Articles
Aetheryte Camp: Your Fantasy End Game
by Calaera , 2011 November 22
For many players of an MMO, the game only begins when you have reached the cap of the game and are able to tackle dungeons, raids, or over world monsters of all sorts with more precision, tactical strategies, and team work. Better gear usually helps, and as does a dose of patience, dedication, and skill. For some games, their end game content can be as varied as what is found in FFXI or more consistent and progressive as other MMOs. The current state of FFXIV end game consists of some large NMs, a higher level instanced dungeon, and then the Ifrit Hyper Mode Battle. There is more content to come in the future with the introduction of 2.0, but with a whole year ahead of us… that leaves us with a lot of time sitting, waiting, and imagining.
Opinion: Dragoon Pets Can GTFO
by Calaera , 2011 November 5
I love Dragoons. Final Fantasy IX is one of my favorite games and I really adored Freya Crescent both on the battlefield and in the story. I’ll even admit to having a childhood crush on Kain Highwind from Final Fantasy IV, and thinking how awesome he was with his Jump abilities. So when I say I don’t want to see a wyvern as a damn pet for Final Fantasy XIV’s Dragoon, it’s for a damn good reason.
The aforementioned Dragoons are especially strong characters, and even the current LNC abilities in XIV is powerful enough to warrant some players to employ tactics that include a party largely made up of Lancers. Their Jump abilities is where they especially shine, allowing them to leap up into the air to great heights, avoiding their enemy’s attacks, and come crushing down on their opponent with great damage. In these games prior to XI, none of these Dragoons or Dragoon-like equivalents (more akin to being just a LNC or hybrid) had a pet. They didn’t need it! So then now comes the question regarding XI: But why did DRG in XI have a wyvern!? I’ll be frank; I have no damn clue and I won’t try to play it off like I do. I do, however, remember the time early in a DRG’s career when they were nerfed in the world of Vana’diel. The Dragoons had suffered in its reputation due to the fact their Wyvern easily fell in battle and could not be summoned again until after the two hour ability timer had refreshed. It had gone from awesome to lol to awesome again, but a lot of that took time for SE to fix the reputation that it had given DRG during its dark era. Time that I’m not very confident SE should devote to using for a pet job at this time.
Aetheryte Camp: Taking Back the 50%
by Calaera , 2011 November 5
Last night, after we had recorded an episode of GTD, Rubicon had wondered if Yoshi-P ever regretted having brought up the idea that the current state of FFXIV is only 50% complete because people are wanting to pay for the game at a discounted rate vs. the full blow subscription fee. Immediately I thought of the person that we have come to know as Yoshi-P. Without a doubt he is the most transparent person we know of coming from SquareEnix. Maybe there is someone else out there, but he is notably more transparent than anyone else I can think of. I know that the man himself has strong desires to keep up this image of himself and for a very good reason; right now holding back and being as guarded as Tanaka was has only hurt the Final Fantasy MMO products and frustrated parts of its player base. Being secretive and coy also isn’t in alignment with more modern and more notably western approaches to the game industry. The later being especially important, because lets face it: the Japanese game industry is floundering in the west compared to its western brethren.
Yoshida Does More Interviews, Leaks More Info
by Orophen , 2011 November 2
With the announcement of the Letter From the Producer LIVE Part II broadcast, many FFXIVers are expecting more info about 2.0, as well as the Seventh Umbral Era storyline content promised for the upcoming year. But we may already have a glimpse into some of the things we can expect to hear about during the broadcast, courtesy of a couple of recent interviews that have practically flown under the radar over the past week. FFXIV Producer/Director, Yoshida Naoki sat down with JeuxOnline and FinalFantasy14.eu to answer some questions about the future of Final Fantasy XIV, and revealed quite a bit about what may be coming down the pipeline.
Free Companies Are the Best Companies
For starters, Yoshida spoke a lot about the upcoming Free Company content. In a response to JeuxOnline, he stated that a Free Company is meant to perform the role of a strong community for a group of players. Not only that, but unlike linkshells, you can only belong to one Free Company. That sounds very much like a guild, doesn’t it? Well where does that leave linkshells?
Opinion: the Future of Final Fantasy XI and XIV
by Calaera , 2011 October 21
I know it has been a terribly long time since I have last updated, and I deeply apologize. Things have been crazy. With my cousin visiting, going to PAX (I never did make my write up, did I?), and then changes here and there in my personal life… its been busy at best and downright crazy at its worst. During the time of being back in school since 2006, studying math after a ten year hiatus (hello rationa-wha the hell is that!?), and being sick here and there… I have managed to squeeze in time to play a little but not as often as before. But today’s entry isn’t so much as to talk about my adventures or lack there of, but to talk about my thoughts on the future of both games I have grown to love and hate.
