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Thanks to the near-annual frequency of the series’ launches, it’s hard to remember that Assassin’s Creed as a franchise is… Continue reading Ubisoft boss says remakes of classic Assassin’s Creed are a go
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Thanks to the near-annual frequency of the series’ launches, it’s hard to remember that Assassin’s Creed as a franchise is now old enough to buy its M-rated, 17-and-older self.

Because the campaign-based story shifts locations and main characters, each release, like last year’s Mirage, or this coming November’s Shadows, seems to reset the franchise as a new idea despite the fact it all pivots on the same sci-fi, time-traveling/memory-hunting concept established by Patrice Désilets in 2007.

If remarks from Ubisoft president Yves Guillemot are any guide, though, fans might start thinking of Assassin’s Creed’s own history in a more relevant way. That’s because the French publisher is pursuing remakes of some of the game’s foundational hits, stopping just short of confirming a report last year that an updated Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (2013) was on deck.

“Players can be excited about some remakes, which will allow us to revisit some of the games we’ve created in the past and modernize them,” Guillemot said in an interview posted to Ubisoft’s official website. “There are worlds in some of our older Assassin’s Creed games that are still extremely rich.”

Guillemot has the right instinct that Assassin’s Creed comprises distinct worlds and eras fans would love to dive back into. You saw some of that in last year’s launch of Assassin’s Creed Mirage, which took the series back to its origins as an adventure set in the Persia during the Islamic Golden Age, like the original game. Subsequent entries embraced the Italian Renaissance, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, Victorian England, and then ancient Egypt, Greece, and the Vikings’ height of power in Northern Europe.

The series has seen collected re-releases before, but these were anthologies of existing games rather than remasters or remakes. The most recent was Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag plus its companion, Assassin’s Creed Rogue, for Nintendo Switch in 2019. Before that was Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection, spanning the three Renaissance-era games from 2009 to 2011.

Why is Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag so popular?

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag was a launch title for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Along with Assassin’s Creed: Rogue (originally launched for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) it was a fork off the American Revolution chapter introduced the year before, and took advantage of an historical New World timeframe to give players a full-blown, open world pirate fantasy in the Caribbean Sea. Black Flag’s naval combat systems later became the basis for Skull and Bones, which launched in February after repeated delays.

In addition to Assassin’s Creed Shadows, set in Japan’s feudal era (specifically the 16th century), Ubisoft is developing a new chapter currently codenamed Assassin’s Creed Hexe, whose story will coincide with the witchcraft trials and persecutions of the Holy Roman Empire in the late 1500s. Hexe “is going to be a very different game from Assassin’s Creed Shadows. We’re going to surprise people, I think,” Guillemot said.

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As President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump engaged in a historic televised debate, politically-themed memecoins experienced price fluctuations.… Continue reading US Presidential debate impacts political memecoin market
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As President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump engaged in a historic televised debate, politically-themed memecoins experienced price fluctuations.

The market for these tokens, now valued at $1.3 billion according to Coingecko’s PolitiFi category data, has dropped by 7.5% in the last day. Furthermore, several prominent candidate-inspired memecoins saw significant declines during the debate.

On Ethereum (ETH), MAGA (TRUMP) fell 6.4% and MAGA Hat (MAGA) dropped 10.8% in an hour. Solana-based (SOL) tokens Jeo Boden (BODEN) and Doland Tremp (TREMP) decreased by 26% and 9.4% respectively, while Ethereum’s Super Trump (STRUMP) declined 1.8%. Over the last 24 hours, MAGA is 11.1% down, BODEN nearly 46%, TREMP 12.3% and STRUMP 19.4%.

According to The Block, Memepad founder Max Jones suggests these tokens may serve as informal popularity indicators for candidates as the election campaign intensifies. He noted their volatility is linked to both political hype and broader market trends.

Traders monitored the debate for insights into the candidates’ stances on cryptocurrency. Trump has previously criticized Biden’s approach to Bitcoin (BTC) and advocated for domestic Bitcoin mining.

The presidential crypto war

The Block reported that Bitfinex analysts view Trump as potentially more crypto-friendly, as he promised to be time and time again. They suggest a Trump victory could lead to a more supportive regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies.

