What we know

[Che]

According to the article, character creation will go much further beyond slapping together race and face. Players will be able to customize a wide range of features, such as hair color & style. Exactly what else will be adjustable is unknown at this time.

There appears to be five selectable races so far, with one picture of a horned creature speculated to be a Gria-esque race. The setup looks similar as well, with male and female Hume, Elvaan and TaruTaru races, but only female Mithra and male Galka. A lot of the characteristics of the races are strikingly similar as well.

The Hyuran are said to be the most prolific race of all Eorzea. This is pretty much in line with Vana'diel, as they again appear to take the role of "default race." The article says that they migrated to Eorzea in large number from neighboring islands and continents. They brought with them great technology and innovation that raised the civilization of Eorzea to new heights (quite literally, judging from the trailer). Having immigrated from a variety of lands there is great diversity to be found amongst the Hyuran in terms of language and culture. The two main classifications of Hyuran are "Midlanders" who migrated to lower areas of Eorzea, and the "Highlanders" who migrated into the hills and mountains.

The "Elvaan" of Final Fantasy XIV are called "Elzen." However, the official English spelling is not visible in the pictures. The Elzen are the anscestral race of Eorzea, and have clashed with the Hyuran in the past to defend their homeland. In addition, they are said to possess impeccible hearing, but this could just be a joke. Let us not forget the rumors of Sumo Wrestlers in Final Fantasy XI spread by those clever Japanese players. More information will be avaiable on them soon. The Elzen, that is.

Lalafell are short, munchkin-looking creatures not unlike the TaruTaru of Final Fantasy XI. They are a race of farmers who live mainly near the Southern Sea. They also boast an exceptional degree of intelligence.

The Roegadyn are a muscular race of fishermen that live near the Northern Sea. It appears that some work as hired mercenaries or bodyguards, but others lead a less noble life as pirates. A portion of their explanation is cut off, so I will get into more detail about them upon the magazine's release.

Miqo'te are cat-like people who are again known as fierce hunters. They are mainly separated into "Sunseekers" and "Moonkeepers," the latter of which are nocturnal. Together, the Miqo'te are a minority race in the land of Eorzea. It is rumored that the Miqo'te will be even more cat-like than their Mithran counterparts. More information to come once the full blurb is visible.

Jobs will work on what is called the Armory System. Judging from what we can see, the player can change the growth path of their character by equipping different weapons, and within each path are a set of classes. Again, there may be better details available on Friday, but we can still see a couple of the professions from which we will have to choose.

The path of the Fighter is for those wishing to be adept at wielding great weapons of battle. Classes that represent the way of the Fighter include Fencer and Archer.

The path of the Sorcerer is open to those who possess magical weapons imbued with fantastic power. The picture shows a staff, but it is possible there will be other weapon types available. Classes representative of the way of the Sorcerer include 呪術士 (ju-jutsu-shi), which may be a first for Final Fantasy. The upcoming Four Warriors of Light: Final Fantasy Gaiden on the Nintendo DS will also have a 呪術士 class. It can translate to a couple things, such as witch, shaman or warlock. The second class, 幻術士 (gen-jutsu-shi), literally means Illusionist, but has appeared before as Conjurer in Final Fantasy III, and Caller in Final Fantasy IV.

Now this is interesting. The article says that equipping crafting tools will put you on the path of the Crafter. This would suggest that crafting has been absorbed into the job system itself. No more mid-battle juice? Anyway, by taking a tool, such as a Blacksmith's Hammer, in hand, you are on the path of the Crafter, which contains classes such as Blacksmith and Chef (probably sans hammer).

The path of the Gatherer is activated by equipping harvesting tools. In the example picture, the horned mystery man is holding a hatchet. Classes included under Gatherer are Gardener and Fisherman.

