Eorzeapedia wasn’t the only website attending this year’s E3 with an eye on the upcoming Final Fantasy XIV.

Several other media sites were there, and they also got some hands on time with the latest build of the game as well as a chance to sit down with FFXIV Producer Hiromichi Tanaka. Now that everyone has posted their information we’ve thrown it all together in an easy to read list. Below we have videos, interview summaries and links to hands on experiences.

If you haven’t already, make sure to also check out our exclusive interview.

Additionally, you can also see all of our E3 2010 posts here.

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Aware of slow battle system before the alpha stage so they were working on the beta system at the same time Jumping is not something they feel is necessary. “Even if you jump around nothing is going to happen” Looking to allow users to have add-ons for the User Interface
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After you learn or acquire an ability, you can change weapons (classes) and still have access to them to create a unique character.
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Alpha period over within the next week or so Beta to begin in about one month if all goes well Ambient Occlusion (new shading method) will be optional for users as it requires more processor power Beta will have options for players to customize graphic settings PS3 UI customization somewhat limited compared to PC. FFXI-like settings to allow for customization Not looking into voice chat
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Plans to include a macro palette to combine messages with actions weapon and armor degradation will be in the beta Retainer NPCs to bazaar your goods while offline in beta Cross-regional 24 hour servers around the start of beta Currently running 10 alpha servers
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Square Enix is considering a discount for those who wish to play FFXI and FFXIV at the same time
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Planning to introduce other uses for Chocobos at a later time A max of 30 abilities can be attached to the action bar Cut Scenes will be “more involved” than in Final Fantasy XI Hands on experience (see link below)
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Auto Translate system will be in Final Fantasy XIV Still investigating possibilities of 3D Aiming PC requirements at more powerful machines for long term enjoyment
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High end, class specific armor Higher level Linkshell system called a “Company” No real currency for in game currency exchanges
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Updates will be released about every 3 months Companies can “level up” Companies will have real-estate to call their own No porting work being done for Xbox 360. They are “still investigating” the possibility of bringing FFXIV to the Xbox 360
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Female Highlanders were originally going to be playable Chat filters will be in beta Battle Regiments can affect multiple enemies
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FFXIV will be making the most of PSN functionality including trophies Interested in possible PlayStation Move use for FFXIV, however no current plans
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Chating is hard while in combat, macros will be used for communication Beta takes less processing power than the alpha build
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Final Fantasy XIV will support multiple displays on PC PS3 version locked at 720p. PC can run up to 1080p
Interview, Hands On
20% of world in beta (like 5 kilometers) 30 day subscription model, pricing unknown
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Hands on experience (see link below)
Hands On
Hands on impressions (see link below)
Hands On
3D impressions (see link below)
Hands On

Every so often Japanese gaming news website GAME Watch carries articles about Final Fantasy XIV.  Representatives from the site were present at E3 and had a chance to sit down with Producer Hiromichi Tanaka and US Producer Kurosawa Yasu.

This interview is very similar to the one from Dengeki, enough to make me think they were actually done at the same time, but it is also just a little bit different.  Once we get past the mandatory male Miqo’te question, they discuss the new battle system, the beta, retainers, and other familiar topics.

You can find the original interview (in Japanese) here.

–Is the demo version at E3 the beta version?

Tanaka: I think it is more accurate to call it a build close to the beta.  It has the same content as the beta version will, but there are bugs that we still need to work on.  Once those bugs are fixed, we will release it as the beta version.

–Will this be Beta 1?

Tanaka:  We won’t be calling it 1 or 2 or anything, just releasing it as the beta.

–How is it different from the alpha build?

Tanaka: The battle system has completely changed so that’s the biggest difference.  We also played with how graphics are displayed quite a bit.  The alpha build uses an older method called projection shadowing.  For the beta, we’ve changed to a method called depth buffer shadowing that is actually makes the graphics process and display quicker than the old method.  It seems to be a lot better.  We also did a lot of work on the character creation process.  The way it works now is very close to how it will be in the final release.

–I agree that the character creation screens have really changed quite a bit.

