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Zyuu
09-03-2009, 03:22 PM
We just translated the latest Famitsu magazine which we scanned today in Japan. There's a lot of interesting information and the scans in our news below.

FFXIVCore.com - Final Fantasy XIV Fansite (http://www.ffxivcore.com/index.php?/topic/1046-from-famitsu-09032009/)

Points to notice in this week's edition are:



A few more comments about the armory system (they're really just chipping away at the veil on this, aren't they?)
Some added monster pictures and comments about their history in the series
A step-by-step look at the progression of a guildleve
Closer pictures of the battle guages
A FAMITSU EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Hiromichi Tanaka with information on the game's progress
Hints that player tests may begin in the near future?
A nifty conclusion that sums up the author's impressions

Loony BoB
09-04-2009, 09:49 AM
Can you qoute the information with a link rather than just linking your site? It comes across more like an advertisement for your site than a news update, and I can't go to the page from my work anyway as your site is blocked here. :p

Zyuu
09-09-2009, 05:09 PM
Sure, I will do that in the future. Here's some more new info, leaked from Famitsu:


* Necklaces, belts, and rings, unlike XI, will be reflected graphically when equipped
* It seems as though westerners translated my comments as “everything would be seamless” but in actuality not everything from towns and the worlds will be seamless
* Seamless movement in an area equivalent to the size of a region in XI will be possible.
* You will be able to draw weapons in towns.
* Battles with enemies will take into account front/back/left/right positioning. Haven’t thought about elevation effects
* Characters will not age, however, you will be able to change your hairstyle
* Deterioration of weapons may be reflected graphically as well
* Translated in the west as fully voiced, but not all NPCs will have voice
* Etherlite (sp?) is not just a warp device, but can also be a place for people to gather
* Character movement utilizes motion capture. Was not used at all in XI
* Character’s visual expressions will also change during the game
* Basic play will be in windowed mode, rather than full screen mode for PC version
* Miquottes only have ears above (positioning?). Some Miquotte will have glasses like Humans (forget what they’re actually called) but please don’t ask why they can wear glasses (probably due to ear stem positioning vs. ear position)
* Tanaka: Even with this, graphics are at around 50%. Please look forward to the graphical aspect

FFXIVCore.com - Final Fantasy XIV Fansite (http://www.ffxivcore.com/index.php?/topic/1195-new-leaked-information-from-famitsu/)

Loony BoB
09-11-2009, 09:48 AM
I approve of windowed being the default. Motion capture is interesting, slightly, but overall I don't think it'll make a dramatic change. I wonder how they did motion capture for catpeople and galkapeople? Tails make a big difference for the former, and the sheer size of the latter would naturally adjust movement. Again, though, don't think I'll think much about it once playing >_>

I think people will gather wherever they want to gather, really, so unless there is a designed benefit for being close to a warp device, the statement there is kind of redundant as anywhere is a place where people can gather, surely? :p

Happy that weapon deterioration will be shown graphically. Interested in what drawing weapons in towns will lead to - PVP fights in-town or something? Otherwise, again, it could end up being redundant. Unless of course mobs can enter towns...

I'm glad characters won't age. That would be terrible.

I love that battles will take into account your position to the enemy.

And finally, while obviously it would be neat to be 100% seamless, region-zoning is still far, far better than area-zoning.

Zyuu
09-11-2009, 09:59 AM
We just translated the new Dengeki:


Today's interview is probably what the leaked infomation mentioned in earlier. The site must have misattributed the information to Famitsu, when it's actually from Dengeki. Not that this is important, though. YOU CAME HERE FOR FACTS.

The interview covers a wide range of topics, such as:


Stronger, more impressive graphics
What equipment on a character will be shown
The extent of FFXIV's seamlessness
Weather
Position in battles
Effect of camping on server strain
Chocobos
Weapon and armor durability and repair
Crafters and their relation to durability
Crafted item customization
Possibility of a return of a player residence
Guildleves, Aetherite, Guildleves!



Scans up shortly!

Head-on interview with Mr. Tanaka and Mr. Kawamoto, the two key men in FFXIV’s development.

Our interviewer asked these developers questions about the content revealed at the playable version of FFXIV presented at Gamescom in Germany.

Left: FFXIV Producer Hiromichi Tanaka
Also produced Japan’s first MMORPG, FFXI. Other achievements include FFI and II, SaGa2 and Chrono Cross.

