I’m back!  I’ve moved into a brand new apartment that is much nicer than my old place.  It’s also not flooded out and molding which is a plus.  Sadly, moving meant no Internet access for awhile.  I’ve been wondering about what’s been happening in the world of FFXIV and it seems like a ton of alpha news has been released through the Japanese media this week!

We’ll start with Weekly Famitsu who had a chance to sit down with Final Fantasy XIV Producer Hiromichi Tanaka and Director Nobuaki Komoto.  There is a lot of interesting information inside along with a startling picture!

What’s so startling about this picture?  I’ll leave that up to you to figure out. But before you run off to do your detective work, let’s take a look at what they had to say.

Beyond Expectations

A common complaint we’ve been hearing in reports from the Japanese media (like Famitsu or 4Gamer) is that it is difficult to log into the game and actually play enough to really test things out.  That’s the first topic they deal with in the interview.  Tanaka begins by explaining how the alpha test is currently being held.  Testers in Japan, North America, and Europe have scheduled separate login windows in which they can test the game.  Each group has an equal number of testers.  Based on the experience they had with testing FFXI, they figured about 50% of each group would be logged in at one time.  However, the number of people actually trying to log in is much higher.  This is especially true for the Japanese test times.  After April 15th, they adjusted it to where testers’ virtual place in line for logging in would be held for up to 10 minutes.  Testers are asked to try to log in once every 10 minutes.  Thanks to a version update, you can also see how many people are in line waiting in front of you.  Server stability issues might continue to plague testers for awhile but the staff at Square Enix is working to make things better.  They want to apologize to all the testers and thank them for all they have done so far to make FFXIV a better game.

Culture and Comments

Next, they get into the comments players have made about the alpha build so far.  The comments really help them make the game better from a player’s point of view.  As the developers, they already know what buttons to press, where to go, what to do, etc.  However, this information isn’t always relayed to the players in a way that is easy to understand.

It sounds like hearing the comments from the players has been refreshing for Director Komoto.  He says he’s been away from FFXI to work on FFXIV for a long time and it made him feel so far from the players.  Now he’s taking in the comments and checking in with staff on the floor for developers and the operations floor.  It makes him feel like saying “I’m back!”

As for the comments themselves, as they are still really just testing the controls and response times, they’ve asked for feedback and a lot of it is about the same sorts of things.  There is also no tutorial as of yet so many players say the controls are hard to understand.  For example, they published a manual on the tester’s site and immediately received feedback on it.  That forces the developers to look at things from a different angle, look at things from a player’s voice of view.  It makes them feel like they still have a lot of work ahead of them before they release the final product.

There are also cultural differences that have appeared in the comments so far.  As mentioned before, the number of testers is the same per group but the number of comments is completely different!  The Japan group has submitted around 5000 comments so far.  However, the European group is around 19000 and the North American group is around 25000 comments.  Komoto also remarks that a lot of the NA comments are more about ideas for things they want to see included versus feedback on what is already in the game.  In comparison, the Japan group gives off a more gentle feeling, as if they are warmly looking over the staff.  He was expecting harsher feedback but so far just getting in the game has been a huge problem for the Japan group especially so that may be part of it.

They really want the testers to send in their comments though.  Tanaka and Komoto both say that they are working hard to incorporate the ideas from the players and will continue to do so up until the official release and beyond.

Inside the Game

Have any of you seen Azagba Tanaka yet?  That’s the character Tanaka is using to log in during the test windows and experience the game with the players.  Komoto remarked that the staff is generally staying out of things because it is hard enough for the testers to get on the server.  Tanaka laughed and said he waits in front of his computer and keeps trying his luck in the “login battle”.

When asked about the alpha schedule, Komoto said their current goal is to have three stable testing runs per group per week.  They have to get things stable enough so that the testers can really play for a decent amount of time.  Also, they are thinking about changing how they currently run the tests.  The login windows are set for each group but there are people who can’t play during those times.  The alpha testing period is also likely to run longer than they had originally scheduled due to continuing server stability issues.

One interesting bit of information to come out of this interview was about how they plan on wiping character data many times during the test cycle.  Right now, there is a certain character growth pattern being tested.  However, there is another pattern they are considering as well.  At some point, they will wipe everyone’s character data and begin testing the second pattern as well.  Komoto says they will probably wipe character data during the beta and even right before the official release as well.

Once things are stable, they will move into the next stage of testing where testers are spread out across multiple servers.  They haven’t decided if they will call that stage Alpha 2 or Beta 1 yet though.  They also don’t know when they will introduce other parts of the game, bringing it closer to the final release version and making it what most companies would refer to as a “Beta build”.

Some people might also be curious to know when we’ll see the global servers FFXI has become known for.  Right now players in different regions are limited to separated play windows and can’t interact with each other.  Tanaka says that when the test servers are open for testing 24 hours a day, people will probably start playing together.

65%

The final batch of questions were about the overall progress of the game’s development.  The graphics are almost complete but they will still do touch ups here and there.  The planners and programmers are also working on their last batch of adjustments.  However, Tanaka says its hard to say how far along the game is.  He says a low-ball estimate might be 65%.  Also, what testers can currently access is less than 10% of what they plan for the final product.

PS3 users will have to continue to wait for their turn at testing.  While it is being developed at the same time as the PC version, all Tanaka will say is that they are continuing to work towards releasing both official versions as the same time.

That’s all for this time but be sure to check back later in the week for more information about the alpha test straight from Japan!

Information and the image for this article are adapted from the interview that ran in Weekly Famitsu No. 1118, published April 28th, 2010.

Two articles have recently surfaced in the Japanese Press over the last few days. Unfortunately our trusty translator Corinth is in the process of moving into a new apartment due to some unexpected issues regarding water. I worked a bit with Elmer from ZAM to clean up the images from the Famitsu article and as such he has given me permission to use them here. However, since we can’t get the entire thing translated and posted at this time I’ll just summarize the articles and throw some links over to the terrific write-ups that Elmer has done. Hopefully Corinth will get things settled down soon and be back to bring us the latest info the Japanese media has to offer.

Famitsu:

The Famitsu interview gives us a look at some of the user interface from the alpha build of Final Fantasy XIV as well as experiences of the Famitsu staff of their play through of the alpha.

We can see from the image on the right (click to view a larger version) that there are areas to equip an undershirt and undergarment which is quite a step in a different direction from the equipment options in Final Fantasy XI. We can also see that Square Enix has heard the plea of its FFXI players and have made the “hidden stats” visible such as accuracy and evasion! The Famitsu article also mentions some more details about the battle system involving the action gauge and the effect gauge.

Check out all the details over at ZAM!

Dengeki:

This week’s Dengeki magazine features an interview with Producer Hiromichi Tanaka and Director Nobuaki Komoto! The questions range from why begin with alpha testing to the amount of guildleves that will be available in the alpha version of FFXIV. It’s also revealed that the maximum number of people that can be in a party is fifteen! Lots of interesting bits of info are contained in this interview so make sure to read it!

Check out the full interview over at ZAM!

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.

Now in Tokyo!  Very tired but I can’t turn off the computer until I tell you some of the nifty things from this week in the magazines.  For example….  where does the music for the trailer come from?  Tanaka reveals the answer in the full length version of the interview done with Enterbrain’s Hamamura.  And as always, where does FFXIV sit in the weekly ratings?  Click to find out.