Biden has proved to be a way less crypto-friendly candidate. Earlier this month he vetoed a House of Representatives move that sought to repeal the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 (SAB 121).

The move in question was a bipartisan effort that saw a dozen Democrats aligning with the majority of Republicans to support the resolution, easily surpassing the simple majority needed for passage. Issued in 2022, SAB 121 required companies holding customers’ cryptocurrencies to record them on their own balance sheets, potentially having significant capital implications for banks working with crypto clients.

Since then, Biden adopted a more crypto-favorable stance. Biden campaign’s increased engagement with the crypto community began after Trump started fighting for the crypto vote. Earlier this month news spread that Biden’s campaign team is reportedly in talks with key players in the cryptocurrency industry to potentially accept cryptocurrency donations through Coinbase Commerce.

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The inaugural general debate for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, held Thursday in Atlanta, Georgia, did not address cryptocurrency issues,… Continue reading US Presidential Debate: Why wasn’t crypto discussed?
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The inaugural general debate for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, held Thursday in Atlanta, Georgia, did not address cryptocurrency issues, disappointing industry observers.

CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash moderated the 90-minute face-off between incumbent President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. While the debate covered various topics including the economy, abortion, immigration, and foreign policy, it barely touched on technology policy and completely overlooked digital assets.

As pointed out in a CoinDesk report, this omission came despite crypto’s recent prominence in campaign discussions, particularly following Trump’s statements about regulation and his promise to commute Ross Ulbricht’s sentence. The Biden campaign has remained largely silent on crypto matters, though his administration recently expressed interest in collaborating with Congress on crypto legislation.

Economics not a focus

The debate’s economic segment was brief, with questions focusing on inflation, living costs, and national debt. Observers noted Biden’s subdued demeanor, attributed to a cold, while Trump appeared more animated but faced more scrutiny from fact-checkers.

The crypto industry continues to seek favorable legislation, repeating its substantial campaign spending from 2022. Major players like Coinbase, Ripple, and Andreessen Horowitz have each donated nearly $50 million to political action committees supporting crypto-friendly candidates.

These efforts have yielded some success in primary elections, with industry-backed PACs funding ads against candidates perceived as less favorable to crypto interests. During the debate, a prediction market on Polymarket gave Trump a 68% chance of winning the November election, compared to Biden’s 29%.

The absence of crypto discussion in this high-profile debate highlights the ongoing challenge for the industry to secure a place in mainstream political discourse, despite its growing economic and technological significance.

Crypto’s partisan nature

Cryptocurrency regulation has become a largely partisan issue in the United States, with Republicans being more favorable to the crypto industry than Democrats. Still, as the presidential race heats up Biden slightly changed course.

After vetoing a bipartisan-crypto move that sought to repeal the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 (SAB 121). Following that move, Biden’s campaign’s increased engagement with the crypto community and is rumored to be in talks to potentially accept cryptocurrency donations through Coinbase Commerce.

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Elden Ring is, in a word, big. There are over 160 bosses (way more if you add the DLC) and… Continue reading Best Elden Ring progression route: The fastest way to become Elden Lord
The post Best Elden Ring progression route: The fastest way to become Elden Lord appeared first on ReadWrite.

Elden Ring is, in a word, big. There are over 160 bosses (way more if you add the DLC) and it’s hard to know what exactly you need to do to beat the game. So, here’s our guide to the fastest progression route in Elden Ring – the bare minimum you need to do to become Elden Lord.

This won’t be as fast as an Elden Ring speedrun, which the best players in the world have down to less than an hour, but it should be enough to get you to the end of the game in just a few hours, depending on how much extra help you need to gather up as you go.

A note before we start – if you limit yourself to just the bosses on this list, the game will be extremely difficult. If you find yourself struggling, take a bit of time to get some extra levels (either by fighting some extra bosses or using a rune farm), consider upgrading your Flasks, or even level up a Spirit Summon.

Step 0: Planning

One of the keys to speeding through the game is to use a weapon you are comfortable with. A lot of the best weapons require stats above and beyond the starting character, so find out what stats you need to wield your weapon of choice and pick the starting class that gets you closest. You can also select the Lands Between Rune as your starting item to help get closer.

