We finally have a welcome update on the release status of Final Fantasy XIV to bring you. The troubled game previously launched on PC, before being given a full revamp by Square-Enix after widespread criticism. The fresh version has now been given a definitive release in Summer and will also be making its way to the PS3, alongside PC versions.

Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn has been in and out of beta phases, letting PC users have the first glimpse of the ‘reborn’ game during beta phases 1 and 2. The good news is that Square-Enix has confirmed that the game will be out in the Summer and also confirmed that the final beta for the game, phase 3, will be out in June.

This is significant in the fact that PS3 players will also be able to take part in the beta for the very first time, as betas 1 and 2 were previously only available for the PC. It also tells us that if phase 3 is beginning in June, the final game will be released sometime in either July or August at the very latest.

It has been a very long development journey to say the least, so we just hope that Square-Enix has learned their lesson from the original PC launch and have created a new game that can finally be worthy of joining the ranks alongside other Final Fantasy greats like 7,8,9 and 10.

While Final Fantasy 14 is now due out for a Summer release, don’t forget that Square-Enix will also be announcing a new Final Fantasy game for the PS4 at Sony’s press E3 2013 conference in June. Will this end up being Final Fantasy Versus XIII at last, or even Versus XIII transforming into Final Fantasy 15 as rumors suggest?

We wonder if there is a possibility of Final Fantasy 14 being transferred over to the PS4 as well via Gaikai streaming, so subscribers wouldn’t have to contemplate potential problems if they plan on switching to next-gen. If you have followed the FF14 journey from the very start, let us know if you will be buying the full game this Summer or not.

Does Final Fantasy 14 deserve another chance?

In case you have forgotten, there is still a Final Fantasy XIV game on the horizon, despite the fact that we’re still no closer to knowing a solid release date for the infamous game after the failed launch on the PC in 2010. In the meantime, Square-Enix has been dropping out regular video teases for the new ‘A Realm Reborn’ revamp and we finally have some information for those of you who are looking forward to participating in the fresh beta test for the game. An official Square-Enix roadmap has revealed that the PC beta for Final Fantasy 14 will start in the middle of February, with a beta also confirmed for PS3 users afterwards as well.

There is naturally a great deal of expectation riding on Square-Enix’ shoulders to deliver at the second time of asking, as the company can’t really afford too many more mistakes as they look to win over fans once again with their renewed effort. Combine the fact that they are still stalling on Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy X HD, we’ve even go as far to say that FFIV is probably seen as the last chance to bring the Final Fantasy brand back to its former glory.

With that reminder out of the way, the beta appears to be on good schedule, and the new version of Final Fantasy XIV will finally be ready for testing in February. Square-Enix has revealed that there will be four phases for preparation of the game’s release, with Phase 1 marking the start of the PC closed beta, Phase 2 a second closed beta for PC, Phase 3 the start of the PS3 closed beta and finally Phase 4, a public beta lasting one to two weeks before the game is finally ready for a full release.

Other information which you’ll find useful include a possible 5 to 10 worlds in the beta, a full selection of races and genders and perhaps more importantly – a level cap of 35 for the beta. You should read the full PDF document here for a full overview from what to expect from the four beta phases.

All we need now is for Square-Enix to commit to a release date for the closed PC beta in February. Unsurprisingly, we do have another epic video for you to watch now which once again gives you a preview at some of the glorious eye candy on offer – it does look rather special to be fair, but then again all Final Fantasy games usually do.

What are your thoughts on the upcoming Final Fantasy XIV revamp? Will you give Square-Enix a second chance to win you over again or are you done with the series for good? You can register for the beta here if you are interested.

In true Square-Enix style, the trailer is pretty spectacular as well. We would have hoped to see some actual gameplay for the re-imagined game previously known as Final Fantasy 14 2.0, but it’s hard not to admire the beauty that we’re seeing here with this cutscenes galore clip.

The trailer is subtitled the ‘Fate of Eorzea’ and we see its inhabitants fighting back against some kind of apocalyptic attack. The chocobos make their glorious return around the half way point, while you can get a sneaky look at the legendary summon Odin and his trusty horse at the 0.45 mark.

Like all Final Fantasy games, it looks amazing on first view – graphically. After the disappointment of the failed launch, gamers want to see some actual gameplay though, not a fancy trailer before they decide to part with their cash again. Don’t forget that the game is still on course for a PlayStation 3 release and Square-Enix highlights this at the end of the trailer.

What are your thoughts on a Realm Reborn? It’s fair to say that we all prefer the name change, rather than simply 2.0 right? Let’s hope that Square-Enix has got the balance right this time and that they’ll show off the first gameplay footage at the Tokyo Game Show in September.

Odin has been confirmed for the game as you’ll see in the trailer, but what other legendary summons would you like to return?

After the somewhat disasterous launch for the game on PC back in September 2010, Square-Enix decided that they would go back to the drawing board and revamp the game completely. The game will now be relaunching as Final Fantasy XIV 2.0 and despite the fact that Final Fantasy Versus XIII is still thought to be in development on PS3, Square-Enix has said that they made a promise to PS3 gamers to finally release the game on their platform.

Given the long delay and all the talk about the next-gen PlayStation already, there had even been suggestions that Final Fantasy 14 wouldn’t make it out on the PS3, thus Square-Enix opting to make this a next-gen title instead. However, game director Naoki Yoshida spoke to Eurogamer during E3 and said that this wouldn’t be the case.

Being an online MMO game, there is obviously a very serious possibility that Final Fantasy XIV will also end up as a PS4 title, but for the moment – the game will still be launching on PS3. During the interview, Yoshida had this to say:

”We made a promise to our players that we are going to release this on PlayStation 3. So we must first fulfil that promise. That is our first goal. We must work as hard as we can to fulfil the promise that we made to the players.”

Even better news for PS3 owners, is that Yoshida also said that the team are still on schedule to meet their Q1 2013 release date for the game on PS3. The big job for the company now though is convincing PS3 players that Final Fantasy 14 2.0 is now the finished product and not the same game that they put out on PC.

Are you remotely interested in trying out the Final Fantasy 14 MMO on PS3, or are you more concerned about the state of Versus XIII? Hopefully we will get details on both games at the Tokyo Game Show in September.

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.

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?

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?

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.

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.

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.