Tanaka:  We had planned to make something like it from the start but it wasn’t finished in time for the alpha, leaving us with no choice but to use that makeshift system.

–Will most of the races and clans that players can become be available in the beta?

Tanaka:  The beta will include all of the races we plan on including in the final release.

–Is there a storyline or setting reason behind leaving out female Highlanders and male Miqo’te?

Tanaka:  We had originally planned on having playable female Highlanders as well but for various reasons, they got left out.  I think we’ll see male Miqo’te in the form of NPCs.  They sadly have been left out of the list of playable races because we couldn’t prepare for them in time.  (Translation note:  It isn’t clear if this means that storywise they couldn’t fit them in or that model-wise as playable characters they couldn’t include them.)

–So maybe we could see them added in the future?

Tanaka:  Well (laughs)  I can’t make any promises but it would be nice if we could.

–What parts of the game have been affected based on feedback from the alpha testers?

Tanaka:  You could probably say the whole thing has.  Changes have been made in every part of the game.

–Was there any there feedback that you really felt was critical?

Tanaka: I’d have to say the feedback on the battle tempo.  That was really prominent in the feedback from the American testers.  I think it is because they are used to the tempo in World of Warcraft.

–How exactly has the battle system changed from the system in the alpha build?

Tanaka:  The tempo has changed a lot.  In the alpha build you had to wait for your action gauge to fill up and then wait even longer for the effect gauge to fill up for more powerful attacks.  All of this “filling up” was taking time and just making the players wait so we tried to change that.  In the new system, the gauge fills up naturally over time and you use up a portion of the gauge while you attack.  If the gauge is completely full you can attack 3 or 4 times in a row.  The gauge will work on replenishing itself even while you are attacking as well so that helps to speed up the pace of battle.

–Were players not receptive to the battle tempo of the alpha build?

Tanaka:  How should I put this… You see, in FFXI, we used an auto-battle system and people are used to that.  It allowed people to chat during battle.  With the system in FFXIV, you pretty much are forced to give up that ability to chat.

–I imagine there was a lot of feedback relating to the user interface.  How has that changed?

Tanaka:  We’ve added chat filtering.  The entire log system has changed completely.  The build we have here at E3 doesn’t have chat filtering included but it will be a part of the beta.  We are also looking to make it possible for people to line up multiple chat windows on their screens.

–I’ve heard before that there are going to be additional communication methods besides regular chat.  Can you tell me anything more about that?

Tanaka:  With the battle tempo the way it is, it will be impossible to take time to chat during battle so, starting with the beta, we are including a macro pallet system.  We’d like people to use it as a communication tool.  You can create a macro to set off a particular command and attach a message with it to communicate what you are doing to your party members.

–Will the macro pallet be similar the macro system in FFXI?

Tanaka:  It’s a fair comparison.  We also plan on including other ways for players to communicate with each other but they aren’t set in stone yet.  For example, we want to make a system where members can easily tell which enemy that the party leader is engaged with.  We will continue to look into a bunch of different methods so for now, all I can say it look forward to how they are implemented.

–Is there anything special in the battle system for when you are in a party?

Tanaka:  That would be the battle regiments.  Like we just talked about, there will be times where you have to use the various communication tools at your disposal during battles.  In particular, the enemies you face while carrying out a guildleve will often be in parties which will make communication critical.

–Battle regiments didn’t work very well in the alpha.

Tanaka:  They practically didn’t work at all due to various bugs.  It turned into something completely different from what we were trying to create.

–So we’ll be able to see the real thing in the beta?

Tanaka:  I believe so.  However, even though the system is already set in stone, we will continue making balance adjustments during the beta.

–Are battle regiments meant for times where all of the party members attack the same enemy?

Tanaka:  It is a system where you chain different commands together and some of those can be area-of-effect attacks as well.  It is possible to make regiments that work against a group of enemies.

–Will there often be times where you pitted against a group of enemies?

Tanaka:  Right now most of the enemies you see roaming around are solo.  However, in the future, they will be in groups as well.  For example, maybe you will see a flock of females with one male.  I think over half of the guildleves will require that you take out a party of enemies.

–What is that white being at appears in the trailer?

