Hells yeah, some actual FFXIV news. Brought to you by Eorzeapedia, apparently we’ve got some leaked scans from Weekly Famitsu about the new names for the same old (well, almost same old) faces from Final Fantasy XIV, as well as the new job paths in the “Armory System.” Let’s dive right in, shall we?

FFXIV’s Races: New Names for Old Faces

Hume Hyuran, which is Eorzean for “boring”

Humans? In my MMO? As I was saying to Faulsey, the nice part about the Hyuran is that the males seem to be a bit more… well, male. Given Square-Enix’s penchant for androgynous emo prettyboys as protagonists, it’s nice to see a line between FFXI’s “I’ll go on this adventure as soon as I get my nails did” male hume and WoW’s “I BEND GIRDERS WITH MY TEETH, EAT GLASS AND CRAP DRAGONS, AND IMPREGNATE TWELVE THOUSAND WOMEN A DAY BY THINKING ABOUT IT” male humans.

The hyurans are (surprise!) the dominant race, having repeatedly migrated to Eorzea from surrounding continents and islands. They’re roughly divided into the Highlanders and Midlanders, depending on what part of Eorzea they settled in. They also brought lots of technology with them, raising the civilization level of the area by quite a bit, and I’m sure there’ll be absolutely no contention based around that.

Elvaan Erezen? Elezen? Eorzean? Flipping Elves.

Just kidding! Of course someone dislikes the hyurans, and it’s the … well, most Japanese sites are calling them the erezen, with absolutely no indication what the actual romanization of it would be. Still, “hyuran” is pretty literal from what little my uneducated gaijin mind can read, so I’d say erezen or elezen is not out of the question. In this case, the erezen are the natives to the continent (so I guess eorzean isn’t out of the question either…), and (surprise!) dislike the hyurans’ encroaching manner and technolust. In other words they’re treehugging hippies with good hearing. (Yes, those gigantic ears actually help with something for once.)

Tarutaru Lalafell, the Tarutaru of the Corn

Creepy midgets! The tarutaru were adorable (sometimes, except Doctor Shantotto, who was batshit insane but also adorable), but the Lalafell have just crossed that creepy line right over adorable and into crazy. They live near the southern seas, they’re farmers (farmers?! What are they growing, knee-high corn?), and apparently there’s more males than females. Step right up for some hot midget lovin’, ladies.

Okay, now that was over the line. Anyway. MOVING ON.

Mithra Miqo’te, Eorzean for “shut up, we’re not letting you play manthras”

Sorry, it’s still a race made up entirely of catladies who hunt stuff. Quit bitching about manthras: Square-Enix only wants them as NPCs. ANYWAY, the miqo’te apparently are nocturnal (the Moonkeepers) or diurnal (the Sunkeepers), and don’t even like each other, making them both solitary and the least numerous race on Eorzea. At least until release day, when every server will have at least three miqo’te named Imaguy, Notagirl, and Notghey.

If you think I’m exaggerating about those names, you clearly have never played FFXI.

Galka Roegadyn, all muscle, all man, all… pirate?

Take a galka, chop off its tail, make it more normally-sized for its height as opposed to being big squares of flesh, and you’ve got the roegadyn. They’re all male, apparently; they live near the northern sea; and they’re frequently employed as soldiers, bodyguards, or pirates. Friggin’ pirates! Too bad that’s not a job… yet. (See below.)

Also, to everyone bitching about female galka: It didn’t even make sense for there to be female galka, because galka were only male by convention. They’re a sexless race that reincarnates upon death. I would wager the roegadyn have some similar ability. Shut up.

New Jobs: Get Yer Fishin’ Poles, Lads

FFXIV’s job system gives me flashbacks to beta testing Concerto Gate, with its mix of combat and non-combat jobs (of course, who am I to say? Maybe the “gatherer” line of jobs [see below] is in fact combat-enabled – I mean, that guy with the hatchet looks pretty badass, and has inexplicable horns). It sounds like much like that game, there’ll be different ways to progress, and apparently this is all part of the new “Armory System” – changing your weapon changes your job, and advancement is more about the level of your equipment, not the level of your character, especially since Square Enix has already stated FFXIV has no character levels or character experience points. FFII style skillups? FFIX style equipment-based AP? Who knows?

Now, at the moment, it’s not really clear if the greater ‘categories’ are truly just categories, or if they’re actually generic jobs that you progress into a more specific field. Regardless, it seems easy enough to switch. Basically if you pick up and equip a fishing pole, you’re leveling a fisherman. Need to punch something in the face? Throw on that battleaxe and become a soldier. You get the idea. Let’s see what we’ve got going on here.

Crafter Blacksmith, Chef	Sorcerer Shaman, Illusionist	Gatherer Fisherman, Gardener	Fighter Soldier, Archer

I have to admit I’m pretty intrigued to see how the non-combat jobs play out. Take that gatherer over there (who clearly is neither a fisherman nor a gardener, unless his garden is a lot wilder than mine or you can hunt fish with a hatchet, which to me says ‘gatherer’ is a job in and of itself). Is he limited solely to chopping wood? Or can he hop into a party and smack some members around with that axe? Also, why does the gatherer have horns? Mystery abounds.