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The Mog Log: A tour for May
In times past, I've generally discussed the various update tours of Final Fantasy XI separate from this column. This time around, I'm trying something different because I got to take the May version update for a spin not so long ago and there's some interesting stuff to discuss that came out of that tour, stuff I wouldn't really be discussing normally as my Vana'diel-endgame-fu is pretty weak at the moment. So that's the preamble for this week; if you really don't like this way of doing things, let me know and I'll not do it again. Cool? Cool. The May version update, as regular readers may recall, was an update with a roadmap that left some questions in my head. Is revitalizing Dynamis really a worthy goal? Will Voidwatch be enough to tide over players? How will everything balance out? Why can't I transform into a baby chocobo at will? So getting a chance to see the content firsthand was enlightening, both for the questions that it did wind up answering and the questions that it didn't.
The Mog Log: Pre-reaction
So Naoki Yoshida's producer's letter came just a bit too late last week for me to rewrite my column, which focused mostly on the dungeons and rampant speculation regarding same. This week, however, I can write about all of the things that came out of both his producer's letter and Akihiko Matsui's combat revision document, both of which provide a lot of meaty information for Final Fantasy XIV players to digest. Pretty much all of it is good, with only a couple of downsides here and there. Since there's way too much to possibly digest point-by-point, I'm going to hit the parts that strike me as having the most far-reaching impact and the most concrete data. A lot of this is going to pertain specifically to the combat revisions, as well, since let's face it -- the meat of the game is in fighting things off, solo or in groups. And it's with the battle revisions that one of the biggest changes is coming to Final Fantasy XIV, namely, the removal of physical levels altogether.
The Mog Log: Company car
The silence that had been hanging over Final Fantasy XIV since the end of the supremely creepy Hatching-tide event has finally been broken, with more Grand Company information as well as what appears to be the first dungeon preview. And yes, it's all pure lore rather than major mechanical updates, but there's still an abundance of interesting stuff to peer into within the update, especially when you take it in light of some previous statements made by the development team. Among the information shared, the note that membership in the Grand Companies doesn't have any ties to national allegiance is a good thing when we consider the different foci of the organizations, but it also makes me wonder about what we're going to see in terms of player rewards. It seems like this is one of the first steps toward making the game's content even more open than it's previously been, with plenty for players to do straight on down the line.
The Mog Log: Fit for man and beast
Some weeks, I just don't have quite as much material as others. Oh, don't get me wrong -- the new May version update is out in Final Fantasy XI, which is awesome. But I already did a reaction piece on that, which kind of narrows down my options. Similarly, right now there isn't a lot happening in Final Fantasy XIV, just a lot of stuff around the corner that will eventually be released and probably be awesome. The fact that it's been Golden Week over in Japan has helped contribute to this overall sense of silence. Thus, today I'm pulling something that at least distantly resembles a rabbit out of my hat by pulling out an old topic that I had never really written about before -- beastmen. Sadly underused thus far in Final Fantasy XIV, the beastmen in Final Fantasy XI contributed a lot to the game's setting and general sense of place, even though some of the critters were pretty hopelessly ridiculous. So as long as I'm taking a step off the beaten path, I'm walking around with some beastmen.
The Mog Log: A story of perspective
He could still hear the sounds that should have gone with the wooden walls, even though they were nigh-deserted: the swishing sounds of arrows in flight, the hard chopping of blades hacking apart mandragoras, even the faint humming of curative magics. It had been years since he had last set foot in Yuhtunga, but in some ways it felt like he had never left. Lost in his momentary reverie, Kerensky breathed deep, savoring the earthy scent of the jungle before glancing over his shoulder toward his young companion. "Can you see it?" he asked, shifting his weight slightly and wrapping his fingers around the hilt of his sword. "See what?" she shouted, trudging up the path in her dun-colored shirt and loose slacks, a look of exasperation playing across her features. "There's nothing here! How, exactly, is this supposed to be training?" He checked the response that sprang to mind. Of course she couldn't see what he did; she hadn't been here before. "This is where one trains at your level of knowledge," Kerensky replied calmly. "Now we sit, and we wait."
