GC 2009: Final Fantasy XIV

The latest MMORPG from Square Enix: Final Fantasy XIV. Even though the demo was in German and he could only play the game for 20 minutes, I'd say our resident Xbox Editor and Overall Tall Dude covered the basics quite nicely. As Cologne's first Gamescom show continues on into the weekend, I had the opportunity to sit down with Final Fantasy XIV Global Online Producer Sage Sundi and Producer Hiromichi Tanaka in order to ask some more in-depth questions about this multiplatform MMO.

Unfortunately, the game is -- as Charles mentioned -- still very much in its infancy and there wasn't a lot that could be discussed regarding the basic mechanics, so a good deal of the gameplay still eludes me. However, I was able to learn a bit more about the processes behind the development of the game and what the developers plan to do in the future.

If you haven't been able to keep up with the news, Final Fantasy XIV follows in the footsteps of Final Fantasy XI, which was an entirely online game -- very unlike the previous Final Fantasy installments. XIV will continue that tradition and offer gamers a massive world filled with quests and quirky creatures to defeat. The game is being released on the PS3 and PC next year and players on both platforms will be able to play together, which is an excellent feature.

While Final Fantasy XI was based on a job system, Final Fantasy XIV will be much different. From the sound of it, your character's weapon will determine your skill set and those weapons can obviously be switched at any time. Furthermore, battles are no longer automated but are in real-time, which will hopefully allow players to be much more immersed in the experience than before.

The reason these comparisons between Final Fantasy XI and XIV are so appropriate is because more than half of the team on XI is now working on XIV. So the developers are clearly going to be building off of their previous experiences to create this entirely new game world.

Speaking of the game world, the total size of the world will apparently be smaller than the total world size of Final Fantasy XI. This shouldn't discourage prospective gamers, however, as the more modern visuals should make up for the slightly decreased size.

In Final Fantasy XIV, players will receive quest assignments from large, levitating crystals that can be found throughout the land. Some of these quests will be timed and their objectives vary widely. For example, some will task players with dispatching a certain number of creatures, while others will require you to craft a particular item. But of course, these quests wouldn't be fun unless you could interact with other players, too, which you can certainly do. Final Fantasy XIV will support a guild system and players will have their own "home pages" to use for the online community.

During my interview with Sundi and Hiromichi, a few brief battles were shown off that featured some of the most adorable critters I've ever seen. These large, turkey-like fellows didn't pose much of a threat to the sword-wielding warrior, but they were killed nonetheless. Oh well.

Although a subscription model hasn't been worked out yet, the game will probably require a monthly fee. Besides that, I didn't learn much else about Final Fantasy XIV besides the fact that there won't be any in-game voice chat and the character creation system will feature five races similar to those found in Final Fantasy XI. That's it!

Hopefully we'll learn more about XIV after an extended hands-on session.