Iji is the best person to upgrade your weapon with. Image credit: FromSoftware

Important to note is that you will have a faster and easier time if you choose a weapon that uses Somber Smithing Stones to upgrade rather than regular Smithing Stones. You need far fewer of these materials than you do of the regular stones which cuts down on the time needed to gather them up, and the cost of performing the upgrades.

Take a look at the recommended route and decide at what point you’re going to go off and get your weapon in advance. If it’s quite a way in, it might be worth starting as a Samurai anyway, because the uchigatana is a powerful early-game weapon and can get you through the start of the game if needs be. It’s really a matter of preference.

Step 1: Kill two great rune bosses

Much of the latter half of the game is locked behind access to Leyndel: Royal Capital, for which you need two Great Runes. There are four options players can choose from – Godrick the Grafted, Renala Queen of the Full Moon, Starscourge Radahn, or Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy.

Godrick is the earliest and fastest to fight so for pure speed and to make the fastest progress, he’s definitely a good choice. You get the added bonus of his great rune which you can activate for a huge stat boost if you start having trouble later.

The other three have their own pros and cons. Rykard gives the player a huge ton of runes, but Volcano Manor is out of the way and you have to make your way through the Godskin Noble to get to him, a boss that can be a real roadblock to many.

Renala, Queen of the Full Moon. Image credit: FromSoftware

Radahn and Renala both require time to get to. Renala requires you to get through The Academy of Raya Lucaria and defeat the Red Wolf of Radagon to get to her, and Radahn requires you to run through Caelid and either fight an extremely tough miniboss (Leonine Misbegotten and Crucible Knight) or go to the Altus Plateau and get a grace to activate the festival before returning to fight Radahn.

Step 2: Get into the Capital

There are two ways you can get into Altus Plateau and from there into the Capital, and again it’s really up to you which one you do.

Option one is to collect the two halves of the Dectus medallion and go up the Grand Lift of Dectus. This requires a lot of riding around on Torrent but otherwise isn’t too challenging. There aren’t any bosses to fight on this route and it takes you near some useful upgrade items.

The first half of the medallion is in Fort Haight, in the southern area of Limgrave. Players can snag a Golden Seed right outside the fort, to add a charge to your flasks. The second half is in Fort Faroth, in the Dragonbarrow area of Caelid (take the teleporter from behind the Third Church of Marika in Limgrave to get there faster), and while there, you can grab the powerful talisman Radogan’s Scarseal, which boosts stats at the cost of taking a little extra damage. Then as you run down Bellum Highway towards the Dectus Lift, you can stop in the church along the way and grab a Sacred Tear to boost the potency of your healing Flask.

The second option is to go up through the Ruin-Strewn Precipice, a tricky vertical dungeon that culminates in a fight with Magma Wyrm Makar before you exit into the Plateau.

Step 3: The mid-game boss rush

After you’ve made it to Altus Plateau and secured your two Great Runes, the end of the game is essentially just a boss gauntlet away, starting with the Demonic Tree Sentinel at the entrance to the Capital.

After fighting the Demonic Tree Sentinal, make your way through Leyndell Royal Capital until you find your way to Godfrey, First Elden Lord (also known as Goldfrey to his friends). Beat him and run up to a battle against Morgott The Omen King. After this fight, make sure you head up to look at the thorns blocking the path to the Erdtree – this triggers Melina to come and give you the Rold Medallion.

Head back through the capital and up the huge elevator to the Forbidden Lands. Don’t get too comfortable as you just run straight through this area and to the Grand Lift of Rold. This will take you up to the Mountaintops of the Giants, where you need to do a ton more running.

Your next boss is Fire Giant, an extremely challenging boss. Remember, you can always go and get some extra upgrades to make things a little easier. An upgraded Spirit Summon or some consumables like Fire Grease can really make a huge difference in a tough fight.

Maliketh, the Black Blade. Image credit: FromSoftware

After dispatching Fire Giant, you have to talk to Melina again, who proceeds to burn down the Erdtree and teleports you into Crumbling Farum Azula. Make your way through this challenging late-game area and try not to get flattened by the Beastmen along the way. Fight the Godskin Duo (if you’re struggling with this fight, don’t forget that you can use Sleep Pots or arrows to put them to sleep and make the fight easier) and continue through to the area’s boss Maliketh, the Black Blade.

