final-fantasy-xiv-a-realm-reborn
Latest
Square Enix's TGS 2013 line-up includes Lightning Returns, Thief
Square Enix has posted the selection of wares and sundries it'll showcase during this month's Tokyo Game Show festivities, and while the list is primarily what you'd expect, there are a couple of interesting omissions. High-profile highlights include Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy, Drag-On Dragoon 3/Drakengard 3, Thief and Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn. The publisher will also be showing off a small handful of Square Enix Partners titles, such as Wolfenstein: The New Order and Psycho Break, the Japanese title for Shinji Mikami's The Evil Within. Missing from the list, however, are Final Fantasy 15 and Kingdom Hearts 3, neither of which have been heard from since back at E3. But hey, Gardening Mama is totally on there, and that's all that matters.
Square Enix apologizes for Final Fantasy 14 headaches with week of free play
Square Enix will make amends to Final Fantasy loyalists who experienced difficulty logging in to its relaunched PC and PS3 MMO Final Fantasy 14 Online: A Realm Reborn with a free week of playtime, GameSpot reports. In an announcement on Final Fantasy 14's community website The Lodestone, Square Enix explained that player demand for A Realm Reborn "significantly exceeded our initial estimates," pushing server load beyond maximum capacity. Login and character creation restrictions were introduced afterward, leaving many players unable to log in for days after the game's launch. The free week of play will begin after a ten-hour maintenance period beginning at 5 PM (PDT) on September 3. During the downtime, Square Enix notes that it will increase the number of available worlds and concurrent server logins, while reducing stress on the Duty Finder servers. "Because login and character creation restrictions have hindered our ability to provide quality service, all Final Fantasy 14 service accounts will receive an additional seven days of free play time," Square Enix said. "Furthermore, users who have yet to enter their registration codes will receive an additional seven-day trial should they register before 11:59 p.m. (PDT) on September 9, 2013."
Final Fantasy XIV dev talks new servers and access restrictions
It's no secret that the long-awaited re-launch of Final Fantasy XIV hasn't gone very smoothly. In fact, the servers are taking such a beating that Square Enix has temporarily shut down online sales of the game. Despite the game's current woes, the FFIXV team wants fans to know that it is working overtime to get things running smoothly. In a lengthy forum post, producer and director Naoki Yoshida (aka Yoshi-P) outlined what steps have been taken to stabilize FFXIV's game world. Yoshida noted that all Final Fantasy XIV servers now have login restrictions to prevent a flood of logs and re-logs from causing them to crash. Login restrictions are most likely to be implemented during peak times, which Yoshida says are between 9:00 p.m. and midnight. Each server can support a theoretical maximum of 5,000 concurrent players.
Fix for FFXIV's server load woes includes suspending sales
At what was meant to be a happy and joyous time, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn's birth was beset by complications -- namely that it was too popular for servers to handle. Players trying to get into the reboot are suffering through significantly long waits, if they are able to make it in at all. In order to fix this issue, Square Enix has announced that the capacity of its data centers throughout Japan, North America, and Europe will be increased. As a temporary stopgap measure to keep the problem from getting worse and allow current players a chance to actually play, all digital sales of A Realm Reborn are suspended. [Thanks to omedon666 and Bartillo for the tips!]
Final Fantasy 14 download sales halted to accommodate server overload
If you're looking to buy a downloadable copy of Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn, your gil isn't going to get you anywhere for the time being. Square Enix announced it's temporarily halted download sales of the resurrected MMO because the game servers are overloaded, causing excessive wait times for those trying to get in. In a Facebook statement, Square Enix once more apologized for the inconvenience and said it's working to get more servers online in "the coming days." Whether you look at it as an "overwhelmingly positive response," to the PS3 and PC MMO, as Square Enix does, or grimly predictable given the struggles endured in the early access weekend - or both - the bottom line is A Realm Reborn is a really busy place right now. Think Gamescom, but cuter and less sweaty. For whatever reason, it seems Square Enix wasn't ready for the numbers it's dealing with. Ahead of A Realm Reborn hopefully becoming readily available to all soon, be sure to check out the launch impressions of our sister site Massively, who said the revamped game "scoops up the MMO genre's good elements and splices them together into one cohesive whole, and it does so while looking gorgeous and playing smoothly. When your MMO's biggest issue is server-related rather than game-related, you're doing fairly well overall."
Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn planning for major updates every three months
Square Enix plans to provide Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn with major updates every three months, "continuously adding large-scale content." So said director Naoki Yoshida, who confirmed FF14's second coming will also receive "full" expansion packs in the future. "We've already begun work on the first update that is currently called patch 2.1 and will introduce a large-scale housing system, as well as "The Wolves' Den" - the first ever PvP content in the series," said Yoshida on the PlayStation Blog. "Furthermore, the update will include new dungeons, a new daily quest system, new Primal battles, extensions to the main story, and loads of other new content to enjoy." The news follows a shaky early access weekend for the reborn MMO, in which servers brimmed to full and fundamental tools like character creation(!) were inaccessible. Realm Reborn is being released worldwide on PS3 and Windows PC today - best of luck to all the adventurers out there - and will come to PS4 sometime next year.
Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn struggles through early access weekend
Final Fantasy 14 just can't catch a break. Quality issues upon initial release had then-Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada claiming that the game "greatly damaged" the Final Fantasy brand, and the game was shut down near the close of 2012 to make way for the reworked Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn. Now, with A Realm Reborn's August 27th release date imminent, the game is struggling with full servers during early access weekend. This is pretty common in MMOs, especially ones that have as dedicated a following as Final Fantasy 14; what's not so common is the shutdown of other features, such as character creation, which is preventing players from so much as creating a new avatar, let alone playing as it. A Realm Reborn's director, Naoki Yoshida, apologized to fans on the game's official forums, stating that, unless the simultaneous connection rate decreases, the maintenance crew will be unable to allow the creation of additional characters. Yoshida also asked for players' patience and cooperation as Square Enix works to restore server stability.
Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn gets beta dates, iOS app
Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn's PS3 and PC betas will be open from August 17 to August 19 before launching on August 24 for those who pre-order the game, Square-Enix announced last week. PC users that registered Final Fantasy 14 version 1.0 in 2010 (before the original world was decimated) can also play A Realm Reborn for free until September 9, the game's Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida revealed. Rewards will be given based on whether users subscribe for 30, 60 or 90 days at a time, but players splurging for the 90-day subscription will get all of them. A free companion app, Final Fantasy 14: Libra Eorzea, will also launch for iOS a week after the game's retail release. For those who don't pre-order, A Realm Reborn will launch on August 27 for $40 on the PS3 and $30 on the PC. New accounts will be granted a 30-day trial with paid subscriptions starting at $13 per month after that.
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.
FFXIV: A Realm Reborn screenshot video montage shows off beta
Although sharing sound, music, and video from the Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn beta is still prohibited, testers' thoughts and screenshots from phase three are now allowed. Taking advantage of that partial NDA lift, one creative beta participant has put together a montage of stills in video form to show off the upcoming reboot of the game. Wondering if you can glean what's going on from the screenshots alone? Don't worry -- he also added commentary to explain each shot. The nearly 33-minute montage includes character creation (all races have two genders to select from), the public quests (Fates), menus and the UI, combat, and a look at the updated graphics. Get a glimpse of the game for yourself in the video after the break. [Thanks to Chris for the tip!]
Explore Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn in its latest trailer
This trailer, using real-time footage for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, weaves through the game's many battle-ridden environments. Players can sign up for the game's beta program for PC and PS3 on Square Enix's official site.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn video tours revamped Gridania
What do tiny flying kittens with handbags and little round houses with thatched roofs have in common? They are both a part of the revamped City-State of Gridania in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. OK, so the flying kitten creatures are actually called delivery moogles, and thanks to Square Enix's newly released video tour of Gridania, players can get a look at them (along with all the other changes) for themselves. Clocking in at almost five minutes, the video shows off alpha footage of various parts of the serene city-state, including cobblestone paths, waterfalls, and plenty of lush greenery. Take a look at the city reborn after the break. [Thanks to Moises for the tip!]
Final Fantasy XIV shut down, reborn in this 'end of an era' trailer
The era ending in this lengthy cinematic trailer is that of Final Fantasy XIV, as Square Enix pulled the plug today on the game's servers in preparation for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. The MMO relaunch was said to be "rebuilt from the ground-up" when the not-exactly-new game was announced in July.The Eorzean Alliance battled the Garlean Empire before further chaos engulfed the "end of an era" trailer, seen above. Like it or not, Final Fantasy XIV certainly went out in style. Both the PS3 and PC versions of A Realm Reborn are expected to launch in 2013.
