Final Fantasy XIV Release Date Announced

[Tempest]

Looks like FF XIV will drop on September 30 for PCs (March 2011 for PS3). Hopefully I'll get in on the Beta test for this like I did for FF XI. I can't wait! Of course being married now I won't be able to spend hours a day playing like I did back in my XI days. Oh well, maybe I can convince the wife to play? http://www.atariage.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/atariage/icon_mrgreen.gif

Anyone else excited about this one?

Tempest

[udisi]

I just got the email that I can download the client on July 2nd for the beta. I was invited to some of the 2 hour betas, but never got around to it. I think I'd be more excited if I had the time for a mmorpg still.

[NayusDante]

If I disappear from the face of the earth on September 30, you'll know where to find me.

It wouldn't hurt to download the benchmark now to see how your PC holds up. If the game looks anything like the cutscenes, I may not leave PC gaming just yet...

http://www.finalfantasyxiv.com/media/benchmark/na/

[Damaniel]

I've got my copy of the CE preordered, as does my mom, my sister and my girlfriend. I played FFXI for about two years and got tired of the punishing grind and lack of decent endgame content (at the time), but I have high hopes for XIV. Sucks to be the one of the people waiting for the PS3 version -- hopefully they'll be able to pull in the release date a little bit.

I ran the benchmark when it came out and scored ~2800 for the high-res mode and ~4000 for the low-res mode, so I should be OK (on the other hand, my sister's PC scored 700/1350, so I'll probably have to help her out with some upgrades...)

[portnoyd]

Omg can I get a beta invite x 2.

Achi and I will be playing this on day one. I hope to god they fixed the damn game.

[NayusDante]

I scored about 3000 with my Phenom II X3 710 (OC to 3.17), 4gb DDR2 800, and Radeon HD 4850 512mb. My friends scored a bit lower, but I think it's kinda dependent on processor. My friend with a Core 2 Duo E4700 (OC to 2.99), 2gb DDR2 667, and a GeForce 9800GT 1gb scored about 2000, and his brother with an Athlon X2 4800+, similar ram, and a GeForce 9800GTX+ only scored about 2100. All tests were done on 1280x720.

The best score I've pulled was 3100 or so when we tested that GTX+ in my rig to make sure it worked.

If anyone else posts their scores, please post your rig info as well. I'm curious as to what really influences performance.

[portnoyd]

I pulled 1800 on Hi-Res and 3300 on Lo-Res. It's been a while so I'm cleaning up and tweaking my PC again to get out a 100-200 more pts. Is it just me or this game trying to be a bit beasty compared to the last one? What kind of machine would be able to pull a 8000+?

Specs: Quad Core Q9450 2.66, 4Gig DDR2 800, 9800GTX 512mb.

[Damaniel]

What kind of machine would be able to pull a 8000+?

Probably a heavily overclocked Core i7 Extreme + 3-way GeForce GTX480 SLI system would be my guess. Something that probably only exists in a testing lab or in the house of somebody with way too much money. :)

As for my system, I'm using a Core 2 Quad Q9550, GeForce GTX 285 (1GB) and 8GB of DDR2 800. All of it is on an an aging motherboard that had 'beta' support for most quad core processors added well after the end of the board's normal life, so that may be a bottleneck. It runs everything I throw at it well enough, though it seems like the only thing I'm throwing at it these days is Diablo II.

[Tempest]

I got a 3430 on Lo-Res (my monitor doesn't go high enough for the Hi Res). My computer is fairly new, Core i7 with 6GB of RAM and a Geforce GTX 260. I guess I need to tweak it a bit because that score seems kind of low.

Tempest

[Overbite]

Gonna get this on PC, just wish I was in the beta :( I signed up a long time ago too.

[NayusDante]

What's the supply on the PC Collector's Edition? I might be heading out to preorder this at the local GameStop this week...

[NayusDante]

Well, I got my preorder in. If nobody has made arrangements yet, I'd like to know if any of you guys would be interested in playing on the same server, and maybe forming a DP linkshell.

