Final Fantasy XIV

[Pic0o]

The YouTube Video channel for FFXIV is online. You get to see some actual ingame play, that looks very familiar to the FFXI folks. No word on Beta action for us so far, hopefully the PS3 wave fairs us better luck. :)

[Pic0o]

Bump for some info about the Alpha.

 

Final Fantasy XIV Update

Producer Hiromichi Tanaka and Director Nobuaki Komoto discuss the alpha test and general development.

Posted Apr 28, 2010 at 07:20, By Anoop Gantayat

 

Square Enix has been staging an alpha test for Final Fantasy XIV over the past few weeks. While the test is limited to a few participants, major Japanese sites like Famitsu.com and Impress Watch have been permitted to post impressions complete with screenshots.

 

The print version of Famitsu got even greater insight onto the game through a four page interview with producer Hiromichi Tanaka and director Nobuaki Komoto in this week's issue. The two FF MMORPG VIPs provided an update both on the alpha test and development in general.

 

Tanaka began by issuing an apology to test players for some of the problems Square Enix has been having with stabilizing the servers. They're gradually fixing things through updates, he said.

 

So what's with all the issues? Tanaka explained that based off experience with FFXI, they anticipated a 50% simultaneous connection rate for the game. However, the Japanese test players turned out to be extremely hardcore FFXI fans, and the access rate was higher than expected. Compared to Japan, North America and Europe did not have as much of a problem with servers going down.

 

One of the fixes they made came in an April 15 update, which extended the login wait time 10 minutes and added the ability to see how many people are waiting to connect.

 

It may be hard to believe, but the FFXIV development staff is actually being told to avoid logging into the game. Komoto explained that Square Enix is doing this in order to allow more test players to log in to the game.

 

Tanaka is an exception, though. He sits in front of his computer just like everyone else when testing starts. If you see a player named "Azagba Tanaka," that's the FFXIV producer.

 

Explained Tanaka, while the development staff can see the play logs, it's difficult to get a feel for the actual play state of the players. Tanaka acts as a representative, investigating how things are actually going by logging in for himself.

 

The two were asked to provide an updated schedule for the alpha and beta tests. They're currently at the first step, explained Tanaka, where they're seeing if they can run three tests a week. They're aiming to make the game stable enough so that players can get in a proper play session.

 

As for how long the tests will run, Komoto said that they originally had a time frame in place, but ended up encountering greater server stability problems, forcing them to extended this a bit. They'll decide what to do once players have built up their characters a certain amount.

 

Regarding that character growth, Tanaka said to expect character data to get wiped out mid way through the alpha test. The reason for this is that they have two different patterns for character growth speed that they want to try out. Once they've gathered enough data for the current pattern, they'll wipe out the player data and try out the second pattern.

 

Test players should get used to having their data wiped, as this is something that will happen repeatedly during both the alpha and beta tests.

 

Asked when the game will switch from alpha to beta, Tanaka wouldn't give a clear answer. The next step for the game, he said, will be to expand from the current single world to multiple worlds, and to also increase the test player count many times. They'll call this phase of the test either beta 1 or alpha 2. They'll switch to the beta naming when they feel they've readied a version of the game that more closely resembles the final product.

 

Plans are also in place to allow players worldwide to log in and play together, rather than the current region-separate alpha tests. Tanaka said to expect this change to happen when the game switches to 24 hour operation.

 

Outside of the alpha and beta testing components, the magazine quizzed the two on general development for FFXIV.

 

The game's graphics production is currently complete. The planning and programming sides of the game have some final tuning work left.

 

Even though he said the graphics are complete, there will be some presentational changes. The town of Limsa Lominsa, for instance, will see some major lighting changes.

 

Asked to give a percentage completion, Tanaka and Komoto went back and forth a bit but decided on 65%. They tossed out numbers as low as 10%, though, with Komoto explaining that this figure represents the amount of FFXIV that can be seen in the alpha test.

