The standard edition is only $29.99 and the collector's edition is $47.99. If you're at all interested in Final Fantasy XIV, now might be the time to get it. Square Enix also extended the trial for yet another 30 days. As a result, the game has been free to play for a good three months since its launch.
Good news for adventurers awaiting to join Eorzea on the PlayStation 3 as director Hiromichi Tanaka has revealed that Final Fantasy XIV is right on track for its March 2011 release on Sony's console.
Speaking in an interview with Eurogamer, Tanaka said that the PC version of Final Fantasy XIV is actually running on the PS3 and that the team is currently focusing on ironing out all of the bugs.
"Our priority is to bring satisfaction to Windows players, so we're working hard on that. But as soon as we feel that's done, we will focus on the PS3 version.
That being said, the Windows version is working on PS3 at the moment. We're focusing on optimisation and adjusting the balance as well as fixing all the bugs. We would like to bring it to PS3 players as soon as possible."
With regards to the upcoming version updates, Tanaka said that you will likely notice a drastic change in the course of the next six months.
The first major update for Final Fantasy XIV is coming this month and Square Enix have released a very comprehensive list of changes that are going to be made to the game. These include fixes and changes to quests, combat, user interface and, well, pretty much everything else.
Buckle in, we're about to take a look at what's in store.
Final Fantasy XIV released and in its wake came a myriad of bugs and issues with pretty much everything about the game. The mechanics were clunky, the interface was not intuitive, the targeting system was out of this world and the market wards were a mess, just to name a few. However, Square Enix is certainly intent on fixing these issues.
Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada admitted in an investors briefing earlier today that Final Fantasy XIV has had a bit of trouble getting along with consumers saying, "We're quickly working on reforms. We'd like to put our full power into regaining trust."
Even so, Final Fantasy XIV has managed to shift a good amount of units in regards to sales. Wada revealed that Square Enix has shipped 630,000 units worldwide, 190,000 in Japan, 210,000 in North America and 230,000 in Europe.
Wada then said that many of the problems were due to expectations being high and the result did not meet said expectations.
He then added, "If we satisfy our users, they will return. On the other hand, once the users say, 'forget this,' there's no turning back. We can only recover our trust so far."
Final Fantasy XIV launched last month for PC, but not to the most warming of receptions. The game was and is still plagued by plenty of issues concerning the user interface, controls, targeting system, and so on and so forth. While the dev team is hard at work on making changes for the better, it apparently wasn't enough for one Square Enix fan.
Well that's just one person, not much of a loss is it?
Wrong.
This one very upset gamer was not just any other fan, in fact he owned millions of shares which he promptly sold after a rage quit, effectively causing Square Enix's stock value to drop. It turns out that he owned at least one percent of the company's stock, that's about $26 million worth. Square Enix's stock value dipped from a value of 1800 yen to 1735 yen.
He was quoted saying the following after what must have been the most frustrating grinding session of his life,
"First thing in the morning tomorrow, I intend to instruct those who manage my precious Square Enix stock (however little it may be) to arrange to sell all of it. To Square, thank you for the enjoyment of your products up until now, with the exception of this last one. Goodbye."
We at FFU have been playing Final Fantasy XIV since its release and while the problems are glaring, it certainly hasn't been enough to make us rage quit. Yet. Problems aside, the game is proving to be relatively fun, especially when playing within a group.
According to the dev team, improvements are being made to the user interface and the targeting system. In addition, custom key mapping will be introduced by the next major update which is scheduled for release in November.
Good news for early adopters of Square Enix's latest foray into the MMO genre. Final Fantasy XIV's free 30 day trial period has been extended by an additional 30 days, making it a total of two whole months of free play.
Square Enix announced the news today as a way of saying thanks to the community for being so vocal and providing the team with the kind of feedback needed to improve the game.
"First of all, we would like to thank you for joining us in the realm of Eorzea, and hope you are enjoying your adventures.
"Since the official launch of service on September 30, 2010, we have received a wealth of constructive feedback from the FINAL FANTASY XIV community, and the development and management teams would like to take this opportunity to express their sincerest gratitude.
"Considering the nature of much of the feedback we received, however, and the current state of the game, we have decided to extend the free trial period for all users."
Users that register their accounts before October 25 23:59 PDT will be eligible for the extension, as will players with multiple accounts and players who have already received notification via email that the trial period is over.
I think we've had a fair bit of news this week. Although most of them concern FFXIV, but that's no real surprise since it is Square Enix's next major release. Don't forget that it's out September 30, at least on PC.
First bit of news this week, Square Enix revealed Final Fantasy Legends: Warrior of Light and Darkness. Now that's an IP that was trademarked a while ago, but we had no idea what it was until this week. Apparently it's a title that looks to bring the classic Final Fantasy experience to cell phones, at least in Japan. No word on any North American release.
Rumours about FFXIII being released on the Xbox 360 in Japan hit the webs too. Although to be honest it doesn't really make all that much sense from a business perspective. The 360 isn't exactly doing very well in Japan and most people looking to get it would've gotten the long since released PlayStation 3 version.
Final Fantasy XIV will launch with 18 different classes that can be mixed and matched all in one character. This information is readily available on the official site but it's nice to have confirmation that all will be available at launch. The current beta only allows for a couple of these classes but Square Enix is looking to add more once the game hits retailers worldwide.
The classes are a good mix of combat, magic, gathering and crafting roles. Combatants are called the Disciples of War and include the Pugilist, Gladiator, Marauder, Archer and Lancer. The magi are aptly named the Disciples of Magic and there only two of them, the Conjurer and Thaumaturge. Gatherers, Disciples of The Land, include the Miner, Botanist and Fisherman. The real kicker are the crafters, dubbed the Disciples of The Hand, tallying up to a total of eight different branches: Carpenter, Blacksmith, Armourer, Goldsmith, Leather Worker, Weaver, Alchemist and Culinarian.
Seems like the crafters play a rather significant role in the world of Eorzea. With the use of Final Fantasy XIV's Armoury system, players are capable of specializing in either a single skill or mixing them up to suit their fancy. These 18 classes should be plenty to keep Eorzeans busy once the game releases, if not, director Hiromichi Tanaka does mention that they'll be adding even more after the PC release of September 30.
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