No images this week because….  I’m not at home!

Weekly Ratings
Final Fantasy XIV recovers slightly in the Anticipated Titles ranking, coming in at 19.  Three Square Enix titles are in the lead this week: FFXIII, Dragon Quest X, and the DS remake of Dragon Quest VI.  Titles around FFXIV include Metal Gear Solid for the PSP and the newest Professor Layton game for the DS.

Extras
There are a couple of interesting extras in this week’s Weekly Famitsu.  This week has the last part of Weekly Famitsu’s 4 part series on gaming.  This time the focus is on the past and future of hardware.  In one of the sections, they talked about networking.  In the current generation of consoles, internet access is a given for updates and extras.  How will this change in the future?  One interesting idea involves mobile networks.  Currently in Japan, the network used for cell phones is fairly slow, slower than regular wireless internet.  There are people who think that within three years this could change to where cell phone networks could support high speed connections.  The next step would be to include the same pieces in gaming devices.  Then you could connect from nearly anywhere.

Farther down the line, we might not have to worry about lag during online games either.  The expert they asked said the current way we sent and receive data online leads to lag.  His group is looking into ways they can use light to send and redirect data.  Right now they are hoping to make it a reality in 20 to 30 years.  

Full-length Interviews
Remember the little chat Elmer and I did about the interviews from Famitsu Wave DVD?  Full length versions were released with the latest volume of Vanatsuu.  Vanatsuu is a FFXI mook that comes out every so often and covers what’s going on in Vana’diel along with whatever research they’ve done in game.  It often has special interviews with the developers and other staff as well.  

Since we covered a lot of the information already, I’ll just give you the highlights from the full version.

Tanaka and Hamamura

• Vana’diel and Hydaelyn are completely different worlds.  Interviewer Hamamura tried to weed out exactly what connection could be between the two.  For example, it makes the joke that Hydaelyn is way in the future and adventures could dig up fossils from Vana’diel but that isn’t the case.  The two worlds are completely separate from each other.
• No word on if Goblins will be in FFXIV or not.  However, a Cid character will probably make an appearance as he is a standard for the Final Fantasy series now.  Tanaka also says there is a chance we could see Yagudos or Orcs as well.
• We mentioned it before but he compares the world of FFXIV with FFVI in terms of setting.  It’s not a world of swords and magic, but “high fantasy” according to Tanaka.
• The graphics and techniques they can use have changed quite a bit.  For example, what they can do with light and shadows.  Tanaka says they’ve put a lot of effort into that this time around.
• Hamamura tried a couple times to get Tanaka to say if there would be more than the 5 playable races we currently know about.  No luck, sadly.
• He says they are looking to include some kind of feature that allows your entire linkshell from FFXI to be on the same server together.  Also directed at FFXI players, Tanaka says there is about another year’s worth of stuff for the Altana storyline.  They plan to keep doing version updates about every three months.
• I want you to go watch the FFXIV trailer right now.  No, really, turn it on.  That music you are listening to?  Tanaka says it is the theme music for Limsa-Lominsa!  The music currently playing on the official site will be used somewhere else in game but he doesn’t reveal exactly where.  Tanaka says the game will probably start with around 100 different tracks.

Director Komoto

• No update on how many different “weapons” there will be, largely in part because they aren’t sure how broad to define the word.  Certainly there are swords and axes, but can you include a needle or blacksmith’s tools as “weapons”?  That is one of the things they face with the new Armoury System for FFXIV.
• One of the things driving the Armoury System is the idea of learning abilities on a particular weapon.  Of importance is the fact he says their idea was you could learn an ability on one weapon but still use it when you switch to another.  He’s not sure how much it will be possible due to balance issues but that’s the goal.  You can compare it to subjobs in FFXI.  An ability you learned while leveling another job can also be used if you have a high enough level while its your subjob.
• They might try to add ways to make it more appealing to help out other players even if you’ve already finished a certain quest or defeated a certain monster.  This reminds me of the keys system they are currently trying out with the add-on scenarios for FFXI.
• At the end of the interview, he says that it’s important for online games to continue to change and for the players to realize that as well.  He also wants to assure everyone that it’s possible to be a FFXI player and FFXIV player at the same time and to look forward to its release!

That’s all for this week in the magazines.  See ya later!

We are now just one week away from Tokyo Game Show, the biggest video game expo of the year in Japan.  A trailer will be shown in the Open Mega Theatre but we won’t know until the event starts whether it’s just an old one or not.  Japanese fans are likely to feel slighted if there isn’t anything new though so I’m hoping for at least a little something different from what has been shown at E3 or gamescom. 

In the meantime, I finally got some breathing room in my schedule to read the most recent Dengeki PlayStation magazine.  Oerba from Final Fantasy XIII graces the cover this week and there is another fairly large article for the highly anticipated game inside.  The unexpected treat (prior to online leaks anyways) was a 2 page interview with Final Fantasy XIV Producer Hiromichi Tanaka and Director Nobuaki Komoto in a font so small it makes your eyes hurt.  No new game play pictures for the interview but the two looked happy in their picture, Komoto wearing shorts as usual. 

Let’s check out the rankings and info in this week’s Dengeki PlayStation magazine.  Many of you have probably already seen the information on other sites so let’s make this a little special with some other Japanese magazine extras.  Curious?  Read on!

Weekly Rankings
Pop Idol group AKB48 enters the Japanese CD singles chart at #2.  My friend described them as being more about quantity than quality but I think the idea is unique.  Pop idols you can see almost any night of the week in a small concert hall, versus the mega stadiums where you can barely make out the faces of the performers. For DVDs, 20th Century Boys Part 2 tops the charts.  The 3rd part of the trilogy is currently in theatres and ends one of the largest projects ever attempted by the Japanese movie industry.  Large blockbuster videos are normal for Hollywood but not so much for Japanese movie makers. 

Wondering why I’m talking about a Japanese pop band and movie?  It’s true they have nothing to do with Final Fantasy XIV but I’m hoping to see both during my trip to Tokyo next week.  The shared coverage currently being planned with Elmer from ZAM won’t just be about Tokyo Game Show but our mini adventure in general.  We’re hoping to entertain you guys a bit leading up to the event as well.  More information on how to follow the coverage later this week.

As for game rankings, Final Fantasy XIII got knocked off the top spot this week!  It slips down to second place, a few thousand votes less than received by a game being released today in Japan: the PS3 port of Tales of Vesperia.  Final Fantasy XIV fell down to 13th place, sandwiched between two PSP games: Ys Seven and Final Fantasy Agito XIII.

Looking at the rankings of games currently on sale is also pretty interesting.  The top 10 in the list are all PSP or PS2 titles.  The first PS3 title to rank in is a baseball game made by Konami.  Only 3 of the top 20 on-sale now games are for PS3.  Hopefully the release of Final Fantasy XIII gives the system a lift like some experts are predicting.

Intermission
There are hundreds if not thousands of weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly publications in Japan.  You can find some kind of publication for nearly every hobby you can imagine.  Like to obsess over Japanese voice actresses?  There are several magazines you can choose from.  1st year in elementary school?  There are specialty magazines for you too.  And don’t worry about getting older.  You can just jump up to the 2nd grade specialty magazines next year.  Love kimono?  Check out the magazines on the latest trends in design and fabric.  I think one of the oddest magazines I’ve seen was one for people who like pictures of girls in skimpy outfits holding guns.

