Naoki Yoshida is keen to stress one thing above all else about Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn: that it is neither an expansion nor a patch update, but is instead a brand new game.
Certainly, there are a whole host of new features to add credibility to this claim, even if its numerical denomination remains the same as its previous iteration. From the team working on its creation, to the engine used to power it, through to the user interface, combat system and around 90 percent of the in-game assets; a great deal about this MMORPG has changed. Yoshida also highlights that all of the field maps have been scrapped and recreated from the ground up, giving even existing Final Fantasy XIV players a whole new world to explore.
Of course, after the disappointment of the first attempt at Final Fantasy XIV, a great deal of change was necessary.
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That doesn’t mean that we’re not looking to the future though, we realise that [new consoles] will be coming and making the game compatible with these systems is something that we’re currently thinking about.
The combat system, for example, borrows from Final Fantasy VII’s Limit Break mechanic, where actions during combat fill a gauge that can be used to unleash devastating attacks. Instead of being confined to the individual, this is an adapted party-based Limit Break system, which each party member contributes to and that can be activated by any one of them, with effects varying depending on the role of the person that triggers it.
However, the most immediately obvious change is the new engine, which does a very good job of providing an alluring reason to spend time in the world of A Realm Reborn and the forest setting shown during an in-game demo provides the perfect opportunity to highlight the real-time shadows as light filters through the tree canopy. The initially intrusive-looking HUD, which stacks three lines of spell and ability slots atop vital stat readouts, can be reordered, moved around the screen and then either locked in place or left floating to be adjusted on the fly.
Despite the increased graphical prowess of Final Fantasy: A Realm Reborn and members of its development also having worked on Square Enix’s impressive Luminous Studio engine, Yoshida dismisses the notion that that technology could be used in an MMO. In fact, the producer jokes that a MMO run on Luminous would probably require the power of a PlayStation 5.
Talk of the future generation of consoles does raise an interesting question concerning A Realm Reborn’s development for PS3: why release a MMO, that Yoshida acknowledges is built to run for anywhere between five to ten years, so late in the life of the current gen, especially when it is widely anticipated that the PS4 will arrive at some point in the next 18 months.
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We talked about losing the trust of the player base with the original release of Final Fantasy XIV and so one of the steps to rebuilding that trust is to fulfil our promises.
“The biggest reason for doing so is because we promised that we would release Final Fantasy XIV on PS3 and there are still a lot of players that are waiting for us to do that,” Yoshida answers. “Before, we talked about losing the trust of the player base with the original release of Final Fantasy XIV and so one of the steps to rebuilding that trust is to fulfil our promises.
“That doesn’t mean that we’re not looking to the future though, we realise that [new consoles] will be coming and making the game compatible with these systems is something that we’re currently thinking about, but until Sony and Microsoft actually make an announcement, we can’t make an announcement.
“The biggest thing though is that our new engine is very scalable and so when new technology comes out we can easily scale to meet its capabilities.”
Yoshida proceeds to show us just how scalable the engine is by showing A Realm Reborn running in HD on high settings, followed by demoing the game on a laptop running on an Intel i5 processor. The game is optimised to around 70 percent and while the shadows suffer a noticeable downgrade in quality it still runs smoothly, albeit without the strains of being online.
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The switchover to A Realm Reborn will be worked into the narrative.
Those currently playing Final Fantasy XIV needn’t abandon their characters, as the switchover to A Realm Reborn will be worked into the narrative, with an in-game event facilitating the switch-off of the servers running the original game as player data will be migrated across to A Real Reborn at some point during the beta testing.
As with any MMO, significant in-game time will be required to ascertain how well the implemented changes function and whether A Realm Reborn fixes the myriad issues of its predecessor. The upcoming beta testing will provide that necessary time to do that but the features highlighted so far suggest a game much improved.
The biggest test that Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn faces is whether it can justify Square’s decision to charge a premium monthly subscription to enjoy its world remade. It’s something that Star Wars: The Old Republic hasn’t been able to sustain and, like Final Fantasy, that title entered the MMO market with a massive, well recognised and well loved brand behind it. Both the fans and beta testers will provide the answer to that question in the coming months and provide the biggest indicator of whether A Realm Reborn will outlive its doomed predecessor. Keep an eye on this one as it takes its first tentative steps in the world, it has the potential to grow-up strong.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn beta is expected to launch on PC later this year, with the PS3 version coming in 2013.
Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com
