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Final Fantasy XIV Information Thread | PC Open Beta... yeah it's not really open.

Sorry if it have already been posted but here's the interview the PS Blog had with the FFXIV team.

Are you planning additional content downloads for Final Fantasy XIV as in other MMOs? (balpares, France)
First of all, as it is an MMO, we will be providing free updates constantly every few months. In terms of bigger updates, we plan to have additional discs which people will be able to purchase separately as an add-on. We will also look into the possibility of providing this as a download for the full version of the game itself. If players are not used to MMOs, they may think that these downloads only add a little to the game but actually, because it’s an MMO, these updates will make a huge difference to the gameplay.

Could you explain to us the Final Fantasy XIV subscription process on PS3? (Hadrien1991, France)
It will be exactly the same as the PC version. It’s a web based system and you will pay a monthly subscription to play the game.

Is there going to be a Final Fantasy XIV Collector's Edition for PS3? (Darthzone, Italy)
Yes, we are planning this.

Will Final Fantasy XIV be available in Italian or Spanish? (faveroleone, Italy, kron-ragnarok, Spain)
Our current plan is to support the title in English, French, German and Japanese. If there are a lot of requests from other language players then we will look into this

Will there be guest appearances by other FF characters in FFXIV? (kall-heinz, Germany)
You will probably find as you play the game that, coincidentally, some of the characters might have the same name and you might recognize them. We may also add some characters secretly in the future.

Is FFXIV going to have any offline modes? (vaan97, Spain)
There will not be any offline modes.

Apparently, FFXIV is going to share game servers between PS3 and PC users. Are those going to be able to play against each other? If so, how are you going to manage the gap of experience created due to different release dates? (Raine7, Spain)
Because it’s a cross-platform game, you will be able to switch between the PS3 and PC versions as you want, so you can start with the PC version and then switch to the PS3 version: it’s really up to the players. In terms of experience, you will be able to switch your class whenever you want, and so we don’t think the gap between the releases will affect the players.

What are going to be the main differences Final Fantasy XIV players will face in this new online adventure? (Kilno, Spain)
For those who never played Final Fantasy XI before, it will be a new online experience. Especially for Final Fantasy XIV we designed the game so that people who have never played online games before can enjoy it easily. So, from the start we have lots of cutscenes and the story will be easy to pick up so you can get involved even if you’ve never played an online game before. For people who played Final Fantasy XI before, we have learned a lot from that title, both on the positive and negative side. So we are going to improve the game experience and we hope you enjoy it.

How are you guys going to handle the trophies? Will it be as hard as Final Fantasy XI? (ShadowhunterrX, Netherlands)
When we worked on the previous version, it was new to us as well so we got a lot of questions about this and we are aware it was quite difficult. So this time we are going to make sure trophies will be more accessible, while at the same time keeping some difficult ones for more experienced players.

While we were there, eu.playstation.com took the opportunity to ask the team about support for PlayStation Move and stereoscopic 3D and here’s what they had to say.
We don’t have any plans at the moment to support PS Move. If there are lots of requests for this we will look into it. One of the reasons is that people use a keyboard to communicate with other players and it would be quite difficult to switch between this and the motion controller. As for 3D, we are looking at a number of possibilities regarding this technology on the PC version and we still haven’t decided whether we are going to support it or not. For the PS3 version, we would definitely like to try it out.

Thank you to Hiromichi Tanaka, senior vice president software development, Nobuaki Komoto, game director, and Sage Sundi, global online producer, for taking the time out from their busy schedules to answer your questions, and keep an eye on eu.playstation.com for more information on Final Fantasy in the run-up to the game’s release in early 2011.

http://uk.playstation.com/ps3/news/...eople-vs-Final-Fantasy-XIV/?site_locale=en_GB
 
IonicSnake said:
For people who played Final Fantasy XI before, we have learned a lot from that title, both on the positive and negative side. So we are going to improve the game experience and we hope you enjoy it.

