Tag: Final Fantasy XIV

Did Somebody Say Official Forums? FFXI & FFXIV


Given Square Enix’s history of standard features either being implemented in an unnecessarily complicated manner, or simply not present at all, I can’t say I was surprised that Final Fantasy XIV launched without an official forum. Official forums in the ages of Final Fantasy XI (2002) were not common, although many of the MMOs from around FFXI’s days now carry discussion boards. That being said, when Square announced plans to focus more on talking to the community, and listening to the community, the introduction of official message boards became an inevitability.

I may be a day late on this, but the forums are open! Players of Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV can log in with their Square ID, choose a forum username, and start posting. The forums feature sections for Japanese, English, French, and German languages. I’ve been playing around on the boards for a while, and perhaps the best area houses a list of everything that is currently in development for Final Fantasy XIV. Of course, the threads themselves don’t offer a space for discussion, rather players are expected to create discussion threads on other sections of the forums and tag them with the unique [dev post #] from the original thread. Baby steps, Square.

Either way, the forums might be a continuation of what I’ve referred to as Square’s Great Apology, but they are a welcome addition to both MMOs. At least now players will have somewhere to post that isn’t as troll-infested, ala the MMORPG.com FFXIV-sub-forums.

Classic Jobs Coming To Final Fantasy XIV


Cherry Blossoms.

“Possible introduction of traditional names such as paladin, monk, white mage, etc.”
-Final Fantasy XIV Lodestone

Final Fantasy XIV features nineteen classes, and for the most part the names are rather straightforward. We know what to expect out of a fisher, botanist, miner, armorer, blacksmith, goldsmith, culinarian, etc. However, from the perspective of someone who has never played Final Fantasy XIV, can you tell me what a Thaumaturge does? A Thaumaturge is a magic class that specializes in damage, incapacitation, and using your own HP to heal your party members. For a regular Final Fantasy player, the Thaumaturge are probably closer to black mages.

There are plans in place to change the job names back to their more classic versions (archer becomes ranger, etc), and the update is welcome, albeit a low priority task. Learning the jobs in Final Fantasy XIV is basically a measure of applying new terms to old concepts, and aside from a few extra minutes of confusion, is not that big of a deal.

As for me? Well I’ll keep spending a lot of my time in Final Fantasy XIV making screenshots to use as header images, like the one you see above.

Final Fantasy XIV: Physical Levels Being Removed?


Final Fantasy XIV bots.

Final Fantasy XIV is an odd bucket. For starters, I love the game, but I often find myself wishing Square would stop phoning me up at 3am, drunk, weeping and apologizing for issues I already know it is fixing. Since Final Fantasy XIV launched, cradled, and promptly slaughtered a flock of geese in its turbine engines, Square has been on the job to fix and tune the game to the liking of its community. The community, despite what one might have expected, has been quite helpful, if anything for the joy of having a free MMO to play that isn’t a Korean grinder (but a Japanese grinder!)

Taking a peek at the lodestone on Final Fantasy’s website reveals a massive list of updates that are currently in the works, from small tweaks to major adjustments. Recently new objectives have been added to the list, from new loot in battle, to balancing the synthesis system. Here are just a few new additions:

  • Instanced PvE content.
  • Auto-MP regeneration.
  • An auto-attack system.
  • Making certain NPCs more visible.

There are a lot of other features in the planning and production stages that are simply aesthetic, including the addition of more graphical “rewards” for ranking up. One question on the poll that caught my attention was whether or not players would prefer to remove the physical level altogether, with a focus being placed on each individual rank. An implication of this, as noted in the poll, is that players would craft and receive gear that relied on skill rank to wear. Another feature receiving a heavy-handed look in the poll was the attribute system, meaning a major overhaul could be in the future for that system as well.

You can check out the rest of the lodestone here. More on Final Fantasy XIV as it appears.

Square Enix: Revenue Falls, Profits Plummet


In before irony.

Final Fantasy XIV may not have struck the chord that Square Enix was looking for, and a quick discussion with beta players is a good indicator that the game’s lackluster launch and subsequently indefinitely delayed PS3 release and subscription halt are on no one’s heads but Square. Following the restructuring of the Final Fantasy XIV team, Square has been on the case since launch bringing in much needed content, fixing up players issues including the UI, battle system, and other functions.