With such a variety of magazines, it can be hard to choose the right magazine for you.  In addition to a wide variety of gaming magazines, I also buy computing magazines from time to time.  There are some pretty straight forward ones but lately I’ve grown attached to Weekly Ascii magazine.  They tend to have some female model on the cover but never particularly attractive ones.  That isn’t the point though.  This magazine is about computing but with a definitely geeky spin.  There are articles on pop culture and maps for Akihabara.  There are also articles on video games and consoles, like their coverage of the new slim PS3 a couple weeks ago.  And at only 390 yen an issue, it’s not a wallet breaker like some of the gaming magazines I buy.  (The magazine is done by the same publisher as Dengeki PlayStation which might explain a few things too.)

So!  A few little tidbits and trivia from this week’s Weekly Ascii:

• This is the first year since Square and Enix merged that a Dragon Quest series game and a Final Fantasy series game have been sold in the same year.
• People are attempting to write 140 character novels on twitter.  Search the hashtag #twnovel for examples.  Also interesting is twittermap.jp which ties profile information from twitter with maps.  Finally, while a lot of people are used to live blogs now, using both special tools or twitter, some Japanese users refer to the concept as “Tsudaru” (“Tsuda’ing”) in reference to Japanese journalist Tsuda Daisuke’s use of twitter to do event reporting.
• There are some odd USB memory sticks on the market in Japan.  Some of the ones they cover this week:  a thumb, cat ears, USB memory wristband, the smallest USB drive on the market which is barely bigger than the metal part you insert into your computer, and USB memory sticks shaped like pose-able people.  You can check out some of these odd creations at solidalliance.com.

The Interview
Ever wonder if Japanese interviewers waste questions on stupid things like the western press does from time to time?  They sure do!  This interview was probably conducted by the head of the Dengeki FFXI Lightning Brigade or one of their members.  In it, they ask if we will be able to ride Roegadyn using emotes.  Apparently the leader of the group would like that to be an option.  And before your mind goes too far in the gutter, the leader is a Tarutaru in FFXI and probably means riding on a Roegadyn’s shoulders.  Unfortunately, the two big men for FFXIV let him know he’ll have to keep dreaming because it’d be too difficult to implement.  Other things they mentioned:

• Miqo’te only have the ears on top of their head.  They don’t have extra ears hidden anywhere.
• Roegadyn were designed for the world of FFXIV so they have no tails even if they are similar to Galkas in FFXI.
• Not every character will have voice acting.  It would be impossible to keep up with regular updates and have things fully voiced.  However, any voice acting there is, like for important scenes, will be done in English.  Oddly enough, the reasoning for this is they want people to focus on the graphical aspect of the scenes rather than just a box with text.
• They haven’t decided exactly how chocobos will be used in FFXIV yet.
• Komoto says playing with a controller won’t feel much different than it does in FFXI.
• They haven’t had a chance to think about any events specifically for FFXIV, like the recent party thrown for FFXIII, but Komoto says he’d like to do something.
• You will need a Square Enix ID to play.  You will not be required to use the security token.
• The game will be windowed from the very beginning so you can take advantage of other things, like community sites, at the same time.
• The next system Komoto would like to show off is the Armoury System.

The majority of the interview was pretty straight forward stuff.  A lot of it we have heard before but they did clarify a few things from other interviews as well.  Unlike some summaries posted online, they did not bash the western media, so people who were concerned about that can relax. 

Comparing FFXI and FFXIV – Aetheryte versus Mog House
They’ve said before that one of their target markets is current or former FFXI players.  That said, there will be some people who are curious about what’s new and what’s different.  Also interesting is how the game is being made differently from FFXI.  One of the most obvious differences is in game play.  Guildleves will be a large part of FFXIV.  Where as FFXI had a lot of grinding in groups for long periods of time, it sounds like most guildleves will be on the short side, as short as 30 minutes, and have different goals that must be accomplished.  Some players are already comparing it to the Assault system from FFXI.  There is also a big difference in how you change jobs or roles.  In FFXI, you had to talk to your house moogle or a nomad moogle to change jobs.  In FFXIV, you can change classes freely without needing to return to any particular spot.  The Armoury System was a concept they originally had for FFXI but now are able to make it a reality in FFXIV.

This change in how and where you can change classes also changes another part of game design.  One of the nice features in FFXI was the Mog House, a semi-customizable homebase.  The entrance was shared by everyone so no worries about getting lost or forgetting where your home is.  In addition to item storage, it was the place to change your job as well.  This feature is no longer needed for FFXIV.  The Mog Houses were also in cities.  You could log out quickly in your Mog House and then walk into the city to look for other people to play with.  This was largely the case for big cities like Jeuno or Whitegate.  However, in FFXIV, they want people to gather at Aetheryte and log out or in around there without having to go back into town often.  In other words, you don’t really need a base camp in town either.  Komoto goes so far as to say the Aetheryte replaces the need for Mog Houses.  When asked if there will be regular homes, he says he expects that kind of thing will be gradually added. 

How do you feel?  Do you think it is necessary to have some kind of personal home in an MMO?

Comparing FFXI and FFXIV – Customization
The level of customization for playable characters is also different.  Tanaka says they took ideas from FFXI to make it easy for FFXI players to move into FFXIV but the level of customization you can do is so high that you can end up making something very different from what was available in FFXI.  The interviewer asks if characters will age due to the fact that weapon and armor degradation is included in FFXIV.  With a smile, Komoto says they won’t age but it will probably be able to change your hairstyle in game.  This is an option FFXI players have wanted so it’s nice to see that it might be included in FFXIV.  He says that they want to grant the requests of players as they develop the game.  One thing they don’t plan on letting people do is change their face.  If you can change even that, you lose something that allows you to recognize somebody. 

There will also be some level of armor and weapon customization this time around.  We had guessed this before but they now confirm that there will be different colors available for equipment that have the same stats. They already have a wide range of colors planned and the number of items that can be colorized will increase.  In the future, Komoto says it would be nice to even allow people to add emblems to items as well. 

Graphics and the Landscape
At this point in time, the game graphics are only 50% completed.  Tanaka says they will probably change quite a bit so people should look forward to even greater things.  We know parts of the UI are customizable.  The interviewer asked if we will be able to adjust the text size as well and Tanaka says he thinks it will be something they can add in in the future.  Character graphics are getting a lot of attention.  They are still looking into things but there is a chance that more equipment will be visible this time around.  For example, neck pieces or rings.  However, nothing is set in stone yet.  They are still talking about the best way to go about things and how much should be made visible.  They are also not sure about how to show weapon degradation status.  For example, they could change the way the weapon looks on screen or make a gauge.  Komoto says they will try out lots of different things and go from there.

One of the first things we learned about was the inclusion of weather effects.  People started to wonder what kind of effect they would have on the players.  For example, would certain clans be affected in different ways.  Komoto talked a little about the weather with the interviewer from Dengeki.  The weather effects will not be related to elements like they were in FFXI.  It doesn’t sound like weather effects will have a specific effect on players.  He explains the reasoning behind this by saying that while that might be interesting at first, eventually it would get to the point where people wouldn’t want to go to certain areas.  Instead, they will think about how to use the weather effects in other ways.  

