&A session. Among the interesting tidbits are potential new races (to include demi-humans and dragons) as well as a mention of the dev team's priority focus on improving FFXIV's linkshell system and its party formation features. Yoshida also offers a quick progress report on the process of transforming FFXIV from its launch state into a proper Final Fantasy game. "To be honest, I consider that we're about half-way to the point where we can confidently call it Final Fantasy," he says.
FFXIV's 1.19 patch features new group content, Ifrit primal
It's patch day in the world of Eorzea, and today's 1.19 update looks to bring quite a bit of new content to Final Fantasy XIV. Said content includes a new confrontation with Ifrit, a fiery primal who waits for brave adventurers at the end of one of the game's newest quests. Final Fantasy XIV's lodestone has all the details, and apparently the Ifrit encounter comes in two distinct flavors. One is designed for level 30 light parties (four members), while the other is a hard-mode run intended for eight-man level 50 groups. Ifrit wears his badassery on his sleeve if the accompanying video clip is any indication, and the lodestone entry describes him as "a demon spawned by the seven hells" whose exhalations "produce heat of such torridity as to reduce iron to pools of white-hot liquid." See for yourself after the break.
Embark on the age of adventure: Win a copy of Final Fantasy XIV!
Final Fantasy XIV. OK, now that the first sentence has stoked the inevitable flame war, let's get to the meat of this post. The nice people over at Square-Enix have sent us a copy of Final Fantasy XIV, and we're excited to give it away to you lovely readers! We know that the game might not be everybody's cup of tea, but this is a contest you should jump into if you have been considering the title. Our winnable copy is a standard editon of the game, and it comes with the standard 30 days of play before charging you a subscription fee. (I feel like I'm detailing the features on a new car, or something.) And, as an added bonus, the game comes wrapped in cellophane! Oooooh! Shiny! Interested in how you can win this game? Hit the continue reading button, and you'll soon find out!
E3 2010: Hands on with Final Fantasy XIV
I only have two words after playing Final Fantasy XIV. CRAB BATTLE! Ok, so perhaps I have more than two words to say after playing Final Fantasy XIV and interviewing the game's producer, Hiromichi Tanaka. I was finally able to wrap my mitts around the game here at E3 2010 and experience the meat of the game -- a short preview of the game's combat system and questing system and some time with the game's character creator. Final Fantasy XIV seems to be bridging elements of the old with elements of the new, and it's wrapping it all in a very gorgeous graphics engine. It's complicated without complication, simple on the surface yet teeming with a deeper game if you know where to look. %Gallery-95698%
Final Fantasy XIV world map in leaked issue of Famitsu
It's been a little while since we've heard anything new about Final Fantasy XIV, although all signs point to the game continuing to do well for itself in testing. But we might be due for another gush of information, considering that the most recent leaked issue of Famitsu contains a few bits that we've not seen before... including a nice map of the world of Eorzea. Unfortunately, the translation team over at FFXIVcore hasn't yet gone wild on the pages, but there's still plenty to be discovered, from what we can see. Eorzea's map vaguely resembles a mirror image of Africa, with a large island off the coast. It doesn't appear to have an obvious focal point a la Final Fantasy XI's world with Jeuno at the continental intersection. There's also a groundswell of information on the guilds and people within the city of Limsa Lominsa, While there's not a bulk of new information on the game's mechanics, it's certainly a fair dose of lore that we haven't gotten before, and we can only hope it signals the start of another round of big news on Final Fantasy XIV.
Square Enix reveals all of Final Fantasy XIV's races and clans
Square Enix has revealed detailed information about the five new "clans" found within the races of Eorzea, the realm in which upcoming MMO Final Fantasy XIV will take place. Clans offer up two slightly different character options within the five overall race choices -- for example, if you want to play as a burly Roegadyn, you can go with the paler and more subdued "Sea Wolf" fisherman clan, or heat things up with the rock-and-fire influenced "Hellsguard" clan. Information on all of the races and clans is now available on Square Enix's website. Unfortunately for Final Fantasy fans, we looked through the whole list of clans, and not a single one of the races lets you become a Sith Warrior. Sure, the Miqo'te Seekers of the Sun look cute and all, but is their one stated goal to kill Jedi? No? Pass, then, sorry. [via Massively] %Gallery-89790%
FFXIV gameplay footage explores cities, chocobos and emotes
A lot of news has been coming out for Final Fantasy XIV lately, and we're quite happy to see it. Today we've got what appears to be (the first episode of what's sure to be recurring) in-game footage of players exploring one of Eorzea's cities on the game's official Japanese YouTube channel. There's a moment in the clip where the Japanese players speaking throughout are amazed to find a Chocobo and well, it's pretty entertaining to watch -- especially when the video gets to the part where it reveals that old Tarutaru emotes are fully intact. Panic! We're also getting another tiny peek at the user interface for Final Fantasy XIV in the video. From what we can see here, Square Enix is keeping the memorable "Send/Receive" graphic, which blinks with a strange hypnotic rhythm. The mini-map and health/mana bars both look quite useful yet unobtrusive, too. Overall, everything about this game screams, "Final Fantasy XI, but newer and hopefully improved." We hope that proves to be wholly true in the coming months.
Final Fantasy XIV site updated with new story and game information
We're very happy with all this Final Fantasy XIV news lately, and at the same time are fairly amazed it keeps coming so rapidly. First it was the removal of levels and experience, then info on the new race names and jobs. Now, Square Enix has updated the official website with new information on the Eorzea and its races' history as well as the job system. Plus, there's tons of new screenshots, so let's dig in!For instance, we now know that players may specialize into four differing job branches however they see fit, also known as forging a Discipline. The four are: Disciple of War, Disciple of Magic, Disciple of Land and Disciple of Hand, which correlate to melee combat, magic combat, gathering crafting materials and crafting, respectively.Then there's Guildleves, which is a way for players to tailor a quest to their party makeup, whether that be themselves or a larger group of differing job types. If players attempt a riskier Guildleves, the reward is also improved as well. So it would seem that, interestingly enough, Final Fantasy XIV may be looking to attract people looking for all sorts of difficulty in their MMO.%Gallery-69600%
Rumor: FFXIV beta may begin by September
Ah, rumors. We know the game was just announced, but there are three major reasons this rumor carries some weight. For one, Final Fantasy XIV has a 2010 release date, which makes sense considering the development team claims to have been working on the game for nearly five years now. Also, the dev team has expressed that they'd like to have a longer beta than the one Final Fantasy XI had -- one which was only around four months long.The biggest piece of information regarding this rumor is its source -- discovered by newly built fansite Eorzeapedia -- of several Square Enix Europe job listings for new game testers and game masters. The listing is very clear that any applicants are required to have "good knowledge" of Final Fantsy XI, which ostensibly already has these jobs filled. If new people are being hired, it means the more seasoned team are being shifted to the developer's other MMO, namely Final Fantasy XIV. According to those listings, the new game masters begin work in early September.Loose reasoning? Maybe just a little, but when considering the release date, development time and this new information it all seems to make sense. We'd love to get our hands on some FFXIV beta action any time this year, especially as early as September, so here's hoping it's true!
