Game Watch Translation - Field/Dungeon Areas (EU Media Tour 5/19-5/21)

[Slycer]

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EU Media Event Translations

Note: All translations are done by me (Slycer) - if anything sounds inaccurate or misleading, please send me a PM or reply on one of the threads and I can look into it. My focus with the translations is on readability (staying true to the content) vs. 100% robotic word-for-word accuracy which often reads as an incoherent mess.

Game Watch: Yoshida Interview
Dengeki: Yoshida Interview
Famitsu: Yoshida Interview

Game Watch: Field/Dungeon Area Trial Notes <- You are here
Dengeki: Job Updates/Additions
Game Watch: Job Updates/Additions
Famitsu: Job Updates/Additions, Compiled Info

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Source: http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs...26_703367.html

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Field areas around Ishgard in Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward

During the European media tour for Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward, in addition to being able to experience the new jobs, we also got a chance to experience two of the new field areas - Abalathia Sea of Clouds and Coerthas Western Highlands. Below are my impressions of those areas.

I played as a level 60 Au Ra character with equipment at item level 170 and we were able to freely explore the Abalathia Sea of Clouds and Coerthas Western Highlands. We also had three flying mounts available to us to try flying through the sky - the griffin, the black chocobo, and fat chocobo.

By the way, the client was a dedicated client made specifically for the media tour and we were connected back to the company servers; all NPC interactions were intentionally masked. The first places you'll go are the lower and upper areas of Ishgard which we were not able to explore at this time, so we don't know what kind of stories await in the city. This is only a discussion about the general atmosphere of the areas, so please take that into account.


Fantasies abound in the largely vertical "Abalathia Sea of Clouds"

The first area in which we set foot was Abalathia Sea of Clouds, which is the area that's previously been shown to promote the flying mounts. There are countless rocks floating throughout the air, and it's a well-realized aerial area with several different areas located on the tops of individual rocks.

This area is also incredibly large. The basic map of the area is probably about 1.5 times the size of the existing maps, but because of the complex three dimensional layout, it felt more like 5 to 10 times the size. I was really excited to think of seeing dozens or hundreds of characters moving around the area.

Operating a flying mount is very intuitive and doesn't need much explanation. To start flying and ascend, you hold the jump button down. Moving around and changing viewpoints are handled with the normal keys. You'll also automatically start flying if you jump off the edge of a land mass. If you want to get off your mount, you simply need to come down to ground level and make contact to begin running on the ground, then you can dismount. It was easy to understand and intuitive.

There are two Aetherytes in this location. One is the Ishgardian outpost known as "Camp Cloudtop," and another is home newly-added Vanu Vanu beast tribe -- "Oku Zundo" [[no idea how this will be localized]]. The flying battleship "Protector" is anchored at Camp Cloudtop, and the area is fortified by vassals of House Haillenarte.

Since we could not speak with the NPCs, we weren't able to tell what kind of relationship we'll have with the Vanu Vanu tribe, but just watching their animations which looked to be repeated behavioral training was pretty humorous.

Although our timing was bad and we didn't run into any FATEs in Abalathia Sea of Clouds, hunt marks were scattered around so we were able to try one of those. The monster "Shishiutaur" [[guessing at name, I couldn't think of any obvious correspondence in English]] was too tough for us with four people so we tried it again when we had 16 people, almost all of us from the media tour, and we were able to beat it relatively easily. We obtained Allagan Tomestones of Law and Poetics as a reward. It was also exciting to think about flying around this field area and seeing groups of people hunting for monsters.

Incidentally, in addition to the "Oku Zundo" camp, a number of Vanu Vanu bases were located throughout the sky. However, in many of these you're considered an enemy the moment you land. So there are definitely both friendly and hostile presences within the Vanu Vanu tribe, and it's likely that there will be storylines around that.

With an area this large, it was fun enough to just explore. We found beautiful lakes and watefalls, the home of a beast tribe, villages with distinct architectural styles, and a number of other mysterious places which we aren't even sure about, including some strange spherical object.

