[Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn] Next Beta This Wednesday July 10 (Lasts Five Days!)

Regina Fong

If the next incarnation of the game actually has an auction house I will give it another shot. That was the one feature that no matter how they tried to work around it, the lack of it just pissed me off.

Oh, that and the anglophobic character limit on typed text-speech. I don't mind being a westerner playing a game that deliberately caters to eastern preferences, but that limit wasn't an eastern preference it was an ignorant "fuck you" to English-language players.

The Dude With Herpes

Quical wrote: »

I'm not quite sure why, in this game and also in the original FF14, they renamed the races that were around in FF11. They're the same races aren't they? And they're invented by the makers. So... why rename them?

They're not the same races. It's not even the same world, gods or anything like that.

They said they kept the races with a lot of similarities to the XI ones to ease transition for players and to give them some level of familiarity out of the box.

But yeah, not the same races at all.

Shimazu

Holy titties this game is looking good. There's definitely going to be a resurgence when it comes out. >:O

The Dude With Herpes

Oh Yoshi-P don't even hint at a collaboration between XI and XIV. That's just mean.

Ryadic

I sure as hell hope this next release goes well. I was really excited about this game and after the reviews I just didn't want to waste the money. But this is a big surprise.

The Dude With Herpes

Anyone who hasn't watched that video above really should. I'm only about 20m into it and it's great. Just push the CC button, it's got a full, accurate, translation.

Yoshi-P is struggling to hold back his opinions on the PS3

EDIT: Apparently they are using some of the technology behind that real-time Agni demo from E3 in XIV 2.0. Nice. EDIT2: "the core of this demo [Agni] is used for the FFXIV one"

EDIT3: "anyone that can run the current game will be able to run 2.0 with better graphics"

EDIT4: They're planning on making regional servers. Not sure how I feel about that. I'd prefer some way of linking the regional servers to worldwide servers. I like that aspect of XI; yeah, I'm connecting to JP servers, but so is everyone else. XI doesn't really have movement based gameplay though so lag isn't as big of an issue. Still, I like having servers that any given time of the day there's people all over the world playing. You'll still be able to choose other regions servers, but probably americans will play on US servers, etc.

EDIT4: Level Sync and Level Capped dungeons and content is their solution to players who are going into 2.0 with everything at max already. Plus they plan on launching with several level cap raids and dungeons. And Chocobo Raising.

EDIT5: Many cutscenes will be fully voiced; you can choose your voice language regardless of what region you're playing from.

EDIT6: TP is becoming a resource like MP (or Rage in WoW, if you play that) that you expend and it refills over time, as opposed to the current system where it must be built up. This lets battles start with a bang instead of having awhile building up TP before you can do anything interesting. I makes combat move faster, is more engaging, and allows them to set up a system that will make future PVP content (? no elaboration) possible.

EDIT7: abilities are being split into 3 types, Abilities > Weaponskills > Magic. Abilities will still be managed via cooldown, but Weaponskills and Magic will instead be managed by their resource and not time.

EDIT8: Tifa's Final Heaven is planned as one of the Limit Breaks.

EDIT9: Samurai and Ninja are probably planned jobs; Yoshi said he doesn't want to implement Masamune till they are there.

EDIT10: Arcanist is a newly announced Battle Class. Weapon is a book. Looks like Carbuncle is with them in the art. Pet class. Damage via DoT's and debuffs. Carbuncle will have a tank version and a caster version. Will come out with 2.0 launch.

EDIT11: Summoner is the new Job. They don't summon Primals, but summon Primal imbued pets. They plan on having a separate feature that relates to actual Primal Summons. No real details. Currently 4 summons, based on Primals (Ifrit and Garuda based announced, other two not); they will have different 'roles'. Summoner won't be ready for 2.0 launch.

EDIT12: XIV's soundtrack should be out on itunes now. I don't use it so I can't check.

EDIT13: Knee Highs. The end.

That's most of the important tidbits from that video for people who don't want to watch it.

Professor Snugglesworth

Shimazu wrote: »

Holy titties this game is looking good. There's definitely going to be a resurgence when it comes out. >:O

How would that even work? I thought the ultimate goal of FFXIV was to get people away from FFXI and try the new hot thing.

Of course, now FFXI probably has a good 2 or 3 years left after the FFXIV debacle. And if 2.0 doesn't launch with a significant amount of content, there still won't be a reason for people to leave FFXI.

Wasn't there something in the mythos that suggested that Eorzea and Vanadiel took place in the same world, just continents apart?

