GamesCom, Day 2: Rise of the Interviews.

Day two of GamesCom in Cologne Germany is underway, and with it so far is three new Interviews. Interview one done by FFXIVcore, Interview two done by JeuxOnline and Interview Three done by Dengaki Magazine.

Under each Interview I will right my own comments on what I think so far. As always, the italicized text is not that of my own.

A few things I would like to note that we've gathered so far is:

The FFXIV Demo at GamesCom is a Alpha version, confirmed to be a early Alpha Version at that. It's mainly there just to test some game play elements, to see the nice graphics, and fool around a bit. Square Enix themselves admitted much of what you might pick apart in the Demos are still under development (camera angles, combat speed, GUI, controls, etc).

It has been confirmed, that FFXIV will be "Seemless" meaning no zoning. I still think perhaps you might run into a zone or two going from a large region of zones to another, but they say no. So we'll see.

Currently, there is no plans to be able to let your character Jump, however there are plans to let them Swim, or Climb during certain scenarios and aspects of the game. So perhaps there will be certain scenarios, in like a quest or mission where you can jump too perhaps? Just not free jumping? We'll see.

They say they plan on having no EXP loss if you die, however there's a possibility they might make it where you do lose exp. But if this is the case, you will lose very little.

Anyways, here's the first interview done by FFXIV core. Enjoy.

First, thanks to everyone at Square Enix who met up with us at their business area at Gamescom. They were very nice and I have a great first impression of every single SE employee that I spoke with.

We entered a room with a big table (sort of a meeting room) and behind us there were a big LCD screen with the Final Fantasy XIV alpha on it. In the room there were a total of 5 SE employees. I visited together with the CEO from the Curse Network. Right now I don't have all the names, but they were all really cool to speak with and I have a whole new view of SE (not that it bad previously) after this meeting, they all seem very passionate about their games and FFXIV is a game that a lot of effort, energy and time has been invested into. That's for sure! I feel even more anxious to play the game now. Well for longer than 15 minutes that is.

Below we have the results of player asked questions from FFXIVCore.com that was asked to Hiromichi Tanaka about FFXIV. Grab a cup of coffee or something nice, such as orange juice and please enjoy reading our exclusive interview with the producer of FFXIV himself.


In the alpha I wasn't able to jump, will there be jumping in FFXIV? And swimming? Maybe even climbing?

Its going to be the same as in FFXI. So currently there will be no jumping. If its necessary we might add swimming and climbing in the future.


What measures will be taken to combat RMT and botting?

We're going work hard on it, same as in FFXI with the task force. Also for example, at the moment we're trying to add a filter in FFXI to combat it on the spot, instead of waiting for a patch in order to combat the issues. It will be more flexible.


How will the story be told? Powerful story is an essential part of the FF-series, and as far as the producers have said it will be important in XIV as well.

Yes the story is defiantly very important for FF14. We will have high quality cutscenes with voiceovers and fx, please look forward to it.

There will also be voiceovers on mostly every character/npc in the game.


What will endgame be like? Special areas, NMs, etc.

Maybe not from the beginning, but when it comes to a good time we will be implementing some very challenging encounters, among other things. We will have a level cap at the beginning, when it will be unlocked in due time we will release great raid content. We've learned a lot from FFXI and realized what is too easy and too hard.


Exactly how much more casual will FF XIV be than FF XI? Is FF XIV designed to try to appeal to a new casual crowd and leave the hardcore group players in FF XI? Is FF XIV trying to attract both at the same time and try to become the first historical game that successfully combines hardcore and casual aspects?

The first question about the casual aspect. We will have a casual aspect, but we're not going to only target the casual players. Its really a users choice. We will be able to provide a variety of aspects to the game that casual players will enjoy but the hardcore players will enjoy it as well. And also for FFXI and FFXIV we aim to support both players, although FFXIV is using a new graphics engine, so we're providing current FFXI players with an option if they want to play FFXI of course that is fine, but they're also very welcome to play FFXIV.

Hiromichi Tanaka also says that it would be very nice if the players of other Final Fantasy games who never played FFXI would play FFXIV. So that is one of the goals.

So basically they're aiming at the Final Fantasy fans who haven't played MMO's due to having a casual aspect of FFXIV, but also at the same time giving the hardcore MMO players something to enjoy as well.