Right: FFXIV Director Nobuaki Kawamoto
Kawamoto is once again taking the helm as director for FFXIV. Other achievements include Chocobo’s Mysterious Dungeon 2 and, of course, FFXI.

New Information!

Today’s interview with the creators is about the guildleves and armory system that Square Enix has been releasing information for bit by bit. Today’s interview is with Kawamoto, the center of FFXIV’s development.

More powerful graphics made possible by the strength of PS3 and PC

Dengeki (below: DG): Thanks for your work in Germany. We were pleasantly surprised that there was a playable version available there; we didn’t think there would be one.
Hiromichi Tanaka (below:HT): Thanks to Kawamoto’s hard work, we were just barely able to make it out in time.
DG: First, can you tell us what the biggest difference between FFXI and FFXIV will be?
Nobuaki Kawamoto (below:NK): It’s got to be “guildleves.” There’s a goal, and you gather people to achieve it. That would be the greatest difference at this time: the possibility of enjoying a different way to play. The next would be the changing of abilities by simply switching weapons through the “armory system.” You could say it’s like we took the idea of the FFXI system and developed it even further.
HT: In the same way, though the characters shown up to this point were made to resemble those in FFXI, an even greater degree of variation is possible this time around.

DG: Will neck and waist equipment be reflected in the graphics?
NK: We’re still deciding on what things will be represented graphically that we didn’t show in FFXI, but there may even be things shown that weren’t in FFXI.
HT: There was even talk about making ring graphics! (He laughs)
NK: We’re still discussing which areas will appear.

DG: Is it true that movement between areas will be seamless?
NK: This information has often been mistranslated, saying things that no matter how far in the world you go, there will be no fade effect. This isn’t the case. The areas are now wider (about the size of regions in FFXI), but there is a bit of loading between those areas. Even so, just because the areas are wider doesn’t mean the monsters will chase you as far as you can go.

DG: But there’s no difference between the residential areas and the battlefields?
NK: I guess the only real difference between those areas are whether there are enemies present or not. There are cities, of course, but just like the way Aetherite is placed everywhere, there will also be areas set up to gather and talk to other players outside of the cities.

DG: Can you unsheathe your weapons in cities?
NK: Yes. In FFXI, it was not possible to auto-attack in cities, so you couldn’t draw weapons. In FFXIV, though, if you want to draw, you can.

DG: Will weather’s effects on your character be portrayed realistically?
NK: We’ve aimed for realism with the weather, so even if you’re excited to be in an area at first, after a while you may feel that you don’t want to go there anymore. Consequently, weather will have an effect on your character, but it will be more of a game-related aspect. However, there will not be elemental weather like the kind seen in FFXI.

DG: The message “attack from the right” appeared on the battle screen, but will elevation have any effect on battle?
NK: We thought this time we’d like to try and have a battle system where positioning was important, but because the areas in which using elevation in battle are limited, we decided not to get that specific.
HT: Getting into the best position to fight an opponent (camping, perhaps) is very important in this game. If we added elevation into it, it would probably most likely be abused.

DG: If camping comes into play, won’t there be lag issues?
NK: Thanks to my experience with FFXI, I think I’ve been able to learn the games limits in areas like that, so I think it will be all right.

All adventures start from Aetherite.

DG: Aetherite seems to be a very important structure in this game, but would it be best to think of this as a method of transportation?
NK: Its primary function is a gathering spot. It is where adventures begin and adventurers gather. Transportation is its secondary function. Since it’s a warp point, people will naturally gather there. That’s the image we’re going for.

DG: So will players be able to use it for transportation between cities, transportation to battles, to guildleve starting points, and so on?
NK: That’s right.

DG: I’m sure chocobos will also be a form of transportation, but then how would you separate when to use each of the two?
NK: We’re still considering whether or not to use chocobos as transportation. Chocobos are, after all, a symbol of the franchise; we’re trying to bring them into the game in a way the players will accept and enjoy.

DG: Weapons will deteriorate, but will characters age?
NK: We hadn’t thought of that! (He laughs) They won’t age, but you may be able to change their hairstyle.

DG: This is something you’ve been thinking about putting in the game?
NK: Changing hairstyle, yes. We haven’t put any thought about changing faces, however. If we went that far, players wouldn’t know what to focus on to identify a character. We’re taking players’ ideas into account and carefully considering them during the creation process.

