Final Fantasy XIV Site Live, Game Detailed

Further details on Square-Enix’s forthcoming MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV have surfaced.Following on from the job/race reveal earlier this week, lots more has appeared.The official Final Fantasy XIV site has gone live, revealing more information on the story, cities, and races.The game is set in the land of Eorzea, which fifteen years prior to the game suffered an invasion from the Garlean Empire to the east. The Empire ravaged the city-state of Ala Mhigo, which was considered the most powerful of the city-states, and an alliance was formed between the five remaining city-states. While an assault never came, the alliance held, fortifying their defences and raising armies in preparation.The creation of armies left Eorzea’s mercenaries without employment, though, resulting in an increasing wave of crime. In an effort to stem this, guilds were formed, offering the mercenaries employment as adventurers so that they had the opportunity to help people rather than commit crimes to survive.While the story depicts five city-states, only three are listed on the site at the moment – Ul’dah, Limsa Lominsa and Gridania. No details are available on Ul’dah or Gridania, but Limsa Lominsa is apparently a beautiful city spread out across a number of small islands, and is focused mostly in seafaring. The leader of the city holds the title of Admiral, and much of the economy comes from fishing, ship-building, and shipping, with the mentioned military being the Knights of the Barracuda – a navy.Gameplay-wise there’s the Armoury system, which changes a character’s skills based on what they have equipped. A character named Leeroy is given as an example, who initially uses a sword to raise his skill as a gladiator, but upon later joining with a higher-level party he switched to a staff to switch back to thaumaturge – “his most advanced class.” Likewise, switching to a fishing rod or a hammer allows the use of fishing and blacksmithing skills, so it appears that there are no restrictions as to what your character can do, with every character seemingly able to do everything based on their equipment.Guildleves are also mentioned – plates that look like cards made available by guild masters, which allow quick travel via aetheryte portals. These appear to be the methods by which quests are acquired, with different types of leves granting different quests. It may be that they also bestow some form of buff, with the text stating “There are no regulations that tasks must be completed alone. Adventurers are free to call on their companions to join them, as only one leve is required to take advantage of the benefits and privileges provided to its bearer.” That said, that may simply refer to the quick travel system.More interesting is that the text states that “guildleves give you the ability to forge your own adventures,” although this may either imply randomly-generated quests depending on the type of leve, or simply be hyperbole pointing out that you can choose your own quests.Final Fantasy XIV is due out in 2010. We’ll be hearing more as the months go by.