#4 Enviado: 23:42 02/06/2009
Resumen entrevista JeuxVideo
- FFXIV is 8 years old project from FFXI experience
- Story and gameplay will be totally different from FFXI
- Story promised to be more epic than FFXI
- Recorded voices for NPC for a better interaction and immersion
- Game is aimed for neophytes and fans
- They're hesitant to port it on 360 because of Xbox Live (i.e. PSN = $ and XL = points)
- Playing with pad will be featured of course and it will be intuitive
- How does Amoury System work? They can't reveal anything for now but they said you can change your job as much as you want between fights by changing equipment (like FFXI's automatons?)
- Game will be based on one main quest said to be very difficult and come with casual quests
- It won't be about powered characters, PT will be about abilities and what you can bring in your PT: veteran players and occasional players will be able to group together
- There'll still be intense fights against monsters
- Concerning communication: it was the will of the team who wished to do the opposite of FFXI's strategy: getting feedbacks and comments from the beginning
- Linkshell system overhaul to make PTs and online tools to help players by gathering informations of the social life of FFXIV
- Premiere Sites system will be extended with events' calendar
Entrevista FFXIVCore
In the alpha I wasn't able to jump, will there be jumping in FFXIV? And swimming? Maybe even climbing?
Its going to be the same as in FFXI. So currently there will be no jumping. If its necessary we might add swimming and climbing in the future.
What measures will be taken to combat RMT and botting?
We're going work hard on it, same as in FFXI with the task force. Also for example, at the moment we're trying to add a filter in FFXI to combat it on the spot, instead of waiting for a patch in order to combat the issues. It will be more flexible.
How will the story be told? Powerful story is an essential part of the FF-series, and as far as the producers have said it will be important in XIV as well.
Yes the story is defiantly very important for FF14. We will have high quality cutscenes with voiceovers and fx, please look forward to it.
There will also be voiceovers on mostly every character/npc in the game.
What will endgame be like? Special areas, NMs, etc.
Maybe not from the beginning, but when it comes to a good time we will be implementing some very challenging encounters, among other things. We will have a level cap at the beginning, when it will be unlocked in due time we will release great raid content. We've learned a lot from FFXI and realized what is too easy and too hard.
Exactly how much more casual will FF XIV be than FF XI? Is FF XIV designed to try to appeal to a new casual crowd and leave the hardcore group players in FF XI? Is FF XIV trying to attract both at the same time and try to become the first historical game that successfully combines hardcore and casual aspects?
The first question about the casual aspect. We will have a casual aspect, but we're not going to only target the casual players. Its really a users choice. We will be able to provide a variety of aspects to the game that casual players will enjoy but the hardcore players will enjoy it as well. And also for FFXI and FFXIV we aim to support both players, although FFXIV is using a new graphics engine, so we're providing current FFXI players with an option if they want to play FFXI of course that is fine, but they're also very welcome to play FFXIV.
Hiromichi Tanaka also says that it would be very nice if the players of other Final Fantasy games who never played FFXI would play FFXIV. So that is one of the goals.
So basically they're aiming at the Final Fantasy fans who haven't played MMO's due to having a casual aspect of FFXIV, but also at the same time giving the hardcore MMO players something to enjoy as well.
What about PVP?
We have the same stance on PVP as we had in FFXI, we're having a focus on PVE, but we may introduce some sort of sports-type that might be tied to PVP in the future. What we're worrying about is that we dont want to have any PK'ing or harassment types of activities in the game. So in order to provide a safe environment to everyone and a game to enjoy. So we're not focusing on PVP.
Pay to play or free to play?
The game will cost to play. There's a fee for 30 days each. Currently there are no other plans to offer other options.
No PlayOnline, can you elaborate on the new account features?
We will be using the SquareEnix ID, and also have a system that will be linked to that system.
Is there going to be instanced content?
Guild leaves itself is like instances. Other people will not be able to interfer with you. There will also be instanced raid content, its a type of guild leaves as well. But we cannot tell you how many players it will be yet however. There's also going to be many different types of guild leaves, if you want to play as a casual player it will be fine for instance.
Can you give more specific details about what things can we customize in character creation? I mean things like body size, how many faces will there be available?
Unfortunately we cannot show you the character creation screen yet, but you will be able to change things such as your ears, eyes, hair color, shape of your face. There will be lots of variety.
I'm curious about how advancing in your jobs works. Like will it be a FF Tactics style? Once you've mastered certain skills in a certain job, you unlock another?
It will be slightly different from Final Fantasy Tactics system. You will be gaining abilities by leveling up your skills, but, its not the same as Final Fantasy Tactics. So if you're having a high skill in something it doesnt mean the other one is going to be lower. if you grow in one skill and it gets high, you can still level up your other skills high.
And how will the 'levels' of the mobs work? Does the game have some kinda system in place to adjust mob difficulty based on character stats and current status of party?
Its not going to be changing depending on the players skills. Its fixed. So you get to chose yourself who or what you want to fight.