What about PVP?

We have the same stance on PVP as we had in FFXI, we're having a focus on PVE, but we may introduce some sort of sports-type that might be tied to PVP in the future. What we're worrying about is that we dont want to have any PK'ing or harassment types of activities in the game. So in order to provide a safe environment to everyone and a game to enjoy. So we're not focusing on PVP.


Pay to play or free to play?

The game will cost to play. There's a fee for 30 days each. Currently there are no other plans to offer other options.


No PlayOnline, can you elaborate on the new account features?

We will be using the SquareEnix ID, and also have a system that will be linked to that system.


Is there going to be instanced content?

Guild leaves itself is like instances. Other people will not be able to interfer with you. There will also be instanced raid content, its a type of guild leaves as well. But we cannot tell you how many players it will be yet however. There's also going to be many different types of guild leaves, if you want to play as a casual player it will be fine for instance.


Can you give more specific details about what things can we customize in character creation? I mean things like body size, how many faces will there be available?

Unfortunately we cannot show you the character creation screen yet, but you will be able to change things such as your ears, eyes, hair color, shape of your face. There will be lots of variety.


I'm curious about how advancing in your jobs works. Like will it be a FF Tactics style? Once you've mastered certain skills in a certain job, you unlock another?

It will be slightly different from Final Fantasy Tactics system. You will be gaining abilities by leveling up your skills, but, its not the same as Final Fantasy Tactics. So if you're having a high skill in something it doesnt mean the other one is going to be lower. if you grow in one skill and it gets high, you can still level up your other skills high.


And how will the 'levels' of the mobs work? Does the game have some kinda system in place to adjust mob difficulty based on character stats and current status of party?

Its not going to be changing depending on the players skills. Its fixed. So you get to chose yourself who or what you want to fight.


Auto-run/Auto-follow and Macros saved A LOT of time in FFXI. Could we expect these things (or improved/altered versions) in FFXIV?

Yes it will be in the game.


In FFXI, if you weren't fighting or crafting, there was definitely a lack of things to do. Could we expect more types of things to do in FFXIV? More mini-games, casino, card games like in FFVIII or FFIX, more in-depth gardening/fishing/etc. ?

Yes, we're planning several things so you can enjoy the game, for example the fishing you mention will be a class. But outside of the class system there will be other things to do. For example during FFXI players figured out a way to invent a new game by using the existing system. So that's going to be interesting, we'd like to do that for FFXIV as well. So we're looking forward to what the players will do with our system there.


There were many Summons in FFXI, but for an online world, I never felt there were enough. What Summons can we expect to see in FFXIV and will there be more variety than in FFXI?

We can't really mention which summons will be in. But what we can say is that some is going to be really important in the storyline. It's not going to be included in the game like FFXI. At the moment we don't really have a class, a pet class / summoner. Not at the moment at least. So it will be implemented in the game in a different way. Please check back with us in the future.


Will there be Samuari's in the game, what about the free roaming? What about the freedom in the world, exploration?

We won't have the samuari as a job, because we don't have a job system. And we don't have a class like the Samuari. But it depends on how you're going to select your skills and developing your character. So when you reach a certain skill and/or gain certain skills, you will have a title for yourself. It may be Samuari or may not be - we cannot tell you that yet. So please look for an announacement in the future.


How large will the in-game world of Eorzea be in comparison to the in-game world of Vana'Diel? As in actual space the characters may move around in.

We can't really compare to the current world of Vana'Diel since it's been expanding a lot. But if we compare to the original Vana'Diel, this time it may be the same or slightly smaller, however as you can see there will be a much more detailed world, in terms of graphics and content. So it's unlikely you will notice that it might be slightly smaller than the original Vana'Diel world.

One thing to note is that FFXI used its own system, this time Final Fantasy XIV is going to be seamless. No zoning! Just like in World of Warcraft.

You'll be able to walk from the city to the battlefield without any zoning.

Is the Economic situation of FFXIV going to be mainly player based with Auction Houses or non-player based with NPC ran stores?

We can't go into details about this just yet. We're very sorry about that. This question is better suited to be asked in a couple of months time. However, it's going to be not the same as with auctionhouses, but something very interesting.

