Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, FF14 2.0's official release Options

[Crushinator]

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/

So they finally got their shit together and "2.0" is on the horizon. This includes the PS3 release.

Apparently there's been a shitload of changes to the game in the time since we last gave a fuck about it. I won't lie, I've kept the game installed on my computer this whole time with the hope that they'll somehow make it good and fun so I can try it again. I'm definitely going to give it another month spin once this 2.0 version drops. It certainly LOOKS very much like the Final Fantasy MMO I actually wanted.




A boy cat furry?

[HC82]

It looks like they just totally remade a completely new game. The last FF wasn't exactly a completed game to begin with. It had empty dungeons with no quests and empty frontiers with nothing to do.

I still feel Squaresoft owes me a free gift card for playing their paid alpha test of FFXIV.

[AC9breaker]

Godammit, I'm not falling for this shit again. Read up on Guild Wars 2 and get excited for that instead.

[Retehi]

And then everyone plays it for 5 days, and it's forgotten about again.

[Crushinator]

It looks like they just totally remade a completely new game. The last FF wasn't exactly a completed game to begin with. It had empty dungeons with no quests and empty frontiers with nothing to do.

I still feel Squaresoft owes me a free gift card for playing their paid alpha test of FFXIV.

It really is a whole new game. They built a new graphics engine, and they're having some kinda "cataclysm" event in the story as an excuse for entirely new world maps and such. The game itself has (apparently) been evolving away from the old leves/class system to something more in line with traditional FF classes as well. And they totally removed "Battle Regimen" since it didn't ever actually work in the first place.

I do hope there's some kind of free "we're sorry the game sucked before" pass or something, I'm with you on that. Paid $50 for a shitty incomplete game a year ago, what a rip!

[AC9breaker]

It looks like they just totally remade a completely new game. The last FF wasn't exactly a completed game to begin with. It had empty dungeons with no quests and empty frontiers with nothing to do.

I still feel Squaresoft owes me a free gift card for playing their paid alpha test of FFXIV.

It really is a whole new game. They built a new graphics engine, and they're having some kinda "cataclysm" event in the story as an excuse for entirely new world maps and such. The game itself has (apparently) been evolving away from the old leves/class system to something more in line with traditional FF classes as well. And they totally removed "Battle Regimen" since it didn't ever actually work in the first place.

I do hope there's some kind of free "we're sorry the game sucked before" pass or something, I'm with you on that. Paid $50 for a shitty incomplete game a year ago, what a rip!

I'm not falling for your wiley tricks crushinator, I'm on to you. You try to humanize your self by relating to us then continue selling FF14! Fool me once shame on you!

[Scan_Man]

Is there a gameplay trailer somewhere? I can't seem to find one. If not I feel that the management at Square-Enix still don't seem to get it. They seem to be stuck in the early 2000s showing off pre-rendered cutscenes. The screenshots are nice and show off a pretty damn slick UI, but if they want to restore faith in players they need to show off gameplay after gameplay as soon as possible. A lot of people got burned by this game, and after FFXIII-2 and cancellation of Versus rumor, are feeling burned by Square-Enix as a whole. I am in the latter. Not a good start to regain the faith in fans in my opinion. I will buy Tomb Raider though.


I am still keeping my eye on this, however.

[Crushinator]

Another CG trailer...

First gameplay footage and details about the actual new gameplay will be revealed next week at Gamescom.

[DarkEpyon]

And then you have the folks like me that shelled out for the collector's box. Maybe I'll give this another shot if they add a blue mage type job.

[AC9breaker]

No DE STOP! Don't let Crushin fool you! that cocksucker. He knows this game is bad and is trying to hype it up so that we all play it again!

[DarkEpyon]

No DE STOP! Don't let Crushin fool you! that cocksucker. He knows this game is bad and is trying to hype it up so that we all play it again!

It was partially responsible for bringing me back to FFXI. I'll probably be playing PSO2 JP until they decide to kick us filthy foreign devils out.

[Alisha]

No DE STOP! Don't let Crushin fool you! that cocksucker. He knows this game is bad and is trying to hype it up so that we all play it again!

It was partially responsible for bringing me back to FFXI. I'll probably be playing PSO2 JP until they decide to kick us filthy foreign devils out.

i might try the ps3 version. dont like what i see of pso2 so far so i'll wait till they actually add some weapons.

