Posted by: Jane Douglas

Hiromichi Tanaka, the producer of Final Fantasy XIV, has said that this massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is still on track to be a PlayStation 3 console exclusive.

The game will appear only on Sony’s console and the PC “at launch,” says the producer, “but we are talking with other platforms too.” Though if or when the game will launch on another console, he could not say.

Hiromichi Tanaka and Sage Sundi, FFXIV’s global online producer, spoke about their game at the Gamescom show in Cologne.

Pegged for 2010 release, the new Final Fantasy is the second MMO in the long-running RPG series; the first was Final Fantasy XI.

No PvP
FFXIV will include, say the producers, more weapons, more monsters, more complex initial character customisation, partially customisable interface and a seamless (not zone-based, like FFXI) world and a real-time (rather than auto) battle system. In tone and style the game will be most similar to Final Fantasy VI, says Hiromichi.

Player-versus-player combat will be absent from the game, at least initially, “to avoid player harassment”. If it is ever introduced, we are told, it will be more of a sport-like element, such as duelling.

According to Sage Sundi, there are plenty of Final Fantasy fans who haven’t tried MMOs and plenty of MMO fans who haven’t played Final Fantasy; FFXIV is another attempt to bring these two groups together. But how do you convince a Final Fantasy fan to play an MMO when the traditional single-player Final Fantasies are so unlike the MMO experience?

They have worked hard on the story line, says Sage. And the game will including voice acting this time, with voiceover for the storyline.

In Final Fantasy games, says Hiromichi, you follow a predetermined storyline – but in an MMO, you “meet real people and experience your own storyline”, which makes for a “moving” experience.

And another advantage of the MMO is the ability to tweak and update the game over time. Final Fantasy is traditionally a “packaged title”, says Hiromichi. Once it is released, it is out there and unchangeable. An MMO, on the other hand, means you can change things according to player feedback as you go.
Sage admits that the MMO market is a difficult one, but Final Fantasy XI’s particular success as a cross-platform (console and PC) game is unique.

With traditional single-player RPG Final Fantasy XIII coming out next year, close to the intended release date of XIV, is there rivalry in the FF camp between the two titles?

Sage, of course, says there is no such rivalry. “Maybe if we were both MMOs, we would be rivals,” he says. The reason the two games are being launched so close together, he says, is that both have been in development for the same period – three or four years – and both use the same engine. This meant that both games were waiting for that engine to be made ready, resulting in tightly spaced launches for the two Final Fantasy games in 2010.