Attending the first offline FFXIV event

Now that all those boring game facts are out of the way, we can discuss Eorzea Prelive — the event!  Part 2 of our Eorzea Prelive coverage explores the journey, the set up and a behind-the-scenes look at the extravaganza itself.

Eorzea PreLive was held in Yebisu Garden Place, located in Yebisu, which is itself located in the Shibuya ward of Tokyo.  To cite Wikipedia:

Ebisu was founded around 1928 as a community developed around the Japan Beer Brewery Company facilities where Yebisu Garden Place now stands. Yebisu Beer, named for Ebisu, one of the Japanese Seven Gods of Fortune, was introduced in 1890 by Japan Beer and has long been a local favorite. The area adopted its name from the train station built in 1901 by the company to facilitate distribution of its beer. Japan Beer has since reorganized and was renamed Sapporo Breweries Ltd. After the breweries were moved to Chiba in 1988, the area was redeveloped as the Yebisu Garden Place, which opened to the public in 1994.

**Quick note: For the town and its locations, I’m going to use the traditional spelling, “Yebisu” as it was the spelling used on all the signs, buildings, etc.

As mentioned above, Ebisu is one of the Seven Gods of Fortune.  Ebisu brings fortune to fishers and merchants, which makes this town an appropriate location for launching a new game, especially one in which Square Enix is so invested.  On a coincidental note, the timing works well too.  In Japan, days are given one of six rankings based on how lucky they are — sort of like a daily horoscope that applies to everyone.  Nowadays, it is somewhat of an archaic notion, mostly referenced when planning weddings or funerals. Still, this ranking is listed on some calendars or daily planners you can purchase.  One of my more superstitious clients actually ran white out through the entirety of his planner just so he did not have to always be worrying how unlucky a day might be.

The day on which this event was held (the 14th) was a day of trials.  It’s a day where friends come together to get through hardships, with the evening being an especially fortuitous time.  This seems to have worked out well, as the developers really pulled off a great initial event for their new MMO, and already forums are reflecting a renewed excitement about the game.  Then again, the Collector’s Edition releases on the 22nd, which this month is butsu-metsu, the unluckiest day of them all.  So what do I know…

Yebisu Garden Place feels almost like a theme park.  Everything looks very clean and new, and there are many different places to shop and eat.  It is also very close to the station and is connected via 5-minute stroll down the Ebisu Sky Walk, which is an overpass with moving sidewalks.  The atmosphere was very relaxed, though the weather was somewhat finicky.  I was able to get some good shots in when I first arrived, but it began to rain soon after and I had to take cover inside Yebisu Garden Place Tower at location K. The Garden Hall where the event took place is at location J.

Yebisu Garden Place Tower went up about 40 floors and had viewing windows set up for tourists.  It is well known how tight and cramped Japan can be, especially in urban areas.  One of Japan’s most interesting traits, however, is how stark the contrast can be between these densely packed cities and the little recreational areas tucked away inside them.  A walk through any major town or city can reveal peaceful little playgrounds or shrines that feel like a whole other world compared with the hectic areas that surround them.  Located in the heart of Tokyo, Yebisu looks as any urban environment would, but as the pictures up at the top of the article and immediately below show…

…the Garden Place fits neatly inside while still maintaining a unique feel all its own.  By the way, the picture on the right is facing the Garden Hall where Eorzea Prelive was held.

Outside, there was a statue of some guy giving an “Adventure, ho!” pose. Well, let’s follow him inside…

A placard at the doors identified this as an event to announce the completion of FFXIV.  A giant FFXIV logo spread behind the check-in counter.  Things were a little quiet since the event was not set to begin for another 5 hours…

…but some people had been here already.  Two massive flower bouquets had been delivered by Square Enix BFFs Enterbrain and Hakuhoudou.  Enterbrain (left) is a company that publishes gaming magazines, such as Weekly Famitsu and Connect!On.  They also publish Vana’diel Tsuushin, dedicated to FFXI content; and soon, Eorzea Tsuushin, which will be dedicated to FFXIV content.  Hakuhoudou (right) is a large advertising agency in Japan.

Around 5 o’clock, the staff began allowing press in the doors and up to the auditorium.  The elevator had the third floor marked with a FFXIV sticker which was cute, but there were staff on-hand to press the right button for us anyway.  In true geek fashion, I asked the operator if I could snap a quick picture of the elevator button; he chuckled and said it was OK.