The Mog Log: Starting fresh in Final Fantasy XIV
You've just started Final Fantasy XIV. You have your introductory storyline quests designed to give you an idea of where the various guilds are and what's going on within the city, and then you're essentially left to twist in the wind. And now you've happened upon the immortal and entirely reasonable question -- what in the world am I supposed to do now? In a way, Final Fantasy XI had an easier time here. It barely pretended it was going to give you a structure, instead opting for "here, go give this coupon to that guy and get out of my sight." You were better prepared to start making up what you would do as you went along. Plus, no matter what, you could step out the front door of the city and start killing bees, or rabbits, or whatever the heck you're supposed to do in Windurst. Still, the games share elements of the same structure (or non-structure, to be more accurate), and so there are some lessons to be taken from starting up in Final Fantasy XI, as I've learned from helping to coach someone just getting started in Final Fantasy XIV of late. Whether you're new to the game or starting fresh on your return, let's look at where you go after the initial quests have worn off.
The Mog Log: Traits of war (and magic)
One of the areas in which Final Fantasy XIV really dropped the introduction ball is its handling of traits. They're an interesting way to put together the character you want; unfortunately, they're fenced behind a wall made out of Guild Marks and a moat of 20 ranks before you can purchase most of them. (I'm sure there's a boiling oil of misunderstood applications somewhere in there, but we can't spend the whole column on our trip to Metaphor Castle.) The fact is that you get a lot of points to equip traits long before you probably have any, to the point that other rewards probably look more appealing. It's a shame, since the game's traits can often make a set of Guild Marks more valuable than another pile of gil. So today I'm going to look at the traits for the Disciples of War and Magic, along with a few ideas about how the traits can be used in a character setup and which ones have the broadest application.
The Mog Log: Class act
It's been an exciting couple of weeks of news if you're a fan of fantasies that claim a certain degree of finality. I could talk more about some of the slated changes for Final Fantasy XI, or I could talk about all of the updates we know about for Final Fantasy XIV... but I've already done the former, and I think I want a little more information before I do the latter. This week, we're sticking with the original plan, and that's talking about the classes as they intersect with the game's lore, because it's pretty blessedly astonishing. Think about it for a second. Both Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV essentially let you be any class at any time. You aren't locked into a single selection a la World of Warcraft; your role is maleable based on the circumstance and what you feel like playing at any given time. By all rights, these classes could essentially be throw-away distinctions for abilities, without any sort of larger framework to live in. There's no strict mechanical reason why it would have to matter that a character was a White Mage if he could just as easily be a Warrior or a Scholar after a quick trip to the Mog House.
The Mog Log: Until we run out of road
One of the uniquely fun parts about writing a column on Thursday is that every so often, Square-Enix decides that it wants to completely ruin my day. Case in point: I had an entire column written about the complete dearth of information that we'd been given of late about Final Fantasy XI, the writing of which was immediately followed by Friday's announcement of the road ahead for the game over the next twelve months. So that was awesome. OK, it's a legitimately pretty awesome piece of news, but I can't help but wish that the team had waited until Monday or something. My own griping aside, we now have a clear picture about what's waiting in the wings for Final Fantasy XI. And it's good, but that positivity has some caveats, and there are some issues that aren't getting addressed despite all of the news. I think the current team really "gets it" in a way that Tanaka never quite did, but I think there are also elements that are just so ingrained in the game and its development culture that some fixes we need are being pushed off or ignored.
The Mog Log: Absorbent
By the Twelve and by the Goddess, it's good to be back. Logging back into Final Fantasy XIV was a unique pleasure, one that honestly had nothing to do with the changes to quest experience from Monday or anything else. It was due to the simple fact that I had missed the game, and if I had been in the middle of more projects with Final Fantasy XI, I would have been equally happy to log back in there. (It was still nice, but it's more a matter of seeing an old friend come back than anything.) Now, for the past couple of weeks I've been vaguely hinting at talk about Thaumaturges, so it seems only fair that I use today as an opportunity to stand and deliver. I'm going to talk about one of my favorite abilities within the class, a set of skills that really starts upping the synergy between Disciples of Magic and Disciples of War. I'm speaking, of course, of the four major Absorb skills, which I loved when they were on Dark Knights and I love even more when I can toss them on any character I choose.
