After some screen shots were released from the playable Guildleve build at Gamescom, we  jumped in and gave them an in depth analysis and even went as far as re-creating the image in English! With the release of a new image showing off the upgraded user interface, we figured it was time to do it again! Lets see what changes are in store for us!

click to view larger image

As you can see, the first big change is that there seems to be a new style applied to the user interface, giving it a much cleaner look and making it easier to read. We’ll be using the numbers in the image as we discuss the certain areas of the user interface.

1. Chat Log

Not a whole lot has changed with the chat log. Instead of the chat filters being included inside the box at the top, they have now been turned into tabs. In this image we can see General and Combat. Chances are we’ll also be seeing Group and Linkshell at some point. Looking at the way other MMOs handle their chat, its possible that we’ll be given the opportunity to create a custom tab filled only with the text we tell it we want to see. We can see from our translation that Destiny evades an attack by the Peiste. However the creature is to far away from her when she tries to attack, so the move isn’t executed.
Special thanks to Corinth for the translation!

2. Map

This is nice to see! An on screen map has been added to the interface to aid adventurers. Not only can we see the area around us, but we can also see the surrounding enemies (red dots) as well as what is probably an NPC of some sort (green dot). I’m sure that party members will be added to the mini-map as well if you’re in a group (probably blue dots).

3. Action Bar and Target HP

Interesting to note here that there is only one action bar. More than likely due to the fact that there aren’t actions available for both right and left hands. We can see Destiny is getting ready to use Earth Render (an earth based Pugilist ability that allows a distanced attack. It can not be used on enemies in the air) on the Peiste she’s fighting.

4. Send and Receive

Players of Final Fantasy XI will recognize this new addition to the UI. Seeing yourself  “R zeroing” will also be possible in Final Fantasy XIV.

5. Action Bar

The Action Bar has been simplified a bit more. Instead of seeing the name of abilities under each icon, we just have the icon representation of the ability. While we can’t say for sure, our guess is that the ability name will appear above the icon when it is hovered over or selected.

6. TP Bar

The TP bar has been removed from the HP and MP group and is now spread across the bottom of the screen. It seems that TP will play a larger role in Eorzea than it did in Vana’diel. The bar in the image has 72 TP and as you can see, has a long way to go before it fills up.

7. Misc Icons

Here we can see what are probably icons to open up things such as your inventory, main menu, and possibly a friend list or message window of sorts.

8. HP and MP

The HP and MP bars have been styled a little more and are now a lot easier on the eyes.

That’s it for now! The game will be entering its beta phase soon so for the lucky few who are able to participate, this is probably what you’ll be seeing. However, keep in mind that there’s always a chance they could polish up the user interface even more before the game launches!

Another day, another article.  Today’s information is also courtesy of Famitsu.  Along with the developer comments they had for the various classes, they also had a short one page interview with the three developers.  Once again, let’s take a look at what Battle Director Atsushi Okada, Planner Sei Sato, and Planner Kenichi Iwao had to say about their game.

Famitsu: For starters, could you give us a basic idea of how combat works?

Okada: While you can play solo as well, the general idea behind combat in FFXIV is “Many versus Many” where the enemies are also in parties.  We’re also building it under the assumption that people will be moving around while fighting rather than staying at one particular camp and having somebody bring the enemies in.

F: So basically people will move to where the enemies spawn and heal between battles?

Okada: That’s right.  However, one of the things that makes FFXIV special is that, in general, your MP will not recover.  This isn’t to say that there are absolutely no ways to get MP back.  For example, once a player has grown in their class they’ll learn abilities to help them recover MP.  Also, if you stop by an Aetheryte location, you can recover both HP and MP.

Iwao: Classes with MP have to think of MP as something to use carefully and learn how to make it last over a number of battles versus using it all during just one battle.  That’s a part of how FFXIV works.

Sato: When you start on a particular objective, everybody is going to go out to the location together.  At that time, it’ll be important for you to start thinking about how you will manage your MP.  There is even a class built around the idea of managing a party’s MP usage.

Each class has a different range.

F: Looking at the image you’ve provided, I suppose it’s safe to say that each class has their own best attack range.

Sato: Yes.  For battles in FFXIV, where you are standing and which way the enemy is looking is going to have a big impact on things.  So the natural extension of that is an appropriate attack range for each class.

Iwao: The enemies themselves also have different classes assigned to them so you’ll see enemies playing out different battle tactics as well.  You’ll need to fight over the best positions and sometimes you might need to change locations when you fight.  That’s one thing that makes the “Many versus Many” battles so exciting.  You aren’t just fighting in the same location all the time.  You really have to think about where the enemy is in relation to you at all times.