[Kazicht]

dont like what i see of pso2 so far so i'll wait till they actually add some weapons.

What? You cray. PSO2 is amazing so far.

Also, here's some Gamescon footage of 2.0 actually being played. Shit camera work, but from what could be seen... FF14 looks totally different visually. I hope that smooth looking gameplay holds up.

[Crushinator]

i might try the ps3 version. dont like what i see of pso2 so far so i'll wait till they actually add some weapons.

Are you just bent there's no offline mode? Or no beasts?

[Alisha]

check my post again specifically the part about "weapons" i only cared about offline mode in phantasy games back when i only had dial up. i'm told future updates are adding more weapons though. as for beast...i played my human the most in psu and phantasy star portable. and its not like cast has a 400 point lead in atp like they did in pso1.

[Crushinator]

check my post again specifically the part about "weapons" i only cared about offline mode in phantasy games back when i only had dial up. i'm told future updates are adding more weapons though. as for beast...i played my human the most in psu and phantasy star portable. and its not like cast has a 400 point lead in atp like they did in pso1.

[Crushinator]

Official PS3 screenshots, this is actually happening:







The screens look a bit blurry compared to the PC ones, apparently the game is running at 1280 x 544 upscaled to 720p. The controller based menu system looks good though, and you can have up to 128 different hotkeys set (8 X 16 slot hotkey pallets).

Some deets from a translated interview:

- They (somewhat) ended up changing the map/layouts of the three cities after all.

- Amon, the re-introduced boss from FFIII, is going to be (one of?) the boss(es?) in Crystal Tower.

- Titan is confirmed to be in ARR from the start.

- Odin will 'appear differently' compared to that of other Primals.

- Depending on how one raises one's chocobo, what they can wear in equipments will also be different. (ex: If you raise it as a mage-type chocobo, then it can wear mage gear; if you raise it as a tank, it can wear tank gear, etc)

- The new dungeon in the concept art will be one of the many leveling dungeons introduced in ARR, this one being one from R40~R45. Compared to the current slew of dungeons where it's mostly 'cave' type dungeons, there will be more 'ruin/tower' type dungeons introduced in ARR.

- Hamlet will undergo a complete revamp. It will no longer be the 'closed' type content it currently is. The reason why it's the way it is the current version is due to 1.0 limitations. In ARR they can finally implement a more open-style content, which is what they originally wanted to do.

- Monster AI will operate under a FFXII-style 'gambit'-type system. Likewise, Chocobo AIs will operate under something similar.

- Depending on what class you start as, your starting city will be locked to where that class' guild is located. (ex: If you start off as a MRD, you start in Limsa)

- Raid bosses will always drop some type of reward - somewhere around 2~3 rare drops per party, random lotted. Even if one didn't get the rare drop, the players will be rewarded with tokens which you can then exchange for rare drops. In exchange, the chances to participate in the random lottery will be limited to 3 times per week. (Stanislaw's notes: The text in the interview here isn't really clear. What I'm assuming this means is that the chance to get that 2~3 rare drops is limited to 3 times per week, but one can still get tokens by trying the content over and over again. On the other hand, this can easily mean the return of horrid re-entry times.)

- All 1.0 players will get a chance to remake their character (appearance) for ARR. However, this can only be done once, and within half a year after launch.

- ARR's PS3 base resolution is 1280 x 544, which is then stretched/adjusted to 1280 x 720. Reason: PS3 memory limitations, etc. It's possible to set it higher as they're trying to fit every model into 10GB (the limit is 20GB), but with future considerations in mind, they want to set the bar relatively low for the sake of smooth performance.

- PS3 UI elements is still somewhat customizable in the sense that it can be moved around. Resizing the UI, however, is still up in the air.

- With the gamepad cross-bar system, one can register up to 128 actions (there are a total of eight 16 slots) on the bar, per class.

[HC82]

This is kind of like being in an abusive relationship. Square-Enix beats you severely (out of your money), yet you keep coming back for more punishment (hoping it will change).

Hmm... where's my wedding ring?

