http://dengekionline.com/elem/000/00...rce=facebook#e
English translation at the bottom
Naoki Yoshida recent interview
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07-27-2015, 12:37 PMAkizaNaoki Yoshida recent interview
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07-27-2015, 12:53 PMAkiza
I think Naoki Yoshida's view on the future of the mmorpg genre is incorrect. The F2P model and native app type games won't be the future of MMO's becasue by then the genre will have no meaning. Since consoles developers have gone with always online and connected which started with the origianl X-Box MMO's have peaked and gone in a state of decline. Final Fantasy XIV is just the twilight of the MMO genre because it launched when all single player games have an online multi player component which dilutes the MMO experiance. Even this game can be considered a single player game with heavy mmo elements all thats needed is a few tweaks to gameplay and some jobs. The term MMO has no meaning now since they can be looked at as single player games with hubs where players can instance with other players.
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07-27-2015, 01:08 PMSaccharinPast tense, a bad translation maybe.Quote:
I was a producer and director on Final Fantasy XIV.
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07-27-2015, 01:14 PMLorielle
Can someone post the translation? For the people at work. Helps a ton.
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07-27-2015, 01:17 PMShougun
Aww, they translated it - so kind <3.
The interview for Lorielle:
―Let’s start by having you introduce yourselves. Could you tell us about your job and the titles that you’ve worked on?
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Yoshida Naoki：I work for Square Enix. I was a producer and director on Final Fantasy XIV. I came onboard this project in a roundabout way; the original FFXIV（※1） was released back in 2010. When the decision was made to remake it, I was given the task of leading the effort. We decided to scrap the original world and create something completely new. Now, 5 years later, we have released the first ever Expansion Pack（※2） for FFXIV entitled Heavensward. There are a lot of people around the world to whom I owe a debt for having been able to come this far.
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▲FINAL FANTASY XIV：Heavensward
Futami Yosuke：I am a producer for Bandai Namco Entertainment. I’m currently working on the game adaptation of Dengeki Bunko’s Sword Art Online (SAO（※3）). Our SAO game will mimic an MMORPG（※4）, but it will be designed specifically for gamers who aren’t crazy about the genre, or for those who perhaps have an interest but haven’t yet experienced an MMORPG, and of course for the SAO fans. We want to use this game to emphasize the fact that the worlds that MMORPGs create can offer a lot of fun.
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▲Sword Art Online Lost Song
――There are many fans of the SAO books as well as the anime adaptation. In fact, many people started playing MMORPGs due to SAO. Many FFXIV players even name their characters after SAO characters.
Futami：There seem to be a lot of Black Swordsman（※5）. (Laughter)
――Could you tell us a bit about your experience with MMORPGs?
Yoshida：Kawahara Reki（※6）, the author of SAO, has been an avid MMORPG fan since the days of Ultima Online（※7）. I’m actually of that same generation in terms of gaming. Ultima Online is known as the world’s first MMORPG, so obviously it influenced me a great deal. In terms of an MORPG（※8）, Diablo（※9） comes to mind. Diablo showed me how much fun it could be to connect over a network and multiplay with someone far away. In Ultima Online, that experience became something that was shared with thousands of people worldwide. It was really revelatory. From there, my experience with MMORPGs just grew.
>Futami：I’m only a casual gamer when it comes to MMORPGs. The first one I played was Ragnarok Online（※10）. Afterwards I played Nobunaga’s Ambition Online（※11）. Then comes a long blank period, but now I’m getting into FFXIV.
Yoshida：I appreciate that. (Laughter)
Futami：I’ve played Diablo as well, but I generally have preferred my online games to be of the FPS or TPS variety, rather than MMORPGs. (Laughter) It’s always a great deal of fun to communicate over the network. Even when I wasn’t playing an MMORPG, there would be elements of network play in any game that I played.
――The SAO game will be mimicking the MMORPG experience. Has your past gaming experience served to guide you in developing such a game?
Futami：I’m actually pretty bad at communicating over a network. (Laughter) When people talk to me, I respond with proper grammar and complete sentences. If someone does me a favor, I get flustered trying to type up a long thank you message. I understand how the social aspect of gaming can be fun, but it can be intimidating at the same time. I usually would play solo（※12） or join in with a party on the spot; often times I’m just waiting around for someone to invite me to join them. When I read SAO, I could relate to how the protagonist, Kirito, was more attuned to solo gaming. I’m not against communicating with other gamers, but it can be hard to initiate the conversation. (Laughter)
Yoshida：I think that when online gamers see SAO, they see an ideal game. It’s packed with what those gamers want such a game to embody. On the other hand, people who aren’t familiar with MMORPGs and online gaming would read SAO and say, “I didn’t know that these worlds existed.” Everybody is able to identify with the characters of the story in one way or another. MMORPG gamers see it as an ideal world, while MMORPG neophytes are offered a glimpse of a world that they hadn’t previously known. In the story, Kirito acts as a lone wolf, but he still garners respect from others. I think that’s something that a lot of people can admire about him.
――Do you think that there will always be gamers who prefer to play an MMORPG as a solo experience?
Yoshida：There was a time when TRPG (Tabletop RPG)（※13） games were all the rage, but that’s a genre that really requires good communication skills. Once computers came onto the scene, CPUs took over GM (Game Master) duties, so gamers could play RPGs all by themselves. MMORPGs actually started out in the same way. At first, they appealed to a really hardcore group of gamers who had no problems with regard to communication. The appeal of MMORPGs gradually spread from there, and eventually people from all walks of life began to play them. The tricky thing is that all sorts of stressful situations from real life started to manifest themselves within the game world. (Laughter) However, you still want that sense of sharing this epic world and experience with other players. I like to compare it to fishing. When you go fishing, you’re pretty much on your own. But if you gaze across the lake, you might see other people focusing on their lures, fishing just like you are. You may not be directly communicating, but there is a sense of camaraderie there. I think that’s an important aspect, because without it, you’re only going to be able to appeal to the aforementioned hardcore gamers. A game needs to be appealing even if communication is held to the bare minimum. Of course, if you really want to be a protagonist in the story, then you’re going to have to be a bit more assertive. (Laughter)
――Mr. Futami, when you embarked on recreating the world of an MMORPG for SAO, which elements did you pay special attention to?