The Dude With Herpes

No, They're completely different worlds, not related at all; they went out of their way to make that clear when they announced the game.

And I don't know where you're getting the assumption that XI has only 2-3 years after this. XI is still highly profitable; they've said it is the most profitable FF game in their history; and a new (full, not booster) xpack is coming out next year with a ton of new features including new jobs, new continent, and more.

I don't think XI is going anywhere for a good long time. Development for the two games are completely seperate.

If anything I'd expect a means by which they can encourage players to play both at once. In fact back at launch (might not be relevant anymore) they said one of their goals was to make XIV in such a way that it wasn't all consuming so players could continue to play both games (this was actually one of the justifications for the terribad fatigue system).

Obviously these things can change, and probably have; but I don't see any reason SE would want players to quit XI when it is still very popular and profitable; and there is zero indication that lore wise XIV and XI are in any way linked.

Professor Snugglesworth

I underestimated: I meant more like 5 years or more. It really all depends how popular 2.0 is (of if it'll even get popular).

I really wish they would just release a technical update to FFXI, like a Vita version or even a new PC version created with 2.0's engine.

The Dude With Herpes

Updated my above post fully with all of the highlights of that video for people who don't want to sit through the whole hour.

Professor Snugglesworth

Heck, I watched 20 minutes of it and I'm craving for more. These guys must be the best actors ever, or they really are having a fun time working on this game. Their confidence brings me confidence.

Compare their laid back, upfront nature to the Lightning Returns announcement trailer. There is a clear difference in attitudes here. Maybe the former is the result of working with a metaphorical gun pointed at their head, but they really do a good job selling the game. They even responded to the "bullshot" rumors. I didn't think Japan even know about that.

I really want to know how Yoshi-P got this position. According to Wikis, he was hardly a big name in Square Enix before this. Did he personally volunteer for the job because no one else was crazy enough to take it? Was his name picked out of random in a hat? Did he view this as a chance to get his name out there?

Whatever the circumstances, or however tired he must be behind the scenes, this whole thing has certainly worked in his favor. He's now a significantly bigger name than he was before this mess.

The Dude With Herpes

I'm sure he's tired but he seems to eat it up. Every producers letter, every interview, every tradeshow, he just seems like he loves it.

Some people just really thrive under pressure. I'd bet it was a situation of 'no one else wanted the job' but he saw it as a challenge and dived in head first.

I suspect going forward he's gonna be someone to watch at SE; and I hope they have the good sense to keep him around and give him good projects regardless of the outcome of 2.0.

Professor Snugglesworth

Keep him around?

Dude probably got tenure if he actually volunteered for the position. I'm sure he's revered over at Square now like some sort of savior. Whatever freedoms Nomura has earned, Yoshida has either matched it or exceeded it in the short timeframe he has made his name known.

Also, anyone got any videos or screenshots of his in-game character? His NPC role sounds hilarious, as the only person who is actually celebrating the Meteor falling (and apparently was jailed for it).

Next time a hippie guitarist preaches good tidings over an incoming apocalypse, maybe give him a listen.

KiTA

But here's the important question, which will define his comparisons to that hack Nomura for all time: Is he obsessed with zippers and belts?

Shimazu

So I downloaded the FFXIV soundtrack to throw on my iPod (I'm hyping myself up to play this game again)... On the drive home at the end of the day, the "Good King Moggle Mog" song came on and I laughed myself to tears and had to pull over. I don't know why it was so damned funny to me, I guess just because I'd never heard it and didn't even know it was on the soundtrack. I'm sad I missed out on that content, but I can't bring myself to reinstall until 2.0 hits. ;P

Also, shuffle put on the Limsa Lominsa theme a couple of times and I was feeling incredibly nostalgic for the days I'd spend sitting in front of my anvil just bullshitting with the other crafters. I wish I could be unemployed again.

When they hired on a whole new team, I had serious doubts that it would be salvagable. When they put out the roadmap, I started to think "these guys mean business." And now that we're approaching the re-release and they've begun their marketing, I'm just blown away by how far the game has come. This game is going to be big (for real this time).

Professor Snugglesworth

Shimazu wrote: »

So I downloaded the FFXIV soundtrack to throw on my iPod (I'm hyping myself up to play this game again)... On the drive home at the end of the day, the "Good King Moggle Mog" song came on and I laughed myself to tears and had to pull over. I don't know why it was so damned funny to me, I guess just because I'd never heard it and didn't even know it was on the soundtrack. I'm sad I missed out on that content, but I can't bring myself to reinstall until 2.0 hits. ;P

Who's to say that battle won't be included in 2.0 (and also made better)?

