Problems within the game have been well documented, and reached their peak when even the CEO of Square-Enix recently stated that the failed launch of Final Fantasy XIV was the sole reason why many fans now feel that Final Fantasy is a ‘damaged brand’.

The company hope to make amends with their upcoming 2.0 update to the game which is set to give the game a complete overhaul, but in the meantime it’s back to business for Square-Enix as they will now ask FFXIV gamers for a fee starting from January. The normal subscription price to play is usually set at ¥980 for 30 days of play and ¥2,640 for 90 days, but until the 2.0 update releases for the game, you’ll be able to play from January onwards for a discounted price, according to Andria Sang.

That discounted price will see the game come in at ¥680 for 30 days and and ¥1,740 for 90 days of play. If you want rough conversion of that into US dollars just to give you an idea, that’s $8.75 for 30 days and $23 for 90 days – not too bad at all. However, after playing the game for free for so long, we have a feeling that many of you will not want to pay for the game until the 2.0 update comes into effect.

For those of you that are wondering what has happened to the PS3 version – forget about it for now, as it is not expected to release until the latter stages of 2012. Square-Enix obviously have a great task on their hands to convince PC gamers that Final Fantasy XIV is still worth their hard earned cash. If you have been playing the game for free, let us know your thoughts on this.

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That feature we’re talking about is adding locations from previous Final Fantasy games into the Final Fantasy XIV universe. It sounds pretty adventurous, but considering the huge scope potential that a MMO game like FFXIV has, it isn’t impossible according to Square Enix.

Naoki Yoshida, the producer and director for the game has spoken about this idea in an internal interview he gave which has been published on the official Square-Enix blog. He hints that Final Fantasy XIV players have already seen the crystal tower from Final Fantasy III, but reveals that he has plans to add even more locations in the future.

Here is a snippet of his interivew, as noted over at Siliconera: “Because Final Fantasy XIV is an MMO, it’s a great opportunity for players to feel and experience the Final Fantasy universe 365 days a year. I really want to make the most out of the franchise’s history. Not many other games have this incredible history, so I’d like to put as much of that as possible in this game. Not only by using ideas, objects and locations from older Final Fantasy games, but also by adding new things to the universe. I have a lot of plans, so please look forward to finding out what I have in mind.”

That alone shows us that they are indeed serious about the new Final Fantasy XIV 2.0 refresh, and this looks like a great feature to put in the game. Imagine being able to hop on an airship and revisit Midgar or Wall Market from Final Fantasy VII – how nostalgic would that be for gamers. Hopefully we’ll hear more information on this particular aspect of the 2.0 update, as we’re sure many of you are getting excited once again thinking of the possibilities.

If you played Final Fantasy XIV when it first launched, do you think it is fair to label the game as ‘a disaster’ as some people have said? How optimistic are you that Square Enix will put things right in the 2.0 update?

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The guys over at Square-Enix know that it’s time to put their faith back in consumers eyes, as even Square-Enix CEO Yoichi Wada revealed recently that Final Fantasy XIV was the sole reason why the Final Fantasy was a ‘damaged brand‘.

Still though, there’s always time to put things right, and this recent patch update to 1.19 attempts to fix the game significantly. The full list of changes are too long to list here, but we can tell you that there are brand new dungeons to explore, new monsters to slay, new quests to complete and new ways to travel around.

Square-Enix has inserted a new gameplay element, in which the player can now rent a chocobo to travel around faster. It gets better too, as you can also make use of an airship now for even faster travel, which should please those of you who hated travelling on foot.

As with every patch release for Final Fantasy XIV, you can also expect a lengthy list of bug and glitch fixes too. One particular bug fix that players will be happy about is the bug where players could not log in for up to 10 minutes after being disconnected from the game.

If you want to read the full list of changes in patch update 1.19, be prepared for a long read. The notes are available at the Square-Enix forum page here. If any of you have already installed this new patch, we want to know if the game is better as a result. Is it worth coming back to Final Fantasy XIV or not?

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Square-Enix’s producer for Final Fantasy XIV felt the need to announce this personally, and he did so over on the game’s official forum. Naoki Yoshida wrote what can be only described as an essay, complete with a chart detailing all of the planned updates for the game, as reported from Eurogamer.

Highlights include character rebalancing, the introduction of auto-attack, a new job system, user interface enhancements, battle system overhaul to ‘reward effort and reduce monotony’, equipment attribute revisions and much more.

