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January

Final Fantasy XIV - Sales to Resume on Jan 25

by Redglyph, Saturday - January 15, 2022 14:05

PC Invasion reports that Square Enix is working on a solution and the game should be back in digital stores soon.

Final Fantasy XIV digital sales will resume, with Home World Transfer to follow

Today brought a whopper of an update for those waiting for news on the status of Final Fantasy XIV. When the recent Endwalker expansion released, it was to the praises of fans and critics alike. Some even heralded it as the best piece of content in the entire franchise. However, Square Enix very quickly started to suffer from their own success. Login queues became so long that Final Fantasy XIV digital sales and the Home World Transfer service had to be suspended due to how congested the servers were. Thankfully though, it looks like this will be ending soon.

According to the official update, digital sales of the game will resume on January 25. Now that login queues are starting to die down, more server space has been made available. This goes hand in hand with the other big announcement in the post that an Oceania server will finally be opened. No longer will Australian players be forced to connect to servers all the way in Japan.

One thing to keep in mind though, is that it does not appear that free trials will resume when the digital sales do. As Square wants to, understandably, wait to see that the servers will remain stable. So, for people who want to start (like myself), especially if you have never played an MMO before (again, like myself) you may want to wait a little longer after the 25. In other big news, Final Fantasy XIV‘s Home World Transfer system will resume on January 26 for all players.

[...]

Final Fantasy XIV - Still Unavailable

by Redglyph, Thursday - January 13, 2022 16:55

COG reports that there are still issues with the availability of FF14.

FINAL FANTASY 14 STILL UNAVAILABLE TO NEW PLAYERS FOR ALMOST A MONTH NOW

Final Fantasy 14 is still unavailable to new players, much to their dismay. It has been nearly a whole month since devs decided to halt its sales due to widespread server congestion. Square Enix stopped sales 13 days after the early access launch of the game’s Endwalker expansion. Basically, players who do not already own the game have been locked out.

The severely long wait queues have somewhat dissipated. However, they can still go up to almost an hour in North America during weekday peak times. It can be a whole lot worse during weekends. Still, the situation is reportedly much less severe than during the expansion’s launch week. Moreover, multiple players have shared that logging into Final Fantasy 14 now is almost completely error-free.

Still, the devs are still getting a lot of flak because of what is going on. Final Fantasy 14 Director Naoki Yoshida has urged the gaming community to keep from spewing verbal abuse towards the developers.

Of course, I am thankful and grateful for players to tell us that ‘we should do this or this should be that’ and what not,” Yoshida said. “But, verbal abuses are something we wish could stop.”

The bullying within the community has apparently led some Final Fantasy 14 devs to quit their jobs. “Staff members will feel really down after getting those words when they gave their absolute best into trying to create something everyone can enjoy,” he continued. “This may end up making them no longer create things that are fun from there on.”

I have only one request to every player out there—please imagine that you are speaking face to face with a developer,” Yoshida added. “Imagine how they would feel before sending your feedback over and I will be happy if people can do so politely.”

[...]

Final Fantasy XIV - Review @ NeverKnowsBest

by Redglyph, Thursday - January 06, 2022 18:37

NeverKnowsBest posted a review after 600% (at least) of Final Fantasy 14.

Final Fantasy 14 - A Review of the new most played MMO in the world

A review of Final Fantasy 14 after 6000 hours with it, focusing on where it went right, where it still might be going wrong, and what sets it apart from other games in the genre.

  • Introduction 0:00
  • Part 1 - The early game 12:50
  • Part 2 - The story 35:45
  • Part 3 - The ARR problem 54:43
  • Part 4 - The end game 1:17:35
  • Part 4b - Raiding 1:37:39
  • Part 5 - A home you can return to 1:48:38

December

Final Fantasy XIV - Endwalker Released

by Redglyph, Tuesday - December 07, 2021 16:22

Square Enix announced that the next expansion Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, had been released.

FINAL FANTASY XIV: Endwalker is Now Available!

