E3 2009 was last week (which is one million years of internet time), but that doesn't mean that I'm finished talking about what happened. Specifically, I'm going to talk a little about Sony's ace in the hole: Final Fantasy XIV. In a surprise announcement, Sony revealed the latest installment in the storied (and checkered) franchise. Here's the kicker -- it's an MMORPG, the likes of which we haven't seen since Final Fantasy XI started making people physically ill.
Square Enix updated the FFXIV Web site today with a batch of fourteen (get it?!) shiny new screenshots from the game. Some of them are from the E3 trailer, but some of them seem to be new. Kotaku also managed to get their grubby little hands on Kazuya Takahashi's gorgeous concept art that adorns the teaser site, which I promptly saved to my desktop.
I don't particularly like MMORPGs, but I'm excited for these screenshots and concept art. Don't get me wrong--my aversion to MMOs will probably preclude signing up to explore the far reaches of Eorzea--but I'm certainly excited by the idea of Final Fantasy. As a franchise, Final Fantasy is truly greater than the sum of its parts, and, as a fan, I can't help but feel a little giddy about that finely-rendered Chocobo rump.
For more details, be sure to check out Chad's super-secret Q&A session with producer Hiromichi Tanaka and director Nobuaki Komoto, as well as fan site Allakhazam's impressive round-up. Final Fantasy XIV will be out sometime next year for the PlayStation 3 and PC. Hit the gallery for the new screenshots.
LAUNCH GALLERY (11 IMAGES)
Joseph Leray is a founding Destructoid editor and lives in Nashville with his girlfriend, cats, and Final Fantasy XII obsession. He speaks French and plays a mean coronet. His favorite games are Pokemon, Final Fantasy IX, Dragon Age: Origins, Killer 7, and Katamari Damacy.
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Contest:
11:30 PM on 06.10.2009 | 
Never going to happen.
It is. They were graphics generated from the game engine, not pre-rendered. I believe that was mentioned in Chad Concelmo's SE E3 Q&A live blog. If not there, somewhere else on this site (and others).
@guy who posted this - you're fired...
They get blasted about their feminine character designs... they don't do it, the get fucking blasted about NOT DOING IT. Revel your victory for fuck's sake.
I would really like to play, but i'm not ready yet to pay for a MMO.
When the server were packed with 5-10k people it was too much.
FFXI is a great game and always has been. It's personally my favorite MMO out there and has mastered what and online game should be in just about every way. FFXIV won't be as hardcore as FFXI was but I'll probably still play it. Also, the screen shots with the characters on the boat are real gameplay for you blind people. The Galka and the Mithra are not pre-rendered.
In fact I hope you lose xp when you die
Most of the "skill" in MMOs consists of configuring a client to do what you need it to do in the first place. The client is always this layer between you and the game, and it's rarely set up to be intuitive or efficient, especially in the case of FFXI. At least with some of the more modern, less crappy MMOs, you have legitimate means of altering that client within certain rules.
Once you've hacked or configured the crappy client, or even if you don't, most of your "skill" then consists of spamming macros at the right time and upgrading your gear appropriately (i.e. using Google and finding the right wiki). When you're not exercising that "skill" and either sitting around LFG for hours working a second job in an endgame guild/linkshell, you're grinding away at means to make money. I don't consider that interesting gaming.
And don't even get me started on the "solo" style of play in FFXI in particular.
But if you're happy with Everquest++ style "gameplay", then good for you.
You only "grind" if that's the way you choose to play. There is endless content to explore outside of exp grinding in a party all day. Just because that's the way you chose to play the game in the short time that you did doesn't mean that's all there is to it.
Also, I've NEVER in my entire 6+ years of playing FFXI have had to wait multiple hours for a party on ANY job. If you just put up a party flag and expect to magically get a party then you're dumb. I did that in the entire two months I played WoW and never got a single party. you use a combination of that, search comments, and looking to start your own party. There's probably 20 other people needing a party just like you.
Soloing use to be a semi difficult thing to do in FFXI, which I entirely agreed with. go play a single player game if you want to play by yourself. However, SE has given into all the crybabies many many times and anyone with any job can easily take their jobs to maximum level solo.
Ceark: They are keeping similar looks for the races but they are different races in a different world with different stories than those of FFXI. The only thing related are the looks.
I'll admit that this probably colors my perspective on MMOs, since I'm just not their intended audience, and feel like my time in the game was in the end largely wasted if it weren't for some of the great people I met there.
A job to 75, fishing in the 40's, and a craft at 70 in a month? Really? Maybe if you pull a Cartman. Or maybe the game has transformed with the post-CoP content. But in my day, even with one of those easy to level mage jobs like WHM or BRD or refresh whore (RDM) (not disparaging those jobs if that's what you leveled) you'd be partying for the better part of a year before maxing your level. And that was even after people had the luxury of so much as a wiki on the game.
I won't debate that FFXI has a lot of content, but I will debate as to its quality. All of it is grind-tastic. Solo-grind. Group-grind. Craft/skill-grind. Economy-grind. Guild/HNM-grind. No instances... period. Everyone was constantly competing against RMT and the domination of JP guilds.
And no, none of the CoP missions required skill... I don't consider accomplishing simple coordinated tasks by successfully wrestling a horribly designed, laggy UI into submission a skill. It's playing a game in spite of itself.
I'm glad I left when I did, and unless I see any major changes in this latest MMO (designed by the same team of ostensible sadists), I probably won't be playing it.