Futami：Mr. Yoshida just touched upon it, but I would say “Communication” was our biggest focus. I wanted to create a game that would draw attention to you from other players, even though you play as an NPC. You can’t approach NPCs yourself, so I wanted the NPCs to initiate conversations with the players. I tried to recreate the sense that the world was populated with many other players, particularly in Hollow Fragment（※14）. In that game, there are 100 NPCs, and you can eventually form parties with them. As time progresses, some NPCs in town will actually talk to you as you walk by. Those are the type of immersive features that I worked on with our development team.
Yoshida：You really need to work diligently in-game in order to get the NPCs to start talking to you. I feel like anyone who can do that could have the same experience in a true MMORPG. (Laughter)
Futami：The trick is to not force the player to initiate a conversation. NPCs will talk to you, or send you messages. When someone contacts you first, you’re more likely to say “OK, I’ll help you on this quest”, and so on. (Laughter)
Yoshida：Maybe I should look into having NPCs that approach players as well. (Laughter)
Futami：By the way, I could tell that I hadn’t played an MMORPG in a while, because when I was playing FFXIV, I kept responding to mass chats (shouts). (Laughter)
――Some people would say that public chats（※15） were more robust in the older online games.
Yoshida：It was a different dynamic, because older games didn’t give you the ability to chat exclusively with your party. In Ultima Online, chat text was displayed above your character’s head, so you had to be close to each other for it to be readable. Not only that, but the chat log was a pain to access. You really needed to get physically close to someone and pay attention to what they were saying, which is quite realistic when you think about it. Once MMORPGs caught on, chatting became a focal point of the experience, and it evolved from there.
――Have you noticed any differences between domestic and foreign MMORPG players?
Yoshida：In terms of how the hardcore gamers approach things and react to game design, I don’t think that there’s any difference at all. Everybody around the world has the same reaction to a stingy drop rate（※16）, right? (Laughter) I do get the impression that the skill level of the average gamer（※17） is a bit higher in Japan, but that’s about it. One thing that does stand out to me is how gamers treat the concept of being an individual within these game communities. In Japan, players strongly adhere to the communities that they are a part of. Even if they aren’t a member of a particular community, they tend to strive to blend in with regards to the tone and atmosphere of the setting that they’re in. You could view it as being harmonious, but you could also view it as being passive as well. On the other hand, foreign gamers are much more likely to be highly individualistic. You gather a group of these unique individuals together to form a party and go on adventures. Instead of going with the flow, everybody seems to discuss their objectives and opinions more freely.
――In bringing SAO to overseas markets（※18）, is there anything in particular that you are doing to accommodate a different type of player?
Futami：Actually, there really isn’t. The SAO game only exists because of the books and the anime, both of which have been accepted by foreign audiences. Knowing that, I wouldn’t want to change the world and feel that Mr. Kawahara has created with regards to SAO. I think our objective is to deliver the exact experience that we would offer to a Japanese audience, and see how well it is received.
Yoshida：The idea for an SAO game could have only come from Japan. The foreign way of thinking is, you get into the books and anime of SAO and become interested in MMORPGs, so then you go and play an actual MMORPG. But in Japan the thought process is a bit different, and players are actually more interested in the fact that it isn’t a true MMORPG. The mock-MMORPG concept is very uniquely Japanese, and I think that foreign audiences appreciate that fact, so there’s really no reason to try and change things to cater to a particular audience.
Futami：We do get comments from foreign users in addition to those from Japan. Players from Japan tend to want the ability to create an original character. They want an avatar of themselves, so that they can go on adventures alongside Kirito. Foreign users are the opposite; they want to go on the adventures as Kirito.
Yoshida：Players from Japan are more familiar with the source material, so they are more likely to want to participate alongside these characters themselves. Foreign gamers tend to have the impression that one plays an MMORPGs as the protagonist, so if there’s an established character filling that role, then that’s whom they want to take control of.
――Actually, I would have thought that it would be the other way around.
Yoshida：Foreign players seem to be more interested in experiencing the uniqueness of the Japanese-designed characters and stories just as they are, without inserting themselves into the game.
――Does SAO adopt any gameplay elements from actual MMORPGs?
Futami：Yes, absolutely. Our developers had played a lot of FFXI（※19） along with FFXIV. I think that FFXI probably had the greatest amount of influence. Some of the guys were really into older titles like EverQuest（※20）, and they’d use those games as a guide when trying to calibrate elements like drop rates and skills, so that a soloing player could enjoy the game as well. SAO is a single player RPG that won’t involve the kind of time commitment that an MMORPG would, so our drop rate is fairly generous. Of course, certain items may still be a pain to get. (Laughter)
――That seems to be a clear distinction between most offline games and MMORPGs. The time involved in playing and beating the game is very different.
Futami：With single player games, you need to make sure that it doesn’t drag on forever. You want to offer a substantial experience, but you need to strike a balance between too long and too short. Offline games usually require tens of hours, whereas MMORPGs often require hundreds of hours.
――MMORPGs have been around for roughly 18 years now, and while some things have changed, others have remained the same. The item drop rate, for example, is probably perceived differently by players today when compared to players of past titles.
