Final Fantasy XIV image dump shows familiar character art
by Griffin McElroy 
on Aug 7th 2009 2:30PM
45
Reader Comments (45)
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 2:35PM RobS the 3rd said
You know, with this we're only six games away from having Final Fantasy XX, and that makes me feel old.
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 2:41PM Wiizer said
How much are they paying you, sting?
I'm sure I can match their offer to make you stop.
I'm sure I can match their offer to make you stop.
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 2:44PM KinseySS said
greatest summary ever spyder!
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 2:45PM Ballistic3188 said
i don't know what to think of this mmo. I really need to know how this no leveling business pan out and what the would some of the profession do in what has been a mostly dungeon crawling game. like cooking really how are you gonna battle?
My biggest hope is that they move very very far away from the orginal FFX1model. massive grinding, spawn camping on monsters that spawn once every few hours/days/week, nonsoloable, negative levels (i guess this is gone), japanese/american rifts, and that fabled 23 hour long boss battle.
My biggest hope is that they move very very far away from the orginal FFX1model. massive grinding, spawn camping on monsters that spawn once every few hours/days/week, nonsoloable, negative levels (i guess this is gone), japanese/american rifts, and that fabled 23 hour long boss battle.
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 2:56PM Wiizer said
What I'm hoping the system will look like is that of Final Fantasy Tactics...
http://ffta2.ffsky.cn/image/job.jpg
Pic's from Tactics Advanced, but the goal is the same: level up a mix of jobs in order to get a better option, such as leveling up a black and white mage to become a Summoner.
The only problem with this is within a party, some may want you to roll the same job to help them reach the job class they want...
Reply
http://ffta2.ffsky.cn/image/job.jpg
Pic's from Tactics Advanced, but the goal is the same: level up a mix of jobs in order to get a better option, such as leveling up a black and white mage to become a Summoner.
The only problem with this is within a party, some may want you to roll the same job to help them reach the job class they want...
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 2:52PM emperorzeroxx said
The graphics are looking pretty nice, hopefully some new gameplay will be added, but if it's generally the same thing I would be alright with it as long as they do not have exp loss again... ohh they need to add more types of mounts, especially flying kind, (black chocobo's!!)
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 2:52PM eat it said
I'm surprised you haven't been banned yet
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 2:56PM Cru said
Looks like they allowed the elves to be just one shade darker.. a little less of square's porcelain fantasies.
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 2:59PM (Unverified) said
I'm somewhat disappointed that the not-Mithra are have distinctly less cat-like facial features. It made them stand out from the generic manga/anime catgirl aesthetic. Now they're just girls with cat ears.
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 3:01PM StormEagle said
I for one, am a huge fan of girls with cat ears.
meOW!
Ahem. Sorry.
Reply
meOW!
Ahem. Sorry.
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 3:37PM The Blank Mage Returns said
I believe I made my opinion known in the Darkstalkers post.
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Posted: Aug 7th 2009 8:49PM RogueJedi86 said
Maybe you didn't notice their big vertical slit cat eyes. That's very striking.
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Posted: Aug 7th 2009 3:00PM StormEagle said
I've been thinking the same thing all day.
Why DO you have a link to the official Wet website in every one of your posts?
Why DO you have a link to the official Wet website in every one of your posts?
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 3:06PM Snowblind said
Sounds like they're doing some interesting things with this and getting rid of a lot of bad MMO conventions that should have died out a long time ago. Hopefully the subscription fee goes along with them.
I don't really like the style of XI though, I thought it was very bland and the character designs are just awful, so it's a little disappointing to see them continuing with that. Having it set in the Ivalice world, or even the Crystal Chronicles universe would have been better, in my opinion.. Both of those have far more interesting races, etc.
I don't really like the style of XI though, I thought it was very bland and the character designs are just awful, so it's a little disappointing to see them continuing with that. Having it set in the Ivalice world, or even the Crystal Chronicles universe would have been better, in my opinion.. Both of those have far more interesting races, etc.
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 6:09PM (Unverified) said
Even better, following the Fabula Nova Crystallis.
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Posted: Aug 7th 2009 8:50PM RogueJedi86 said
If it helps, the Art Director for XIV was also the Character Designer and Background Designer for FFXII(part of the Ivalice Alliance), so maybe it will share some similarities to Ivalice's look.
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Posted: Aug 7th 2009 3:39PM The Blank Mage Returns said
I can't wait-taru!
Oh God damn it. I just managed to stop doing that, too.
Oh God damn it. I just managed to stop doing that, too.
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 3:43PM Coldbrand said
There are actually some pretty significant changes between all of the races visually. The Mithra and Mi'qote especially (no cat noses, major change in their skin and ears), and Roegadyn no longer even have their Galkan look-alike's tails. Elezen are far more wirey and thin than the Elvaan who were very muscular. Lalafell look more like young human children than the tarutaru and their acorn noses.
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 4:01PM Gaddes said
The only difference I see with the Elzen is that their necks aren't dhalmel-long anymore. They still look 7 feet tall, and their proportions otherwise are very close. Galka look identical except for the lack of tail. the Mithra and Tarus are probably the only races that look noticeably different to me.
