First, give us an overall image of battles in FFXIV.

Okada: Players can fight in parties or go solo in FFXIV, but the monsters can be in parties as well. There will be battles where it is “party vs. party.” Battles won’t be fought by pulling enemies back to a set camp, but rather we are envisioning players moving about as they fight. [Elmer Point: think nomad camp style]

- So the feeling is you rotate from enemy spawn point to spawn point with some healing in-between?

Okada: Yes. But, one of the aspects of FFXIV is that you don’t recover MP. Of course, that isn’t to say there is no way to do so; there will be abilities players can learn to recover MP, Aetheryte will heal both HP and MP, among other methods.

Iwao: Don’t think of it as individual encounters, but as managing your MP over the course of a one, prolonged battle comprised of a number of fights.

Sato: When everyone goes to a certain place to accomplish some goal, it is important to manage your MP in a way that allows it to last until you achieve that final goal. There will also be classes that serve as “MP controllers” that can help manage the MP of the party.

- Looking at this chart, is it safe to say each class has their own specific range from which they attack?

Sato: Yes. In FFXIV, one’s position, as well as the position and orientation of the enemy, has a large effect on battles. Following that line of reasoning, there will be appropriate distances for classes that maximize their effectiveness.

Iwao: We plan to have enemy classes follow these rules as well, and also include some techniques they can use in conjunction with each other. The idea is a battle where you are constantly moving, trying to attain the best position. So when it’s party vs. party, this can get really exciting. It’s not about sitting in one spot and striking away at an enemy; the player needs to consider the enemy’s position and act accordingly.

Sato: It’s not an action game, but there’s a little taste of action in there.

- So if players need to move around during battle looking for the sweet spot, wouldn’t this make close-combat classes much easier to play?

Iwao: Close combat classes need to be more aware of their orientation, while ranged classes must pay particular attention to distance.

Sato: When fighting close combat, your orientation will have different effects. I wouldn’t say fighting close up is any easier than fighting at a distance.

Iwao: Also, there is the important factor of “area of effect.” This mostly comes into play with magic, but there are many techniques utilized by classes outside the Disciples of Magic that have areas of effect.

Sato: We want you to think of the area in which you do battle as really your party’s space — a place where you work together. To that end, attacks with an area of effect will be even more important this time around.

Iwao: There are several aspects to areas of effect, such as spreading benefits across party members, or blasting through a bunch of enemies from within. We hope that this, combined with distance and orientation, will make for fun, tactical battles that players will enjoy.

- Can you give us anymore information on how the elements come into play in FFXIV?

Okada: In the world of FFXIV, there are 6 elements: Fire, Ice, Wind, Earth, Thunder and Water. They will all have their characteristics as well, such as Water being strong against Fire, but weak against Thunder.

Iwao: Both players and enemies will be affected by their affinity with the elements. Also, there exist forces aligned to these 6 elements called “Star Poles” and “Spirit Poles.” They are like the magnetic poles of our Earth, attracting different energies.

[Elmer Point: The poles are called ??O (sei-kyoku) and ??O (rei-kyoku). The first means Star Pole and second means Spirit Pole. As Iwao said, "pole" refers to a magnetic pole, such as the North and South poles of Earth. These sound like Protocrystals, in that they serve as focus points for the energy of a particular element. The official names will most likely be different, though.]

- What kind of effect will these elements have on the player?

Okada: Each player will have their own strengths and weaknesses regarding each element. For example, one person could be particularly strong against Fire.

- Is this decided upon during Character Creation?

Sato: No, this aspect of the player will improve along with other stats, like HP, as they grow. Depending on how you raise your character, you could be a specialist against a certain type of element.

Okada: If you are strong against Water, an enemy’s water-based attacks won’t hurt you so much.

Iwao: Two Conjuerers also could specialize in separate elements. One could excel at Ice magic and the other at Fire, thus serving two separate roles.

- This really heightens the individuality of players!

Iwao: One could even decide to improve all elemental resistances equally, which would make them somewhat effective against all elements at the expense of specializing in none.

- It would be funny to see cliques form between people who specialize in the same element.

Sato: Like an Association of Fire-based Players (laughs). That just might happen. Read more