December 12th, 2009. On that day, the world was changed forever. Or at least that was the feeling in the room as the Chicagoland Pops Orchestra and the Elmhurst College Concert Choir performed the premier of the new arrangement of Dancing Mad from Final Fantasy VI, as scenes from both FFVI and Dissidia were played on the large screen. Other premiers included a new arrangement of J-E-N-O-V-A, and an English version of Suteki Da Ne from Final Fantasy X sung by Susan Calloway.

We have known for awhile now that this particular concert was to play host to the world premier of music from Final Fantasy XIV. Conductor Arnie Roth introduced the piece, which was comprised of two songs, the first of which I’m sure is incorrectly spelled, “Twilight over Thamalon” and “Beneath Bloody Borders”. The lights dim, and the familiar Tokyo Game Show trailer graces the large screen. This was a premier only in the notion that it had not been performed live anywhere in the world, the music was very familiar as they proceeded to play the music used in the TGS trailer. It was a bit of a disappointment, however the battle theme did extend past what we’ve heard in the trailer so that was a plus, along with the titles of the two songs being revealed.

Read on for my thoughts on the rest of the concert!

Susan Calloway performed several songs including Melodies of Life, Suteki Da Ne, Kiss Me Goodbye, and Distant Worlds. While all of these were performed beautifully, I couldn’t help but notice that the last line of Distant Worlds was… well it was incorrect. It was kind of a blow at the end of the song and lowered the bar quite a bit for my vocal expectations. Luckily she delivered with the other pieces later in the night.

Finally the show had come to its end with the performance of Terra’s theme. At least, it would have if they hadn’t of planned for the special performance of Advent One Winged Angel featuring Nobuo Uematsu himself on the organ. After the brilliant ten second piece “Victory!” was played, Nobuo Uematsu and the Chicago Mages did their thing alongside the orchestra and choir. Arnie and Nobuo gave cues to the crowd so they could pitch in during some of the chorus. It was a very exciting atmosphere during the first performance, and again when they played the song for a second time.

Distant Worlds is currently done with performances for 2009, but is already starting to plan out for 2010. Some locations that are planned include Seoul, Stockholm, San Francisco, San Diego, and a return to Chicago at the end of the summer. Next month Arnie Roth will be in Stockholm to record Distant Worlds II: More music from Final Fantasy which will be released sometime around June.

Earlier today, Arnie Roth and Nobuo Uematsu took part in an interview done at Chicago’s Flashpoint Academy. Final Fantasy XIV was brought up on several occasions, and those in attendance even got a look at the Tokyo Game Show trailer. It was discussed that the FFXIV music at the Chicago Distant Worlds concert would be a medley that contains two pieces of music from the upcoming game. We don’t know what those pieces will be, but you can look forward to my write up about it shortly after the event on Saturday evening.

There’s some other talk about how Nobuo Uematsu came to work on Final Fantasy XIV and what type of things he was shown to get a feel for the setting of the game. Below is a small clip from the interview, you can watch the entirety of the December 10th interview here.

Today we have learned via the Distant Worlds Facebook page that the concert series will be making a second trip back to Stockholm on June 12th. The concert series will be making its second appearance in Chicago in December, however it’s still dubbed “Distant Worlds” what could be making them add a ‘two’?

A new program of music!

Alongside of this concert, the “Distant Worlds II: more music from FINAL FANTASY” album will be released. Currently set to record with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in January, the second album is currently set to include a “preview” of new music written for Final Fantasy XIV.

Apart from the rich music the concerts provide, they also set up large screens over the orchestra that plays scenes from the games to compliment the music. Final Fantasy XIV will be no different, being illustrated by “extensive visual material”. While Stockholm will be seeing a whole new concert, don’t forget that Final Fantasy XIV will still be making an appearance in Chicago as well. I’ll be attending the Chicago performance and writting up my thoughts on the new music so stay tuned to that in the next couple weeks!

Distant Worlds II: more music from FINAL FANTASY

In June 2010, it is time for the long awaited sequel to the 2007 hit concert in the Stockholm Concert Hall: “Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY “. Arnie Roth will return to the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra with a completely new program presenting more of Nobuo Uematsu’s award-winning and beloved music from the game series Final Fantasy. Simultaneously with the concert, a new CD with the same repertoire will be released (the recording to be done by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Arnie Roth in January).