Auto-run/Auto-follow and Macros saved A LOT of time in FFXI. Could we expect these things (or improved/altered versions) in FFXIV?
Yes it will be in the game.
In FFXI, if you weren't fighting or crafting, there was definitely a lack of things to do. Could we expect more types of things to do in FFXIV? More mini-games, casino, card games like in FFVIII or FFIX, more in-depth gardening/fishing/etc. ?
Yes, we're planning several things so you can enjoy the game, for example the fishing you mention will be a class. But outside of the class system there will be other things to do. For example during FFXI players figured out a way to invent a new game by using the existing system. So that's going to be interesting, we'd like to do that for FFXIV as well. So we're looking forward to what the players will do with our system there.
There were many Summons in FFXI, but for an online world, I never felt there were enough. What Summons can we expect to see in FFXIV and will there be more variety than in FFXI?
We can't really mention which summons will be in. But what we can say is that some is going to be really important in the storyline. It's not going to be included in the game like FFXI. At the moment we don't really have a class, a pet class / summoner. Not at the moment at least. So it will be implemented in the game in a different way. Please check back with us in the future.
Will there be Samuari's in the game, what about the free roaming? What about the freedom in the world, exploration?
We won't have the samuari as a job, because we don't have a job system. And we don't have a class like the Samuari. But it depends on how you're going to select your skills and developing your character. So when you reach a certain skill and/or gain certain skills, you will have a title for yourself. It may be Samuari or may not be - we cannot tell you that yet. So please look for an announacement in the future.
How large will the in-game world of Eorzea be in comparison to the in-game world of Vana'Diel? As in actual space the characters may move around in.
We can't really compare to the current world of Vana'Diel since it's been expanding a lot. But if we compare to the original Vana'Diel, this time it may be the same or slightly smaller, however as you can see there will be a much more detailed world, in terms of graphics and content. So it's unlikely you will notice that it might be slightly smaller than the original Vana'Diel world.
One thing to note is that FFXI used its own system, this time Final Fantasy XIV is going to be seamless. No zoning! Just like in World of Warcraft.
You'll be able to walk from the city to the battlefield without any zoning.
Is the Economic situation of FFXIV going to be mainly player based with Auction Houses or non-player based with NPC ran stores?
We can't go into details about this just yet. We're very sorry about that. This question is better suited to be asked in a couple of months time. However, it's going to be not the same as with auctionhouses, but something very interesting.
Also, this time the weapons are going to be worn out, a durability system. So you will have to repair them and it will cost money.
When is the beta? Any more info?
We dont have any specific time at the moment. But this current version here at Gamescom is an alpha version. And before we start the beta we're going to have another version, a developer version, this time we're concentrating on guild leaves, next time we're going to be concentrating on something else. When it's ready we'll start the beta version. And of course since we're going to launch the game in 2010 it should before that... so. The beta is not going to be in the far future *laughs* We want to do it as soon as possible.
In World of Warcraft, you can now pay a very small fee of in game currency at a Barber Shop and change the face, hairstyle, facial hair, and hair color. Will we see this in FFXIV?
At the moment we're not thinking about it. If we have a lot of requests from the players it might get added at a later time. Not at the launch time at least. In the future perhaps. Also we don't think changing the skin color or face shape is going to be added at all. But maybe hair color.
Can we expect exp loss?
We're still adjusting and discussing this. It may or may not be an exp-loss when you die in FFXIV. But it will be a lot less than it's in FFXI. However, as said we might not include an exp loss at all in FFXIV. In the alpha version we have exp loss currently, but this is still being adjusted, since it's an alpha version. So it's not decided on.
Is the characters we played in the alpha version yesterday buffed?
[They all start out and laugh then proceeds to say]: yes, they're very buffed.
Will the class/job system go into more depth and branch out into different combinations. Or is a wider variety of jobs not yet released and still currently in development?
It's not a job system anymore. We call it classes now. It depends on what weapon you use. And again, we're calling it a class system in FFXIV this time, so it's not a job system. This new system will allow for a lot flexibility, and also because you can switch weapons between the battles (not during battles) this is giving you much more variety. Although this is not something super new in the history of MMO's, we've seen it before in games like Ultima Online and Meridian 59 (editors note).
[We're now at the end of our 45 minutes time with Hiromichi Tanaka and we get told there's only space to ask one more question, I show them all the questions I have left and we all laugh, because there's lots left to still ask, however we're offered to ask them through email, so expect more information to go up in awhile from now]
Will the Linkshell system still be called "Linkshell"?
We can't go into details on that just yet, but it's not going to be called Linkshell anymore. However, it's going to be something very interesting. You'll be able to join a kind of organization, but we can't say more on that right now, you'll be able to have different aims and focuses. It'll be very interesting.
System Requirements?
We're not done with analyzing this just yet, but it's going to be fairly high since FFXIV is going to be on HD on Playstation 3.