[garagesaleking!!]

Isnt this extremely close to the release of the last game?

[BHvrd]

Well, I got my preorder in. If nobody has made arrangements yet, I'd like to know if any of you guys would be interested in playing on the same server, and maybe forming a DP linkshell.

If my financial situation at the time allows it I would be very interested in this. Could be fun.

[Tempest]

Well, I got my preorder in. If nobody has made arrangements yet, I'd like to know if any of you guys would be interested in playing on the same server, and maybe forming a DP linkshell.
That could be interesting. It's always hard to meet trustworthy people right off the bat in a game like this. A DP/AA linkshell would be nice.

Tempest

[Overbite]

I think they renamed the linkshells to "Companies" in this game.

I'm totally gonna be a cat girl unless I can make a human dude who looks like CAPTIAN BASCH VON ROSENBURG OF DALMASCA

[portnoyd]

Ok, so Achi's PC scored a 500... on Lo-Res. So barring some miracle system tweaking, she'll need a new machine to play this. Before we drop that kind of cash, can anyone speak of the how the game is? As an example: Xp loss on death? Yes or no? Stuff like that. Basically, did they fix the problems from FFXI (xp loss, solo very situational, no hotbars, etc).

[Arkhan]

Preordered the fucker already. two copies!

LIMITED EDITION NO LESS.


Cant wait.

but I want the frigging PS3 one more.

[Tempest]

Ok, so Achi's PC scored a 500... on Lo-Res. So barring some miracle system tweaking, she'll need a new machine to play this. Before we drop that kind of cash, can anyone speak of the how the game is? As an example: Xp loss on death? Yes or no? Stuff like that. Basically, did they fix the problems from FFXI (xp loss, solo very situational, no hotbars, etc).
Somewhere I read that there is no XP or traditional leveling. I'm not sure if that's still true or if it ever was true. I got the feeling that it was all about increasing your job/skill level by some other means. I think it's going to be very different from FF XI, which sort of sucks because I really want a hardcore game like FF XI with a few tweaks. Sort of like FF WOW, but not nearly as lame. Oh well, wait and see.

Tempest

[NayusDante]

Rather than building a new system, I might look into just buying a PS3. You're looking at over $300 in upgrades to run it well. If you two play in the same room, just get an appropriate cable to go from PS3 HDMI to your monitor and use the PS3 like a PC.

I'm absolutely playing this at a desk. I tried FFXI on 360, and it wasn't fun sitting on the couch with a keyboard on my lap.

I'm still talking to my close friends about FFXIV, and so far I'm the only one who's preordering it. I definitely know three, possibly four people who want to play it, but at the moment I'm free to pick the server I play on. I suppose whoever gets on first picks the server and we'll see about organizing a DP group from there.

[kupomogli]

I'm totally gonna be a cat girl unless I can make a human dude who looks like CAPTIAN BASCH VON ROSENBURG OF DALMASCA

Do you actually mean Basch or do you mean Vaan?

[NayusDante]

I think he means the dude from Mega64 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSyfGm6wXgs). Don't listen to Ondor's lies!

[portnoyd]

Somewhere I read that there is no XP or traditional leveling. I'm not sure if that's still true or if it ever was true. I got the feeling that it was all about increasing your job/skill level by some other means.

That's kind of along the lines of what I'm asking. What's the death penalty? Is it just weakness now or is it loss of gained "experience", repairs, etc?

Another question, what about any chance of addons? You know, when SE's gui comes up short, as it eventually will. I don't want to be labeled a hacker like I did in 11 when I used Windower.


Rather than building a new system, I might look into just buying a PS3. You're looking at over $300 in upgrades to run it well. If you two play in the same room, just get an appropriate cable to go from PS3 HDMI to your monitor and use the PS3 like a PC.

We'd consider it if the PS3 version wasn't due in March.

[portnoyd]

Before we drop that kind of cash, can anyone speak of the how the game is? As an example: Xp loss on death? Yes or no? Stuff like that. Basically, did they fix the problems from FFXI (xp loss, solo very situational, no hotbars, etc).