Distant Worlds II offers a wide range of pieces, many of which have never been performed live in Europe by a symphony orchestra before. In addition, it presents a unique “preview” of new music by Nobuo Uematsu, written for the not yet released Final Fantasy XIV.

All pieces will be illustrated by extensive visual material out of the games on large screens in the concert hall; even the all-new music for FFXIV! Nobuo Uematsu himself will pay tribute to the Stockholm audience with his presence, and he will meet with the fans in person at a Meet & Greet in conjunction with the concert.

Thanks again to Japanese fansite FF14-FAN, we have some interesting information about the theme song to be used in FFXIV.  As has been previously reported, Nobuo Uematsu will be composing all of the tracks, including the theme song.  In fact, indirectly, he is the source of the new information.  Members of his official fanclub receive a few DVDs as a membership bonus each year.  One of those DVDs was recently released and people have been posting details about the DVD online.

One such site is a gaming blog named Nonsense Zone.  The author, Helen, posted a picture from the DVD along with some information.  There was a section about the new theme song for FFXIV from the recording studio where they were recording the song with a vocal track.  They were using English and Japanese in the video leading people to suspect the person doing the vocals for the track is not Japanese.

That’s all we really know at this time.  However, there is a bit of speculation we can make at this point.

At the upcoming Chicago Distant Worlds concert, music from FFXIV will be included as part of the show.  Susan Calloway (pictured) has performed in a number of the Distant Worlds concerts in the past and will also be present with Uematsu at the Chicago concert.  It would make sense for the artist to be somebody Uematsu is familiar working with.  The Chicago concert would also be a great time to make the announcement.

Once again, we’ll just have to wait and see!

Ever since we heard that Final Fantasy series composer Nobuo Uematsu would be performing at the December 12 Distant Worlds concert, we knew that it would be special.

Later it was announced that many new songs would be appearing in this concert, including Advent: One Wing Angel as well as many other exciting songs. We then got wind that Susan Calloway would be in attendance, singing just about every Final Fantasy song that there is to sing.

Today, we’ve been informed that multiple Final Fantasy XIV pieces will be making their world premiere in Chicago at Distant Worlds!

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.

VG247 released five mini-articles over the past 24 hours, each identifying one fact they gleaned from their interview with Tanaka at Gamescom (basically they published one “article” per quote).  Most of the information is already known, so we’ll just highlight the facts/quotes:

• FFXIV will have a monthly subscription model (link)
• Tanaka was very pleased Nobuo Uematsu was scoring the whole FFXIV soundtrack (link)
• FFXIV will have its own “religion” and the setting will be very unique – borrowing sci-fi and medieval elements (link)
• The new leveling system is based on weapons:  “by using the weapon you hold in your hand, you’ll gain skills for that class.  So, if you change your weapon you’ll change your class. You can change your class even between the battles; not during the battles.” (link)
• Surnames may be added to help people retain their FFXI character names in XIV. (link)

That’s what VG247 has reported so far.  Let’s hope that next time they just interview Square Enix and publish one article with all of the information – rather than try to manufacture pageviews by releasing one quote at a time. 

Today we’re excited to announce the launch of the Eorzeapedia podcast: Aetheryte Radio!

Aetheryte Radio is the collaborative effort of two of the most popular Final Fantasy XI podcasts: Limit Break Radio and Pet Food Alpha. We’ve come together to deliver you a fun and exciting show that covers everything related to Final Fantasy XIV. You can find more information about the show here.

Join us for our first episode as we recap E3 2009 and talk about the information released with the update of the official FFXIV website!

Yesterday, the Distant Worlds concert series came to the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore, Maryland. One Eorzeapedia community member was fortunate enough to attend the concert and posted about their experience in our forums.

During the performance, the E3 trailer for Final Fantasy XIV was played on the large screens that were set up for the event. It was then mentioned that Nobuo Uematsu would be composing music for Final Fantasy XIV (which is mentioned on the official website). However further information was revealed stating that Uematsu will be the only composer for the game.

Nobuo Uematsu did several of the tracks heard in Final Fantasy XI, however primary composition was taken over by Naoshi Mizuta and Kumi Tanioka.

It was also said that they are already working on Final Fantasy XIV music for performance purposes for the Distant Worlds concert series and that more information will be released soon!

[Thanks, Lior!]

Yesterday the team over at IGN was able to get in an interview with the team behind Final Fantasy XIV and get some more information about the upcoming game. The interview answers questions about chocobos, music composition, and even things that are hidden in the game’s logo done by Yoshitaka Amano!

