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The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV's magitek disassembled
I've done a couple of articles on reoccurring concepts in Final Fantasy games before, but this is an unusual one because it seems to barely qualify at times. Final Fantasy XIV has magitek, as did Final Fantasy VI, but those are the only games to refer to it as such. Sure, other games flirt with similar concepts (Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy XIII, and Final Fantasy VII most prominently), but none of them is outright called magitek. Bit there's still some interesting stuff to unpack when it comes to magitek, even if you don't consider the corner cases as you ought to. At a glance it might look like this is a simple manichean split between two factions, but there's a lot more going on and a lot of importance tied up with the term that can hint as to Final Fantasy XIV's future -- beyond the fact that we'll get to ride some magitek armor.
The Nexus Telegraph: A speculative look at WildStar crafting
Sometimes my plans coincide perfectly with real-world events. Last time I wrote this column, I planned to talk about crafting, and then on Friday WildStar gave us a look at some of what we can expect in the system. Admittedly, we don't yet know how the whole circuit board system plays into crafting or what "one of two systems" means, but we can speculate, can't we? Before anyone asks, let me say that no, I had no forewarning or advance preview. I'm just pleased that everything came together by coincidence. So right now we know that the circuit board interface is the basis of one of the crafting systems in the game, and we know how the circuit boards in general work. That's enough to make some reasonable guesses. Let's start by guessing at a system in which you sidestep the entire process of finding the best stats on the best items by just making it from scratch.
The Mog Log: Don't you want me, FFXI?
Final Fantasy XI has launched its fifth expansion, and yet I can't bring myself to be as excited as I should be. Longtime readers will recall that the account I've been playing on is younger and lacking in many of the higher-level conveniences such as airship passes and a white mage leveled enough to handle Sneak and Invisible. Put simply, I'm not in a place to just jump right into all of the content that Seekers of Adoulin has to offer right out of the gate. On the plus side, I do have several conveniences that completely new players wouldn't have, not the least of which is an extensive knowledge of the game as a whole. A new player coming in straight would look at the game and just wind up baffled, and I can't blame him in the least. If you're starting fresh, the game is not welcoming you. Longtime readers will also know that I've long been a proponent of making the game easier to get into. But is this even worth bothering with? Is the game for players starting at lower levels any more? Is there even a point to easing up the lower-level restrictions any longer?
The Nexus Telegraph: More WildStar class speculation
WildStar got a website overhaul not too long ago, giving those of us watching the game a bit more information about the class setup. All four classes have their limitations on display along with the roles that those classes will play -- meaning we're now sitting at two healers, two tanks, and two more class placeholders that have yet to be revealed, which did nicely shoot my speculation about the class/role division in the throat, but I'm not exactly complaining. Of course, knowing who can be what means that we have a clearer picture of WildStar's structure, and that means we can speculate about how the rest of that structure will be filled in. So with full knowledge that I might turn out to be wrong before the week is out, I'm going to guess at what's coming around the bend in terms of the game's classes and how the classes will play in their respective roles.
The Nexus Telegraph: All your WildStar speculation is wrong
This column is wrong. I wrote it about two months ago, and it's wrong. It contains two major pieces of speculation, both of which have subsequently been confirmed as wrong, wrong, wrong. This does not exactly surprise me, as when I originally wrote it I assumed that odds were even or better that every part of the column would be proved wrong before the week was out. It's not the only thing I'm going to write about WildStar that will be wrong, even. I could be wrong about the Exiles. I could be wrong about the Dominion. It is entirely possible that all of my speculation will fall handily under the header of "very wrong." Yet I persist all the same. And if you want to understand why I keep talking about things when I know they might be completely wrong, that's the subject of this week's column. I love speculation columns, I will be writing more in the leadup to WildStar's release, and I wanted to explain why I do that when I have no doubt many of them will be proven wrong.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Asymmetry in superhero PvP
If you stop and think about it, the fact that we've never really had good PvP in a superhero game is pretty darn weird. This is a genre in which heroes fight villains, villains also fight villains, and every few hours some misunderstanding crops up and the heroes wind up coming to blows as well. Even in games without player-controlled villains, there's plenty of room for good PvP, and in games where players can take a walk on the dark side there's even more reason for tussles to work out well. Sadly, that hasn't been the case. But today, I come here not to roast games but to talk about how this could be made to work well. Which bespeaks a certain asymmetry. I've mentioned before that heroes and villains have fundamentally different approaches to the world: The former are reactive and the latter are proactive. When it comes to pure PvP scenarios, this should be more true than anywhere else. Instead, most PvP matches wind up being slugfests, something that doesn't really match up with how things work in comics.
