FFXIV Q & A - G4 Live Blog Transcript

[Doombear]

I thought that there would be people that are interested in this, that could not watch it as it happened, and did not want to sift through the E3 Thread (understandably) so here it is.

G4's Brian Leahy - Live Blog Transcript from Square-Enix Press Conference



11:56 FFXIV will be coming to the PS3 & PC. They are currently considering other hardware (including Microsoft hardware!)

Q: What are the ties to Final Fantasy XI, if any?
A: While you may have noticed that some of the same type of races appeared in the trailer, the world of FFXIV is different from FFXI. The reason that we made the races similar to the FFXI races is so FFXI players could choose a similar type of race in the new game. For example, in movies, you might have an actor that plays many different roles. Please, think of it that way.

Q: What happens to Final Fantasy XI now that we're moving to FFXIV? Are you going to phase it out or continue to publish new content for XI? How will the development team be split?
A: XIV does not take place in Vana'deil. The development for FFXIV started 4 or 5 years ago with primary ideas. Development started a few years ago, while FFXI was still being supported. FFXI will continue to be supported. There is another year of content planned. There are no plans for the near future to stop development on FFXI.

Q: What influence have games like World of WarCraft have on the development of FFXIV?
A: As with WoW, we want to aim a bit for the casual user. However, we don't want to make a copy of WoW. We believe we will have things that are unique and will stand out from that game.

Q: Will combat be more action oriented or turn-based?
A: We cannot talk about the battle system at this time.

Q: FFXI has evolved a lot over the years, especially in the areas of player accessibility and the ability to solo. Will you carry over features like level sync and other features to FFXIV?
A: Yes. All of the knowledge and experience we gained from FFXI will be used in the development of FFXIV. At the launch, we intend to have content for solo players as well as large-scale battles. We want a wide-variety from the start.

Q: Are you planning a simultaneous worldwide release or will it be released in Japan first?
A: Yes. At the launch, this will be a worldwide simultaneous launch on PS3 and Windows PC. English, Japanese, German, and French versions released at launch.

Q: Will all servers be worldwide or split by territory?
A: The current plans are to have worldwide servers that are cross-platform and cross-region. We will do a beta test and look at the balance and player experience. We want to look for a good balance between region and cross-region play.

12:07 There's your beta!

Q: Will you be taking feedback from your FFXI users?
A: Yes, we still get a lot of feedback from our FFXI players and will continue to take feedback as we move into beta. The game will change as it goes.

Q: Will you try to move players from XI to XIV or will they be separate communities?
A: It's up to the community themselves. We envision users that will hopefully play XI one day and XIV another. They will be independent, but users are free to play both,but if they want to communicate they can.

12:09 (I'm on my laptop + 3G now ) [.... uh awesome for you! Bragger.]

Q: Are there plans to localize the game in Spanish?
A: Currently, there is no Spanish version in development. We'll consider it if enough Spanish-speaking users demand it from us. Getting good translators in Japan is hard, but if there's enough demand we will consider it.

Q: How can users transmit this demand?
A: We will conduct marketing research.

Q: Is there any special element in the MMO genre that you will improve with this game?
A: Our plan from the beginning was to make the best Final Fantasy game available. That is our vision for XIV. Then we thought, how can we make the best FF game and we came to the conclusion that it would be an MMORPG. It was decided to make the best FF first, then led to the decision to make it an MMORG and use that genre. However, we are trying to implement a lot of new systems that other MMO's haven't used in the past. So in that sense, it may be revolutionary.

Q: Why did you decide to make a new game rather than continue to evolve FFXI?
A: It all comes down to, originally, FFXI was designed for the PS2. It then moved to PC and Xbox 360. A lot of people have asked for a port to the PS3. With an MMORPG of this size, you have to develop new content. Porting to a new technology would take a lot of effort. Instead, we decided to use that time to make something new.

Q: Yesterday's trailer that was shown, was that running of a console or was it pre-rendered?
A: There were parts that were pre-rendered and parts that were running on the in-game engine.

Q: Is that the quality you're aiming for? The scene with the Galka fighting, is that what you're aiming for?
A: Yes, that is the part that was running in-engine.

Q: In that scene, we saw many parties and many enemies. Is this the new focus: many parties fighting many enemies?
A: I cannot say too much, but we hope to have battles that are many vs. many and many vs. one.

12:20 This is a Q&A for FFXIV, not a press conference. It was added at the last minute. FFXIV will be the only title discussed.

Q: What would you like to emphasize with this game? What is different from FFXI?
A: For FFXIV, the keyword that we've been using is "The Growth and Development of the Character." We will have the same type of storytelling and high-quality graphics. We also want to expand and create new in-game systems. The player can grow & develop in a more natural way without putting too much weight on the player. We will expand the job system to make it fairly different from the one in FFXI. Another very important concept that takes a different direction from FFXI, for FFXIV we want to make it so the player can choose to play solo, in a party, 40 minutes, all-day... there will be content for ALL of those play styles and systems for all of those play styles.

12:21 We're asking questions, but they are currently going through the international and Japanese press.