If the game is free to play for the first 30 days I'll give it a shot *put up makeup over black eye*

[AC9breaker]

This is kind of like being in an abusive relationship. Square-Enix beats you severely (out of your money), yet you keep coming back for more punishment (hoping it will change).

Hmm... where's my wedding ring?

If the game is free to play for the first 30 days I'll give it a shot *put up makeup over black eye*

Maaaan. They got me considering the game too. gdi

[Wiryu]

As long as I don't have to buy the damn game again i'll give it a shot.

[Crushinator]

I won't even qualify this, it just looks damn good now. It actually seems like a real modern game. I'm excited for the relaunch and I'll be there day one!

[Scan_Man]

I really hope it redeems itself. It's amazing they pumped this out in 2 years.

[DarkEpyon]

I'd love to see what the other cities look like. I guess it's just like 1.0 pre-release when all they had ready were the areas around Limsa Lominsa. Many people on XI have jokingly said that the changes over the past several months are them trying to drive people to play 14 when it relaunches.

[Crushinator]

Damn, FFXIV Director Yoshida dropping some real talk:

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/11/27/yos...-destroy-square

Naoki Yoshida has revealed that he feels another mistake like Final Fantasy XIV would end up "destroying" Square Enix.

Speaking with Kotaku, the game's producer and director explained that his team is fully aware of the pressure on them to salvage the brand's reputation following the poor reception the MMO received. He asserted that this was why they were determined not to launch the revamped Final Fantasy XIV - A Realm Reborn until they feel the game is ready.

"We won't make a mistake like FFXIV again," he said. "If we did, it would be like at the level of destroying the company."

Final Fantasy XIV launched back in 2010 to a negative reaction from fans and critics alike, resulting in Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada saying "the Final Fantasy brand has been greatly damaged."

Just why the game didn't fare particularly well has been the subject of much scrutiny over the last couple of years, but now Yoshida himself has waded in with his thoughts. Filling both the producer and director roles for the game since December 2010, when the previous producer of the game resigned and left the company, he's now revealed he had qualms about the state of the game even before he was involved with it.

"When I heard that it was going to go on sale as planned, I thought, that will probably be a big mistake," he admitted, before saying he believes the fundamental error made was that lessons weren't learned from other MMOs. The original team supposedly were just trying to make an MMO that felt different from Final Fantasy XI, which Yoshida believes was a mistake.

"I think it would've been good if they tried seeing what happened if they turned World of Warcraft into Final Fantasy. So, because they tried only to make something that was 'different from FFXI,' they ended up with not much of anything.

"They should have said, 'Hey you, go play WoW for a year [for inspiration].'

"Unless you are a genius, you cannot make something completely new from nothing."

There's still no set launch date for the revamped Final Fantasy XIV, though it's expected to appear around the middle of 2013. The PlayStation 3 version is also still in development, with more details expected on that soon.

Love how candid he's being about the mistakes in FFXIV's development. It's funny that their whole game plan with FFXIV wasn't "lets make a good game" but rather "lets make a game different from FFXI". It certainly was different, and also a total piece of shit.

Looking to WoW for inspiration as far as game flow and UI can do nothing but good for FFXIV, but I hope they're looking at advancements from other MMOs as well.

[Kazicht]

I would have taken a Final Fantasy version of WoW. Square Enix artwork with the refined gameplay of a Blizzard product would have been amazing really.

Looking forward to RRB though. I'm glad to see how open he is with their fuck up.

[Ether]

I really hope their idea NOW isn't "Hey let's just copy WoW". We've been seeing nearly every MMO try that since WoW came out, and it doesn't work, just look at The Old Republic.

[HC82]

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

I have a feeling it's going to be a quest based WoWish experience, with FF game-play elements. There really isn't anything wrong with WoW's basic quest system.The problem is when you copy WoW and don't bring anything extra to the table. Otherwise, people will just play WoW if they want a WoW experience.

SWTOR was a fantastic leveling experience, because it took Star Wars KOTOR, and WoW and made a baby. The problem was end-game... being that there wasn't much end-game. A handful of instanced Heroics and a raid or two isn't enough. The dailies were limited and there really wasn't a whole lot going on. Coupled with no LFG finder and the game was just plain ol' frustrating to find groups in. Also, some of the worlds were pretty open and bland at times.