Entrevista Famitsu al productor del juego Tanaka (videoentrevista, hay videos en Youtube con substitulos en ingles)
We catch up to the always busy Tanaka!
On the Gamescon floor, we decided to schedule in an interview with the Producer of Final Fantasy XIV (which will be called FFXIV from here on) Tanaka Hiromichi and FFXIV’s global onkine producer Sage Sundi. We’ll report the interview with Tanaka Hiromichi. Since we’ll report on the interview with Sage Sundi at a later time, please look forward to that as well!
First, we ask Tanaka to personally explain the portion of the battle that is playable at this year’s Gamescon.
Tanaka: Well, I’m currently playing a guildleve called “Defeat the large cluster of Puks”
(TN: That is a poor translation of the guildleve name, sorry lol)
What are guildleves?
Through the adventurer guild in Eorzoa, guildleves are passes that are issued to visiting adventurers for work. If you achieve the requested job, you can receive various rewards. This is similar to quests that you often see in offline RPGs. The big difference is that you are able to cooperate with and help out fellow players. Being able to play alone or with a large group, the epitome of MMORPGs is packed in.
Tanaka: Just as the title of the leave suggests, you should defeat the puks, but first there are no puks present. You defeat Dodos and trick the puks into appearing.
Even elements such as solving riddles have been prepared. However, as it is a very large field, will you search for the target monster yourself?
Tanaka: Because the positions of the enemies are displayed on the map during a guildleve, it becomes a matter of searching those areas. However, as this time it is an alpha version, they are not displayed.
It’s said a lot, but the graphics are impressive.
Tanaka: Because it is still in development, the current version still has rough spots. In this version, the background is rather simply displayed, but in the final version, each tree will be displayed one by one to an extremely far distance.
(Here he begins to engage the Dodo.)
Tanaka: In “FFXI”, when you selected the “Attack” command, we used an auto attack system that would attack automatically. However, in “FFXIV” it is essential that you select the command every time.
Are the icons lined up on the bottom of the screen commands?
Tanaka: That’s right. They are called “Action Commands”. This interface, too, is still tentative. This is again a comparison to “FFXI”, but a characteristic of this game is that you are able to draw out your weapon at any time. It’s not like drawing out your weapon for a fight in “FFXI”, but you can draw your weapon even in places with no enemies and run around.
(Tanaka defeats the Dodos one after the other.)
Please tell us a bit more about the commands.
Tanaka: The ones lined up in a row below are the abilities in the current set. From these you choose the ability, which is registered in the gauge above as a command. In this game there are two gauges. You interact with the right and left hand. For example, because I hold my shield in my left hand, the commands related to the shield are registered on the left hand side.
(TN: I’m not sure if this means you can the shield in your right hand too. Just that he is currently holding it in his left hand.)
Will you activate a command soon?
Tanaka: When the gauge called the “Action Gauge” fills up, you can activate it. Moreover, there is also one called the “Power Gauge”, and by accumulating power, you influence your hits and the power of your skills. Again, on the bottom right of the screen is a gauge called “TP”, and depending on the condition (TN: amount?) of this accumulated TP, the skills you can activate change. That is why it is important to act toward accumulating TP during battles.
You’re saying that you accumulate TP from attacking enemies and conversely taking attacks from enemies?
Tanaka: That’s right.
(Here Tanaka lets out his blade’s special attack “Red Lotus Blade”.)
Oh! That’s a skill that I recognize (lawl).
Tanaka: Lettuce (lol).
Red Lotus Blade was one of the special skills introduced in “FFXI”. It was deemed the pet name “Lettuce” among the users.
Do you also choose magic etc. from these action commands?
Tanaka: That’s right. Depending on the present weapon (skills) the contents of the action commands change. For example, now I’m holding a sword, but if I were to change to a staff it would change to a variety of commands for a mage.
So that means that acquired skills will also line up in the action commands?
Tanaka: That would be the case. There are skills that you can’t acquire if your weapon’s skill doesn’t go up.
In the end will you have an amazing amount of skills lined up in the Action Command?
Tanaka: You have up to 10 abilities that you can set in the Action Command. It means you will customize which 10 skills you will use in the set.
It’s something like matching the action command to your own play style, right?
Tanaka: That’s right.
What’s the reason for adopting this battle system?
Tanaka: First of all, we wanted to construct a more proactive battle than an auto-battle. More than that, the reasoning was that we wanted to increase the strategy by having you choose your own commands. In order to clearly give defined roles based on ones job, “FFXI” has a premise of having a certain amount of party play. With “FFXIV” you can play alone, or have fun in small groups of two or three. Depending on those situations, you can choose how to share roles.
What is the “Smile Mark” in the Action Command?
Tanaka: That is an emote. In “FFXI” you performed emotes via text commands, but with “FFXIV” you can choose it with a graphical user interface. The bag mark next to it selects your items.
We saw it in the presentation, but the expressions of the emotes this time are really great. Can you do them during battle as well?
Tanaka: At the moment you can’t use them in battle (laugh).
