Today, Final Fantasy XI Producer Akihiko Matsui has taken to the official forums to inform players of the changes they can expect to the reive system in the future.

Changes include adjustments to the way evaluations are handled, adjustments and addition of new momentum bonuses and a more substantial reduction in the cost of they key items needed to take on wildskeeper reives.

Check out the full post after the jump.

Matsui here.

At the end of April I made the following post:

Originally Posted by Akihiko_Matsui

With the release of the end of April version update, we’ve implemented Delve and have completed the battle content that was planned for the launch of Seekers of Adoulin.I feel that the flow of content that we planned where players would take on higher tiers of content (content level) by progressing in stages is not going as smoothly as we’d like.

Specifically, I would like to adjust the fact that it’s difficult to do colonization reives and lair reives in small numbers, as well as the fact that it is difficult to start Skirmish.

For the time being, Delve (the boss battle) has been set as the highest content level.

With this current state, I feel priorities should be placed on implementing and adjusting content for low-man or soloing more than adding further higher tier content, and I would like to work hard while heading in this direction so that a larger amount of players can enjoy the game.

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In order to smooth out the flow of content that we planned where players would take on higher tiers of content (content level) by progressing in stages, we’ve made adjustments already so that Skirmish statue pieces can be obtained via Colonization Reives and Lair Reives.

In regards to Reives, we’ve received various feedback and I would like to inform you all today of how we plan on adjusting the system since nothing was mentioned as of yet.

Reive Adjustment Plan

• Making it easier to enjoy
• Create an easy to understand difficulty level

We will be making adjustments based on the above two points.
Below is an outline of the adjustments.

Reive Adjustment Outline (Next version update portions)

• Evaluation method changes 1
  Physical damage, magic damage, healing, and other separate evaluation aspects will all be grouped into one consolidated evaluation category. This will make it easier to get evaluated.
• Evaluation method changes 2
  We will be making changes so that evaluations can be accumulated and experience points and Bayld can be earned depending on the amount of HP reduced on bosses and obstacles from the accumulated portion. (The portions evaluated will be subtracted from what you have accumulated.)
• Changes to Reive momentum bonus requirements
  To go along with the changes to the evaluation method, we will be making changes so that separate action accumulation is consolidated into one.
• Addition of Reive momentum bonuses
  We will be adding new types of momentum bonuses.
• Monster behavior adjustments

We will be revamping monster behavior. AoE abilities and knock-back abilities will be included in this.

• Yahse Hunting Grounds and Ceizak Battlegrounds reive adjustment
  Adjustments will be made to lower the difficulty the most for the Colonization and Lair Reives for these two areas.
• Foret de Hennetiel and Morimar Basalt Fields reive adjustment
  Adjustments will be made to lower the difficulty for Colonization and Lair Reives in these two areas.
• Wildskeeper Reives adjustment
  We will be lowering the amount of Bayld needed to purchase the required key items. Currently we are planning the below:Ceizak Battlegrounds: 50,000
  Foret de Hennetiel / Morimar Basalt Fields: 75,000

 

For adjustments to come after the above, we are currently looking into doing things such as implementing a system where NPCs join Colonization and Lair Reives, allowing adventuring fellows to be called in Adoulin areas as well as increasing their level cap, and hiring mercenary NPCs in order to help out solo and low-man play.

Also, in addition to reive adjustments, we are working to implement the Bivouac adjustments mentioned the other day, additional items that can be purchased with Bayld, and overall colonization adjustments in the next version update.

Today, Remedy unleashed Alan Wake onto Humble Bundle as their weekly deal. Remedy’s Creative Director Sam Lake has a video on the page addressing fans of Alan Wake in regard to yesterday’s announcement that their next game will not be Alan Wake 2, but rather Quantum Break for the Xbox One. He states that they will make a new Alan Wake “when the time is right.”

For now, as a treat to Alan Wake fans, there is this week’s bundle which comes with the digital collector’s edition of Alan Wake in addition to Alan Wake’s American Nightmare. Additionally you’ll get access to early demo videos, “making of” videos, concept art and more!

With the option to name your price, there’s no reason not to jump into this story if you haven’t already!