Q: On the beta process, will current XI players get in?
A: As with the actual release date of the game, we don't have a concrete beta schedule yet. We will have a beta and look forward to more information about then shortly.

Q: Will FFXI characters be portable to XIV in any way?
A: The game is completely different. There will not be any XI character transfers to XIV. However, the character design is familiar and XI players will be able to create a similar character. We will NOT be using PlayOnline, but friend lists will transfer over.

Q: If I'm new to the MMO genre, why would I choose FFXIV over other games?
A: We believe that players will fall in love with the world & story that we have created.

Q: I've been seeing information that the title is free to play, is this true?
A: No pricing has been decided at this time. It is still TBD.


12:33 That wraps it up for the Q&A. Thank you all for following along and I hope you had some of your questions answered. That last one about pricing was mine, by the way.

[loyaltrekie]

While I have nothing against the Spanish or anything, what exactly was up with that question...lol? It just doesn't fit and seems like something thats "low priority" to a great deal of people IMO.

[Spira]

im not sure about that..
there happen to be a whole lot of spanish people playing FFXI. As far as I can tell, there are more spanish players than there are german or french, but both the latter will be getting their own language versions from the get-go.. and there still is no spanish FFXI...

which is kind of why people would ask something like that

[Kuya]

I wish they would have asked how character customization would differ this time around.

[Correction]

Q: Will you be taking feedback from your FFXI users?
A: Yes, we still get a lot of feedback from our FFXI players and will continue to take feedback as we move into beta. The game will change as it goes.

Cheese sandwiches will stack to 100!

[LD]

I wish they would have asked how character customization would differ this time around.

Considering how much of a boner they get for their character designs, I wont be getting my hopes up. I'll be happy if they just drop the earring on the new token black hume.

Cornrows too, but you need to prioritize.

[Ragnell]

Q: Yesterday's trailer that was shown, was that running of a console or was it pre-rendered?
A: There were parts that were pre-rendered and parts that were running on the in-game engine.

Who wants to guess the In-game?

[Minions]

Who wants to guess the In-game?

Q: Is that the quality you're aiming for? The scene with the Galka fighting, is that what you're aiming for?
A: Yes, that is the part that was running in-engine.

woosh?

[Mooshywooshy]

Awesome! Cant wait~
However if this ends up one of those free to play mmo's with a cash shop I will /wrists

[Ragnell]

woosh?

Threads moving too slow, Hoping to catch someone..

[Atreides]

A: We cannot talk about the battle system at this time.

it begins!

[Ramor]

Looks gorgeous, hopefully they really do more with 1 vs. many (with feasible odds of winning unless you're 50 levels higher than the many) and the solo/casual parts of the game.

Don't fail us SE, not again.

edit: also hoping for more fluidity, instead of random spell locks on characters etc..., and a lot more viable gear options would be nice (the first go, rather than waiting for the 3rd/4th/5th expansions to get gear that doesn't cost a fortune)

[Reapz]

That was a good Q&A imo, i'm hyped! Now to wait a while

[Beckwin]

aiming for casuals

[Headspace]

Looks gorgeous, hopefully they really do more with 1 vs. many (with feasible odds of winning unless you're 50 levels higher than the many) and the solo/casual parts of the game.

The way I read "many vs one" was shit like Kirin, Fafnir, etc.

[Ramor]

The way I read "many vs one" was shit like Kirin, Fafnir, etc.

yeah, i get that part too, i'm just hoping that there's at least some part to it where the battle system is fluid enough to handle doing one PC vs. more than two or three mobs at a time, that was about the only thing i liked in wow/GW more than FFXI's overall system was that you could easily swap targets and spread your spells/skills around with ease

[Demetrius*]

Q: Will all servers be worldwide or split by territory?
A: The current plans are to have worldwide servers that are cross-platform and cross-region. We will do a beta test and look at the balance and player experience. We want to look for a good balance between region and cross-region play.

"ps limitations" "jp onry"
ahahaha nice try SE but you're not getting my money again

[Spliffy]

Hopefully they wont kill ballista in this one, and I highly doubt they will make this for xbox due to the fact that the normal xbox has 20 GB and FFXI takes up 14Gs already.. PS3 has 40-60 GBs so PS3 would be alot better for this new FF but only time will tell :D! But there are two new mmorpg coming out.. Aion and FFXIV I wonder which one will do better

[Warudo Ecksu]

aiming for casuals

This isn't necessarily a bad thing. He says "as with WoW" so I'd assume there's casual content and harder content to make everyone happy. See quote

we intend to have content for solo players as well as large-scale battles

Personally the difference between me present day vs. the me years ago who played FF11 is I have a full time job & a life now so I really don't have 15 hours a day to grind in a game.

[Maksudyst]

Personally the difference between me present day vs. the me years ago who played FF11 is I have a full time job & a life now so I really don't have 15 hours a day to grind in a game.

I'm in the same boat. Got married and got a full time job so leveling new jobs to 75 is pretty much out of the question since I only have time for events when I log on nowadays.

This will be a nice breath of fresh air for me when it's out. Sexy graphics and new concepts ftw. Now to figure out whether I'm wasting money on PS3 AND PC or just one...