The influence of the Garlean empire was felt pretty heavily around FFXIV until now, so it was refreshing to see this entirely unique style of fantasy instead of the more sci-fi style imagery. I'm sure there are plenty of mysteries in this area which we haven't even touched upon, so I'm looking forward to the beginning of service when everyone can explore the area.


The suffering of the Dragonsong War is apparent in Coerthas Western Highlands

Coerthas Western Highlands can be found across the city of Ishgard from Coerthas Central Highlands. Although the tileset of the topography is almost identical, the center is almost completely open without anything blocking the view, and snowy fields continuing far off into the distance. This is an area that you were able to enter in the original FFXIV, but was blocked off by an ice wall which formed after the seventh Calamity. The scattered remnants of the past area are a nice nod to legacy players.

The Falcon's Nest base is located immediately outside lower Ishgard. Since we weren't able to talk to the NPCs, we couldn't determine why a base would be needed immediately outside the city or what kind of story will evolve here.

We had flying mounts from the start, so we were able to take a look at the area from the sky. Across the fields of snow we found several camps, buildings of unknown use, destroyed ruins from the Dragonsong War, and even the remains of a captured dragon which reminded us of the harshness of Ishgard.

We saw multiple FATEs going on simultaneously for level 50 in Coerthas Western Highlands. I tried participating in some of them expecting the enemies to be quite weak, but they were surprisingly strong.

The participation conditions in FATEs are the same as before, with Level Sync required to have everyone at a reasonable level, but since the enemies here were level 50, it was still pretty tough to fight them one on one. We tried one of the FATEs with three or four people, and I'm not sure if it's because we weren't familiar with the FATE or because we had new jobs, but we wound up wiping and running out of time and so we couldn't clear it.

It was a reminder of the classic leveling system in MMORPGs, how adventurers who have previously defeated raid bosses are suddenly weak and powerless in new areas, defeated by regular monsters.

There were a number of aggressive level 50 monsters scattered around Coerthas Western Highlands, so we got the feeling you wouldn't want to walk if you could avoid it. It might be quite a challenge to traverse the harsh snowfields at release since you won't be able to use flying mounts at first. Since individual players might find battles to be quite difficult, you'll want to team up with nearby players to get through the area.

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Notes from captions:
-There's no height coordinate so it will be easy to get lost.
-The changes between day and night in Sea of Clouds are impressive and significant.
-Shishiutaur is a water serpent type monster with water AoEs
-Some house was found in the middle of Coerthas Western Highlands with a mysterious facility in the basement.

[Slycer]

Source: http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs...26_703341.html

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Dungeon experience in Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward

The European media tour for Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward was held at a castle on the outskirts of the provinicial city of Nantes, France. After traveling all the way to the venue, we wanted to deliver as much information as possible, including our experience in two of the eight new instanced dungeons which will be added with Heavensward.

We were able to experience both Sorm Ar and Gubra Library until just before the final bosses; the final boss areas were off limits to prevent any spoilers. All four of us who were trying out the new dungeons wanted to play on the new jobs, so my view on the difficulty may not be totally objective since we were still getting used to the commands; however, it's clear that the degree of difficulty here will be lower than where Pharos Sirius was when it was first implemented. As with some of the current dungeons, these will be places you can go to complete daily quests or accumulate tomestones.


Exploring inside a volcano in Dravania Highlands - "Sorm Ar"

"Sorm Ar" is an instanced dungeon where you'll climb the volcano Sorm Ar of Ishgard, the highest peak in Dravania Highlands. This will be one of the earlier dungeons used for leveling up. There are completely different landscapes within, such as a cave sealed away by ice and an area filled with burning lava, which switch rapidly, so there's a rich variety of landscapes to enjoy.

Starting out in the area, the enemies are primarily plants and insects. Although producer/director Naoki Yoshida mentioned in the letter from the producer live that enemy detection of monsters in field areas would be expanded, it seemed that monsters also aggroed from quite far away within the dungeons. Because we had a party full of players unfamiliar with the jobs, we did wipe a few times early on. There are different attacking methods among the regular enemies like ranged attacking and melee type enemies which are often linked to each other. For one of the mini bosses we thought we were attacking a regular monster at first, but then found out it was the mini boss. On the flipside, there were some monsters that we thought we were fighting bosses but they were actually just regular monsters.