Final Fantasy 14 for PS3 exists, and here are the screens to prove it
Square Enix rebooted version of Final Fantasy XIV, "A Realm Reborn," is still coming to PS3 as well as PC. The company released the first screenshots of the PS3 version today, revealing the new UI for the console version.The new UI allows players to set up their own button configurations, of course. Square says it's been "designed with the traditional Final Fantasy controls in mind to give the game a classic RPG feel, familiar to any PlayStation 3 RPG gamers." So that means you press X to confirm menu items? And use the d-pad to move between them? We've never put that much thought into "traditional Final Fantasy controls."Square Enix plans to release both the PS3 and PC versions of A Realm Reborn in 2013.%Gallery-168125%
The Daily Grind: Does your MMO need a reboot?
MMO reboots, revamps, and pseudo-sequels seem all the rage these days, from Global Agenda 2 to Darkfall: Unholy Wars to Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. Sometimes it makes sense to start over and take developed assets and lessons forward to a much improved version. Once in a while, the first launch of an MMO is so disastrous that only by hitting the reset button does the game have a chance for the future. But what about your favorite MMO? Is it in sore need for a massive overhaul or a big reboot? Did it fail to gain a significant audience the first time around? Does it need the push of additional development and media coverage to succeed in its second chance? If so, let us know what you'd recommend developers do if they rebooted your game. How could they feasibly make it much better and perhaps take a slightly different course than what exists today? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Gamescom 2012: FFXIV servers shutting down ahead of relaunch, A Realm Reborn beta planned for this fall
Final Fantasy XIV players, take note: Your days are numbered. Er, at least your days spent in the original FFXIV world. When the game's rebirth, called A Realm Reborn, occurs later this year, the game's servers will be taken offline. Rather than overlap the two versions of the game, Square-Enix director/producer Naoki Yoshida says the original servers will be taken offline "some day in the near future," precipitating an alpha and then a beta for the game's relaunch later this year. "Basically what's going to happen is that the current story is still continuing now, but some day in the near future -- and we'll make sure we tell the players what day that is -- something is going to happen in the story, and at that time, the servers are going to shut down," Yoshida told us in a group interview this morning at Gamescom. The reason for the shutdown is less thrilling than you might think. "Basically the player data will be taken over into the new game. So, to convert all this new data for the new systems, we need a certain amount of time to do this. There's so much data, so many thousands of characters that we must do this for. And so we have to shut down the servers," he said. Yoshida was quick to point out that players will have plenty of warning ahead of the shut-down (consider this your first heads-up). He also notes that the original game's userbase will be prioritized in A Realm Reborn's beta queue and that players will "be able to use their current characters in the beta test as well." Though that may not be at the kickoff of the beta, he says, "We're working in a way to try to get it as close to the beginning of the beta test as possible." A Realm Reborn is headed to both PlayStation 3 and PC later this year. Every summer, the gaming industry descends on Cologne, Germany, for Gamescom, the world's largest trade fair for interactive games and entertainment. Massively's on the scene in 2012, bringing you all the best scoops, impressions, and interviews from the MMOs at the show!
Gamescom 2012: FFXIV's A Realm Reborn will be 'scalable' for next-gen consoles
When Final Fantasy XIV's A Realm Reborn launches later this year on PC and PlayStation 3, each version will represent a scaled version of the game's highest settings. But with talk of next-gen consoles getting louder and louder, does it make sense to stick with the PlayStation 3? Square-Enix producer/director Naoki Yoshida thinks so, but that doesn't mean he isn't prepared for the looming next generation of game consoles. "The biggest thing is because we promised we'd release on PlayStation 3, and there are still a lot of players out there waiting for us to release a PS3 version. Before we talked about losing the trust of the playerbase with the original release of XIV and getting that trust back. One of the things to get that trust back is to fulfill our promises. That promise being that we'd release on the PlayStation 3," Naoki said in a group interview today at Gamescom. "That doesn't mean we're not looking to the future. We realize that things will be coming, and then making the game compatible for these systems is something we're currently thinking about," he added. Of course, "Until Sony and Microsoft actually make an announcement," he said, "we can't make an announcement." Yoshida said that his team's flexibility with FFXIV is due to the game's new engine. "With this new engine, it's very scalable. It runs on low-end PCs and high-end PCs. So when new technology comes out, we can easily scale it to that high end." Yoshida went on to show the game running on a colleague's Sony Vaio laptop sporting a Core i5 processor. While the graphics were scaled down for the lower-end specs, the game still ran smoothly and looked quite impressive. "This is at about 70 percent optimization," he added. FFXIV's A Realm Reborn will launch on both PC and PlayStation 3 "this year." Every summer, the gaming industry descends on Cologne, Germany, for Gamescom, the world's largest trade fair for interactive games and entertainment. Massively's on the scene in 2012, bringing you all the best scoops, impressions, and interviews from the MMOs at the show!
