Let the New Expansion Rumors Fly!

[Dukuji]

Okay, I give up, I'll admit it. I'm a rumor and speculation junkie.
Been hearing lots and lots of things about the new expansion, a new MMPORPG, new jobs, new spells, new this, new that, and forty acres and a mule (historical reference, who knows it?). So, without further ado, I give you ...


The Official Mithra Pride New Expansion Rumor Topic! (Dun da da dun dun dun daaaaaaa!)

That's right, this is the new home for what yalls hear. But please, if you are going to post a rumor or hearsay, try to provide the cracked out source from which you got it. Also, please, no things like, "I HAARD TAHT IN DA NU 3XPANSION MAEL ELVAN CAN HAEV A SEX CHANGA1!11!1!! OMG" ... ... no, bad, muy mal.


But enough of that on to the rumors!

And I'll start. FFXI.somepage.com became very brave a posted an announcement about the upcoming stuffs. In fact, they seemed to have just taken the many rumors out there and dumped them into one giant crock-pot. I'll quote what they had to say which should serve as a backbone for this topic (if you don't want to read it I don't blame you, if you skip to the bottom I'll sum it up for you ):


In an interview by Final Fantasy XI producer Hiromichi Tanaka with the popular Japanese electronic gaming magazine Famitsu, some interesting information was provided. A news item on GameSpothas info about the mention of a new MMORPG in development, by one of Tanaka's development teams:

In an interview published in the latest issue of Famitsu magazine, Final Fantasy XI producer Hiromichi Tanaka disclosed that his development team is currently working on a new massively multiplayer role-playing game for next-generation consoles.

Tanaka declined to comment on whether the MMORPG in development will be a successor to FFXI or a new product. He did confirm that the technical demonstration shown for the Xbox 360 during E3 was one of the experiments his development team had created to see what kind of graphics a next-generation console could achieve.

Tanaka also disclosed that the Xbox 360 edition of FFXI will sport graphics of a quality similar to the currently available PC version of FFXI. However, he added that the development team is seeing if the Xbox 360 can display graphics for about twice the distance than the Windows version.

The game's beta test is slated to begin simultaneously with the launch of the Xbox 360 later this year. Similarly to the Windows beta, the Xbox 360's beta test will be conducted on servers separate from the rest of the FFXI world. One of the main objectives for the Xbox 360 version's beta testing is to see if there are any problems with the game's network environment, since this will be the first time Xbox Live will be allowing a connection from an external system.

Further information is provided from GameIndustry.biz, including the possibility of a PS3 version of FFXI, assuming Sony puts a hard drive standard in the next generation console:

On the massively multiplayer side of things, FFXI producer Hiromichi Tanaka was equally evasive - admitting that his team is working on a new MMORPG for next-generation platforms, but declining to give any further details. He did, however, admit that the tech demo shown off at Microsoft's pre-E3 conference was one of the team's experiments with next-gen graphics, which tends to suggest that Xbox 360 is seen as a target platform for the game.

One might reasonably expect PlayStation 3 to be the other target platform, but Tanaka seems perturbed by rumblings from Sony which suggest that the hard drive may not be included as standard with the console.

He told Famitsu that he was surprised to hear that Sony is considering shipping without a hard drive, saying that unless broadband connections are suddenly upgraded to fibre optic speeds, the PS3 will need a hard drive in order to support the kind of character development required by massively multiplayer games.

Other reports based on this interview provide more, possibly accurate information about the development for FFXI. In CVG Online, it is mentioned that there will be new jobs and possibly spells added.

According to Tanaka-san, there will be new spells, new jobs, and a whole bunch of other additional content in the game, as well as double the draw distance of the current PC version. A beta test is said to be starting soon too, though how exactly this is going to work without lots of Xbox 360s is as yet undisclosed.

This is mentioned as well in the XboxAddict news account of the interview:

Hiromichi-san claimed that the 360 version will offer a draw-distance twice that of the PC version, and will feature an assortment of new content such as jobs and the possibility of new Summon magic spells.

Any possible additions of jobs or spells are no doubt features that will be provided in Final Fantasy XI's bi-monthly patches or the currently unnamed expansion. It is highly unlikely that there would be such additions to the Xbox 360 version specifically, given the stated desire by Square-Enix to keep the content as similar as possible across the platforms.


