First of all, let me say thanks to everyone who submitted questions.  For everyone who asked a question I didn’t answer today, know that I’m holding on to them all, and will probably answer then in an upcoming CFH column, so don’t fret!  And to those of you who didn’t ask a question – shame on you!  But really, please send all your questions, serious or silly, to xariana@ffxivblog.com.

Anyhow, on to the good stuff.  The first question comes from Chkaos, a Taru SMN and BLM on Carbuncle.  Chkaos writes:

    “I was just wondering if you knew anything about the possibility of Male Miqo’te in FFXIV?”

Ahh, a topic near and dear to this kitty’s heart.  Where did all those Mithran children in Windurst come from anyway?

I digress.  There will be male Miqo’te in FFXIV.

But…they may just be NPCs.  The last “official” word on male Miqo’te is that they were in the game but only females are playable.  This information was made public in one of the many leaks discussions of the alpha manual, meaning that, as with all things alpha, the situation may change before retail release.

So do I personally think that there will be playable male Miqo’te?  It wouldn’t surprise me.  SE probably knows there is demand for it, and I think the fact that there are male Miqo’te NPCs in XIV from the beginning is telling (as opposed to how we didn’t really see one in XI until Wings of the Goddess).  I can, however, see SE waiting until a future expansion to make them playable, using it to drum up extra excitement after everyone’s initial crush on the game has faded.  We’ll just have to wait and see, I guess.  In the meantime, don’t be alarmed if you catch me staring dreamily at an NPC…

The second question today is from Rozes on Cerberus.  Rozes asks:

    “In you opinion, will FFXIV be smaller than FFXI?”

I’d venture to say that it is doubtful that FFXIV will ultimately be smaller than FFXI.  Only a handful of areas have been seen in the alpha tests; I believe just Limsa Lominsa and a few surrounding areas.  SE revealed that the number of playable areas in the alpha test represents about 10-20% of the final product, and that Eorzea at launch will be about the size of the original Vana’diel at release of FFXI.

When FFXI was released to Japanese players, there were almost 60 zones (including battlefields), plus the six cities; this is about a third of the size of the current game with all the expansions.  Although a world the size of the pre-Zilart Vana’diel might seem small to an XI player, 60 zones is a lot when you’re just starting out as a level 1 character.

Of course, multiple expansions to Eorzea are pretty much inevitable.  The developers have also been taking care to make traversing Eorzea easier and less time-consuming than Vana’diel travel, with ample aetheryte and everyone having the ability to teleport from the beginning.  That wouldn’t be necessary if the developers planned a smaller world.

So – while FFXIV might seem small at first when compared to today’s FFXI, look for Eorzea to expand to encompass an area potentially even larger area than Vana’diel.

Okay, that’s enough for CFH #1.  Send in your questions and I’ll see you next time!