DG: About the NPCs having English voices during cut scenes: will most of the game have voice acting?
NK: No, and not even all the cut scenes will be voiced. We’ve limited the voice work to scenes that have a certain level of importance to the plot or where we want you to focus on the video. Basically, when we want you to focus on the video instead of reading, we thought it’d be better to add voice, even if it’s in English.

DG: Will all the voices be in English?
NK: I think people have the impression that there’s a lot more voice used in the game than we actually have planned. We’re continually adding to the story, so translating and recording all these additions would take a lot of time. We’d like to keep a steady pace for the version-ups. With the current proposal and what we’d be able to do with our time constraints, we came to the decision not to voice the entire game.

DG: Now that weapons have durability, will it be represented graphically?
NK: It’s under consideration. We’ll decide after we’ve tried a few different things.

DG: Having to learn how to take care of your weapon is a really interesting idea.
NK: Though I said that “Aetherite” existed as a meeting point, it is also a place where blacksmith and adventures can meet up. It would be a burden to go back to the city to fix, but maybe there is somebody who can fix it at “Aetherite”. I’d like to offer users places to encounter.

DG:Are you going to introduce something like “Search Comment” in FFXI as means of communication?
NK:Yeah. I’d like to keep things established in FFXI. There are other things in mind too.

DG:Do you think you’d introduce systems like signs of craftsman seen in other games?
NK: I’d think about introducing after seeing how people like them after they played for a while.

DG:Can we fix in shops? I have image that fix is done by blacksmith players.
NK: If there is nobody, then maybe. It would be horrible if there were nobody to fix it (he laughs).

DG:Not only weapons but do shields also break?
NK: Both of weapons and shields are consumption articles.
HT:It’d be difficult to exchange items which are broken or exhausted between users. The price of new and consumed ones will be of course different.
NK:Items may not be fixed depending on the skill of blacksmith. But it never happens that item will be broken because of that.

DG:Customizing colors of armament would be possible by craftsman?
NK:Yeah, craftsman can design colors to sell more. There will be more items which have same ability but are different colors. A lot of color variations already exist.

DG:Can you put emblem on?
NK: I’d like to make it happen someday.

DG:Because of “Armory System,” we can’t attack if we become craftsman? Like, attack with sewing materials?
NK: Not sure about sewing materials,lol But, we are planning to make minimum abilities for battles at least. Of course it is not much compared to their own professional ability.

DG:So then it is not that we can’t do anything other than our profession, though we are quite specialized with each class?
NK:No. It’d be important what kind of ability should be added.

DG: Is there no places like moghouse due to the introduction of “Armor System”?
NK:In FFXI, Moghouse functioned as a place for job change. However, since you have to go back to town for it, there are too many people in town. That’s why we introduced “Aetherite”.

DG: Then, “Aetherite” will replace Moghouse?
NK: yeah, right.

DG: Are there normal houses?
NK:I think so.

Close to Adventurers: Guildleve
DG: Is there places like pub where adventurers gather?
NK: Adventurer’s Guild, where you can get Guildleve, would function like that. You can get many Guilleaves and go to Aetherite to play for days, or you can play at Guildleve with other uses.

DG: Guildleve is shown as a card. Is it like item that you can possess?
NK:There is a frame only for Guildleve. It is more like a plate than a card. You can regard it as a pass which shows what you can do on that field.

DG: If someone has Guildleve, others can play with him?
NK:yes. You can join even if you don’t have it. There are some special Guildleve that is only accessible when you cleared certain conditions.

DG: Is it possible to play the game without using Guildleve?
NK:Guildleve is like hunting in FFXI. So it would be very everyday thing like hunting monsters to level up. It is not, of course, mandatory though.

DG: Are there Guildleves to skill up like hunting MN in FFXI?
NK:Yes. You can brush your skill up by just playing Guildleves. Just heightening level has no end. That’s why there are time limits and uses have to change with other users from Aetherite.

DG: How long does Guildleve for one player take?
NK:30 minutes for one Guildleve.

DG: Can you get Guildleve in many places or only at a certain place?
NK:Only in Adventurer’s Guild. But as I said, you can play Guildleve even if you don’t have it, so you can just log in an off the Aetherite too.