It's not really that hard to expect good things from Tanaka and co. I sure do.
 
mcdomination said:
DO NOT use the kb/m! I did the same thing you want to do. I got a blue tooth adapter for $10, hooked it up to my PC, downloaded/configured Motion Joy, and then was able to use the DS3 controller wirelessly for FFXIV...


...still doesn't improve the shitty input lag in this game >.<

Any PC is capable of this? Where did you buy this adapter?

Also, does the FFXIV have no plan to just bring back the old FFXI control scheme for PC?
 
Current keyboard controls sucks major fat ones. Why can't I rotate camera with arrows? I hate the new WASD IJKL-system.
 
zlatko said:
Also, does the FFXIV have no plan to just bring back the old FFXI control scheme for PC?

Yeah, they will fix the keyboard camera controls (they've acknowlodged the issue in the beta site), they just need to place the camera in the arrows and then the KB will feel like home for FFXI players. And the mouse remains to be seen what kind of fix will get, the lag should be one of the priorities tho.


Broadbandito said:
whats this about 60 fps i keep hearing?

That's true, the framerate is capped at 60 fps at the moment, it's unknown if they will uncap it for launch or keep it at 60 tho.
 
Broadbandito said:
whats this about 60 fps i keep hearing?
Smooth as framerate in beta atm :D
 
I think this is new:

"F: Tell why you decided to implement Fatigue and Latency (note: I really don't know how to translate that, but it's something in-game to keep you from playing too long at a time on one class).

DK: We'd like you to think of it as a reward to those players who don't have much time to commit to the game. Those hardcore players out there might think it's a little unfair, but the main concept behind it is that you don't need to put in massive amounts of time to enjoy the game.


F: Still though, there are a lot of disgruntled looks coming from those hardcore gamers.

DK: For those who have more time on their hands, they'll be able to try out all the various classes. Fatigue doesn't carry over when you change weapons, so we hope that they'll try out not just battle-oriented classes but maybe some crafting or gathering ones as well. So for those who end up with many high-level classes, they'll have more choices when it comes to any situation, whether solo or party play."


EDIT: Here's the link to the full famitsu interview http://www.ffxivcore.com/topic/11248-famitsu-gamewatch-gamescom-interview/
 
Home said:
I think this is new:

See this is retarded if you have time like its a holiday or something. You can't progress because they have a cut off of the amount of progress you can make a day with fatigue to make casuals feel like they aren't missing out.
 
Home said:
http://www.ffxivcore.com/topic/11248-famitsu-gamewatch-gamescom-interview/

Thanks :p


Londa said:
See this is retarded if you have time like its a holiday or something. You can't progress because they have a cut off of the amount of progress you can make a day with fatigue to make casuals feel like they aren't missing out.

I didn't even know there was a fatigue system in place. I guess I didn't play long enough in a single sit back in July.
 
Level too much and too many consecutive hours on the same job, and you get level 1 fatigue, which means 10% of your exp is wasted. This can go to to 50%, supposedly, maybe even more. It's ridiculous.
 
HappyBivouac said:
The fatigue system is a bigger design failure than the Hindenburg.

It should instead be like in Aion, one of the only things I liked from it was that exp bonus % that you'd get when being offline for a while.
 
WAT? That's what that shit is?

20qf8me.jpg
 
If you want to avoid a fucking time sink, do it on the core design, not by punishing people for playing the goddamn game the way they want.

Time sinks in MMOs and other games with persistent features are going away, but they're doing so in methods that focuses more on content, re-playability and by removing archaic standards.

Everything about this game is limited and punishing and just keeps going, the guildleves, this surplus shit, making people wander around the wards instead of an AH. All this is saying to me is that they have no content and they want a subscription anchor. It's an INDIRECT time sink.
 
punishing ppl for playing the game? really???? WTF

and these design decisions are not even the worst part
cuz bad designs can be changed

the worst part, from reading all these interviews, is of them going
"la la la la la, i can't hear you"

basically, they're not gonna listen until ppl start abandoning the game





F: Right now you can't buy armor from vendors, it looks like.

