Final Fantasy XIV info from PAX: Limit Breaks and more!

It’s the weekend of the Penny Arcade Expo, and that means a lot of stuff is happening in the video game world. Earlier today, Square-Enix released a new trailer of gameplay footage for Final Fantasy XIV that shows off a new ability: Limit Breaks!



Did you see the mage at the end summoning the massive rock to drop on the dragon? How incredibly badass was that?

Limit Breaks are just one of the many planned new abilities and features for A Realm Reborn. This is not just an individual ability, but an entirely new feature that emphasizes group dynamics. A party can build up a shared group limit break by their collective actions, and utilize them for devastating results.

This video was first shown live at the 25th Anniversary event last night, where an SE rep held a brief content presentation on changes to FFXIV. This was supposed to be streamed, but I can only find this recording of it. It’s fairly long, so I’ll break down some highlights of the changes discussed (minus the Limit Break info discussed above):

• Reworking combat to make it faster and more dynamic, with more skills available.
• Creating combos for ranged fighters to build on during battle.
• An updated quest system with lots of new quests that tie into the overall story of the world of Eorzea.
• Level syncing: the ability to drop one’s level in order to party with lower-leveled friends, all while not hurting one’s own experience.
• Chocobo combat system! You will be able to have chocobos fight for you.
• Pulling in items, monsters, and other elements from all FF games (and referencing FFVI’s Magitek armor!) to make this the “most epic Final Fantasy you’ll ever play.”

You can also find new FFXIV artwork and screenshots on Square-Enix’s blog.

If nothing else, the sheer breadth of the planned changes to FFXIV: A Realm Reborn is impressive. And I don’t know about you, but the group Limit Break system and chocobo fighting sounds pretty cool.

So, are you starting to buy into the hype? Does FFXIV really have a chance to be the “most epic Final Fantasy you’ll ever play”?

I can totally see that limit break thing causing problems with some people really quick, because any member of the party can trigger it from what I understand. Cue "ARGH WHY DID YOU DO THAT NOW WE WERE SAVING IT OMG WTF" etc.

I look forward to seeing how it works out, though! :D

That looked pretty awesome. Once 2.0 comes out I'll be sure to renew my subscription to try it out. Was anyone else reminded of the Yellow Dragons from FF IV by that dragon in the vid?

I wanna see footage of the Crystal Tower, SE! >.< My inner FF III fanboy demands it!

BoB: Oh man, I didn't even think about that. That could result in major goofs and hilarity. Maybe SE'll have some process whereby only the group leader or some other individual can set off the limit break for the group.

Elpizo: Yeah, all of the changes surrounding bringing in more references from other FF games sounds really cool. It sounds like there will be a lot of nerdy, fanboy pleasure to go around as more info is released.

I'm totally hyped for this game. I wonder if the jump feature for the player and chocobo will be just a novelty ability or if they SE will make the world more dynamic. So that there are places you can only get to after a little platforming action. That would be cool, but unlikely.

I want to play this game so badly. I'd tell them to hurry up, but I just want them to nail FFXIV this time. No more mistakes, just one crisp product.