Dailies, Instanced Dungeons, Raiding and PVP is the definition of WoWs end game. Sometimes it just gets old.

More importantly, I will only play this game if Crush pays for my monthly subscriptions.

[Wiryu]

I was under the impression Crush was going to cover everyones monthly subscription?

[Crushinator]

Yeah monthly subs all around! First month is on me. If its terrible then I take full responsibility.

[Retehi]

If its terrible then I take full responsibility.

If it's terrible, then you're banned.

[Oddies da Nerfed]

If its terrible then I take full responsibility.

If it's terrible, then you're banned.

I'll play with this rule in place. haha

[AC9breaker]

If its terrible then I take full responsibility.

If it's terrible, then you're banned.

I'll play with this rule in place. haha

I too support this notion!

[Scan_Man]

I signed up for Alpha. Says requires an active FFXIV account, but I tried anyway. I read people were getting in without that requirement: would be silly to let a select few in anyway if they were actually serious about testing this and learning from past mistakes. Let you guys know if I get in.

http://entry.ffxiv.com/alpha/index_na.html


Edit: Looking at my Square-Enix account its says I have an active FFXIV account. Ok then LOL!. Apparently if you don't have one it should give you a message telling you so when you try to sign up.

[Crushinator]

Good looking out, I applied too. May or may not have lied about how much I currently play FFXIV lol.

[Oddies da Nerfed]

Seeing how broken the signup is, I am sticking with the game still sucks.

Oh look my old account info is needed, sure! Wait, it says I do not have FFXIV, well bullshit.
Goto SE website to verify, oh but wait, this site doesn't have the login info from FFXIV, in fact the SE site has none of my info what so ever.
Create account on SE site, register FFXIV figuring it would give code in use etc. Nope, account registered!
Go back to apply for alpha, that login does not accept my new SE account as it doesn't exist and still insists I use my old info that doesn't have FFXIV attached.

If you cannot get your fucking websites to work right, chances are you also don't have the ability to make a good game.

[Scan_Man]

Yeah there seems to be some oversights here. Because if it was working correctly as stated, only people that were payed up during the last months before they shut the servers down should have "active" accounts eligible to register for the alpha. This is my understanding based on what I have read.

However they seemed to have not deactivated some folks' accounts who had registered during the release and free period of the game, like mine.

The site is a pain in the ass though. They have like 3 different sites: one that is a social site, another for customer service, and the last for online games. Each requires you to log in separately. It's very stupid, as there is no proper link to the one you want. Had similar frustration because I forgot my password; well I really I forgot my username and thought the password email would tell me. It's took some google searching to get to the actually online game account login page.

But yeah for me, under current active accounts I had retail FFXIV.

[Crushinator]

Yeah I had similar pains, I clicked the link for the alpha... had to log in again (after trying to reset my password which didn't work because it said I was trying to reset it to the same password... which magically worked when i tried to log in again) Then once i was logged in it took me to a different page, not for the alpha signup... So i click the alpha link again then have to sign in AGAIN even though i'm already signed in... But this time it goes to the right place and I'm actually able to register.

[Knightsword]

I got into the alpha, and downloading it as I typed this, but they did NDA it though.

[Crushinator]

We wont' tell anyone... post it on the members only forum

[Crushinator]

I got an alpha invite! I'll install tonight... hopefully it doesn't take 3 years to download.

[Crushinator]

So i got to play for about 20 mins before the server died tonight for maintenence...


THEY FUCKING DID IT.

THEY FUCKING FIXED FF14.


It controls (with mouse/kb) like a real modern MMO... its not laggy or crappy, you can jump... regular WASD+mouselook controls.

The menus are resizable, movable... the inventory is bag-slot based instead of a stupid list.

The map is functional, it moves in real time with you and shows quest locations and shit. The quest system is a rip of WOW's -- which is pretty much the best thing you can rip off for a game like this.

It looks BEAUTIFUL, and runs like a champ. It performs pretty much flawlessly running windowed fullscreen on my comp at 1680x1050... FFXIV 1.0 struggled like a bitch in an even smaller window on the exact same hardware.

Unfortunately the server died right before i got into combat on the initial tutorial questline, so I can't say for sure they fixed the gameplay, but... damn its like a revelation. To quote Naba from my stream "It's like I saw a unicorn."