DK: Another point of contention among the staff. We do plan to add some more armor for the beginning part of the game, but we really want to encourage the crafting community to establish itself.

PT: Crafters can't really take part in battle, so we want them to enjoy their role in the game fully.



NOBODY is gonna fulltime craft jobs cept RMTs!
 
and Square keeps piling it on.

I guess you could say that there are 7 Deadly Sins to MMOs and Square is intent on hitting each and every one.

- smooth kb/m controls
- AH is a must
- there must be some kind of PvE end game
- some kind of PvP
- dont impede leveling
- intuitive UI
- something else

A couple you can get away with as long as you promise to patch in "soon after launch" but this is ridiculous.

The Fatigue system is just the latest in a long string of very bad decisions. It will sell a lot of copies because of the Final Fantasy name but retention will another story.

Obviously the FF14 team sequestered themselves off from the world and testers advice so they could make their own unique game. Unfortunately they also missed the heap of MMO wrecks that has grown over the past couple years(APB being the latest).
 
What the hell? :lol

I can't believe they think that's a good idea. That has to be some kind of mistranslation. That kind of system punishes everyone.
 
Lol SE never learns. They really should normalize their design equation so they stop giving bonus instead of penalize players. In the end, you can balance out the pace to be exactly the same but players will feel good about getting bonuses instead of feeling bad about being penalized.
 
Wait wait...so shouldnt those surplus skills go towards something then? I'm banking on mistranslation, or just missing some vital points.
 
The FFXIV team must think EQ is still the hot shit. Seriously, this is like going back in time. Has SE completely ignored the rest of the industry for the past eight years?
 
Teknoman said:
Wait wait...so shouldnt those surplus skills go towards something then? I'm banking on mistranslation, or just missing some vital points.
I Dunno, but this sounds like the same fatigue system these free to play / "freemium" mmos which is pointless since instead we're paying for it. FFXI had nothing like this so don't see why they should add that crap into FF14.
 
Might as well post the full interview:

Famitsu managed to catch the FFXIV team over at Gamescom and managed to snag an interview. Here's the juicy details, courtesy of the one and only Stevemanly. The interview will be added and updated in chunks as it's translated, so stay tuned!

Source: Famitsu

Tell us about FFXIV!

At Gamescom, we bumped into the Final Fantasy XIV triumvirate: Producer Tanaka, Director Komoto, and Global Online Producer Sage Sundi. We pulled them aside and asked them for an interview, and they acquiesced. HARDCORE!

Looking back over the year

Famitsu (F): It’s been over a year since you revealed FFXIV at E3 last year. How has that year treated you?

Producer Tanaka (PT): Wait, did we reveal it at E3 last year? (He laughs) We’ve been working on it so long we’ve kinda lost track of the time.
Director Komoto (DK): Time’s really flown, especially this last year. It’s hard to believe the E3 at which we revealed FFXIV was a year ago already.

F: So basically you haven’t had time to look back?
Sage Sundi (SS): Right now, not in the slightest. (He laughs)

F: I’m sure you’re busy cramming a lot of work into the last few weeks before release, but can you tell us when open beta starts?
DK: The plan is to start it at the beginning of September.

F: Yeah yeah, tell us what day!
PT: Would you let us off the hook if we told you “As soon as possible?” (He laughs)

Changes between phases two and three of the beta

F: What changed with the beginning of phase three of the beta?
DK: We added a few things, but a couple of big things that changed were the tempo of battle and the feel of the game. Also, for the players outside of Japan, the changes to the mouse controls were probably pretty big.

F: So mouse control was a pretty big deal to users overseas?
PT: I would say about 90% of the feedback we got about things people wanted to see in the game was related to the mouse.
DK: If you look at it globally, there was more feedback about that than anything else.
SS: Outside of Japan, many PC gamers use a mouse as the main controls for all games, from FPS’s to MMORPG’s.
PT: Gamepad and mouse controls are different at the most fundamental of levels. With a gamepad, you have to go through a layered structure command input for control, a mouse needs to be able to get things done with just a click. We have to set the game up to be able to handle both.