 

The alpha test is currently for PC players only. But the PS3 version of the game is being developed parallel to the PC version, assured Tanaka. They're aiming to have both versions begin service at the same time.

[Pea]

Wow... that's pretty intense! I'm glad he is testing the game too... but that's crazy the staff is actually being told not to log in lol.

 

The taru's look a little different but I'm a little sad to see no new races...

[Pic0o]

They should have a community race mod contest. Once a winner is picked for design, have some backstory shortly after to tie in. :turtle:

[Pea]

TURTLE PEOPLE!!! Oh ummm... actually a kind of lizard people would be awesome but that'd make the game oddly similar to Oblivion.

[Pic0o]

More Pics! If you get an error loading the page, reload it when it opens in a new tab, and you should be good.

 

Also, nVidia released a Benchmark tool for FFXIV. Will investigate later on. ;)

 

I ran a benchmark and gazed @ the fanciness.

[Pea]

I want to plaaaaaaay it!

[Pic0o]

Collectors Edition and Release date are out.

 

September 23rd in America for the Collectors Edition. September 30th for the Standard Edition. This is from here. PS3 edition is going to be March 2011. :o

 

Monthly fees are the same as XI, including the extra mule for a dollar thing. The CE of the game comes with the following:

• IN-GAME ITEM – Collector’s Edition preorders will include a reward code to receive an exclusive in-game item, the Onion Helm. (XP Bonus)
  
• EARLY ACCESS – Play 8 days prior to the release of the Windows PC Standard Edition (timing of access subject to initial server capacity).
  
• BEHIND-THE-SCENES DVD – Get an insider look at the making of FINAL FANTASY XIV, with exclusive video content, interviews and more in this special documentary DVD.
  
• SECURITY TOKEN – A FINAL FANTASY XIV–branded Security Token for use with your regular password.
  
• TRAVEL JOURNAL – Record your travels in this beautifully bound journal filled with pages of never-before-seen concept art.
  
• RIGHT OF PASSAGE – Redeem a voucher to receive your fully-personalized Right of Passage Certificate, each stamped with a unique serial number.
  
• AMANO COVER – Special PC Collector’s Edition illustration by renowned artist Yoshitaka Amano.
  
• FREE GAMEPLAY – Free gameplay for 30 days.

 

I'm still on the fence about jumping in, mostly because I'd like to play the game, before I commit to buying the game, then paying another monthly fee.

Edited July 1, 2010 by Pic0o
PS3 Date

[JeT]

Unless their grind system is totally different in this sequel mmo, I think I'll stay far away from it hahah.

[Pea]

yea... isn't there an mmo with all the perks of playin with other people and none of the drawbacks? =p

[Pic0o]

Count us in for 1 PC copy of the game. Pre-Ordered the fancy CE, as that's how you MMO. xD

 

After seeing there may be no public beta, I said WTH and figured we'd just be drooling to day one, so why not commit. :P

 

Hopefully, they throw some guest passes in that shit too. I'll re-check our home machines and laptops, so I know how much performance magic I need to summon. :frl:

[Pea]

I yet debate about what to do... AHHHH!!! I might try it... why the hell not eh? Lol.

[Pic0o]

I just bumped us for 2 copies on PC release. xD

 

That way, we will both be able to play before the March Ps3 release. I have to do some rebuilds for the office, so I will see what a budget Desktop may run, as my P4 is surely underpaced for Final XIV. The Laptop may be passable until I can build something up. :P

[JeT]

What are people saying about gameplay mechanics? Is it going to be very similar to the first with a next-gen look? Or will they create some less hardcore aspects like rest xp and such. :D

[Pea]

Yea I am just wondering how different it will be too. Obviously, with how many times I quit and restarted XI, I probably didn't like it all that much. Lol, so if it isn't that different I probably won't want to try XIV.

 

Buuuuuut... the first ten levels are always my favorite! :D