Yoshida：Ultima Online technically went on indefinitely. The game was developed by Richard Garriott（※21）, who basically gave players a bare-bones set of rules and a place to play the game. You started with a choice of 64 skills, and the rest was up to you. There was no clear objective or goal; you could literally sink an endless number of hours into that game. EverQuest came after that, and due to its monthly payment structure（※22）, all the time requirements for various quests and objectives had to be calculated beforehand. Once World of Warcraft（※23） came out, the though process became：“How many hours will I play today?” Developers had to consider that casual gamers could most likely only afford to play 1 or 2 hours per day. This applies to our development process as well. We don’t think of the total gameplay time that will be required. Instead, we try to calculate how many hours per day or per week that something will require, and then base our designs on that figure.
――Is the concept of tailoring a player’s gaming experience to a set amount of time something that one needs to consider in developing an offline game as well?
Futami：I’ve never put much thought into it. I do make sure that players are still able to enjoy the game freely after completing the main story arc, so that they can choose to stop playing the game whenever they decide to do so. I also think that some management and oversight has become necessary for all consumer games. Call it “half-management”, if you will. After you release a game, you need to address user concerns with updates and patches, or add on new quests to keep things fresh. These updates allow you to tackle issues that you couldn’t have foreseen during development, and they are also a great way to incorporate and respond to ideas and criticism from users.
――Console games often offer DLC options these days, but it’s still rare for an update to completely change an aspect of gameplay, isn’t it?
Futami：We used FFXI and FFXIV as guides when developing our updates（※24）. MMORPG updates really bring about a lot of excitement. With SAO, there were a lot of game elements that we couldn’t include in the launch product for one reason or another. But we refused to just give up on those features, so we released them as a free update in Hollow Fragment. It was a similar situation with Lost Song, where we just couldn’t include the PvP（※25） design aspect in our launch product. I was really adamant about having that feature, but if you just cram it into the game without proper development, you’re going to end up with half-baked results. So, we decided that we would give it the proper amount of time it required for development, and eventually release it as an update.
――Updates definitely seem to be an integral part of MMORPGs, especially in terms of keeping players engaged.
Yoshida：With regards to packaged games in Japan, it’s all about your sales numbers during that first week of release. I like that you can bypass that with updates. You can build up buzz instead of having it fade away, and your sales numbers can actually increase over time. I think that the players appreciate it as well. It’s like the PvP example that I just discussed. When the developers come out and say “We want to include this feature too, but it’s not ready, so we’re not going to include it until we’re satisfied with it”, I think that gamers can appreciate where we’re coming from.
――With all of the streaming and media tools readily available these days, you must get more feedback from users than ever before.
Futami：Yes, and a lot of the time, the users are thinking exactly what we’re thinking while in development. Of course there are instances where someone will point out something that we were totally oblivious to, but when a user touches upon something that we felt we had to fix in the first place, we make sure to get that sort of thing taken care of as soon as possible.
――FFXIV seems to have developed an environment where user feedback is delivered extremely quickly through “Letter from the Producer LIVE（※26）” and other official forums（※27）.
Yoshida：Our generation of game developers are referred to as the 3rd generation, because we grew up playing games. Often times, as Mr. Futami just mentioned, what we want is exactly what the gamers want as well. Of course, there are long term issues and business considerations that affect things on our end, but I think that involving the developers in a game’s community is a very important communication tool to have. FFXIV did that really well. It’s essential to get honest feedback from users, and to respond to it in order to develop an understanding between the two parties. With SAO, the entire community already has a sense of how the SAO world operates from reading or watching the source material, so the conversation is often about how to adapt these elements into a gaming medium. By having these frank discussions, you can reassure the gamers who participate in this community.
Futami：I have a responsibility to represent my company, but I also try to be as honest and forthcoming as possible in these situations. Of course, it can come back to haunt you if you’re too candid during a live interview. (Laughter) But in general, I like to be honest with our users. If we can’t do something, I’ll tell them that. If we might be able to do it, I’ll say that too. I think that Mr. Yoshida does the same with “Letters from the Producer LIVE”.
Yoshida：If we can’t do something, I’ll certainly say so, although I may not disclose the reasons why we can’t do it. (Laughter) Obviously you never want to admit that you can’t do something, but you don’t want to give users a sense of false hope either. Also, leading people on can result in your development team harboring resentment as well. They don’t want to be made out to be liars, after all. If I were to promise gamers everything and the moon without consulting my developers first, I’d lose the developer’s trust and they likely would be less inclined to work on the game. The purpose of developing a game is to create something that the users will enjoy, so it really seems counterintuitive to lie to them. That’s not to say that we discuss anything and everything, of course. Sometimes there will be great demand for a certain feature, but the cost will just be too prohibitive for us to implement it. If it threatens to become an issue that will adversely affect the rest of the game development process, then we’ll be honest about not being able to implement it. I think that most producers are really averse to admitting that they can’t do something. However, I’m also tasked with acting as our director of development, so I would need to act in that capacity to make these decisions for the greater good.
――How have MMORPG players reacted to SAO?
Futami：One of the more interesting comments I got for Hollow Fragment said something like, “SAO is a great game for me, because I had been feeling burnt out from all the communication required in a real MMORPG. I’m going to take a break from MMORPGs while I play SAO, and go back to them once I’m done.” (Laughter) We also got some feedback from users unfamiliar with MMORPGs that would say things like, “I wasn’t aware that SAO was an RPG.” On the other hand, people who had only seen the anime would say things like, “I like the game, but it doesn’t have much action, so it doesn’t really feel like an SAO game.” I would say that about 40 percent of our feedback came from MMORPG users, and 60 percent came from people familiar with the books and the anime series. We got a lot of feedback from students in middle school and high school, so I imagine that many of them went on to play MMORPGs for the first time.
