Today Final Fantasy XIV Director Naoki Yoshida came out of the woodwork posting some quite interesting screenshots from the stress pre-alpha servers of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.

The screenies showcase some quite large crowds, demonstrating the new engine's ability to handle large numbers of players at the same time (something at which the old engine really fails badly). They also show battles pitching a large number of players against some big world bosses. One of the pictures even portrays an old and enormous fan favorite: Adamantoise.

The alpha testing of the new incarnation of the game will start on October the 29th and things definitely look good so far. Can't say I'm not looking forward to put my greedy hands on it.