This is a question regarding the interface. Since the resolution of future generation machines has been raised, it’s easy to properly distribute chat and statuses etc. and see information. For example, where will party members’ statuses etc. be displayed?
Tanaka: In the initial condition, it is on the right side of the screen, but in actuality the layout of the screen can be changed freely on the player’s end, such as moving the window with the mouse.
What is the player’s point of view?
Tanaka: Since this is only an alpha version, I don’t know how it will turn out after this, but it is a shoulder camera from over the shoulder; a so-called normal third person view. You’ll be able to change it to 3 different views.
This ends the guildleve. Using a warp point, Tanaka warps to the aetheryte of the guildleve’s starting point.
Will the main method of transportation in “FFXIV” be aetheryte?
Tanaka: Being able to use the warp is for when you clear the guildleve. It’s necessary to actually travel to the various destinations on your adventure. You’ll probably reflect on it as a convenient method of transportation, but it’s not something you can use at anytime. (TN: Not too sure about that last sentence. But basically you only warp after the guildleve, you need to physically travel to the spot it seems.)
Thank you so much for explaining the game system. Now, we will ask about the condition of the current display and the development from here on out. It was a sensational announcement at June’s E3, but we were rather surprised that less than 3 months later that it’s already playable.
Tanaka: We’re coming from the development side, but since we’ve been working one thing or another for 3 or 4 years, it feels more like “finally” to us (laugh). Concerning this version of “FFXIV”, we had the concept of presenting a certain amount to the public and taking in their opinions from as early of a build as possible.
Entrevista de Famitsu a Sage Sundi, director de los GMs
- What is your role here with FFXIV?
Sundi: I will be returning as the Global Online Producer for Final Fantasy XIV. We are looking at the development team, a mangement team and the user base as the key factors in supporting FFXIV. My job will be to build the communication between these areas and get them working as one. For example, if there is an interview with Hiromichi Tanaka I am there.
- How will GM (game master) policies exist in FFXIV?
Sundi: I doubt that there will be any large changes from FFXI in the area. Other than maintaining order, GM's are there to also help maintain a peaceful and safe playing environment for everyone. Policies from FFXI will be carried over and even the team will more than likely be carried over. We are, however, going over the system to make improvements to the system in certain areas. One thing I would like to make it easier for players to contact GM's. Besides these improvements there are going to be efforts to create a better experience for all players.
- Speaking of the community, how will you approach a global community?
Sundi: If we were to make a forum in Japanese then it would become the Japense player forum. We feel that the best way to approach this issue is to have premier sites and have them act as community managers for their language/community. We can then get feedback from these sites and that way we get the voice of every player in their own way. I plan to be able to use the web more than ever to get information directly from the users because it is valuable which we can see from item databases and wikis.
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- How will communities be introduced into the game?
Sundi: There will of course be chat within the game but there is also going to be a system similar to the "Linkshell" found in FFXI as well as a "Linkshell community" on the official site. Unfortunately I am unable to elaborate any further on this area, though. We do plan to work with fan sites and blogs in some way.
- Some players would prefer segregated, language specific server. Can we expect to see this in FFXIV?
Sundi: No we wont have this in FFXIV just like FFXI. I feel that this would be a step backwards from FFXI and it has made it this far without segregated servers. I would rather work at making mixed servers a success instead of abandoning them.
(closing statement)
Sundi: Making FFXIV enjoyable for all users, including FFXI players, is our number one priority. We cannot build a community without considering that. First we address how to satisfy Final Fantasy fans. From there, we will attract other MMO players and develop a community like never before. I believe FFXI players will find their time in Eorzea to be an enjoyable and fulfilling experience, and I hope you look forward to it.
Entrevista NowGamer
We chat to Square Enix's Hiromichi Tanaka and Sage Sundi about the upcoming Final Fantasy MMORPG
Hiromichi Tanaka, senior VP of software development and Sage Sundi, global online producer on Final Fantasy XIV. Here, they describe the challenges that come with bringing an MMO to a wider audience:
Can you clarify information on how the job system will work in Final Fantasy XIV? Hiromichi Tanaka: Actually, this time, it’s not going to be called the job system, it’s called an armoury system, which is going to really depend on which weapon you’re using. You skill up that weapon, and you’re going to have a different class. This will allow you to switch classes very easily. When you change your weapon, you can change your class at the same time. This changes your appearance, including your clothes as well.
“We’ve been working on FFXIII and XIV for three or four years, now, because we’re both using the Crys”
Can you talk about the differences between this and your last online effort, Final Fantasy XI?
HT: There’s going to be three main differences between this and FFXI. One of them is the armoury system, as we discussed, and the second – FFXI had an automatic battle system but this time it’s going to be a real-time battle system. You’ll be selecting all your commands directly reflecting the tactics you want to use in the game. The third is Guildleves. This is a new system we’re introducing in FFXIV. Guildleves is really going to allow the player to have flexibility in the game. While FFXI was more focusing on party system, you joined a party and [performed tasks within that party], that could take a long time. This time we want to allow players to have more flexibility, so depending on what you feel like on that day, you can select a very short Guildleve, that’ll take only 15 minutes. Or if you want more of a challenge, you can select a different Guildleve, which will be longer and harder.
