Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Letter from the Producer LIVE XIX summary

Letter from the Producer LIVE XIX just wrapped up at Tokyo Fan Festival which allowed us a focused look at Patch 2.5 part 1 and 2.

Patch 2.5 is titled “Before the Fall” featuring a Goblet looking to fall over as its centerpiece. This might be a telling theme that Ul’dah’s growing revolution and troubles might finally boil-over.

The first question that was asked to the development team was the reasoning behind the Ragnarok weapon and others changing types when compared with previous Final Fantasy games. Yoshida answered that a lot of the old classic weapons were swords, and they didn’t want to limit their choices by sticking just to specific weapon types, but at the same time they wanted to add in all the classic weapon names and because of this, certain types had to be changed. He also added that this paves the way, meaning future Final Fantasy titles will be able to use Ragnarok as an Axe for example.

The Crystal Tower’s conclusive piece was also shown off featuring “The World of Darkness” with a remastered BGM in the same vain of nostalgia-fulfilling themes as the previous Crystal Tower. The World of Darkness will feature Material drops that will be separate from equipment drops, meaning players will not have to decide which piece to forgo for upgraded Ironworks. Crafting materials will also drop from Crystal Tower allowing players to craft brand new weapons.

Next up was a nice extended look at the Manderville Gold Saucer, featuring once more a remastered soundtrack from the Final Fantasy VII classic. The Golden Saucer is a massive environment full of various rooms and mini-games playing host to Chocobo Racing and Triple-Triad, and more.
Chocobo Racing will allow players to race separate Chocobos to their current companions, but with a focus on stat augmentations such as Stamina.
Triple Triad features duels against both NPCs and players, with a launch total of 80 cards which can obtained via; Golden Saucer Coins, Dungeon Drops, Battle Content drops, as well as duels. Periodic tournaments that will be held for Triple Triad as well as sequential patch updates adding more cards and rules unique for Final Fantasy XIV was also confirmed. Naoki Yoshida briefly spoke out against concerns regarding the cash-shop, confirming that it will not be required or used to enjoy the Golden Saucer content.

Moving on, a small video was shown showcasing the brand new 2.5 Dungeons; Keeper of the Lake, Wanderer’s Palace (Hard) and Amdapor Keep (Hard), which will feature a seemingly four way crushing Demon Wall of death. Yoshida confirmed that Dzamael Darkhold and Aurum Vale will not receive a hard mode dungeon due to how their designs and assets are upgraded 1.0 assets that work vastly different to the current system.

I’m not sure about yourself, but I’m certainly hyped for them new dungeons.

The Direct x11 version was also showcased, with both comparison screenshots and videos showing a wide variety of employed techniques such as tessellation, bump mapping, and reflective textures.

Masayoshi Soken took to the stage next to answer questions from both Twitter and the Forums. Of the so far translated questions that were asked, Soken confirmed; they are working on adding a Juke Box for Free Company Housing, and that Ultima’s song does not have lyrics and is just created through small vocal sounds. Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy will also be receiving a set of round #2 DLC and would feature tracks “Ultima” and “Hard to Miss” for free between December 24th and January 6th.

Please Note: This time around the English translation of questions is happening long after the original airing of the Japanese Live Letter, and as such we will update this post when such information has been posted if anything is deemed priority importance.

Video Credits to the Uploader: Year of the Squid


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Michael Fisher

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