We are pleased to announce that FINAL FANTASY XIV: Endwalker, our fourth expansion, is now available!

Starting today, those who did not participate in the early access period can now begin their journey. We hope you enjoy everything Endwalker has to offer!

Read the 6.0 patch notes.

Read details on how to register Endwalker to your account.

* Users playing on Windows/Steam/Mac may now redeem their full registration codes to play Endwalker. As a reminder, users who registered an early access code will also need to register the full registration code to continue playing Endwalker once the early access period ends.

* PlayStation®5/PlayStation®4 users will be prompted to tie their Endwalker license to their service account the next time they log into the game.

Official trailer:

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May

Final Fantasy XIV - Endwalker Release Date: November 23

by Hiddenx, Sunday - May 16, 2021 16:43

The expansion Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker will be released on November 23:

FINAL FANTASY XIV: ENDWALKER Full Trailer

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December

Final Fantasy XIV - Difficulty Concerns Addressed

by Aubrielle, Thursday - December 24, 2015 04:14

It wasn't that people were whining about it being too hard.  Patch 3.15 seems to have been causing real problems, both for players and devs.  Patch 3.2 will address this.

Following feedback on the difficulty of content patched in since the release of Heavensward, Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida has announced that patch 3.2 will be a major rebalance. The message to the community is more of a tome, but adjustments will focus primarily on the Alexander: Gordias (Savage) raid, Exploratory Missions, and the Anima weapons that were added in patch 3.15.

Regarding the raid, Yoshida states that while the aim was to introduce a greater challenge at the request of players, the devs may have gone too far, the result being that:

  • The difficulty was high to the point that players were transferring to different Worlds in search of groups to beat it.
  • The difficulty was high to the point that players were unable to clear the content, and the time in which they were unable to obtain items grew too long.
  • Due to the severity of DPS checks, it’s not possible to supplement with item levels only.

The difficulty of the encounter will be lowered with patch 3.2, in addition to rejigging the item level of the Savage weapon concerned.

More information.

Source: PC Gamer

Final Fantasy XIV - Weddings Now Available

by Aubrielle, Thursday - December 11, 2014 09:06

Most Final Fantasy XIV players have been waiting for marriage to be implemented, and now it has.  It's highly customizable, too.

More information.

Source: Pixel Dynamo

November

Final Fantasy XIV - Barraged With DDoS Attacks

by Aubrielle, Thursday - November 20, 2014 05:51

Final Fantasy XIV's servers have sustained a barrage of DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks.  Nobody knows who's responsible, or why they're doing it.

Earlier today, reports surfaced that Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn has been under attack from a Direct (correction: Distributed) Denial of Service (DDoS) assault. A post on the game’s official site confirms the attacks, but assures players that no character or personal information has been compromised.

According to the official post, the game’s servers have been hit by “an anonymous third-party” for several days, which has affected login to the game servers in North America and Europe. To clarify, a DDoS is a targeted attack that, as the official post explains, “attemp[s] to increase the server load to an extensive level by flooding the network of the targeted servers using a massive number of computers.”

DDoS attacks are somewhat commonplace for most high-profile online systems; World of Warcraft‘s expansion launch faced a similar attack last weekend. They are usually resolved quickly, but this time around the attackers have apparently been changing their methods constantly to thwart attempts to block them from overloading the servers.

Square Enix apologized to players for the interruptions, and has assured everyone that they will “continue to monitor and work on recovery from every possible angle.” No word yet on who may be responsible for the attacks or what their ultimate goal may be.

More information.

Source: Pixel Dynamo

September

Final Fantasy XIV - Interview @ MMORPG

by Myrthos, Tuesday - September 15, 2009 23:38

An interview with community planner and service manager Robert Peeler can be found at MMORPG.com.