F: So there wasn’t much feedback from Japan about all that?
DK: Not really, but we got a lot of feedback about the user interface as a whole, so we’re working around the clock to fix that right now.

Don’t forget the other requests

F: Was there any other kind of feedback you received?
DK: There was a lot about guildleves, like allowing retries on failed guildleves or suiting them more for party play. We on the development team also believe we could do more to promote party play. We’re trying to figure out how to find that balance of enjoyable party play without taking away from the soloing experience.

F: So you’ll be adding content to that purpose?
DK: Right now our greatest priority is to increase the merits for party play. Though we still want guildleves to be a rewarding solo experience, we also want to add things that would make them rewarding to complete as a party.
SS: We got a lot of feedback about that, and all the feedback was consistent; players’ first concern was the user interface, then the merits of party play. Thanks to this, we know what everyone is focusing on.

From “Bun-bun” to “Shei-shei-ha! Shei-ha!”*

F: The battle system changed drastically from alpha to the first phase of beta. Do you think the battle system could change even more?
DK: We feel that the battle system has become pretty set. What we have left to adjust are the abilities, monsters, and guildleve balance. The biggest part is probably the balance of the growth system, so we’ll be looking at that a lot during the third beta phase.
PT: Speaking of which, in open beta, the placement of monsters and their aggro settings will change greatly, so you may have to change your battle strategies, too.


F: So the changes are going to be so big they’ll even affect strategizing?
PT: FFXI was the same way. The system and balances change and adapt like a living creature.
DK: You’ll also be able to start in any of the three starting capital cities. It’s not just about the three different stories; it is from this point that you’ll actually see the economy begin to work the way we imagined it, and we can’t wait for you to see it.

F: So in open beta, will you be able to go between cities?
DK: But of course.

Where’s the magic?

F: Right now there’s only two Discipline of Magic classes available. Will there be any more than these?
DK: We’d like players to enjoy these two classes for a while. The caster class system is still being tweaked. However, this doesn’t mean we’re going to wait for the release of an expansion to release the class; it’ll be out when the timing is right.

F: So you’re saying that there will be more Disciples of Magic?
DK: Yes. They might come in a patch, they might come in an expansion. We’re not sure yet.

F: What about pet classes, like FFXI’s beastmaster?
DK: There was a lot of feedback asking for those. We’d like to be able to provide that, but it might come in an expansion…

F: …or it might be in a patch. We get it (He laughs)
DK: If you put a pet class in right from release, balance is really difficult, so right now we’re not putting them in.

F: Do you have plans for any other new classes?
PT: We’ve got a few in mind, but we’re keeping them under wraps for now.

F: What kind of class will they be? Give us a hint!
PT: No! (He laughs evilly, clutching his pitchfork and stepping on the interviewer’s toes with the malice of a kindergartener. Ok, the Japanese just says he laughs, but WE know what happened, don’t we, folks? –Manly)




*The “Ideal FFXIV Battle Tempo” according to the Japanese. In a Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus video posted on Japanese video site Niconico Douga, (14th in a series of DoC vids, which probably drew in people looking for FFXIV videos) bun-bun is the sound Vincent’s slow-firing gun makes, and shei-shei-ha is what Vincent says during his melee attack. Months ago, a common post on Japanese boards was, “The current FFXIV battle tempo: Bun… bun… Ideal battle tempo: SHEI-HA! SHEI-SHEI-HA! SHEI-SHEI! HAA… SHEI!”
 
jiggle said:
NOBODY is gonna fulltime craft jobs cept RMTs!

They aren't saying that players are going to be full time crafters, but that a player being a crafter is going to fully enjoy their time as one.



- some kind of PvP

Don't see how a PvE focused game, lacking PvP could be a "Deadly Sin".
 
Very odd hardware performance, FPS drops at random to as low as 28 FPS in the city or around crowds.