Also, this time the weapons are going to be worn out, a durability system. So you will have to repair them and it will cost money.


When is the beta? Any more info?

We dont have any specific time at the moment. But this current version here at Gamescom is an alpha version. And before we start the beta we're going to have another version, a developer version, this time we're concentrating on guild leaves, next time we're going to be concentrating on something else. When it's ready we'll start the beta version. And of course since we're going to launch the game in 2010 it should before that... so. The beta is not going to be in the far future *laughs* We want to do it as soon as possible.


In World of Warcraft, you can now pay a very small fee of in game currency at a Barber Shop and change the face, hairstyle, facial hair, and hair color. Will we see this in FFXIV?

At the moment we're not thinking about it. If we have a lot of requests from the players it might get added at a later time. Not at the launch time at least. In the future perhaps. Also we don't think changing the skin color or face shape is going to be added at all. But maybe hair color.


Can we expect exp loss?

We're still adjusting and discussing this. It may or may not be an exp-loss when you die in FFXIV. But it will be a lot less than it's in FFXI. However, as said we might not include an exp loss at all in FFXIV. In the alpha version we have exp loss currently, but this is still being adjusted, since it's an alpha version. So it's not decided on.


Is the characters we played in the alpha version yesterday buffed?

[They all start out and laugh then proceeds to say]: yes, they're very buffed.


Will the class/job system go into more depth and branch out into different combinations. Or is a wider variety of jobs not yet released and still currently in development?

It's not a job system anymore. We call it classes now. It depends on what weapon you use. And again, we're calling it a class system in FFXIV this time, so it's not a job system. This new system will allow for a lot flexibility, and also because you can switch weapons between the battles (not during battles) this is giving you much more variety. Although this is not something super new in the history of MMO's, we've seen it before in games like Ultima Online and Meridian 59 (editors note).


[We're now at the end of our 45 minutes time with Hiromichi Tanaka and we get told there's only space to ask one more question, I show them all the questions I have left and we all laugh, because there's lots left to still ask, however we're offered to ask them through email, so expect more information to go up in awhile from now]


Will the Linkshell system still be called "Linkshell"?

We can't go into details on that just yet, but it's not going to be called Linkshell anymore. However, it's going to be something very interesting. You'll be able to join a kind of organization, but we can't say more on that right now, you'll be able to have different aims and focuses. It'll be very interesting.


System Requirements?

We're not done with analyzing this just yet, but it's going to be fairly high since FFXIV is going to be on HD on Playstation 3.

Here is the second interview. Please note it is done in French, by JeuxOnline. The translation was done by Google, so it is not perfect. The original source can be found here.

Today was a busy day for reporters JeuxOnLine to GamesCom Cologne. Having had the opportunity to be among the first to test the alpha version presented at the booth of Square Enix public, they would have the opportunity to attend an interview with some of the operations team of the game .

After a fantastic ride worthy of the fastest local Valkyries that we managed to achieve with the five minutes required to advance the Square Enix booth at the Business Center. White everywhere, the names on each door that are all more than dream about door neighbor: Final Fantasy XIII, Dissidia, My Life as a Darklord, but Final Fantasy XIV, the main object of our curiosity today.


The hosts welcome us with plenty of proposals varied (no, not indecent, perverse band) pretzels and drinks, making us wait until the last interview ends. The rigor of the editor is legendary, it was clearly demonstrated once again on this occasion: one minute after the scheduled time, all the journalists present had bent poles and tripods to clear up at the next session.


Because yes, there were sessions. Only with the team at Square Enix in the lounge where the presentation took place, we fantasies to the idea of having, why not, the opportunity to meet with face to face, but it was not the case, because we were quickly joined by a large handful of journalists from different backgrounds and different media (press, web TV, photography) ...


So in this patchwork team that we have somehow tried to ask some of your questions to Mr. Hiromichi Tanaka, producer of the game, and Mr. Sage Sundi, producer in charge of the division line thanks to the translation provided by Saori Vivien Hill, manager of community.

M. Tanaka et M.Sundi


The image date, but they have not changed ...


Most journalists want to know more about the origins of the project on the relationship between Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV and on the gaming experience that this new film would bring to the player.