Is this Final Fantasy MMO going to be more accessible than the last one?
HT: Yes, that’s possible. Because of Guildleves, it’s really going to allow lots of different ways of enjoying the game and if you’re on your own or in a small group, that’s fine as well. But if you want to achieve something difficult, that’ll be another option. It’ll be easy for the new players, but it won’t disappoint older players, as well.
Sage Sundi: MMO really is a complex type of game, but this time, because it’s crossplatform and for console players, who haven’t experienced an MMO before, it’ll be easy to start a new game experience. But it’s not going to be a casual game! It’ll satisfy hardcore MMO players.
Obviously, the MMO genre is quite a difficult one to crack. How important do you feel the Final Fantasy brand is in making this a big title?
HT: With FFXI, only a small percentage of Final Fantasy players tried it. We feel there’s a huge market of FF fans who haven’t tried MMOs before and we would like to reach them. There are also MMO fans who have never played Final Fantasy fans before – we’d like to reach them, too.
Are you doing anything in particular to get Final Fantasy fans more involved, this time?
HT: The one thing about Final Fantasy is that it has an epic story behind the gameplay. This time, we will have voiceover for the storyline for the characters, as well, which is a really high quality way of telling story.
With the release dates being so close together, is there a rivalry between the XIII and XIV teams?
HT: We’re not really competing with each other. One reason why it’s so close is that we’ve been working on FFXIII and XIV for three or four years, now, because we’re both using the Crystal Tools engine. We had to wait until those were ready, and, when they were were, we both started again. That’s the reason we ended up releasing at the same time and so close together.
SS: If Final Fantasy XIII was an MMO, maybe it would be a different story, but they’re both completely different games!
How have you found development on PS3?
HT: The most difficult thing about PS3 development was the memory management.
Is it still PC and PS3-only?
HT: At launch it’ll be Windows and PS3-only, but we’re talking about other platforms as well, but we don’t know when or which [they will be].
Every Final Fantasy game seems to have its own unique style, but which of the games would you say Final Fantasy XI is closest to in terms of its art and the tone of its world?
HT: Of course, XIV will be unique on its own, but as to which games its world is most similar to, it could be quite similar to Final Fantasy VI. The machines…the way the world works [in relation to the machines]. That’s something it could be similar to.
Resumen
* The monsters you have to defeat for a quest will appear on your map during Guildleve.
* You can draw and sheathe your weapon freely like FFXI.
* There is no auto-battle; commands must be selected every time the character attacks with.
* There are two command gauges, one for your right hand and one for your left hand.
* The player chooses which commands they want on the command gauge from the action icons lined along the bottom of the screen.
* Depending on your commands chosen, the player can activate a variety of techniques.
* There is an Action gauge and a Power gauge that increase over time. In order to unleash special techniques you much build these up.
* There will also be a TP gauge, which increases by attacking or being attacked. A full TP gauge can alter your techniques in different ways.
* The action menu can be customized however the player wants.
* The action icons you have on your gauge will change based on your equipped weapon. A sword gives access to melee commands while a staff gives access to magic.
* The action icons you have on your gauge will change based on your equipped weapon. A sword gives access to melee commands while a staff gives access to magic.
* The status of party members will appear in the center of the right edge of the screen.
* There are three different camera views: over-the-shoulder, overhead, and first person.
* The interface can be freely moved by the player. The windows, chat box size and others will be customizable in the game.
* The aim of the battle system is to present a more engaging experience. Players will have to constantly be selecting new commands and evolving their tactics to the situation in the battle at hand.
* Strict roles like Jobs that we had in Final Fantasy XI were removed to allow players to easily play alone, with a friend or with a group of people.
* Warp points will mostly be provided for teleporting back after completing a Guildleve mission.
Entrevista 4Gamer
Learning from Final Fantasy XI
Surf to any Final Fantasy XI forum, and you will see players making comparisons between XI and XIV. How will Final Fantasy XIV be different? Will Square Enix address common concerns from XI? Have the developers learned from any mistakes they may have made?
Tanaka admits that one thing they learned was how technology advances over the life of an MMO. When they first began development, single-processor CPUs were the norm, but soon after release, multi-core processors grew to become the standard. With Final Fantasy XIV, they are thinking five years ahead and plan to include support for multi-core and mutl-threading technology from the start.
Beyond PC technology however, the most crucial point for the developers is the server. Since they are creating an MMO, the client's machine is irrelevant if the server cannot deliver the information. A station can broadcast to a black and white TV or a color TV, but if the signal does not get out, then everyone loses. This is why Tanaka is adamant about creating a stable game server, which he says is the most difficult part of the process.
