Even more stuff with pictures.
http://ffxiv.zam.com/story.html?story=22042Character CreationFamitsu boasts that the character creation system is so deep, you'll be nitpicking your avatar setting all day long trying to get it just right. Even the alpha, while not complete, has a considerable amount of variations available such as face type, skin color, hair style and body size. There are even smaller details, like putting highlights or streaks in your hair, that are customizable. There will be brand new aspects of your character to select as well -- there will even be a number of different voice types.
The character creation process begins with selecting one's race and customizing the avatar. Once your character is complete, you begin the game and set up your Class, birthday and Guardian Diety. What effects one's Guardian Diety will have in game are unknown at this time. Once all those steps are complete, you choose your name, which as we know consists of both a first and last name.
Seamless Fields and Instanced AreasLeaving a town brings you into the Field Area where you have your adventures. FFXIV will have a seamless transition between areas that requires no loading time. From their experience with the game, Famitsu says this really gives Eorzea the feeling of a wide, expansive world. In addition, the background music transitions naturally between the areas you traverse.
A new addition, familiar to many MMO players, is the Instanced Area. This is where a private copy of an area is created, into which only you and your party can enter. These will be used in FFXIV for special events, an example being when cut scenes take place in order to eliminate outside effects and noise, allowing the player to enjoy their cut scene in peace.
Status & Equip: Opens up the Status & Equip screen (pictured below)
Action: Unknown... may contain commands like Trade, Craft etc?
Physical Bonus: Unknown... a place to allocate points to stats?
Item: Displays your inventory
Journal: Opens up your Guildleve menus
Party: Opens up party-related lists/functions
Map: Displays the full area map
Teleport: Instantly move to any Aetheryte you have visited at least once
Warp: Instantly return to the last Aetheryte you visited
Logout: Leave Eorzea and return to the harsh banality of Earth. (Ploid: If this is some translation and SE said it dream on SE. Think your game is more interesting than rl?
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Guildleve and the Battle SystemGuildleves are like "quests" that you can undertake by visiting an adventurer's guild in a city. The contents of a Guildleve can vary player to player, and you can attempt them alone or with a group. To begin your selected Guildleve, first you must seek out Aetheryte in a Field Area. Players can move instantly to Aetheryte they have visited once before by selecting the "Teleport" command.
The difficulty of a Guildleve changes based on your selected party size. However, the party sizes are not selected directly, but rather through 5 different categories.
Now, as a big kanji nut, something that I found interesting that I'm going to bore you with here is: Judging from what is revealed in Famitsu, the party sizes are described through 四字熟語 (yo-ji-juku-go) or four-character idioms. These are terms constructed of four kanji that together hold a profound meaning. Many of these terms cannot be translated directly, or take entire sentences just to explain -- they are tough for even native Japanese to remember! Often times, you will see them translated as clever puns or a play on words that keeps it snappy while attempting to capture the original meaning.
Just an informational /sh. "We will make FFXIV a better game based on experience with the alpha test. We appreciate the cooperation of all testers. Please check the beta test site every day and leave feedback."
Ok the gameplay pictures look worse than the cutscenes. That or outside is still a work in progress. Those trees look worse than ffxi it seem. I like ffxi's look more.
