square
Latest
Final Fantasy XIV adds weddings with Patch 2.45
Whether you're a roleplayer or just someone who likes planning weddings, you'll be happy to know that Final Fantasy XIV's patch 2.45 has added the option for everyone to get married to a partner of his or her choosing. The Ceremony of Eternal Bond is now available in the game, complete with special outfits, rings, and premium options for those who want a bit more spice to their ceremonies. Because who wouldn't want a moogle officiating the ceremony? Patch 2.45 also includes further developments in the Zoidac Weapon quest chain and a new set of postmoogle quests. Dragoons have also been buffed with the removal of most positional requirements and several shorter recast timers, while Ninjas have slightly increased TP costs and a reduction to damage buffs from poisons. The patch is available now, but for those of you who can't download and start playing right this moment, we've included the Eternal Bond trailer just after the break.
The Mog Log: A tourist in Final Fantasy XI
I don't write much about Final Fantasy XI in this column, but those with some knowledge of its history know that wasn't always the case. There are long stretches of the column that have focused on Final Fantasy XI's trials and tribulations. It's just that as I've said many times over, there's not a whole lot of point to talking about FFXI on a regular basis now. While Final Fantasy XIV keeps getting bigger and better, FFXI is slowly and quietly declining. But that doesn't mean you can't take a trip back. A few weeks back, my wife and a dear friend floated the idea that the three of us could try heading back to Final Fantasy XI, exploring the game from the start, completely fresh all over again. It would be very different from how it had been before. And true to form, it certainly has been. The game is very different now from the one I remember, and it's interesting to look at why, even from the perspective of someone just about to hit 20 for the first time on a single class.
Square's new restaurant delivery app lets you track your meal
Square's seemingly odd decision to buy a restaurant delivery service is starting to make sense. The company has just released Caviar's first mobile app for iOS, letting you order high-quality cooking from your iPhone in eligible cities like Chicago, New York and San Francisco. You've probably seen the basic concept of a delivery app before, but there's a clever twist here. This is more like Uber for haute cuisine; you can not only check the status of your order, but follow couriers as they bring your meal. In theory, you won't be caught off-guard when your food arrives.
The Mog Log: The two-way community street in Final Fantasy XIV
If there's one thing that hit me after the live letter this weekend, it's that the Final Fantasy XIV community is kind of a mess. I've been working around this game since before it launched, and there have always been weird issues going on with the way the community has worked. Part of this is because the game's community has a weird sort of isolationist streak, as if the online installments of this particular series are the only online games in existence, but part of this is also a matter of dealing with a community team that reports to bosses who aren't speaking the same language as the US playerbase. Community management is a two-way street, and this weekend's antics served to remind me of how many elements of this really need to be addressed. So let's talk about how both the players and the community team can improve our overall culture from both sides.
Perfect Ten: Mobile apps to enhance your MMO lifestyle
We're living in the age of smart phones, when there are more cell phones than there are people on this planet. I can't go anywhere without seeing people constantly whipping out their little rectangular companions for the constant stream of information, social connection, and Candy Crush interludes. While MMOs aren't making great headway on these devices, in part due to the limited input scheme, several wise studios have made good use of the mobile market to give players a way to keep in touch with their games even while AFK. Today we're going to count down, count up, and count sideways 10 official mobile apps that will enhance your MMO lifestyle.
Choose My Adventure: The final Final Fantasy
It's amazing how time flies when you're punching things. Just a few weeks ago our Choose My Adventure-forged Final Fantasy XIV pugilist was an aspiring adventurer with no pants; today, she's a certified hero (still with no pants). It's been an impressive ride to say the least. Square Enix has done some things so phenomenally right it's hard to believe the studio botched the game so badly the first time around. Final Fantasy XIV is definitely a traditional fantasy MMO. But it makes enough changes and innovates in enough places to make itself feel unique and compelling. If I had to pay a subscription for a game (which I hate doing), FFXIV would be the one to get my credit card number.
The Soapbox: Six reasons MMOs should abandon raiding, part 2
In yesterday's Soapbox, I had some things to say about why it's time to dump raiding. I'm writing this before I've seen the comment responses, but I'm willing to bet that a fair amount of angry shouting was involved in the comments because that's what I usually expect. But I wasn't done, as suggested by the whole "part 1" thing in the title header. For those don't feel like reading the whole thing, the short version is that raiding is too expensive to develop for too small a portion of the players. This is a solid argument, but it's standard: You hear it every time this debate comes up. In some ways, it's the foundation of the argument against raiding beyond the reality that most people say they just don't like raiding. There's more to be said, though, and there are more serious issues up for discussion. Raiding isn't just expensive in terms of development. It's expensive in lots of ways.
