New Info from Famitsu Magazine in Japan!

Hello everyone! It's been awhile since I've made a post in my blog. There has not been a lot of info, well, none released since my last post. There has been plenty of reposting of information, retranslations, and what have you, but the information has been at a stand still. That is, until just recently. The September issue of Famitsu magazine in Japan came out, with a whopping 9 pages of information on FFXIV, as well as new pictures, and lots of new things to speculate about!



I'm going to post as much info on here as I can, but before I do I want to add a few disclaimers. There is a LOT of information circulating right now, on a lot of different sites. From my understanding, many different people have done translations and write-ups on this information. I am not exactly sure who to give credit to and unless a solid source is provided to me, proving a particular source was responsible for the translation I am using, the best I can do is to simply say; The Articles Below in Italics are written by third parties other than myself. I take no credit for them, and am simply reposting information. As a disclaimer, many of these write-ups in Italics are not mine, the pictures, screen shots, concept art, and articles themselves belong to third parties, including but not limited to Famitsu Magazine of Japan, and Square Enix co., LTD.

For the most part, they are just basic translations of what the article said, so I'm not taking anyone's write-up. If I know who to give credit to, on anything specific, I most certainly will do so. Also, please keep in mind, my own thoughts will not be Italicized.

Eorzea and Beyond.

The region of Eorzea has three big cities, Rimsa-Rominsa at the sea side, Gridania is in the forest and Uldaha in the desert. There's pirates at the seaside town and Square Enix promise a storyline for each city.



From what I've gathered, Eorzea is just a region in a larger world known as Haiderin. I'm not sure exactly how it will play out, but if I had to guess I would say Eorzea is the "starting area". Well, not as you would think on FFXI terms, but think of it like this. Eorzea is where you start out, it's where most of your leveling is done, it's where most of your exploring in the low to mid levels takes place.

Once you start getting higher level, once you start getting into end game and more complex missions, there will be a bigger world for you to explore. From what I've gathered, it will be extremely large as well. One of the KEY POINTS I've loved about MMORPG's or ANY RPG for that matter, is exploration. I do hope this is finally the MMO that can meet my expectations and desires for such content. I'm thinking that once you start venturing out of Eorzea there will be many new lands and areas to explore, many new missions and hopefully new towns and cities. This would make most sense to me and I'm very excited about seeing if this logic will come true for FFXIV.











It is also mentioned that one day in Haiderin is 1 hour in earth time, just as in FFXI, and that the weather and seasons change as well. Also, the money of the land will indeed be called "Gil" as we know and are accustomed to.

The Races of Eorzea. Complete, or Incomplete?



With this new article came some introductions to rather familiar races that us FFXIers are already accustomed to. Perhaps... Too familiar? As we've been speculating for a long while now it has been almost certain, given the reasons, why Male Mithra would make an appearance in FFXIV. However, in this article they debut the races. The Humes (Hyuran), the Elvaans (Elzen), the Tarutaru (Lalafell), the Galka (Roegadyn) and the Mithra (Miqo'Te). One thing was kind of unsettling though... Not only the lack of no new races, but the presumption that the Mithra and Galka will once again be gender specific races...

For many people, having Male Mithra has been a big deal and begged for, for a very long time. I've gone over most of the reasons in earlier blog posts and on forums. At a business standpoint, there is absolutely everything to gain from adding them and nothing to lose. However, there is plenty to lose from NOT adding them. I don't want FFXIV to have the same rules and same dynamics that FFXI did, and most people do not wish for this either. Having Male Mithra as a more feminine, agile and cunning male race is something that has been in a very high demand for quite some time. Not adding them would be an enormous letdown to the future player base, the FFXI player base and anyone who was looking forward and hoping to have this feature available in FFXIV.

One of the main reasons we don't see Male Mithra in FFXI isn't because they are locked up sex slaves, it's not even because they are rare and mainly stay in their homeland in Vana'diel. No, the reason is because Square Enix designed FFXI and wrote the story for the females to be the only playable part of that race. By not adding them Square Enix will also be giving off a stigma they really shouldn't, a stigma that FFXIV will be all too much like FFXI in some ways. People want change and new possibilities. It's not too late and I hope Square Enix sees this and does add them, as well as at least one more new race. (In my opinion, if there are no girl Galka, the new race should be female only to offset the balance of the male-only Galka race.)

But before you panic, I want to bring your attention to something it says in the article below...

"The Miqo'te is a cat-like race who are fierce hunters. You can seperate them into "Moonkeepers" and "Sunseekers". Not many of them exist in Eorzea, they're quite the minority."

