Some new details have emerged about the upcoming MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV).

One interesting detail is that surnames, or last names, may appear in FFXIV.  The idea came out of the attempts to allow players to keep their names from Final Fantasy XI.  Final Fantasy XIV producer Hiromichi Tanaka explains:

“… for Final Fantasy XI we had 32 worlds, and each character had to have a unique name in each world, so if they move to XIV there might be a conflict, so what we’re trying to introduce is surnames for the characters so people can keep their original names but add something else to it to make it more unique.”

This reminds me a bit of the now-past Tabula Rasa, in which you could also choose a last name that would apply to all of your characters.

Also, the world of Final Fantasy XIV, Eorzea, will have its own religion.  Now, I’ve already heard some opinions on this matter, but nobody should be surprised.

Religion plays a significant role in Final Fantasy XI, given the fact that much of the storyline has to do with various dieties in the fictional land of Vana’diel. Consider the fact that Wings of the Goddess refers to Altana, the apparently-supreme diety of Vana’diel, and that all Campaign forces are named after her. Similarly, Promathia of the second expansion has a divine status as a devil-like figure.  Final Fantasy games almost always have some kind of mythology, which is essentially religion, whether or not the characters seem to participate in a religious experience.

So, naturally, the world of Eorzea will be no different, although the attention it’s getting may indicate that religion plays a more important role, and that the characters in the game’s story are more dedicated to their faith.  It may also suggest that the gods are less apparent.  Although Altana never appears in FFXI, Promathia and several supposed demi-gods do, making the religions of that world less like the major religions of Earth.

A final detail is that Nobuo Uematsu has confirmed that he will be composing the entire musical score for FFXIV.  The development team was unsure if he’d be able to do that, given his current work with a wide number of other games, but the composer has signed on to complete the whole soundtrack.

Final Fantasy XIV is tagged with a 2010 release date.  Final Fantasy XI still has about a year of planned additions as well, and Square Enix promises that the games will run simultaneously for some time.

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