Both speakers were keen to stress the need to really consider this new episode as the result of almost eight years of work and experience about Final Fantasy XI, which, if served as a working basis, will ultimately delivered a completely different album in its history as in its Thursday mechanisms proposed by experience Final Fantasy XIV is much more immersive for the player: the main frame of the game is announced as even more epic than its predecessor, with elements such as voice recorded for most of the NPCs in the world Eorza to make more interactive quests and trade. The game has been thought, according to Mr. Tanaka, to cover a much wider audience than Final Fantasy XI, an audience as many neophytes as aficionados of the series.


Some of our present, specializing in console gaming lounge, then wanted to talk about the choice of media announced to date for Final Fantasy XIV.


Over the issues, both recalled that if the game had been announced as exclusive to the Playstation 3 in the living room consoles, negotiations were still ongoing with Microsoft to see the game on XBOX 360 adapted. When asked to justify this choice, we said that the PS3 and PC environments are actually very close and that the Xbox Live console to Microsoft is the element that would be problematic at present. In reflection, we can legitimately ask whether this problem would not be for example related to the fact that the purchases on the Playstation Network to be paid exclusively in the realm expèces and tripping when Microsoft until a few days ago proposed purchases almost exclusively via Microsoft Points purchased primarily on the site of the operator.

Faced with the concerns of players on the console to ease the grip of the game with a pad (the alpha version is playable on PC), the tone is reassuring: this game is obviously provided for console but also for PC and will be especially designed to offer a more intuitive handling of.

Address the choice of partners and platforms has allowed us to initiate the discussion on the choices and the current position of Square Enix in relation to the production of MMORPG and its competition. When you have the opportunity to do interviews in groups as diverse as that in which we were, you have every chance of hitting a person who is not specialized in the MMORPG that will eventually ask a question now traditional and World of Warcraft in? In big smile displayed by both players, it was clear that this was not the first time we asked them and they were prepared to say WoW is certainly the biggest players on MMORPGs PC and is a fierce competitor, but until proven otherwise, Final Fantasy XI is and will remain some time on the main console and MMORPG is the way to a heavyweight.

When we relaunch this hegemony salon, trying to figure out what could explain the lack of success and the rarity of their competitors, we said that development costs are very different and much higher in the context of a game multi-platform and that the studios that can cope with these expenses are not very numerous. The move from PC to console is a highly expensive if the goal is an adaptation as faithful as possible to the minutes of the PC version and the publisher must have good financial resources to cope with managing multiple development teams or fitness for a single Thursday

Both speak to finance, another journalist with reviving an issue that may seem the most unexpected but has been important to consider at length the two interlocutors: Will we one day next online Final Fantasy style games currently available free with an online store for example? The final answer was that it was obviously an option but at present it did not coincide with the goals for the Final Fantasy Online. Indeed, the public current F2P they are too different from the usual public license and may have a negative impact on the game more, the idea to provide a free client on the Internet seemed more daunting otherwise: is it related to the fact that a numerical balance in units sold is more rewarding and a representative number of downloads? We do not know ...

But we could also ask questions about what might interest you most, you, readers of JeuxOnLine. We had asked you what area you puzzled most and you replied majority system evolution.


We landed at one of our tours to speak the question that burns the lips of everyone: how to walk but the Armory System? Unfortunately, as you might expect, as Mr. Tanaka Mr. Sundi have kicked into touch on this question by saying he could not reveal more at the moment: the only thing we agreed to tell us is that we could change jobs at will between the fighting in changing equipment.

But tough, we have not released the song and tried to learn a little more about how the game The game will be based on a main quest very difficult accompanying quests obtained through "Guildleves which enable everyone to find the pleasure that research, whether on a Thursday session of short (less than fifteen minutes) or much longer. We thus confirm that the game will be much more oriented towards the casual players that could not be Final Fantasy XI, being much more flexible. It is no longer questions of power of the character: everything is a matter of competence and an avatar will be together, whether played by an experienced player or a beginner, according to the skills he can bring to his group. Square offers the possibility of abolishing the barrier that separates the largest ships of more casual players.

Traumatized by the echoes that we had some challenges (such as Pandemonium, for example) proposed by Final Fantasy XI, we sought to learn more about balancing monsters for Final Fantasy XIV: there will always be monsters providing intense fighting at all adventurers who face but for all levels of mastery of the characters, from lowest to highest. But again, it will take a little longer to learn more.


