final-fantasy-14 posts

Final Fantasy XI was not that long ago, relatively, but Square Enix is giving the MMORPG genre a second shot. Final Fantasy XIV is that new attempt, and everything about the game looks fairly interesting. However, this trailer is not. While Final Fantasy at this point is a gaming institution, we can only take so many generic trailers composed of orchestral music, cryptic phrases, and nonsensical CGI before it starts to get a little old. However, we do like the shots of gameplay seen at a few points, as in-action shots are always much cooler than stills.

Fans already expect Final Fantasy XIV to look great, but this video demonstrates some of the stunning visual differences between the early alpha version of the game and the beta. Hopefully it won't be much longer before players can step into this world for themselves.

Download HD Final Fantasy XIV Alpha / Beta Comparison Video (101 MB)
Check out all Final Fantasy XIV Online downloads

This benchmark uses graphics and characters from Final Fantasy XIV Online to measure how well the game will perform on your system. It supports both high definition video that includes 1920x1080 resolution and 5.1 surround sound. There is also Japanese, English, German and French language support included.

After downloading the benchmark, unzip the contents to a destination folder. Then run FFXIVBenchmark.exe to start the benchmark. The benchmark does not represent an official demo of the game.

Download Final Fantasy XIV Benchmark (172 MB)
Check out all Final Fantasy XIV downloads

Announced in June, Final Fantasy XIV will be the second MMO set in the Final Fantasy universe. Hopefully, this trailer shown at the Tokyo Game Show 2009 represents in-game graphics, and not just CGI. Square Enix trailers are renowned for their eye candy, and this doesn't disappoint. In Final Fantasy XIV, players will have a chance to explore a new and mysterious world called Eorzea, a place that's both gorgeous and dangerous. The game is currently expected to release sometime in 2010.

Download HD Final Fantasy XIV TGS 2009 Trailer (90 MB)

Square Enix shocked fantasy of the Final Fantasy franchise last June at E3 when they announced their plans for Final Fantasy XIV Online, the second game in the long running RPG series that's being designed as an MMO (Final Fantasy XI Online was the first). Now Square Enix has launched the game's official web site with a ton of new images and screenshots from the title along with info on the game's races and images of some of the game's locations.

Square Enix is still sticking to its 2010 release date that it set when the game was first announced two months ago. Final Fantasy XIV is slated to be released for the PC and PS3 but there's no word yet if the two will have cross-platform online play like Final Fantasy XI does.