Square Enix has released some more information about the highly anticipated Manderville Gold Saucer content hitting Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn next Tuesday in patch 2.51.
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Players who fancy themselves a gamble can head over to the famed casino and take part in games of chance, skill and an all new Active Time Event system. The return of the Manderville Saucer has been a long time coming, with its last appearance in Final Fantasy VII. Square thinks the wait will be absolutely worth it.
The casino opens its doors to all next Tuesday, February 24. No need to bring any real money or acquired in-game currency to the tables, you'll be playing for and betting with Manderville Gold Saucer points exclusively while inside.
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The Manderville will focus on two new mini-games, though more are available: Triple Triad and Chocobo racing. Triple Triad was introduced in the very underappreciated Final Fantasy VIII and is a capture card game that is highly addictive. Players can go up against various NPCs across the casino to attempt to collect the 80 currently available cards. "Roughly half are rewards for defeating NPCs. Some NPCs have quite rare cards that can't be won easily, so please be sure to take on NPCs again and again to collect them all." Forum mod Gildrein said in a recent blog post highlighting the latest live Q&A with the game's producers.
"There are also cards that can be obtained through dungeons and other duties. A few can even be found in primal battles." The plan moving forward is to release several new cards during each major patch, starting with Heavensward, the game's next expansion.
You can check out Triple Triad works in the developer video.
The big draw, of course, is chocobo racing. Nor is it simply betting on the races, players "become the breeder, trainer, and jockey."
"When you participate in a race, your chocobo will earn experience points, its rank will increase, and its attributes will randomly increase. One example of this is an increase in its maximum stamina. Additionally, you will be able to learn abilities, which can be inherited by offspring. When your chocobo's rank increases, you'll be able to train it once by feeding it, and this will allow you to adjust your chocobo's attributes."
G.A.T.E.s (Gold Saucer Active Time Events) bring you and your fellow players together into fun community events, such as rescuing chocobo from a tower (as bombs fall around you).
But for people who prefer the slightly less stressful world of slot machines, Patch 2.51 will also introduce a series of mini-games to idly pass the time while drinking heavily. "Crystal Tower Striker" is simply a mini-game where you need to press a button with the correct timing. "The Moogle's Paw" is a game where you grab objects using a UI that appears in the lower-right portion of the screen, with the smaller objects yielding more points. "Monster Toss" is also a timing-based game where you throw balls, and I have to admit that we spent 10 minutes or so just playing it when we were supposed to be performing checks on it." The devs say.
These mini-games will cost a few points to play, and won't give out any huge rewards, but are a nice chance to pass the time.
Finally, "The Jumbo Cactpot is a weekly lottery that you can participate in once every earth week by purchasing a ticket with four numbers you select. You purchase this ticket with Manderville Gold Saucer points, and each week there will be a drawing that takes place in the Manderville Gold Saucer. If the numbers you picked match the ones selected by the bow and arrow, you will obtain a reward."
All of this comes to the servers next week.
