Alpha First Look: Video 4 - The Black Shroud II

This looked too awesome, so magical and engaging... I just want to get lost in Eorzea, just exploring calmly and enjoying the beautiful world... then when I'm done I want to nuke the heck out of Bahamut.

The developers have done an excellent job bringing life into the environment; it looks every bit like a true Final Fantasy environment should. Looking around the internet, it seems like these videos are getting a lot of positive feedback from non-players, too.

The music piece that begins at 1:19 is quite beautiful; everything I've seen & heard of the game so far has me won over.

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Originally Posted by Len

The developers have done an excellent job bringing life into the environment; it looks every bit like a true Final Fantasy environment should. Looking around the internet, it seems like these videos are getting a lot of positive feedback from non-players, too.

The music piece that begins at 1:19 is quite beautiful; everything I've seen & heard of the game so far has me won over.

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/bites Len :o

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Originally Posted by Heavell

/bites Len :o

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This chick is hitting on you Len.

WOW BEAUTIFUL! ^_^

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is what I call Final Fantasy.

Yoshi-P, and devs keep up the good work. You can do it!

Looks great! Can't wait to play it. Good job SE!

Devs, designers.. you guys really outdid yourselves in this game. I mean, just wow, the detail is amazing.

I really like this piano

And when he looked up into the trees they looked to natural. :O

But that garlean fortress is so big... looks like the Empire didn't really take over, but they basically rule. :(

My only issue is with the map, the writing is in Eorzean, thats good but I'd like to be able to have it in English as well. It can't be hard to make that stuff toggleable surely.

Masterful stuff, Team XIV. Can't wait to see the other areas.

Wonderful! Each new video that you are showing, shows the great work done by Yoshi-P's team .. I can't wait to return back to the new Eorzea!

The areas are great, can't wait to explore them myself.

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Originally Posted by Gildrein

*This video showcases locations that will prove difficult to reach at the current Alpha Test level cap (level 20).

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http://t.qkme.me/36h3ga.jpg

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Originally Posted by Warlock

Idk about that the music has the behavior is supposed to have and fits the places .
Video looks amazing! I can't believe how much detail everything has :D nothing looks the same!

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But the music is obviously layered on top of the video since it does not cut when the video cuts.

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Originally Posted by Rex

Damn it it's alpha! They've said multiple times animations are not complete

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Alpha is the time to make sure you point out things that look like problems. If for some reason they do not see it as a problem then they won't fix it and you cannot assume that anything is considered to be not be final. Being alpha is exactly the reason one should complain, it is easier to fix now rather than later.

Also, that bit about personal attacks you quoted seems inappropriate, because the post you were responding to actually praised the devs but was simply pointing out something which might be changed to make the game better. I would consider that more constructive, and more helpful than "It all looks perfect", which is nice but actually unhelpful to anybody's creative process (although it does help ones self-esteem).

In this vid both characters are Lvl 50 but have a lil bit of EXP gained in the EXP bar at the bottom of the screen. there's also a target EXP, as in 304K points till next level...

Not sure, I might be mistaking but is there a level cap raise? what?

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Originally Posted by YuriSan

In this vid both characters are Lvl 50 but have a lil bit of EXP gained in the EXP bar at the bottom of the screen. there's also a target EXP, as in 304K points till next level...

Not sure, I might be mistaking but is there a level cap raise? what?

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Remember also that the current alpha is capped at level 20, according to Yoshida's post. Yet that character is level 50.
That's obviously a developer account with debugging tools running so they can smoothly travel through the world and there is a chance that the XP values are broken.

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Originally Posted by Tupster

But the music is obviously layered on top of the video since it does not cut when the video cuts.

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Doesn't mean it's not the actual music for the zones. You can hear some of it used as BGM in the live letters.

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Originally Posted by YuriSan

Not sure, I might be mistaking but is there a level cap raise? what?

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Might have switched it to the same style as FFXI wherein you can gain XP to lv.51 -1XP. Presumably they set those chars to lv.50 and have killed one mob before the vid started. Most interesting/likely thing I can think of past those chars just being uncapped.

Yay another black shroud vid, I have a whole chair but I'm sure I'll only need the edge...

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Originally Posted by Tupster

Alpha is the time to make sure you point out things that look like problems. If for some reason they do not see it as a problem then they won't fix it and you cannot assume that anything is considered to be not be final. Being alpha is exactly the reason one should complain, it is easier to fix now rather than later.

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While that's true, and YoshiP tells the devs that having an apologetic mindset of "it's only alpha" is not allowed (read the interview translations), complaining about stuff that they already said is not implemented yet (= animations) doesn't do any good.

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Originally Posted by alexhatesmil

Doesn't mean it's not the actual music for the zones. You can hear some of it used as BGM in the live letters.

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My whole point is that it doesn't mean anything. We'd have to ask alpha players but they aren't allowed to talk about it.

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Originally Posted by Soukyuu

While that's true, and YoshiP tells the devs that having an apologetic mindset of "it's only alpha" is not allowed (read the interview translations), complaining about stuff that they already said is not implemented yet (= animations) doesn't do any good.

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Thank you for pointing that out. That's fine, if they've actually noted they are working on that particular aspect. I had not seen that bit of info.

