So a few more teaser pictures were posted from this coming weeks Famitsu. Apparently the Japanese take pictures of coming articles from their own magazines then post them on the internet to get people interested. It's quite a novel concept for me, and while a little "Japanese weird" (you know like tentacle rape and Japanese cuisine) it definitely gets you going, and make you want to get the magazine. I am sure that Elmer will have it and I will get to sing his praises again on Friday.
The cover of the article gives a little information through pictures like a Mithra running around with a polearm. It also shows that the Hume character may be a Ranger, or as they call the job in the second picture, an Archer. Also, if you look closely, you can see someone cooking over a fire. 
This second picture has a lot more information. Two new job names are revealed, Lancer and Archer, and several new monster types. The Raptor looks pretty much exactly the same, but the other mobs are new models completely.
Looking forward to more information from Elmer come Friday. :)
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
FFXIV News: New Pictures Make Omoikitte Hot in the Pants.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Morning in Vana'diel: Left out of the Level 40 Fun.
Morning in Vana'diel is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! SAM has 18 million JAs and BLM has two. Where is the love?
I think everyone should have level 40(ish) abilities, and I think that SE is moving that way from the last couple of update. WHM, RDM and NIN have gotten a few things tossed in for level 40 that have really changed and improved their jobs especially for NIN and RDM. There are still some jobs that are lacking these abilities, and there are some jobs that have abilities around this level that are these kinds of defining abilities. In the end, there really should be these kind of alternating or “stance” abilities for all jobs. It surprisingly adds a lot of flavor to the jobs and are more buttons to push which most people like.
Like I said some jobs get these abilities around level 40 instead of at level 40. WAR and RNG get really nice abilities around this level even though it is not exactly at level 40. SAM gets them a lot lower because they were intended to be used as a subjob too, but SAM gets a level 60 ability that is also kind of nice. SAM has a bunch of other nice little toys that makes up for it so it’s not so bad for them.
But there are some jobs that have gotten the shaft in the backside from SE when it comes to job adjustments. Yes, BLM I am talking about you! You have gotten screwed and you really need something to help you out. WHM really needed something to make it stand out from RDM and SMN and SCH when it came to healing and that was in the form of the level 40 JAs. Now BLM needs something that makes it better than SCH for nuking. They really need something that either improves their MP efficiency or damage potential or both. I think a set of alternating JAs would be helpful here for BLM.
I think it is probably coming for BLM, probably in the next update in fact (probably in October when I am out of town). It is something that BLM really needs to be competitive in their pretty much sole role as a nuking DD. It’s time that SE hands out a little JA love to the BLM.
Saturday, August 08, 2009
FFXIV News: Another update!
SE have never been afraid of keeping their fans on tenderhooks, infact it is their default modus operandi in just about anything they do. Regardless of what game or release they are tendering at that particular time they drip feed the player base to generate interest and speculation.
AND! It works!!!. As much as people grumble and groan and complain about how much SE never says anything, doesn't give enough information, doesn't do this that and the third, forums are filled to overflow with people talking, communicating and wildly speculating on what is to come, what has been and what shall never be.
Its good, old-fashioned marketing. In this day and age of instant communication, SE play the rumour mill like a seasoned pro. It is so easy, to just give in to everything that people want, after all, its just a click of a button away at that point, but the suspense, mystery and build up is lost. There was a reason Lucas held off sales of Episode I, to recreate the snake of people around the cinema that we just don't see any more in this digital age.
Of course there are drawbacks to this, the actual product eventually usually ends up being an anti-climax, a complete dud and just occasionally a shining spot of gold although that is extremely rare. Which is where you are at now with FFXIV.
Comparisons are inevitable, come on SE have been making THE SAME GAME for 14 incarnations at this point, this area is going to remind you of X zone, this character is going to remind you of Y person from FF(Fill in the blank). Infact for 14 incarnations of its Final Fantasy series, SE have plagarised, stolen, looted, lifted and reused themes, plots, characters and ideas from their own series.. Isn't this why we keep coming back?