Tanaka:  That is an elemental, not a summoned avatar.  In FFXIV, the elementals and elements in general will be important for a lot of reasons.

–More so than the crystals in FFXI?

Tanaka:  This time the elements will have a much larger effect on things.  You won’t see a huge effect from things like the phases of the moon or the weather.

–Will it even affect the strength of your character?

Tanaka: Yes.

–Let’s talk about the equipment screens.  Those have changed a lot too.

Tanaka:  Yeah.  The new screens are actually just temporary as well.  We are in the process of remaking them.

–Then what will the final screens look like?

Tanaka:  You’ll just have to look forward to them after the beta starts.  For the alpha, we had a layout where you would open an item menu for each equipment slot and then choose a piece from there.  However, a lot of the players with experience playing FFXI said it wasn’t very user friendly.  When they got a new item and didn’t know what it was used for, they wanted to be able to check if they could equip it or not by selecting it from the item screen.  That’s why for the beta version, we are making it possible to equip things straight from the item list.

–So it will be similar to FFXI?

Tanaka: System wise, yes.

–Will testers be able to access more areas in the beta?

Tanaka:  We’ll look into it but it will probably be difficult to do that.  We don’t know exactly how large the download would become for example.

–So Limsa Lominsa will be the location for the beta test as well?

Tanaka:  That’s the plan.  However, if it becomes necessary, we might have to test other areas as well so we’ll watch and see how things go.

–Are there any other systems or things in the beta that weren’t in the alpha?

Tanaka:  The chat system is different.  Also, linkshells will be included but it is too early to tell if they will be included by the start of the beta or not.  I think they will have a big effect on the community when they are introduced.

–Will linkshells be similar to the ones in FFXI?

Tanaka:  Yes.  There is also another system that builds on top of them called “Companies”.  We also plan on expanding and improving them even after the game is officially released.  Item degeneration will also be included in the beta.  You can think of it as your weapon being damaged by use over time.

–So it will require repair?

Tanaka:  Yes.  In order to make the classes in Disciples of the Hand and Disciples of the Land successful, you have to have an item degeneration system.

–Will they disappear if they are broken?

Tanaka:  They won’t disappear but they will get to the point where they are near useless until they are repaired.  A market will also be added to Limsa Lominsa.  Along with that we will see the addition of “retainers” who are NPCs for hire.  They can sell your items for you in the market place while you are logged out.  The retainers will also have an effect on companies and there will be a lot of different ways to use them.  I hope people look forward to them.

–The benchmark software was recently released.  Does that mean you can tell us the final required PC specs?

Tanaka:  When the beta test begins, we will release the required specs for the beta.  We will continue to work on optimizing the game even during beta testing so I think the final specs will be even lower.  Right now, the biggest issue isn’t CPU speed but the GPU so we will try to work on that.

–I was really surprised to see a 3D version in the booth at E3.

Tanaka:  Right now Nvidia is putting a lot of effort into their 3D Surround technology which allows you to use 3 monitors at the same time.  That’s why we cooperated with Nvidia to make the display.

–Will the final release of FFXIV work with 3D Surround and 3D Vision?

Tanaka:  We haven’t decided yet.  Right now it is merely for demonstration purposes.

–Can you tell us how the PS3 build is coming along?  I saw that the new trailer was shown off during Sony’s press conference.

Tanaka:  We’re still hard at work.  Right now we are in a critical stage of development for both the beta and the PS3 version.  That’s why director Komoto wasn’t able to make it to E3.  The staff back in Japan are putting all their effort into development.

–Will the quality be the same for PS3 as the PC version?

Tanaka:  It won’t look very different.  Of course, 3D Surround won’t be an option.  (laughs)  The textures are about ¼ of the size and the resolution is about half.  However, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell much of a difference by just looking at them.

–The PS3 is capable of producing 3D images.  Any chances of a 3D PS3 version?

Tanaka:  That would be very difficult so we aren’t considering that right now.

–When will the beta test start?

Tanaka:  This will be the last week of the alpha test and then we will get straight to work on preparing for beta testing.  It will all depend on how debugging goes but at the earliest, 1 to 2 weeks.  At the latest, we might start in 3 to 4 weeks.  We want to start by the end of July at the latest.