Square Enix is soon to release their 2010 fiscal year financial report, and the company is expecting profits to be down up to 89%, with a revenue 28% lower than the previous year. Square believes that a new staff and strong console lineup will bring the company back from its current state in the 2011 fiscal year.

Hopefully the lessons have been learned and Square can quickly pick their teeth up off the floor before the blood stains can no longer be removed. Final Fantasy XIV is coming along quite well, and Square has an opportunity to bolster their sales through their console and handheld titles. Final Fantasy XI is still trucking along healthily with upcoming updates to make leveling easier for newer players who may have been overwhelmed by all that the game has to offer.

As the banner says, cautious optimism. As my mama always said, if you go in too headstrong, you’ll get knocked on your ass so fast your head will be spinning. Hopefully Square can get off their feet and put what they’ve learned to good use.

Final Fantasy XIV Back On Shelves in WalMart


Dot com.

Back in November, I reported that Target and WalMart had pulled Final Fantasy XIV from store shelves, opting instead to only sell the game on their respective websites. I didn’t want to get into too much speculation at the time, as regular gaming stores (Best Buy, Gamestop, etc) were still stocking the title. Over the following month, I received a few reports from players who spotted the title on their store shelves, but couldn’t make a concrete statement without confirmation from either store’s corporate overlords (if the website reports that the item is not sold in stores, then the item is not sold in stores.).

Luckily, WalMart is reporting that Final Fantasy XIV is back on store shelves. Still no word from Target, who placed the item on sale back in November and subsequently removed the game from shelves, currently only selling the game online.

I have had a few unconfirmed reports that Game over in the UK is pulling Final Fantasy XIV off of shelves, possibly for a planned reboot in 2011 including the magical life-saving patches Square Enix has planned for the game in the coming months. More on Final Fantasy XIV as it appears.

To Fix Your Patcher: Use A Torrent Program (Final Fantasy XIV)


Big thanks to 'Torotoro Ton,' 'Mikuli Candelilla,' and 'Wyvern Myaji' of the Karnak server for inadvertently creating this beautiful scene.

Quick question: What do you hate most about Final Fantasy XIV? Odds are, the slow patcher is one of your top answers, and one you haven’t been able to find a fix to. If you are like me, you’ve been finding your patches through external hosts, through Mediafire or FFXIVCore until Square Enix started telling their fansites not to host patches. Despite Square’s patcher, peer to peer networking is truly a more efficient way to distribute patches, assuming the company steps in to host peers when not enough players have the patch (such as right after launch).

So I did find a quick fix. As it turns out, the problem lies with Square Enix’s patcher (go figure) not allocating a proper amount of seeders and leechers. Start the patch download in the client, and then cancel it. Go to C:/users/[user]/My Documents/My Games/Final Fantasy XIV/Downloads/FFXIV and the torrent will be sitting in one of the two folders “2d2a390f” or “48eca647.” Open the torrent file with a separate torrent client, and you should have no problem connecting and downloading. Whereas on the Square patcher, I had one running connection at 0.0b/s, using this on uTorrent was able to completely download the latest patch in about five minutes.

Move the patch from wherever it was downloaded to, to its correct folder (hunt around in the two folders until you find the file that the Square patcher created, and replace it with the one you downloaded). This was done on Windows 7, so your file location may have a slight difference. You can find the folder it is in by doing a windows search and typing in the name of the patch, in the case of the latest being “d2010.12.13.0000.”

More on Final Fantasy XIV as it appears. I would offer to host the patches myself, but Square Enix would shoot me.

Final Fantasy XI Team Faces Major Restructuring Too


Is that a Moogle?

When the news broke earlier today that the Final Fantasy XIV team is undergoing some noticeable restructuring, it would’ve been nice of Square Enix to also mention that Final Fantasy XI was undergoing a similar change. In a lodestone post on the Final Fantasy XI website, Square has announced that Mr. Mizuki Ito, whom many of you will recognize as the mind behind the Abyssea add-ons, is taking over as director for Final Fantasy XI. Assisting him is Mr. Yoji Fujito, whom you may remember from the Chocobo raising system.