First off…. Final Fantasy XI! I have actually deactivated my account for a few reasons:
a.) I wasn’t as interested thanks to the cooling off period from my cousin visiting.
b.) I was more interested in games such as LoL, XIV, and WoW.
c.) The updates have been lack luster at best.
Is Wada Right About The Decline Of The Final Fantasy Brand?
by Orophen , 2011 September 29
As reported by Andriasang, Square Enix CEO Wada Yoichi discussed the company’s online plans for two of its biggest franchises, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, at a Tokyo press conference earlier this week. When it came down to speaking about Final Fantasy XIV, Wada commented that “The Final Fantasy brand has been greatly damaged”. Well, general impressions in the gaming community may support that statement, but the franchise’s problems are more deeply rooted than just the issues that FFXIV has to overcome.
Final Fantasy XIV has been plagued by a questionable release and lackluster reviews since what many consider to be a botched release in September of 2010. As a result of this, producer Tanaka Hiromichi announced his resignation from the game in December 2010. He was replaced by Yoshida Naoki, who took over as director and producer, followed by a shuffling of the development team as a whole.
Since then the new development team has released a string of updates tailored towards improving and polishing the MMO. There have been a host of battle system changes, crafting changes, content additions, UI adjustments, and server refinements. And progress in each of these categories seems to be accelerating with each successive update. Square Enix itself hasn’t been resting on its laurels either. They’ve shown that they’re serious about turning things around, with plans to expand the FFXIV development team starting with the hiring of key positions through job postings on their website. During the press conference, Wada himself noted that “We’ll continue with our reform work, which basically amounts to fully redoing the game, and hope to revive the FFXIV that should have been released.”
My Little Rant or “Mommy, I Want a Pony for Patch 1.19!”
by Rubicon , 2011 August 16
It has come to my attention that many in the Final Fantasy XIV community are very serious concerning the development of the game and by serious I mean that they have no sense of humor at all. I understand the desire for the development team to be dedicated to producing a solid game. Those of us that played Final Fantasy XIV at launch were not laughing. We didn’t laugh when we could not target our foes, when actions and abilities did not engage, when we couldn’t search the market wards for items, or when we rang endless bells during mind-numbing events. But those dark days are becoming brighter as a certain seventh umbral age arrives in Eorzea. And those of us who could hardly mention Final Fantasy XIV to our other MMO-playing friends without being ridiculed can now crack a few jokes and smile with the knowledge of new content on the horizon. Patch 1.19 promises an array of content and the excitement of chocobos! Expectations from the community are high and our faithful producer, Naoki Yoshida, is ready to deliver as written in his recent “Letter from the Producer”.
Opinion: Thoughts on the Battle Reform Blueprints
by Calaera , 2011 May 21
Just the other night S-E posted the Battle Reform Blueprint on their forums, and to be honest… I didn’t really want to click the link. My interest level on XIV had grinded to a halt; something I don’t really like admitting because of how much of a fuss I had made beforehand over the damn game. This is for a number of reasons that mostly point back to CON and my utter hatred for leveling that class as a healer. The recast timers, the problem with elevation (the SLIGHTEST bit of a difference could mean someone won’t get a buff!), and the awkwardness of healing more than one person… it just didn’t really sit well with me. THM seemed more capable as a healer, but didn’t have the spells needed to help put it out on top and required leveling CON.
With that in mind, I was pretty ecstatic when they announced the following:
By major revisions, not only do we mean the tweaking of effects and potency of existing actions - we will work from the ground up to redesign and reassign actions based on clearly identified class roles.
A look back at 2010 – Orophen edition
by Orophen , 2011 January 2
Looking back at my experience with Eorzea from the very beginning, I have to wonder, what have I gained from my time with FFXIV thus far? It’s been a paltry three months since the retail release, although I’ve been in the thick of things ever since the beginning, following the development closely, watching beta videos, even finally getting into beta myself even though it was a little later than I would’ve liked. Looking back on 2010 and the controversies and problems that have surrounded the game since its PC release, a great number of people have been placed in a position where they’ve got to wonder if they’ve wasted their time with this game. Many have quit because of it. But fortunately or unfortunately, I’m not most people. I really do honestly have to say that I’ve enjoyed the time I’ve spent in Eorzea
I have memories of when I first arrived on Eorzea during the beta phase, mostly of being completely entranced by the sheer beauty of the place. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised about that bit. It’s not like Square Enix isn’t known for creating things that looked good. Just walking around and experiencing the world around me was enjoyable enough. It helped a lot that I also had someone there to experience the whole deal with me. Have you ever seen the canyons in Northern Thanalan? We hightailed it there on foot. I think that was the first time I recognized that there really was something special about this game if you took the time to look.