Anyone who has a beta invite and played this weekend, please reply to the above. PM me if you want if you're worried about the NDA. Got a nice deal on a complete PC lined up but the deal ends Thursday!

[NayusDante]

What are the PC specs and how much?

More benchmark results.... My cousin bought a laptop last week, and I of course decrapified it for her. Since I had a shiny new piece of tech sitting on my desk, of course I ran the FFXIV benchmark on it. It's got 3gb DDR3, not sure what speed, and a dual-core AMD 2.2ish Athlon II. The onboard video is a Radeon 4250 with 256mb shared. Yes, the benchmark ran, but it really didn't score. It claimed to score a 300, but the framerate was abysmal. I thought the 4250 was a little better, my dad has a 43XX discrete card in his work PC and I remember it ran 3DMark 06 as well as my 6600GT did back in the day.

[portnoyd]

i7 920 2.66ghz, 8gigs of ram and a Raedon HD 5770 1 gig ram. At the link below, you'll need to change the videocard. With tax, it comes to $1370 with a 21" monitor to sell that you can't remove from the item. Also comes with a $50 gift card for Dell.com (good since they sell games) and free shipping. So in the end, it's about $1200.

Priced the parts out on newegg and with selling the monitor, it's very comparable.

http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/desktops/desktop-studio-xps-9000/pd.aspx?refid=desktop-studio-xps-9000&s=dhs&cs=19&~oid=us~en~29~performance-deals_anav_03~~

[Overbite]

That's an awful lot of money. It will run the game for sure, but something a lot cheaper would run it too.

edit: and trying to play new release games on a laptop is usually a bad idea, unless it's from Valve or a Warcraft expansion. Laptops aren't made for gaming. They don't have enough power.

[NayusDante]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0e2QFrIdwk

Character creation looks great. You can actually pick your skin color, and there's more than two choices for hair.

[portnoyd]

I have to say SE really seemed to have made changes in the right direction. From what I've gathered from FFXIVcore's news and forums, it seems like the game is going to be much more userfriendly.

The UI seems much better as are some of the mechanics. I heard the controls are a little out of whack, but apparently the feedback about it is so high that they can't ignore it.

[Overbite]

I did preorder the collectors edition but if Cataclysm comes out anywhere near FF14 I'm gonna cancel and go with WoW instead.

I know I'd like wow, but with this I'm not sure. So far it looks like they're leaning on the FF11 side and tailoring it to consoles. They don't care about the PC port enough to make it control like a PC game.

[NayusDante]

They don't care about the PC port enough to make it control like a PC game.

Funny, this is exactly why I loved FFXI. PC MMOs have never been much fun for me, while the "weight" of console MMOs always felt better. I've always preferred the menu-driven combat with skills and spells over the hotbars and "click-click-kill" of PC MMOs.

[Flashback2012]

Isnt this extremely close to the release of the last game?

Technically yes, but they're completely separate beasts. I imagine the reasoning was that they would be more accepted by people if they were part of the official line than as their own stand alone brands. What surprises me is they have essentially the same races from XI but renamed them. I don't really understand the point of that.

I only played FFXI for a very short time. I was much more into EQ at the time and later WoW. My cousins will no doubt be all over this instead of Cataclysm but who knows.

[mezrabad]

Oooohhh, looking forward to this in March. Not running Windows these days has been great, but instances like these have their spiritual costs. I hope the beta is great, I really enjoyed FFXI, but am curious to see how they changes things up for this one.

[darkslime]

Not playing, because my computer is an emachines that was the cheapest available on black friday 5 years ago. 256 MB DDR SDRAM BITCHES! X_X

[NayusDante]

The open beta is, well, open... but the key request system is overloaded. The page just times out. Maybe tomorrow...

[Tempest]

I might play around with the beta if I get a chance, but I'm so busy with real life and majorly backed up on games at this point. FF XI worked for me because I was single with nothing to do when it came out, now however... :)

Tempest