Gaming news site Gamekyo has posted some pictures of the Los Angeles Convention Center getting decked out with ads of all shapes and sizes.  A few of these pictures show us just how serious Square Enix is treating the release of Final Fantasy XIV.  While it might be harder to see the ad built into the staircase once the event starts, there is no way you can miss the giant ad with the game’s logo on it.  Below that it says SOUTH HALL 1647, most likely the location of Square Enix’s booth.  Less than a week until we find out what surprises will be awaiting FFXIV fans there!

Additional photos of the convention center can be found at Gamekyo’s site.  Special thanks to Ryumihyoh for the find.

One year ago today, we registered eorzeapedia.com.

One year ago tomorrow, we posted – to little fanfare – our first post.

Sure we had an ugly logo, ugly icon, and ugly skin – but we had a website.  We had a place to report on the news surrounding the development of Final Fantasy XIV.  We had a place to build a community.  We had a place for those eagerly awaiting any and all news about FFXIV to come, hang out, chat and generally wait patiently (or not so patiently) together in unison.  As those who know us from FFXIclopedia, we like to take a moment (often annually) to look back at the past year and see where we’ve come from – and then take a look ahead.  So here goes Eorzeapedia’s first retrospective…

A lot of what we’ve been focusing on thus far has been the look and back-end of the site.  We integrated the forums, wiki and the news portion of the site and had a consistent look across the various platforms (and languages).  The first skin (left) was functional, but not all that glamorous – and we quickly set to work on v.2 – which we released in October 2009.  It was a large step forward for us.  New logo.  New colors.  A whole new look.  Better functionality. Eorzeapedia skin v.3 is in the works – and should be yet another improvement from a graphics and site design perspective.

Along with better form and function we’ve tried to add more ways for the community to participate.  User blogs and user submitted op-eds were added – and these have been well received and should allow for a ton of community participation once the game is released.  We’re also looking to significantly improve these platforms, with WYSIWYG op-ed editing, blog skins, and a better blog front page.  Look for these in the near future.

Not surprisingly, the forums have been the lifeblood of the site thus far.  With hundreds of community members online at any given time (and more than 1300 online at the peak) and almost 140,000 posts, we’re certainly one of the most popular and active, if not the most popular and active, FFXIV forum out there.  With unique enhancements such as Eorzean bbcode and avatar integration with the SE Members site, we’re constantly looking for ways to improve the forum experience.

Aetheryte Radio Podcast

Our podcast Aetheryte Radio currently has six released episodes (with episode 7 in the works!). There is only so much a podcast can do when its main focus is on a game that hasn’t even been released, but the show has already come out as the top-rated FFXIV podcast on the iTunes music store. With more than 250 episodes under their belts from their  top Final Fantasy XI podcasts, the podcast team’s new show will surely be the podcast of choice of many fans of Final Fantasy XIV.

On top of continuing to release shows with the exciting information coming out about FFXIV, there are also other things the podcast team is working on. The current podcast section on the site will be getting an overhaul, making it easier for listeners to download their favorite episodes as well as making it easier to contact the show and its hosts. There is also some new album art in the works for the show so make sure to keep an eye out for Aetheryte Radio related news on the blog!

Wiki

The wiki remains in its nascent stages due to the NDA, but already users have added  more than 300 articles and almost 500 images!  And that’s just the English version!  The Spanish, French, German and Japanese language wikis are also actively adding new content.  Once the NDA is lifted the wiki will certainly explode.  We already have a number of users chomping at the bit to add every morsel of information that is out there.   Behind the scenes we’ve developed some very cool templates for NPCs, shops, actions, mobs, levequests, etc. – all of which will make it extremely easy for anyone to add content to the wiki.  Just adding a few variables will generate a full page complete with the proper color, layout and categories.  With more than a half million page views, people are already using the wiki to uncover whatever non-NDA protected information they can.  As with the other areas – these stats place the Eorzeapedia wiki at the top of the pack.

With anywhere between 2,000 and 8,000 people visiting the site every day we’re doing better than just “holding our own” against the mega-sized MMO networks out there.  The community model has proven itself time and time again in this day and age of wikipedia to twitter.  People are turning to community driven sites to not only simply get their news from others, but to share what they have to say as well.  We hope to continue to provide these platforms to enable everyone to participate however they see fit.  The team here is nothing more than a group of guys and gals who are equally as eager as the rest of the community to get into Eorzea and experience the world created by Square Enix.  We hope that by providing this site, and by providing the community with what it wants, versus what a larger corporation wants, we can provide the best platform for all of us to come together and enhance the community aspect of what an MMO is all about.

Thanks for sticking with us this past year…  and stay tuned for more enhancements from Eorzeapedia in the future.

We are still days away from the next issue of Famitsu, but Ryumihyoh from the forums has uncovered some leaked information from a Japanese website by an unknown translator. Take this all with a grain of salt until we get actual scans and translations, but at least some of the information is interesting, and all of it – true or not – is worth discussing! Details after the jump.

Again – these are all rumors, are not confirmed, and may not be accurate:

• Necklaces, belts, and rings, unlike XI, will be reflected graphically when equipped
• Not everything from towns and the worlds will be seamless
• Seamless movement in an area equivalent to the size of a region in XI will be possible.
• You will be able to draw weapons in towns.
• Battles with enemies will take into account front/back/left/right positioning.
• Characters will not age, however, you will be able to change your hairstyle
• Deterioration of weapons may be reflected graphically as well
• Not all NPCs will have voice acting
• Aetheryte is not just a warp device, but also be a place for people to gather
• Character movement utilizes motion capture
• Character’s visual expressions will change during the game
• Basic play will be in windowed mode, rather than full screen mode for PC version
• Miqo’te only have ears above their head, but they will still be able to wear glasses.

