Final Fantasy XIV news

[mikewl]

I was under the impression it's Alpha stage not Beta?

Yep 2nd stage of the Alpha, begins on 2nd June.

[Number45]

I have an invite to the beta, hopefully I'll give it a go over the weekend. No idea what to expect though, I've not played FFXI at all.

[dataDave]

Any chance of me getting on the beta at all?

[Number45]

Have you applied? I just applied through the website.

[abigsmurf]

All the combat vids I've seen are painfully slow. Any info on whether they've just lowered the speed for the alpha?

[sj33]

The game definately feels like a pre-pre Alpha right now, it's more of a chore to play than anything else. The potential is evident... but it's hard to see how they can get something substantial ready in their proposed timeframe.

[abigsmurf]

They can get quite a bit done during alpha and beta testing.

I remember WAR had a massive revamp of it's combat system during the beta as it was slow to respond and the animations lacked any impact.

I remember WoW at launch completely redesigned the paladin class between the end of the beta and the launch. Of course this had been done without full testing and was spearheaded by a designer known to hate hybrid classes so paladins were pathetic for a period of about a year (lowest on DPS charts and worst healers).

[MyNameIsBruce]

Ok, I am starting to want this...

could someone tell me please, is the Alpha/beta on PC only at moment?
and is there anywhere to find what kinda pc can run this very well? I doubt this one could...

[Number45]

PC only at the moment yeah. Later in the year for the PS3. I'm hoping to get into the PS3 test as well, because that's where I'm likely to pick it up.

You can sign up here. I think they also list the requirements in there.

[abigsmurf]

at the moment they're only after top end systems I believe. May start targetting lower end systems nearer release

[C']

My brother got on and he submitted his laptop specs (which is far from high end). Game barely runs on it but it doesn't appear they took his specs into account when granting him access.

Since transferred over to my new PC which is much more powerful (Intel Core i7, 4GB RAM although not a great GPU, Nvidea GT240) and whilst it runs better it's still nowhere near smooth. I presume this is down to it being unoptimised in its Alpha status. You also can't actually change any graphical settings yet either.

[djtickle]

Below is the recommened specs from a friend i have on the alpha.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo (2.4 GHz) AMD Athlon X2 (2.4 GHz)
RAM: Windows XP: 1.5GB Windows Vista / Windows 7: 2GB
HDD: Installing: 10 GB Downloading: 10GB on the drive containing the My Documents folder
GFX CARD: NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800 or higher VRAM 512 MB Radeon™ HD 2900 or higher VRAM 512 MB

[Number45]

HDD: Installing: 10 GB Downloading: 10GB on the drive containing the My Documents folder

Argh, I hate that ****. Windows 7 doesn't have a My Documents folder as such, I'll have to make sure to shift any reference to it to the right drive.

[Number45]

Downloading the updates now. For anyone that got the invite but can't login until the 9th, some kind chap on GAF uploaded the installer.

Still needs lots of downloads though. And it's going slow. And it plays music that you can't disable (Yay for W7 in that respect!).

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=21591867&postcount=783

[Number45]

So slow...