720p? (assuming this is what the beta runs at, benchmark for 720 was 6400)
i7 930 @ 4.0 Ghz
6 Gig Ram
GTX 470 @ 775core/1550 shader
Windows 7 64 bit

Very disappointed, hope the retail won't be this bad. My rig should be eating this game for breakfast.
 
jiggle said:
NOBODY is gonna fulltime craft jobs cept RMTs!


It'll be like SWG, most will try it out for shits 'n giggles but a phew crafter fanatics will be in their element and end up with more gold than Rotschild, Crassus and Bill Gates combined
 
Yeah honestly this game is gonna see so many changes in the first 6-12 months its ridiculous. They're gonna release the game and realize that so many of their "great ideas" just don't fly with the players.
 
Khrno said:
They aren't saying that players are going to be full time crafters, but that a player being a crafter is going to fully enjoy their time as one.


what i am saying, and having hard time putting into words, is that
all crafters will be fighters
but not all fighters will be crafters
why gimp the game for a subset of those ppl?
pleasing the fighters will cover everyone
cept the ppl that craft fulltime (RMTs)


want to make the game more fun for crafting?
get rid of all those fucking stupid minigames
 
Wait wait wait, so those of us who level a job a crap load will be slapped down with exp penalties for it? Is this relative only if you do it on the same class? Can I level X class until the fatigue point, then swap to Y class and such? I guess this WILL make me want to level multiple classes often, but what happens when someone:

1) Reaches the point where the next level is really far EXP wise for all his classes, so much so that fatigue sets in before he's even reached 1/3d of exp needed to level any class ?

2) Only wants to level 1-2 jobs max? Why punish his time spent in the game for playing it the way he wants?

I'm seriously like WTFing hard over this. It makes NO sense to punish someone who WANTS to play your game with their spare hours. That's like a restaurant owner having an all you can eat buffet, but after you eat a certain amount the rest of the food you eat will have bits of poison in it. Why in the fuck?

Plus we are paying monthly to play the game, yet you want to punish me for making the most of my $13.00 a month? I'm pissed about this decision and could turn me off from this game entirely to be honest.
 
HappyBivouac said:
Yeah honestly this game is gonna see so many changes in the first 6-12 months its ridiculous. They're gonna release the game and realize that so many of their "great ideas" just don't fly with the players.

They don't need to release it to find their great ideas won't fly with players. If they talked to them now, they'd find it out. I'm contemplating finding their fucking offices and going straight to the developers to yell at them right now. Anyone know where they are? >=|
 
i am having such a hard time grasping what's going through their heads
they want ppl to do leve, but not TOO much leve
they want ppl to level a job, but not TOO much leveling it
wtf??

basically they want ppl to pay to play the game, but not TOO much playing
maybe it's some fucking lame scheme to keep ppl from quitting FFXI :lol



zlatko said:
Wait wait wait, so those of us who level a job a crap load will be slapped down with exp penalties for it? Is this relative only if you do it on the same class? Can I level X class until the fatigue point, then swap to Y class and such? I guess this WILL make me want to level multiple classes often, but what happens when someone:


when you play too long on one job, u will lose 10% of the points earned
it doesn't affect other jobs you switch too (until u play those for too long)



hope ppl raise HELL on the beta forum over this
cuz i'm too lazy to do it :P
 
Shouta said:
They don't need to release it to find their great ideas won't fly with players. If they talked to them now, they'd find it out. I'm contemplating finding their fucking offices and going straight to the developers to yell at them right now. Anyone know where they are? >=|


Nothing gets the blood boiling quite like MMO launches.
 
JudgeN said:
Very odd hardware performance, FPS drops at random to as low as 28 FPS in the city or around crowds.

720p? (assuming this is what the beta runs at, benchmark for 720 was 6400)
i7 930 @ 4.0 Ghz
6 Gig Ram
GTX 470 @ 775core/1550 shader
Windows 7 64 bit

Very disappointed, hope the retail won't be this bad. My rig should be eating this game for breakfast.
Turn off Depth of Field and/or Ambient occlusion. I got a huge FPS jump when I did that.
 