At gamescom, the team showed off some of the emotes players will be able to use in game.  The detail is much higher than FFXI, in part because they decided to use motion capture this time around.  Komoto says it would be difficult to implement motions that involve multiple people but it would be nice to think about as they could be used as one form of communication.  For people curious what this means, think about having an emote where you could hug another player and they could hug you back at the same time.  Both character models would be involved with the emote.

As for the general landscape, they say the game will not be entirely seamless.  This was mistranslated (but they don’t say by who or where).  The area you can move through seamlessly will be about the size of a region in FFXI.  This doesn’t mean there won’t be area divisions though.  Monsters will not follow you for the entire length of a zone for example.  There will be towns and the areas around Aetheryte as well.  However, you can generally divide areas by if there are monsters there or no monsters there.  Either way, you will be able to draw your weapon anywhere you want thanks to the fact there is no auto-attack.

Move, Fight, Fix, Move, Fight
As mentioned several times before, they want people to gather at the Aetheryte.  From there, people will start guildleves or help with other people’s guildleves.  Its main purpose is to act as a gathering point for players.  For example, not only could you find other people to do guildleves with but perhaps craftsmen that can help fix damaged armor or weapons.  The second function is as a method of transportation.  Komoto says you can also use them to go from town to town, not just to a battlefield. 

Speaking of the craftsmen, they give a little bit more information about that too.  They may or may not add personalized shop signs in the future, i.e. a way to advertise your services.  Even if a craftsmen fails to fix something, the item will not break.  They are also considering adding regular shops that people can use to get things fixed in the event they can’t find another player to fix something for them.  If you need to find somebody, you might be able to search players’ personalized comment areas, developed out of the search comment feature in FFXI.  They also have other ideas in mind.

There are a few new details about fighting too.  For example, your position and the position of other people and enemies will be an important thing to keep track of.  We’ve already seen this in action at gamescom with people getting attacked from the right hand side by Dodos.  Differences in height will not be as important.

Some people have also wondered if the more craft-oriented classes will still be able to attack things in battle.  Komoto tries to reassure players by saying they will have at least the minimum stats they need in order to fight but they will naturally be weaker than classes more geared towards fighting. 

Guildleves
You start off by going to a player’s guild, which is almost like a tavern.  There you can accept guildleves, which are like plates more than cards, and go off to the Aetheryte.  You can think of the guildleve as a pass or permission slip.  It allows you to do a certain set activity or perhaps travel in a certain area.  The rest of the information has been covered in previous interviews like how it works well for casual players because it doesn’t eat up a lot of time to do a guildleve or how some of them will involve monsters like the NMs from FFXI.  After you finish your guildleve, you can go back to the Aetheryte and then start a new one or even logout there.

That’s it for now.  See ya later!

For this week’s issue, we’ll have two parts.  Today, part 1 with the interesting little bits pulled from Weekly Famitsu.

The other day, Gahoo linked to an article on 1up.com featuring opinions on online gaming from three different Japanese game makers.  What was available there was actually just a small portion of a big feature printed in this week’s Weekly Famitsu.  Interested in seeing what was left out?  That and more after the cut.

Weekly Rankings
Final Fantasy XIV fell a little, now at 24 and back to where it was two weeks ago.  Jumping up in the list are the newest game in the Professor Layton series for the DS and the new Kingdom Hearts game for the PSP.  A surprising jump this week for another Square Enix game too:  Last Remnant for the PS3, going from 21 last week to 14.  Things haven’t looked good for a Sony console version of the game for a long time but it looks like player support is still out there!  The top three this week are all from Square Enix: FFXIII, Dragon Quest X, and a DS remake of Dragon Quest VI.  As for actually released games, the only SE title is Dragon Quest IX coming in second after Nintendo’s Friend Collection and just above the newly released Dream Club for the Xbox360.

Final Fantasy XIII
It’s safe to say a lot of the people that play FFXI now and want to play FFXIV in the future are fans of the Final Fantasy series in general.  The next numbered edition to hit retail shelves will be Final Fantasy XIII.  Each week new information is released in the magazines with beautiful half to full page color pictures.  On Tuesday, Square Enix held a release date party at a museum in Odaiba, home of the Fuji Television Building and Tokyo Big Site.  Final Fantasy XIII will be released in Japan on December 17th.  They are still aiming for a Spring release elsewhere. In other words, barring major delays, the release of XIII shouldn’t have much effect on XIV.  

History of Online Gaming
Recently, Famitsu switched from being sold on Fridays to Thursdays, the day most new games also go on sale. To commemorate the change, they are doing special reports for a month.  I talked about the special on RPGs before.  This time they delve into the history of online gaming.  For this article, online gaming refers to any game that has some online portion to it, broken down into three major categories:  MMOs, PvP games, and games with downloadable content.  While not yet released, they used a picture from the playable alpha build of FFXIV as an example of MMORPGs.

They start with 1988 when a modem set was created for the Japanese Famicom.  They say the modem was used for trading stocks or home banking but not gaming.  However, it was the start of connecting gaming machines online.  Later, in 1995, the Satellaview was released as a satellite modem for the Super Famicom.  Over time, with computers and other gaming systems, we saw the birth of MMORPGs.  They point out Phantasy Star Online and Final Fantasy XI.  They end with the current state of things in 2009, with Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, PlayStation Network, and Xbox LIVE.  

Next up was their small player survey.  About 85% of people said they’ve played some kind of online game for competitive or cooperative play.  Within those two genres, players voted heavily for the Monster Hunter series games and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.  Outside of competitive or cooperative play, they named games like Little Big Planet, Pokemon, and Dragon Quest IX.

Talking about the Future
Next, they spoke to Kaname Fujioka of Monster Hunter fame, Satoshi Sakai who worked on Phantasy Star Online, and Nobuaki Komoto who we know as the director for FFXIV.  I’ll only be focusing on Director Komoto’s remarks.

The first part was covered by 1up.  Komoto talks about how games have changed to become more user friendly with their in-game hints and tutorials.  Next, he talked about Dragon Quest IX.  It’s just his opinion, but after looking at the game, he feels the team that worked on it must have taken a good long look at MMORPGs.  It has online components to it but nobody would really call it an online game.  This kind of falls in line with how he thinks about online gaming and MMORPGs.  People shouldn’t feel bound by labels.  The idea of “online gaming” will fade away as games with online parts will just become an everyday thing.  

What was not covered by 1up has to do with Komoto’s ideas for FFXIV.  He thinks the next thing in online gaming will be making things to be used on cell phones or the iPhone.  There is still a lot of research that needs to be done, but he thinks in the future, even a game like FFXI could be made mobile-friendly.  However, it’s not just about making mobile-friendly games.  It’s about mixing both the console/PC version with the mobile functions.  Not everything needs to be available on both.  The goal is to make something that fits into your lifestyle.  Or even changes your lifestyle.  He talks about Nintendo’s Nintendogs and how it makes you want to play it everyday.  It becomes a part of your routine.  He says he’d like to include things like that in FFXIV.  When making online games, it’s not just about including a lot of new ideas, but including things that build upon each other.  

After comparing all the interviews, the people at Famitsu conclude that portability is key to the future of online gaming.  

Corinth’s Thoughts
There was a mobile project planned for FFXI many years ago but nothing ended up being released for users in the end.  Players have made various mobile applications themselves, from clocks to camp location databases.  It would be nice to see some kind of mobile tools for FFXIV as well.  If Square Enix did make a mobile application for FFXIV, what would you like to see it in?