Step 4: The end-game boss rush

Well and truly into the end game now, defeating Maliketh will teleport you into the Ashen Capital. Just four bosses stand in your way of becoming Elden Lord from here.

The first is Sir Gideon Ofnir, the All-Knowing. If you don’t manage to kill this boss first try the fight can get a lot harder, so grab your damage buffs and go to town before he can fight back.

Next is the two-stage fight with Godfrey, First Elden Lord, who becomes Horah Loux, Warrior in his second phase. This fight is fun and challenging, and winning it means you are ready for the final fight. It’s two bosses back-to-back so make sure you’re prepared before going through the crack in the Erdtree in the final step to becoming Elden Lord.

Radogan of the Golden Order is the first boss of the final duo. He hits hard and fast but has very clearly telegraphed moves and predictable patterns which means after a little bit of practice, he shouldn’t pose too much of a challenge.

The final boss is the Elden Beast, a huge monster of a boss who sails across the battlefield out of range and has a combination of tricky melee attacks and devastating ranged moves. The final fight is a challenge worthy of the end of a FromSoftware game and when you beat it, you will become the Elden Lord.

From here, you can either go on to enter the DLC and take on a whole slew of new bosses, or progress into New Game Plus for an even greater challenge.

Featured image credit: FromSoftware

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Authorities in the Philippines are contemplating the future of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) after recent raids uncovered links to… Continue reading Philippines concerned that online casinos could be China-linked ‘Trojan horses’
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Authorities in the Philippines are contemplating the future of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) after recent raids uncovered links to criminality as well as China-related national security concerns.

Experts have warned that the industry, which supplies casino betting as well as card games and other online offerings, could pose a ‘Trojan horse’ threat to the nation which needs to be addressed immediately. The online gambling service is set up in the Philippines for customers in other jurisdictions, particularly China given that its ruling Communist Party has outlawed gambling on the mainland.

As reported by Nikkei, the murky setup is a tangled web as uncovered by Filipino authorities when raids in Luzon uncovered illegal employment, kidnapping, and torture linked to POGOs, as well as the involvement of foreign criminal syndicates.

The finding of a Chinese army uniform sparked national security fears, leading to public controversy, but this has been secondary to the spy fears emanating from the location of some Chinese casinos and POGO facilities such as those near the Philippine National Police headquarters in Quezon City, the Air Force headquarters in Pasay City, the Army headquarters in Taguig City, and the Navy headquarters in Manila. 

Perimeter for espionage

Chester Cabalza, President and Founder of International Development and Security Cooperation (IDSC), told the First Post, “The POGOs are deemed as a Trojan horse that can stage a surprise attack in the Philippines for their unrestricted warfare.”

He added, “The key strategic locations of POGOs are also sensitive to our national security since it becomes a perimeter for espionage.”

The industry thrived during the previous Duterte administration in the Philippines with the economic benefit welcomed, but now many are saying the negatives outweigh any boost to the economy, with much more at risk.

Geopolitical tensions with China over the South China Sea add a further layer of sensitivity to security concerns, with Defense Minister Gilberto Teodoro Jr. warning that criminal syndicates posing as online casinos “operating out of our base” should be stopped as their activities “weaken our financial standing, our country ratings, and corrupt our society.”

Eduardo Ano, a National Security Advisor in the Philippines told Nikkei Asia that the situation “Is not yet a national security threat at the moment, but a national security concern,” calling for urgent action by the authorities and all illegal POGOs to be shut down.

It was reported the country collected 5.1 billion pesos ($86 million) from licensed POGO operations in 2023.

Image credit: Via Ideogram

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YouTube is reportedly locked in talks with major record labels, aiming to secure a licensing agreement to train their artificial… Continue reading YouTube wants record labels to license music for its AI song generator
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YouTube is reportedly locked in talks with major record labels, aiming to secure a licensing agreement to train their artificial intelligence tools on the artists’ content. 

It is a highly controversial and emotive issue with many performers vehemently opposed to the influence of AI with fears that it could undermine their work, its value, and the future prospects of the industry. 

