I'm going to go linksies on this one because it is a fairly extensive interview that already received a thorough writeup.

GAME Watch Interviews Tanaka and Komoto

Some new and interesting points:

• People beginning in Limsa Lominsa will start by arriving by sea as depicted in the trailer.  This is only one example of how players can enter Eorzea depending on their starting area.
• Pre-rendered scenes and real-time footage were mixed in the trailer.  Real-time footage was shown in the longest stretches, but overall, there was more pre-rendered material if you add up all the separate clips of it.
• Skillchains will be in FFXIV, both chains performed with other people and possibly ones you can do solo.
• Parties will be less restrictive and not penalize players for having too many or too few members.
• Excpect some familiar abilities to make a comeback; Komoto specifically references Flee, but says it might not necessarily be linked to Thief.
• Developers plan to have FFXIV support Windows 7, 64-bit systems, multicore processors and are trying to plan for how technology will have evolved by the game's release in 2010.
• Beta testing will begin for Windows PCs only.  They will be conducted as focus groups that last around 3-4 hours at a time.  This will be to iron out every little detail of the game utilizing player feedback.  The next stage will be weekly tests that last a full 24 hours.  After this, they will begin to stress test the servers by adding people in increments - they will start at 10,000 and double the amount for each subsequent test.  Finally, after expanding the pool of testers to their liking, a full open beta will be initiated.

Check out the full version, then tell us what you think on the ZAM forums!