Bottom line (literally):
* Final Fantasy XI producer Hiromichi Tanaka disclosed that his development team is currently working on a new massively multiplayer role-playing game for next-generation consoles. But we don't know if it's a new game or an expansion to FFXI. This game's beta test is slated to begin simultaneously with the launch of the Xbox 360.
* PS3 will need a hard drive in order to support the kind of character development required by massively multiplayer games. Nobody knows if the PS3 will come with a hard drive.
* There will be new spells, new jobs, and a whole bunch of other additional content in the game, as well as double the draw distance of the current PC version. I've also heardthat the new jobs will play completely differently to existing jobs. (Not sure what they mean).
*Somepage seems to think that any changes will not be specifically for one platform.

Deep down what do I want to know? Will SE leave the PS players out in the cold? Will this Apple user have to break down and buy a PC with ... *shudder* ... Windows or be forced into Microsoft's X-Box 360 assimilation movement to play my game?

[Tivia]

40 acres and a mule, has to do with the government push to expand and populate the newly aquired Territory either in the Louisiana Purchase, or the Oregon Territory, My history is sorta vague...

I may be wrong but I think that is what it is to my best recollection.

[Dukuji]

40 acres and a mule, has to do with the government push to expand and populate the newly aquired Territory either in the Louisiana Purchase, or the Oregon Territory, My history is sorta vague...

I may be wrong but I think that is what it is to my best recollection.

Hmm, I think you are thinking of the Homestead act which originally gave 160 acres of undeveloped land in the western United States to settlers who lived on it for five years. But the period of time is correct. Homestead act was signed it law in 1862. This colloquialism didn't come around until a few years later and orginated near Savannah, GA.

[Tivia]

Ah yes that is correct.

40 acres and a Mule was an act passed in 1865 after the civil war to help cope with the freed slaves. Any freed family was offered 40 acres on the Ga coast islands and a mule to help settle them.

If i am not mistaken again, the act was in effect for only 1 year.

Been out of school since 97...my history is pretty rusty

[Dukuji]

Ah yes that is correct.

40 acres and a Mule was an act passed in 1865 after the civil war to help cope with the freed slaves. Any freed family was offered 40 acres on the Ga coast islands and a mule to help settle them.

If i am not mistaken again, the act was in effect for only 1 year.

Been out of school since 97...my history is pretty rusty

Close enough for me. If anybody wants to learn more about it try these links:
40 acres and a mule
SPECIAL FIELD ORDERS, No. 15

I did make mention to that for a reason. Some people around update and expansion time get this feeling that SE (or whatever company) owes them something. Dragoons come to mind. Now, the plight of their job is sad but whether they need to be compensated or not, I don't rightly know. BUT, this is not a discussion on reparations. The focus is on what little tid bits we can round up to ease the minds that stay up late wondering what is to come; comme moi.

I was able to locate a link posted on Alla of the original interview with the producers of FFXI. The problem is that it's translated using Excite. Check it out.

[Tivia]

Seems we are the only two interested in the mini history refresher

[Alya Mizar (Tsybil)]

Not so.

The 40 acers and a mule reference comes up time and time again. I do believe military recuriters promised that to enlistees durring the 1870s - 80s. I know not if anyone ever colected on that one though.

[Prrsha]

There is going to be an expansion. What it will contain, I have no idea. There is an interview regarding it. Let me see if I can dig it up again.

[Prrsha]

Found it!

http://ffxi.stratics.com/content/editor ... erview.php

Zigrah:

How many more chapters do you have planned for the current expansion Chains of Promethia?

FFXI Team:

While we can't give you an exact number, we can say that we are approaching the end. In the near future with the coming patches you will start to see that we are almost there.

Zigrah:

Does that mean plans will soon be in motion for a next expansion? I mean I know you can't give too many details.

FFXI Team:

We can tell you that the next expansion is in development, we can't tell you when it will be released but we'll say soon. We don't have a title and we can't give you any details but it is in development as we speak. Of course until then we will keep up with our patches.

[Josiejo]

I don't care for the wording on the extra jobs/spells part, that the "360 version will contain" them. Maybe if the 360 version is a collection of all expansions including the new one, sure, but it should at least be worded that way. The way I read it makes it seem like you'll never get to use them unless you play the 360 version. Bleh!

Anyway, new jobs! Here's hoping!! (Blue Mage!!!)