Yoshida：When you are trying to describe the MMORPG experience through a book or an anime series, there are certain aspects that you can’t leave out. The way the game was set up in the books really cherry picked all of the good parts from various MMORPGs, so I was actually a bit jealous of this ideal game that had been created. (Laughter) Things like Orange Players（※28） are clearly influenced by Ultima Online, where you can use karma to return to your former state. Those types of motifs and elements from actual MMORPGs really add substance to the story, and I think that it helps to convey the sense of awe you get from playing an MMORPG. You can understand what the author was going for.
Futami：Yes, when I read the SAO books, it gave me the desire to interact with other people in an MMORPG. I also like games such as .hack（※29）, which uses its game world to frame a coming-of-age story. In SAO, a girl who is trapped in a death game decides to take a bath, so she opens a window to change her hairstyle. She’s basically only alive within this game world, but she still maintains these real world sensibilities, and I think that sort of role playing is really what gives the story a sort of sentimental and nostalgic edge. I spent my youth playing videogames nonstop, so I can really relate to it.
Yoshida：Of course from a developer’s point of view, with regards to that scene you just mentioned, we’re just going start to grumbling about how many hairstyle options we’ll need to come up with to fill that window. (Laughter) There really isn’t a large user base of MMORPG players in Japan yet. The same goes for the MMORPG development community. You can tell that the author really likes MMORPGs, and wants to see more games to be developed, which will in turn attract more gamers as well.
――MMORPGs seem to offer a more in depth experience when compared to other games. Sometimes, they can lead to offline communication as well. But compared to MMORPGs from the past, it seems like more players are becoming averse to trivial conversations while still wanting to maintain communications with other players.
Yoshida：I don’t think that’s a change in player behavior. Rather, it’s a reflection of the fact that there’s a large user base now, which includes more casual gamers alongside the hardcore gamers who’ve been playing MMORPGs since the beginning.
――Can you comment on the Content Finder（※30） system that FFXIV has used to let players form parties more easily?
Yoshida：In the past, I’ve said something like：“If you use the Content Finder, you can just treat most of the people you’re matched up with as though they were NPCs.” (Laughter) That’s not meant to encourage players to act out and be jerks, but rather to reinforce the notion that it’s OK to just form a party with people whom you’ve just met and to go out and have fun.
Futami：I started playing FFXIV in April, and I’ve just cleared the Crystal Tower：The World of Darkness dungeon（※31）. Once I started working at my job, I didn’t have much time to invest in playing an MMORPG, but I was really impressed that I could get so far in the game in just two months. It’s such a kind and forgiving game! (Laughter) You can form parties with other players very easily, where everybody is supporting one another, and even beginners can blaze right though the game. I was really impressed by it. They also continuously use updates to expand the game. I always felt that MMORPGs were a bit difficult to start playing because of the inevitable time commitment required, but that really wasn’t the case with this title.
Yoshida：Even if you tell people that you can start playing the game now and still enjoy it, they tend to be skeptical. (Laughter) I think that a lot of users have this preconceived notion that MMORPGs have a high barrier to entry and a tough learning curve.
Futami：There’s just so much more information shown on-screen compared to an offline game, so I could see how that could be intimidating.
Yoshida：I’ve actually begun to consider that to be a positive thing. MMORPGs are all eventually going to require the sort of information load that you see in something like FFXIV right now. MMORPGs may be relatively new as a genre, but the amount of time that users have put into them is vast. The user’s experiences really shape and form the genre, so in order to meet their ever-growing requests and demands, you’re going to end up with a lot of information. We considered starting the game out with a very simple UI, and adding options and settings to increase the information load as you progressed through the game, but we decided against it. If a player were to progress through the game without realizing that such options existed, then they could end up being the same level as another player who’s had a far more enriched and in-depth experience. It was difficult, but in the end, we decided that that was a scenario that we wanted to avoid.
――SAO takes place in 2022, which is 7 years from now. How do you think MMORPGs will evolve in the future? With new hardware like the Oculus（※32） and Project Morpheus（※33） being developed, do you think that VRMMORPGs are on the horizon?
Yoshida：Eventually, yes. But first, I think that people will develop games where the players will physically ride on some sort of vehicle. When you attempt to walk in VR, your senses move you forward even though your leg hasn’t physically moved, and it can be very disorienting. The frame rates are also at around 60 fps right now, which is inadequate. You need to hit at least 120 fps or so in order to avoid dizziness, because at lower frame rates（※34） there’s a gap between what you’re seeing and what you are able to process. Those are pretty significant hurdles that any virtual reality based platform would have to overcome in order to be successful. There’s also the question of whether or not it’s even feasible to recoup the development costs involved in creating such a game... (Laughter) Having the hardware alone isn’t enough. In order to really make an impact, you’re going to need both the hardware and the software, so I think that we still have a long way to go in that regard.
Futami：I don’t know about 7 years from now, but it would be difficult in the present. MMORPGs are games that require long hours of play time. Given the type of VR hardware available right now, it would be hard to accommodate that. What could be interesting is a game that mimics the MMORPG experience without requiring the time investment. 7 years may not be enough time to see it really take off, but I think that full dive（※35） VR platforms have more potential than standard VR with regards to MMORPGs. This type of VR seems more suited to an arcade game type of experience.