The Nexus Telegraph: Bringing class into WildStar
Last week's column was all about unpacking the Dominion, something that I'll be doing more of over the course of this week, but not every reveal was focused around the more aristocratic side of WildStar. I suppose that the Stalker could be seen as aristocratic with the right concept, but the point is that Stalker is the fourth class revealed and the first new one we've heard about since the original three. Knowing the name alone gives a pretty clear picture of what the class is all about, but we've also had a chance to see a little of the stealthy claw machine in action. Of course, at the moment we don't know much beyond those basics. They're sneaky, they're dangerous in close combat, and they apparently play very well with the Draken philosophy. So let's talk about the classes in general and how they relate to what we know of the game thus far, including the obvious question about whether or not this is all we get in terms of classes to play.
The Mog Log: Chocobos run Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV do not take place in the same world. One is not a sequel or prequel to the other, neither game continues the same story themes, and indeed nothing connects them beyond the names and a set of thematic elements. So I enjoy looking at those thematic elements sometimes, for the same fundamental reason that when I was a little boy I occasionally liked to take apart toys just to see how they worked. You'll remember that I looked at moogles as they related to the Final Fantasy series as a whole a while back, with the ultimate conclusion that moogles exist to provide an in-universe explanation for mechanical conceits. Chocobos have got to be simpler, though. They're present in both Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV, and they're extremely straightforward in both: They're mounts. That's their purpose in the series, isn't it? You ride chocobos. Surely it can't be any more complicated than "fictional method of transportation". The answer is of course it can. But I think the first step is to look back at the series as a whole.
The Nexus Telegraph: Sci-fi commonalities to expect in WildStar
There are certain bits that sort of obscure this fact, but when you get down to it, WildStar is a science fiction game -- a science fiction game taking lots of cues from more fantastical offerings and Westerns, but still science fiction at its heart. And that means that it has certain expectations from potential players, just like fantasy games are expected to have elves and superhero games are expected to have someone who is only distinguishable from Superman by the lack of a logo. Here's the thing, though: Science fiction covers a pretty wide range of setting, so some of those expectations may or may not come to pass with the game. Today I want to talk about some of those reasonable guesses, the sort of thing that you just think has to be in a science fiction game. Is WildStar going to feature these elements? I'm not sure, but I can make some guesses (which might be proved wrong before the week is out, but guessing is fun like that).
Rumor: Blizzard's Titan is not a new IP and could be heading to consoles
What is Titan? All we know about it right now for sure is that it's being developed by Blizzard, and we've been told on occasion that the game is not a new installment of one of Blizzard's existing franchises. But that may not be the case. According to rumors collected by the fans over at Titan Focus, Titan may indeed be a spinoff of an existing IP and might even be aimed at the console market. The hints have been coming from a fan known in the community for being fairly reliable in his rumors, lending this some credibility, but it's still just a rumor at this point. If it's true, then we can expect the game to be tied to one of the existing Blizzard franchises, albeit not as a direct sequel. Considering how quiet the studio has been on the project for some time, we can only hope that the surfacing rumors are a sign we're getting closer to some hard information.
The Nexus Telegraph: Who's afraid of the WildStar Dominion?
From where we are now, it's hard to see a whole lot of good about the Dominion. Everything we've heard about WildStar's other faction thus far has been that it's made up of pure evil, absolutely the antithesis of everything you would ever want to stand for. These are not good people, to the best of our knowledge, and it comes as a bit of a surprise that they make up a playable faction in the game rather than a helpful organization of mooks in need of a good face-punching. Those familiar with my past work will know that I love rooting for the team that looks like the transparent bad guys. Unfortunately, right now we plain don't know enough about the Dominion to be sure of exactly what its deal is. Could be that it's as evil as it looks; could be that we only have half of the picture. So I'm going to go ahead and look at both possibilities.