Early next week we’ll talk about what Producer Tanaka and Director Komoto had to say to the people at Dengeki PlayStation.  Until then, see you later!

1up.com published an article entitled: “The Future of Online Gaming in Japan: The people behind FFXIV and Phantasy Star Online weigh in.“  Despite the seeming popularity in Japan of Final Fantasy XI, and surely of Final Fantasy XIV, the article details why overall online gaming in Japan is less popular than in the United States or Europe.  Only Nobuaki Komoto, director of FFXIV took issue with the premise somewhat, stating:

The way MMOs attract players has dramatically evolved.  It’s especially noticeable with American and European titles.  Games used to favor hardcore players; there were a lot of games made with the philosophy that everything should be hidden and the players can work together to figure it out.  It was very unkind.  Games these days don’t let their players ask ‘What am I supposed to do?’.  They guide the player along the way — but there are several paths to take, and you’re still free to do something else. They’re free experiences.

The ultimate ideal would be for them not to be called ‘online games’ any longer.  I think that’s the real goal for us.  Lots of downloadable games, not to mention Gears of War and Fallout 3, are ‘online games,’ but nobody calls them that.  I think we’ll see that term go by the wayside even for games with lots of online features.  Their presence will be considered a normal part of the package.

What does that mean for FFXIV?  Only time will tell.

Last month we learned that Final Fantasy XIV would be the cover title for this month’s issue of Famitsu WaveDVD magazine.  Despite not having anything from the recent gamescom, the DVD contains over 12 minutes of footage for FFXIV.  Most of it is between Producer Hiromichi Tanaka and Enterbrain CEO Hirokazu Hamamura.  A few comments from Director Nobuaki Komoto are tossed in at the end.

The setting is very relaxed as it is most of the time for interviews with WaveDVD.  The background is completely white with Tanaka and Hamamura sitting next to each other, shooting the breeze.  They use this white space to show some of the screenshots and images that have already been released to the public as well as add subtitles every so often.  This is commonly done on TV in Japan, which actually makes Japanese TV much more foreigner friendly compared to its English counterpart.

We can’t bring you the actual video for copyright reasons.  Don’t worry though, we still have a plan to make sure you get all the tasty tidbits tucked away in the video.  Elmer, the content manager for FFXIV over at ZAM and my partner over at JP Button, thought it would be interesting if we posted our conversation about the video and some of the things we found.   We hope you enjoy the new information as much as we did.  Now let’s get on with the show!

Elmer: So, did you check out the video?

Corinth: Just did today thanks to shipping delays in my area.

Elmer: Yeah, Famitsu Wave can be kind of rare. It was only at one store in my area.

Corinth: Unlike Weekly Famitsu which you can find at almost any convenience store. I also picked up Comic Vanatsu though, so it was worth the trip to the bookstore…. in the rain.

Elmer: I was all excited because they said it would be the COVER GAME! .. but we just got two pages.

Corinth: It’s actually more than I expected. There aren’t a lot of pages in the actual magazine part. All the good stuff is usually on the DVD.

Elmer: Yea, I guess 2 pages is like half the magazine anyway.

Corinth: *giggles* One thing that did surprised me though was the lack of Gamescom coverage, but it sounds like that might happen next month.

Elmer: Ah, my curry arrived.

Corinth: Curry is a wonderful, wonderful food. It’s very hard to go wrong with curry in Japan. Somebody was telling me the other day that many girls try to impress their boyfriends by making a dish known as nikujaga. It has meat, potatoes, and carrots most of the time. But if they screw up with the seasoning, they can try to wash away the broth and make curry instead since the base ingredients are the same.

Elmer: This curry is at a net cafe, but it doesn’t look like the usual microwaved stuff they make. I thought it looked good because it has pieces of 蓮根 (ren-kon, lotus root) in it. I used to eat those like potato chips.

Corinth: Really? It’s one of the few vegetables that I don’t like here.

Elmer: I feel like this is turning into that JP Button food show we promised to do but never did. So how about that video?

Corinth: That’s what we get for doing this at dinner time. The first part of the video is the interview between Hiromichi Tanaka and Hirokazu Hamamura. Both Hiros! They called it the “Nice little FFXIV chat with Hiro and Hama” but I think calling them both Hiro would have been cute too.

Elmer: I think my favorite thing about the video is it showed how funny Hiromichi Tanaka can be. Though we did see some of that at VanaFest.

Corinth: He comes off very stoic sometimes in interviews with the foreign press but he looks really at home with Japanese reporters and fans.

Elmer: Yeah, he always takes these pictures where he’s half sleepy and half furious.

Corinth: Jet lag does that to a person. You know, before we get into the FFXIV stuff, one of the things that stands out right away is something you noticed first.

Elmer: Tanaka’s bling?

Corinth: He’s definitely sporting some bling. And I don’t think he’s the type to normally wear necklaces.

Elmer: Yeah, it definitely looked out of place, but it took me a while to really notice and investigate it further. Tanaka is wearing what appears to be the promised FFXI “dogtag.”

Corinth: Finally!! The 2nd piece in the Players’ Collection. It’s been a year since the Tidal Talisman came out. I hope they aren’t too expensive though. They look like they could make good collar tags for my chocobos and that would start to add up.

Elmer: If it’s true, it would seem like a really clever wink & nod Tanaka gave by wearing it. Also, it’s a nice way to show he still cares about the FFXI fans. A little hard to catch and without explanation, though I guess it fits for a company that is so stubbornly obtuse with its hints (Absolute Virtue)

Corinth: *cough* Less of that we see in FFXIV, the better!

Elmer: Yes, I do like how he is being much more open about FFXIV and exactly what they plan for it. I certainly appreciated the explanation of “high fantasy” they gave. I always assumed it meant “high-technology,” like a steampunk kind of thing.

Corinth: Me too.

Elmer: According to Tanaka, a high fantasy is one where the races, city-states and societies are all fleshed out thoroughly and intrinsically tied into the game and its story — instead of pushed to the background, I suppose.

Corinth: Now that I think about it though, I think he was making a distinction awhile back between FFXI and FFXIV, saying they were trying for high fantasy this time. But FFXI has in-depth story-lines for races and cities as well. Perhaps some of that technology factor is still a part of high fantasy after all.

Elmer: And he compared it to FFXIII a lot too, which always made me think technology. But apparently it has a lot to do with realism as well — as in developed so much as to be comparable to our own world, in terms of history and culture.

Corinth: You can see that built into the story already with references to different clans for each of the races as well as the fact that Hyurans speak a variety of languages.

Elmer: They’ve certainly had a lot of time to do so. Tanaka said Nobuaki Komoto began work on FFXIV basically right after Chains of Promathia wrapped up.

Corinth: Speaking of Komoto, we learned a little bit about his personality as well. *laughs*

Elmer: Yea Besides the mini-bombshell, I think Komoto and his short-shorts was the funniest part of the video.

Corinth: Every time I see him, I think he belongs in Hawaii. Tanaka says that it’s almost like Komoto has a shorts-only policy. He’s never seen the guy wear full length pants before. Sure enough, he’s wearing shorts in the segment at the end of the video too.

Elmer: It was great They talk about how Komoto finished Promathia, started on FFXIV… the interviewer is like “Wow, he’s been on it that long, huh?” … … “He still wear shorts all the time?” And then this big picture of Komoto in shorts with that doofy grin on his face.