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Posted: Aug 7th 2009 3:47PM (Unverified) said
As dissappointed as I am to see this is nothing but FFXI.5 I'm even more disappointed by the fact that I'll most likely end up playing this. :S
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 3:56PM Gaddes said
Wow, this really is turning into some kind of FFXI-2... but I'm not complaining! If I could get a gorgeous re-rendering of FFXI without level-grindan and with a wealth of customization, I will be ecstatic.
... I just won't be able to call any of these things by their XIV names because those are clumsy and difficult to say. Can't wait to resurrect my Elvaan on a PS3 in glorious HD!
... I just won't be able to call any of these things by their XIV names because those are clumsy and difficult to say. Can't wait to resurrect my Elvaan on a PS3 in glorious HD!
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 4:22PM Shay3838 said
Geh, once again they're not trying to go for an overly-stylized look.
WoW is always going to look very nice despite its age because it has such a great art direction.
Super-realistic styles age faster as technology improves. Normally I don't gripe about graphics, but if the game is going to run with graphics that heavy, I imagine the game is going to suffer the same "invisible character model" problems that plague FFXI's endgame and major fights such as Besieged.
WoW is always going to look very nice despite its age because it has such a great art direction.
Super-realistic styles age faster as technology improves. Normally I don't gripe about graphics, but if the game is going to run with graphics that heavy, I imagine the game is going to suffer the same "invisible character model" problems that plague FFXI's endgame and major fights such as Besieged.
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 5:54PM Gaddes said
I think the style thing is very subjective. I personally never felt the desire to get into WoW because I didn't like the design or the color palette. When I look at both games, honestly they both seem to have aged the same to me graphics-wise. But again, this opinion will vary from person to person.
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Posted: Aug 7th 2009 8:55PM RogueJedi86 said
I always thought FFXI was very stylized. The focus more on the art and less on polygons made it age very well. On the other hand, when I look at WoW I see nothing but blocky polygon characters and environments. XIV looks to be doing the stylized look of XI too.
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Posted: Aug 7th 2009 9:23PM Shay3838 said
Saying FFXI focused on art versus polygons is completely wrong. It's poly-count is quite impressive, but because of that in instances where many models needed to be drawn, in Besieged as I said, character models would simply vanish, and in cases like Dynamis, if a player's model vanishes from your game because there's not enough memory to display him and you need to raise him, he's FUBAR. That said, FFXI's art direction was a realistic approach to fantasy, which in my opinion completely defeats the purpose. Not only that, but environments, having to stick with what might exist in real life made most zones in FFXI to be either boring dirt and stone, or grass and jagged gray rock. Few areas go beyond those, with the sanctuary of zi'tah of particular note. Even the zones that take you to fantastical environments are just the Zilart-built structures, which are just sheet-white buildings who's baths are identical and easy to get lost in because they were devoid of variety.
WoW's poly count is nothing special, but it has an incredible array of settings (which playing the devil's advocate become less varied as you head further from your starting town.) and doesn't try to mimic realistic aesthetics. What you get is a colorful exaggerated world, compared to FFXI's muddy overly-brown and gray environments.
FFXI succeeds however in battle and animation. Spells have gorgeous animations and weapon skills are elaborate and very flashy. What's a shame is that FFXI's framerate is maxed at 30 to optimize performance, so unless you watch some of the cooler ones (I'm particularly fond of the pole arm weapon skill animations) in a model viewer, they're under-appreciated.
I still think FFXIV will fail to do anything other than shift over the FFXI players to new material, because after playing FFXI for several years now, I find the more casual and player-friendly nature of WoW extremely appealing. FFXI is a game that caters to those looking for a challenge, and I think SE is better off maintaining their status of making MMO's for the hardcore. I'll play it, but if they once again punish you for trying to play solo, I won't stick around for 5 years as I did for XI.
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WoW's poly count is nothing special, but it has an incredible array of settings (which playing the devil's advocate become less varied as you head further from your starting town.) and doesn't try to mimic realistic aesthetics. What you get is a colorful exaggerated world, compared to FFXI's muddy overly-brown and gray environments.
FFXI succeeds however in battle and animation. Spells have gorgeous animations and weapon skills are elaborate and very flashy. What's a shame is that FFXI's framerate is maxed at 30 to optimize performance, so unless you watch some of the cooler ones (I'm particularly fond of the pole arm weapon skill animations) in a model viewer, they're under-appreciated.
I still think FFXIV will fail to do anything other than shift over the FFXI players to new material, because after playing FFXI for several years now, I find the more casual and player-friendly nature of WoW extremely appealing. FFXI is a game that caters to those looking for a challenge, and I think SE is better off maintaining their status of making MMO's for the hardcore. I'll play it, but if they once again punish you for trying to play solo, I won't stick around for 5 years as I did for XI.
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 4:32PM jhowlett said
the link is part of a contest for the game. i was clicking the links for people but this guy is going overboard and isn't adding to a discussion.
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 4:57PM WPstart said
Is the game set in the same world as Xi?
Each new numbered game is supposed to be different. Would be better off calling it XI-2 or something.