Your Alleria and Turalyon are in another castle
Once they added the note about Alleria Windrunner and Turalyon to the various loading screens I actually turned to a friend and said "Okay, now they're just mocking me." Seriously, I've written KYL's about both of these characters, they're among my favorite from WCII, and I want to know what happened to them. They have a kid wandering around Outland! Where did they go? This isn't exclusive to them, either. Before Cataclysm I was one of those people who constantly rode up to the Greymane Wall in Silverpine and tried to get around it even though I knew there wasn't anything there yet. When I read in the World of Warcraft magazine that the Dark Trolls had died at the hands of the Twilight's Hammer cult invading Hyjal, I was very annoyed that I'd never see them in game. I still want to get to go down into Azjol-Nerub more fully, I'm still waiting to go to Kul Tiras (and frankly I wish I'd thought to include a Kul Tiras raid in yesterday's raid speculations) and man, I need to know what happened to Neptulon. There are lots of Warcraft lore and story threads left completely unresolved. A lot of them wouldn't make any sense to be revealed in Mists of Pandaria, but luckily speculation isn't limited by the current reality.
What raids will we see in patch 5.2?
Welcome to unfounded speculation country. Since we're starting to hear little tidbids about patch 5.2 already why not just sit down and completely make up the flimsiest possible pretext about what potential new raids we might see in patch 5.2? We've already been mercilessly teased by the folks at Blizzard about it, who made many a WoW player from the Wrath days quiver with the following statement. Zarhym: Just to add to that really quickly, I was sitting in on interviews with Ion (Hazzikostas) yesterday, and he kind of mentioned that we look back fondly on raids like Ulduar, in terms of scale -- so if that's any indication on where we might be going ... Now, I have no more actual information than that to share with you. But why let that stop us? Let's sit down and play Wouldn't that be cool? and see if we can come up with any contenders for a big, sweeping Ulduar style raid for patch 5.2. What are our best contenders?
The Phantom Pain speculation round-up: Metal Gear?!
The biggest surprise to come from last night's Spike TV Video Game Awards was undoubtedly the announcement of The Phantom Pain, a seemingly new IP from a completely unknown Swedish development house called Moby Dick Studio. The debut trailer showed a hospital under attack from an ominously obscured figure, and ended on a macro shot of an amputee that bore a striking resemblance to Solid Snake of Metal Gear Solid fame.Wait, Solid Snake? Metal Gear?! But, how could that be possible in a new franchise from a new developer that isn't Konami or Kojima Productions? Hey actually, now that we think about it, why is a brand-new studio getting to premiere a teaser for its first-ever game at an event generally reserved for AAA titles from global publishers?Perhaps there's more to this than meets the eye. Let's take an in-depth, spoiler filled look at what evidence there is so far, and why all signs point to this being a new entry in the Metal Gear mythos.
Disney buys out Lucasfilm, LucasArts for $4.05 billion
Disney is continuing its quest for global domination of the entertainment industry by announcing that it has bought out Lucasfilm -- including the studio's game developing branch, LucasArts -- for $4.05 billion US. While we're sure the nerdosphere has plenty to say about Disney's development of the upcoming Star Wars Episode VII (slated for release in 2015), we MMO fans are probably focused on a different facet of the buyout. Now that LucasArts is under Disney's wide-reaching umbrella, there's a distinct possibility that we'll be seeing a new breed of Star Wars games hitting shelves in the near future. The question is, of course, whether a new Star Wars MMO could rise from the new ownership. So let's discuss, dear readers. Do you think a new Star Wars MMO is on the horizon? If so, what would you like to see? Many gamers mourned the loss of Star Wars Galaxies last year. Would you like to see a revival with Disney at the helm, or would you rather see something completely different? Smack on your tin-foil hats and let the speculation run rampant, folks.
iPad mini's rumored launch may be aimed at Microsoft Surface
This theory is speculative, but let's give CNN's Don Sears some consideration anyway. He suggests that Apple's suspected iPad mini event has been moved from the rumored October 10 to 17 date range to the current expectation of the October 23. Why, he asks? Because the Microsoft Surface is due to arrive right around then, he answers. Microsoft announced its Surface tablet unit quite a while ago, and rumors suggest that the device will greet the public this month. Sears suggests that Apple re-scheduled its own event to more closely coincide with Microsoft's launch plans. While much of this is based on suspicions and rumor (Apple has not officially announced an event), Sears' logic rings true. After all, Apple has had no problem with stealing thunder. It has announced its own products specifically around big industry conferences like CES and GDC many times before, and it would be very Apple-like to take Microsoft's release on directly, stealing much of the anticipated Surface buzz. We'll have to see how this all plays out when these announcements finally do happen later on this month.