Yoshida：Even considering the higher costs of development, if you can generate a unique and exclusive experience that garners headlines, I think that it could succeed. Of course, even 7 years from now, if your parents walk into your room and see you with this contraption on your head while you’re playing a game, they’re probably going to say, “What on earth are you doing!?” regardless. (Laugher)
Futami：There was a game called Lifeline（※36） for the PlayStation 2, and I remember that my parents caught me talking to the characters once. They were really worried about me. (Laughter)
Yoshida：I still get sideways glances from my parents whenever I use voice chat in a game. (Laughter)
――Where do you see MMORPGs 7 years in the future, including their business prospects?
Yoshida：I’m a realist, and I realize that this goes against everything that we’ve just talked about, but I think that MMORPGs will be in decline. Firstly, they are highly risky to develop. I think that most developers around the world would agree that the explosion of social devices has changed the average gamer’s life cycle. People just don’t have as much time to spend on games as they used to. In a way that’s a good thing, because many games have become so mainstream that they require less of a time commitment, but I think that developers will analyze this and determine that the costs are simply too high if a game requires major investment. Also, if you really want to make a significant MMORPG game, it takes a good 5 years of development. So, even if you started development today, you’d only have one game ready to go 7 years from now. In that time span, you could create any number of high concept F2P social games（※37）. When you consider that, you have to wonder how many people are willing to invest the time and money required in developing a brand new MMORPG title. Of course, if someone does endeavor to do so, then you can bet that the end product will be an extremely polished MMORPG. It’s really a whole new ballgame when compared to the good old days of Ultima Online. MMORPGs are continuously improving and evolving, so things that were considered to be exceptional a short while ago will become the new baseline standard for the next game. I think that the industry as a whole will be shifting towards developing more native app type games（※38） that involve casual communication, rather than building hardcore-oriented games from scratch.
Futami：I’d like to make games that fall somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. (Laughter) I think that games that showcase certain elements of MMORPGs, but exist as sort of a network game / consumer game hybrid will be the new normal. In the future, MMORPGs will probably be populated largely by NPCs. NPCs will also evolve, to the point where you won’t be able to tell if you’re talking to an NPC or to another player. Eventually, it will feel like you are having a real conversation with an NPC. Basically, I want something like the experience of becoming friendly with Tataru（※39） in FFXIV. (Laughter)
Yoshida：Speaking of online games, I think that it will become a thing of the past. That is, the term “online game” will become irrelevant. Any game that is linked to an SNS is online by definition, so as more and more games take that route, the term will become less and less relevant. Every game will be an “online game”, so to speak. The question is, how will MMORPGs fit into this new landscape? Players looking for a hardcore MMORPG experience might be faced with very few choices 7 years from now. Hopefully, FFXIV will still be going strong, and of course I’d love it if more developers focused on the MMORPG genre.
――Finally, is there anything that you would like to ask each other?
Futami：I just want to know when Tataru’s next big adventure will be. (Laughter)
Yoshida：She’ll play a big role in Heavensward, so you can look forward to that. (Laughter) I was glad that we got to discuss SAO’s mock-MMORPG experience. We discussed the example of a player who was burnt-out on MMORPGs, and viewed SAO as a refreshing alternative. I think that MMORPGs need to take note, and incorporate some elements that allow users to take breaks from the grind in order to refocus. I think that everybody who worked on SAO was really invested in trying to convey the fun and excitement associated with playing MMORPGs. If a player decides to try out an MMORPG because of SAO and moves on to FFXIV, and subsequently comes away with the impression that SAO didn’t really represent the MMORPG experience at all, then that’s a failure on our part. That means we’ve lost a battle. (Laughter) I’d like to take the elements that SAO incorporates, and in turn flesh those out in a true MMORPG in order to show players what sort of experience they can have with these games. That’s the kind of game that I’d like to make.
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Little footnote codex:
【※1：FFXIV】An MMORPG released in 2010. Due to various issues, it ended service in 2012. Ironically, the final event involving Bahamut destroying the game world drew much attention. Afterwards, a team lead by Yoshida Naoki brought the series back to life with Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.^
【※2：Expansion Pack】A package that adds large amounts of gameplay data and revisions that cannot be covered by periodic patches to online games.^
【※3：SAO】A popular Dengeki Bunko series by Kawahara Reki. The protagonist, Kirito, leads his friends on various adventures set in a VRMMORPG world.^
【※4：MMORPG】Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. A type of online RPG where a single server can host thousands of players simultaneously.^
【※5：Black Swordsman】The nickname of Kirito, who is the protagonist of SAO.^
【※6：Kawahara Reki】The creator of the SAO series. Also known for Accel World.^
【※7：Ultima Online】Released in 1997 by Electronic Arts, this game is widely considered to be the original MMORPG. Players could choose from a variety of professions, including adventurer, builder, and thief.^
【※8：MORPG】Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. A type of online game where multiple players participate in the same RPG. The server contains far less players than in an MMORPG. Players in an MORPG form parties with other players whom they meet in the game lobby.^
【※9：Diablo】An RPG released by Blizzard Entertainment in 1997. Multiple people could connect online and play through the same game world simultaneously.^
【※10：Ragnarok Online】An MMORPG released in 2002 by Gravity Interactive. In Japan, it is run by GungHo Online Entertainment. Known for its unique pixel art graphics, which captured a large Japanese audience.^
【※11：Nobunaga’s Ambition Online】An MMORPG based on the Nobunaga’s Ambition series. Released as a PS2 title in 2003 by Koei Tecmo Games.^
【※12：Solo Player】A player who chooses to play through an MMORPG by themselves instead of with a party.^
【※13：TRPG】An analog game featuring a GM who manages the game, and players who act out their characters.^