–Will the beta test have continual service?

Tanaka:  Eventually, yes.

–What can you tell us about the number of testers?

Tanaka:  We will start with the same testers from the alpha.  Right now we have 10 servers and the number of testers is in the tens of thousands.  They’ll all be a part of the beta and if things go well, we will continue to add more testers over time.

–At what point in the beta will we see cross-regional service?

Tanaka:  The servers are already cross-regional.  It is just that testers could only login during set periods of time depending on their account region.  Provided that things are stable, we’d like to start near 24/7 service soon after the start of beta testing.

–What will become of beta testing on the PS3?

Tanaka:  We are currently having a bit of trouble with the PS3 build so we will let people know more about PS3 beta testing at a later time.

–Do you still plan on having an official release in 2010?

Tanaka:  Yes.

–Finally, can we get a comment for all of the players out there?

Tanaka:  We have made adjustments after listening to all of the feedback from the alpha testers.  Please check out the beta test and then we will make even more adjustments.  Of course we will continue to do this even after the official release so I hope people enjoy the game.

Kurosawa Yasu:  We received a lot of comments from people about the alpha test.  The team here in North America gathers up the feedback and it is making a difference in development.  The comments made by Japanese testers will also have an effect on the game so please, send in your opinions.

A surprise interview!  GAME Watch got to spend a little bit of time with both Producer Hiromichi Tanaka and Director Nobuaki Komoto at Tokyo Game Show this past week.  The two dropped by Makuhari Messe for the interview, which was conducted in the public lobby area.  They talked about the trailer and the upcoming beta as well!  Click to read more of this rather extensive interview.

The Trailer
Once again, they say that the setting is not science fiction, but high fantasy.  They are making the game with fantasy in mind, but presenting it in a much prettier way than has been done before.  The attention to detail is evident with the high quality images you can see in the trailer.

Near the beginning of the trailer, there is a scene with adventurers coming into port.  This was done to visually show the idea behind how the game will start.  Komoto says you can think of it as the prologue for Limsa Lominsa.  Being a port town, new players will start their adventure coming into town by sea.  Other towns will be different but further information isn’t available because they are still working on the prologue scenes for the other two starting city-states.  

People on the forums have been wondering how much of the new trailer is pre-rendered and how much is done in real time.  The answer Komoto gives is a little confusing.  If you talk about the length, then the stuff done in real time is longer.  However, if you talk more about the elements used to make up the trailer, the pre-rendered material wins out by just a smudge.  There are scenes that switch between the two in the trailer and they are very proud of how it came out.  It’s hard for even them to tell which is which.  It’s also best not to pay too much attention to the order of the scenes.  Komoto says the ones towards the end with the fight in the sky between Magitek are scenes that aren’t actually related to each other.   The interviewer also asked if there would be psychic powers as a skill in the game due to the addition of Magitek.  Komoto says even if there was such a skill, it would be called something else and it’s hard to make a distinction between psychic powers and magic.  

The music playing in the trailer was made by Nobuo Uematsu.  The scenes and the music used in the trailer have nothing to do with each other when it comes to how the tracks will be used in the actual game.  The track from the first part of the trailer will be used in cutscenes while the second track is for battles.  

The Game
The demo shown off at gamescom represented a game that isn’t even 50% complete yet.  They worked on it to the last minute.  It wasn’t so much about wanting to show off something at gamescom specifically but that the timing was right for them.  As for nothing be available at TGS, the company’s decision was to focus on FFXIII.  Rather than being unhappy about this, Tanaka says he was more relieved than anything.  They really didn’t know how the gamescom demo would go since they didn’t have experience with showing off a game at this stage in development.  They didn’t know how users in Germany would accept it.  It sounds like they also had technical problems getting the demo to play on machines there.