I mean come on seriously, I listen to all the complaining and whining and realise I just don't care. LoL I am interested just for its own sake, not for what parallels I can draw from elsewhere. Oh look its a field, looks like a field in Rolanberry Fields (FFXI) it also looks like the lane just coming out of my father's house in Scotland. *gasp* SE must be fiends for just reusing rl generic landscapes.. oh.. wait... when you actually break it down it starts to sound a little ridiculous and mostly generated by fear of the impact it will have on a game that most of us have played for a good 5+ years now.
After all, we have good reason to wonder what SE are doing with their time, with these half-hearted updates and scenarios to try and maintain the player base, but that is rather like Ringthree trying to cure an entire alliance while "someone is WRONG on the internet", the alliance doesn't end up looking too healthy at the end of it due to the division of attention.
Better speculation would be to wonder why SE are not keeping the two games seperate, the whole thing smacks of the same people doing both games, and not being able to focus on both, in a company that size, they must be able to have 2 teams able to look after both games independantly surely?
A closer look at the released artwork and content of the game definately sheds a little light on this, SE have taken the lessons learned from FFXI and expanded, updated and polished off to a gleaming shine the results. If anything, FFXIV makes XI look like a beta test. Just a VERY LONG beta test. People are getting upset at how similar to FFXI this new MMO from SE looks, they feel abandoned because FFXI is being left to limp along with the content it has, and the groupies are thirsting for blood (which is a little creepy) but I get something different from it. I definately get a huge sense of love from SE for what they created. So much so they don't just want to toss it to one side and forget about it, and start from scratch.
Instead, they've taken something they have invested a colossal amount of time in, and lets be honest here, they have spent MORE time on this game than we have, and made it look better and more accessible (they are a business after all). It is so selective how people view improvements. I don't see people complaining over mobile phone technology and the speed at which it is developing rendering your "new phone" obsolete in a matter of months. Which is 500x more expensive for the consumer than what we are doing here. I am sure "SE" is just as passionate about Final Fantasy as we are.
Since SE has updated their site for FFXIV with a lot more detail and content, you can take a closer look at what, at least for now is the surface patina of the game. There is the introduction to the world of Eorzea, with the usual planet-wide crisis that threatens civilization, nothing like SE aping RL at all is it hmmm. Then the exposition of how the denizens of the world cope with the threat, and where we as the playerbase fit into this grand scheme of things.
Fair enough, a well crafted mmo needs a solid, well-thought out storyline to carry it or it will fizzle out and shrivel up like SO many other MMO's before it. And the one thing I will not begrudge SE on is craftmanship, their attention to detail and their desires to really push the boundaries on what is possible graphically and technically is always apparent in each incarnation of their new releases.
There are lots of nice new clickables on the website that expand on the cities, on the races, and highlight a little bit on what to expect from the job classes and the system. There are several things on reading that which did pique my interest.
The job system for FFXIV seems very much to be a cross between the access to all jobs and complete change that came from FFIV combined with the class specific progression of FFIX. It definately promises to offer a lot of flexibility for the people roaming around the world and doing whatever it is that real people do in a sandbox game. I also speculate that chocobos will not be so much as ridden as become your "nomad moogle" for all your articles, weapons and pieces of gear, quest items, drops and other random bits that you want to carry around with you. A mobile packmule to further enhance this idea of a greater accessibility and flexibility in what you can and can't do within the scope of the game.
The other thing that caught my interest was a bit in the characters segment that hints at a way to customise your character beyond the slightly generic creations that exist in FFXI. If they DO make this available, that means that basic models might look the same, but everyone will be unique. Which is a fantastic idea, everyone wants to look different in an mmo, but definately in FFXI there is limited scope for that as everyone wears the "best" for their job and ends up looking identical. Line up Clubber, Izman and Ninjafox on WAR in Versus and you would be hard pressed to really see that much of a difference. While SE gave us a vast selection of gear options, really it became a much narrower field to excel, only mages seem to be able to get away with a greater flexibility in what they wear.