We’ll know more over the weekend or early next week as to whether this is all true or not, but until then, join the fray and discuss the rumors on the forums!

A lot of facts have been released about the land of Eorzea that we will all occupy in the near future, and while eventually we will almost certainly see some official images from Square Enix, right now the best we can do is piece together what we do know and engage in some Cartography 101.  Let’s go over what we know:

• In the world of Hydaelyn, the region of Eorzea (エオルゼア) denotes the geographical region comprised of the continent of Aldenard and its surrounding islands.
• Aldenard is the smallest continent in Hydaelyn and is surrounded by several islands.
• Within Eorzea are are several independent city-states
  • Limsa-Lominsa, bustling port and pirate hub
  • Ul’dah, a desert city rich in mineral wealth
  • Gridania, nested deep within an ageless wood
  • Ishgard, bastion atop the mountains
  • Ala Mhigo, a northern city – now destroyed.
• The Garlean Empire is located somewhere to the east of Eorzea and destroyed the city of Ala Mhigo and razed Eorzea’s northern region, but never invaded southern Eorzea.
• Limsa Lominsa is located on the southern coast of the island of Vylbrand, is spread out over countless tiny islands and is located on the Rhotano Sea – which itself is an inlet.
• There are five Eorzean seas
• The Ul’dah territory contains mountains occupied by the reclusive clans of Roegadyn known as the Hellsguard.
• Climate in Eorzea is “both harsh and mild, as diverse as the skies are vast”
• The Hyur came from neighboring continents and islands
• The Lalafell were originally a group of agriculturalists inhabiting the fertile islands of the south seas and are averse to cold climates.
• During the Age of Endless Frost, seas turned to ice, allowing an influx of foreign fauna and the hunting tribes which subsisted upon them – the Miqo’te.
• The Roegadyn are a maritime people whose largest concentrations are found in the northern seas, by way of which they came to Eorzea.

So when you put all this together what do you get?  Good question – and while impossible to know for sure, some of our community members have made some great attempts.

Map by Thegide	Map by Zaccarias

Map by Avuna	Map by Jugil	Map by Eorzea Playa

See any mistakes?  Want to show off your cartography skills?  Either way – join the discussion on the forums!

While the receipt of the information that was released over the last few weeks was greatly appreciated by all, the speculation about what it all means is perhaps even more interesting.  Methusaleh, one of our community members, has come up with a theory that ties together a lot of otherwise disjointed statements made by Squre Enix since E3.  So without further ado… the theory…

We start with Guildleves.  According to SE:

Guildleves, also referred to as just “leves,” are small, rectangular plates made of stained crystal set into a frame of precious metal, each depicting a virtuous deed of one of Eorzea’s patron saints, also known as ‘guardians.’

We also know that there are (at least) 8 of these virtues – and each virtue could correspond to an attribute, discipline, or possibly a stat like in FFXI.  So for comparison we can take some guesses on new “skills” or mission types, or take some guesses and assign some known attributes from FINAL FANTASY XI – either way the names of the attributes would likely just be the names of the virtues themselves.  It doesn’t really matter what these skills or attributes are for right now – but the hypothesis is that these are the virtues you are are “skilling up” or advancing.

So according to the Guildleves information, we know that the leaves are associated with quests (“When issuing tasks or quests, guilds will often provide adventurers with these plates”).  We also know that the leves are provided by the guilds, and that:

[u]pon assessing an adventurer’s skills, a guild master will provide a selection of several different leves, taken from the guild’s stock. After weighing risks against rewards, fame against fortune, adventurers may then select the leves that they feel best suit their needs.

Notably, the Guildleve information was released along with the races and jobs, suggesting that it is a very significant part of the game and gameplay.  Speaking of gameplay, we also know that there is no XP system as there is in FINAL FANTASY XI and that SE is trying to make the game more flexible, and appeal to both the solo player and the group player.

So let’s bring this home and put it all together.

A new player (let’s call him Leeroy), approaches a guild (let’s say the Valor-associated guild) and is presented with 3 available leves:

1. Leve One grants +5 Valor for successful completion, and requires slaying of 25 rabbits – which are able to be defeated solo by new players.
2. Leve Two grants +15 Valor for successful completion, and requires slaying of 10 tigers – which are able to be defeated with difficulty by 2-3 players, or more easily with a larger group.
3. Leve Three grants +25 Valor for successful completion, and requires slaying of 1 dragon – which can be defeated with difficulty by a party of 12.

So now Leeroy can choose any of the three depending on play style, time available, etc. And upon completion, he receives the reward, which doubles as attribute advancement, opening up more advanced quests/rewards.  So let’s say Leeroy selectes Leve two – he can easily get help since:

Adventurers are free to call on their companions to join them, as only one leve is required to take advantage of the benefits and privileges provided to its bearer.

Now when Leeroy completes Leve Two he will have +15 Valor total.  Now, under this theory, he can use the new, slightly stronger, sword that requires +10 Valor to equip.

So we have a leveling system not based on experience, which has maximum flexibility allowing for solo or group play at any point and allowing for players to advance in one (or more) of 8 different virtues/play styles.

What do you think?  Are we (and Methusaleh) on to something?  Join the discussion and let us know what you think about the theory.