The Mog Log: The end of Final Fantasy XIV's 2.0 cycle
It's going to be a little while until we see the next major patch for Final Fantasy XIV. I'm not expecting to see patch 2.5 in the wild until February, to be honest. That's a little longer than the standard three months, but we've also got a holiday season through there and a not exactly clockwork schedule to begin with. It's enough time to get plenty of Poetics kit, make headway into Second Coil, and get thoroughly sick of the expert roulette dungeons. Perhaps the game shouldn't always just keep the three most recent dungeons on there... But we still have interquel patches to consider, starting with the promised inclusion of Eternal Bonds in 2.45. While we've still got a little bit of time until the next Live Letter (which will no doubt reveal more about what's coming for the next few months), we've got enough information to speculate, prognosticate, and forecast, which is exactly what I want to do for this week. It's a thing I do.
One Shots: Nowhere to hide
Generally, I don't like to be pessimistic, but I have to say that things don't look good for reader Brad here. Sooner or later his childish game will fall apart, and when that happens, it will be all teeth and claws and slavering fangs. But at least it's for a good cause, right Brad? Oh, it's just to level up his skills. "To get your skills up in Ultima Online, you had to use them over and over," Brad explains. "As they got higher, you had to do more difficult things with some skills. This was me trying to up my hiding skill. Lets just say, trying to hide in front of this many Ophidians, was not easy... but I was gaining skill! They could not get to me up here." Who here feels bad for the Ophidians? Raise your hands please. I thought as much.
Square to accept Apple Pay next year; Tickets.com beginning rollout
That drum beat you hear is the sound of more merchants and payment getting on the Apple Pay bandwagon. Today we've heard via AppleInsider and CNN that Square will be supporting Apple Pay in 2015, and from Patently Apple that Tickets.com is starting to support Apple Pay through venue-related apps that use the service. First, Square founder Jack Dorsey noted in a CNN interview that Square would be supporting Apple Pay next year, although he didn't divulge exactly how this is going to happen. Neither the current Square Reader (which plugs into the headphone jack on just about any smartphone or tablet) nor the iPad-based Square Stand work with NFC-based payment services like Apple Pay, so adding the capability might require all-new hardware. What the company may have up its sleeve is using an all-software solution that utilizes Apple Pay and Touch ID for verification of purchases through an app, which would not force merchants to shell out for new equipment. However, Square started taking pre-orders this month for new card readers that will support chip cards -- what the credit card issuers are switching to next year -- so perhaps the company will quickly make a switch to NFC compatibility as well. It's all as clear as mud right now. What is clear right now is that Tickets.com, a company that provides technology solutions to "more than a thousand sports and entertainment clients around the world", has just launched integration with a single venue with support for Apple Pay. That venue is The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford, CT, and a new app amazing called "The Bushnell" lets patrons buy tickets to concerts and events using Apple Pay. Tickets.com says that it will roll out in-app Apple Pay mobile payments support to other sports and entertainment clients, including Major League Baseball teams via the MLB.com At The Ballpark app.
Square's cash register app now handles your purchases worldwide
Square's Register app has done a lot to drag stores' payment systems into the modern era, but only in the US -- venture elsewhere and you've usually had to pay at a conventional (and often very limited) terminal. That might not hold true for much longer, since Square has just released a version of Register that works worldwide. The Android and iOS software now handles sales in 130 currencies, and communicates in French, Japanese and Spanish; if a tapas bar in Madrid wants to give you a digital receipt or ask for feedback, it can. It'll take a while for companies around the world to start using Register, but don't be surprised if you see it in action the next time you go on vacation.
Snapchat introduces Snapcash for P2P payments
The question "how do you monetize Snapchat" has finally been answered and it's going to open up a lot of possibilities for users. Snapchat has introduced Snapcash, a way to send mobile payments to friends using the image sending-then-destroying service. In its advertisement for Snapcash, the company makes it seem like a good way for friends to send money to friends, and at face value let's accept that is indeed the case. Sure, you could use any number of other payment systems to send your friends quick cash, but one more on the market can't hurt. Users send money to other users by sending them a message with $, followed by a dollar amount. The money is sent using Square Cash's email payment system, and Snapchat says Square is helping to secure transactions. One has to wonder exactly how excited Snapchat users will be about this new addition. Is there enough of an interested user base to make this worthwhile? The answer is probably yes, but it's one the company doesn't publicly talk about. Which part of Snapchat is going to flourish thanks to this new addition to the service? Why, adult content, of course. Snapchat is incredibly popular with adult entertainers, from adult film stars who sell access to their Snapchat accounts to dancers who use the service to keep fans "interested" when they're not at the club. There are minor Instagram celebrities who have built followings through word of mouth about their more graphic Snapchat accounts. Snapchat has just monetized all of those users in a way that allows them to get paid without their fans ever needing to leave the app. With such a viable and active audience already utilizing Snapchat to profit, it will be interesting to see how the company will deal with this inevitable, virtual red light district, silver lining. Snapchat is possible because there are certain pictures people want to see but make sure they're never caught seeing, both tawdry and not. Snapcash opens the door for the company to finally profit off of those interested parties. Snapcash is available now in Snapchat with the app's latest update. You can watch the company's announcement video below.