The Mog Log: Back in the high life again
The good news is that both Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV should be back online as of Friday. (I'm writing this on Thursday, so watch some last-minute wrench get tossed into the works.) The bad news is... well, really, that's all the news over the past couple of weeks. While the team has been working, it seems like improving a video game hasn't been at the top of anyone's priority list in the wake of the earthquake and subsequent devastation. If I hadn't made this clear enough last week, that's pretty much the only reasonable response to what's been happening. It's astonishing that anyone has even been going on and working on the games, much less actively keeping players up to date about the status of the servers. There's the distinct chance that you weren't able to log in as soon as the servers went live again yesterday, and even if you did, it was mostly a matter of checking back in and lounging for a few moments. So let's take a look at some of the ways to re-acquaint yourself with the games.
The Mog Log: Blackout
It's really hard to find the heart to talk about anything related to Final Fantasy this week. Last week, things went intensely cross-eyed for Japan. If you've somehow missed it, the short version is that a massive earthquake struck, killing a huge number of people and sending Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plants into a crisis that's still escalating as of this writing. There's the very real possibility of the plant's suffering a meltdown, resulting in a disaster some people are likening to the explosion at Chernobyl. And yet the Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV teams are working. We've seen communication out of the teams, and while Tokyo wasn't directly hit by the quake, it's hard to believe none of the employees has family in the region. The country faces rolling blackouts and a nuclear threat, and yet the teams keep working at making the games better for everyone. There comes a point when dedication doesn't adequately explain what keeps someone working through a crisis.
The Mog Log: Auto-Refresh
I mentioned at the end of last week's column that there were plenty of things to like about patch 1.16, but the marquee feature (quests) was the topic of discussion and therefore was the relevant part. Having gotten more time in Final Fantasy XIV since then, I've been enjoying some of the other improvements brought about with the patch, most of which come down to quality-of-life improvements that are still welcome. (I will say that I'm still getting accustomed to switching targeting modes, but that's mostly a result of my having a too-heavy trigger finger on my Naga's buttons when my action bar isn't up.) There was another fairly major gameplay change that crept in with the patch, however, and while it wasn't exactly kept a secret, it was almost too easy to overlook it in light of other additions. Heck, I did overlook it except for a brief mention -- your MP recovers naturally out of combat right now. It seems like a small change, but its overall impact on fighting in Final Fantasy XIV is anything but negligible. MP has gone from being a limited resource to being eternally renewable, and that has a big impact on almost every class.
The Mog Log: A patch called quest
When I sat down at my computer on Thursday, I was honestly feeling a real sense of trepidation, and not just because it meant that my column would be in later than usual. (I really dislike being late.) Patch 1.16 is important, after all, not just because of the changes it brought but because it was the first proof-of-concept for Naoki Yoshida's plans for the game. I've never doubted that Yoshida had the brains and the genre knowledge necessary to make a great game. I have been very pleased with everything he's said about Final Fantasy XIV and have been an ardent admirer of the public face he's put on. But 1.16 was the first time we'd get to see what it was like when he actually put content into practice. Would it be awesome? Would it be lackluster? Or would it be outright awful? So I was nervous when I logged on. A good patch would be a huge draw, but a lackluster one would destroy a lot of player confidence and a lot of slowly accumulated goodwill. So what are the actual net effects of this addition to Final Fantasy XIV?
The Mog Log: Playing in the epilogue
We still don't have a roadmap for the future of Final Fantasy XI, but now seems like a fine time to start speculating. Yes, the February update was nice, but it was only a patch on certain issues -- it makes leveling lower-level jobs far easier without giving players much of anything new to do. And while the game is at an age when running out of things to do is pretty darn unlikely, we're still going to need some content on the horizon, something to look forward to. (Especially since a lot of the older content we can do has been somewhat invalidated.) I've said before that I'm hoping for another boxed expansion, but I've also said before that I have my doubts about whether or not that's actually viable. But even if we just get another add-on trilogy (which seems more likely even if it's not what I want), we're still going to be dealing with a massive shadow that Final Fantasy XI has been living under for a very long time now. To put it very bluntly, we're running out of a resource that's far more valuable than PS2 hard drive space -- story.