Another issue that plagues fan forums is whether Final Fantasy XI is going to continue or die. Even if it continues, will it be actively supported with Tanaka and co. focused elsewhere? As it turns out, there are separate areas within the offices of Square Enix for the respective development teams. The work will not be combined, but rather each will be developed as a separate entity.
Tanaka also gives an amusing look into the part he played creating Final Fantasy XI. "When making FFXI," Tanaka admits, "I felt it was faster to do things myself rather than take the time to explain what I wanted." This led to him designing some of the fonts and user interface himself. In Final Fantasy XIV, however, he will be taking a much more hands-off approach, allowing the team to do the bulk of the work. "Sometimes you have to stand back and let the younger guys take control," Tanaka jokes. "If I don't allow them that much, they can't become the next generation of great developers."
Billing Systems and Item Selling
There was a brief mention of billing practices at E3, and the interviewer tries to press Tanaka for more information. He states they wish to use an "Anniversary Billing" system, which means players will pay a certain amount of money to play for a period of time. In other words, X dollars a month, like in Final Fantasy XI; or X dollars for 30 days, which Tanaka expressed interest in at E3. As always, the developers oppose the use of micro-transactions to make items sellable. They feel by allowing players to purchase everything they want, they would rack up larger bills, but quit the game faster for lack of anything to strive for. The developers would rather players find lasting enjoyment in the game itself, instead of make a mad dash for treasure and quit soon after.
However, Sundi interjects saying not to rule out optional services altogether. For example, they may want to add server transfers or other options for players to purchase. There is no elaboration on what else they have in mind, but they will be considering what to offer.
How Everything Works
Thankfully, the interviewer begins to delve into the details of what Tanaka displayed earlier during his Puk hunting and find out exactly how one manipulates their character. According to Sundi, you perform an action by selecting from the "Action Menu" along the bottom of the screen that appears once you target an enemy. The more you use a weapon, the greater your prowess grows, and thus, the more skills you learn to utilize with that weapon. You then set these abilities in the Action Menu and activate them during battle. Changing your weapon will also change what is displayed in your Action Menu. For example, equipping a staff will present your magic-based Action Menu. Also, multiple abilities you wish to perform in sequence can also be registered as macros.
In order for the character to perform commands specified by the player, one must first store up the Action Gauge. If you select a command before the gauge is ready, it will activate once the gauge fills up. There is also a Power Gauge, which can increase the strength and accuracy of one's techniques. The interviewer notes that even with the absence of Auto-Attack, the player could simply use the most powerful skill over and over again. However, Tanaka reveals that repetitive usage of one skill will cause the monster to start seeing through your actions, and it will become harder to land your attack. In other words, employing a variety of tactics is the best way to defeat a monster.
The main goal behind the battle system was to allow freedom of playstyle. Players can easily go solo, as demonstrated by the demo, or they can join up with a number of friends. In Final Fantasy XI, one had to return to their Mog House in order to switch jobs, but players in Eorzea can do it anywhere they please. However, Tanaka warns that swapping weapons during battle is not allowed, so there are some minor limitations.
Another reason they are focusing on solo play is to encourage players to explore all the variety put into the game. If players were forced into parties all the time, they would most likely stick with one weapon and master that. However, when adventuring solo or with small groups, players need to acquire a number of different skills and abilities to be able to survive. The developers hope this will create a rich variety of players and really make each character unique. However, Tanaka admits that growth can come slowly if one focuses solely on adventuring alone. Grabbing a party and working together will help your character improve faster. So, there are positives and negatives to both, which is exactly how they like it.
Content That Keeps on Giving
Guildleve, which was demonstrated at Gamescom, will become the core activity of Final Fantasy XIV, according to Tanaka. It's greatest merit is that you can enjoy it over and over again. Up until now, players would progress through a series of quests or missions, effectively "consuming" these activities until there was nothing left to do. However, Guildleve will allow players to repeat similar quests to their heart's content.
The developers will also be looking at how players use the system, Tanaka says. In Final Fantasy XI, the users would sometimes inject their playstyle into the game and the system would bend and shape into something new and unexpected. Tanaka hopes to see this kind of ingenuity once again, and says the developers may be able to improve the game based on how the players enjoy it.
As the heart of Final Fantasy XIV, Guildleve will come in many different shapes and forms. The type of Guildleve one can accept will change based on the character. Also, new types of Guildleve will continuously be added through version updates. Tanaka promises that the development team is working hard to create a wealth of content in this area. There will be quests that take less than 30 minutes to complete, all the way up to epic missions that span a couple days. Guildleve is all about customizing the game to one's own style.
When asked for more specific information on the actual quests, Tanaka is unable to divulge too much more. However, he explains more about the system, saying that there is an upper limit to the number of Guildleve one player can acquire at a time. If you want to play beyond that, you may have to help other people with their Guildleves. Sundi explains that players can freely aid each other on quests, even if one player does not possess the particular Guildleve being fulfilled.
