final fantasy 14
Latest
Final Fantasy XIV offers more retainers for a price
A new patch for Final Fantasy XIV is out and playable today. It's full of stuff to do, things to craft, and of course, items to acquire. This might not be a welcome bit of news to players already struggling to fit items into their burgeoning banks. But help is here, after a fashion. If you truly can't reduce your items any other way, you can now buy more retainers to take care of the many things you've still got kicking around in your inventory. The downside? It'll cost you real money. Players are allowed to purchase up to two additional retainers for their characters at the price of $2 per month for each. The extra retainers are available to all characters on your account and will not be deleted if you discontinue the extra monthly fee but won't be accessible until you pay again. For more details on signing up and interacting with your normal retainers, check out the full update.
Final Fantasy XIV releases the first half of patch notes for 2.2
Final Fantasy XIV is dropping its next major patch on March 27th. Are you ready? Have you been relentlessly following news on the coming content? Then you'll want to get an eyeful of the first half of the patch notes for patch 2.2. Yes, it's only the first half. And it still outlines a number of huge changes, not the least of which are the addition of a new primal fight, three new dungeons, more main story quests, and two new beast tribe reputations. Philosophy tomestones are no longer being distributed -- everything that used to award Philosophy will now award Mythology, with Allagan tomestones of Soldiery taking Mythology's place as the limited-per-week currency. Existing dungeons Amdapor Keep and Pharos Sirius have both been toned down, as well, with the former easing up boss fights and the latter reducing the challenge of both bosses and enemy groups. There are also details on the new Venture system, new items available from the Grand Companies, and plenty more to be seen even in this first (partial) list of changes.
GDC 2014: Final Fantasy XIV's Naoki Yoshida explains what tanked it and what saved it
There are many theories about what contributed to the spectacular crash-and-burn of the original Final Fantasy XIV, but perhaps the most insightful is the one from current Executive Producer Naoki Yoshida, who pinpointed the critical flaws that proved Square Enix's undoing. At GDC this week, Yoshida said that the team had an "unhealthy obsession" with graphical fidelity above anything else and was stuck in the development mindset of Final Fantasy XI even as the genre had progressed. He said that A Realm Reborn's saving grace was the team's effort to establish an "optimal design flow" allowing for a rapid overhaul of the title. It's also notable that Final Fantasy XIV has a new dev diary out today covering new gear and visual customizations called glamours that are coming with Patch 2.2.
Final Fantasy XIV half-off on Amazon
If you've been waiting for a reason to grab a copy of Final Fantasy XIV, we have 15 of them for you! Those are the dollars you'll save by purchasing the game on Amazon right now. FFXIV's standard edition for the PC is currently priced at $15.00 for the digital download (half the original list), and $24.27 for a boxed version (a savings of almost six bucks). The price on the collector's edition, however, remains unchanged. Those who nab the game now will be ready to enjoy the upcoming 2.2 patch with all its crafting, gathering, fishing, and adventuring updates.
Final Fantasy XIV shows off crafting and gathering improvements for 2.2
Final Fantasy XIV's second major patch is bringing plenty of things for people to fight and kill. But what about players who would rather gather and craft? They haven't been forgotten in the slightest. The latest development blog shows off what the Disciples of the Hand and Disciples of the Land are getting up to, starting with the inclusion of new crafting stations for housing. Crafters below level 40 can earn bonus CP from these stations, making it that much easier to produce high-quality items as you level. A plethora of new crafting recipes have also been added, including new crafting books that the most experienced crafters will be able to decipher and use. New main-hand tools will also be available in exchange for crafted goods and gathered materials, while gatherers will have access to new resources. Fishers aren't left out, either -- there's new sea life to be caught, fish so rare and unexpected that they were thought to be only legend. So if you don't want to start the next patch off with some fighting, you can take the time and just craft your days away.
The Mog Log: The last stretch before patch 2.2 in Final Fantasy XIV
The past week has brought up an interesting problem regarding the timing of this column and upcoming releases. On the one hand, I had planned to talk today about why there aren't more tanks in Final Fantasy XIV. On the other hand, we also have received a lot of news about patch 2.2, which is launching in a little over a week. Do I push back discussing the patch previews in favor of talking about a larger structural issue? I don't think I can, especially when the reason there aren't as many tanks is one that's been explained dozens of times in other games whilst still being applicable here. Instead, let's talk about 2.2. We've got a week and change until this drops, and while I've already discussed a good portion of the endgame elements, we've got a clearer picture of what's coming out other than that. So while we'll doubtlessly learn more during the next live letter, let's talk about what we've got now.
Here's Final Fantasy XIV's 2.2 trailer
Square has released an eight-minute trailer for Final Fantasy XIV's 2.2 patch. Titled Through the Maelstrom, the clip shows off a boss fight with The Whorleater along with new hairstyles, gardening, a fishing update, hard-mode versions of existing dungeons, and more. Click past the cut to have a look! [Thanks zengar!]
