The recorded history of Final Fantasy XIV Onlines takes us as far back to the year 2004 when Square Enix set a goal to create a common engine for all next-generation platforms including the PS3, 360, PC and the Wii. Though, at the time, it was widely believed that FFXI's successor was in a conceptual development stage well over a year prior.
Fast forward to 2005. The setting: E3. Square Enix's primary purpose was to announce to the public that it was on-board with Microsoft to develop it's first title on the X-Box 360 platform, a port of FFXI. At the close of the E3 press conference Youichi Wada, President of Square Enix, took the audience by surprise when he revealed never-before-seen footage of what appeared to be a new MMORPG. This video would become simply known as the Square Enix Secret MMO Tech Demo.
The short 40 second video depicted an elegant port city featuring steam-punk architechtures, a passing hot-air balloon, and what appeared to be wyverns floating over the calm waters. But perhaps the most interesting (and confusing) aspect of the tech demo was that this particular city was populated by characters strikingly similar to those found in FFXI.
No information was given regarding the actual content of the video, only that it was running on the 360 platform. It was at this conference that Square Enix first announced to the public that a new MMORPG was in the works. SE then went back into the proverbial bat cave with the project, details of which would not surface until nearly two years later, only bits and pieces of rumors and brief statements.
On March 11th, 2006 at the Final Fantasy Fan Festival Hiromichi Tanaka, in an interview with the FFXI developers panel, confirmed the development of a next-generation MMORPG:
"During E3 2005 we announced that the FINAL FANTASY XI development team had begun work on a next generation MMORPG for the Xbox 360 and Windows Vista. We can't talk too much about the next generation MMORPG, but we're sure you'll find it very exciting."
The following month Tanaka stated in an interview with Japanese gaming magazine, Impress Watch, the first specific details regarding the new MMO:
"As we work on Final Fantasy XI, we're currently working on a new MMORPG targeting Windows Vista and PS3." "Square Enix is hoping to make the game a worldwide title", Tanaka added.
On July 14th, 2006 Nikkei Net, a Japanese news service, reported that Square Enix was working on a sequel to FFXI. They stated the title was being developed for the PS3, 360, and Windows Vista platforms, however, in the following days Square Enix released an official announcement on their website denying this information. In the announcement, SE made it very clear that a new MMO was in development, but specific details regarding platform availability could not be provided as it was still too early in the development process.
In the March 2007 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, a small tidbit of "inside information" was posted in the Rumor Mill section:
"Square has another MMO Final Fantasy (a la FFXI) in the works for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. Won't be set in Vana'diel, but rather a world from a previous FF. Our fanboy hopes say FFVII, but our practical mind says FFXII."
In January 2007 Square Enix triggered a frenzy of speculation upon their purchase of the license to utilize the Unreal 3 engine. Rumors spread like wildfire over the net that this would surely be the new development platform for the upcoming MMORPG, however, in years to come we would learn that this was not the case. On February 25th, 2008 at the Austin Game Developers Conference (GDC), Square Enix announced it's plans to utilize a new proprietary engine built from the ground up for console titles FFXIII and FFXIII Versus, along with the next-generation MMO in development, which now took on the code name "Rapture". In an announcement from Square Enix's Research and Development Division back in 2006 the engine was originally referred to as the White Engine, but it has since become known as Crystal Tools as of the Austin GDC '08.
The Crystal Tools engine aims to better organize the development process as a whole by breaking tasks into individual modules which can be worked on simultaneously and also communicate with eachother via the GRAPE2 central server. The idea is to allow developers more design freedom and to avoid any one particular area of development from bottle-necking another. The result: an incredibly clean and powerful engine capable of displaying intense close-ups in extremely high detail, a strong focus on elaborate cutscenes and special effects, and a great deal of animation possibility that will really bring the characters and setting of Final Fantasy XIV to life.
Taku Murata, GM of SE's Research and Development Division noted the engine was tuned to deliver a very "cool, anime-like" look to it's visuals and "stylized expressions". The same engine is also being utilized for console titles FFXIII and FFXIII-Versus.
In Janaury 2009, EGM released an article stating the new MMORPG would be revealed at E3 and sure enough that day eventually came. Square Enix revealed a beautiful trailer featuring some very familiar races in a brand new world. Further details on this particular trailer can be found here: [ SE Unveils FFXIV Teaser Site to the Public ]. Shortly after, the official website went live featuring the trailer download and a number of [ screenshots ].
Square Enix has set a "broad" release date of the year 2010, a specific date is still to be determined. They have confirmed there will be a beta test and to expect an announcement soon on an exact date. It was also mentioned they would like a longer beta period than the 3-4 months alotted for FFXI testing. More information can be found in our [ Q&A Compilation ] and [ Forum Announcements ] pages so make sure to check those out and stay up to date!