YouTube courts the music industry over AI plans

Google-owned YouTube, which is trying new ways to stop ad-blockers, is attempting to win over the support of a very skeptical industry, and one of the ways it is doing so, is by offering upfront payments.

As reported by the Financial Times, three of the music heavyweights – Sony, Warner, and Universal – are believed to have been approached to open up their portfolio of audio content to be deployed by YouTube with its AI software. 

Crucially, it has been stated the last word would reside with the artists and not the labels on this question, and if they would participate, individually.

In April last year, over 200 artists signed an open letter stating, “We must protect against the predatory use of AI to steal professional artists’ voices and likenesses, violate creators’ rights, and destroy the music ecosystem.”

Conversely, performers such as John Legend and Charli XCX agreed to participate in a YouTube pilot with the rollout of its Dream Track tool. The generative AI program enabled a select band of creators to pull vocals and lyrics from the artists’ catalog. Despite only 10 artists signing up, YouTube claimed to have “dozens” ready to collaborate. 

Industry insider comments on the AI debate

It is a controversial, complex debate that isn’t going away as one executive at a large music label told the FT, “The industry is wrestling with this. Technically the companies have the copyrights, but we have to think through how to play it. We don’t want to be seen as a Luddite.”

The record companies will not hold back when it comes to protecting their interests, as was shown when major labels Sony and Universal were involved in the legal action taken against AI music generators, Suno and Udio, for mass copyright infringement. 

Under the umbrella of the Recording Industry Association of America, the plaintiffs are seeking up to $150,000 per piece of work infringed.

Featured image: Ideogram

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Fresh off the surprise announcement of Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, Capcom says it will stage a presentation on Monday, July… Continue reading Capcom’s Resident Evil and Dead Rising star in a games showcase July 1
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Fresh off the surprise announcement of Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, Capcom says it will stage a presentation on Monday, July 1, to show more of it and two other games over a half-hour show.

Capcom Next is scheduled for July 1 at 6 p.m. EDT, and it will span 25 minutes as it discusses Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster; Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, and the mobile platform launch of Resident Evil 7: biohazard.

Tune in on July 1, 3pm PT for CAPCOM NEXT – Summer 2024, a 25-min event sharing info on 3 titles!

1⃣ First details on @DeadRising Deluxe Remaster!
2⃣ News on @Kunitsu_Gami: Path of the Goddess.
3⃣ RESIDENT EVIL 7 biohazard for iPhone/iPad/Mac.

https://t.co/uP9SrWCodm pic.twitter.com/dXtrVM35ou

— Capcom USA (@CapcomUSA_) June 27, 2024

The show can be seen on YouTube and Twitch.

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is the only actual new release scheduled for the presentation. It launches July 19 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. It’s a blend of action, strategy, and tower defense gameplay elements, all of it driven by Japanese folklore and themes. It’s a third-party day-and-date launch on Xbox Game Pass, too.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster was announced on Wednesday. Though it doesn’t appear to be a full remake, just a remaster of the 2006 zombie survival classic, it will be the first Dead Rising playable natively on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X (with a companion coming to Windows PC).

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess was announced a year ago in June 2023; it’s in development at Capcom’s Division 1 studio, the same unit behind the Resident Evil and Devil May Cry series. Gameplay is divided into a day-night cycle where the player builds up defenses under the sunshine, and then defends a village, and its divine patron, from evil spirits at night.

Resident Evil 7: biohazard launched in 2017, with a native re-release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X in 2022. The iOS and MacOS versions are due on July 2. Resident Evil’s latest release was 2021’s Resident Evil Village, which launched on Mac and iOS devices in October 2023.

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Fans of Final Fantasy 14 have been waiting an unusually long time for Dawntrail, so excitement about the new expansion… Continue reading Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail: Plot, location, price, release date and everything we know
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Fans of Final Fantasy 14 have been waiting an unusually long time for Dawntrail, so excitement about the new expansion to the popular MMO is extremely high.

The game’s previous expansions have been released on a consistent 2-year schedule (Heavensward in 2015, Stormblood in 2017, Shadowbringers in 2019, and Endwalker in 2021), so the three-year wait for Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail has led to a greater-than-average level of excitement.