The next big question has been the class and leveling system. I wasn't able to get all my questions answered that I would have liked to, but I did get a lot of information that I think all of you will like to know for sure. Does this game have a leveling system? NO!! You will not progress through the game with a leveling system. This game is going to have a skill set system similar to games like Oblivion. It is not going to be tree based like Star Wars Galaxies was before the new experience launched with leveling. It was hard for Robert to describe the class/leveling system. He kept telling me how I would have to experience it myself to understand it. I am going to do my best to repeat some of the things that he told me, but I am still confused as I was not able to play the game myself. He basically showed me live game play that was pre-recorded.

August

Final Fantasy XIV - First Gameplay Footage

by Woges, Wednesday - August 19, 2009 17:30

Eurogamer are pointing to some (shaky) game footage of FFXIV.

Square Enix appears to be holding live demonstrations of Final Fantasy XIV Online at gamescom this week, as the first leaked in-game footage reveals.

Game Videos hosts the off-camera video (spotted by VG247), which shows a pretty girl/boy running round a field brandishing a bow.

He/she is joined by an armoured fighter who later stabs the dodos that the pair have been following. Combat is classic MMORPG, with definite rounds in which moves are made. It's very pretty, and complemented by equally accomplished animation.

Final Fantasy XIV - Site Update

by Myrthos, Friday - August 07, 2009 21:13

The Final Fantasy XIV site has been updated with new information on the Eorzea and its history. In addition there is more information about the job system and several new screenshots.

Final Fantasy XIV - Revealing Interview

by Woges, Monday - August 03, 2009 16:31

Blue's News points to Scawlfx for details on the in development FF MMO.

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.

Subtitled interview is on Youtube.

 

June

Final Fantasy XIV - Interview @ MMORPG

by Myrthos, Sunday - June 07, 2009 01:40

Producer Hiromichi Tanaka and director Nobuaki Komoto of Final Fantasy XIV Online were interviewed by MMORPG where they unfortunately reveal little that was not known yet.

Q: What influence has more casual games such has World of Warcraft have had on FFXI?
Komoto: While we want to make sure our players see more casual game play, we will not be a WoW clone.

Q: What features from FFXI will carry over to FFIV? Will you keep the level synch system?
Komoto: Yes, many features of FFXI will be improved upon. We want to bring content for solo players and casual players as well as large party play from the beginning of the game.

Q: Will launch and servers be global?
Tanaka: Yes, we will launch simultaneously in all regions, in English, Japanese, German and French, on both the PS3 and PC platform. Whether we will continue to have global cross region / cross platform servers remains to be seen. Players tend to congregate and play with each other, so we may designate language preferred servers. But for now, they will remain the same as FFXI

 

Final Fantasy XIV - Thoughts and Theories

by Myrthos, Sunday - June 07, 2009 01:05

The Armchair Empire have an article up on Final Fantasy XIV where they look at what's known about the game so far, what directions they think the game may go in, and what lessons Square-Enix may have learned in MMO development since the release of Final Fantasy XI.

One thing that will probably make a lot of people happy is that there are plans to completely retool how characters get stronger in FFXIV. Characters won't be gaining experience points and gaining levels here, following the contentious grinding system discussed earlier. Instead, character growth appears to be centering around weapon usage in some way. Square hasn't gone into detail as to how this works, but it does suggest that this game will step away from the level grind that many complained about in FFXI. My only concern with this is that weapons will get stronger through continued use in a fashion similar to, say, World of Warcraft. If they go this route, I fear that one form of grinding will just be replaced with another. This change in how characters get stronger could be a key feature in whether FFXIV can appeal to a wider audience like the game's developers seem to want.

Final Fantasy XIV - Announced @ E3

by Woges, Wednesday - June 03, 2009 14:42

Sony announced FFXIV for PC & PS3 at E3. Not much info at present but there is an offical site here, and the Gamespot article here.

Source: GameSpot

Information about

Final Fantasy XIV

Developer: Squaresoft

SP/MP: Massive
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: MMORPG
Combat: Unknown
Play-time: Unlimited
Voice-acting: Unknown

Regions & platforms
World
· Homepage
· Platform: PC
· Released: 2010-09-30
· Publisher: Square Enix