Director Komoto says to expect changes between that demo and how things turn out in the end.  Even Final Fantasy XI had changes to the final product when compared with its beta.  While the user interface doesn’t look much like what people are familiar with in FFXI, it was inspired by the game.  For example, the abilities that you set at the bottom were inspired by the macros you would create and set in FFXI.  They haven’t decided the maximum number of abilities you can register yet.  Tanaka laughs when recalling that some people think that the 200 possible slots in FFXI aren’t enough.  Also not included in the demo was the ability to do skillchains, which will also be a part of FFXIV.  However, due to a different battle system, the way skillchains are done is also expected to change drastically.  There may be a way to do solo skillchains in the future, but for now they are focusing on chains you have to build with other people.

They then get into party dynamics and battle strategies.  It will be very important to think about your position and the timing of attacks during battle. The enemies can also be in parties so you have to take that under consideration as well.  This was something they wanted to show with the guildleves made available at gamescom.  In FFXI, players primarily pulled back enemies one at a time and thought about how to do that without nearby enemies linking.  For FFXIV, however, you have to think more about how to deal with an entire party of enemies.  If you pull one, then many times the rest of them will come to fight as well.  You have to learn how to deal with “many-versus-many” type fights.  Sometimes you’ll find yourself in situations where you can just pull one enemy though.  

There is still no official decision on the maximum number of players or enemies that can be in one party.  However, they don’t want to make set patterns with the number of people in a party like with what happened in FFXI.  Rather than saying that a party can have a maximum of six people, they want the system to be flexible enough that if you have two people, that’s ok, and if you have three, that’s ok too.  That said, there won’t be any bonuses for having a certain number of players in your party as well.  For example, sometimes you could get an exp bonus in FFXI depending on the number of people in your party and other factors.  FFXIV is more about the difference in the level between you and what you are fighting rather than the difference in levels amongst players.  

The interviewer also brought up the fact that you can brandish your weapon and walk into town during the middle of battle.  According to Komoto, there are some people who don’t like the idea.  However, there are also some who argue for it.  For example, your movement speed changes when you brandish your weapon.  They can also make differences in how you recover depending on whether your weapon is out or not.  The combination of being able to pull out your weapon anywhere with a largely seamless world also allows them to do other things not possible in FFXI.  For example, you could bring your fight into town.  It may not happen frequently, but Komoto says it’s a definite possibility.  

The Classes
The first thing the interviewer asks about the classes in FFXIV is how they came up with the idea.  It was partially inspired by Komoto’s own experience with FFXI wishing he could be an adventurer based just on the crafting and gathering elements.  Then they started to divide out the different types of classes based on what you’d want during battle, like a magic user or a swordsman.  Breaking them into different groups led to the creation of the Armoury System.  You’ll be able to change your class just by changing your weapon.  However, if you change to a weapon you aren’t skilled with, you will become weaker than if you had changed to a weapon you are skilled with.

The number of classes we’ll see at the start of service isn’t set yet.  However, they do think they will add classes with version updates rather than with major expansions like they did with FFXI.

In prior interviews, they talked about how it will be important to set and decide roles during battle.  They hint on that again with more information on how classes work.  Some classes will be more suited to certain roles than others.  For example, some classes might be better at tanking.  However, they don’t want players to pigeon hole certain jobs.  The goal is to design classes that are flexible.  If a player wants to be an attacker, they can set more abilities suited to that.  However, if their party needs a tank, they could set abilities for tanking instead and switch roles without switching classes.  Some familiar abilities will also be making a comeback in FFXIV but people will need to be open minded about them.  Komoto says Flee will most likely be included but that doesn’t mean the person using it is a Thief.  

When it comes to crafting, the sky is basically the limit but they do have to start somewhere.  They think armor will come first but they also have to think about other elements as well.  For instance, furnishings or even larger items.  If they don’t plan for those, there are people who will lose interest since they can’t do what they would like to do.  Komoto says they’d like to support people who still want to advance in the game but mainly be crafters.  He thinks there will be people in the game who specialize like that as well.  There will surely be a need for people to repair items due to FFXIV’s weapon degradation.  However, it’s not just weapons.  Komoto says that, in a very overarching way, anything can degrade.  Weapons, armor, and tools are given as examples.  Even rare weapons can degrade over time and it will take somebody with a lot of skill to repair them.