Final Fantasy producers talk player numbers, what makes an MMO fun
An enterprising user on the Square-Enix forums has translated a lengthy interview with Final Fantasy XIV producer Naoki Yoshida, Final Fantasy XI producer Akihiko Matsui, and Dragon Quest X producer Yousuke Saito. The piece originally ran on 4gamer.net, and it focuses on everything from the three developers' backgrounds to what makes an MMORPG fun. Yoshida also drops a few hints about A Realm Reborn's player numbers, which include approximately 1.8 million accounts and 500,000 daily active users worldwide. [Thanks Rohan!]
Final Fantasy XIV previews the new dungeons of patch 2.2
If you've been playing Final Fantasy XIV since launch, odds are good that you've seen what remains of the Amdapori civilization -- a dungeon crawling with cultists. The game's next major patch is going into more detail than that, though, giving players the opportunity to explore the new Amdapori Township dungeon and see what rank creatures have grown to fruit in the decaying town. This new dungeon is accompanied by two new hard modes to provide a triumvirate of options which have just gotten an official preview. The hard mode of Brayflox's Longstop sees players battling the Goblin Illuminati to protect a secret recipe pilfered by the eponymous Brayflox, while Haltali's hard mode pits you against denizens in the refurbished and reclaimed training grounds. All three dungeons require a minimum item level of 55 for challengers, with the promise of rewards far greater than those of the current max-level dungeons. Take a look at the full preview for more lore and unlock requirements.
Fat Chocobo dashing out of Weight Watchers and into Final Fantasy XIV
Face it: You have gone far too long without seeing a giant chicken's giant butt. Happily, Square Enix has your well-being in mind, for the studio has posted a preview of an upcoming Final Fantasy XIV mount that is brimming with chunky avian posterior visuals. A brief and bizarre post on the official site introduces "Fat Chocobo," a special mount that would rather not move unless it has food comically dangled in front of its beefy face. The chocobo mount is confirmed as a special goodie for those who order the PlayStation 4 collector's edition of FFXIV as well as those who have purchased one of the other CEs. No word as of yet what the studio will do to compensate players if said mount collapses after taking six rapid steps in succession.
The Mog Log: Making the most of Final Fantasy XIV macros
Final Fantasy XIV is not World of Warcraft. We are not in urgent need of an ability squish after years of play; you hit level 50 with a pretty reasonable number of abilities. The fact that everything needs to be workable on a PlayStation 3 controller helps discourage button bloat, to boot. But you still wind up with a lot of abilities to use in rapid conjunction and marks to place on various targets as a tank. You can run out of convenient space, in other words. That's one of the things that macros can help address, but it's not even close to the only thing. You can use your macros to make your rotation tighter, you can combine necessary abilities, you can mark targets, and you can even toss in a text line on every ability use. (But that does get kind of spam-heavy.) So let's look at some simple macros that will make your Final Fantasy XIV experience that much cleaner.
The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV's future patches
A week after I mention that Final Fantasy XIV's next patch seems a little light, 2.16 comes around and lets us know that gardening is incoming with the next patch. What does gardening involve? Who knows? We haven't been told. I would tend to guess that it involves FC housing, which means that it's a non-entity for the majority of the playerbase, since the house prices are still insane for anything other than a small plot and small remains tiny. I mentioned some things that the game is going to need to aim for over the course of the year, and all of those remain on the table. In many ways, the game is going wonderfully -- we're hearing rumblings about the next expansion, the first patch did its job quite well, the second is on its way, and based on the current content schedule we can expect a couple more before the end of the year. While we don't yet have a roadmap, we can start putting together some basic guesses about the next few patches for Final Fantasy XIV -- and what they won't address.
Previewing Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn on the PS4
The original release of Final Fantasy XIV in 2010 and subsequent updates received a poor reception from the public with significant criticism over quality and stability. After several years of fundamental redevelopment including a new game engine, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn was successfully launched on the PC and PS3 in 2013, receiving strong accolades from players. Buoyed by the strong relaunch, it is now is set for a full PS4 launch on April 14th in most parts of the world including Europe and North America. This will be quickly be followed by a launch in China sometime in the summer of 2014, followed by Russia, Taiwan and the Middle East. I recently had a chance to preview the game on the PS4 and chat with Square-Enix's Naoki Yoshida.
