Aion beginning to up the stakes... ?

...Indeed, NCSoft's "Aion", considered by many to be the main potential competition to Square Enix's upcoming FFXIV has just released a new video yestarday about major upgrades and/or expansion to their game.  While it DOES look stunningly spectacular, it still does not zero in on whether there will be improvements to the lackluster game mechanics, the overwheingly irritating RMT, the rampant botting, or the boring questing system.

That said, there are certain graphical upgrades in the video that are quite awesome concepts; like the underwater areas, swifter combat moves, and apparently even personal homes.  It's ironic that may previous blog entry was just about residential spaces... and here is Aion showing up with some very interesting stuff (watch from 3:47 on the video).



Anyway, after all is said and done, the developers at NCSoft should know that "eye-candy" can only last for so long; and if they do not fully focus on curbing the game-mechanic issues that plague the game they will have no chance of competing with FFXIV... heck, even if they did, they STILL won't have a chance of competiting xD

Eorzea: Mog Houses and Personal Residential Spaces

Will we have them in FFXIV?  And what will they be like?  How large...(can I get a sweet-looking mansion made of cedar wood?)  How interactive will they be... (can I get drunk in my MH)?   How extensively can we furnish them?

Since June, this is one topic that has raged across all the FFXIV forum boards everywhere from the States, to Europe, to Japan... and I particularly find SE's vague responses to this issue very intriguing.  I was a heavy advocate of furnishing my Mog House, and subsequently created a personal residential space that I was quite proud of.  Here are a handful of screenshots of my humble abode in FFXI...

Yeah, as you can see, I seriously took great pride in making my Mog House comfy.... (truth is, my Moogle is actually a dual-axe weilding psychotic loon who directly threatened me to make his life a luxurious affair or else...).

So will I be able to create an even much more spectacular Mog House in FFXIV like I did in FFXI?  Time will tell.

FFXIV Official Site Updated...

...Just now.

Yep.  And all the new awesome piccys on Gladiator and Puglist are there in all their lovely glory. xD

Here are a few quick images taken directly from FFXIVCore (my friends and I concur that they have proven to be the most consistent in getting FFXIV info over the last several weeks so great kudos to them for these)

And then of course this guy that just comes across as a tough as nails Templar Knight... awesome.

As always everyone, please remember that all the official videos and images from SE were used here strictly for fan purposes; and all the product, system names and/or company logos remain the registered trademarks of Square Enix.  Copyright (C) 2010  SQUARE ENIX CO. LTD. All Rights Resereved

Awesome new FFXIV Information...

...Coming up later this week in Famitsu!

Yes indeed, Zyuu's FFXIVCore  has again showed superb forwardness in beibng the first to bring us the latest leaked information from this week's Famitsu magazine.  Awesome stuff, right?  (Thx yet again to Steve Manly and the entire FFXIVCore admin crew).  Here's a screenie that they put up on their website... and yep, as always, remember that it remains the property of SquareEnix, Famitsu and FFXIVCore)

That's not all folks... apparently, there has been a rumour that has been floating around for the past week about a "Campaign Code" that Square Enix are going to enclose in Final Fantasy XIII.   A couple members on FFXIVCore had given me the heads up earlier about Zyuu's post; and after reading it, I understand that there might be an in-game special secret item which players with the code can obtain.   Even the Japanese FFXIV websites have also mentioned it in their forums (check my previous blog entry)

What this item might be is yet to be seen, but be rest assrued that I will be keeping tabs on this tit bit of information.

Great FFXIV Japanese site...

...Right here.  My japanese friends from FFXI had recently emailed me the link (thx Ludora, NejiNeji and None), and I thought I would share it with readers. 

Agreed, you'll have to use the google translator to get the gist of the information there, but it nice to just have a vague idea of what kind of discussions that our japanese colleagues are having regarding Eorzea. xD

...The scapped MMORPG called "Fortress"

...Here's something I came across today:  A few friends, colleagues and I began discussing the basic game mechanics of MMOs and somewhere along the line, "Fortress" was mentioned.   This was a MMORPG game that was initially designed by GRIN, a Swedish developer, for SquareEnix; and ironically, I had posted up on this blog a brief set of musings for this topic a while back.

A couple of my friends who hadn't heard of it made me jump on my laptop and so that I could dig up the link from my blog... and while exhibiting the images, I noticed one that apparently had a chocobo-like silhouette in it.  And it got me thinking... was "Fortress" really an independent game?   If it was; did GRIN artists just want to add the familiar "chocobo element" into it so as to make future players identify with something "Final Fantasy-ish"? Hmmmm... here.s the piccy... once again, you decide.

BTW, here are more spectacular artist renderings for this game, that sadly, might have made an interesting pasttime while waiting for FFXIV. (Remember, all images were taken from unseen64.com's article on Fortress and as usual, all the images remain their property.)

No FFXIV Info at Micromania in France...

... Yeah, the Micromania 2009 exhibition for this year ended yestarday; and yes, Square Enix were at the show but once again spent considerable time exalting FFXIII.   No new info on FFXIV (which is again understandable since FFXIII is about to be released within the next six weeks)... other than the fact that they used the oppurtunity to again prompt European clients to try and sign up for future beta information.

Ah well.

