Let's keep Character Crossovers from other Square-Enix titles out of FFXIV.
Yoshi was recently interviewed about FFXIV by rpgsite while at Japan Expo in Paris. link
Virtually the first question Yoshi was asked was about the Lightning/Snow crossover from Final Fantasy XIII that was recently announced, and rightly so, because of the extreme reactions to it--either extremely positive or extremely negative. Yoshi responds that he *anticipated* both reactions. He says that the expo was not the right time or place to talk about the nitty gritty details of the crossover, how she fits into the lore of Eorzea, and all that. He will talk about that when he gets back to Japan, with a lengthy forum post to the "hardcore 1.0 players" to satisfy their fears.
Quote:
Once I'm back in Japan I will probably write a long forum post again to explain in more detail to the fans. Myself, I am one of those who really wants to make sure that the FF14 world is kept safely in a FF14 way - so I don't want to destroy the lore. There's going to be plenty of cutscenes and explanation of the reasons in the storylines of why Lightning can appear in FF14.
Please be rest assured that there is a reason, and I'm going to make sure that it's natural she's in this world. Is she going to stay here? What's going to happen to her..? All that is also going to be mentioned in the storyline - it's going to become a natural part of the history of Eorzea.
Rpgsite follows up immediately with an observation--bringing in a *character* from an actual different Final Fantasy game is a much different cup of tea than bringing in a reference, or an item, or some armor. Does this open the door to stuff like SEPHIROTH fights, or Cloud on his motorcycle, or what?
Yoshi demurs from answering the question, but he does offer this:
Quote:
The main message we wanted to tell the players is the same as the announcements we made at E3 and now again at Japan Expo, which is that previously, all these numbered titles in the FF franchise were totally different, each of them were independent of each other - totally separate.
However, between the dev teams and also within the company, we also really want to work close together and have a strong relationship with each other and sort of push FF as a whole.
It's not like that we want to just get more attention from players or get more money by using the elements from previous FF games - it's nothing like that. As a company and as a group, we wanted to make sure that the FF projects have a strong relationship between the dev teams of the numbered titles. We're not necessarily planning to bring back all the characters.
I would like to ask Yoshi personally, and the entire Final Fantasy XIV development and community team, and all of us players, to stop pursing this kind of character and story development in Final Fantasy XIV. It is disastrous to the integrity of this story.
Let me say right off the bat: I am not objecting to references or callbacks to other Final Fantasy titles tout court. Things like the materia system, or magitek armor, or a beach town named "Costa del Sol," or recurring thematic bosses like "Atomos" or "Ifrit"--things like this. These are cute references and a good way of making this title a real part of the "Final Fantasy" universe. Think of it this way--when you put these kinds of references in, you are doing world building--you are making us, the players, feel like we are really in a Final Fantasy universe.
Adding an actual character from another Final Fantasy game is essentially and radically different from this. Why? Because Plot and Character are the two most important features of any story, and by introducing other familiar and beloved Final Fantasy characters into Final Fantasy XIV, you are making our story a part of their story.
Again, I don't want to start a discussion about magical crystals or Atomos traveling through a void, or quantum entanglements, or Doc Brown in a DeLorean, or any talk of how such a joining of stories might be possible. I am speaking from a story perspective, from a literary perspective even--not whether Lightning can be in our world but whether she ought to be in our world.
When a hero like Cloud, or Lightning, or Sephiroth becomes a part of Eorzea's plot, what happens is that they upstage us as characters in Eorzea's world, and they upstage the characters in XIV like Minfilia and Nael van Darnus. Cloud and Lightning and Sephiroth are leading men and leading ladies--they are the protagonists of their world, and they cannot help but bring that with them into other plots. Minfilia and Y'shtola are protagonists of XIV's plot. They deserve to have their own stage time, in their own plot, without Lightning upstaging him. Gaius von Baelsar and his plans for Eorzea deserve their own time and space to develop, without having Sephiroth and his dark materia upstage him.
Please note that it's not at all a matter of liking or disliking the particular reference. For example, I personally did not care much for XIII, and I quite liked VII--but my preferences about those games are not at all what this is about. Those games have their own integrity and this game--XIV--deserves its own.
It is even possible to do marketing events--like Lightning's costume and some XIII weapons--without making Lightning herself come into Eorzea's world. We can celebrate other Final Fantasy titles without ruining the integrity of XIV's story.
***In Brief***: Yoshi, you say that you've always been a man who "wants to make sure that the FF14 world is kept safely in a FF14 way." But your solution to doing this is to say that you did a really really good job of doing character crossovers from other titles. Please realize that character crossovers, no matter how good you do them, will irreparably violate the integrity of XIV's characters and plot.
You also acknowledge that "in the past", numbered Final Fantasy franchises were entirely separate entities; but that this is changing now because you want a unified Square-Enix development team. Please realize that it is possible to have good working relationships with all of the Square-Enix development team, and to promote Final Fantasy as a whole--without making Final Fantasy XIV a plot and character "free for all" that has more in common with wish-fulfillment fanfiction than it does with the amazing story and characters expected of a Final Fantasy title.
We can celebrate the beloved Final Fantasy franchise without destroying the integrity of this game's characters and plot. We can celebrate the launch of Final Fantasy games without devolving into self-referential fanservice. I am merely one loyal fan, but I feel like I speak for many more when I ask you humbly to immediately reconsider this disastrous design choice.