My goodness, Every time I see a video I keep thinking I can't get impressed further, and then ya'll release another one and that's exactly what happens. This game is amazing, and Soken, you might just debunk Uematsu as my favorite video game composer, all of the music so far has been enchanting. The amount of detail and difference is astounding. I cannot wait, I simply cannot wait to log into this world and have the time of my life.

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Originally Posted by Tupster

I don't think the music is the music for the shroud, it is just music they are playing over the video.

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I'm pretty sure this is the music for the zone, it fits in very well and on top of that I don't see any reason why they would be showcasing these videos with the incorrect music for the zone, makes little sense.

Giant turtles at :33 are pretty neat, they seem to make sound when you get near them. Or they just make sound, not sure.

Looks absolutely stunning, there's more variety in the Black Shroud alone than there was in the entire world of 1.0! It's truly amazing. I can't wait to see it for myself soon, to see the enhanced environments and the enhanced gameplay! The wait is almost unbearable!

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Originally Posted by Nox

I'm pretty sure this is the music for the zone, it fits in very well and on top of that I don't see any reason why they would be showcasing these videos with the incorrect music for the zone, makes little sense.

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The sound starts randomly in one zone and carrys over to the next with no Transition so it was defiantly edited in. I do like it though.

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Originally Posted by Nox

I'm pretty sure this is the music for the zone, it fits in very well and on top of that I don't see any reason why they would be showcasing these videos with the incorrect music for the zone, makes little sense.

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There is no constraint that says you have to play a particular piece of music over a video. I'd be willing to bet that if they showed the other cities tomorrow that the music would be the same. I'm really just saying we have no reason to be sure, although we might and I've just missed it.

(And honestly I'm not really impressed by this particular piece of music.)

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Originally Posted by syntaxlies

Giant turtles at :33 are pretty neat, they seem to make sound when you get near them. Or they just make sound, not sure.

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I'm really surprised there would be adamantoises so close to the starting zone. YoshiP seemed to be intimidated by them when he was doing the Live Letter, so I'm guessing they might have one-shoted him.

If there is one thing I'd like developers to do before the release version it would be to have the chocobo music fade out after about 5 minutes like it does in FF11. I like Magnificent Seven de Chocobo as much as anybody else, but not after 10 minutes. I'd like to hear the zone music again.

Did anyone notice the Ochu mobs from FFX?

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Originally Posted by Tupster

If there is one thing I'd like developers to do before the release version it would be to have the chocobo music fade out after about 5 minutes like it does in FF11. I like Magnificent Seven de Chocobo as much as anybody else, but not after 10 minutes. I'd like to hear the zone music again.

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Good news. They announced that all music would fade after time. I think after 5 or 10 minutes.

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Originally Posted by Kirito

Good news. They announced that all music would fade after time. I think after 5 or 10 minutes.

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I remember something about fading out after 1.5 loops for chocobo music.

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Originally Posted by Tupster

Alpha is the time to make sure you point out things that look like problems. If for some reason they do not see it as a problem then they won't fix it and you cannot assume that anything is considered to be not be final. Being alpha is exactly the reason one should complain, it is easier to fix now rather than later.

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Not an attack on you, just a jumping-off point for my post.

Alpha is *not* for pointing out problems, it's for testing the server structure and limitations. It's for putting load on the entire system looking for points of failure. These alpha client/servers branched off from the main code some 2-3 months ago and are not reflective of where the team is today -- let alone when beta starts.

That being said, the MMO world is unlikely to ever see another alpha that looks as polished as ARR does.

Beta will be the time to offer constructive feedback on all aspects of gameplay and design.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

dear SE, please dial back the volume of footstep effects.

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Oh wow, my thoughts exactly. Obviously, footstep sounds should correspond with the terrain and type of footwear (hard-soled shoes will be loud on a wooden walkway) but the footstep sounds here were loud no matter where they went.

Everything else in the video was so beautiful it made my heart ache.

I'm in love with the mood. The ambient music is fantastic. I'm not sad about Uematsu being replaced anymore. I'm sure some of his stuff will remain, but for now, it sounds as good as ever.

I really love the music in this one, I hope all music for the black shroud areas are similar. Very peaceful and relaxing and great ambiance. The sights are amazing. I like how this has more of "solo play" feel to the exploration.

Once thing I liked about 1.0 was that it felt more like a solo RPG that you could enjoy by yourself and explore, but also play with your friends and meet new people. Often times I'll be playing a good solo RPG and think how amazing it would be if I could also add other players to explore the world with and fight enemies with instead of the NPCs. When I play an MMORPG, I think of how awesome it would be if the world and elements were more detailed and personal like a solo RPG. Normal MMO's seem watered down in their graphics or cheapened to cater to so much content. I'm thinking they're finally going to hit the nail on the head with ARR. It's going to be the best of both solo and online gameplay.

/cries
i lubbs you development team. i really do <3

great video! keep up the good work!

like many other said, i hope that the music we hear on background , it's the same music in the game, and it's possible because yoshi-p said that in different zone we'll listen different parts of a single track, so maybe in the video we're just listening that complete track (explaining why there aren't interruptions when the scenes changes).
anyway i like a lot the new atmosphere!!! really fine!