Races and Faces
While rumored Gria sightings have been squashed, fans are still wondering if new playable races are going to pop up anytime soon. Unfortunately, Tanaka's response to this is to sidestep and instead boast the merits of the character creation system. Players will be able to craft their avatars in more detail than ever before, with skin, eyes, hair-style and face being adjustable. There will also be factions within each race from which to choose, possibly the ones mentioned in descriptions on the official site. For example, a Miqo'te could belong to the Seekers of the Sun or Keepers of the Moon. While this change does not have an impact on the story, Tanaka indicates they may add more aspects to the game that further differentiate the factions.
When creating a new character, players will be able to freely select their starting location as well. While Final Fantasy XI offered special rings depending on your hometown, Tanaka expresses interest in giving everyone a completely level playing field this time around. The point is to allow everyone to start fresh and not influence their choice of race, hometown, or what path they may wish to take with the growth of their character. To this end, there will also be no significant differences between the races. All races can learn the same skills and abilities, but there may be other slight nuances to make them unique.
Hearing that the developers are striving for equality, the interviewer wonders if this will make PvP a reality in the world of Eorzea. However, Tanaka quickly states that PvE will be the focus of the game. If PvP elements are ever added, they will be in the form of sports and games, like Final Fantasy XI. It was decided very early on that PvP would not be added, and it does not appear the developers are going to waver from this.
Final Thoughts
As 4Gamer starts running out of time, they briefly touch on the camera perspective. Players at Gamescom got to try the demo in the 3rd-person perspective from behind the character, and Tanaka indicates they are looking at having a "third-person shooter" style shoulder camera and a first-person camera. The interviewer appears surprised to see the shoulder-cam make it into an MMO, but Tanaka explains that they have heard complaints about the camera positioned behind the character making it difficult to see what is in front of you.
Finally, Tanaka closes the interview by expressing how pleased he was to be able to meet so many fans and gather so many opinions on their work already and hopes to have more chances to do so in the future.
Impresiones FFXIVCore de la Alpha
•Currently you can't jump, but a developer told me they are considering to addi t
•I wasn't able to find water just yet, so not sure if you can swim
•I will have an interview up tomorrow Thursday
•The combat system is interesting, reminds you of FFXI, you select a target with TAB, then take up your weapon with F and X locks on it. Then use the numbers from your hotbars to use abilities. The first two abilities I had generated combat points to use the AOE attacks etc, I'll get back on what class I played later
•Game is polished, very smooth combat and performance
•It was played on a PC (I think), with mouse and keyboard
•I did a kill mob quest, kill 6 peacock-like creatures, they were very easy to kill
Well, I had 15 minutes to experience it, I played a so-called warrior and I could tell that I were super-buffed, having equipment far superior to the monsters I later engaged. My character started out in a small encampment. One of the first things I noticed was the graphics and the smooth movement system and animations. I could tell that Square Enix has worked hard on this game and there was a lot of polish present, not to mention the graphics were quite breathtaking – beautiful!
One of the Square Enix employees wanted to group up with me to participate in a quest together, so I joined his party (he was sitting at the PC at the right side of me). Also I had issues on my version of FFXIV, since the monsters were invisible to me, we fixed that by switching me to another PC.
On with the quest, it was a simple kill 6 monsters quest, we were instructed to kill ten peacock-like creatures and by following the compass it pointed us in the right direction. We managed to kill them all, but I never returned back (if I were suppose to?) to turn the quest back in. As for the combat, it felt a bit slow, but I enjoyed it. I think it felt very polished and the animations were synced well with how the creatures took the blows. They went down way fast though, due to us being ‘buffed’. Questing is a bit like in WoW.
Having only 15 minutes makes it hard to say a lot about the game, but overall I’m very impressed, I noticed a lot of clipping plane, so I’m guessing they’re still working on optimizing the graphics engine and didn’t want us to lag.
I explored the map as much as possible and went into a couple of invisible walls. A giant white castle was found after some poking and exploring around, but I couldn’t find a way to reach it.
The camera was a bit strange to me, you could adjustit with the arrow keys or the mouse, but it didn’t feel properly tuned yet. Maybe I’m just not used to it, though. That’s what the SE guy at the side of me said, ‘you’re doing great for just having played for a few minutes, when you get used to it, it’s really great”.
Several elements of the UI could be resized and moved around/customized – this made me happy and I’m wondering if there perhaps even will be space for some addons, like in other MMO’s. But it’s not a necessity IMO either way.
More on the combat, you target a creature with TAB, lock on it with X and bring out your weapon with F. Then you attack using your different abilities on the hotbar, they were set to 1, 2, 3 etc. The stronger abilities required certain “rage” (it’s called something else – but I forgot what it’s called now). After building up enough rage I had certain AOE abilities that I could used which destroyed the monsters we were fighting really fast, then again we were slightly overpowered for the mobs we fought.