As you can see above, the elevator opened up into a room filled with PCs.  They were all running FFXIV and were open for press and fans alike to tinker with.  By this point, most press had seen several versions of the game already, and the 350 fans in attendance were all participating in the beta.  As a result, most people just milled around the area, and the demos did not draw all that much attention.  At least not compared to what else was on display…

All around the PC room, Square Enix set up displays for top-of-the-line merchandise provided by various sponsors. It was like that scene out of Spaceballs:  Merchandising — where the real money is made.  Final Fantasy XIV: The Keyboard, Final Fantasy XIV: The Mouse, Final Fantasy XIV: The USB Controller, Final Fantasy XIV: The PC Speakers, Final Fantasy XIV: The Graphics Card, Final Fantasy XIV: The Wireless Router… oh, and don’t forget the thumb drives they gave out in the press kit.  Imagine someone using all of these at once; I’d like to see a picture of that.  I guess it’s no mystery why the PlayStation 3 version is delayed until March, though.  With the console version, you just pop in the disc and go.  Want the true FFXIV experience on the PC?  Step right up and empty your bank account.  Oh well, enough conspiracy theories, let’s drool over more geek crap.

And what computer powerful enough to destroy mankind would be complete without the perfect case to house all this destructive power?

The above Final Fanta-gasm is a Cooler Master ATCS840 equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 SLI card.  The design on the side is by FFXIV illustrator Akihiko Yoshida.  According to the sign, the case is still in development and may change before release.  If all this was not cool enough, there are still two more displays to check out!

The FFXIV Collector’s Edition, in all its glory. Some of the special goodies it comes packaged with that we can see here are the behind-the-scenes DVD, FFXIV–branded Security Token, travel journal “filled with pages of never-before-seen concept art,” the beautifully illustrated Yoshitaka Amano box cover, and the leather Adventurer’s Tumbler.

Neighboring the Collector’s Edition display was another case with the upcoming Battle Tracks and Field Tracks CDs.  These come with about nine tracks each and are bundled with maps and booklets.  Here’s a previous article with more information and a statement from the composer, Nobuo Uematsu.  Some tracks can even be previewed on their official site as well.

OK, I think it is just about time to head in for the Prelive event — easy to forget such a trivial thing with all these exciting products ripe for the gawking.  We already covered most of the information earlier today, courtesy of Square Enix.  I want to give them another hat tip for getting together such a thorough summary for overseas players quickly.  The Twitter account was not very detailed, and the reception (not to mention picture-taking) kept me from helping out during the Live Feed — sorry about that.

Before settling in for the show, I was contacted by Global Online Producer Sage Sundi through Twitter, of all places.  He wanted to catch up and say hello.  Until then, I had only read or listened to interviews of him online and translated the contents.  It was a pleasant bonus getting to meet him, and right off the bat he was very friendly.  Not to mention, living in Japan all this time, I was impressed by how well he handled the English language.

During the fatigue debacle, Sage Sundi had opened up a little on Twitter and posted that he had always hoped to serve as an example of cultures working together effectively.  However, with the controversy about fatigue raging, he felt that our goals and ways of thinking just might be too different sometimes.  He comes across as someone serious about crossing the cultural boundaries we, as players, smack into day after day.  Funnily enough, he has become somewhat of an icon in NA player culture, being featured in many game-related memes and photoshops.  Hopefully, cross-cultural communication is something we can help tackle as the game evolves.

Anyway, let’s head into the auditorium.

SE gives users a glimpse of bonus items

From the completion of all worlds maintenance which is scheduled to end on Sep. 15, 2010 at approximately 1:00 to Sep. 16, 2010 1:00 (PDT), an event will be held in which users can try out the in-game bonus items that will be implemented in the official release of the game.
The event will be held in the Karnak world, which can be accessed once the event begins. If you create a new character in the Karnak world, you will start out with an “Onion Helm” and “Asuran Armguards.” Feel free to create a new character and test out these items.
We may add other worlds and hold similar events depending on circumstances.
However, please be aware that character names from the Karnak world and other worlds added for events will not be carried over to the official release of the game and the worlds will be closed down once the event is over.
*Event completion time may be subject to change.
* Please be advised that the bonus in-game items that you receive during this event will have no impact on the actual bonus in-game items that you may receive for the official release.

The 1980s is Alive and Well in FFXIV Quest Titles.

Apparently not everything about Final Fantasy XIV is serious business.
Upon reviewing the Guildleves in our database, we couldn’t help but notice the number of pop-culture references embedded in the quest names. Some of the references are obvious – others, not so much. Also interesting is that nearly half of these references refer to songs, movies and games from the 1980s. That’s probably an indication of Square Enix’s target demographic as well as the ages of the company’s writers.
Here are just a few Guildleves named after pop-culture references – do you know where they’re from?
• Get to the Copper
• When Bats Cry
• Light for the Rites

Event Duration
Sep 15th until Sep 19th EDT (GMT-4)

Servers
Available in all Galaxy Online servers!

Content
Consume certain in-game paid services during the event and get Mall Points back.

Event Rules
1.  Use “Super Recruit” to recruit a commander and get 10*[Adv Resource Case] back each time! You can only receive a maximum of 1000 [Adv Resource Case]through useing “Super Recruit” to recruit a commander .

