More detail on jobs, questing in FFXIV

By Oli Welsh Published 6 August, 2009

Combine classes on a single character.

Following this week's revelation that Square Enix's MMO Final Fantasy XIV won't use experience points or a levelling system, more detail on its character advancement and classes has come to light.

A feature in Famitsu, ably summarised by 1UP reveals that the game will use an "armory system" with multiple sub-classes split into four broad jobs which, as with FFXI, can be combined on a single character: Fighter, Sorcerer, Gatherer and Crafter.

Example classes for each job, listed at Kotaku, are: swordsman and archer for the Fighter job, enchanter and warlock for the Sorcerer job, blacksmith and cook for the Crafter job, gardener and fisherman for the Gatherer job. It seems crafting professions, usually a separate advancement track in MMOs, are being integrated with the main combat system.

Changing your class is a simple matter of changing your weapon and armour, and you advance a class just by using the associated equipment. You can concentrate on one class, or create your own hybrid.

"The way I see it, the player can define how his own job works," said director Nobuaki Komoto. "For example, if you have the Swordsman skill, that's enough to let you play by yourself, but if you've also raised your Sorcerer skill enough to unlock that skill's healing magic, that'll make solo play a lot easier for you. You can carry enough equipment around at any given time to change your style freely, and the system makes this easy by letting you change sets of equipment all at once."

Questing involves visiting a guild and receiving work passes from a guildmaster. A single quest should take about half an hour, and there's a flexible system for determining how many players take a quest on. "You don't need a set number of people for each quest," Komoto said. "That you can work out by yourself with the other players in the guild, since they're all there for the same goal."

The Famitsu article also confirms the new names of old Final Fantasy XI races: Hume becomes Hyuran, the catlike Mithra become Miqo'te, the little Tarutaru are now called Lalafell, Elvaan are Elezen and the huge Galka go by the name Roegadyn.

Final Fantasy XIV is set, initially at any rate, on a small continent surrounded by islands called Eorzea. There'll be changing weather and a short day-night cycle, because "I want FFXIV to be enjoyed even by those who can play only a short time out of the day," says Komoto.

This is fast becoming one of the most exciting MMOs in development. Final Fantasy XIV is due for release on PC and PS3 next year. Square Enix will be discussing it further at this month's gamescom convention in Germany, and we'll bring you a fresh report then.

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (21) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ZuluHero #1 3 years ago

    It’s a bit like an extension of 11 then? Fans of that will be happy that it kinda follows its roots. I do like the idea of this system - thw whole advancing using equipment sounds a bit monster hunter in its approach.

    Interesting take on questing as well - although i hope its a bit more inventive than; "go kill X bring me Y". With crafting jobs mixed in it should make things a whole lot more interesting.
    Edited by 2 at 06/08/09 @ 10:56

  • Seoh #2 3 years ago

    So it does use XP then, if you increase your skill with weapons etc by using them.

    I like the sound of doing something different from the traditional level approach but there is a reason it works, if i have no real level only skill with equipment how can i tell if i can challenge an enemy?

  • miiiguel #3 3 years ago

    "if i have no real level only skill with equipment how can i tell if i can challenge an enemy?"

    Trying to?

  • ZuluHero #4 3 years ago

    I guess it will use the same system as 11 where you “check” a monster? It would be easy for them to look at your stats given to you from weapons and armour and tell you how it stacks against an enemy's stats.

    I didn’t get the impression that you were leveling a weapon? Just that using a weapon would increase your skill level in it – and probably unlock skills at key points – think of it like weapon skill levelling in wow (but on a much larger scale)?

    If you think about it like that its stil EXP based, they’ve just moved it from a bar at the bottom to somewhere on your stats screen/chara profile.

    I guess I was hoping it would be very similar to MH, where you get given a weak sword at the start – and then through hunting and questing you would be given a better sword. And that better sword would allow you to kill harder mobs.
    Edited by 1 at 06/08/09 @ 11:23

  • Koozer #5 3 years ago

    Was there a competition in the offices to see who could come up with the most awkward to pronounce new race names?

  • bigjimbeef #6 3 years ago

    I must admit, this is actually sounding more and more exciting as I find out more info about it. I used to love that idea in SWG - that you would gain xp in whatever weapon you were using. It was a massive fucking grind, but that's all good - I love that shit.

    It's not like I need any more MMOs to be excited about, but this one appears to have wormed its way onto the list.

  • Widge #7 3 years ago

    "I want FFXIV to be enjoyed even by those who can play only a short time out of the day," says Komoto.

    Could make it the first MMO I ever jump into.

  • M_of_the_sys #8 3 years ago

    I agree with bigjimbeef. I'm becoming somewhat excited about this now.