Sato: It’s not an action game but it does have some of the elements of one.

F: With the need to move around, it sounds like the classes with very short attack ranges will have an easier time of things.

Iwao: Well, the classes that are right up close have to really worry about their position and direction while those fighting from farther away will be more concerned about distance.

Sato: For close range fighters, the effectiveness of your attacks will vary depending on the direction you are facing, so it isn’t particularly easier than the classes that fight from farther away.

Iwao: There is one other element to take into consideration: range.  This is really obvious for magic users but other classes have abilities with different ranges as well.

Sato: Think of where you are fighting as a space you share with all of your party members.  We’ll continue to refine and develop more of these ranged attacks.

Iwao: There are different types of these moves as well.  For example, there are ones that radiate from you and other ones that spread out around your target.  These will be very tactical battles where you are thinking about range, distance, and direction as you fight.  I hope people enjoy this style of play.

F: It looks like we’ll see different “elements” in FFXIV.  Can you tell us more about them?

Okada: There are 6 elements for FFXIV: fire, ice, wind, earth, thunder, and water.  They are interrelated to each other as well.  Water is strong to fire but weak to thunder, etc.  Each element has something they are strong to and weak against.

Iwao: There are many components in the game, both involving the player and the enemy, where elements will have an influence.  There are also other properties beyond the 6 elements.  For example, on Earth we have magnetism.  In FFXIV, we will have two properties “Star Pole” and “Spirit Pole”.  (Translator’s Note: It’s hard to say what the English equivalents will be.)

F: How will these different elements and properties affect the player when they play?

Okada: We are working on making it so that each player is strong to and weak against a different element.  For example, maybe one particular player would find themselves strong against fire.

F: Is this something the player can decide during character creation?

Sato: No.  Just like HP or other things, it is something that a player grows into over time.  Depending on how you grow, you might become a specialist of sorts in one particular element.

Okada: As an example, if you are strong against water and you are attacked by an enemy with water magic, it won’t hurt as much.

Iwao: Let’s say there are two Conjurers.  Even still, they could have two different roles where one is better at things involving ice and the other fire.  There will be a natural division of labor.

F: It sounds like a player can really show off their individuality.

Iwao: You could level all things equally and be able to deal with a variety of situations.  But that would come at the cost of not being able to specialize in any particular element.

F: I think it would be interesting if mini communities formed around specializing in a particular element.

Sato: Like a Fire Lover’s Club.  (laughs)  That kind of thing might be possible.

The day of the FFXIV Beta Test Site opening is upon us.  Many people are anxiously awaiting a chance to play the alpha build and test out game play.  What better time than today for Square Enix to give us more detailed information about some of the classes people will be playing around with!  Both Weekly Famitsu and Dengeki PlayStation have big spreads on FFXIV this week.  Jumping the gun though was Famitsu posting the information on their website just after Japanese midnight last night.  People on the forums and in our IRC chat room were excitedly trying to decipher the text while I…. I went to sleep.  But I’m awake now and as we don’t have an official NA update yet, it’s time to dig into the article!  Keep in mind that all of this is translated from the Japanese and does not contain official English terms for certain abilities and so forth.  Also, the class descriptions are mostly ones we’ve seen before so I’ll leave those out for now.   This article will cover the abilities, weapon skills, and comments from the developers on the fighting classes plus a little information about a couple other classes as well.  Detailed weapon information can will come later if we don’t need an official update soon.

On to the info!

Gladiator

Gladiator Abilities:
Roaring Sword- Waving the tip of your blade to get the enemy’s attention
Cover – Protect the party members behind you by taking damage instead of them
Rampart – Using your sword to increase your defense (raises physical and magical defenses)
Precision – Lowers evasion and increases accuracy
Aegis Boon – When guarding with your shield, any damage taken heals your HP instead

Weapon Skills:
Phalanx – Anger the enemy by attacking after guarding with a shield
Red Lotus – A swinging fire elemental attack on the enemy
Shield Bash – Hit the enemy with a shield and prevent them from casting a spell
Spinning Stroke – Attack the enemy.  Damage increases if the enemy is not attacking you.
Circle Slash – AoE weapon skill

Comments from the Developers:

Planner Iwao – They can wear many different kinds of armor, use large shields, and are blessed defensively.  I think lots of people will use them to draw the enemies attention and serve to protect the other members of their party.

Battle Director Okuda – As this class is very good at using shields, people might think of them as a defender but they can do a lot of damage as well.

