[Megathread] Final Fantasy XIV

[Lefrog]

I played both FFXI and FFXIV. While I still enjoyed FFXIV, I still felt like it had a lot of flaws (especially at the start) where the developers were at a disconnect with the players. One of the few companies I know of to apologize and remake such a huge game, and I'm pretty pleased with how FFXIV 2.0 is looking so far far.

[Talorh]

Final Fantasy XIV uses Crystal Tools, the same engine used in Final Fantasy XIII, XIII-2, and soon to be XIII-3, as well as Dragon Quest X, and if it's ever released, Final Fantasy Versus XIII.

Though, in the rebuild of the game for "A Realm Reborn", they're using a modified version of Crystal Tools, reworking the graphics part of the engine.

I don't think it's Crystal Tools anymore. They are working on more than just tweaking the graphics here, whole Crystal Tools was only good for single player games, which is why they created a new engine. (could be modified something but at very least they calling FFXIV engine and Luminous siblings)

PG Site: With development of the new engine you have Yoshihisa Hashimoto has the Technical Director, who is also Square Enix Chief Technology Officer and is head of the Luminous Studio. Could you perhaps share more on his involvement with 14? Has the new engine from 14 been influenced at all by Luminous? Are there certain features that both share such as scaling, etc?

Yoshida: As our technical director, Hashimoto is deeply involved in the technology behind FF14. This includes decisions made regarding the use of middleware technology, as well as coordination and design decisions regarding the graphics engine, the core system, and the server system. He also is the mastermind behind the task management system that our entire team uses to keep track of work flow and deadlines.

It is a completely different engine, yet because the same people working on the Luminous Engine (Hashimoto-san included) helped create FF14's engine, there are some similarities. You could say the two engines are siblings

-- source: http://www.rpgsite.net/interviews/39...oper-interview

[Lillpapps]

I finally have some spare time... FFXIV where are you?

[Xenogeist]

It looks good and I like Final Fantasy games. I've sworn off paying subscriptions for games though so I don't think I'll ever play this. I hope more games adopt Guild Wars pay model in the future. If this game was buy to play I'd drop 60 bucks on it.

[Beefsquatch]

Can anyone explain to me how exactly the job or classes or whatever they are called works? I heard about Dragoons and Black mages, those were always my favs on the console games. Heard about how big of a fail this game was when it first released, but reading about it now...gonna have to give it a go when 2.0 rolls out.

[Ichy]

Can anyone explain to me how exactly the job or classes or whatever they are called works? I heard about Dragoons and Black mages, those were always my favs on the console games. Heard about how big of a fail this game was when it first released, but reading about it now...gonna have to give it a go when 2.0 rolls out.

It looks like they are keeping the armory system in. Since I too love dragoons that was the first "advanced" (used loosely here for reference) job I unlocked, so more on that in a min. The armory system determines your "job" by what weapon you have equipped- pugalists used fists weapons, lancers a lance, rangers a bow, the mages i'm not sure on but you should get the point I hope. Now to unlock an "advanced" class you had to have a "main" job to 30 and a sub job to 15, Dragoons was Lancer/pug if memory servers (though I think I had all but the mages to 15, so I'm not 100% on it)

[Buckwald]

It looks like they are keeping the armory system in. Since I too love dragoons that was the first "advanced" (used loosely here for reference) job I unlocked, so more on that in a min. The armory system determines your "job" by what weapon you have equipped- pugalists used fists weapons, lancers a lance, rangers a bow, the mages i'm not sure on but you should get the point I hope. Now to unlock an "advanced" class you had to have a "main" job to 30 and a sub job to 15, Dragoons was Lancer/pug if memory servers (though I think I had all but the mages to 15, so I'm not 100% on it)

Yes, Dragoon was Lancer lvl 30, Pug lvl 15.

[Kenshin]

It looks good and I like Final Fantasy games. I've sworn off paying subscriptions for games though so I don't think I'll ever play this. I hope more games adopt Guild Wars pay model in the future. If this game was buy to play I'd drop 60 bucks on it.

One thing I have noticed about Free to Play games which gets revenue from cashshops/microtransactions, is those type of games are more expensive in the long run. I have a friend who have almost spend about 300 USD buying various armor skins etc in GW2. Yeah, playing the game itself is free, but if you want more, its gonna cost ya a pretty penny

For me, Pay to Play with access to everything. 9.99usd per month is extremely cheap as it gives me 30days of entertainment.
And I have played GW2 alongside when paying monthly for XIV, and I kept playing XIV, and gave up GW2 as I got to max level, as GW2 wasnt as fun for me.

[Deleted]

One thing I have noticed about Free to Play games which gets revenue from cashshops/microtransactions, is those type of games are more expensive in the long run. I have a friend who have almost spend about 300 USD buying various armor skins etc in GW2. Yeah, playing the game itself is free, but if you want more, its gonna cost ya a pretty penny

But GW 2 still isnt a free to play game. And 300 USD for holiday armorskins sound like he buyed the skinds for every alt. Its like buying 10 pets in the Blizzardstore...