Each new numbered game is supposed to be different. Would be better off calling it XI-2 or something.
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 8:53PM RogueJedi86 said
It's a new world. It takes place in the land of Eorzea on the world of Haiderin.
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Posted: Aug 7th 2009 5:09PM Bolts said
at least you got something out of the game
I paid $60 for a copy of it, got bored after a week, tried to come back 3 months later, and Square said that my account had been permanently deleted because of the inactivity and I had to BUY A NEW COPY OF THE GAME in order to play it again
Even now, there's a room full of japanese businessmen boggling over why FF11 does poorly in every region where World of Warcraft is available
I paid $60 for a copy of it, got bored after a week, tried to come back 3 months later, and Square said that my account had been permanently deleted because of the inactivity and I had to BUY A NEW COPY OF THE GAME in order to play it again
Even now, there's a room full of japanese businessmen boggling over why FF11 does poorly in every region where World of Warcraft is available
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 6:11PM (Unverified) said
After seeing the sophisticated technology and politics with XII, I really can't go back to this medieval setting.
Sorry, I'm still recovering from having my brains blown out from FFXIII's cities.
Sorry, I'm still recovering from having my brains blown out from FFXIII's cities.
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 6:13PM (Unverified) said
Ack, the little characters demonstrate well the fact you should NEVER make anime style faces too realistic looking. It's scary!
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 8:17PM Spiritsnare said
The updated Taru are nothing compared to the entirety of Star Ocean 4.
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Posted: Aug 7th 2009 6:14PM Captain Planet Planeteer Power said
Hey sting, I found something to help you out from all the Bethesda dick you're smoking...
http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=694143
And conveniently, it's from Dick's Sporting Goods.
http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=694143
And conveniently, it's from Dick's Sporting Goods.
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 6:49PM (Unverified) said
i check the website yesterday before it got on here they send me updates and these charecters look just like the ones in FFXI elevaan male and female tarutaru male and female and humans male and female and galka and mithra just on this ones have diffirent name lol but still cool tho. i been playing FFXI since day 1 but i might be changing to this depending how it is when beta come's out.
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 6:53PM (Unverified) said
Will this be the game that finally gets me off WoW? I so hope so
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 8:57PM RogueJedi86 said
I'm with you on being impressed by XIV, Spyder. I'm deadset on TOR, it'll be my next MMO. I was ignoring XIV, but the recent XIV info in the past few days has made me want to play XIV a little too.
Posted: Aug 7th 2009 11:27PM Gaming 4 Jesus said
I am very excited for this game. Was a big fan of XI. My only four wishes:
1) Please put in more character customization options.
2) Please put in a more diverse library of gear.
3) Please try to support both group- and solo-play.
4) PLEASE give North America its own servers.
1) Please put in more character customization options.
2) Please put in a more diverse library of gear.
3) Please try to support both group- and solo-play.
4) PLEASE give North America its own servers.
Posted: Aug 8th 2009 12:30AM I AM IRONHIDE said
fuckin poop mcdougle
Posted: Aug 8th 2009 5:16AM (Unverified) said
America will get its own servers when they pull their heads out of their asses and stop playing WoW.
YAY FFXIV! -pants explode-
YAY FFXIV! -pants explode-
Posted: Aug 8th 2009 4:20PM NumberZero said
So anyone else who has FFXI have trouble updating their card info since the new secure service was added to FFXI? I have that service and it won't let me update my card for it. I hope FFXIV has this fixed.
Can't wait for this.
Can't wait for this.
Posted: Aug 9th 2009 10:27PM (Unverified) said
Is the second Miqote in the gallery; the one with the white hair and flat chest a Male?
Because I noticed that every picture of males in this gallery are named as the respective races, only with either 'm' for males and 'f' for females.. the first Miqote picture has 'f', where as the second picture doesn't o.O
If so.. that's awesome heh I've always wanted to be a male Mithra in FFXI and not a.. manthra xD
Because I noticed that every picture of males in this gallery are named as the respective races, only with either 'm' for males and 'f' for females.. the first Miqote picture has 'f', where as the second picture doesn't o.O
If so.. that's awesome heh I've always wanted to be a male Mithra in FFXI and not a.. manthra xD
Posted: Aug 22nd 2009 5:02AM (Unverified) said
We reported Final Fantasy XIV in our tech show and I must say that I'm so excited to get my hands on this game.
http://www.techconclave.com/episode-11-kodak-zi8-the-pirate-bay-in-the-netherlands-final-fantasy-xiv-microsoft-store-twitter-ddos-and-richard-dows/
The trailer wasnt so exciting in my opinion but the characters and the rendering of its world is very nice.
I hope it's better than World of Warcraft. It should be better. It's Final Fantasy.
http://www.techconclave.com/episode-11-kodak-zi8-the-pirate-bay-in-the-netherlands-final-fantasy-xiv-microsoft-store-twitter-ddos-and-richard-dows/
The trailer wasnt so exciting in my opinion but the characters and the rendering of its world is very nice.
I hope it's better than World of Warcraft. It should be better. It's Final Fantasy.
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