Planner Sato – Both an attacker and a defender, they can do just about anything perfectly so I think this will become a very popular class.

Okuda – When it comes to attacking, you can choose between two styles:  swinging attacks and thrusting attacks.  Each has their advantages and disadvantages so you will have to take that into consideration when fighting.

Iwao- I think it’s safe to say that this class is a very versatile fighter.

Lancer

Lancer Abilities:
Inspire: Party members receive TP for attacking their target
Ferocity: You lose HP but your next attack will give greater damage
Fighting Spirit: You lose HP but you gain TP
Collusion: Attack the enemy from behind another party member while the enemy is focused on that party member
Spirit Surge: Decrease enemy evasion while sucking away their HP

Weapon Skills:
Overrun: If you attack while the enemy isn’t aware of you, you can land a series of high speed successive attacks and increase your TP.
Feint: If you use right after an enemy has evaded your attack, your next attack will surely hit.
Leg Sweeper: AoE attack where you target the legs of your enemies and prevent them from moving.  Cannot be used on aerial targets.
Moonrise: Attack the enemy and suppress their ability to gain TP
Skewer: Attack all enemies between you and your target.  Movement for land-based enemies will become slower.

Developer Comments:

Iwao – This class uses the long range of their polearms to attack from a relatively safe distance.  They also have a number of special attacks that can confuse an enemy or bind them.

Sato – Since they are back farther than other front line party members, they have a wider view of what’s going on around them.  If the back line is in a jam, they are probably the class that is best able to quickly get over to help them.

Iwao – Lancers are really affected by the distance between them and their target.  They will have to make adjustments to where they stand and constantly think about the location of their target, their party members, and themselves.  This class requires somebody who moves tactically.

Sato – This person has to think about many things, not just about what they know about the enemy.

Pugilist

Pugilist Abilities:
Whistle: Gain the attention of the enemy
Blind Side: Increased damage when you attack from behind the enemy
Chakra: Use TP to regain HP
Steal: Steal things from the enemy
Feather Step: Increase evasion by a large amount for one shot

Weapon Skills:
Jarring Strike: If used after a missed enemy attack, your next attack will hit and bind the enemy but also anger them
Piercing Fists: Piercing attack.  If done in succession, the chances of a critical hit increases.
Haymaker: If used after a missed enemy attack, you can do heavy damage to the enemy
Tackle: A rapid succession of attacks
Earth Render: An earth elemental based distance attack.  Doesn’t work on enemies in the air.

Developer Comments:

Iwao – They have a very short attack range and their defense isn’t very high.  However, they are tricky fighters who can tease the enemy with their wide range of abilities.  They also can change between different stances which means they can change their fighting style in accordance to the enemy or party makeup.

Sato – Stance will make a huge difference.  Players will have to think on their feet, taking the flow of the battle into account when choosing whether to go offensive or defensive.

Iwao – If you continue to use the same stance, the number of things you can do while in that stance will increase.  While you can change your stance at any time, changing the stance means you go back to a previous level of ability.  Your split time decisions on whether it is best to make adjustments or stick with the same stance to get the extra benefits could decide whether you are the victor or the vanquished.

Marauder

Marauder Abilities:
Blood Bath: The damage you give the enemy turns into HP for you
Power Attack: Increases the chance of critical hits
Defender: Use your Axe to increase your physical defense in exchange for not being able to attack
Disorient: Lower the enemy’s evasion
Unyielding March: Can move,  albeit slowly, even when hit with binding magic

Weapon Skills:
Skull Thunder: Lasting damage on the enemy or gather your power to create a wider AoE attack.
Log Splitter: Very affective attack against plant-type enemies.
Fracture: If used after parrying an enemy attack, you can seal the enemy’s ability to use weapon skills while damaging them.
Brandish: AoE attack
Iron Tempest: A donut-shaped AoE wind elemental attack

Developer Comments:
Iwao – This class can do a lot of damage with their axe, enough to change the outcome of a battle with one swing.  However, depending on the number of enemies and how they are scattered about, they might not be able to gather all of their strength and have trouble during battle.

Sato – They have more attack power than other classes but their accuracy is a bit lower.

Okuda – In order to use some of the Marauder’s special abilities, you’ll have to be standing still.  So it takes foresight to play this class effectively.