【※14：Hollow Fragment】The second game in the SAO series. In addition to content from the first game, Infinity Moment, new features such as the Hollow Area were added.^
【※15：Public Chat】A type of chat that is visible to a large group of players in your area.^
【※16：Drop Rate】The probability of earning an item after defeating an enemy. Compared to single player games, online games generally have tougher drop rates for rare items.^
【※17：Player Skill】The general skill level of the player controlling the character.^
【※18：Overseas Release】The second SAO game slated to be released for the PS4 this autumn was announced for both Europe and Japan.^
【※19：FFXI】Square Enix’s first MMORPG, which became a sensation in Japan. Released in 2002, it is still in service today, 13 years later.^
【※20：EverQuest】An MMORPG released in 1999 by Sony Online Entertainment. Based on FPS gameplay, the title was renowned for its detailed fantasy world and atmosphere.^
【※21：Richard Garriott】The game creator responsible for the Ultima series of games.^
【※22：Monthly Subscription】A type of payment system employed by online games. Players pay a set fee per month to access the game.^
【※23：World of Warcraft】An MMORPG released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Based on the game world of the RTS series Warcraft, players choose a species when starting the game and are bound to various factions based on their decision.^
【※24：Update】Patches that update the game to the latest version, adjusting game balance and adding content. In Lost Song, elements such as PvP gameplay and new bosses were added.^
【※25：PvP】Player versus Player. This gameplay feature allows player characters to fight one another.^
【※26：Letter from the Producer LIVE】Featuring Yoshida Naoki and various other staff members, this live broadcast discusses topics like large updates and events. Players seeking information about new features are naturally drawn to the popular broadcast, and it is considered to be an out-of-game type of game content.^
【※27：Forum】An official online forum hosted by Square Enix, where players can post various discussions regarding Final Fantasy.^
【※28：Orange Players】Players who commit crimes in SAO’s Aincrad are easily identified because their names change color to orange. These players are referred to as Orange Players. Players who kill other characters are referred to as Red Players.^
【※29：.hack】An RPG series released by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Part of Project .hack, these games explore The World, an imaginary online game.^
【※30：Content Finder】A system that lets players easily play through dungeons. Once a player puts out a request, they are matched with players across all servers who wish to play the same dungeon, and a party is formed.^
【※31：Crystal Tower】A raid that can be played with a party of up to 24 players. It is the final dungeon of the World of Darkness arc, recreating the dungeon of the same name that appeared in Final Fantasy III.^
【※32：Oculus Rift】A head-mounted VR display device. Supports head tracking, where the visuals move to match the movements of your head.^
【※33：Project Morpheus】A VR system for the PS4 being developed by SCE. Supports a 360 degree real time display that is linked to the PS Camera and controller movements.^
【※34：Frame Rate】The number of frames displayed per second. 120 fps indicates that 120 frames are displayed per second. The higher the number, the smoother the image.^
【※35：Full Dive】A VRMMORPG technology seen in SAO. Players control in-game bodies with brainwaves, allowing them to have a more immersive experience.^
【※36：Lifeline】A PS2 game released in 2003 by SCE. Players connect a microphone to their PS2 and play as an operator who guides the protagonist through the stages with their voice.^
【※37：F2P】A type of billing employed by online games, known as “Free to Play”. These games can be played for free, but additional content such as items must be purchased.^
【※38：Native Client】Technology that allows players to play games in-browser across a variety of platforms such as PCs or smartphones.^
【※39：Tataru】The receptionist for the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. Her unique style of speaking, cute appearance, and charming personality have made her a fan-favorite.^
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07-27-2015, 01:31 PMStrejdaTom
I hope Yoshi is wrong about MMORPGs being in decline in future. I don't really think I will ever be focused on other genre than MMOs and some social games never were my cup of tea.
Problem with MMOs is, that there are thousands of them but only about 5 of them are good. If developers made good MMOs built on player feedback, they wouldn't have to worry that their game would be a fail. FFXIV used a lot of feedback I believe and the game is going strong and well. They just need to react better to what their players really hate and suggest and I believe the game will be here for next 10 years.
They answered some of our suggestions really well with Heavensward but also made some dumb mistakes, lets hope they can fix it in future and do even better with 4.0.
EDIT: For example battlecraft and fieldcraft leves are kinda broken in HW, redscrips aren't really working that well too, there is too high ilvl progression and gear gets thrown away in 1 week etc.. -
07-27-2015, 01:41 PMNektulos-Tuor
MMOs are in decline. MMOs are honestly getting boring.
However, that is mostly because I've never seen another "POLISHED" Sandbox MMO. -
07-27-2015, 03:36 PMruskieYes please.Quote:
Yoshida：Maybe I should look into having NPCs that approach players as well. (Laughter)
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07-27-2015, 04:14 PMMiiu
I think Yoshida is pretty spot on with his prediction of MMOS. WoW played no small role in that. If we are completely honest the mmos havn't changed much in terms on gameplay experiences. Mechanics change etc but on a fundamental level almost all mmos are the same. Now seeing the development time and features people expect from new mmos are ridiculous. How often when a new MMO came out has this come up: "I am max level and already ran out of content. WoW has much more content". Besides the point of being unreasonable to expect the same amount of content and polish WoW has in a game that just came out.
But that isn't the fault of Blizzard its just distorted player expectations.
WoW comes more into play in terms of success the game had and how much it did hurt the mmo industry. After WoW the mmos that went into production were at an all time high because companies wanted a piece of the pie but the glaring mistake they did and what FFXIV does to an extent is copying the WoW formular. Which isn't a bad idea in general, but they fail to see Bizzard did the exact same thing. They copied features left and right from mmos that came before. But they streamlined the design. They made features more accessible. The WoW clones we got didn't expand on WoWs design. They copied the state WoW was in at the time and were left behind when another expansion hit in WoW.