The new Summoner job has Ifrit (or rather the soul of Ifrit or whatever), who is still mentioned as a Primal, so that should mean the Ifrit boss battle will be left in. Don't see any reason to leave out the Mog battle.

The Dude With Herpes

They've said they want the primal battles to be something that matters; last I heard they were gonna be world-ish raid bosses of some sort.

The Summoner doesn't get Ifrit; he gets a pet infused with Ifrits 'element'; and 3 others (one is Garuda, no word on others; gonna guess titan and shiva, for starters). But they have gone out of their way on a couple occasions to make it clear that Summoners won't get normal Primal summons like they do in XI. They may get a limit break that is a Primal or something, but not constant pets.

lionheart_m

But will there be Greatswords and Dark Knights? This game REALLY needs Greatswords. Screw Warriors and their Axes...

Professor Snugglesworth

The Dude With Herpes wrote: »

The Summoner doesn't get Ifrit; he gets a pet infused with Ifrits 'element'; and 3 others (one is Garuda, no word on others; gonna guess titan and shiva, for starters). But they have gone out of their way on a couple occasions to make it clear that Summoners won't get normal Primal summons like they do in XI. They may get a limit break that is a Primal or something, but not constant pets.

I know, I just didn't recall the exact term for the Summoner's Not Ifrit. My point was that it would be silly to have Ifrit the Primal listed in the lore but no longer available as a boss fight.

Off-topic, but I had been real interested in Guild Wars 2 based on the positive buzz and streamlined MMO content.

But then I watched the GiantBomb Quicklook and my enthusiasm waned considerably. Were they just not showing the best parts, or were they more or less accurate of calling it "a generic MMO with a free subscription"?

Vincent Grayson

The GiantBomb guys don't like MMOs. I haven't seen the quicklook, but based on the podcast only one of them has played it, and he just kinda dicked around in the starting area and decided he didn't like it.

Professor Snugglesworth

The cutscenes did look pretty silly, though.

Speaking of, how much voice acting was in vanilla FFXIV in total? One of my earliest disappointments (of many) was how the game started off with a few intro cutscenes with voice acting....and then nothing. For hours.

It sounds like 2.0 is going to feature significantly more voice acting, but I hope it's used for lengthy key points in the story and not just little snippets here and there.

The Dude With Herpes

Yeah, I usually enjoy Giantbomb but they have a tendancy to put people who don't like a game/genre on a review/quicklook for a game and I have no clue why.

Jeff was already bitching about GW2 before he ever sat down to do the quicklook with brad. Even if he wasn't the one playing his tone creeped through the whole thing. I haven't ever even played GW2 and I felt like because of his attitude it was coloring the whole quicklook. In the Fall of Cybertron quicklook with a High Moon dev Jeff was being a dumbass about no TF's were 'real' other than G1 stuff, and his pissy attitude about transformers as a whole was all over his terribly biased and incredibly bad review for the game.

It's weird. The thing I love about Giantbomb is it isj ust some dudes, and they don't try to pretend otherwise. It's also the exact thing I hate about it because even a tiny bit if foresight and professionalism would improve a lot of problems with the site. they're also across the board dismissive and asses about the entire genre of JRPG's which is just silly.

But yeah, this thread isn't about Giantbomb so....uh....yeah; Umm....I don't know about voiced cutscenes in XIV; outside of the starter creation one, I haven't had any voiced cutscenes in any story quests up to and through level 30 so...I'm thinking there's not any really.

Professor Snugglesworth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReqjrO4-RxI&hd=1

That is one freaky looking Ifrit. If a Facehugger attached itself to him, this is what the hatched baby would look like.

Looks like a neat battle though. Can't wait to play it on 2.0's engine.

The Dude With Herpes

is this the 'real' XIV thread now, or are we supposed to be using this for just 2.0 stuff and the other for current stuff?

Either way, this is applicable to both:

XIV's sub fees will be discontinued on Sept 29th

What this means is that if you're currently subscribed on that date you can continue playing till the server shutdowns on Nov 11th (but just remember, the last server save is Nov 1st, so after that is just dicking around) without paying; but if you want to play you need to pay prior to Sept 29th or you will be unable to come back until 2.0 goes live.

Vincent Grayson

So despite the massive revamp and everything, people are keeping their same characters?

The Dude With Herpes

Yep, everything carries over fully.