Hmmm... Intersting detail there. Why would there be two clans mentioned and what would be the difference in them? Why even mention two clans? I think this could possibly be a hint, but who knows as of now, I could be completely wrong. However, it is indeed something to consider.

With all that being said, let's move on and read what we know so far, shall we?

Hyuran (Hume)


The Hyuran race will be the standard race of Eorzea. Kind of like in Vana'diel. Furthermore by translating the article says that they've migrated to Eorzea from islands and continents nearby. Also, they brought with them technology and innivation that has raised the civilization of Eorzea to new heights; which you can see from the FFXIV trailer. As for the language and culture among the Hyuran race, there's a lot of variation. Highlanders and Midlanders are the main "classifications". Basically, who migrated into the mountains and the hills.

Elzen (Elvaan)


This race is native from Eorzea. They clashed with the Hyuran after the latter's massive migration. Their auditory ability is noteworthy.

Lalafell (Tarutaru)


This race of farmers is above all settled near the southern sea. The Lalafells may appear to be small but their intelligence is superior to the other races.

Roegadyn (Galka)


Most live in the northern sea on fishing. Some of them are hired as mercenaries or bodyguards by other races, but the other ones prefer to go towards the sea and choose to become pirates.


Miqo'Te (Mithra)


The Miqo'te is a cat-like race who are fierce hunters. You can seperate them into "Moonkeepers" and "Sunseekers". Not many of them exist in Eorzea, they're quite the minority.

Another thing they go into some detail about is the fact that we will have more "customizable characters" meaning we will be able to choose skin tone, height, weight and other things such as that. Also mentioned was that the differences among races are rather minor, but differences between genders will be more important.

In the words of Square Enix themselves:

"When you make your character, aside from choosing the race, you will also be able to customize their appearance. Head, skin color, hair type, etc, there will be multiple factors. Just how exact we will be able to customize their appearance is still unknown, but we mean it in a good way when we say that it seems like it will become a worry to many players"

The Jobs, the System and What We Know So Far.

Well, we already knew FFXIV would have a different job and leveling system than FFXI, how much different we weren't sure, but as of today we know a bit more. Famitsu Magazine, as they have done with this article already, got to ask Square Enix some questions and get some feedback on what they had to say about the job system and how it will work. This is what Square Enix has said so far:

Final Fantasy XIV revolves around character growth. There will be no experience points or leveling system this time around, and a new system will come in to play. Square Enix wants to deliver an experience where new players have the freedom to try out any quest and many different things, growing naturally from their experiences. A deep story will be in tact in Final Fantasy XIV, including cut-scenes, but they're going beyond that by also delivering a wider variety of stories and quests. They want players to enjoy the process of character growth.

Jobs were the lasting appeal of Final Fantasy XI. They want to utilize that concept, but stack more on top of it. The focus will be on weapons, determining how you play, grow, and fight. They'll be expanding upon the basic job system. He says this also explains the Final Fantasy XIV logo, which features weapons sticking out of the name.

The main idea for Final Fantasy XIV is to provide freedom of growth through the variety of quests offered. However, players can meet up with friends and set off on adventure or they can play solo. Players won't be left with nothing to do, bored.

Square Enix is considering large scale battles, however, regular battles will be against single enemies. During quests you can gather parties and fight against multiple foes.

A bit of a contradiction there, or perhaps that's just how I read it? Square Enix said they will be pulling away from the traditional FFXI system of shoot>pull>kill>shoot>pull>kill and give us more variety. They also said at times we will be fighting many enemies at once instead of just one all the time. I suppose this could just depend on where you are and what you are doing, as well as some "lost in translation" errors. Only time will tell.

So now that we know it won't be your traditional grind/exp fest and will keep your interest hooked a bit better, what do we know about the jobs? How they will work? What they will do?

So far they have mentioned 4 different starting jobs (classes for you non-FFXIers) as well as two more in depth categories for those 4. It is also said that these are just mere examples and that there will be many more to actually play.

Fighter: Swordsman, Archer


Magus: Enchanter, Sorcerer


Crafter: Smith, Cook


Gatherer: Gardener, Fisher


How will they play out? Well, what what they have said, it will depend largely on your weapon, but also VERY largely on your armor, and the level of said armor. It is also mentioned you will be able to possibly even change classes out and about, or on the battle field.

Game system is named "Armory System", it depends on character's equipment. To change play style, you need to change equipment parts: this modification is executed in real time.

For example, if you're invited to join a team of warriors to fight the enemies, you only need to wear the corresponding equipment to be ready. Once the party disbanded, you only need to change equipment to come back as a crafter, fisherman, etc.