Corinth: I think my favorite moment was when Tanaka tries (and fails) to say the Japanese phrase for MMORPG and the two of them have a good laugh about it. In his defense though, it’s really long.

Elmer: They spell it all out on the screen too. There was a lot of basic stuff like that for non-MMO players in the first half.

Corinth: Hamamura asks Tanaka what people should be careful about when playing an online game and he replies that unlike an offline game, there are people on the other side. Which led into the fact that there are people that beg for money too. >< It's really the people that make or break an MMO though.

Elmer: Hamamura asks him a lot of general questions about FFXIV as well, and it’s funny how often Tanaka doesn’t even know what to say. For example, Tanaka says the keyword of FFXIV is “growth” as we all know. So Hamamura asks, “What exactly do you ‘grow’ in FFXIV?” and Tanaka is like, “I dunno, lots of stuff.” …and they just burst out laughing.

Corinth: Tanaka is the master of avoiding answering questions. Let’s see how many things we can find he is still keeping secret from us. There’s the “growth” part, whether or not we’ll have more than the 5 playable races, when the beta will start….

Elmer: It’s like he brought home a bad report card. What do you mean, growth? “I dunno.” How did you get this D? “I’ll investigate and get back to you.”

Corinth: More like, “How did you get this D?” “Memory limitations”   which is what they use in Japanese interviews all the time for PS2 limitations.

Elmer: But…. but… Let’s not be too hard on Tanaka, because he was uncharacteristically lucid on one thing, which I like to call the bombshell of this interview.

Corinth: It was indeed a very interesting little tidbit. And one of those things I don’t think anybody would have bothered to ask.

Elmer: It was around they time they were discussing the “high fantasy” aspect of FFXIV, and how it would be a more realistic world than FFXI.

Corinth: Then Tanaka tries to think of a comparison he can make and brings up one of my all-time favorite games, Final Fantasy VI!

Elmer: Yes! Final Fantasy VI.

Corinth: He even says we might see something like Magitek Armor.

Elmer: Yes, that was the part that just made my credit card leap out of the wallet and go, “Where to, sir?” Final Fantasy VI and the possibility of Magitek Armor.

Corinth: Speculation time! Magitek Armor from the distant enemies that fled Eorzea? Or perhaps as one of the methods of transportation?

Elmer: Although, he did make sure to temper his comment with some mumbly qualifiers. “There may, perhaps, be something similar to Magitek Armor possibly, to some extent.” and then the interviewer is like “Well, will there be or not?!”

Corinth: I think it’s pretty safe to say we’ll see something like them in FFXIV.

Elmer: It would make a pretty sweet Guildleve.

Corinth: That was probably the biggest bit of information to come out of the video. There were things we already know like the names of the races, the fact that they put a lot of effort into the facial motions, and that the game will come out next year.

Elmer: Yeah, the interviewer didn’t seem so pleased. He’s like “Next year? What am I talking to you for?” — but in a joking way

Corinth: *laughs* I thought he took it pretty well. He makes a guess that the beta will start in January but Tanaka does his best to neither confirm or deny it.

Elmer: I don’t think Tanaka could confirm or deny his first name is Hiromichi. By the way, there were several LOL spots between Tanaka and the interviewer, but remember that part where the giant HA HA HA flies across the screen?

Corinth: *laugh* The interviewer got rejected quite a few times but that was the one time he really couldn’t hold back. Tanaka tells him he think the game will come out next year. And Hamamura pauses a moment and jokingly digs into Tanaka saying “Next year? You already told us that at E3! Can’t you give me a bit more? Just a bit?” And then he gives him a little look and says “You’re so hard to crack.” So they both burst out laughing.

Elmer: If anything, they seemed to have a lot of fun with the interview.

Corinth: I think so too. Part of that is probably because Hamamura is also a fan of FFXI. He used to play it with his son. You can tell he knows the series too because of his constant references to Galka and Mithra. An interviewer who wasn’t as familiar with the series probably would have just used Roegadyn and Miqo’te when talking about the new races after reading a press briefing or something.

Elmer: Yeah, he kept saying ミスラっぽく, ガルカっぽく Mithra-like, Galka-like. I really think this is the side of Tanaka a lot of FFXI fans have always wanted to see, but from what I hear, only people at FanFest really get to experience it. He’s a funny and interesting guy.

Corinth: I got to see him at Tokyo Game Show last year walking around in the special FFXI yukata they made. It looked like he was having a great time talking with the FFXI cos-players and taking pictures of them. I wish I had remembered to take a picture of him myself!

Elmer: There’s always this year! I would hope they have something on the third Shantotto expansion at TGS, even if the focus is going to be on Final Fantasy XIII.

Corinth: We heard today that a new Vana’diel Collection including all 3 add-on scenarios will be going on sale in November. TGS would be the perfect time for them to advertise it on one of the public screens.

Elmer: Definitely. And we do have confirmation from the July 31st FFXI newsletter that new FFXI-related goods are going to go on sale.  So, anything left from the video? I believe we covered all the important stuff. Like Magitek Armor…………..

Corinth: Well, there is the bit at the end with Komoto.

Elmer: Was he riding Magitek Armor?

Corinth: He was riding a stool.

Elmer: I guess we can talk about him. He did another one of those “words to the players” things at the end.

Corinth: Listening to him talk in this interview, I swear he sounds like Japanese actor Yuji Oda, from “Bayside Shakedown.” He starts off by saying the same sort of things that Tanaka did. One of the things that sets online games apart from offline ones is the people. You meet people. You play with people you don’t know. You buy and sell things and when you do, you know there is another person on the other side.

Elmer: Komoto really likes to romanticize the process of meeting and adventuring with other players.

Corinth: While talking like Yuji Oda. He likes to romanticize things too. Anyways, Komoto says the hardest part of development for an online game is working on version updates but at the same time, it’s a lot of fun. You get feedback from the player base right away with online games.

Elmer: Their policy for FFXIV seems very promising. They are working to keep multiple sites up to date and have made it known they intend to work with overseas premiere sites much more closely than before. So I hope they are ready to really take in and act upon that feedback.

Corinth: That feedback is going to come from MMORPG veterans, long or short term players of FFXI, and players who are brand new to online gaming just like I was years ago starting FFXI. They are hoping that people who tried FFXI but didn’t like it will give FFXIV a try. They also think there are FF fans out there who aren’t really sure what an online game is like or if they’ll be able to get used to playing with other people. Kotomo’s final message to those people is that he hopes they will give FFXIV a try and experience a different kind of Final Fantasy than they’ve played in the past.

Elmer: I know he says that more than creating a great MMO, they wish to create a better Final Fantasy and do more with the series than they ever could before. Perhaps that is why Tanaka brought up Final Fantasy VI. It could be they are trying to give those “golden years” of Final Fantasy new life as an MMO with all the technology available in this generation of gaming. … and Magitek Armor!

Corinth: Ok you Magitek nut. One final trivia question before we go. When was Final Fantasy VI released? And no looking at Wikipedia!

Elmer: 1994. I remember the copyright information at the end of the video.

Corinth: Awwwwwwww.

Elmer: Final Fantasy IV was 1991. I remember that because it’s my favorite.

Corinth: And my least favorite!

Elmer: Least? What about V?

Corinth: V had a cute chocobo right from the beginning.

Elmer: OK, well let’s wrap up before this gets out of control.

