[Malacite]

From Joystiq;

Final Fantasy XIV details revealed: No leveling, new job system, deep story

The latest edition of Famitsu Wave recently hit newsstands in Japan, bringing with it a DVD which contains an 8-minute exposé on Square Enix's second stab at the MMO genre, Final Fantasy XIV. The whole video is posted after the break. Fret not -- it sports convenient English subtitles.

Here's some of the more titillating excerpts: The game features a reinvented character progression system which does not include experience points or leveling up. The job system from XI will make an appearance, but in a heavily altered form -- an interview with the game's director, Nobuaki Komoto, revealed that the game will place a focus on the weapons players use, explaining that your armaments will determine "the way you play" and "the way you grow." Sounds reminiscent of Final Fantasy IX. (That's a very good thing.)

In addition, FFXIV producer Hiromichi Tanaka explained that the game takes place in a new region with a more "modern" feel to it -- the mysterious Eorzea which was mentioned in the trailer. The new world features familiar races (albeit with new names), and plays host to a "deep story," which is told through cut-scenes and quests. For more FFXIV info than you can possibly handle, check the video after the jump.

Sadly the video was taken down - _ -'


And even MORE info from Eorzeapedia ^^

Eorzeapedia: Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV, FF14) News, Wiki, Forums, Community and more

Races Named, Classes Revealed

Posted By Corinth on August 5, 2009





Thanks to some vigilant forum members, we have new information about FFXIV from Japan. Images were leaked late yesterday evening from a 9 page Japanese magazine article believed to be released this week. Chances are high this is coming from Weekly Famitsu. Weekly Famitsu often uses furigana, small characters above kanji to provide the correct reading, which you can see in the leaked pictures. While the other likely magazine would be Dengeki PlayStation, which also goes on sale this week, Dengeki PlayStation doesn’t use furigana in articles. We’ll know more this weekend, so check back later this week for more complete coverage.

Until then, here is what we know from the images:

1) New Race Names!
From the pictures leaked so far, we can confirm the English spelling for 4 of the 5 races featured in the article.



First off, the familiar Humes from Final Fantasy XI are being reborn in XIV as Hyurans. Similar to the Humes in XI, the Hyurans make up the largest part of the population. The article states that they have gone through three large-scale migrations coming from nearby continents and various islands. Bringing new ideas and technology with them, they have become the driving force behind making Eorzea an advanced civilization. They value freedom in the sense of being free to do what they wish thanks to their diverse backgrounds with different languages and cultures stemming from different homelands. The race is now divided into two main groups: the Midlanders that settled in the plains and the Highlanders that settled on the plateaus of Eorzea.



Next, the Lalafells. They seem a little taller than their Tarutaru counterparts. The leaked pictures don’t contain any information we can confirm. Rumors from other Japanese websites and forum threads say that they are an intelligent race living in the area around the southern seas where they are active in agriculture. Rumors also suggest there are fewer female Lalafells than male ones.



Sorry for all those people who were hoping but there is still no confirmation of a playable male mithra-like character in FFXIV. Next up in our list is the Miqo’te. They are suited to be hunters due to their keen sense of smell and are very territorial with other Miqo’te. Because of this, even many of them that live in the cities live on their own. Like the Hyurans, they are divided into two main groups. Those active during the day are called Sun Seekers. The nocturnal Miqo’te are referred to as Moon Keepers. While it cannot be confirmed from the images, it is rumored that there are more female Miqo’te than male.



There are also no pictures of any female equivalents for the new tail-less Galka race known as Roegadyn. This race of burly strong men live near the northern seas. They often fill the role of soldiers or bodyguards. Being a seafaring race, some of them are even pirates. A lot of specific place names are mentioned but it is hard to make out exactly where they might be in relation to each other. There is also a very good chance that there are different branches of Roegadyn as well.



At this time, the least information is known about the race that is similar to the Elvaans of FFXI. Most Japanese sites are saying the name is Erezen with no mention of the English spelling. Rumors suggest that they do not get along with the Hyurans. Perhaps this is because the Erezen were originally in Eorzea before the Hyurans moved in. They also have very good hearing. I cannot confirm any of this information though because nothing is available in the leaked pictures.
Other rumors state that there is the chance that there could be other playable races as well. However, this is not something that can be confirmed at this time.

It seems that there is an interview that goes with the article as well. It confirms there will be slight differences in the abilities between races. One rumor states that in the part of the interview we can’t see, the developer says that the difference will not be as large as it was in FFXI. Also, your playable character will be nearly identical to what you see during the character creation process so they want you to take a good long look at the screen and take time selecting your character.