This freedom will make the solo play easier since a warrior who wants to be cured can change into a healer himself. Thereof the number of inventory's slots is more important than FFXI. The developers thought about an easier way to change equipment.

To get more powerful in each specifications, it is advised to balance out the equipment parts between them. In FFXIV, the equipment's level is essential, even more than the character's level itself. The developers insist once again on the huge freedom of this system wherer change can be made whenever. That's probably why the name of the jobs are more neutral than FFXI. The game's team has deliberately chosen to avoid the usual job class.

They go on to mention something else, that I'm not entirely familiar with, so please pardon me, but it seems they are adding a system to where when you wish to do certain missions and quests you get a "Card". This card seems to be more or less a key to do so and that one card can represent many people. Anyhow, I'm not really sure, this is just what I've gathered so I'll post a article about it.

In FFXIV, guilds delivers licences/permits to players. These illustrated (and beautiful?) cards match with the missions the character has to fulfill. The players will be able to share these permits (having the card or not) and even decide on the number of persons who can participate to the mission.



The game will be irrevelant to the level of each players but some permits can't be obtained before a definite level. These tasks would take 30min~ to be fulfilled, even if some of them will be shorter. Of course, you can carry several permits at the same time.

Passes of "trust" exists that you get from guilds

There's something called a "Leave", it isn't a quest, it's a card

Mixing your own Leaves with other players Leaves is possible

Visiting the Adventurers Guild you can obtain Guild Leaves

Even when your skill is low you can get Leaves

The approx time of completing a Leave is around 30 to 40 minutes

You're able to set who and how many can do a Leave

Even if only one player carries a Leave, other players can join regardless if they

have the Leave or not

Contests of the Leave changes every week

You can carry as many Leave cards as you want

Apperently the Guild Leaves are quite beautiful, designed like tarot cards

FFXIV sports a complex, advanced and interesting guild system. There are so called permits/licenses in the form of illustrated cards that match missions that your character has to complete. You can share these licenses, i.e having the card or not having it and also decide on how many that can be part of a mission.

The level of each player is mostly non-relevent, but some licenses has a certain level requirement. These wont take longer than 40 minutes to complete approx. Oh and you can carry several licenses at the same time.

Some of the goals of the licenses are:

Those missions will have different and various goals: monster hunting, enemies' raid, skill ups... These operations are called "etherites" (?) and will allow you to be instantly teleported to the specified area.

So, it's good to see they are finally venturing away from the up-to-21-strait-hours and normally-4/6-hour-at-a-time time sinks of FFXI. Short, but sweet, to allow you to enjoy the game, have fun, and still have a life afterwords. It will keep thinks more interesting and should allow for less frustration. The fact of teleporting to area's of interest for missions and quests seems like a nice feature as well, although I'm old fashion and like traveling about. I do hope they give us reasons to explore, and venture into new area's. Nothing beats a good old fashion dungeon crawl!


So, a quick summery I'd like to post that was written up on FFXIcore:

Summary from the interview (some of this is known since before)

The difference between the races in FFXIV isnt as big as it is in FFXI

There is a difference between females and males. What exactly is not yet known.

Cities in Eorzea are not all connected through one landmass. So its quite different than how its in FFXI.

The character creation allows you to adjust the skin, eye color, hair color, face and much more

Battles are in real-time, but a lot of focus is on strategy and execution, instead of just pure action

The main system is not to target an enemy and just attack it like in most MMOs on the market.. Much more will play into the fight than just that.

Due to how the Armory System will work out, you'll be able to carry around on tons of stuff, mules anyone?

Character growth is based on your weapon. Use a weapon to increase your power and skills.

Square Enix is working on customization so you can arrange your windows exactly the way you want them

Weapons will lose durability/power when used

Master everything or not - well, Square Enix is still debating if you'll be able to do this or not. Perhaps the same approach used in FFXI will be used here (see-saw approach).

The Guild Leaves include everything from leveling up your skills to hunting monsters.

Leave runs are easy to get to instantly by using a "ethelite".

Rimsa-Rominsa the city by the seaside has pirates

You'll begin your adventure / the game from your home city.

Even if you can only play one hour per day, you'll be able to have a lot of fun

And in closing, I would like to provide a few Relevant links that I highly recommend everyone check out. These links are as follows, and include a array of information and opinions on this very subject.

The Thread on BlueGartr.

The Information Posted on FFXIVcore, As well as here, on FFXIcore.

And of course, the relevant thread on Zam.

I'll probably be doing some editing and adding more info in coming days, so stay tuned, and thanks for reading!