However, while we continue to wait for news on Eorzea, I wanted to briefly discuss an intriguing subject that has been nudging my mind for several weeks.   It concerns the main "waterfall" image of FFXIV... and I keep wondering if the strange looking stalagmite-like "pillars" represent something.  I've circled them in the piccy below:

Question is, knowing SE and their excellent reputation for sometimes placing "hidden" hints, could these "pillars" mean something or I'm just clutching at straws here?  (Might just be straws, yeah... and the fact that I'm kinda into "speculation mode" again.  Yeah). 

Nonetheless... if they did have a significance of some sort, what would your guess be?  That a "Temple of the Twelve" once stood there?  Or a gateway to the ethreal realm?   Perhaps it was where Ala Migho once stood?  (remember the searing light in both trailers... but if it was the cause, shouldn't the surrounding vegetation be charred?).  Meh, might mean nothing... might mean something.

You decide xD

While waiting for Micromania 2009 to commence...

...I thought I'd post up a quick comment about the striking similarities that one of the new images from SE's FFXI update had with the Disciple of War image.  Square Enix is presently updating FFXI with an update that composes of three parts; the first of which was done early this morning (the other two parts are scheduled for November 9th and then late November).

Now, with the swift and well appreciated .dat-mining work done by Tummie of the Zam forums, (yeah, he's actually on my server Garuda), I found one of the images that looked strikingly similar to each other.  See for yourself:

 Of course the FFXI version looks coarse and unrefined due to the graphical limitations, but it does show similarities in the general style, colour, helmet, leg greaves (even see the similar design in the aeration on the knee, forearm and hip areas?).  Intresting huh?  Can't wait to see how to get acquire these in-game, especially since I'm up to date with my WoTG missions.

BTW, this is primarily a FFXIV blog and even though I try to sustain a core principle of only posting FFXIV-related material (with occasional references to FFXI), I couldn't help but post up a piccy of this awesome looking weapon (which was also in the FFXI update files of this morning).  Love it.  There were also some excellent images of the .dat mining work done by wilddragon and you can view them on his blog.

Micromania Gameshow 2009 in France

Yes indeed, the 2009 Micomania Gameshow in France will hold between October 30th and November 2nd... but the real news is that not only will SquareEnix be there, apparently FFXIV will also be exhibited!  And here is a link showing the floorplan of all the attending developers and participants... considering the number of companies shows on that image, it seems like this will be more than just a tiny hub-hub of suits yakking off about gaming profits.

Naturally, the general global concensus amoungst FFXIV fans is that hopefully SE will showcase another trailer; or better yet, actual gameplay footage of Ul'Dah and Girdania {yes please}.  What will also be greatly appreciated is not only an in-depth explanation into the gameplay dynamics, economy system and even the mysteriously new approach to "guild/linkshell" system...but also a firm date on when we can all hope to see a beta launch.

Ahhh well, five more days...  

The Recommended "hardware" for FFXIV...

...Yes indeed ladies and gentlemen; today's topic is going to focus directly on the hardwar power that you will need for optimal gameplay on your PS3.

For the last four months, we have all been speculating about the software itself, and the incredible oppurtunities that the Crystal Engine gives to SE in making FFXIV a stunning masterpiece.   AQnd whenever we do happen to discuss hardware on the FFXIV forums, it's usually about what kind of PC will pack enough horsepower to run FFXIV suitably.

Today however, we're gonna focus on Sony's shiny and beastly PS3 and what the options will be for those players who want to run this game in all its spectacular glory.   To start off, three components are absolutely necessary: The television, the broadband internet connection, and of course, the console itself.   All the options listed below are suggestive

The Television:
Okay seriously... assuming that you were working on a budget and wanted a decent LCD high-definition television, a thorough search of the current sales in your local merchandise store should get you a great LCD that would easily wander into the 32-inch to 40-inch size range.   However, if funds was definitely not an issue and you wanted a seriously wicked screen that wasn't a ridiculously over-priced Bang & Olufsen, then look NO further than the Samsung LED range of televisions.

I have always LOVED energy efficient AND environmentally friendly gadgets (another of my underlying secondary reasons to have selected Girdania as my starting city)... and this television delievers.

The Console:
Sony presently have the 250GB PS3 Slim coming out November 3rd as a follow up to the 120GB they released in September:

...and Japan will also see the release of a sharp-looking FFXIII bundle in December.

Now, it's obvious that come 2010, Sony & SE are going to release a FFXIV bundle to advance the marketability of their latest mmorpg; and as a few freiends and I discussed in July, it nopt only makes sense, but it's marketing genius.  The land of Eorzea is gonna need a lotta harddrive space to store all the fascinating graphical data, and for this; some heavy HD space is not only suggested... it's mandatory.  Heck, even FFXI alone was at least 14GB

However, for those of us who have the seriously awesome first generation 60GB, here's an additional option for you that will cost roughly US$80 to US$100... and it involves boosting your HD to 500GB.    The 60GB is still considered the "best" version of the PS3 and i wholeheartedly agree not because I have one but because I know for a fact that it's a more versitile machine than its successors.   But if you have the later incarnations, fret not... this hard drive upgrade is one that thousands of PS3 owners worldwide have been doing since 2007 and the 500GB upgrade really took off almost a year ago. 

Furthermore, if you need additional support after you upgrade (because there have been very minor occasional reports of problems), then you can always check here for trouble-shooting support.  That said, here's a great guide taken from the PlayStation Network forums on how to flawlessly upograde your console (including tips on which type to buy... personally, I say select the Samsung like I did, but any of the other models on Newegg generally works fine.

Good luck with all your eelectronics/equipment selection and most definitely prepare to have serious fun when Eorzea is opened to us.