___________________________________

2) Customization!

Good news on this front. Players will be able to do some amount of customization to their character model. It’s not clear yet how much people will be able to customize their character but some things like hair style, skin color, and face will be customizable. Here’s to hoping for a wide wide range of customizable features.

___________________________________

3) The Armory System!

We’ve heard before that character growth will be heavily dependent on the weapons you use. Inline with that, they revealed the Armory System. There are four large categories: Fighter, Sorcerer, Gatherer, and Crafter. These categories are broken down further into various classes. Specific information has not been released on how many classes will be in each category but some examples have been given so far.




Crafter
Blacksmith and Chef

Sorcerer
Shaman and Illusionist

Gatherer
Fisherman and Horticulturalist

Fighter
Swordsmen and Archer

The write up of the article makes it sound like you change your class by changing your weapon. Other rumors include the fact that you will be able to change your class anywhere at anytime. Also, they are looking into allowing you to master all of the categories.

There are other rumors floating around right now online as well. For example, they are looking into giving people some flexibility to customize the position of windows in the user interface. Another rumor states that weapons will be damaged overtime by using it in battles or such. How much of this is true and how much is mere rumor? We’ll have to wait until this weekend when the magazines are released.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Its interesting that it appears there are factions among the races themselves.

Midlanders suck, by the way.

[Pwnagraphic]

Yeah all this was posted in the other topic.. that's why they need to make another topic section just for XIV lol.

[Malacite]

That thread was derailed for a while so I didn't notice it until just a moment ago =/

can lock the thread then, unless ppl want to discuss this specifically.


Also, the Miqo'te in the 1st screen there with the brown hair looks disturbingly like my best friend... >- >

[jenova_9]

might as well show the Guild Leave cards and cities as well

[Feba]

It's a shame we don't just have a thread for FFXIV.

One massive thread where everyone can go to keep track of all the latest info, news, and other developments.

It really seems like someone should've made a thread long ago, but alas, we have to make new FFXIV threads every day it seems.

[Ziero]

Originally Posted by Omgwtfbbqkitten

Its interesting that it appears there are factions among the races themselves.

Midlanders suck, by the way.

Screw you Highlander!

p.s. can someone fix the first post so the page isn't stretched as wide as it is tall?

p.p.s.

Originally Posted by Feba

It's a shame we don't just have a thread for FFXIV.

One massive thread where everyone can go to keep track of all the latest info, news, and other developments.

It really seems like someone should've made a thread long ago, but alas, we have to make new FFXIV threads every day it seems.

The bigger threads tend to push people away, and posting new info in an already massive thread could be like pissing in the wind, especially when the new info starts trickling in like it's doing now. It's why people are pushing for a sub section for FFXIV related news and discussions instead of a single thread.

[Balfree]

Originally Posted by Malacite

Also, the Miqo'te in the 1st screen there with the brown hair looks disturbingly like my best friend... >- >

OMIGOD ur best fren has hueg pointy ears?! :D awsum!

... im an idiot today

[Takelli]

Omg... Some of this information was some that I haven't heard yet. Like the part about Galka being sea poeple. They where in the dessert in FFXI, so that will make for some intersting stuff.

We should make an area for just FFXIV stuff.

Also... Jenova... In the post that you did, the magazine page on the right, second picture down. Is the grassy field an actual screen shot of the game?

[Neomage]

the developer says that the difference will not be as large as it was in FFXI

Not as large? The differences were already pretty small to begin with.

[Ziero]

Originally Posted by Takelli

Omg... Some of this information was some that I haven't heard yet. Like the part about Galka being sea poeple. They where in the dessert in FFXI, so that will make for some intersting stuff.

IIRC Galka were always well versed in the sea fairing ways.

[Grizzlebeard]

Good to see S-E aren't favouring the Japanese customers with advanced information over the rest of the gaming world just like they did throughout FFXI, oh wait...

[Armando]

This information is "advanced?"

[Grizzlebeard]

Advance you pedantic bugger.

[Icemage]

Originally Posted by Ziero

p.s. can someone fix the first post so the page isn't stretched as wide as it is tall?

Done. I had to re-host the offending images.

p.p.s.

The bigger threads tend to push people away, and posting new info in an already massive thread could be like pissing in the wind, especially when the new info starts trickling in like it's doing now. It's why people are pushing for a sub section for FFXIV related news and discussions instead of a single thread.

I think this would be a good idea in the interim, but I think the staff here are still sort of up-in-the-air about how we'll handle FFIV. I've spoken to PiNG briefly about it and he hasn't really made any decisions yet.


Icemage