DG: Will there be official events in public?
NK:That’d be fun, though we are not sure about it at this second yet.

DG: Is Security Token necessary?
HT: You need Square Unix ID, but not security token.

DG: At the event in Germany, mouse and keyboard were used. What would it be like to play with controllers?
NK:It would be similar to FFXI.

DG: Can we change the font size like window’s sizes?
NK:Eventually.

DG: Window mode would be added in Window’s version?
NK:Window mode would be basic rather than full screen.

DG: What are Mikotte’s ears parts( places hidden in hairs) like?
NK:Only upper ears, same as Misla.
HT:But the edge of eyeglasses are not on upper ears,lol oops, please don’t ask me about it anymore.

DG: Does Rugadin have a tail?
NK:Rugadin was created as a new creature in this world.

DG: The action scene looks so smooth!
NK:Yeah, I thought the smoothness of action scene was very characteristic of this game. Expression changed a lot by the shift of Misla to Mikotte.

DG: The emotion scene in the movie is from event scene? Or from during usual play?
NK:The movie with all the creatures are from Emote.(えもーと)
HT: FFXIV is all made with emotion capture.

DG: Can you change facial expression during game?
NK:Facial expression accompanies action.

DG: Can we ride on Rugadin with Emote?
HT: Leader has been saying that,lol
NK:It’s difficult how to express it,lol

DG: Is motion with combination of characters possible?
NK: It’s very challenging, but it’d be fun as a means of communication.

DG: Seems like there is no auto-attack, isn’t it difficult to chat?
NK: I can’t deny it. As for the auto-attack, you can think that there are more weapon skills.

DG: Can we move like auto-attack by using Macro?
NK: We are still considering about it. Might be difficult to play Macro.

DG: Any another interesting news about FFXIV?
NK:We have shown what Guildleve is like and how expressive the species are. I’d like to show “armory system” next. There are also another secrets coming out.
HT:The graphic part is not completed yet, even 50 percent. So please check out the graphic side from now on too!


There you have it folks! Look forward to the scans, coming soon.

Newest FFXIV info from Dengeki released 9.12.2009 (http://www.ffxivcore.com/index.php?/topic/1219-newest-ffxiv-info-from-dengeki-released-9-12-2009/)

Loony BoB
09-11-2009, 01:00 PM
Interesting! Also, unless this interview was done in English and over IM, my advice would be to have "[laughter]" instead of "lol" when translating.

KentaRawr!
09-11-2009, 08:17 PM
Or w.

Loony BoB
09-11-2009, 09:04 PM
w?

Rostum
09-11-2009, 11:31 PM
It's the Japanese equivalant to "lol".

Loony BoB
09-12-2009, 08:54 AM
Oh. Well given that you're translating to English that still don't fly! You don't see magazines or anything with interviews translating anything to "lol". :p They translate it to "[laughs]" or something like that.

I just hate "lol" :(

Rostum
09-12-2009, 11:02 AM
Oh. Well given that you're translating to English that still don't fly! You don't see magazines or anything with interviews translating anything to "lol". :p They translate it to "[laughs]" or something like that.

I just hate "lol" :(

I am not too sure where you are going with this, but yeah... "w" is slang for a word that is used as an expression for laughing (I don't know what the word is), which is really just an equivalant of "lol".

Generally when you translate stuff you are really just interpretating rather than translating word for word anyway.

Loony BoB
09-12-2009, 11:34 AM
I'm just saying it for the sake of prefessional journalism. :p Call it constructive criticism to help the guy out... if someone laughs during a live interview, it's "[laughter]" or "Haha" or "[laughs]", not lol. I mean, I don't think anyone actually says "lol" in an interview. xD

If the interview was done via chat, then okay. But I'd still translate it as "Haha" in that instance for the sake of your site/magazine's credentials.

There was so much in that interview and we're posting about this? xDDD Haha. ;)

Rostum
09-13-2009, 06:44 AM
Oh, yeah... I agree. Never use Internet slang in interview articles.

And I am not sure what there is to discuss. SE are still intent on not giving out much information at all. Still nothing interesting yet.

Del Murder
10-09-2009, 12:06 AM
Like Ome I'm not all that impressed with the info so far. It seems the more I learn about this game the less I want to play it. Auto-Attack is so awesome, why take it away? :(