I'll be playing this a LOT more and streaming, I'll update the skype channel when and where.

[AC9breaker]

<=== Skeptic

[donkeybeatz]

<=== Skeptic

[Knightsword]

Crush is right it is great, everything I had issues with has been fixed. Crafting and harvesting are much much better, all be it there is still some random to it, but hell harvesting tells you what the % is of getting which item you want, yes when farming you can pick what item you want to harvest, and the % increases as you level. Gone are the arcane days of ffxi or even that stupid hot cold game of the first version. Combat is quick and responsive, though opo opo's are still fucking opo opo's just stay away from groups. The are side town quests, class/guild quests, and leaves. Its easy to level your first class, but others it will be through grinding and leaves at least in the alpha. Though in the real game you'll be able to just go to another city and use those to level.

Crush, I'm on Bahamut, rocking 20 lancer, 15 Conjurer, 15 Archer, 15 Leatherworker.

[Retehi]

Need more impressions so I can ban crush.

[Knightsword]

New Combat/Levequest Vid

[Kazicht]

Awww snap, get hype! Looks like everything I ever wanted.

This game + PSO2 is gonna make next year a good time for AT online gaming.

[Knightsword]

The only slightly annoying thing is you only get 3 leves every 12 hours and they still have a few with the last one running away (or after dying) and spawning 3+ at a time all aggroed to you. Depending on the mob type it can be really bad, but so far the 10-15 ones that are in game can be soloed and the difficulty just makes their level higher and not spawn more, up to 4 levels, i.e. base 15 max 19.

[HC82]

So they're still using a bullshit Leve system?

Also I am guessing all our old characters got blown up by Bahamut, which means I have to start from scratch?

[Knightsword]

Its really not to bad, leve's are still extra, there are real ! quests through out, and about leves it 3 uses every 12 hours that stack so 6 a day and you can stack up to 18 of them. Also monsters give real exp, and you can easily level 1-10 in about a hour or 2 just off them.

As for characters all old character data was saved and if I recall correctly you should retain your original job levels.

[Crushinator]

Yeah, although the Leves are still here, the important thing is that leves are no longer the ONLY questing/content option. There are regular "WoW-style" quests like delivering shit, crafting items, killing stuff, and some of them are multi-part quests as well.

And like Knightsword said, grinding monsters FFXI style is now a valid method of leveling as well, so you can just party up and kill shit if you don't want to quest and still progress just as well.

[Knightsword]

You don't even need to party up to level, the only places that require parties are dungeons. which are instanced. You can exp chain on even level and up monsters and easily get to chain 4 sometimes 5. Also if you log off in a sanctuary area (a zone's main camp or inn room) you get rested xp, which gives you a 50% bonus.

[Crushinator]

This instance was available in the Alpha. After playing it for a bit i'm genuinely hyped for FF14:ARR, it seems unbelievable but they're actually doing everything right this time.

[Knightsword]

I ran it several times, it was none stop action. One group of mobs after another, the only time we ever had to stop was when someone died and had to be rezed or run back from releasing (from the dungeon entrence). It took about 30 to 40 minutes to complete with an hour timer, but it never felt that long when in there.

[Alisha]

wow that instance looks sweet. i just got my new pc(alienware x51 ) so pc is now an option as ps3 both ill try both and see wich i prefer control wise when the beta starts.

[Oddies da Nerfed]

wow that instance looks sweet. i just got my new pc(alienware x51 ) so pc is now an option as ps3 both ill try both and see wich i prefer control wise when the beta starts.

http://www.motioninjoy.com/

Now you have all the control schemes available on a single system.
Though a 360 controller is suggested over the ps3 due to full out of the box support on the 360 pad. For FFXIV, if they got some real mmo UI designers they should all be equal, if not in favor of a keyboard setup provided the game has enough hotkeys. Otherwise get your controller working and have at it.

[Crushinator]

Yeah take Oddie's advice and just stick with PC. If you're running an X51 you'll have better performance on FFXIV than the PS3 vers, and you'll have access to better communication options (skype, mumble, teampseak, etc.)

The final version of the game will have controller support on both platforms, so using a PS3 or 360 controller on PC will be the way to go.