Square Enix has shed some more light on its upcoming PlayStation 3 and PC-based MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV. In the world of the company's newest online title, all cities are not necessarily connected to an adjoining land. The gap between various races' abilities won't be as profound as in Final Fantasy XI. The developers are not willing to talk about the gender-specific ability gap yet, though. During the character selection process, the player can customize his or her character's face, hair style, eye color, skin, etc. It will be fairly easy to change a character's clothing in Final Fantasy XIV.
Battles might be fought in real-time, but the developers stated that the battle system won't be action-oriented. The character growth system is closely connected to the weapon a character wields. Skill upgrades will be the result of weapon usage. The team has yet to decide whether they will allow for the possibility of mastering the abilities of all jobs. Talking about jobs, Square Enix has so far announced the following four jobs and five races:
Fighter (standard classes: fencer, archer)
Sorcerer (standard classes: magus, evoker)
Crafter (standard classes: blacksmith, cook)
Gatherer (standard classes: gardener, fisherman)
Hyuran: humans that are divided in midlanders and highlanders.
Lalafell: Highly intelligent agricultural people of the South Seas. The number of females is low. Reminiscent of Final Fantasy XI's Tarutaru.
Roegadyn: more human than Final Fantasy XI's Galka race. Their main territory is the northern sea. They produce many hunters.
Miqo'te: this race is divided into two groups, diurnal sun seekers and nocturnal moon keepers. Supposedly, there are few Miqo'te males.
Elzen: The indigenous people of Final Fantasy XIV's world. They used to quarrel with the Hyurans.
Jobs can be easily changed in Final Fantasy XIV, thanks to the armory system. The player only has to equip a weapon associated with the preferred job. For example, a character begins the battle as a fighter. After having sustained a significant amount of damage, he or she can easily switch to the sorcerer job and use healing magic to recover.
Another important feature will be authorization passes issued by the various guilds. Those cards will come with a variety of content ranging from quests such as killing monsters or skill updates. One of those quests can be typically completed within 30 minutes or less. The cards' content will change on a weekly basis.
Final Fantasy XIV will be available to players in Japan, North America, and Europe sometime next year.
