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The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV's big fanfest reveals
Christmas came early for the forward-looking Final Fantasy XIV player this year. I know some people are upset at the fact that there were more revelations in the Japanese fan festival than in the ones in Vegas or London, but the timing is different. (I'd also point out that the expansion was announced in Las Vegas.) We've gone from having only a dim view of what's coming to having a pretty clear picture of what awaits through the next few month. One of the things that awaits is, of course, endless yelling about Machinist. Because boy. So let's start unpacking the stuff we learned from Tokyo. I say "start" because there is no way to get everything in one column, certainly not with deadlines and other considerations to take center stage. It's going to be a few months, but there's a lot to chew on just about 2.5, even if we ignore all of the expansion stuff, which I have no intention of doing.
Final Fantasy XIV announces its first expansion, Heavensward
The Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival is currently underway in Las Vegas, and the keynote speech brought with it the big announcement many people were waiting for: The game's first expansions has been announced for spring 2015. Heavensward will focus on the city-state of Ishgard, as seen in the trailer embedded just past the break. Gamer Escape's liveblog of the keynote notes that the expansion will feature a level cap increase to level 60, new jobs, a new race (albeit with an as-yet-unconfirmed identity), new primals, and new high-end content. More information will be available at the London fanfest taking place next week. For now, players will just have to speculate a bit on what the future holds. (The smart money, of course, is on dragons. Lots and lots of dragons. It's kind of an Ishgardian thing.) [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Massively Exclusive: An in-depth look at Final Fantasy XI's new jobs
This year isn't quite as exciting for Final Fantasy XI as it is for Final Fantasy XIV, but it's still bringing a pretty big change to the status quo. Players have had years to get used to the game as it is, but now Seekers of Adoulin is on its way to completely rewrite matters, giving us two new jobs as well as a new region and new mechanics to deal with. In other words, it's going to be shaking things up. So while I was out in San Francisco enjoying all that Final Fantasy XIV has to offer, I also had a chance to look into Final Fantasy XI's new expansion, specifically the new player jobs. Both the Rune Fencer and the Geomancer are bringing something new to the game, and while I didn't get to play around with either job extensively, I did get to see how both will play and check out their key abilities.
Final Fantasy XI's fifth expansion, Seekers of Adoulin, announced
Final Fantasy XI players have been waiting and hoping for a new expansion for more than half a decade now. All of those hopes have come true at last with the announcement of Seekers of Adoulin, a new expansion taking players to the far western shores of Vana'diel. Seekers of Adoulin promises players new areas, new adventures, and of course new jobs. The only known new job at this time is Geomancer, which appears to be a support-style mage job with a variety of enfeebling and buffing abilities. Notably, its buffs appear to be centered on specific locations, and its enfeebling effects cannot be resisted by enemies, a trait that would make the job extremely powerful in the current environment. A short trailer has also been released with the announcement. Curiously, the official site does not list the PlayStation 2 among the expansion's supported platforms. That shouldn't stop longtime players on every system from regarding the new trailer with excitement -- it's the cap to an announcement that's been a very long time coming indeed. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
The Mog Log: Head of the newer class
The Final Fantasy series, particularly the online installments, is all about class. This is not entirely surprising, since the series has built up a series of character types that, while sometimes kind of random, are beloved just the same. The jumping spear-wielding Dragoons, dual-wielding and sword-throwing Ninjas, the ubiquitous Summoners... if these concepts don't exist in some form within a game, it raises some eyebrows. It's a symptom of the linking the games by certain broad pseudo-mythological concepts rather than by any actual continuity. We've gotten our Job system in Final Fantasy XIV, we've got our classes to the point that they're at least somewhat balanced, and we've got a new version on the horizon. The question, then, is what we're getting next. What new classes or jobs can we look forward to? What do we need? What gaps are obvious within the Final Fantasy pantheon, and what is just lacking in terms of a traditional MMO setup?
The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XI and the future
So, I had planned to go back to my soloing experiment from Final Fantasy XI this week, but two things got in the way. The first is named Final Fantasy XIV's open beta, and I'm not going to start talking about that because I won't stop. The second, however, is the September version update and the fast-approaching end of that timeline we saw back at VanaFest. While I'm not wholly qualified to talk about everything in the version update at the moment, I can certainly talk about what comes after. And here's why: This is a significant update for the game. It's the last update before the release of Final Fantasy XIV later this month, it's the second stage in the level cap increase, and it's the second-to-last additional content that we know we're getting. And what it's doing for Final Fantasy XI says volumes about what's going to happen in the game in the coming months, as well as what we can hope for.
The Mog Log: The trial of Chains of Promathia, part one
When the news first came out about the removal of the level cap in several Chains of Promathia areas, Sera and I had a bit of a disagreement on the news. Or, more accurately, we had a bit of a disagreement regarding the expansion as a whole. Sera was of the opinion that it was quite possibly the best expansion in the game's history. I, as has been stated before, feel somewhat less positive about it -- which is to say that I've usually regarded it as one of the worst. The comment thread to that news showed that this divide was not unique to the two of us. Comments were sharply divided between those who would happily blacklist Chains of Promathia and forget it existed, and those who were heartbroken at something so wonderful being toned down. So I decided to go ahead and take another look at the expansion as an aggregate, both the good and the bad. Out of all the Final Fantasy XI expansions, this one was the most unique. Was it a good experiment, or was it a failure?
Funcom Games Canada hires new CEO and plans to expand
2009 wasn't the best year to be in the business of making games, to the point where some of us weren't expecting good news like a major publisher hiring new people -- but it's happening. And it's not a small hiring push, either, aiming in the 100-150 range. That's the latest news from Funcom, whose recently opened Canadian studio has appointed a new CEO for the division. Miguel Caron is going to be in charge of building up the staff of Funcom Games Canada, as well as overseeing the studio during the development of The Secret World -- according to Ragnar Tornquist, the Montreal-based expansion will play a key role in the game's development. Even if you aren't looking forward to The Secret World, however, it's excellent to have news of a company not facing security trouble, layoffs, or shutdowns. Although the timeframe for the expected hirings is a year and a half, that's still a lot of work being generated by Funcom, which is a boon to both their existing games and their newfound plans of focusing on the casual gaming market. Let's hope this kicks off a trend of more positive news for the industry this year. We certainly need it.
E3 2009: New classes, prestige classes and more coming to Free Realms
Are you one of the folks who has leveled your classes all the way to max in Free Realms and are kind of wondering what now? Well, if you're the type who loves progression and really building your character up to be better, you're in luck. The folks at SOE are planning to introduce Prestige classes (much like the aforementioned racing ones) that will allow players to level their jobs to 20, and improve them through further play.Along with this interesting development, they are adding in some new jobs to the game, like the Pro Racing class - and perhaps a new class to go with the Soccer game (Soccer player? Footballer?) since SOE has let us know that they are finally bringing those fenced-off soccer fields into play. Added to these new tidbits will be further expansion on the backstory of Free Realms, which will explain a bit more about the lands and inhabitants of this crazy fun casual MMO, as well as opening up more story-driven quests for players. Sounds like a bunch of exciting news coming in the next few months! We can't wait. Massively was on the ground in Los Angeles last week and covering all the latest E3 MMO news coming from the convention. Check out our breaking coverage (or all the Joystiq network E3 reporting) and keep your eye on Massively's front page for the latest developments.