The first boss we fought in this dungeon was quite similar to a previous raid boss [[the rafflesia]]. It also used some abilities which we had seen before. The idea behind this was to bridge the gap in experience between players who have experienced Bahamut's Coils and players who haven't. For people who are experiencing these for the first time, they'll feel like totally new bosses, and those who have a lot of experience with Coil will see some familiar techniques, but at the same time will find some more unfamiliar surprises. In fact, if you think you can avoid mechanics based on previous knowledge, you might actually struggle more because of the changed timing. It's balanced to be fairly mild, so everyone should be able to enjoy it.

As you continue to ascend, there's a beautiful lava cave that you'll pass through as well as a radically different ice cave. As this is the home of dragons, as you ascend you'll also find more enemies from the dragon family. These enemies become more challenging, so the pace changes considerably.

The second boss was a dragon that resembled a dinosaur. He does have ranged attacks which affect party members further away, and because these mechanics were new, we want everyone to get a chance to figure these out on their own.



Final Fantasy V fans will cry tears of joy at enemies which appear in Gubra Library of Illusions

In the Gubra Library, gigantic bookshelves are found everywhere as you look up and down with countless books in the collection. This is the location where the wisdom of Sharlayan was brought together, and this place should no longer exist in the real world. The history of the dungeon and the circumstances around entering it are unknown, but you'll enter this dungeon as you approach the level cap, and it seems that it will be important in the main scenario. The background music was like something you might hear in a jazz cafe with an unexpected lightness for a dungeon, but the occasional dissonance gives an unsettling feeling, which is also true for the dungeon as a whole.

One of the big features of this dungeon is that many of the enemies are tributes to those that appeared in the Library of the Ancients in Final Fantasy V. These include things like the demon monsters which appear every so often like the half face "Page 64," something many people will remember from FFV.

The first boss is "Demon Wall Book," similar to the familiar Demon Wall. This might bring back nightmares from Amdapor Keep, but this time his attacks are a bit different. Since not all of the mechanics were included and the balance for the fight was still being adjusted, it will be fun to get the true experience when the expansion is released.

The dungeon is made up of a number of rooms surrounded by books, but between the rooms you'll traverse pathways of light, like those which connect the parts of World of Darkness in Crystal Tower. It seems like the variety of old books might have some relationship with the scenario.

The second boss, "Byblos," is also a tribute to Final Fantasy V. This boss was quite challenging and we wiped to it many times. It has some very interesting mechanics that you should look forward to. Once you clear this boss, you'll proceed to the area where the final boss awaits, with quite an impressive scene as the door opens. If you're completely accustomed to your new skills when you get here, you should be able to get through it a bit easier.

New dungeons are one of the most fun elements in MMORPGs. With eight new dungeons and many new enemies waiting, the excitement should last for some time.


In the Gilgamesh battle, we got our first look at the Dark Knight level 3 limit break!

In this trial, we got to try out pre-existing level 50 content as full eight-person parties. We formed a full party with both Japanese and foreign media to participate in Gilgamesh. I tried playing as one of the new jobs, but the operation felt quite different at level 50 compared to level 60.

Although we were wiping, it was actually a blessing in disguise because we got a chance to accumulate three bars of limit break and see the level 3 tank limit break. It started with a black dome coming down... but we can't describe it in any more detail yet since we were not allowed to elaborate on the new limit breaks, so I'm looking forward to when the additional details are released.

[Takiwaki]

Sly is my Hero!

[Sho]

Sly's my guy.

Sly for president.

[Slycer]

Sly is my Hero!

y u trollin

[Aumaan_Kujata]

-Some house was found in the middle of Coerthas Western Highlands with a mysterious facility in the basement.

And we're not going to be able to see what's in that basement until sometime in version 6.0 or so?

[Psion]

And we're not going to be able to see what's in that basement until sometime in version 6.0 or so?

Final Fantasy XIV: Rise of the Jenova!

sorry,had to.