Corinth: I bet a lot of people will be thinking “All this for Magitek Armor?”

Elmer: Well, I think this conversation will help give them the feel of how the interview flowed. Very loose, off-topic here and there…

Corinth: Hopefully they don’t get too bored

Elmer: If they do, they’ll let us know on the ZAM forums!

Corinth: Or Eorzeapedia!

Elmer: Thanks for reading!

This week there are more pages than usual in Weekly Famitsu. Monster Hunter 3 is on the cover with the main Weekly Famitsu mascot getting ready for battle. There is also a 100 page mini guide! Wish I had known that before buying the Rookie’s Guide last night. Let’s take a look into this exciting new game packed with giant weapons and even bigger monsters. What? You don’t want to hear about Monster Hunter? You want to hear more about the other game listed on the cover? Oh, I suppose…

New pictures were released this week by Square Enix from their upcoming Final Fantasy XIV. Last week, a few magazines said that they would be carrying the latest new information for XIV soon but we had no idea it would be this soon! Weekly Famitsu also got an exclusive interview with Producer Hiromichi Tanaka and Director Nobuaki Komoto. Let’s take a look at the latest information out of Japan.

By the way, while the interview ran in Weekly Famitsu, the official Japanese website doesn’t really contain much information at this time forcing people in Japan to buy the magazines. However, as many people saw today, the NA official site contains a lot of pictures and information in English. Here, you get the best of both worlds combining what we know from the website as well as from the Japanese interview.

1) The Land Loved by the Gods

As announced back at E3, the starting setting for Final Fantasy XIV is a region called Eorzea. This is located in the world of Hydaelyn. Eorzea is the name used to describe the smallest continent of Hydaelyn, Aldenard, and the surrounding islands. In the region are various city-states. So far, the names of 4 of these cities have been released in Japanese as well as concept art for 3 of them.

	City in the Sea, Limsa Lominsa (リムサ・ロミンサ)
	City in the Sand, Ul’dah (ウルダハ)
	City in the Forest, Gridania (グリダニア)

The mountain city Ishgard (イシュガルド) was also announced but no pictures have been released yet.

The land of Eorzea is not kind to people, who must deal with fierce natural surroundings. The weather changes suddenly in the north and south, there are vast desolate lands, and there are giant monsters who roam the mountain ranges. The people of Eorzea must also deal with savage tribes who have a thirst for blood, mysterious foreign enemies, and the city-states who contend for supremacy. The pages of the history of Eorzea are covered with blood. Even still, it is known as the Land Loved by the Gods and people flock to the region. The answer to why might be found in the existence of Crystals, the crystallized form of aether.

When describing the city-states of Eorzea, Komoto says they were aiming for something smaller in scale than a full country. Thus, we have city-state where they rule over different areas with the city as the base. The people in each city-state will have their own story to tell. The game story will be an important part of the game. Komoto says that the story will be pretty intense right from the beginning and that might surprise some people. It is definitely something we can look forward to!

Weekly Famitsu’s article only gives additional detail about Limsa Lominsa so we will have to wait for the Dengeki PlayStation article to get more information about the other regions. Limsa Lominsa is located in the southern portion of the island of Vylbrand (ヴィルブランド) which is located in an inlet known as the Rhotano Sea (ロータノ海). The city-nation is watched over by the sailor’s goddess, Llymlaen (ルムレーン). The beautiful streets of the city are known as Navigator’s Veil (*Llymlaen’s Veil in the Japanese version).

It is said that there once was a great fleet of boats that was trying to escape from hardships in their home country. They were guided by Llymlaen and the area they settled in became the start of Limsa Lominsa. The nearby seas are kept safe mostly by a strong navy known as the Knights of the Barracuda (バラクーダ騎士団). They are funded with the help of other nations as well. However, there are also pirates that operate in the Rhotano Sea and the people of some nations think perhaps that the knights are looking the other way sometimes on purpose.

The other pictures released of the field areas are said to be in-game screenshots.

There will be weather effects in FFXIV. They specifically mention wind and rain. Some areas will have certain weather effects more often than other regions. Time will also pass day into night. Final decisions have not been made yet but in general one day in Eorzea will be around 1 real-world hour. The idea is that even if you can only login at the same time each day, you can still experience Eorzea in a different way.

2) Methods of Transportation

With vast wastelands, forests, and many islands to explore, transportation is something people are curious about. In the interview with Tanaka and Komoto, they really stress how they want to make the game accessible to people who can only play a short amount of time each day. One way they can do this is by cutting down the amount of time it takes to travel from region to region. The interviewer asked if different methods of transportation will be available. Komoto replied that they want people to look forward to the possibility of this but was avoiding saying exactly what and when it would be made available.

One method of transportation we do have information about is aetheryte (エーテライト). Aetheryte will be very important as Tanaka and Komoto envision that players will gather for quests by going to different aetheryte rather than waiting around in the cities. The picture of three adventurers in the field next to something that looks like an outpost and a giant crystal structure is indeed the picture provided by Square Enix to show off the aetheryte.

The aetheryte are managed by the various city-states and have been inserted into the ground. By paying the manager next to the crystal you can be transported to where other aetheryte are. What will you pay with? Chances are very high it will be gil. They had tossed around the idea of using other currencies in addition to gil but it is such a standard that Komoto laughs and says it might not be possible to get away from that. In addition to moving to other aetherytes, there is also the possibility of going to an aethereal gate (エーテリア ルゲート) that you have set before. Specific details are not given but it almost sounds like aethereal gates are similar to the home points used in FFXI.

There is a little bit of back story provided on the Aetheryte as well. When someone is transported using this system, their body, armor, items, etc, are broken down into pieces of ether. These pieces are then transported through veins below the surface and are reassembled at their final destination. There are side effects to using the system however so adventurers have to wait before they are able to travel via aetheryte again. In the future, it is expected that Square Enix will release information on how you can expand the number of aetherytes you can transport to.

3) Why Are We Adventurers?

In Final Fantasy XI, we learned that the adventurer system started after the Crystal War. Square Enix has released information about the general setting of Eorzea to explain why there are adventurers in XIV.

We begin with 12 Gods. Each of the city-states has a guardian god or goddess that protects it. They made alliances with each other, changing them based on the land they ruled, their own personal gain, or new ways of telling the stories of the gods and goddesses. This has led to a long history of fighting.

However, 15 years ago, a turning point came when the strongest of the 6 cities, Ala Mhigo (アラミゴ) fell to the eastern country of Garlean (ガレマール). There were flying battleships and soldiers began using guns that could fire shot after shot without reloading. The cities of Eorzea began to unite their armies to fight off a common threat.

This invited peace to the land and was called the Age of Calm (凪の時代). The nations created their own official armies so the mercenaries that had once fought for them were no longer needed. Instead, they gave them other jobs. Prior mercenary leaders began to form organizations where the former mercenaries could join up to help one another. They now assist with solving different problems and are called “adventurers”.

The interviewer asked how adventurers interact with the city-states. Adventurers will join up with an organization. There will be many different organizations from players to choose from. However, this is just a starting point and not a huge decision for players to make so Komoto says people should freely choose one without worrying about it too much.

4) The Guildleves System

This Valor guildleve portrays the scene of Saint Daniffin and the Basilisk. Muster the courage to stand against those who would threaten the weak.