Archer

Archer Abilities
Replenish: Fire off multiple arrows at one time (the description says all of your arrows)
Chameleon: Erase your presence to avoid detection
Stride: Be able to move quickly for a short period of time
Retrieval: Gather up arrows in exchange for some HP
Hawkeye: Increase the accuracy of your next attack

Weapon Skills
Shadow Stitch: Bind the enemy
Wide Volley: Attack your target and other enemies around it
Quick Knock: Use multiple arrows in rapid succession to attack enemies in a fan like AoE attack
Snakebite Arrow: Attack and remove enhancing magic from the enemy
Shrieker: Attack the enemy and cause it to retreat

Developer Comments

Iwao – More than anything, their role is to attack enemies from a distance.  After that, it all depends on the technical abilities of the archer.  If they attract too much attention from the enemy, they could get in trouble as they don’t have a high defense.  So you have to think about where you are going to stand and the best way to attack the enemy without capturing their interest.  This class has to look at the big picture.

Sato – Archers also have a lot of abilities they can use to put some distance between them and their enemies.  I hope people use those in their battle strategies.

Iwao – The type of arrow you pick is also important.  There are arrows for doing direct damage but you can also use arrows to affect the status of your enemy and thereby help out your party members.

Conjurer

Conjurer Abilities
Profound: Casting time increases but so does the spell power
Trance Chant: No matter what, your spell casting will not be interrupted
Spirit Bind: You bind yourself in exchange for decreasing MP costs per spell
Roaming Soul: You can cast while walking
Purge: You can balance off the elemental status of you and the enemy (translation note: I really don’t know what they mean by that)

Weapon Skills
Fire: an AoE fire attack
Cure: an AoE cure spell
Protect: an AoE spell that increases the physical defense of your party members
Shock Spikes: A thunder elemental spell that surrounds you and will attack and paralyze the enemy if you are attacked
Frost: a DoT AoE ice spell

Developer Comments

Iwao – This is a sorcerer with elemental magic.

Okuda – This class has to look at the situation a party is in and adapt to a changing environment.  They also have to have a good understanding of the elements in play.

Iwao – They have attack magic, defensive magic, recovery magic, etc.  They can cast a wide range of spells so they can be an attacker for a party or in a support role.  I think we can call them an active almighty class you can look forward to.  I think one special feature of this class is the AoE magic they can cast.  The area is a circle of effect drawn around the player.

Okuda – By the way, all of the actions you do in battle go towards building your TP. That includes spell casting.

Sato – That means we have power TP moves for Conjurers as well.

Thaumaturge

Thaumaturge Abilities
Blood Pact: You lose HP but your spells become more powerful
Thorn: Damages the enemy that gave you damage
Dark Seal: Increase magical accuracy
Initiation: Spread a magical status you have to your party members
Paradigm Shift: Decreased attacking distance in exchange for a wider area of effect

Weapon Skills
Drain: AoE HP sucking attack
Gravity: AoE attack that slows the movement speed of enemies
Sacrifice: Give up your HP in exchange for the HP recovery of one of your party members
Siphon: Suck MP from enemies you have defeated
Absorb-Acc: Suck an enemy’s accuracy and increase your own

Developer Comments

Iwao- The Thaumaturge has a lot of status changing spells at their disposal.  Their AoE is also fan shaped and they have many strong attacks.  Compared to the Conjurer, they are more effective when they get closer to the enemy.

Sato – Basically, the Thaumaturge has been given strong damaging attack spells.  However, there is also a risk to using them so you have to look for the right balance.  We’ll listen to players’ feedback about this class and make adjustments in the future.

Iwao- The Thaumaturge can take and absorb different things from the enemy.  They can also stack many spells.  They will have to read the flow of battle and decide when is the best time to cast things.

For the Blacksmith and Miner, we don’t have abilities or weapon skills but you can get an idea of what they do.

Blacksmith

Blacksmith Handiworks
Iron Ingot (made from Iron Ore)
Sword Guard (made from Iron Ingot)
Spatha (made from Spatha blade, sword grip, sword guard, and a Pommel)
Pick (made from Pick head, Pick ball, and a grip strap)
Spiked Labrys (made from a Labrys and Bronze Ingot)

Miner

Things Miners Collect
Bronze ore
Gold ore
Saltpeter
Silica Sand
Little Worms

Developer Comments

Iwao – The Blacksmith is a crafting class that makes weapons, tools, or metal products.  It can also repair these things.  The Miner is a gathering class that mines up minerals.  You can’t expect much fighting power out of either of these classes.  However, we plan on adding abilities to make them useful in battle.  For example, we are thinking of giving the Blacksmith an ability to discover the weaknesses of metalic enemies as well as find battle spoils afterwards.  Depending on how you customize your abilities,  a fighting Blacksmith might not just be dream.

