DualShockers article: Info revealed at NicoNico Choukaigi 2Follow

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Release Window Confirmed for the Summer, PS4 Version Hinted, New Info Revealed
by Giuseppe Nelva Apr 27th 2013 2:20PM

The Nico Nico Chokaigi 2 event is in full swing at the Makuhari Messe Tokyo and Square Enix is holding a large Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn stage event in collaboration with Windows 8.

During yesterday’s part of the event livestreamed on Nico Nico quite a few interesting information were revealed as director and producer Naoki Yoshida (disguised as a white-haired miqo’te for the occasion) answered questions from the fans.

Here is a summary of the information that was shared (I may have missed something, but I think I got most of it):

• The game’s release window has been confirmed for this summer simultaneously for PC and PS3.
• A release for the PS4 is very possible, as the team would like to reach an audience as wide as they can. A final decision will be taken when the time is right.
• There will be new music created by Nobuo Uematsu (Yoshida already confirmed this when I recently interviewed him).
• There are plans to release the soundtrack. It may be part of the collector’s edition.
• New TV commercials are in production for all the different markets: Japan, North America and Europe. They will debut in late May or early June.
• The current phase of the beta includes approximately 580,000 people, and many more will be added with phase 3.
• Yoshida can’t say when beta phase 3 will start exactly, as it depends on Sony’s certification of the PS3 client.
• The new Benchmark software that will include character creation is in development and will be released between phase 3 and phase 4.
• Square Enix is planning to release collectibles related to the game after launch.
• A new organization called “Clan of Dawn” (Akatsuki no Ketsumei) will play an important role in the story of the new game. A new primary NPC named Alfino is a member of the clan and will be voiced by Shinnosuke Tachibana (you can see the character’s portrait below).



• Minifilia (a relevant character in the Ul’dah original storyline of Final Fantasy XIV, you can check my story recap column if you want to know who she is) will play a very relevant role in the storyline of A Realm Reborn.
• Thancred (again, you can check my story recap column to learn about him) will be voiced by Yuichi Nakamura a very popular voice actor in Japan that lent his vocals cords to many relevant characters like Alto Saotome in Macross Frontier and Cid Raines in Final Fantsy XIII.
• The final location of the Gold Saucer is still undecided.
• A smartphone companion app will be released allowing players to access character status, a database, their friend list and features related to the Free Company.
• The PvP Coliseum will be added during phase 4 of the beta, but all PvP points earned will be reset at release to be fair to those not participating to the beta test.
• Even those that didn’t play the original Final Fantasy XIV will able to enjoy the story, that will be more similar to a classic Final Fantasy game.
• At the beginning there won’t be Japanese-style costumes like Kimono, but when the visual style of the game will be solidified, adding different styles will be considered.

Yes, let's put out feelers for a release on a console that does not currently exist rather than a massively-successful distribution platform that totally DOES exist.

Whatever.

Most of this is unsurprising; I'm glad to see a mobile app announced, though I'm concerned that he didn't mention it would be free (implying that it will not be). And the release window is about the time most of us expected, give or take a PS3 client existing.



I sure hope so. This game needs needs NEEDS to be a Final Fantasy first and an MMO second if it's to have a chance.

I wont lie. This concerns me..

Lol jk. But no foreal, you telling me phase 3 could be longer than the 2 weeks outlined in the beta roadmap? ugh.. People are ready to try out new cities and classes.. Like Pugilist

I wont lie. This concerns me..

Lol jk. But no foreal, you telling me phase 3 could be longer than the 2 weeks outlined in the beta roadmap? ugh.. People are ready to try out new cities and classes.. Like Pugilist

Final Fantasy XIV at Nico Nico Chokaigi 2 Event - Part 2
Date: April 28, 2013, Updated By: Kat

Some new information became available today from the Nico Nico Chokaigi 2 about Final Fantasy XIV and it's future. As was stated in our previous post, phase 3 of the beta is dependant on when Sony certifies the client, and it has now been revealed to start sometime in the begining of June. They have also talked about the details of what will be available during phase 3 and 4 of the beta test and what kind of things can be exected to be added later on. Click "Read More" for the full translation of the article.

- Naoki Yoshida's birthday is May 1st.

- Will the players be able to use firearms? We are looking into this possibility.

- Will we hear any work from Naoshi Mizuta ( FFXI composer) ? Possibly 2 or 3 tracks when the game comes out.

- Will we see big shields? They will not be available at the release of the game, but we are planning to add them later.

- Will we see weather forecasts inside the game? It would be hard to add them by the release.

- Will we see the new president of Square-Enix in the new Producer LIVE letters? It's possible, perhaps after the next letter.

- When materia is added to an item, will its level go up? No, materia is there to reduce the breakage between the level and content.

- Monk can repeat a combo to increase the DPS, but a consistent repeat of it can lead to some kind of risk.

- We are thinking of calling the server names after the names of monsters from the Final Fantasy series. If we were to use the name of items, we might not have enough of them.

- Will we see any new mounts besides chocobo? Magitek Armor will be one of them.

- Regional servers will not be separated by language.

- The game will not allow one to be a Player Killer.

- On phase 3 of the beta test Level Sync will be added. With it, there will be no need to change clothing and equipment as that will be done automatically, but these options will be weaker than the optimal equipment for that particular level.

- Fat chocobos will be added in the future updates.

- What happened with the Battle Regime system? It turned into a Limit Break system.

- Those who will own the collector's edition of the game will get the equipment from FFI, which will also be available to the owners of the collector's edition of 1.0 version of the game. There will also be other objects.


- Will other bosses have voice overs like Nael? Yes.

- Will you be able to change walls/floors in the player's housing? You will be able to change lots of things.

- When will we get the smartphone app for the game? During phase 4 of the beta test or when the game comes out.

- How is Hiroshi Minagawa doing (a person responsible for the UI in the game)? Great, he completely redone the UI for the phase 3 of the game.

- Will we have a beauty parlor in the game? After the game comes out there might be an update to change your hair style and color.

- Will we see the intro video for the game? Yes, you will see it in phase 3, and only that video will have voice-overs at the time.

- It's unknown whether the Cutter's Cry will be available in phase 4 of the beta test.

- The progress in the phase 3 of the beta test will not be saved.

- It is possible an Arcanist will be shown at E3.

- Will there be other social elements besides Item Boxes and Free Companies? Yes, with time we will show them on the video.

- Will all options be available in the character creator in the phase 3 of the beta test? Yes, but it is possible something else will be added with the release of the game.

- Limit Breaks will be available from phase 3 of the beta-test, but Limit Break level 3 might not be available at the time.

- Is it possible to change the color of the equipment in phase 3 of the beta-test? Yes.

- What kind of interesting details you can share about the American and European players? Most of them are against regional servers, and many of them play as Lalafells.

- The game will not come out in October, we will release it during the warm part of the year. It's possible the date will be announced next month.

Seems the game is getting delayed because of PS3.... Oh like nobody ever saw that one comming....

- What kind of interesting details you can share about the American and European players? Most of them are against regional servers...

Seems the game is getting delayed because of PS3.... Oh like nobody ever saw that one comming....