[Dukuji]

I don't care for the wording on the extra jobs/spells part, that the "360 version will contain" them. Maybe if the 360 version is a collection of all expansions including the new one, sure, but it should at least be worded that way. The way I read it makes it seem like you'll never get to use them unless you play the 360 version. Bleh!

Anyway, new jobs! Here's hoping!! (Blue Mage!!!)

Well, I like what FFXI.Somepage said, "It is highly unlikely that there would be such additions to the Xbox 360 version specifically, given the stated desire by Square-Enix to keep the content as similar as possible across the platforms."

And thanks for that link Prrsha. Been looking for that one.

[Kahvi]

(joke)

That's right, this is the new home for what yalls hear. But please, if you are going to post a rumor or hearsay, try to provide the cracked out source from which you got it. Also, please, no things like, "I HAARD TAHT IN DA NU 3XPANSION MAEL ELVAN CAN HAEV A SEX CHANGA1!11!1!! OMG" ... ... no, bad, muy mal.

Lol, you forgot cross-dressing galka and married couples getting to have NPC kids, not to mention everyone finally getting family names to go with thier character.

(/joke)

[Aony]

{that's interesting.} yes....i'd like to see some of those new jobs, it might be interesting to try them out

And no, i'm not interested in your history refresher, i hate my history class enough right now as it is

[Nobodyreal]

[completelyunfoundedspeculation]And they're going to remove the gender requirements for official weddings! And there's going to be a special option for Mithra/Mithra weddings in Kazham![/completelyunfoundedspeculation]

[JediKitsune]

Hm... Maybe if all goes well with the new expansion, one of the new jobs will be Dancer or.. or.. Mystic Knight? You know, the sword-users that could have En-spells that are actually useful in EXP parties.

[Kahvi]

Hm... Maybe if all goes well with the new expansion, one of the new jobs will be Dancer or.. or.. Mystic Knight? You know, the sword-users that could have En-spells that are actually useful in EXP parties.

Heh, they'd prolly bring back Onion Kid/Onion Knight job class before they make something like mystic knight (which strangely sounds like a melee red mage)

Ya know.. in one of these topics earlier i mentioned a list of jobs from past Final Fantasy games that were implemented and not implemented in FFXI... i think it was with speculation about the last major update patch...

[Fayin]

...Bottom line (literally):
* Final Fantasy XI producer Hiromichi Tanaka disclosed that his development team is currently working on a new massively multiplayer role-playing game for next-generation consoles. But we don't know if it's a new game or an expansion to FFXI. This game's beta test is slated to begin simultaneously with the launch of the Xbox 360.

I think the reference is to this.

* PS3 will need a hard drive in order to support the kind of character development required by massively multiplayer games. Nobody knows if the PS3 will come with a hard drive.

Actually, we do. Since it's IGN you'll likely get some stupid ass ad that you'll have to skip by clicking the link at the top. Sorry, but the specs are laid out in a nice outline on IGN.

* There will be new spells, new jobs, and a whole bunch of other additional content in the game, as well as double the draw distance of the current PC version. I've also heardthat the new jobs will play completely differently to existing jobs. (Not sure what they mean).

That Gamespot link does indeed state that the Xbox will have double the draw distance, but nothing about new spells and jobs. Where are you getting this?

*Somepage seems to think that any changes will not be specifically for one platform.

Of course they won't be. It's the same game, regardless of what hardware you play it on.

Deep down what do I want to know? Will SE leave the PS players out in the cold? Will this Apple user have to break down and buy a PC with ... *shudder* ... Windows or be forced into Microsoft's X-Box 360 assimilation movement to play my game?

{Umm...} This isn't a new issue for Apple users.

[Yugi]

or Blue mage.^-^

[Nobodyreal]

As nice as it would be, I don't personally see Dancer happening as a job.

In order to make it work like it did in FFT, they'd have to make the Bard job male only, which would piss off a LOT of people. Especially those of us who are leveling BRD on a female character.

For anything else, they'd have to pretty much completely recreate the job from scratch, so it wouldn't be the same.

[Alya Mizar (Tsybil)]

Dancer would not have to be a girl only job. The thought of a Galka dancer though.... /shudder JSE clothing in male and female versions? Or is the world ready for an Elvaan male in harem pants. (Hey, better than in a subligear. )

Never having played FFT, I do not know how the job was run there. I have a few ideas on it, many which start with the "Dance on you face in my spike heels" concept. First TP atack, High Kick.