If you are a WoW clone you can only succeed on 1 thing: Brand recognition. If you have a brand that is popular and beloved you can hold the players. Something FFXIV does well. But if you go in blind creating a new IP copy WoW almost 1 to 1 but offer less content people won't play your game for long. Because they think "Well I did that already in WoW and that game has more to do".
Given how many games crashed and burned doing this approach it is easy to see how companies are now more cautious of creating an MMO. Especially if you try to pitch an MMO that is unlike everything people have seen by now. Good luck in finding people to fund the project that like Yoshida says has a development time of 5+ years and a humongous development cost if you even want to come to a fraction of content that WoW has.
At some point even the most avid mmo fan will feel the fatigue coming up and this is why I think we'll have less MMOs in the future, if there won't be any big changes in the experience they can provide.
Even something as simple as combat hasn't changed that much over the years. We are still mostly playing with hotbars and tabtargeting. Just check how much true action combat mmos we have. Even after we have the server technology and internet infrastructure to support such a system. -
07-27-2015, 04:28 PMNektulos-TuorSandbox MMO. Hasen't been done for years.. Q.Q R.I.P. SWG.Quote:
Originally Posted by Miiu
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07-27-2015, 04:33 PMMiiuI think ArcheAge is one of the recent bigger Sandbox MMOs that was ported over into our market. But apparently the company behind it screwed up massively.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nektulos-Tuor
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07-27-2015, 07:16 PMWindklinge
thats because archage is a korean mmo. these games are always super pretty and have nice gameplay but on endgame it always falls short and down to this problem which most western players HATE : RNG+GRIND. which is plain unfun to do for most. heck even FF14 players know how bad RNG is sometimes and this game is very friendly compared to games like aion or archage when it comes to RNG.
idk why this is a problem with most mmos from the east. somehow they dont seem to SEE the problem at all...
also the communication with the western playerbase seems to not interreset them at all. was seen in aion over the years. they didnt change a single thing that made players quit in time. -
07-27-2015, 07:21 PMStrejdaTomAnd P2W, don't forget about P2W. I simply don't put 3 000 hours in a MMO to be worse geared than someone who played 10 hours and paid 1K euro. Because that is the exact case of ArcheAge. Anyone can buy a few items on cashshop, sell them and then get top gear from auction.Quote:
Originally Posted by Windklinge
EDIT: If this game was F2P, I guarantee you there would be an item that would lift tomestone cap for you. -
07-27-2015, 08:28 PMLeshpar
FF14 has reinvigorated my love for MMORPGs. Once I quit WoW after 7.5 years of playing it I ended up roaming around for a while and played Neverwinter and ESO for very short amounts of time (11 months and 3 months respectively). I admit that there will eventually be a day when the MMORPGs that we love today will not exist. I am going to have fond memories of these times when I am older. I suggest we all enjoy FF14 and continue living in the now as far as our in game time goes to get the most enjoyment out of it we can. It will end someday, and I want to make the most of it while I can, like I did with my time in WoW.
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07-27-2015, 08:31 PMArcana
I play MMO's since 2002 and definitely the genre is totally in decline. In 5 years probably the genre will be almost dead. Yoshi-P is totally right imho.
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07-27-2015, 09:17 PMNiyukaSWG was a total failure. Yes, there is a number of butthurt SWG fans out there, but apparently they are not enough to keep an MMO afloat. Sandbox has never worked out aside from EVE Online, which draws a massive PvP crowd for its unique design concepts around building and dominating an empire and other players.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nektulos-Tuor
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07-27-2015, 09:27 PMAeyisMostly just grind. I believe it was WoW that coined ''RNG''. Random drop rates arent too bad if they are based on averages(random), rather then an individual roll each time.(RNG)Quote:
Originally Posted by Windklinge
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07-27-2015, 09:30 PMMagisDon't forget EVE online, the ultimate sandbox MMO. Other than that.... ehhh.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nektulos-Tuor
I never played SWG but wasn't the "failure" due to Sony trying to make Jedi more accessible to casuals, and make "The New Experience" patch? Any old SWG players want to explain what happened there? Most people I heard who played it said the game died cause of that patch.Quote:
Originally Posted by Niyuka
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07-27-2015, 09:50 PMAsmodaeus
MMORPG´s are definitely in decline. There aren´t any big projects on the horizon like there were almost every year in the last 12 - 15 years. After Titan being canceled and EQnext being vapoware (so it seems atm) there is no high budget production left. Stuff like translated Blade & Soul, Black Desert or Tree of life just won´t have what is needed to push the genre forward. I know there is also stuff like Crowfall or Camelot Unchained, but both are several years away and haven´t delivered anything so far.