The Mog Log: Echo chamber
So the third producer's letter from Naoki Yoshida is out, and I remain insanely impressed by this man. He's been shouldering quite the burden with all of the changes to be made, and he's been doing so with grace and aplomb. I've talked before about how refreshing it is to be receiving regular communication from the game's producer, and the fact that his letters communicate clear and interesting goals definitely helps. The list of planned updates has expanded again, too, and it's starting to help paint a more coherent picture of where the game is going as a whole. Storylines and world quests are en route, more class-based gear is coming into the game, there are instanced dungeons on deck for the higher-level bands... they're big changes. And while we don't know the implementation of several attributes just yet, it looks like Final Fantasy XIV is moving away from the highly sandbox-based core of its launch playstyle. If anything, it's looking a lot like another game altogether.
The Mog Log: Let's talk about EXP, baby
If there was one thing I always hated about Final Fantasy XI, it was the leveling process. Not the grouping for levels, which was fun and often a good distraction from the monotony of camping and grinding. (It was obnoxious trying to level Dragoon, sure, but that was excellent motivation to spend more time as a healer.) No, it was something much simpler -- the actual speed of the level-to-level process, or more accurately, the earth-shattering lag between levels that only increased as you got higher. Both Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy XI are on the horns of an experience change, with the former having happened and the latter still to be seen as of this writing (I'm working fairly far ahead, so watch the patch drop this week). Seeing as how leveling is kind of a big deal until you've reached the level cap in everything, the changes are worth examining for what they add to the game and for whether or not the changes are actually worthwhile and useful.
The Mog Log: Durability is counterintuitive
I hadn't really understood the people complaining about repair costs in Final Fantasy XIV until I started running into the same problem they had. Oh, certainly, I knew what they were saying, but I wasn't able to replicate the problem and couldn't really speak to it as a result. In a way, that meant I was actually kind of glad when I started noticing that repairing my Iron Falchion was costing far more money than leves were bringing in. (Mostly I was suddenly wondering how I would continue playing a class I adored, but that's a different discussion.) Repairs and item durability aren't flashy parts of the game, but they are pretty vital, since trying to work in all red gear is going to severely hamper your efforts. Now that I've experimented a bit more with durability and figured out more of how the cost is calculated, it seemed prudent to share what I know so that other players can help keep their gear in top condition. After all, you don't want to be walking around with the little Gear Damage icon unless you absolutely can't avoid it.
The Mog Log: A year of two games
It's really hard to believe that I've been writing this column for an entire year, especially when the start of it seems so fresh in my mind. Back in January of 2010, the first installment went live on a Sunday, sort of a television-style early premier event before moving to a regular timeslot on Saturday. Though it was mostly a collection of links to useful sites for fans of Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV, it was still the start of something that's clearly stood the test of time, at least a year's worth. To be totally accurate, I should say that the first anniversary of the column fell on Monday. But I decided to go a little bit later than an exact year, so this week is when we're looking back over the past year of columns. And it's been an interesting time to be doing such a column, since we've had a rollercoaster ride with Final Fantasy XIV's launch and subsequent issues, not to mention the groundswell of content for Final Fantasy XI. So I'm going to take a look back to see what worked, what didn't, and what would best be never spoken of again.
The Mog Log: The fall of the ivory tower
No, I'm not talking about Delkfutt's Tower. That's cermet, not ivory, and by all indication it's still standing just fine. No, I'm looking at the ivory tower that any Final Fantasy XI fan is familiar with, that high and imposing structure from whence developers hand down their proclamations, nevermind whether said proclamations have any relation to things people would actually want. Considering that Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV have both been seeing a lot of new and open communication from the development team, it's safe to say that those days are over. Whether or not you like the content of the updates is... actually pertinent, now. The developers seem to be listening to us in a way that we're just not accustomed to. I mean, seriously, show of hands, who expected the removal of Fields of Valor cooldowns? It's a big change. And it makes me hopeful about both games, because in light of the leadership shakeups, it looks as if the new development direction is something I can really get behind. I might have a few reservations here and there, but last week's news leaves me excited.