2. Use the ships repair accelerating service in the spacedock and get 10*[Adv Resource Case]! You can only receive a maximum of 3000 [Adv Resource Case] through ships repair accelerating service.

Notes: The rewards for the event will be sent in 3 working days after it ends.

PvE/PvP currencies will convert to Justice and Honor Points in Patch 4.0.

Blizzard poster Bashiok has just posted an in-depth explanation of the PvE/PvP currency system changes that are coming in Cataclysm, and it’s an informative read. The lengthy post can be found in its entirety after the jump, but I’ll attempt to summarize the important parts.

The upcoming 4.0 patch will convert Emblems of Triumph and Frost into Justice Points (PvE), and Arena Points, Honor Points, Battleground Marks of Honor, Stone Keeper’s Shards, Venture Coins, and Spirit Shards into Honor Points (PvP). Simple, right? All PvE badges below Frost and Triumph will be converted into gold.

There will be a limit to the amount of new currencies you can hold, but Blizzard’s providing a grace period in the form of a soft cap. This means your conversion can go over the hard cap, but you can’t earn more until you go below the hard cap. Here’s an example: the conversion gives you 4,200 Justice Points, but the hard cap is 4,000. You’ll have to spend some points to dip under 4,000 before you can earn more. Another patch before Cataclysm will actually enforce the hard cap, and your excess points will be turned into gold.

Keep reading below for more details. Bashiok said that all conversion math should be posted tomorrow afternoon if you’re curious how many Justice and Honor Points you’re going to earn in patch 4.0.

As we discussed in our previous announcement (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=24401796793), we’re refining the currency systems used for purchasing PvE and PvP items in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, and the transition to this new system will take place in two stages. Today, we’re going into more detail on how these changes will be rolled out, so if you haven’t yet, make sure to check out the prior article to get up to speed on the currency names.
One change of note since that original announcement is that we’ve changed the name of the low-tier PvE currency from Hero Points to Justice Points. The original announcement post has been updated to reflect this.
Out With the Old
In the upcoming 4.0 patch we’ll begin the first stage of the conversion to the new currencies. Emblems of Triumph and Emblems of Frost will be converted into Justice Points. For this initial conversion there will be a soft cap of points you can have, with a hard cap enforced later as detailed below. All PvE emblems and badges below Frost and Triumph will be converted into gold. This even includes legacy badges, like Badges of Justice. If any of these older currencies are converted into gold, the player will receive it through an in-game letter.
At this time any bosses a player defeats that are level-appropriate to them (and previously awarded badges or emblems upon defeat) will award them with the new Justice Points. Similarly, any items that previously cost emblems or badges of any type will now cost Justice Points instead.
On the PvP side, Season 8 will end with the release of patch 4.0, and all Arena Points, Honor Points, any leftover Battleground Marks of Honor, Stone Keeper’s Shards, Venture Coins, and Spirit Shards will be converted into the new Honor Points. The new Honor Point pool will also have a soft cap for these conversions, but a hard cap will be enforced later. At the time of conversion, items that previously cost Honor or Arena Points will be sold in exchange for the new Honor Points. Rated Arenas and Rated Battlegrounds won’t be available again until Season 9 (shortly after the release of Cataclysm), when they can be entered to win the higher-tier PvP Conquest Points.
In addition, purchasing any item with these secondary currencies (Honor Points and Justice Points) will now require that the purchaser meet the item’s minimum level requirement.
It’s important to note that these conversions are not 1:1, but are indicative of the level and relative worth of each before the conversion to the new point systems. For example, Stone Keeper’s Shards will convert into more Honor Points than Spirit Shards.
Tip of the Cap
While we previously announced that there’s a limit to the amount of these new currencies you can stockpile, we’re providing a grace period in the form of a soft cap. This soft cap will allow the initial conversion to push the amount owned over the cap, but will not allow any further points to be earned (or returned through item refunds) until enough points are spent to put you below the hard cap.
For instance, a player has 3000 Emblems of Triumph, and 1200 Emblems of Frost; at the time of conversion they’ll be given 4200 Justice Points. The hard cap for Justice Points is 4000, so that player won’t be able to earn any more Justice Points until he or she spends enough points to reduce the total to under 4000. This also applies to the new PvP Honor Points, which also have a cap of 4000.
Shortly before Cataclysm is released, another patch will enforce the hard cap, marking the second stage of the currency conversion. Any Justice or Honor Points above the hard cap will be converted to gold, and just like in the first stage of the conversion, the player will receive an in-game letter explaining that some of their currencies were converted into gold as well as delivering the gold itself.

Let us know what you think and if you have any questions. We’re planning to post all of the conversion math tomorrow afternoon for those that want to know how many of each they’ll be getting.