You can check out the video interview here and find the full write up after the jump.

[Source, IGN.com]

What platforms is Final Fantasy XIV coming to?
Currently the game is confirmed for PlayStation 3 and Windows PC. An Xbox 360 version isn’t official, but Square Enix is considering the possibility that it could.

What do we know about the setting and the story?
It takes place on an all-new Final Fantasy world known as “Eorzea.” Though it does share some monsters and races from Final Fantasy XI, they’re not direct representations and have been altered in multiple ways that make them unique to Eorzea. The similarities in races will allow experienced FFXI players to create a new FFXIV character that looks somewhat comparable.

Does it have a direct connection to Final Fantasy XI?
In some ways, yes it does. Not only does it share the same development team as the FF11, but the game will also allow players to create a character that is similar to their current Final Fantasy XI. Square Enix has also revealed to IGN that it is currently finding a solution that will let you transfer your character’s names from FFXI to FFXIV.

On a related note, at the press conference, it was said that FFXI has another year of content planned. Does that mean that after that year is up that FFXI is done with?
No. To be specific, Square Enix has one year of content currently planned but has told us here at IGN that it isn’t a mandated end for the series. If fans continue to support the game, then so will Square Enix.

What is the combat system like?
The development team won’t say, but it did confirm to us that… Additionally, the heavy team-play aspect of FF11 has been deemphasized, and now exploration and battle is said to be more balanced between solo and team play.

How does the leveling system work?
Square Enix is cagey about how characters advance, but it has confirmed with IGN that growth is not based on experience and that it will work on a different system entirely.

What about jobs?
Jobs will return in Final Fantasy XIV, but they will be much different than the job system present in FFXI.

How important are the weapons?
Weapons are very important and have a heavy influence on your character and how they succeed in the game world. Square Enix says to look closely at the official FFXIV logo for hints and hidden meanings about how the game will work.

What hidden meanings?
Square Enix told us that when it approached Amano to do the logo art for FFXIV, that weapons were very important and to think of the concept of a “wheel.” Specifically, a wheel of adventurers that has their weapon in front of them and an exposed backside — which leaves each adventurer to rely heavily on their comrades and their friends. Let the speculation begin.

Anything else about the weapons?
The team let slip to us that choosing weapons for specific tasks one day versus another could affect how your character develops.

How much of the first trailer is in-game versus pre-rendered?
The debut trailer is actually a mixture of real-time in-game footage and pre-rendered wizardry. The combat scene in particular was created using the in-game engine.

What languages will the game available in?
The same as Final Fantasy XI: Japanese, English, French and German. FFXIV will also be released simultaneously in all regions that use those languages.

Will the PlayOnline service be used for FFXIV?
No. Square Enix told us that the reason it is ditching the PlayOnline system is because it was originally meant as an all-in-one solution to house multiple content types. But as PlayOnline has offered less content over the years, the need for the next online Final Fantasy to us PO is moot. Whatever new service (if any) is used, PC and PlayStation 3 users will still be able to play with each other on the same servers, and Square Enix also confirmed with IGN that you can sign in with a universal ID on either system to pick up where you left off if you own both.

Who’s Working on the Game?
It is produced by Hiromichi Tanaka (Final Fantasy I, II, III, and IX) and directed by Nobuaki Komoto (Final Fantasy IX, XI), with art direction by Akihiko Yoshida (Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy XII) and a musical score from Nobuo Uematsu (Most Final Fantasies ever). Yoshitaka Amano has designed the logo and is pulling additional art duties as well.

Uematsu only did a few tracks in FFXI, how much is he doing for XIV?
Square Enix revealed to IGN that Uematsu will be doing all the music for Final Fantasy XIV and that it will be composed in a range of different styles and genres.

What modern day MMOs have influenced the design and direction of FFXIV?
In addition to the team’s original work on Final Fantasy XI, World of Warcraft, Age of Conan and Warhammer Online have been three recent games that have had some pull, but the FFXI community’s feedback has been the most important factor in its design.

Are Chocobos back?
Yes, they will return. But Square Enix has told IGN that it is looking at using them in a completely different way than they were used in Final Fantasy XI (where they were used as riding steeds).

When is it coming out and when is the beta?
The game will come out in 2010, and after Final Fantasy XIII which is scheduled for spring of the same year. Beta plans are still being finalized, but that the plan is to have a longer beta period than that of FFXI (which had a beta of about 3-4 months).