I really believe that they will remove this stupid surplus. I don't really know any "real" casual players that are looking into FFXIV to enjoy. Why did they think they needed to make casuals on equal ground as people that have time to play?

Damn, this is really making the game easy with no challenge.

This is the only thing I could understand as to why there is so much rage.
 
I feel like every high-profile game would involve this kind of intense player rage, but only MMOs are so open about their development, due to the need for massive betas.

I still think everyone in here needs to calm the fuck down. Square Enix may be fairly inept when it comes to game design, but does anyone really think they don't believe UI lag of several seconds at a time is a problem? They'll fix it.

As far as the "penalty" thing, 10% isn't much, and it encourages diversity in jobs. Hell, it encourages me to get the hell off once in awhile, and I think that's just fine.

If you want to sink 80 hours a week into an MMO, well...

Have fun with that.
 
Feep said:
I feel like every high-profile game would involve this kind of intense player rage, but only MMOs are so open about their development, due to the need for massive betas.

I still think everyone in here needs to calm the fuck down. Square Enix may be fairly inept when it comes to game design, but does anyone really think they don't believe UI lag of several seconds at a time is a problem? They'll fix it.

As far as the "penalty" thing, 10% isn't much, and it encourages diversity in jobs. Hell, it encourages me to get the hell off once in awhile, and I think that's just fine.

If you want to sink 80 hours a week into an MMO, well...

Have fun with that.

After three hours of playing I got surplus and I was doing leve's for the most part with the linkshell. No soloing or partying.
 
Londa said:
I really believe that they will remove this stupid surplus. I don't really know any "real" casual players that are looking into FFXIV to enjoy. Why did they think they needed to make casuals on equal ground as people that have time to play?

Damn, this is really making the game easy with no challenge.

This is the only thing I could understand as to why there is so much rage.

But SE has years of game development experience londa, you really think you know better than the dozens of game designers at squeenix?

2ykyyp4.gif
 
Londa said:
After three hours of playing I got surplus and I was doing leve's for the most part with the linkshell. No soloing or partying.
So, after three hours in a single day, you either have to suffer a 10% drop in XP, play another job, or go do something else in the game.

Jesus fuck you people are overreacting.
 
So I'm eying the collector's edition. Wasn't it supposed to come with a tumbler? And what's this right of passage thing?
 
Whogie said:
So I'm eying the collector's edition. Wasn't it supposed to come with a tumbler? And what's this right of passage thing?
Tumbler seems to be EU/JP and Rite of Passage (Certificate thing SE sends you thats personalised to your character) is for the US.
 
i got penalty after 3 fights, and i hadn't touch this job for over 30+ hours :lol

it's not every fight though, so iono how they are calculating this
 
From what I've read it's not based on time played, but instead based on how far any single job gets ahead of another. Waiting won't reduce the penalty, the only thing that can reduce it is to level up another job (or two).
 
Feep said:
So, after three hours in a single day, you either have to suffer a 10% drop in XP, play another job, or go do something else in the game.

Jesus fuck you people are overreacting.


No one is overreacting over the design trainwrecks in this game. This is a lesser one if that info holds concrete and all encompassing, however it still doesn't need to exist, it just remains looming worry while we know so little about it.

Also, "Do something else" shouldn't be a mantra for EVERY SINGLE PIECE of the game.
 
jiggle said:
basically they want ppl to pay to play the game, but not TOO much playing...

This is a good point. If we're paying monthly there should be no negative-incentives. Sure, put in a positive one, like WoW's rested-xp, or whatever, but do not penalize a paying subscriber.

Also: relying on crafters for all armor and weapons (and no ah?) - see the failure of Asheron Call 2's dead economy and dead game.

Fingers-crossed for this all to have been misunderstood/lost in translation. Some of the interview stuff I've read in this thread chills my blood.
 
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