What I said about Final Fantasy XIV still stands, granted, and is quite unchanged in reflection of this information that the restructuring is taking place on a wider scale in the company. More on both titles as they appear.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Nice Publicity Stunt, Regardless…


Not so adorable.

If Oprah was running Final Fantasy XIV, I imagine the situation would have started with her gathering the development team into one room and shouting “Look under your chairs! You’re getting fired, and you’re getting fired! You’re all getting fired!” Okay, so Tanaka was the only person to actually get fired in the development restructuring, and it is possible that many of them don’t know who Oprah is, but you get the point. In the latest lodestone, Square Enix has announced a major restructuring to the FFXIV development team, bringing in the best and brightest Square has to offer to help bring this game to greatness.

But what does this mean for you, the consumer? Foremost, the free trial currently on its third month will be extended indefinitely until Square is satisfied with the experience they are giving. Square has made it quite clear that as long as they are not satisfied with the game, they will not take the risk losing what players have stuck through, by charging them a monthly fee to play an unfinished title.

On a lesser side, those of you who are waiting for Final Fantasy on the PS3 are going to have to change your plans, dramatically. The PS3 version of FFXIV has also been suspended indefinitely until the development team is satisfied with the direction of the game. At this point, I don’t think I need to tell you what happens when MMOs are delayed indefinitely on the console, but I’ve included a couple of links just in case.

So are we at Final Fantasy’s Final Fantasy? If Square can’t keep their subscribers during this transitionary period, even with the allure of no monthly fees, you bet your sweet Miqo’te ass it is. Of course, such a failure would not knock Square Enix out for the count, rather FFXIV would simply go the way of Asheron’s Call 2, the sequel making way for the original.

Final Fantasy XIV’s release is somewhat awkward for those of us who are MMO journalists, because we have to go to our editors (which in this case is me talking to myself) and say “I’ve seen bad launches, but this is exceptionally poor, but I don’t want to make it worse,” to which the editor (still me, stay focused) comes back and says “well then say it has potential.” Unfortunately the communities have evolved to the point where they pick up on these verbal gaffs, and “potential” has become synonymous with “this game is terrible and the writer just doesn’t want to admit it.”

Truth be told, every game has potential. Team Fortress 2 is a great game, and after three years of release still has the potential to become more. Final Fantasy XIV has potential, but will they pull it off like Square did with Final Fantasy XI (which was in a horrible state at launch in Japan), or will they go the way of FURY and shutter at around ten months? That is up to the new FFXIV team to decide.

Looking Back, Moving Forward: November 2010


It's funny because it bashes WoW...

Small change in the LBMF structure. Now that November is done, companies are going to have to ramp up work if they’re going to get their game out and hit that 2010 release date. According to the MMORPG.com game list, there are more MMOs apparently slated for release this month than I can care to count.

My biggest disappointment with November was probably that there won’t be a 2011 MMO calendar. The 2010 MMO calendar on my wall, many of the months having various autographs, came out last year to benefit St. Jude Childre’s Research Center, and apparently is not coming back for 2011. I may just buy a Guild Wars 2 calendar, or perhaps just use my Nintendo 2011 calendar I received as part of the Nintendo Club.

The Good:

  • Star Trek Online Free To Play: Sure, Cryptic may be bribing us by saying “play Champions Online free to play and perhaps spend some cash, and maybe we’ll consider throwing you a bone in Star Trek Online,” but who cares? Star Trek Online may be going free to play! Although it will be limited, a free to play transition for Star Trek Online should be just what the game needs to get some big traffic, especially with the changes in response to player gripes, and the introduction of user generated content.
  • K2 Networks Picks Up APB: K2Networks, also known as GamersFirst, picked up the rights to All Points Bulletin and plans on reviving the game early next year, after an extensive patching to make the game suitable for its new free to play environment.
  • PvP In Alganon: Well, technically to have player vs player combat you need more than one player, but we can work on that at a later date. In the November patch, Quest Online added a system for flagging for PvP, as well as dueling. In future patches, Alganon players will see a keep/siege system similar to Warhammer Online, as well as a renown system that players will level up for gear.
  • Pirates of the Burning Sea now Free: Flying Lab Software released the free to play transition to Pirates of the Burning Sea this month.

