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

Here's the scoop on the story: TERA goes F2P in Feb.
Here's the official page and announcement video. TERA:Rising

I gotta say, i'm really happy they went this route and are enriching the experience for subscribers and not uber-nerfing the game for free accounts. If you haven't tried the game out yet, I highly recommend it. It doesn't really do much in the way of breaking the MMO quest mold, but the combat system and graphics are second to none. I haven't played for a couple months, but I wouldn't be averse to patching up to show people around who were interested in checking it out.

Still standing by my opinion. Is it cool? Yes. Could it have been much better? Most definitely. There's no real cohesiveness in the aftermath footage, which after the apocalypse just doesn't flow right for me. Grand companies riding >flash>Circle of Knowing NPCs> flash> Odin > flash > Behemoth + Crystal Tower > flash > Adventurers appear > muted dialogue from Rogaedyn Paladin > flash > Chocobos from nowhere > Riding off towards strange new landmark that is poorly visible due to oversized logo. What exactly does that tell anyone?

Probably the biggest offender is the fact that they kept the majority of the End of an Era trailer totally secret, and now we get an extended version with "new" footage that was already spotlighted in nearly 3 earlier trailers with next to no cohesion. There's perhaps 15 seconds of actually new footage in an almost 9 minute long trailer. That's just lazy.

Nope, total fallacy. GCD didn't change at all on level up and was one of the major complaints folks had in the alpha. Will it stay, who knows. My guess is they will leave it as is and allow haste itemization.

Disappointed in the trailer. More than half of the video is the old End of an Era trailer, and the new stuff seems very disjointed. They obviously cut some spoken dialogue out from when the adventurers appear. I have a feeling this is not the "complete" trailer. After how amazing the end of the world was, you'd think the rebirth of the new world would be more grandiose. It's almost as messy as the first ARR trailers with that horrible VA. Here's hoping there's a more complete, less janky intro in the works.

FFXIV Beta Test Application site is live.

Go go go!

Intro video is up too right here.

It's hard to really say at this point because of how limited the alpha content was. You can get a general idea from the official videos, sans the Dora the Explorer-style clicking ;p I think even relatively newbie MMO players will find the game easy to get into (though the jury is still out on the controller interface since they haven't implemented it yet), as the layout, controls and tutorial are very standard for the genre. Which is a huge improvement, because you didn't get much of any instruction in 1.0. What was available in the alpha was an organic, intuitive and logical progression for a newcomer. In regards to unique elements, there just wasn't enough content to really answer that question - BUT, the world itself feels like a true Final Fantasy setting. The variety of the zones, the attention to detail, the music: everything just felt whole. FFXI 1.0, despite all the improvements they made before the servers went down, felt more like an engine tech demo than an actual world. I think the comparison to WoW will be unavoidable, as it's ubiquitous for the genre, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm still coming to grips with that question though. Despite all the improvements, does it really "feel" like it's own game or just a mash up?

I'll be completely honest. For a really long time I wanted to see a game that married the conveniences of WoW with the lore and world of a Final Fantasy. Having played a half dozen games that emulate the WoW form factor, I can say that I was getting a little tired of it. Games like TERA, Aion, Perfect World, Rift etc. *scream* WoW clone in design, but hold their own because people fall in love with their combat/crafting/raiding/world/graphics. When FFXIV 1.0 came out it was so lacking in basic MMO functionality that seeing them in ARR was a significant relief. But, I can't help feel like something was lost in merging what made an FFO MMO so different than the norm with the niceties of genre expectations. My first impression when I was playing the alpha was part shock and disappointment. I was in shock because the game had changed so significantly, it felt like I was playing a completely new game save for my familiarity with landmarks, NPCs etc. The disappointment came when I looked at the quest log and realized that once again, fetch questing survives another generation. Of course, questing, no matter how mundane will always remain a staple of any RPG - but I guess because everything else was so completely new, I was secretly hoping to see something new in that respect also. But again, as such a limited content was available, it's impossible to really judge the finished product. The combat system is no where near complete, animations still require tuning, the combo system still needs alot of adjustments, the limit break system isn't even in yet, neither are the F.A.T.E. and new behest and hamlet systems. But even in it's limited and incomplete state, I can see their vision, and it's impressive.

Do I think the game deserves another spin for newcomers and jaded former players? Absolutely! After seeing the miracles they performed with ver. 1.0 and thus far with ARR, I have a lot of confidence in Yoshi-P and his crew to deliver the game fans want. It is not FFXI 2.0 as the forum whiners keep dreaming about, but its a significant step into bringing an FF world into the modern MMO genre and has the potential to introduce gamers to the series who may have never touched an offline FF before - there's that much fan-service planned. The open beta will be the real trial by fire with the public, and with beta characters carrying over into the retail release, I think everyone should take advantage of that free test drive and form their own opinions.

Oh, they have an MSRP already? $39.99 is much more reasonable for all platforms.

You know they will. They have to recoup redevelopment costs some way. The small population that continued to pay during 1.0 was in no way enough to cover their initial R&D on top of maintaining servers and updating the old client for 2 years on top of the new version.  Honestly if SE didn't have as much capital as it does, or as much ego centrism as it does, FFXIV would have been shelved within months of release. PS3 owners will be getting the game everyone should have gotten 2 years ago, I think having them pay full price is reasonable. What would be unforgivable is trying to sell 2.0 to PC players who dropped $60-$80 on 1.0.

They will still be selling ARR for PC and digital distribution for full MSRP, but they're not double charging anyone. Previous users will get another free month of service before billing starts when ARR launches.

In response to your PS3 question, you can use any USB storage media to backup system files, save games etc, but you can't use it as an installation source for game data, so you'll have to move stuff over as backup and clear your HDD to make room or upgrade to a bigger HDD.

New video is up of instance play. This is Tam Tara Deepcroft, a level 15-20 dungeon. Please keep in mind this is from the alpha and is very low level, so combat still needs alot of tweaking.

FFXIV: ARR Alpha Dungeon video

edit - wow, they really love their mouse clicking gameplay. I really wish they would just play it normally instead of feeling the intense need to show off all the tooltips. That 3 second GCD needs to go. Jesus.

With the bulk of my games lately being bought on Steam for a fraction of the console cost (and controller compatible to boot), I've been asking myself the same question. Though I think PS3 owners missing out on ver. 1.0 was probably in the best interest for the greater good. I think they'd have a much harder time selling the game to another jaded audience after the PC launch debacle. I will say that at least by the time PS3 users will get into the beta, the controller setup will be in a much finalized state (there wont be any controller support till phase 2) and there will be MUCH more to see and do. At least when the game finally relaunches it "should" be a be a multi-platform simultaneous release like was originally planned 2 years ago.

I will say though, looking at the start time and estimated phase time, we probably won't see the official launch till June at the earliest. That's alot longer than I thought it would take. Hopefully there's enough new (not refurbished) content to warrant that wait. I'm really curious to see how the region specific servers play out in terms of latency, because I had very little issue in ver. 1.0 (till Ifrit) and just the rare random DC in the alpha. While I've always dreamed of an NA server, the more I think about it, it just wouldn't feel right to not have a multilingual server. After having dealt with the frustrations of the auto translator for years, you'd think it'd be an easy choice, but there's something about playing with players from all over the world that made my experience in XI more memorable than other MMOs I've played. 

Hunh? I'm not understanding your statement; PS3 testing begins in Phase 3. They're even giving priority to folks who purchased FF13. It's all in the development roadmap link at the bottom of that page.

Some news with the beta. Looks like all Legacy account holders get a free pass. Here the official word, with the new development roadmap.

FFXIV beta update and roadmap