FFXIV ARR Benchmark is out. You can grab it here.
It's a pretty amazing looking benchmark, you should check it out.

Here's my results.



59.5 FPS on both settings 1680x1050



49.7 FPS, 36.2 FPS respectively on 1920x1200

Honestly speaking there's almost no loss of fidelity going from Max to High settings.

Jesus what a waste of time that was. They would have been better served to ride the hype and speculation train so they'd actually have a REAL reveal at E3. I mean, if the CEO and the physical console couldn't even make an appearance, what the hell does that give you? We got to stare at a controller we've all seen leaked shots of for weeks... yay. If they don't manage to nail a sweet spot on the price point, they're screwed. Durango is coming, as is the Steam Box and Apple will probably enter the home console market via Apple TV sooner rather than later, plus we have the Ouya too. The field is going to be super crowded and Sony doesn't have the brand loyalty it commanded with the PS and PS2 anymore. Let's see if they manage to flub yet another console launch... third times the charm.

Ditto.

Beta phase 1 begins Monday Feb 25th. Some more additional info and screenshots provided in the latest Letter from the Producer released this morning here.  We are re-forming the Solaris Linkshell for beta and eventual Free Company once the feature is added. Any of the old guard or interested parties let me know and I can add you to our FB group.

New Letter from the Producer is up. Here. Beta invites will probably go out sometime mid month with the test starting probably within a week after, so... Feb 20th ish?

Looks like the ARR beta invites will be going out soon. Possibly sometime this week. Got a tweet today reminding me to update my email for the codes. It was also recently confirmed that any buddy codes folks had with 1.0 will be useable with ARR when it launches. Also, any unused registration codes for 1.0 can be redeemed for ARR, so if anyone is still in possession of them, hold onto them.

TERA is no F2P as of today. There's no real limits on gameplay either. Check it out!

Since beta is just around the corner, I wanted to share a little video I found online today. Probably the most succinct tribute to the old ver. 1.0, which despite all its flaws, came a long way and was quite an adventure for almost two years. For those who never had the chance to play, or never stayed, this showed alot of what the game had to offer, mostly after Yoshi P took office. For me and alot of the players who hung around, this was a really touching reminder of the good times that were had in a game that really grew to have alot of great experiences even with so many obstacles. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

FFXIV: The Path to a New Future.

Here's a better video actually showing you current game play and the world itself.

ESO gameplay

 I have to admit, I'm a huge fan of Elderscrolls world design and the setting, but god damn I can't stand the character design and armor - it looks highly reminiscent of Rift. I do like that they're going a more action oriented role with the combat, but eh, it's kind of hard to get excited for a game like this when there's already all the single player games out there, on top of all the crazy ass mods (like the retexturing of Morrowind). I'll have to agree with Parn though - the genre itself is evolving, but playing an MMO solo kind of defeats the purpose. Solo gameplay is a great convenience, but it doesn't lend to those great moments of comradery and adventure you have with a true multiplayer persistent world experience. I would love to see the kind of persistent presence in an MMO like you saw in SWG, EVE etc. with the kind of personal investment that comes with having a home/shop/family, whatever. Granted you're heading into the whole Second Life school of thought, but think about it. Imagine an MMO with the kind of storytelling you're used to with Bioware/Bethesda games, with an action combat system and a true social/economic component with player homes, social events, player run stores etc. An *actual* persistent world. Of course, its unrealistic to expect players to be online into perpetuity, but that's what AI is for :)

Anyway, interesting debate, game looks decent - lets see how it turns out, and how quickly it goes F2P.

I think I dropped a Deus :p in my pants when I saw this. I think the fact that there was an ESRB tag and English production listings means its definitely coming here. I love XSEED but I'd like to see Nintendo publish it here, simple because we will see it sooner and it won't be such a PIA to find in stores. They did the UK localizations for TLS and XB, so they obviously have the experience. Either way, this alone makes the Wii U worth the price of admission.

Yeah it does look good. Hopefully the lighting effects are appropriate for mobs. Hate it when games have good night/day cycles and enemies look pasted on/self illuminating.

Wow, you couldn't be more off base. The End of an Era footage was the cinematic culmination of nearly a year long storyline. For those of us who actually played through the entirety of the end of the sixth Astral Era, that cutscene was extremely important in terms of lore and was a capstone to a legacy. The fact that the participants of those events are also highlighted in the aftermath are meant to give a point of reference and context for this next age. So no, it's not filled with "meaningless crap," they just did a terrible job providing sensible context with the new footage. The intros to FFXI and FFXIV ver. 1.0 both had major storyline implications (that became quite clear as you played the games) and ARR is no different as its basically the sequel to FFXIV. I'm glad it made you think of Final Fantasy, but its got a lot more depth behind it than you give it credit for. Drawing a comparison with a WoW intro makes zero sense.

That statistical variances in races is honestly a misnomer for 1.0. Between stat allocation between jobs/level up and gear itemization, there is no clear cut "better" race for certain jobs outside of HP/MP pool, and even that gap can be bridged by gear stacking. Unless they decide to add racial abilities (which would be new for them) ,choosing a race is more a cosmetic choice than anything truly impactful. For the longest time stats meant absolutely nothing in ver. 1.0 (naked batraal runs come to mind). We will have to see how things flesh out in beta in terms of stat impact on performance. Also remember that even though the races are cosmetically identical to FFXI, they aren't the same so don't expect them to simply copy paste the old hierarchy.

Interesting bit of news - since they stopped production of the PS2, it looks like FFXI no longer supports the platform. It's been removed from the FFXI and the Seekers of Adoulin site.

FFXI official software page.

Maybe they'll actually get around to that DX9 upgrade they kept dancing around. Though its doubtful we'd see an engine revamp with FFXIV:ARR on the horizon, one can still dream. So many great memories from FFXI.

Wait, hasn't this been in beta and operated on private servers for years? I remember seeing a couple videos of private server events and music videos a couple years back. Somehow I don't think RO will stand the test of time, of course, when have MMORPGers ever truly moved on? ;p