The Soapbox: My hypersexualization conundrum
Every now and then here at Massively, we receive an email that isn't super nice. I know this may come as a shock to many of you -- the internet is, after all, a place of tolerance and constructive debate -- but sometimes the Massively inbox is no place any sane person would want to be. One reader recently took the opportunity to offer some choice thoughts on Massively staffers. And amidst the jumble of insults and generalizations, the reader levied the ever-powerful "hypocrisy" charge at us for claiming to care about hypersexualized designs of female characters in MMOs while simultaneously playing as those very hypersexualized characters. How could we possibly purport to care about the presentation of women in games if we're all running around in chainmail bikinis? Generally speaking, I prefer to not have my habits and behavior challenged via ad hominem attacks and false comparisons. But I have to admit that this one particular charge piqued my curiosity. Why is it that the majority of my characters are female? Am I, as a person who looks down on hypersexualized designs in games, committing an act of hypocrisy every time I create a female character? Let's sort it out. And before we begin, remember that the Soapbox, like most of our editorials, is just one person's opinion and doesn't represent the thoughts of Massively as a whole.
Final Fantasy XIV arrives on Steam at half price
If you're tempted to jump in on Final Fantasy XIV but don't want to pay the full box price, today brings good news for you. Not only is the game available on Steam, it's on sale for half price through February 25th to celebrate its arrival. That means you can pick up the game for the price of one month's subscription ($14.99), or the collector's edition for just a smidge more ($24.99). Players who already own the game won't need to do a thing, although the addition of a new platform may well encourage more players to join even before the game launches on the PlayStation 4 in two months. But if you've been looking for a sign to try the game out, this sale might just qualify for you. [Thanks to Balsbigbrother for the tip!]
The Mog Log: Patch 2.2 and beyond for Final Fantasy XIV
Supposedly, we're still on track to see patch 2.2 in March. Assuming later March, that would mean we're still on a roughly four-month schedule for updates to Final Fantasy XIV, which feels just a bit slow... especially since what we know right now about patch 2.2 is just a bit thin compared to what we knew about 2.1 at the equivalent point in time. Admittedly, I'm biased. New turns of Coil? Not really my jam. (Being able to stomp the old ones will be kind of nice, though.) Still, in some ways this update currently feels smaller than its predecessor, even though I'm pretty sure it isn't. We've got a lot of stuff incoming, but between a deluge of in-game events and the PlayStation 4 beta test, less attention has been paid to the update. So let's shine some light on it. Yes, there's going to be some speculation, but let's start looking at what patch 2.2 is going to mean and what we'll be getting.
Massively's Valentine's Day roundup
When a mob hits your eye with a big sharpened spike... that's not really amore! In fact, it's downright painful. But it's February -- a time when love is in the air, hearts are aflutter everywhere, and pink and red festoon your favorite MMOs. So in the spirit of the season, go ahead and give that mob an extra-hard love tap, right from... er, to the heart! And don't forget to collect whatever treasures it had for you because we all know Valentine's Day isn't all about the love; no, it's about the loot! Want to know where to get your hands on something special for this holiday? There are plenty of celebrations throughout the MMOverse offering a plethora of events and goodies. Check out some of the various Valentine's events and specials going on now.
Check out FFXIV on the PS4 through new screenshots, trailer, and dev video
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is hitting the PlayStation 4 on April 14, 2014, but you don't have to wait until then to get a glimpse of the fantasy game on the console. Square Enix has released a number of new screenshots highlighting this version along with the official PS4 trailer. Additionally, Producer Naoki Yoshida shares his experience with developing the console version in another video entitled "PS4 Conversations with Creators." And we've got them all right here for you. If you own a PS4 and you'd like to test the game out, you can join A Realm Reborn's beta for free. The first phase is currently scheduled for February 22nd through March 3, 2014, and the second test will be April 4 though April 7, 2014. On April 11th, all players who own the game on PS3 will be able to transfer their accounts for free. [Source: Square Enix press release]
The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV's story post-2.1
Something kind of surprising happened in Final Fantasy XIV's first major patch: The story kept chugging along quite coherently. And not just through the main story quests, either. Yes, the primary focus was obviously there, but there were a lot of things taking place, wheels within wheels, building on the narratives established in 1.0 and seriously working toward the next major set of events rather than simply being a set of padding. I should warn readers, once again, that there will be spoilers for the game's story below. That includes both the patch story material and the main story from the core game. If you haven't finished the main story and unlocked the Crystal Tower yet, you may want to stay away. Or you can just read on ahead and be spoiled. I'm not going to tell you how you should enjoy your game stories. You should also finish the Hildibrand storyline, although I'm not spoiling that; it's just amusing.
Final Fantasy XIV provides Square Enix profitable 2013
Final Fantasy XIV's reboot last year was more than anecdotal good for Square Enix's image, it was pretty positive for the bottom line. 2013's fiscal year ended with the company pulling in profits between 3.5 to 6.0 billion yen ($34 to 59 million), compared to losses equaling 13.7 billion yen ($135.4 million) in 2012. Although A Realm Reborn wasn't the only factor in this turnaround (reduced operating costs as well as increased revenue from other segments of the company also played a part), it was a major contributor. The segment of the company housing video games operation reported a revenue of 56.6 billion yen ($559.4 million) in the final nine months of the year compared to previous operating losses of 392 million yen ($3.9 million).