All in all I’m very pleased with my short experience of playing the game and watching other people play. The game felt extremely polished for being in alpha. You don't often hear this, but for a game being a year away from release things are looking very good for FFXIV, I'm impressed. There’s obviously more to tell, but instead I’ll leave that to future news posts on our site. Keep checking, we’ll keep you updated twenty-four seven.
Playing Final Fantasy XIV for the first time (click for dutch blogpost with pictures!)
EA Business Lounge, 13:00. My colleague Wesley is standing next to me. I tell him that I'd love to do an interview about Final Fantasy XIV, but that it's usually incredibly hard to get a hold of the people of SE. Wesley nonchalantly answers: "Um, I just played that game". Two-tenths of a second later, I'm at the Square-Enix booth.
For those of you wondering why my reaction speed approached Usain Bolts, you have to know that I've played FFXI for several years. Too long actually. In a time where I still had time to spare to build a castle of empty coke cans around my pc. With Final Fantasy XIV there's a good chance that my personal history will repeat. I've just set the first step, but for the main course I'll have to wait until sometime in 2010.
"Concept art... speculating time!"
After some nervous shuffling at the booth the presentation finally starts. In the background I see twelve screens with Lalafells, Hyurans, Roegadyn's and the other FFXIV races. What a tease! The Square Enix-dude explains the battlesystem, among other stuff. I don't understand one word, owing to the explanation being given in German, but I'm all set to storm one of the pc's.
Emotes!
After 15 minutes of German gibberish I finally get to step on the stage to get in front of a pc. I get control over a Lalafell (the race that would get teased by all the Tarutaru's in FFXI's Vana'Diel). I hide half of my Lalafell in a nearby bush: hehe, funny sight. I take out my camera to snap a picture. "Sorry, no up close pictures". Damn! It's immediately noticeable that the character animation is much better than in XI. For example: my Lalafell's hair moves along when I run. The game doesn't look finished at all though. Many textures need to be loaded or are just missing, but that's no reason to panic. This is a (pre?)-alpha, which is absolutely not representative for the final fame. The atmosphere is a lot like FFXI. The area I'm running around in looks a lot like the green pastures from eg. Konschtat Highlands. With my teammates I get the mission to dispatch 3 beasts, with a 30min time limit. This being just one of the quests you can embark on in the game.
"New enemies in FFXIV, but here are some old faithfuls: the Cactuar and the Marlboro"
Regrettably, it all goes wrong when I'm about to test the battle system. "Grahh, it's stuck", confirms the SE-employee. My version had a lot of problems (maybe that's why the textures occasionaly completely dissappeared). Oh well, guess I'll try out some emotes! '/laugh'doesn't seem to work (or I typo'd somehow), /point is back, /panic makes the Lalafell panic just like a Tarutaru. Despite of my limited - but enthusiastic - contribution to my party, my partners succeed in killing the three beasts. The third one posed some extra trouble, because it just kept running for its life. Somewhat the opposite of FFXI, where it's you who has to keep running until reaching a zoneline tp lose an enemy. I'm curious to see if they've gotten rid of that annoying element in FFXIV.
"Day-, night- and weather-cycle in action. Ooh!"
It's much too early for a first judgement. MMO-reviews often get criticized, because they're games that require a lot of time before you can make a real assesment. After only 15 minutes of play on this version of FFXIV, it only seems normal to not make any big statements. It's actually a bit surprising that SE has the guys to come show off such a short demo at gamescom, as a lot of people might - wrongly - be scared off a bit by this demo.
You can already see that the atmosphere is very recognisable, and that it doesn't seem that SE is going for an HD-version of FFXI, but is really trying to improve the game gameplay-wise. Tomorrow we have an interview scheduled, hopefully we can all learn more there!
Detalles Gameplay y Controles
gladiator had the abilities:
sword slash 1
sword slash 2
shield block
circle blade (aoe)
red lotus
Provoke II ... think of WoW having several levels for the skills themselves..
Choleric AOE PROVOKE ... remember the E3 trailer...the boat.... this is perfect for lotsa group fights
and Shield ... this seems like a 2 hr... but not real 2 hr, but a very powerfull ability.
fighting:
(we know most of that already)
each character has an auto-attack. it was key #1
however, for every hit you have to hit the 1 ... pretty paradox calling it auto-attack then..
the circles (the 1/4 circles) are like an ATB bar. you can see it filling, then the next attack is ready.
when you know how it works and play the version a 2nd time... it gets muuuuuuch more faster and dynamic.... not like in those gameplay videos that you see.
at the moment you just have to spam 1 for attacking. the people in the videos obviously didn't do that...so it looks slow!
WASD running
arrow keys/right mouse key is camera
TAB/left mouse key ... targeting
m... map... the ugly one (alpha!! haha)
x...focus target (auto-lock)
f...draw weapon
Veces editado: 1
Última edición: 04/10/2009 11:15¿Cuántos robles roería un roedor si los roedores royesen robles? || 25-6-2009 DEP Michael Jackson,siempre te recordaré. || "Dibujar frames con cara y ojos lleva su tiempo" by SaGaSensei
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