[The Stig]

Took me a few mins to understand why you chose Jenova, but now it makes sense lol

[Bigsyke]

So if poetics are still obtainable (assuming it stays the same in the final release) I guess it means there won't be a poetics - > law conversion.

[Sho]

So if poetics are still obtainable (assuming it stays the same in the final release) I guess it means there won't be a poetics - > law conversion.

It likely means that they will phase it out slowly over the course of 1-3 months. Drop Solds, add Law, drop Poetics, convert to Law or Esoterics.

[Bigsyke]

It likely means that they will phase it out slowly over the course of 1-3 months. Drop Solds, add Law, drop Poetics, convert to Law or Esoterics.

Yeah, that's what I meant. No conversion in 3.0*

[Slycer]

I feel like they may just leave Poetics in there indefinitely as a way to gear up at 50, with it being the end of ARR content. I don't really expect any conversion of Poetics to Law at all.

[Slycer]

And we're not going to be able to see what's in that basement until sometime in version 6.0 or so?

The article had a bunch of crappy quality images that were captured off screen at the event.
http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs...26_703367.html

Kinda surprised they let them do that, but anyway there's an image of the house and the basement below. Looks like some kind of altar or something? I can sorta make out the shape of a dragon on the right side of that swirly thing in the center, but I'm not really sure.

[Voyage1970]

Didn't they say current endgame gear (ilvl130-135) would get you to about 54-55 in Heavensward though? Would be strange to save poetics for gearing up at 50 when the dungeons at 52+ will be dropping similar ilvl gear and probably only require a minimum of ilvl90 or ilvl95 considering that's what Steps of Faith is tuned to. If I had to make a guess I'd agree with Sho where they are just going to phase Poetics out once Esoterics are introduced.

[Slycer]

Didn't they say current endgame gear (ilvl130-135) would get you to about 54-55 in Heavensward though? Would be strange to save poetics for gearing up at 50 when the dungeons at 52+ will be dropping similar ilvl gear and probably only require a minimum of ilvl90 or ilvl95 considering that's what Steps of Faith is tuned to. If I had to make a guess I'd agree with Sho where they are just going to phase Poetics out once Esoterics are introduced.

The hard mode roulette for level 50 ARR dungeons (current hard and expert dungeons combined) is going to be a thing and they've already clearly expressed that those dungeons will not yield experience at the start, and may never. Given that they won't yield EXP, what else would be the point of that roulette, if not Poetics and perhaps even still Soldiery? Certainly it would make no sense for them to drop level 60 tomestones, since that group would include dungeons all the way down to the original Wanderer's Palace. It could just give some really high amount of level 50 tomestones so you're getting a piece every day or every other day or something.

[Shenrien]

Poe is likely to stay around forever because end of ARR content. People who didn't buy or wont buy the expansion will still have something to do and people who are going to be first time through will be able to actually gear up before going into expansion content. However we have no idea what kind of ilvl gear they're going to add to story quests for old ARR content to help ilvl progression from ARR -> HW.

[Rocl]

The article had a bunch of crappy quality images that were captured off screen at the event.
http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs...26_703367.html

Kinda surprised they let them do that, but anyway there's an image of the house and the basement below. Looks like some kind of altar or something? I can sorta make out the shape of a dragon on the right side of that swirly thing in the center, but I'm not really sure.

Ah, that looks the place that Ysale was at in the Dragonsong trailer, no titans tho

[Bigsyke]

Ah, that looks the place that Ysale was at in the Dragonsong trailer, no titans tho

Speaking of Ysayle, I wonder if she will be heavily involved with Ravana considering Ramayana.

[Niiro]

JP blog post with some single rider airship stuff: http://jp.finalfantasyxiv.com/pr/blog/001037.html

Honestly idk why they've shown so little of the personal airships so far, I'm much more interested in zooming around in one of those than the regular flying mounts.

Tho I think the sensation will be a bit dulled when you hop into one of these slick, streamline ships and go the same speed as a fat chocobo.

[Slycer]

Dungeon translation is up in post #2. Not that I've played FFV, but I hadn't heard anything about the references to FFV in the library earlier.

Check out the screen grabs in the article, they look pretty cool.
http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs...26_703341.html