Dancer, or DNC. Support and melee. As in any culture I know there are dances with the traditional weapons, they should be able to use most any weapon. Being able to skill up on it, as with RDM and staff, or BLM and sword, might be another story. I see more dances of offense than defense, more to debuff than buff, although a War Dance must be a basic, low level one.

The job would run on AGI and CHA. Indeed with enough AGI, a dancer should be able to back up tank although I do not see them in armor heavy enough for main tank.

The problem with BRD is there is no really good sub for it. That is why most every one runs /WHM. It adds nothing to what a BRD does, but is simply the most useful sub out there that they can use. DNC could easily be balanced to make /THF, /WAR, or /SAM as useful as /WHM. Smoke... Mirrors... Veils... SA!!!


I want to be a Dancer.

I want Dances of seduction, of terror, of power.

I want to Dance the spirits up from the Earth and Dance the stars down from the Sky.

I want to dance Demons back through the Iron Gates of Hell, then I want to Dance those Gates shut.

I want to dance.

(I have posted this before)

[Kailea]

Dancer could work very well, take Bard right now is a PT buffer but has some mob stuff, DAncer would have mostly Mob debuffing and attacking stuff, and alittle PT stuff. Make Dancer for male and female, butt add a bonus for being female dancer or male Bard

[JediKitsune]

If I remember correctly, there were dancers in FFV, which would mean it's a male and female class, right? I don't see why only females should be dancers.

[Nobodyreal]

If I remember correctly, there were dancers in FFV, which would mean it's a male and female class, right? I don't see why only females should be dancers.

I don't recall FFV having dancers, but it's been a while since I've played it

In FFTactics, Bard was a male-only job. Females got Dancer instead.

[Rekahkun]

In FFTactics, Bard was a male-only job. Females got Dancer instead.

and bard had songs that assist allies while dancer had dances that were detrimental to the enemy. they basically combined both concepts into the current bard already. i'm doubting dancer.

[Dukuji]

* There will be new spells, new jobs, and a whole bunch of other additional content in the game, as well as double the draw distance of the current PC version. I've also heardthat the new jobs will play completely differently to existing jobs. (Not sure what they mean).

That Gamespot link does indeed state that the Xbox will have double the draw distance, but nothing about new spells and jobs. Where are you getting this?

Found it here. I don't personally believe it but somebody has made mention of it. Also, I don't care much for the posters on that site. IMO, full of pessimistic whiners that think that all good games offer (1) plenty of cheat codes and/or (2) a way to play a game without anything challenging getting in the way.

Deep down what do I want to know? Will SE leave the PS players out in the cold? Will this Apple user have to break down and buy a PC with ... *shudder* ... Windows or be forced into Microsoft's X-Box 360 assimilation movement to play my game?

{{Umm...}} This isn't a new issue for Apple users.

*Start sarcasm* NO! *End sarcasm* ... I used to have a PC but I got rid of it when it became too old and I didn't want to upgrade it. I did not buy a Mac for video games, nor did I intend to play games with my Mac, nor did I expect ANY games to be availible for my Mac. That's why I have a PS2.


As for the Fantasy Earth being the new game, I don't think so. SE released information on that back in September. So, why would they not name it if they released a teaser on it nine some months ago?


Found yet another site that ofters no new information but simply a rehash of what's already out there. GameSHOUT


On another completely unrelated note, when it comes to the main forum of Allakhazam, I think MargavineLiselle said it best "Idiocy in there has reached critical mass ... "

[Baketsu]

I still say a Necromauncer job would be kick ass!!!!

[Dukuji]

I still say a Necromauncer job would be kick ass!!!!

The Pirates can summon the undead to fight for them (on the ferry). Will Norg tell us her secrets?

[Karou Ariyen]

All I know is I have a feeling their going to make warrior obsolete by adding jobs that could be similar but better, I.E. Like PLD, maybe I'm paranoid, but meh,

What I would love to see is either the ability to own chocobos OR put chocobos at places like Mahura, Selbina maybe some outposts

[Kuaru]

oooooh, i wonder what the animation for a dance would look like. i can see it now ^^
saaaaay, then i could do my {Frisky Cat Dance}!!!!
i say they should put in Dancer, hehe!

[Prrsha]

oooooh, i wonder what the animation for a dance would look like. i can see it now ^^
saaaaay, then i could do my {Frisky Cat Dance}!!!!
i say they should put in Dancer, hehe!

Oooo I love the sound of that.