FFXIV: A Realm Reborn Images from Gamescon 2012!

It's 5.38 am here and like I've been saying, Yoshi-P and his crew will bring the noise at Gamescon 2012, and indeed they have!

Also, for the duration of Gamescon, I'm switching my blog's BGM to the song "Full Sail" by Ryan Farrish... my way of urging the entire development team to keep sailing full ahead with  FFXIV: ARR.   Hail the new beginning... highly fitting, yes?

Anyway, here are the first fresh new images directly from Gamescon 2012, all from the Game Watch website.  I'm too speechless right now to say nada... let the images speak for themselves...

Jumping chocobos...

And the RSE (Race Specific equipment) for Elezen is simply beautiful... I'll proudly rock those all day...

Ahhh yes... could this next one possibly be the Qiqirn Black Market?  They do love their shinies...

That last image of a huge skeleton reminds me of Leviathan... or could it be another of the Sharlayan dragons that got killed in the opening CG?

***Update @ 11.18 am***  First video footage of actual gameplay, running beautifully...

Here's is the original version of the presentation which is rendered inmuch lower quality

And Neorei on the Lodestone forums got a quick snapshot of Yoshi sporting an awesome T-Shirt.  Yep, highly fitting view to all the nay-sayers... all you muppets will continue to only  see his back as he and his team leave you in the dust...

In the meantime, I'm steering very clear of any of the negative posts on the Lodestone and commenting only on solid positive feedback.  Any of the lil' bastids who don't like this game need to bugger off... NOW.  I know all the decent MMORPGs currently on the market and I'm still convinced that FFXIV: AAR vapourizes the competition.

I'll continue to update as I get more info...

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) 2010-2012 SQUARE ENIX CO. LTD. All Rights Reserved

Patch 1.23a goes live

Yep... Read all the patch notes on the Lodestone.   This is perfect timing because Gamescon is about to start and my cousins in Europe said excitement is high to see what 2.0 has to offer.  I'll do my best to keep you all posted on that as well.

But going back to the patch's contents, like many of us predicted, it seems our bad guy Nael is back and we also now have none other than the great "Regulator of Time and Space"  from a few of the Final Fantasy titles... Atomos!

I remember he was the "Regulator, Distorter or Devourer" of Time and Space in FFXI (Wings of The Goddess expansion) and I was able to find one of the concept art with the young Lord Excenmille  (from the final fantasy wikia -- all credit to them for the image below)

Anyway, this patch should prove to be quite interesting as we get to see more of the Dalamud saga unfold... time for me to go start the download, and I'll update as I progress through more of the missions (spoiler free).


***Update***

Stunning new cutscenes were added in the patch, including another fun trip for me to re-visit all the god stones... glad I took pics when I did then last week because now all the locations are all congested with players.

Also of importance to note are the awesome weather effects that echo the Aurora, similar to what we see in real life to the north Finland and the Scandanavian regions.  But more intriguing is the fact that the imperial ships (that myself and tons of other players initially sighted over Mor Dhona and Coerthas) is now being sighted right over my beloved Limsa!

In fact, they can be seen directly from inside the city.  Saw them first right over the  Mizzenmast and then they flew towards the docks...

Then they flew a little further towards the edge of town... and the weather got foreboding as nightfall began to set... like a thunderstorm was coming.  At this time, the only way for me to get a better view was to grab Pharaoh (my chocobo) and race to the outskirts of the city... only to find them circling BACK into the city limits...

I intend to investigate the other two cities once I get a moment but before that, here is another thing I found very mysterious... perhaps I was just imagining this or it's just the time of day: but I noticed that as the three imperial ships were flying overhead, the main Aetheryte crystal in central Limsa seemed to have lost some of its luster...

Or am I tripping?  Strangely enough, all these occurances around Limsa also had me digging into the Limsa storyline for clues (had to research them online cuz I completed the Gridania ones due to my initial choice of city-state).  And that brought me back to thinking about Travanchet yet again.

Many readers are of course familiar with him, especially those familiar with the lore for Limsa.   However, Travanchet (an Elezen, of course) really continues to remain a mystery because of his strange dialogue and wicked display of power.  This enigmatic chap shows up in the early parts of the tale, does some crazy teleportation skills, grabs a certain key and... swiftly melts off into the shadows.  Oh yeah... that's another thing... he doesn't have a shadow.

Odd innit?  And for a short while I was even convinced he was either Darnus or in lieu with him... but a lot of my personal speculations leading towards this conclusion just didn't add up.  But still... who the bloody heck is this guy?

Anyway, be rest assured, more speculations and pictures shall be coming over the next few hours...be well everyone

New 2.0 Trailer Revamped!

... And Yoshi-P explains the details and concepts behind the tweaking of the trailer in his 33rd letter on the Lodestone.  Excellent new information and Patch 1.23a goes live next  Monday on August 13th.  But first, the new trailer...



I like this voice over much better and the whole video feels much more like a Final Fantasy trailer.  By the way, I wonder if their PR department are going to eventually bring out a new commercial like the one they did back in 2010...



That's all for now great people and thank you for your awesome comments via email... much appreciated!   I also went ahead and edited this blog post after reading Yelta's keen comments below and discussing an idea with a few friends in-game.

Basically, its something that I have been wondering about recently ... and after watching the above commercial yet again, it got me thinking about how linkshell-specfic gear could help exhibit the sense of unity we see in the video.

'Course, it got me wanting to sketch the beginnings of the idea in my head and I thought... "Ello ello, this suggestion should also go on the Lodestone, innit?".  Here are some of the sketches (please remember that the Final Fantasy XI and XIII-2 images used below remain the sole property of Square Enix; while the hand-sketches are entirely mine and should therefore be adequately credited if used for FFXIV-fan related stuff.  Much thanks)

 This first one was derived from Lightning's wicked "goddess armour" in FFXIII-2

The other idea I sketched up was the "shoulder shield + arm gauntlet combo" which I derived from the Nuevo Cosette armour in FFXI

So yeah, like I posed the question to the devs on the suggestion board... are these feasible? Can we have these happen, Yoshi-P?

Until later, be well everyone.