Its odd really, people become so comfortable with the familiar they essentially assasinate the strange or new if they feel it encroaches and no matter how you twist in the wind FFXIV IS going to encroach on FFXI. I remember when I first started playing FFXI, I logged in and the vistas were stunning, the animations were crisp and smooth and it was exciting. FFXIV holds the promise of all that over again in even prettier depictions, smoothness and boldness.
SE are definately getting a lot of flak from the community over this game, but I can't help but realise there is a tingle of excitement over how crisp and slick this game is looking already. Go play on the website, go oooo at the pretty scenery, ponder the implications of the Guildleves and the armoury system (WHICH SE has spelt correctly for once and not Americanized /cheer of approval) but most of all, go look at it with an open mind and not one filled with hostility over the new kid on the block. You never know, it might not be all bad. ^.^
Friday, August 07, 2009
FFXIV News: The Pied Piper of Shibuya.
The more and more I hear about FFXIV the more and more I get concerned. I was really looking forward to this new game, but really I have to wonder if I am interested in a new version of FFXI if SE hasn't really determined what are the real problems with FFXI. Sure SE is covering all their bases, describing the new job system, quest system and other things. But these are all things that SE does correctly right now. What about things like job balance? What about some of the insane and inane content? Instancing? World spawns? What about the basic information that anyone outside of the fanboys are really interested in when choosing a game.
The forums are frothing at the mouth over a game where they have seen nothing more than concept art. Are they going to want a game that doesn't support external add-on development again? Are they going to want to play a game that does even let you alt-tab out again, and basically requires anyone to violate the rules to even have the game playable on a PC for the first four years it is available? This is just the internet at it's worst. All flash and no content.
Don't get me wrong, I want this to turn out really well! I want FFXIV to be great, but I don't want to have to give up almost two years in FFXI content to get to that point and I don't want to have to experience the same exact mistakes they have made for seven years just delivered in a shiny new package.
Also, we haven't ever gotten the real honest truth on some issues from SE and their answers tend to change over time to fit the current mood of the player and the development team. PS2 limitations are a great example of excuses that were nothing more than hot air for a lot of things that were implemented later on.
Is the real reason they are using the same races from FFXI really to provide continuity between FFXI and FFXIV, or is it because it just saves them a lot of programmer/designer time to just reuse something they have already been developing designs for? Sure there are differences, but the creativity has been removed from that part of the development cycle.
The question is this: Are the problems in FFXI because of structural game designs that SE isn't going to have with FFXIV, or are the problems because of the people that developed FFXI feel they know better than the players? If the problem is the former, then FFXIV will likely be a great game because there is so much that has happened in the MMO world since FFXI was released and a new platform will let SE unleash their ideas integrated into a much more playable platform. If it is the latter though, then FFXIV will be nothing more than a gussied up but casual version of the game we already play. If that is the case, I already have my old faithful crack, I don't need New Crack™.
Here is my run down on the more specific issues that have been presented about the game.
The new job system - This is the main thing that FFXI got right, and it sounds like the are going to do something different but similar enough to maintain the flexibility to change jobs. Doing it on the fly will be even better. This is my one shining hope for this game.
Crafting - Oh god, not this again. Crafting in FFXI sucks, the system sucks, the skilling-up sucks, the HQ system sucks, and the economy sucks. Some people like it and I am not saying they are wrong, I am just saying that it could be so much better. Crafting shouldn't be an end in itself, but a means to make money. Integrating it into the job system seems like they are trying to make it an end again. There needs to be a purpose for crafting and that purpose needs to be making an income of a reasonable amount.
Trading-off skills - No. Just please God no. No one likes it in FFXI because it is not a "fun, additional aspect to player customizing", it is an artificially construct limit on your potential. Artificial limitations in combat skills, magic skills and crafting don't do anything to provide customization, they just sharpen the edges of the cookie-cutter even more.
Races - I stated this above but it bares mentioning again. I have to wonder how hard they really are trying here if it's just the same people in a different place with just more technology than in Vana'diel. Even the story line seems to have major resemblances to Vana'diel.
UI/Macro system - This is one place where uncertainty definitely is playing a role in my doubts about FFXIV. I should be assuming that SE is going to have a wonderful new UI and Macro system and there have already been statements about the ability to quickly swap around sets of gear, but SE's inability/lack of want to improve FFXI's UI and failure to create a decent Macro system makes me have major reservations.