Excited fans expect a lot of Dawntrail, and everything we’ve seen so far suggests that it is an expansion with a lot to offer, including new jobs, new lands to explore, a ton of quality-of-life improvements, and a long-awaited graphical update. Plus, the level cap is being increased to 100, so there are new depths of strength to unlock for all characters.

When is the Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail release date?

Dawntrail will be released to the general public on Tuesday, July 2, 2024.

However, super keen players can preorder the game and dive in starting today (June 28) at 2 AM PDT.

Preorders also include a Wind-Up Zidane Minion and a pair of Azeyma’s Earings, which grant a 30% increase in EXP gained up to level 90, perfect for players who need to make up the last few levels before diving into Dawntrail.

How much will Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail cost?

Given the amount of content reported to be in FF14: Dawntrail, the price comes in at a very reasonable $39.99 for the standard edition. This price is the same for the pre-order too.

The Digital Collector’s Edition costs a little more at $59.99, but includes several in-game bonuses that aren’t available elsewhere, including the Ark Mount and the Wind-Up Garnet Minion.

What platforms will Dawntrail be available on?

Players across all platforms will be able to play Dawntrail on launch. It is simultaneously available on PlayStation 4 & 5, PC, and Xbox Series X|S.

There was some speculation that because FF14 only just launched on Xbox, Dawntrail would be delayed, but that is not the case.

What is the plot of Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail?

The plot of Dawntrail continues after Endwalker as a linear story. This means that players must have played through and completed the main quests for each of the previously released expansions in order to begin Dawntrail.

NPCs Krile Mayer Baldesion, Alphinaud, and fan-favorite Alisaie Leveilleur accompany the Warrior of Light (that is, the player character) to a city mired in a succession and leadership crisis.

Previously unshakable allegiances are called into question as Tural descends into a contest for its rule.

Not too much is known about the details of the main story quest of Dawntrail yet, but it seems the themes of factional rivalry will be strong throughout as players work to stabilize the new region.

The capital city of Tural, Tuliyollal. Image credit: Square Enix

Where is Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail set?

Dawntrail is exciting both new and old players with a key feature: Dawntrail is not set in the land of Eorzea, but in the New World, now named Tural.

Tural is a large new landmass divided into northern and southern areas that have long been wracked in territorial wars, until Gulool Ja Ja founded the capital city of Tuliyollal.

“Comprised of two great landmasses─Xak Tural to the north, and Yok Tural to the south─the “New World” lies far to the west of Eorzea’s shores.

Its many and diverse peoples spent centuries mired in territorial wars until the epic deeds of Gulool Ja Ja and his dream of Tuliyollal saw them united under the banner of a single nation,” proclaims the Dawntrail website.

Judging by the website, there will be around seven new areas within the continent of Tural for players to conquer, but hints suggest that there could be more besides, with talk of a search for a mysterious city of gold that may or may not exist.

New jobs in Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail

Dawntrail will add two new combat jobs to the game, the Viper and the Pictomancer. Both of these will be available to players at level 80. so you can choose to tackle the expansion as one of the new classes if you wish.

The Viper

Vipers are melee DPS classes who can seamlessly move between using their weapon as two one-handed swords or a single large two-handed twinblade. Frantic combat combined with maintaining ongoing buffs to maximize damage output will make the Viper a challenging and rewarding class to master.

Pick up the Viper job from the new quest giver in Ul’Dah.

The Pictomancer

The Pictomancer is a magical ranged DPS character who wields a paintbrush and palette. Paint spells, buffs, and even magical creatures into combat to overpower your foes. As well as damage, the Pictomancer will seemingly be able to buff party members, judging by a comment made by director Naoki Yoshida at Tokyo Fan Fest. The new graphical effects added by the Pictomancer’s attacks are unique and will appeal to players looking for something totally different.

Grab your new Pictomancer training from the quest giver in Gridania.

Other new content in Dawntrail

Aside from the continuation of the main story quest and the new jobs, Dawntrail will include a ton of additional content too.

