Today at E3 marked a special occasion for the team working on Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. For the first time, the notable Letter from the Producers Live, hosted by game director Naoki Yoshida, was offered in English!
Previously, all Letters from the Producers Live were broadcast (via livestream of course) in the development team’s native language, Japanese. We non – Japanese speakers spent many nail – biting hours awaiting the English language transcripts that were often posted the next day.
Now, those of us who spent hours fumbling through Japanese to English dictionaries trying to get the latest news on FFXIV:ARR can rest easy. “How are they presenting in English?” You might ask. Well, today’s Producer Letter features a panel of three members from the FFXIV:ARR team: Community Leader Matt Hilton (also known as Bayohne on the forums), Localization team member Michael Christopher Koji Fox (known for his blog posts on the FFXIV website as Fernehalwes), and game producer and director Naoki Yoshida (Yoshi-P), with Fox serving as Yoshida’s translator.
For ease of reading purposes, I have broken this report into two parts: First, new information and reveals the were shown during the live stream; Second, the lengthy and detailed Question and Answer section.
So, first, FFXIV:ARR fans rejoice! Because this Letter From the Producers Live was one of the most revealing yet.
Scholar, Summoner, and Arcanist are detailed!
Like a racehorse out of the gate, Hilton, Fox, and Yoshida, bolted right to the most anticipated reveal. The Scholar.
So what is The Scholar?
The Scholar is an advanced Job in FFXIV:ARR, whose primary role, it was revealed today, will be as a group healing and support class. Being an advanced Job, players will need to reach a certain level requirement with a specific basic class (in this case, the Arcanist, which is also a prerequisite for the upcoming summoner job), before unlocking Scholar (think FF III, and FF Tactics Job systems).
Now, unlike the White Mage, whose healing style is comprised of large single target heals, the Scholar will be focused on group heal over time effects. According to Yoshida, Hilton, and Fox, the Scholar’s role will be that of a secondary group healer. They heavily hinted that such secondary healers will be necessary for certain fights.
Like both the Arcanist class, and Summoner job, the Scholar will have a combat pet. Being a healing job, it is only natural that the Scholar’s pet represents healing and health, so what more fitting than a Fairy! Yes, that’s right, the Scholar’s pet will be a spritely little Fairy. Let’s hope this Fairy doesn’t start screaming “HEY, LISTEN!” ad nausea.
A Scholar with their fairy.
So what does the Fairy do? The Scholar’s fairy will have different forms. While these forms, or modes, were not detailed in the steam, one can assume that one fairy mode may be healing focused, while another is damage focused, etc. Not only will the fairy throw out the occasional heal, but it also serves as the Scholar’s main damage dealing arm. Expect to rely on your Fairy while soloing as a Scholar.
But wait! you say. What about the Arcanist and Summoner? Those are both pet classes, but we haven’t heard to much about either of those! Well, hold your horses partner, our friends on the stream covered that.
Arcanist and Summoner are Detailed Further
Let’s start with the Arcanist. It was previously revealed in a past Letter that the Arcanist’s pet would be Carbuncle. During the stream, Yoshida infromed us that Arcanists would be able to chose from a few different “types” of Carbuncles. What exactly these types do we don’t know yet.
An Arcanist looking cool with Carbuncle, art by Yoshitaka Amano.
Now, the Summoner. The Summoner’s first pet will be Ifrit Egi (FFXII fans take note). Ifrit Egi, in essence, is a lesser being of the Primal Ifrit. You’ll notice that I said first pet in that pervious sentence. Well, this is because there will be, according to Yoshida, a variety of different Egis that Summoners will be able to attain. Garuda Egi, and Titan Egi, were two names that were thrown around.
A Summoner calling forth Ifrit Egi, art by Yoshitaka Amano.
Enough Talk, I Want to See Some Action!
Well, luckily for you Yoshida and Co. had a little surprise for those of us who tuned in for the live stream. After several minutes of discussion about the Arcanist, Summoner, and Scholar, a video was played showing the class and two jobs in action! Why don’t you check it out for yourself?
Coming Up Next, Q&A with Naoki Yoshida
Be sure to check out my upcomming article on the Q&A portion of the Letter From the Producers Live at E3!
As always,
Comment below, game hard, and stay safe!
-Kazemusha