Communication - SE seems to be taking the same exact approach as they did with FFXI, while every other major MMO developer is moving toward more contact with it's player base. I understand that it is a Japanese company so there will be some disconnect, but Blizzard seems to handle it's Oceanic players with a modicum of respect. The NA representatives for SE seem to be as out of the loop as the players are for most things.
Balancing - SE doesn't have to worry about job balance in FFXI as much as other games because people can freely change and level different jobs, and FFXIV appears that it won't have this problem either, and it may be even less of a concern depending on the amount of over lap that is available for already trained skills. The problem is that SE actually though the subjob system was going to allow this to happen in FFXI, but instead the subjob system just worked to further restrict players choices. The major concern I have over game balance as a whole is that we will see mobs like Absolute Virtue again. This just causes frustration more than anything else, and is the best, most obvious example of the disconnect between how the developers envision the game and how the players actually play it.
I have high hopes for FFXIV, and I have real apprehensions. Either way, as of right now, I have no plans to stop playing FFXI. Nothing that has been present so far has made be change my plans at all. I will definitely pick up FFXIV, but the jury is still out on how everything is going to pan out.
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
FFXIV News: New Pictures and More.
Elmer the Almighty has put up a new article on ZAM! and detailed a few new pictures that were leaked about FFXIV from a new Japanese magazine that is due out at the end of the week. Elmer's full article can be seen here.
Elmer provides as much information as he can about the races and classes that have been presented so far in FFXIV. The races are the first things that he discusses and all the old reliables are there. Hume (Hyuran), Elvaan (Elzen), Tarutaru (Lalafell), Galka (Roegadyn) and Mithra (Miqo'te). The designs for all of them are almost exactly the same as FFXI designs except for the Lalafell which actually appear to have elbows and knees, features that were lacking for our miniature stiff-limbed companions. Yes, of course the designs have been updated, but if you look at the Hume/Hyuran design from the FFXIV trailer and compare him to the one from teh FFXI trailer the resemblance is striking.
Next up is the vague description of the job system, called the Armory System. It appears that SE is going to follow something like other games use with general archetypes that become more and more specified with more "training" through the use of different weapons. So use a different weapon and you train/develop as a different job. It should make things relatively easy to switch jobs, and the information seems to indicate that we will be keeping the equipment-centric system because you will be able to change jobs on the fly. Thank god.
It also appears that crafting is interrelated within the job system. The original jobs featured were Fighter which specialized into Fencer and Archer. Sorcerer which specialized into some kind of Shaman and some kind of Illusionist. The thing to remember here is that details were vague but they did follow some traditional Final Fantasy roles for the most part. The crafting classes appeared to be broken down into Crafter and Gatherer, with Blacksmith and Chef, and Gardener and Fisherman respectively. Job changing appears to be wholly based on changing the weapon that is currently equipped.
Finally, Elmer discusses the questing system. It appears to be more player-driven than anything else I have seen on the market. You select "leaves" (of a book?) and it lets you develop the goals of the quest and how to fulfill them. Want to craft? Go for it? Kill a bunch of easy mobs or just on big baddy? Your choice. Elmer mentions that this sounds like the Moblin Maze Mongers system, but I think it might also resemble Fields of Valor where you are given options within certain perimeters rather than total randomization. This was the lest clear part of the article, out of no fault of Elmer's but rather because the screenshots he was reviewing are not complete.
I look forward to seeing the translation of the full article later this week. Check below the cut for all the picture available so far.
A facial shot of most of the races.
Hyuran/Hume
Elzen/Elvaan
Lalafell/Tarutaru
Roegadyn/Galka
Miqo'te/Mithra
The "Figher" Class
The "Sorcerer" Class
The "Crafter" Class
The "Gatherer" Class
The "Guild Leave" System
#1 ~ Monk
#2 ~ Samurai
#3 ~ Ninja
#4 ~ Dragoon
Chaotic Pellucidity
Teabags and KY Jelly
The Bloggaru!