The Bad:

  • No City? I’m On Break: A company royally breaking their game in a patch is not all too uncommon, in fact I can name at least one game (rhymes with ShroomTape) where such an event occurs every other week. When Mortal Online released a patch that inadvertently removed a city, killing its occupants and creating a gigantic void for players who came anywhere near it, much of the angry response came not because of the glitch itself, but because of the response. The players were told that the missing city could not be replaced for a few days, because the developers were off for the weekend.
  • Final Fantasy XIV: Not Satisfactory: It isn’t often a company comes right out and says “our game isn’t satisfactory,” but Square Enix did with Final Fantasy XIV, and after bad news on the financial grounds, they are committed to keeping their current subscribers (who haven’t paid a dime in subscription fees three months after release) and bringing in new players. To top off this need for players, I found that stores in the US, and possibly other countries, are pulling Final Fantasy XIV from shelves. Target and WalMart are now only selling the title online.
  • Star Gate: No More Resistance: Square Enix isn’t the only group getting a double whammy this month, as Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment announced that they had won the lawsuit against Fresh Start Studios, gaining their assets back for Stargate Worlds. Unfortunately, MGM terminated the agreement with Cheyenne over the Stargate license, meaning for right now the MMO is dead. Later on in November, Fresh Start announced that Stargate Resistance would be shutting down early next year.
  • Aion Million Man March: Later on in November, mmosite reported on a protest in Aion China against the rampant botting in the game. An estimated thirty thousand players appeared to congest cities in a number of servers in protest, shutting down four servers in the process.

The “What’s Happening in December?”:

  • Earth…Something or Other: Earth Eternal shut down back in August after the developers stopped paying the bills, and I think it’s safe to assume that Sparkplay Media’s CEO is now unemployed. We still don’t know who purchased the game, although all signs point to Time Warner, and there is no indication when the game will be brought back online. Guess we’re in for another month of waiting.
  • Anarchy In The Cash Shop: Anarchy Online last month launched the game’s brand new cash shop, offering everything from level packs, stims, and more for a nominal fee. I’ll be watching to see if there are any financial reports gloating on the success of the cash shop, or if its existence is merely pushed to the back as something of an embarrassment.
  • Cataclysm Shakes WoW: Oh look, a mention of World of Warcraft on MMO Fallout! Although the damage to the World of Warcraft has already been done, for the most part, in the Shattering event, Cataclysm launches in just a few days bringing new races, new areas, and generally a whole lot of new to the World of Warcraft.
  • And More!
http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/peace/problem/stereoty.h

Target/Walmart Pulled Final Fantasy XIV From Shelves


Dot com.

As per my own rules, I try to keep the product sales relegated to digital distribution, mainly because considering retail giants would require me to either include stores from a number of countries, increasing the sources I have to regularly check, or just not include any at all. So, in the effort of fairness, I only include worldwide digital distributors (Direct2Drive, Steam, Impulse, etc). For those of you living in the US, which I know for sure includes some of you, you could find Final Fantasy XIV at Target on a price cut for $39.99. I almost purchased it at the store I work at, but the item has been out of stock for weeks.

While browsing Target.com, I went to see if the website had the same price cut, and found the above image. Although Final Fantasy XIV is available on the Target website, the chain is no longer stocking the item in stores. Now, I’m sure half of you will tell me it was due to poor sales, but (at least at my store) when they reduced the price by $10 the store ran out of stock in the matter of a couple of days.

After checking Target’s website, I went on to check Walmart.com, which also listed both Final Fantasy and its collector’s edition as “not sold in stores.” Other websites I checked including Gamestop and Best Buy all seemed to have the title in stores, so as far as large chains go this appears to be isolated to Target and WalMart, but no doubt two of the largest retail giants in America.

Either way, advertising and promotion is key in MMOs, the lack of which almost killed titles like Dungeons and Dragons Online (and sent Turbine launching a lawsuit against their publisher), and Square Enix just lost a big line of publicity with Final Fantasy XIV no longer on the shelves of two retail giants in a time where what they could really use is some players picking up the game.

More on Final Fantasy XIV as it appears.