In a recent Letter from the Producer Live, Square Enix, along with producer Naoki Yoshida, shared the latest on Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn’s Patch 2.51, which brings the anticipated Gold Saucer to the game. Here’s a recap of what was shown during the stream.
Starting with the Triple Triad, Square Enix explained some of the rules for the game:
Although “All Open” is the basic rule set for Triple Triad, there are a number of advanced rules that can alter the way matches are played.
- Random: No matter which deck you select, cards will be randomly picked from the cards you own.
- Same: If the numbers of two or more cards match the numbers on the adjacent sides of the card you play, you will gain control of every matching card.
You can also play against various NPCs across Eorzea. Win against them, and you may get new cards. You can also challenge your fellow adventurers. The challenger will decide the rules of the match.
There will be 80 different cards available from the start, with various ways to obtain them. You can get them by winning against NPCs, purchasing with Gold Saucer Coins, or as drops from dungeons and other duties.
Next, the team talked a little more about the upcoming Chocobo Racing feature. By entering a race, your Chocobo will earn experience points and gain ranks. As your Chocobo’s rank increases, its attributes will increase and it may even learn a new ability.
Feeding your Chocobo special feed will also increase attributes. After you retire your chocobo from racing, it can be bred with other Chocobos. The offspring may also inherit an ability from their parents, resulting in a superior race Chocobo.
As far as other mini-games at the Gold Saucer goes, there’s the Monster Toss, The Moogle’s Paw, Cuff-a-Cur, and Crystal Tower Striker. According to Yoshi-P, you won’t get too much from them as far as rewards go, but they’re easily repeatable, and quite simple to play. They’re more of a good way to kill some time while you’re waiting for friends to get online, or if you just feel like distracting yourself for a short while.
There’s also a special Cactuar lottery system, called the “Cactpot”. This is a lottery feature, where players can purchase a “Jumbo Cactpot” lottery ticket that is limited to one a week, and a “Mini Cactpot” that is a lottery ticket limited to one purchase per day.
As far as Gold Saucer rewards go, there are various costumes such as the ones shown in the above image, including an outfit of Setzer Gabbiani, the Gambler from Final Fantasy VI, which is quite fitting of a reward for the Gold Saucer.
The Gold Saucer also offers Adamantoise and Fenrir mounts as possible rewards.
Finally, Yoshi-P shared a look at the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Cloud outfit players will get as Veteran Rewards for the 720-day mark. To get you up to speed on the Veteran Reward system, it’s basically a little something Sqaure Enix gifts customers for having played the game for a certain amount of days.
Purchasing the days ahead of time also count towards the Veteran Rewards, so that means players will be able to purchase six months ahead of the game’s two year anniversary, which is when the Advent Children outfit will go out to those who’ve been paying on a monthly basis from the start.
The Gold Saucer will launch as part of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn’s Patch 2.51, which was given a release date of February 24, 2015.