Choose My Adventure: Final Fantasy XIV's thaumaturgery
One of the more frustrating elements of helming Choose My Adventure is that I start every game with hopeless incompetence and spend four weeks trying desperately to reach some level of understanding with that game's core mechanics. MMO players take for granted the basic masteries they have over the systems they command and forget that the first 20 or so levels of any new game are usually spent in a fog of half-understandings and misconceptions. Because it's so difficult to continually learn a game's idiosyncrasies, I was a bit wary of last week's Choose My Adventure polls. Having just grown comfortable with our Miqo'te Pugilist and the basic rotations that power her damage, I found the thought of taking on an entirely new class fairly intimidating. Aren't Thaumaturges hard to play? Don't they have confusing ability combos and weird buffs? Luckily, Final Fantasy XIV understands the challenge in switching classes and isn't afraid to babysit you while you re-learn the ropes.
Final Fantasy XIV has been besieged by DDoS attacks
If you've been playing Final Fantasy XIV over the past few evenings, you've probably noticed some issues: odd disconnections, login difficulties, things like that. Turns out it wasn't just some general server weirdness; apparently the game is being hit by DDoS attacks that are leading to heavy server load and all of the fun that comes along with it. The official post states that the attacks are being carried out by a currently unknown third party, with Square-Enix working to try to stop the attacks from all possible angles. It also apologizes for the issues that players are having. So the good news is that it's not just your connection, and the bad news is that someone decided that it's fun to be a jerk. Again.
Square merchants can now make their own gift cards
It's simple: Square arms small-business owners with an arsenal of weapons they need to do battle with larger (chain) competitors. In turn, you, the consumer, reap a variety of benefits. Now, the company's furthering that entrepreneurial spirit with its own Square Register-integrated gift cards program. Starting today, any Square merchant can order custom-designed cards at $1.50 apiece, without having to worry about future subscription, redemption or transaction fees. What's more, when a customer buys a gift card, the funds are immediately transferred into the seller's back account, rather than sitting in limbo until they're redeemed. For shopkeepers, it's a simple, inexpensive way to entice customers.
Snapchat messages disappear, but the money you can send in them doesn't
Heads up, millennials: Snapchat isn't just for sending evaporating selfies anymore. Thanks to a newly inked deal with Square (of all companies), you'll soon be able to fire off money at your Snapchat contacts after you've created a Snapcash account and connected a debit card. Really. It's that easy. Once that teensy bit of setup is done, the app will detect if you're sending a message to a friend with a dollar amount inside; when it does, the send button with sprout a dollar sign and you're ready to transfer those funds. The folks over at Re/code are reporting that the Android faithful in the United States will get the necessary app update some time today, with an iOS version to follow shortly.
Choose My Adventure: So much punching in Final Fantasy XIV
Last week's Choose My Adventure polls on Final Fantasy XIV were very close. With a few more votes in one direction instead of another, we'd be playing a Roegadyn arcanist or a Lalafell thaumaturge. Unfortunately for people who hate human-animal hybrids, voters selected a Miqo'te pugilist by the hair on a cat's tail (Is this a saying? It should be a saying). Consider our character's cat ears the Massively version of growing a Movember moustache. With our hero forged and her job chosen, it's time to start adventuring.
Final Fantasy XIV's Yoshida on housing, test servers, and post-Fanfest
Final Fantasy XIV has had a busy year, and it looks to be having a busy next year to boot. The game's first expansion is in the works and planned for a release in spring of 2015, along with another major patch to cap off the game's current patch cycle. And director/producer Naoki Yoshida continues steering the ship, working what I can only assume is a 200-hour week. I had a chance to ask a few questions of Yoshida around the time of the first two fanfests of the year (the final one is scheduled for December in Tokyo), ranging from housing questions to the promise of public test servers to how hard it will be to establish an Eternal Bond. Jump on past the break to read the full interview!
Final Fantasy XIV introduces character rename service
You've been enjoying your time playing Final Fantasy XIV, which is good. You hadn't expected to, but you have, and that's even better. But it does make your hastily considered name of "Ffxiv Blows" a bit less than appropriate. Or perhaps you've just grown tired of your in-game avatar's appellation, whether it's a setting-appropriate name like M'lana Nyokha or a less-setting-appropriate name like Mycat Isanimrod. You don't have to suffer a poor name any longer, though, as the rename feature has arrived. Character renames can now be purchased through the game's account management page per character, allowing you to type in a new character name when you're logging in much like the appearance-changing aspects of Fantasia. The cost for a single rename is $10, and they are purchased per character rather than account-wide. So if you've long been looking to alter your character's less-than-dignified sobriquet, you can do that now.
The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV and approaching the end of the story
All right, Final Fantasy XIV isn't really approaching the end of its story. If you think that Heavensward won't include its own set of story missions, well, suffice it to say you are almost certainly wrong. But the ending of the 2.0 storyline will be like closing a chapter in a book, and this patch is the first step along that path. The next patch will close the chapter and begin anew, bringing us down unfamiliar roads. As a result, parts of this patch flirted with important story parts. Others flung themselves right ahead in ways that I hadn't expected. As always, this post will contain spoilers for 2.4's story, so if you haven't already seen all of it yet, be warned. It will not, however, contain spoilers for the Final Coil in any meaningful way. So if you've held off from the spoilers already swirling about that, fear not. Some of you are quite possibly working on that now.
