Square Enix have announced plans host to a Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn launch event at the Pax Prime 2013 expo to celebrate the release of the updated MMO.
Several of the key figures behind the game will be giving introductory speeches at the event, including Director and Producer Naoki Yashida, Sound Director Masayoshi Soken and Localization Lead Michael-Christopher Koji Fox, and they’ll all be sticking around to sign autographs for fans after the event as well.
The game and its battle components will be on display at the event for attendees to play, with players having the opportunity to enter competitions for a host of prizes linked to the game. On top of that, there’s to be a prize draw for any of those lucky enough to attend the Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn launch event.
The event will be repeated at numerous points over the weekend at the times listed below:
- Friday 30th August, 3:30 – 9:00 p.m. with speeches by the developers beginning at roughly 4.00 p.m.
- Saturday 31st August & Sunday 1st September, 11:30 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. with developer’s speeches beginning at 12:00 p.m.
All three of these sessions take place at the Red Lion Hotel, Seattle Ballroom, 1415 Fifth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is the result of several years of work to overhaul the original Final Fantasy XIV systems and gameplay. The original was released to poor commercial and critical response, holding a Metacritic score of only 49/100. Critics especially picked up on its myriad of bugs and glitches as well as server issues and complaints about the gameplay being boring. Square Enix were quick to recognise their sub-par offering, offering two formal apologies and extending the free trial period for subscribers by several months.
For the revamp of the game, the development team was massively overhauled, with Yashida bought in to replace previous Director Nobuaki Komoto and Producer Hiromichi Tanaka among other big changes. As a result A Realm Reborn looks like a considerably different game, with the majority of commentators giving much more favourable previews of the reformed game and its gameplay. The extra few years of development has also lead to huge improvements in graphical capability, and the new game looks even more visually stunning than the original:
A comparison of the graphics and interface of the original (top) and overhauled (bottom) game.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn launches for Windows and PS3 on August 27th, with a PS4 version also in development to be released in 2014.