You can view the whole thing in full on the forums here. Have a good look through the list and let us know your thoughts on the changes. As a paying subscriber to the game, do you think the updates are sufficient, or are you really disappointed at the way Final Fantasy XIV has progressed since it’s release?

We’d also like to know which areas you think should be updated / modified which are not included in the producer’s notes. We’ll let you know when the first wave of updates happen.

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As reported from Eurogamer, Square-Enix has just confirmed the news on the official site for FFXIV, and you’ll be pleased to know that new monsters have been added into the game, perfect if you can actually find them within the new world.

While new monsters to kill is obviously refreshing, we’re more pleased to hear that Square-Enix has once again improved the User Interface in the game and they’ve also upped the text limit when you’re chatting with friends.

We’ve taken a look at the website, and it looks like this update will be going live at any time after 3pm UK time. If you are on ET in the US, that means that you should look out for the update after 10am, so not long to go at all.

Once the update does land, we’ll be very interested to hear your thoughts on the new monsters, and also the tweaks to the User Interface. On a slightly disappointing note, you can read more information on the PS3 delay to the game here.

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In a way – we did. If you consider the amount of criticism that the PC version received, it is clear that the developers have a lot to sort out, and it looks like they need a lot longer than March to do it.

While PC owners may have been glad at the time, it is particularly worrying when you see Square-Enix extending free monthly periods for FFXIV – almost in an embarrassing acceptance of defeat. The delay will give them all the extra time they need to polish up the PS3 version, as if it’s anything near the PC version, they are going to struggle to find subscriptions we feel.

What are your thoughts on this? The good news, is that Square Enix has said that they need more time to put their ‘planned updates’ into place – hopefully they are talking about that far-from perfect interface that currently greets PC users.

Were you planning to pick up the PS3 version in March? Naturally you’re disappointed with the news – as we are. Let us know your insight into the current problems going down at Square Enix HQ.

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According to Wesley Yin-Poole at eurogamer.net, Square Enix president and CEO Yoichi Wada posted a message on the game’s official website, stating that it is not the developer’s wish to release a simple conversion of the PC version of FFXIV as it is in its current state.

Wada explained that they’d rather release an update that features all the improvements that they have planned for the game. He then went on to say that for that specific reason, they have made the difficult decision to delay the release past the original planned date of March 2011.

Things don’t appear to have been going too well for the Final Fantasy XIV title, ever since it launched on Microsoft Windows back in September. Shortly after it was released, gamers began filling the forum with angry complaints over the quality of the game.

You can read Yoichi Wada’s full statement via lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com. Are you disappointed with the news about a delay in the PS3 version’s release date?

More About: Final Fantasy XIV, Square-Enix

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As Eurogamer reports, the update is the first of many proposed updates for the game, with Square-Enix seemingly willing to put a real effort in for those who felt a little robbed after the game was released.

There are far too many updates to list here, but the main ones include tweaks to the allocation of skill points, a response time improvement to the ‘criticized’ User Interface and an increase to inventory space – which should please a lot of you.

To view the complete list of changes, head to the official patch notes here. If you have spotted any problems with the game after installing this patch update, leave us a comment below.

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According to their review, Final Fantasy XIV isn’t a game worth getting, highlighting key issues regarding the ‘terrible interface’ ‘slow menu response times’ and the the lack of user-friendly features which makes the game very confusing for new players.

However, they do reserve special praise for the game’s visuals, while they also say the story mode is pretty interesting. After reading their review though, the criticisms definitely outweigh the positives unfortunately.

With a lasting appeal score of just 5.0 from IGN, this is almost unheard of for a Square-Enix title, especially a Fantasy Fantasy MMO. To say the game ‘isn’t worth playing’ is a pretty bold statement, so we’d love to hear your side of the story.

Firstly, those of you who already have the game, is the criticism justified or not? For those who are yet to buy it, has the 5.5/10 score completely put you off?

Read IGN’s review here.

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Michael Fahey of Kotaku is reporting that the new controller has a similar PlayStation look to it, and combines the technical quality of ZeroG’s officially licensed PlayStation 2 offering with the Final Fantasy XIV brand. The buttons on the controller have numbers on them instead of the circle, triangle etc.

It comes in a brilliant white finish, so it is not advised to be eating something which could stain it while you are playing your new Final Fantasy game. There is no price for the controller yet, and should become available when the game is released on the 30th of September.

Will you buy the Final Fantasy XIV controller?

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