Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn producer-cum-director, Naoki Yoshida, recently conducted a live video Q&A, where he answered questions from fans. Square Enix are working on making the Q&A recording available for viewing, but in the meantime, they’ve summarized the answers to various questions that were addressed during the Q&A. Some of the more interesting ones are listed below, and you can read the full set of them here.
Perhaps most interesting—but not surprising—is that Square plan to release both major periodical updates as well as full-fledged expansion packs for Final Fantasy XIV: A Real Reborn. They’re looking to release the first expansion to the game within two years of launch, and prior to that, will be rolling out major updates as downloads every two-and-half months.
Oh, and Yoshida also talks about the baby Behemoth he teased last month.
Q7: Will we be able to listen to background music that was used in 1.0 in A Realm Reborn?
A7: While we don’t have plans to have this for launch, in the future we think it would be cool to introduce a jukebox type of feature for housing where you can listen to your favorite songs.
Q9: You mentioned previously that you’re working to include summoner in time for launch. Is it going to make it?
A9: Yes, it will!
Q11: Could you tell us any information about possible new classes/jobs like thief, ninja, samurai, musketeer?
A11: We feel that their is a lack of scout and caster type of classes. Our overseas players continue to mention ninja and samurai, but we realize that we need a good variety of jobs!
Q14: You showed a screenshot of train tracks. Will players be able to ride on trains in A Realm Reborn?
A14: Stay tuned! By the way, train tracks will also be available in other locations, too!
Q22: Please tell us more about chocobo raising!
A22: We’ll first be releasing housing, but you’ll be able to set up a chocobo stable and purchase a baby chocobo to raise. Once you have a chocobo stable you will also be able to do things like breed chocobos and train them.
Q28: Will we be able to fight giant monsters such as the adamantoise that appears in the benchmark video?
A28: The benchmark video contains content that was specially created for PR-purposes, but you will be able to fight giant monsters starting from phase 1 of the Beta Test. Experience it for yourself and let us know if you want to fight something even bigger!
Q35: Will Gilgamesh appear in FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn?
A35: Yes, we have plans to introduce Gilgamesh through a series of quests. The quests will most likely be introduced in stages.
Q36: Will it be possible in the future to change our character’s appearance once they have been created?
A36: We’re thinking it would be possible for hairstyles, hair color, and eye color. We’ve already mentioned about a beauty parlor, so it should be possible to show you all soon.
Q38: In terms of new races, what kind of races are you looking into and will mixed races be introduced?
A38: I don’t think we’ll have mixed races for a while. Since it seems like Viera is popular around the world we have been proactively looking into this, but since having a rabbit male might be kind of weird, maybe we’ll look into having a separate race for the male counterpart.
Q40: This might be a bit early to ask, but could you tell us any plans for an expansion?
A40: As we just mentioned before about the addition of a new race, we are looking into this for the first expansion, which we would like to release within two years of launch.
Q43: I remember you showed us artwork that had a baby behemoth on New Year’s day. How does that work?
A43: Basically they are pets that you can bring along with you. These pets will be referred to as “minions.” We are planning to introduce a variety of minions so stay tuned! Also, these minions are items and that means players will be able to trade minions with other players.
Q45: How often are you planning to update the game after the official release of A Realm Reborn? Also, will you be introducing mini-scenarios not tied to the main scenario during these updates?
A45: We are currently planning to introduce major updates once every 2 and a half months. As far as mini-scenario goes, yes, we will be implementing mini-scenarios as well. Gilgamesh, which we introduced earlier, will be introduced through a mini-scenario.
Published: Feb 22, 2013 04:25 pm