In yesterday’s post, we talked about some of the sample cards available and how they can be used to start quests. Think of it as a help-wanted system. You inquire at one of the various guilds for adventurers looking for work. You’ll be able to take on different jobs (represented by cards you can carry around with you) based on your skill level in certain classes. For example, perhaps there will be a card that only highly skilled blacksmiths (鍛冶師) can use. Komoto says it is also possible to combine different requirements. He gives the example of a job a horticulturalist (園芸師 English name not yet confirmed) can undertake but perhaps it will require that you be protected by a gladiator.

It will be possible to take on multiple jobs at one time. This is another way that they are trying to make FFXIV friendlier to people who cannot play for long periods at one time. By being able to carry multiple job cards, it cuts down on the number of trips you might need to make back to a city, etc. Sometimes a job might take around 30 minutes to complete. There might be ones that are even shorter. Sometimes you might need other people to assist you but they are trying to avoid setting a fixed number of people to increase freedom and flexibility in play style.

It sounds as if the leves available to you will be shown on a calendar and you can make your choices from there. The jobs available might change from time to time, perhaps on a weekly basis or even change mid-week. They would like to make that change occur when players have days off, for example, during a weekend most likely. The timing is still being worked on by the development staff.

Taking on jobs through the Guildleve system will also be very important for skill development. While only the person with a particular card can reap the benefits of completing that card, anyone who is assisting during the quest will be able to hone their skills faster than they could during regular battles. Also, because it is possible to combine multiple cards, people could bring in different cards and be working on different goals but all be assisting each other in general.

5) The Armoury System

Wanted to be a White Mage again in FFXIV? Perhaps a great and powerful Paladin like you were in FFXI? Tough luck. You won’t find any of those old series favorites in FFXIV. This is one of the ways FFXIV is really pulling away from other games in the series and it was done on purpose. Komoto says that if they used those familiar jobs in FFXIV, people would feel bound to use certain skill sets and that goes against the free play style they are aiming for in FFXIV. In parties you might want a more defined role and this is something they have said in previous interviews that will be important. However, when you solo, you might want to use abilities and skills from multiple classes so you have the power to fight and heal yourself. It is this ability to mix and match skills and abilities where people will be able to show off their personality and way of doing things. Then again, those people that want to focus solely on one particular class also have that option as well.

There are 4 large categories of disciplines (called 職能 in Japanese which literally means occupational ability). These disciplines are broken down into various classes. Each class has their own special feature. Leveling up different classes builds your character’s overall abilities. Specific details are not yet available about how this system will work. Currently 8 different classes have been released but many more exist. Each class has its own abilities and skills. It is thought that perhaps the higher your skill, the more potent your abilities become.

What you hold in your hand determines which class you fall into, allowing you to change your job on the fly. Your armor will also have some effect on your character’s growth. Specific details are not available but Tanaka hints that if you want certain abilities, you might have to coordinate your weapon and armor. There will be sometimes where you can reuse the same armor but he expects that there will be armor and weapons that don’t mesh well together either. This means the amount of armor and weapons you will need to walk around with is something the developers are taking into consideration. They don’t want that to be a limiting factor and are looking into ways to deal with the issue. They are also thinking of a system where you can change all of your equipment at one time.

For information on the names of the various disciplines and an idea of some of the classes to be released, please check out the official FFXIV website.

6) Playable Races

Now we know a little more about where we will be and what we can do there. One final detail is what we will look like when we are exploring Eorzea. We knew that the races of FFXI would pop up once again, although somewhat changed from before. Here is what we know so far:

• Humes -> Hyurs (written in English as Hyuran on the Japanese site)
• Elvaans -> Elezens
• Tarutarus -> Lalafells
• Galkas -> Roegadyns
• Mithras -> Miqo’tes

When asked if there are other playable races, Komoto dodges the question by saying of course there will be enemies and people should look forward to that. In FFXI, there were major differences between the races that affected their stats heavily. For example, Tarutaru had a lot of MP and INT making them great magic users. Galka had a lot of HP but little MP. While some people didn’t care about the differences, other people put a lot of weight into the race of a character when looking for party members. To avoid that, they don’t plan on making the differences as pronounced in FFXIV. They would like people to choose their characters more freely and make one they think they’d like to play as.

In addition to the race, there might be other selections players can make during character creation that will affect their starting stats. One of these selections that people have been curious about is if people will be able to choose to be in one of the various clans or families that have been mentioned in the race descriptions. For example, being a Seeker of the Sun versus a Keeper of the Moon or a Highlander versus a Midlander. Komoto says this is a secret for now but Tanaka wants people to think that there just might be something behind these clans.

At this time, I’d also like to dispel a rumor I’ve been seeing floating around the forums. Nothing in the interview or article says that character stats will be affected by the gender of the character.

Also, the character you see during character creation will be near identical to what you can play with in-game. This is one of the things that people complained about with FFXI because the character models were so different.

Some aspects of character creation will be customizable. Specific details are not available yet. However, things like skin color, face model, eye color, and hair style are being offered as possible things people will be able to customize.

For additional information on each race, please visit the official Final Fantasy XIV site. Each race has a description, which is a translated version of the description provided by Square Enix to the Japanese magazines.

Every Friday, Weekly Famitsu comes out with general information on console games.  Approximately every two weeks, Dengeki PlayStation covers PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 news.  This week, both have their E3 reports.

Let’s take a look at how the Japanese printed press treated FFXIV this week:

First, Weekly Famitsu.  Right after E3, they posted their version of the Japanese press interview with Hiromichi Tanaka and Nobuaki Komoto online.

I was anxious to see what they would have in their magazine but it turns out they didn’t give FFXIV much attention. FFXIV had one page in the magazine as part of their 4 “No Way!”s of E3 coverage. A mere 4 questions of the interview made it to print form. In comparison, the upcoming FFXIII was given 17 pages. It’d be nice to see this kind of coverage by Famitsu as we get closer to FFXIV launch.

Dengeki PlayStation had more coverage but that makes sense since they also have a few pages of FFXI info each week. The first two pages of content in the magazine were given to FFXIV. The bottom of the first page had the first part of the same Japanese press interview with Tanaka and Komoto. It is noteworthy that while it was a group interview, each of the different sites (GameWatch, 4Gamer, Dengeki, and Famitsu) had slightly different wording and a different take on the answers. Dengeki did not publish their version online opting only to publish the Q&A press conference. An additional 2 pages were added with the regular FFXI section and contained the remaining part of the interview as well as the Lightning Brigade’s thoughts and predictions. When the beta testing will start is still up to anyone’s guess. When asked if the beta test would start in 2010, Tanaka craftily brushed the question aside saying that official service for the game will begin in 2010 and the beta will come at some point before that. (In coverage done by other sites, like GameWatch and 4Gamer, the length of other MMOs was mentioned at being around 9 months but that FFXIV probably wouldn’t be so long. In the version of the interview posted by GameWatch, when they told Tanaka it sounded like the beta would start in 2009, he replied that he would leave it up to their imagination.)

One of the things they noticed in one of the official pictures was amusing.

They think the Tarutaru-like people are taller than they are in FFXI. Also, the blonde Elvaan-like woman sitting on the right-hand side of the picture appears shorter than FFXI Elvaan. They wonder if this is a change overall or if there will be a higher degree of customization for FFXIV. They also focused on the shape of the crystals in the background and how it is different from FFXI.

That’s all for this week. See you next time!