Today on the game’s Facebook (Japan), 4 new screenshots were released showing the game (presumably) running on the PlayStation 3 hardware. In the images you can see a male Miqo’te Paladin participating in an NM F.A.T.E. A special note to make in these images is that the PLD is level 50 and he has been level synced down to lvl 23 for participating in the F.A.T.E. This way he can scale down and receive a reward as opposed to going in and being such a high level that no rewards are granted due to the level difference.

Hello all!
Fernehalwes here.

Last night we did the final sound check for the new trailer we’ll be unveiling at this year’s E3. As you can see in this photo, our sound director, Masayoshi Soken, is explaining to Yoshi-P how knee socks inspired him to create this particular orchestral masterpiece.

After that, Yoshi-P and community guru, Toshio Murouchi, moved over to our in-house studio to record the commentary track for an upcoming video release. Needless to say, it was late, and neither could quite get into the groove…

Who knew that the words ‘konnichiwa’ could be so funny?

Fernehalwes

To celebrate the 11th anniversary of FINAL FANTASY XI, we will be holding twice the number of “double” campaigns as normal – at the same time! In addition to our regular double-dose of experience points, we will also be doubling the amount of design plans dropped from Salvage!

This is a prime opportunity to boost the levels of your jobs and procure powerful equipment to face-off against the dangers that lurk in Adoulin. Don’t miss out on a chance to celebrate the 11th anniversary twice as hard!

Click here for event details.

The promotional website for Internet Explorer 10 and Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn has seen an update today which will allow those that make a post through the site vita Twitter or Facebook to download a theme for Windows. This theme includes various sound effects in addition to two new wallpapers. One never before seen image of a rendered Lalafell White Mage, and the other a slight variation of the image found last week.

You can click on the images above to see their full resolution. Additionally if you want to download the theme for yourself, you can had over to the promotional site here. (Note you must tweet/facebook a message on the front page using IE 10 before you can download the theme.)

In an article posted on Wired, there are mentions of game installations on the Xbox One.

There’s one feature of Xbox One from which we can infer quite a few conclusions: You can install any game from the disc to the console’s hard drive, and then play that game whenever you like without having to put the disc in.

Wired asked Microsoft if installation would be mandatory. “On the new Xbox, all game discs are installed to the HDD to play,” the company responded in an emailed statement. Sounds mandatory to us.

In addition Wired then presumes that the games are then tied to the Xbox Live account which for which the game was installed. They then go on to say:

Microsoft did say that if a disc was used with a second account, that owner would be given the option to pay a fee and install the game from the disc, which would then mean that the new account would also own the game and could play it without the disc.

This could have a similar impact on used game sales similar to Online Pass systems, which EA recently said they were doing away with- probably because of this new install fee. Wired asked about playing the game on a console without installing it and having to pay this fee- Microsoft had no answer.

Square Enix and Eidos-Montréal have announced that Thief will be releasing on the Xbox One and have given us the new image above to show off its visuals.

“The team at Eidos-Montreal is thrilled to confirm that THIEF is coming to Xbox One. The next generation of home consoles allow us to create the best and the most immersive THIEF game ever. The feedback we have received so far is simply amazing and we can’t wait to show more of THIEF at E3 this year”

said Stephane D’Astous, General Manager, Eidos-Montréal.

Thief will be available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC sometime next year.

During today’s media event, Microsoft revealed the new Xbox- Xbox One. A name that in no way will be confusing when talking to friends about the original Xbox.

At the event, they announced the various ways in which the Xbox One allows you to switch between types of content, watch TV, and even multitask while using the Xbox, Kinect, and SmartGlass.

Steven Spielberg is helping to make a Halo “premium television series”, EA has a new engine, Remedy is making Quantum Break which involves a little girl destroying bridges with boats, and to everyone’s surprise, the next Call of Duty game will get DLC first on Xbox.

On this weeks show: It’s been a busy few weeks for EA, they’ve announced they will not develop for the Wii-U, discontinuing their online pass system and refusing to pay royalties to gun manufactures for their use of real guns in their games. On the cusp of Microsoft’s next console launch we get a few confirmations about the hardware and software specifications, Diablo III deals with a currency dupe, and the Ouya system has found some new funding, but at what cost? Find out on this episode of Gamer Escape News.