What has two thumbs and just came back?

Me.

Guess what? The official site has been completely transformed. In fact, there's a placeholder for the client download! Actually, they've got two special download placeholders, one for MFO, and one for a "fansite kit". They've also got instructions for installation and how to play. There's even a webcomic!

Can you take a look, Lisa? And if possible, can you make head or tail of the "story", or any of the other things on there?

Hooray!

The first notice on this page says that the closed Beta test for MFO, which was open for subscriptions on Dec. 7, now has all of its testers.

I blew it and didn't get in.

Ah, it's no big deal. The game should be online soon, anyway.

In the meantime, what does the "intro" page say? There's a link to it at the top of the "For Rookies" box.

Are they still following the micro-payment model? Is the game playable at all by American players with American versions of Windows?

Don't know about the latest version of the software, in the last beta you could play with American windows, but you need to change the default language.

It's supposed to have the micro-payment feature, but they didn't test that, so I don't know anything about it. I do know that not all US credit cards automatically convert currency, so setting up payment may be troublesome for some players. My Paypal debit card works fine for such things, though.

What of the fansite kit? Why would we need a kit to make a fansite?

I'm keen on signing up, but I know not how to make an account. How would I go abouts that?

I should start adding more monsters to the list.

The intro page is like a basic guide you'd see in a console game's booklet. It's some basic text about make a monster, take it to the ranch, feed it, etc. No big details.

To make an account, Click HERE. Click the orange box on the left that says "click".

You need your browser set to JP language and a an application that allows you to type in JP characters. Most of the signup is text which can be typed in English, however, towards the end, there's one of those confirmation boxes where you have to read characters written all squiggly with a funny background to confirm that you aren't a spambot. The confirmation characters when I did it were in all three character sets.

Alrighty, I'll give it a shot a bit later. If I run into any trouble, I'll let you know. Thanks!

Say, it looks like there's been a surge of interviews on the blog this past month. Would you mind looking into it, Lisa?

I'll look into it...

The game client is now available for download!

My connection is soooo slooow.... gonna be a long wait for this download...

So, we're going to have to work on sections here, any help from existing Moderators would be appreciated. Just let me know, and I'll add you to this section.

I'm thinking that we'll need the usual sections for FAQ, items, combining, etc.

I'll download it as soon as I get my PC. In the meantime, I'll give my colleagues a heads-up on the game's availability.

Is there even any combination in this game? It looks like it's largely regional-adaption-based, like MR3.

This is actually another beta, looks like it will be live from the 21st - 27th. More news tonight!

I finally got the download done at 3am last night, and finished installation before heading off to work this morning.