It is impossible to confirm these bullet points right now, so anything listed here could change. Here are a few of the more interesting things rumored to be in this week's article:

* The difference in ability between races is said to be less severe than that of Final Fantasy XI
* Battles progress in real-time, but are not action-oriented, i.e. There is more to consider during battle that simply targeting the enemy and wailing away on it
* The Armory System allows for job changing anywhere, so inventory space is of great importance. Therefore, ways to change armor quickly and easily are being considered
* Currently investigating whether to allow all skills to be mastered, or have a see-saw style system like crafting in Final Fantasy XI
* "Guild Leave" will be a system of quests that include monster hunting, skilling up and a myriad of other activities. Players will obtain items to allow them to travel instantly to their required destination. There seems to be a lot about this system in the article as well, but we'll save that until it's fully visible.
* There will be weather effects and night/day transitions. One game day is one Earth hour.
* Final Fantasy XIV will be casual enough that even playing one hour a day is sufficient to enjoy the game.
* The game currency will be gil.

You can find screenshots of the game here: IGN: Final Fantasy XIV Online Screenshots, Wallpapers and Pics

New Info 8/31

Dengeki Online - Developer Interview

Dengeki Alpha Report, Developer Q&A

• All 4 languages will have a simultaneous release
• Auto-translate function is planned. They want to improve it, but not too much so as to make it confusing
• Skill level will determine what equipment you can wear. There will be a skill cap.
• Crafting can be a full-time job this time around. You skill-up just like a battle-oriented job and have unique Guildleves tailored to your class.
• One aspect of FFXIV is that adventuring isn't limited to grinding off enemies. For example, a player could become a "high level" Weaver without engaging in a single battle.
• Weapon durability will be present to balance crafting and battle-oriented jobs. Crafters will depend on battle-oriented jobs for backup, while those jobs will rely on Crafters to repair weapons
• 3 starting nations, Limsa Lominsa, Ul'dah, Gridania
• Free-roaming NMs with special drops are a maybe, large-scale HNM content planned for Guildleve
• Players cannot steal monsters involved in someone else's Guildleve
• Voice acting for cut scenes - all versions will be in English, other languages will get subtitles
• There will be a trade function, but they are planning to build something new and different from XI's Auction House system.
• They hope to make use of Square Enix IDs and Security Tokens for FFXIV logins

Couple more pieces of info I found from Japanese Magazine translations 9/01:

• Four new classes revealed! Monk (Martial artist), Archer, Tailor, Axe Warrior
• You can freely set 10 of your abilities on the action menu (these will change according to your equipped weapon). You can also choose your items and emotes from this menu. Furthermore, "Dodo attacks from the right" appears in the message window. Could the direction attacks come from also be important?
• When you clear a Guildleve, a warp point appears.
• You select your ability or any action from the action menu. The gauges to the right of your character are what has been selected to measure the availability and strength of commands. The gauge under each ability name is the action gauge, to the left of the icon is the power gauge.
• When the action gauge for the selected ability fills up, it then activates. The level of the power gauge determines the power and accuracy of each move, and the type of moves you can use change depending on your TP gauge.
• The layout is freely customizable!
• The status bars and the message window are all freely customizable. The player has the ability to move them to where they prefer them to be. The player can also change the size of the message window.
• Like the religion of Altana in FFXI, “[Eorzea] will have its own religion. It’ll be a really unique type of world,” FFXIV producer Hiromichi Tanaka says.
• As to the aesthetic of the game, Tanaka explained that “This time with the world of Eorzea, what we’re trying to achieve is a very unique world. It’s going to be difficult to say whether it’s in the future or in the past. It’ll have some type of sci-fi element to it, and at the same time having medieval elements, so it’s really going to be difficult to say what type of world it’s going to be.”
• Surnames may be added to the game. However, Tanaka explained that the goal of such an addition is to facilitate easier name transfers for FFXI veterans attached to their current monikers.
• inally, Tanaka expressed happiness that Nobuo Uematsu will be doing the score for FFXIV. “As he’s very busy, we didn’t expect him to do all of the music for FFXIV, but this time he kindly suggested that he would take care of the whole [score]," he said.