Wings Over Atreia: Creating classes for Aion 4.0
The dust swirled in one single puff of wind, then settled along with the hush over the streets. The sudden peel of the bell as the clock struck noon shattered the silence. Eyes blazing and raven wings furled, the Daeva stared down her enemy, hands poised over her low-hung holsters. "Com'on, ya lily-livered varmint. Make my day!" OK, so maybe the O.K. Corral and the Wild West aren't en route to Atreia, but that is certainly the first image that sprang to my mind when NCsoft announced that one of the new classes coming to Aion is going to tote a gun. I mean, guns don't get better than a couple of six-shooters slung at the hips, right? If you missed last Friday's big announcement from Gamescom, here's the skinny: Aion's 4.0 patch is introducing three brand-spanking-new classes to the game. Obviously that patch is a long ways off (a date hasn't even been announced for Korea yet), but that doesn't stop us from looking forward to one of the most fundamental changes planned for the game since launch nearly three years ago. Unfortunately, NCsoft has given us little to go on right now; all we know is that one class will tote a gun and one will brandish an instrument. With so little information revealed, you have to wonder what these two classes will actually be like. With so many possibilities... Let the speculation commence!
Hyperspace Beacon: It's time for free-to-play, SWTOR
I'm a positive person, generally. I'm loyal to my favorite franchises even when George Lucas can't make up his mind about who actually shot first. But I don't like it when my loyalty to a product is taken advantage of when I'm told I will get one thing but am ultimately sold another. That's why I say to EA and BioWare, "Make Star Wars: The Old Republic free-to-play already." When EA was voted the worst company in America by the Consumerist, it was not because the products suck. If a customer has a constant feeling that she is not going to get what she pays for from a specific publisher, then it will start to wear on her. Now whenever someone from EA speaks, we have to ask ourselves whether there is any double meaning to what was said. I believe SWTOR will be free-to-play by the time the first expansion comes out, and not directly because of subscription numbers or rumors. My evidence comes from those who speak for SWTOR and the actions of BioWare's management. I can also guess as to how the studio is going to spin it.
Facebook reportedly back to building phones, recruiting former iPhone engineers
If the HTC Status' dedicated Facebook button fell shy of satisfying your obsessive social networking needs, sit tight: the house of Zuckerberg may be building a slab of tech just for you. According to the New York Times Bits blog, those old Facebook phone rumors are making a comeback. A handful of Facebook employees and engineers familiar with the matter reportedly say that the firm is collecting former Apple engineers, specifically, ones that worked on the iPhone and iPad. Like Zuckerberg said, mobile is the company's top focus, and one employee says the man at the top is afraid of getting overlooked in a sea of apps. "Mark is worried that if he doesn't create a mobile phone in the near future that Facebook will simply become an app on other mobile platforms." Facebook has focused on deep integration with other devices for some time, but a dedicated handset could take the freshly public company in new directions. Reports suggest that the rumored device is still in its infancy, and there's no word on form factor or OS, of course. Up for some speculation? Check out the source link below for Bits' full take.
BBM staying exclusive to BlackBerry, says WSJ source
Been looking forward to porting your BBM addiction to iOS or Android in hopes of finally kicking that Crackberry to the curb? Take a seat -- it looks like RIM's private messaging service isn't going anywhere. According to a Wall Street Journal source, the firm's new CEO has shut down rumors of a BlackBerry Messenger port. "It was not up for discussion," the WSJ was told. According to a person "familiar with the matter," CEO Thorsten Heins decided that RIM shouldn't be pursuing licensing deals. Heins' apparent house cleaning might be a deal breaker for BlackBerry veterans looking to jump ship, requiring users to stick with RIM to maintain their dwindling BBM contact lists. Bummer? Sure is, but at least your pals don't need a security clearance to ping you.