Speculation abound as to how they're going to work out the new engine/models and whatnot; many think that they'll let people do free, at a minimum, redesigns for their characters; some think they'll go as far as let you choose your race/sex/visuals all over again (since they added in new genders for a couple of the races).

I have no idea about that though, I doubt even SE is sure about that.

Either way though, you'll keep all your stats, levels, gear, and gold; everything about your character anyway. If you're going to lose anything they haven't said so yet.

Professor Snugglesworth

The Dude With Herpes wrote: »

is this the 'real' XIV thread now, or are we supposed to be using this for just 2.0 stuff and the other for current stuff?

For now this thread is exclusively for 2.0 discussions, as was suggested in the vanilla thread.

Today is supposed to be the letters from the producer event, not sure what time it is. Hopefully he'll read off some of the questions Bri kindly posted on my behalf.

Just_Bri_Thanks

Yeah, about that...

Sorry.

I blame Guild Wars 2.

Professor Snugglesworth

Oh.

Darn.

It's actually tomorrow though, not today. Is there still time to submit questions?

Professor Snugglesworth

The "Letter from the Producer" event was streamed live, but during a time that constituted as bed time for me. Not sure if it was even subtitled like the last event, but in any case a translated summary has not popped up yet.

This, on the other hand, was just posted:

Oh yes, I do like the look of that. I would very much enjoy a beach resort. Probably won't be used until an Expansion Pack that also introduces swimming (which they said would be implemented, but only after "flying", as they felt that was more important).

Better let me customize my own beach house.

The Dude With Herpes

I want to see some concepts of how they're gonna design the Golden Saucer to fit in the XIV world. They seem pretty adamant about getting it in there; but they couldn't leave it as loud and bright as it is in VII.

Professor Snugglesworth

I would imagine it'll just be something that highly resembles FFVII's Gold Saucer, but is not necessarily the same, actual Gold Saucer that somehow traveled through space and time into FFXIV's world.

I'm mainly interested in what kind of mini-games they have in store.

I don't care how much people defend FFXIII-2: they need to at least agree Serendipity was nowhere near as fun as Gold Saucer. Not even close.

Good mini-games are quick to learn and play. Throw in a bunch of rules and extra shit people need to learn, and it kills any desire to actually play them. FFVII's mini-games were quick-button games based on simple concepts like Rock Paper Scissors and NES driving games. They were simple, and therefore easier to keep going back to.

Hopefully Yoshi-P has the same sentiment: I had to look up what Parley was and why he insisted on getting rid of it: http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Parley

Yep, sounds quite stupid. Good on him.

Hunter_Killers

I'm not sure why they thought having backpedaling was better over just facing that direction and running. Everyone that understands why has that key unbound and uses the camera to keep moving at full speed in the desired direction. It's also disappointing they decided to remove the start/stop/turn/etc animations, the reasoning was gameplay except even GW2 has those.

The Dude With Herpes

Hunter_Killers wrote: »

I'm not sure why they thought having backpedaling was better over just facing that direction and running. Everyone that understands why has that key unbound and uses the camera to keep moving at full speed in the desired direction. It's also disappointing they decided to remove the start/stop/turn/etc animations, the reasoning was gameplay except even GW2 has those.

What are you referring to?

Hunter_Killers

The Dude With Herpes wrote: »

Hunter_Killers wrote: »

I'm not sure why they thought having backpedaling was better over just facing that direction and running. Everyone that understands why has that key unbound and uses the camera to keep moving at full speed in the desired direction. It's also disappointing they decided to remove the start/stop/turn/etc animations, the reasoning was gameplay except even GW2 has those.

What are you referring to?

Any of the videos showing off ARR.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIOq-2T5V5A&feature=player_detailpage#t=191s

Professor Snugglesworth

That could just be a toggle option. The Last Remnant had it, for example.

Plus it might control differently using a controller versus keyboard. It's an Alpha build regardless.

Hunter_Killers

I should have included this.

While the animations were nice, the development team's number one focus in A Realm Reborn is on gameplay so even though they were nice animations, the team made the decision to remove them.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/53515-Realm-Reborn-downgrade?p=821375#post821375

The Dude With Herpes

Eh, it's not like the game is even in Alpha; that could change either before 2.0's launch or later on. They already have those animations, and even with a new engine it's not like it would be terribly hard to implement later.

Professor Snugglesworth

Wait, so they're saying none of the animations shown in that video are going to be in the final? No Dragoon spear launches or back-flipping archers?

Edit: Oh wait, they're talking about the existing animations in vanilla?

The Dude With Herpes

No, just the specific animations like getting up to speed running, changing directions, etc.