The Specs
Right now, the game is being developed with DirectX 9 in mind.  They looked into DirectX 10 and the machines currently available on the market as well.  In the end, they decided that DirectX 9 was the best choice.  Tanaka says they will also work on how to incorporate new technology in the future.  Expect that you will need a computer on the high end of the current market to play FFXIV.  They were told the specs for FFXI were too high when that game was released 7 years ago but look at the situation now.  They have to design a game that will age gracefully.  They also have to guess at what things will be like when the game is released in 2010.  People will be switching from Windows Vista to Windows 7.  There are people who will go from a 32bit system to a 64bit one.  Tanaka also says device drivers can lead to different problems they have to try to foresee as well.  They are also planning to support a wide variety of possibilities.  For example, this time expect support for 64bit and multicore systems.  Information on what that means exactly, for example, how much FFXIV will take advantage of such systems, is not available at this time.  However, things will be different from FFXI.  FFXI was made for consoles and ported to Windows.  For FFXIV, it’s made with Windows in mind and then they’ll make adjustments as needed for any console systems.  

Graphics will also be different.  They are preparing separate graphics for the PS3 and Windows versions.  For example, textures will be different.  When the interviewer asked about HDTV video modes, Tanaka says the PS3 version will probably be 720p instead of 1080p. It will vary for Windows users depending on their system.

There is no deep reasoning for Art Director Akihiko Yoshida being on the team.  At the time they were putting together the team for FFXIV, Yoshida had just finished working on FFXII so the timing worked out well that way.  Tanaka mentions that Yoshida checks all of the PR material they send out for the game as well.  

The Beta
Can you believe it?  GAME Watch got actual information about beta testing! The first round of beta testing will be done with a relatively small group and be conducted worldwide.  It won’t be a continuously running beta test but broken down into small 3 or 4 hour tests held at different times.  They plan on doing very detailed testing on FFXIV so users will see how the game develops over time.  At the beginning, tests will only be conducted with the Windows version.  From the initial 3 or 4 hour tests they will expand to daily or weekly beta tests that run for 24 hours a day.  After that comes stress tests which will require a lot of people.  Tanaka says it could start with 10 thousand people and go up from there to 20, 40, and 80 thousand people.  Finally, there will be a free open beta.  Originally he thought it would take half a year to go from a development build to the open beta, but he now thinks it will be shorter than that.  The interviewer guesses at a summer release based on that and Tanaka says it all depends on the feedback they get from players during the beta testing.  It doesn’t sound like the development build he is referring to is the same demo shown at gamescom.  He says whether or not a development build is made by year’s end will depend on the developers. 

The interview ends with Tanaka saying things will be different from how FFXI started because they will take action against RMT from the very beginning this time around.  People will also be able to use the security tokens and one time passwords.  Komoto says visitors to gamescom were able to try out the game first but for people in Japan to please be patient because it will be awhile longer before they will have a chance to play it.  Tanaka laughs and says he’ll be lighting a fire under the bums of all the developers.

And there you have it!  A surprise Tokyo Game Show interview with quite a lot of new information.  Will there be more surprise interviews?  We’ll just have to wait and watch the Japanese media closely over the coming days and weeks.  If you want to check out the original interview in Japanese and see the pictures of Tanaka and Komoto at TGS, visit GAME Watch’s page here.

Elmer over at ZAM has written up a summary from three popular Japanese news sources (GameWatch, 4Gamer, Famitsu) who all got the chance to sit down with Hiromichi Tanaka and Nobuaki Komoto after the Square Enix E3 press conference on Wednesday.

Hiromichi Tanaka (Producer) and Nobuaki Komoto (Director)

In the information given, Tanaka mentions that initially, they wanted to add a second door into the Mog House that would allow players to exit into the new Final Fantasy XIV world of Eorzea. Due to technical difficulties however that was not possible.

Other things that are mentioned include the possibility of transferring over linkshells from Final Fantasy XI along with character names. These are possibilities they are looking into and are not currently set in stone. Server sizes and the hopes of exceeding the number of worlds that Final Fantasy XI has is also something that the FFXIV team is looking at.

Check out the full write up for more information

[Source, ZAM]