    Didn't they say they were scrapping the whole levelling thing though? Isn't this weapon thing just another form of levelling?

  • iamian #9 3 years ago

    Reminds me a little of the Final Fantasy IX skill system... equip a weapon and use it enough and then you learn the skills from that weapon. Anyone else think the same?

  • Widge #10 3 years ago

    Yes, I agree. Although part of me thinks Monster Hunter based on the experiences I've read of people playing that.

  • Scimarad #11 3 years ago

    I'd definitely go for something like FFXI with an option for solo play.

  • Rubarack #12 3 years ago

    "I want FFXIV to be enjoyed even by those who can play only a short time out of the day," says Komoto.

    Could make it the first MMO I ever jump into.

    Bear in mind ALL MMOs try to make this claim. I bet somewhere on the line EVE will have tried this.

  • Fudce #13 3 years ago

    I was a bit unsure when I first read about the new classes, but the idea of creating your own niche sounds pretty good.

    Of course, in practice certain 'setups' are going to become the norm, like the talent tree's of WoW and the job/subjob combinations of FFXI before it. Sure, you could create a White Mage with Monk as the subjob, but why would you?

  • owl #14 3 years ago

    changing weather, day & night cycle, chocobos, moogles. i'm in love.

  • Widge #15 3 years ago

    EG, if you get the chance to prod them:

    1) Subscription cost? If any.
    2) Cross platform play or at least cross platform usage of characters?

  • wittynic #16 3 years ago

    FFXI was advertised by the fact that you could create so many different combo's of job/sub job. In the end, because of the lack of soloing, in practise you pretty much had only a handful of accepted combos that you could get into a group with. I hope the new system avoids that.

    Also, as someone pointed out, FFXI was extremely cumbersome on PC and consoles, as its compromises for one really reduced it playability on the other. This was one of the big problems for me, playing on the PC. it felt very counter intuitive. I hope they find a way around this.

    More soloing would be very welcome too.

  • wanderingkid #17 3 years ago

    This should be fantastic !
    The most important question is will there be a subscription charge(for PS3 most importantly considering online gaming is free).
    If it's free I'll buy it on release, if not I doubt I'll buy it at all ...

  • blizer #18 3 years ago

    In my oppinion if this game follows FFXI its a dead MMO. This game needs to be way better. First not that **** about 90dyas if you dont log out you char is delected and of course the game has to have a wide world of pvp like warhammer because if not why should i play?

    im a big fan off FF series but i still hold grudge after playing FFXI.

  • MightyMetalMonkey #19 3 years ago

    blizer - I hope that the PVP thing will be an Option.
    I really dont play MMO's for PVP - but then I'm not a hormonal teen who feels the need to make themselves feel good by making someone else have a crap day.
    And we've had many people come back into our Linkshell that were gone from the game for well over 90 days... Just because they tell you that's the limit before deletion, doesn't mean it's true...

  • non-prophet #20 3 years ago

    It seems crafting professions, usually a separate advancement track in MMOs, are being integrated with the main combat system. (from the article)

    Nowhere have they said that crafting and gathering classes will have a role in combat. Perhaps it is more accurate to say, "It seems classes, usually restricted to defining one's role in combat, are being generalized to apply to anything you choose to do, be it fighting monsters or forging a sword."

    As for the weapon system being another form of leveling, the implication for growth is different than with the typical level system. In the kind of system they are suggesting, character abilities are based on what you do rather than how many experience points you accrue against some target number (regardless of the means of success). I'm all for a system that diverges from the convention of character development achieved only through large, discrete intervals and a predefined set of abilities.

  • davidjams #21 2 years ago

    When you are 16, you may need more pocket money to buy what you like. But ,how can you earn money? so, you must get a job, not only for money, but also for experience. According to Child Labor, it's not so easy to find a job for age under 16. How to find Jobs for 14 Year Olds? if you'd like, I'll tell you the jobs you can get and how to earn money .

    If you are talented in writing, you could be a teen writer. And, you can get paid from magazines or websites. If you are not good at writing, you can practice writing. Write whatever you feel like writing, whether it be teen fiction or anything else. It really doesn't matter what you write, as long as you're writing.

    How to start? You can try to start out writing for your school paper (articles, opinions or short stories). You could also try submitting to local writers' club anthologies & teen magazines often have a reader submissions section for poems, short stories, etc. These won't be paying summer jobs for 16 year olds, but they might get you noticed. Also, if you are good at basic copywriting & layout, you can get people to pay you to prep their resumes. You'd be surprised how many people can't manage that on their own.
    Edited by 1 at 03/07/10 @ 10:58