[Edge-]

One thing I have noticed about Free to Play games which gets revenue from cashshops/microtransactions, is those type of games are more expensive in the long run. I have a friend who have almost spend about 300 USD buying various armor skins etc in GW2. Yeah, playing the game itself is free, but if you want more, its gonna cost ya a pretty penny

Everything in the cash shop is purely optional, as it is in most well set up cash shops. Your friend didn't need to spend a single penny if he didn't want some of the cosmetic gear, and could have spent far, far less if he wanted to. They're absolutely not more expensive in the long run if you don't want them to be. I've spent a grand total of $0 in the GW2 cash shop since launch. In other games like EQ2, I've spent about $10 since starting that back up a year or so back, and in others like DCUO I've spent more, probably around $30, because I found stuff I wanted and don't mind supporting it.

[Xenogeist]

One thing I have noticed about Free to Play games which gets revenue from cashshops/microtransactions, is those type of games are more expensive in the long run. I have a friend who have almost spend about 300 USD buying various armor skins etc in GW2. Yeah, playing the game itself is free, but if you want more, its gonna cost ya a pretty penny

For me, Pay to Play with access to everything. 9.99usd per month is extremely cheap as it gives me 30days of entertainment.
And I have played GW2 alongside when paying monthly for XIV, and I kept playing XIV, and gave up GW2 as I got to max level, as GW2 wasnt as fun for me.

Yikes, he must have bought every item in the store multiple times, or maybe bought gems and converted them into the in-game currency. Because I can convert in-game currency to shop currency and vice versa I have felt no need to spend anything on the game beyond the original purchase price. I think it speaks well for the payment model that I can get just as much enjoyment out of the game as someone who chooses to spend so much money.

Also the increase in subscription price for every additional character in FF14 seems crazy to me. I am an altaholic and would not be able to cope.

[Remilia]

Also the increase in subscription price for every additional character in FF14 seems crazy to me. I am an altaholic and would not be able to cope.

As far as I understand, it isn't necessary to have more than one character unless you wish to have different races or what not.
Essentially one player can have access to all the jobs.

[Edge-]

As far as I understand, it isn't necessary to have more than one character unless you wish to have different races or what not.
Essentially one player can have access to all the jobs.

It is necessary! How am I going to play all the pretty ladies without multiple character slots ;_;

[Xenogeist]

That's good to know about the classes. I like to play every race and class available. Sometimes I also like to experience lower level areas again if they are designed well. I must have created half a dozen death knight alts in WoW only to abandon most of them shortly after I got to Outland.

[Ichy]

That's good to know about the classes. I like to play every race and class available. Sometimes I also like to experience lower level areas again if they are designed well. I must have created half a dozen death knight alts in WoW only to abandon most of them shortly after I got to Outland.

The truly first MMO-RPG I played as FFXI and after playing many other mmo's; including WoW, and the one feature of FFXI I miss the most is that 1 character is all you need to play all class/jobs. As an aspiring Programmer w/ a BA in Computer animation I often fantasize about making my own mmo, and when thinking up class design, this is the first thing I go to - 1 toon access to all class/jobs and how a player could go around "unlocking" them.

[Deleted]

I hope the reboot manages to do well.

I'll definitely be checking it out. The new engine looks cool, hopefully it will feel and perform even better.

[Kenshin]

As far as I understand, it isn't necessary to have more than one character unless you wish to have different races or what not.
Essentially one player can have access to all the jobs.

They are doing away with the additional cost for extra character slots. 12.99 pr month for monthly fee + 8 characters. 14,99 a month is a total of 40 character, 8 on each server or something. But since I got the Legacy Membership for subscribing during its P2P period. I get all of it for 9.99 a month, for as long as I play or game lives. Pretty sweet bonus deal for those who stuck with it as game improved :3

We also get a unique chocobo mount, names in the games credits, and i think something else too. Yoshida didnt want to reveal it to us yet he said in the last Live Letter from the Producer.

[Shinzai]

I've got to admit, the 1 character, all classes set up was another of my most favourite things in FFXI. Once you had a couple of jobs at the level cap and you started diversifying into various secondary jobs, you genuinely saw the benefit of being a flexible player.

I took Mnk, Pld, War, Brd, Nin, Sam and I think Drg to max level. Everything else I'd taken to level 40 at least, even when the cap was 37 for ages, because I'd assumed they'd eventually raise it. With my Monk main, I could sub Ninja for tanky expeditions, where we were doing something dangerous and extra tanks would be handy, I could sub Drg, War or Sam for max dps, depending on who/what I was teamed up with. I could sub Dancer in the later expansions for soloing (previously would've been Nin) and also I could put Bard sub for a buff if no one else had it and also as a weak CC.

The system lead to some very flexible party designs, though as usual, people would figure out cookie cutter builds and try and work around them. But I've yet to see a game with such an interesting way of using the various classes available, or anything on par to what it felt like unlocking things like Ninja, with the quest lines/missions involved.

[miguelcrespo85]

Just put 3 new interviews on the 1st post, check them out

[korsic]

I really wanted to get this game when it came out, but I lacked the fundage, and then there was the whole fiasco with it tanking really hard. Would you guys recommend a new player picking it up when it gets rereleased in 2013?