Seeing that the content of the game it might not be unveiled, we chose to address another aspect that concerns us directly: that communities and their management. All questions that were asked by our équpe, which has somewhat monopolized the late trade to satisfy your thirst for information.

As noted in the article about the alpha version, it was more surprised by a company such as Square Enix, usually known for its cult of secrecy, to unveil a version of the game too early, especially an event on the importance of GamesCom. We have therefore asked whether this was a new direction of communication from the editor: we were told it was in fact a choice of the team, wanted, unlike the strategy for Final Fantasy XI, receive and react to player feedback from the early stages of final development. A decision that no player will not regret, we can be sure.


Always about identity, then we wanted to know what elements are available for players to enjoy the first M in MMO game that wanted a little more oriented casual games. We announced an overhaul of the system Linkshell, which will be a little further to create groups and the provision of online tools to help players by centralizing information about the social aspect of the life of FF XIV.


One of the important areas of community management by Square Enix and an important element in the section dedicated to JeuxOnLine Final Fantasy XIV is the status of a partner site of Square Enix, the famed Premier Website for Final Fantasy XI. It is with pleasure that we can tell you that this system should be extended for this opus, but in a form different from that you could know until now. Nothing is yet done, they begin to think about the statutes of these sites: the road is still long for our section, but we can assure you that we will do everything to get this status.


Status of one of the first attributes could be to host a calendar of events organized by the operators of community and / or the community itself! Indeed, this has emerged as one of the first real news community Having long tried to put in place for Final Fantasy XI, in vain, it seems to be a real goal for their teams this time. Reste à savoir si ce projet n'en restera pas un cette fois-ci. Remains whether this project will not do this time.


But time passes at a crazy speed, when the exchange is exciting and the half hour we were given to us like a flame of a match: deep, intense, but very fleeting. We went out this interview with a taste of unfinished disappointed not to have got more information, or in any case, more crispy or stunning revelations. But it was already a great mark of recognition of the work done by teams of FF XI and FFXIV so far as to give us this interview, what we intend to continue to satisfy you the best!


I congratulate those who arrived at the end of this street.

And now the third interview. I'm not sure who translated this, but I believe it was done by Maruchiru on Zam. So credit to the deserving, and if I did not give credit where it was do please forgive me. The original source can be found here. I might also put up an exact translation when one becomes available.

・At this moment, 40-50% completion.

・The graphic quality will be tune up even more. You can see each tree very clearly even they are very far away.

・macro feature will be added.

・UI layout can be movable by players themselves.

・The smile Icon is emote function.

・Those icons below the screen are called action command.

・You can set abilities that you had on those action command.

・Once you select the command, it will show on one of the 2 gauge in the middle of your screen. Each gauge represent left and right hand.
For example, your left hand equipped with a shield, so those shield related command will be appeared on the left hand gauge.

・When the action gauge reached, the command that you set, will be cast.

・There will be a power gauge too, the more it gains, the higher your accuracy and skill power will be.

・TP gauge will effect what kind of skill you can cast too. So gaining TP will be also very important during battle.

・TP will be gained by getting hit, or hit the monster.

・The action command will be change depends on your weapon. If you put on rod or staff , it will be magic related action.

・Action command will only have 10 slots. You are able to customize those.

・The bag mark icon is item bag.

・Players are not be allow to use emote during battle.

・3 kind of camera style : 3 person view, should view, and first person view.

・Players are able to pull up their weapon even not in engage mode.

・Quest mob location will be show on your map.

・Those puks wont be appear before you finished the dodo.

・There will be a development version before beta test. The image will be like a focus group thing.

=========================================================

Some speculation, according to the famitsu screenshot, the mob's name is in Japanese, so some people is guessing it will be a language base server.

By the way, the mob's name in Japanese version of FF11 is in English.

There's not much left for me to say that isn't simply raw speculation or that you folks cannot figure out for yourselves. So much information, so many exciting announcements, and so many great new features! And this all still being simply in Alpha! Once again, my only concerns so far is the camera system and the control system. But once again, being in Alpha stage, I expect to see everyone made happy in FFXIV!

Stay tuned for more information!