There will be more information to come over the next few days!  Keep checking back so you don’t miss a thing.

A couple weeks ago at VanaFest, attendees were lucky enough to get a showing of the latest CG video that was teased in screen shots with the last Final Fantasy XIV site update. 4Gamer has posted several images from the trailer on their website.

We also have our first look at what appears to be the latest build for Final Fantasy XIV complete with a newly modified UI.

• In the image we can see that the player is using a surname “Destiny Katayama”.
• In the top right corner we can see her position on the map as well as the location of nearby targets.
• We can also see that another Final Fantasy XI monster, the Peiste will be making an appearance in Eorzea.

We’re sure to see an update to the official FFXIV site in the next day or so with the new information coming out of magazines such as Famitsu and Dengeki. We’ll have more information about the findings from those sources soon so keep an eye out for them!

The next issue of Famitsu appears to have a ton of FFXIV information.  And when that happens, an official site update is usually not far behind.  So we can all look forward to what looks to be a pretty massive explosion of information in the next 24 hours.  Here are some of the images to drool over while we wait for the official translations and site update.  The Famitsu article has additional images and information (in Japanese) as well.

Thanks to the hawkish eyes of our loyal IRC members, we have been alerted to the fact that the FFXIV beta application page has been updated with some new, and potentially important, disclaimers.

First, you can now re-apply and, it seems, update your beta application.  Whereas in the past it gave you an error message if you tried to reapply, now you can get back to the application form.  The fine print now states:

* If an applicant applies multiple times, only the final application will be valid.

Next, there is also now a place to submit a PS3 beta code on the application form.   The form states:

* If you received a FINAL FANTASY XIV promotional code for registering FINAL FANTASY XIII on the Square Enix Members site, please enter that code now.

There is some accompanying fine print on this aspect as well.

* If you have received a FINAL FANTASY XIV promotional code for registering FINAL FANTASY XIII on the Square Enix Members site, please use it to apply for the beta test.

* If you have already applied for the FINAL FANTASY XIV beta test but would like to apply for the PlayStation 3 beta with a FINAL FANTASY XIV promotional code, please be aware that all previous applications will be invalidated.

* The promotional code will also be required to obtain the FINAL FANTASY XIV secret in-game item, so please hold on to your code until the game’s official release.

Finally, on a seemingly related note, the Japanese beta site has a new (?) sub-page, which appears to confirm that they are now accepting these PS3 applications.  We have not, however, located a similar NA page, but will keep you posted.  And join us in IRC to meet and chat with the hawks.

Our premiere FINAL FANTASY XI site, FFXIclopedia, has been hard at work negotiating for our community special access to the FINAL FANTASY XIV beta. Full notice from FFXIclopedia below:

Well the cat is out of the proverbial bag.  Reports are trickling in and it seems that emails have gone out to some lucky soon-to-be FFXIV testers.  And with that email was a link to the FFXIV beta test site(s):

https://dev-na.ffxiv.com
https://dev-eu.ffxiv.com
https://dev-jp.ffxiv.com

Of course the sites are locked down until March 11, 2010, but looks like the wheels are in motion over at SE HQ.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the release of information at VanaFest 2010 about the upcoming FFXIV beta testing has caused quite a stir in the community.  But many (including us) may have jumped the gun in proclaiming beta to be starting on March 11.  Well in a Q&A session after the event, Famitsu attempted to clarify the global confusion caused by Square Enix’s less than precise language – and here is what they were able to come up with (as translated and reported by Andriasang):

As reported at Famitsu.com, Tanaka was asked when the game’s alpha test and beta test would take place. This information, he said, will be announced on March 11, when the beta tester site goes live. They’re currently making adjustments which could change the date around.

Tanaka was asked about the alpha test in particular. How long will the alpha test, which of course takes place before the beta test, run? His response was that Square Enix will decide that based off user response.

So that’s where things stand at the moment.  As pointed out by Andriasang, Square’s use of the term “beta” leaves something to be desired.  But it appears that Alpha and beta timing will be announced on March 11 via a tester website.  Alpha testing will last for an unknown length of time, followed, of course, by beta testing.  We’ll confirm what we can, but for now we’ll just keep our fingers crossed with the rest of you… to be continued for sure.

Well VanaFest 2010 brought some welcome news to the Eorzean faithful (and a ton to the Vana’diel faithful).  The reports are coming in, the official VanaFest page has been updated, and it seems that Beta notices will start as early as today, with beta testing starting on March 11, 2010!  So stay tuned – sounds like a lot of players are about to get their beta on.