Final Fantasy 14 will receive a new graphics update as part of Dawntrail’s companion patch. Image credit: Square Enix

New playable race – the much-requested female Hrothgar is finally coming to Final Fantasy 14 in Dawntrail.
New raids and dungeons – there will be plenty of challenging content for players who want to test their mettle
Shared Fates – shared Fates will now increase to rank four
New graphics – as part of the supplemental patch alongside Dawntrail, a new update to the game’s graphics will be released to all players
Glasses – players will finally be able to wear glasses and other face accessories alongside head armor
Shareable strategy board – plan for duties more thoroughly with sharable collaborative strategy boards
Updates to existing jobs – all existing jobs will receive updates and new abilities

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OpenAI has launched a new tool called CriticGPT, a new artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) designed to assist… Continue reading OpenAI launches CriticGPT to catch ChatGPT errors
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OpenAI has launched a new tool called CriticGPT, a new artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) designed to assist humans in spotting mistakes in code written by ChatGPT.

In an effort to improve the accuracy and usefulness of its GPT models, OpenAI uses a technique called Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF), where humans review and critique output from the AI models. CriticGPT is designed to aid the AI trainers in the RLHF process.

According to OpenAI, “When people get help from CriticGPT to review ChatGPT code they outperform those without help 60% of the time,” in an experiment that showed a human AI trainer preferred critiques from a team of human-plus-CriticGPT over a human without the AI tool 60% of the time.

The major benefit of pairing a human and an AI to provide feedback in the RLHF process is that CriticGPT can write more comprehensive and thorough critiques than a human operating alone, and humans can step in when the model is reporting hallucinated errors, or when CriticGPT is reporting too many unhelpful “nitpicks”.

How was CriticGPT trained?

CriticGPT was also trained using OpenAI’s RLHF methodologies. Trainers took code written by ChatGPT and then inserted errors into the code. They then wrote example feedback that a model could provide if it had found the inserted error.

The trainer then compared output from the new model, looking at multiple critiques of the modified segment of code and seeing when the model had correctly identified and explained the error inserted.

What are the limitations of CriticGPT?

The training data so far for CriticGPT has focused on only short answers written by ChatGPT and further research and development will be required for it to address longer and more complex outputs. Additionally, it is not free from the dreaded AI hallucinations that plague LLMs.

Further work will also need to be carried out before the model can identify and critique dispersed errors – it currently can only handle discrete errors that appear in one place.

What’s next for CriticGPT?

OpenAI intends to integrate CriticGPT into its RLHF pipeline and then go on to scale the work further and increase its utility.

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The first major content drop for Palworld has arrived and with it comes a tough new stronghold called the Oil… Continue reading How to find the Oil Rig in Palworld’s new update
The post How to find the Oil Rig in Palworld’s new update appeared first on ReadWrite.

The first major content drop for Palworld has arrived and with it comes a tough new stronghold called the Oil Rig.

Let’s ignore the obvious that an oil rig is a slightly weird addition and probably not just an Unreal Engine asset pack that has been tweaked and first of all realize that the biggest issue here is actually finding it.

So what do we know – well oil rigs live off shore so we know it’s not on land, and we can tell you that you can’t see it from land either – it’s surrounded by thick fog. So let’s get you there with the minimum of fuss.

How to find the Oil Rig

The oil rig in Palword has no fast travel point so we are going to use the one nearest to it. Also as it is not on land we are going to need a flying (or swimming) mount to reach it. You can’t get to it without one of these.

Fast travel to the Marsh Island waypoint. The Oil Rig is located considerably further East than this but this is the closest we can zip to.

Using the Palworld map the co-ordinates are 608, -435. Head out in that direction and you will still not be able to see the rig until you are close because of the inclement weather surrounding it.

Tip: If you are approaching with a flying mount you will come under attack from the rig’s defenses before you even get too close. Use a swimming mount if possible.

You should be at least Level 50 before attempting to beat this stronghold.

More Palworld pages you might be interested in

Everything you need to know about Palworld
How to Fast Travel in Palworld
How to buy and sell Pals
How to assign roles and jobs to your Pals in Palworld
How to change your character’s name
How to level up fast in Palworld
Palworld’s latest patch may help those who can’t log in actually play, but it’s not fixed yet

Featured image: Palworld

The post How to find the Oil Rig in Palworld’s new update appeared first on ReadWrite.

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