What ever happens, there is no space for more theme - park WoW clones. Especially no monthly pay ones. The next big thing will be something else. Something more virtual world and less chase carrot after carrot for more carrots. -
07-27-2015, 09:59 PMAsmodaeusNot only the Jedi, everything. Sony saw what WoW looked like and how it sold like hotcakes so they also wanted a piece of it and turned a Sandbox game into a bad theme - park WoW clone (without all the Blizzard polish and that was what made WoW huge). Of course that didn´t work out and most of the loyal fans who played the game for what it was (a sandbox game) were driven away. They also didn´t attract much new customers. The game engine was very janky and didn´t look to hot a few years after release. WoW was just the better product overall (if we compare theme - park vs theme - park).Quote:
Originally Posted by Magis
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07-27-2015, 10:08 PMTheUltimate3The New Game Enhancement or NGE was essentially the final attempt to rebalance the game in a way that most MMO players would recognize and enjoy, which in turn was basically WoW with a Star Wars Face. All the skill trees, which were already a pale shadow of their former selves thanks to the Combat Upgrade, were removed in favor of the standard "Pick your class" screen. While before levels weren't really a thing (they kinda did with the CU by simply adding levels but the game barely acknowledged it in any competent way. For example, I could level an entertainer to "max level" and have no combat skills, but the game would tell me I can fight a rancor with no problem until I actually tried and it murdered me.) the game became centered around it. Leveling took on a more themepark approach and there was no real way to change your class once picked.Quote:
Originally Posted by Magis
The biggest problem with the NGE was that it was released on November 15th. The most recent expansion, Trials of Obi-Wan was released November 1st with litterally no word that the NGE was even being worked on. As the game was completely changed with the NGE, players left in droves and as far as I can gather, SWG never recovered. -
07-27-2015, 10:35 PMTuathaaThat's because that's the way the created this game. They could have just as easily made it a true multi player game where duties and leves could be completed in a group but chose not to.Quote:
Originally Posted by Akiza
There are some directions blizzard went that SE shouldn't follow. -
07-27-2015, 10:49 PMDoki
Pretty easy to see that MMOs are in decline. Nearly every MMO follows the pattern of HUGE opening weekend filled with bugs, thousands of canceled subs by month 3, and moving to free to play around the 1 year mark or earlier. The one thing that is really sad is that game companies have no plan in place for archival of these games. When an MMO like City of Heroes is taken offline, it's just plain gone. Obviously the work it takes to convert an MMO to an offline game is substantial, but it sucks that as these games decline they just pretty much vanish entirely. There's the occasional fan-made private server mods, but these are rarely user friendly, and usually incomplete/buggy as hell.
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07-27-2015, 10:52 PMQuesse
My available time to play MMO's is in decline so win/win. ;)
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07-27-2015, 11:29 PMAyuhra
The persistence and "play into perpetuity" aspects of the MMORPG have been co-opted into other genres, as folks have already pointed out in this thread. Call of Duty is probably the biggest MMO right now. There are various MOBA titles doing well on the markets. Casual games like Candy Crush have a social aspect too.
Right now the "RPG" part of "MMORPG" is in decline. Social characteristics are technically superior now but the RP parts are mechanically stalled. Sadly shareholders still get glassy eyed if you pitch anything that is not like WoW and people aren't going to flock to WoW clones. There is a WoW already.
I think the genre can come back, but in a different form. The formula we have now is close to 20 years old. -
07-27-2015, 11:35 PMNephera
It's an industry where most development focuses on innovating slightly while ripping off your predecessors. To the point where if someone truly does have an innovative idea for an mmo it sounds like they've gone off their medication.This has created a pretty large bubble that is eventually gonna burst.
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07-27-2015, 11:43 PMjustinjarjar
Video game industry in general is getting dull, welcome to a mature industry. If you want different and new you have to look at indy since blockbusters make more than enough money on rehashed content (like hollywood). Is it bad? Not really, just the way it is. There are very few industries that do not hit these dull what next time spans. Someone will come up with the new blockbuster game that is different the only question is when? Is MMO's dieing? maybe, might be that the old audience has less game time and MMO's are not appealing to the new youth or maybe it is just hitting a dull period until the next big thing happens. There are still many successful MMO's out, but yes they all are not that different in mechanics to each other. Is this a problem? IDK most cars are just slight variations on a theme, yet that industry still can afford to have multiple producers. Give it time guys, form what i have seen even platformers are far from dead and that is like the OG big game.
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07-27-2015, 11:51 PMGalkaBikini
I'm glad the MMO market is in decline. I miss the old days when there were only a couple of games to choose from, like Ultima Online and Everquest. After WoW everyone and their momma was making an MMORPG, and now there are so many that it's just pointless. When you have too many of something it really feels like the value of it all is lowered. Personally I find it embarrassing how little the MMO has evolved since WoW. I wish more developers weren't afraid to take risks, though it's definitely understandable when you're dealing with hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars.
On the other hand, I firmly believe that emulated player run servers and "classic" servers will only grow in popularity. A lot of the older MMOs have huge emulator communities, and with the recent announcement that Daybreak Games (formerly Sony Online Entertainment) was fully acknowledging and accepting the player run classic Everquest server "Project 1999" as a fan service and would never seek to shut it down, I expect other companies to follow suit by either officially allowing the servers or running them themselves.
I'm still waiting on an ACCEPTABLE classic FFXI server.
Oh and the future of the MMO and gaming in general is absolutely based on headgear, like the Oculus Rift. -
07-28-2015, 12:01 AMjustinjarjar
IDK about headgear... if it is then they are years away form it being viable (still have major problems and most people like me find it a gimmick). I also think more gear is not the way the industry wants to go (IE look at rockband or GH phase where the extra gear made more logistic problems then the companies could handle). Are headsets cool? Yes and will be a niche market. Classic servers are (and have been) run for a while now since people like them old game feelz. FFXI will not see a fan server until the game is not run by SE (not sure when they will shut that game down). MMO market at this point has stabilized at a decent size (not MMO rush era highs but good enough numbers for some developers to devolve).
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07-28-2015, 12:05 AMKisaiTenshiThat -IS- how NPC's worked in Ultima 7/7.5 and 8. If you stole something, your (NPC) party members would also just spontaneously leave you and you'd have to convince them to come back.Quote:
Originally Posted by ruskie
I've yet to see any CRPG or MMORPG ever do this since. Most NPC's are "nailed to the ground" because they are actually part of the game map, and not dynamicly placed by the server. FFXIV V1.0 's version of FATES(you manually had to join) and V2.0 's FATES were the only exception to this nailed to the ground issue. But they're not really what we're talking about.
Imagine this:
If you started a "new" game, and were just "dropped" into the world. All the Players and NPC's have the same color names so you can't tell them apart. There's no global chat, only /say and link-shell. The entire game requires you to have an 8-player party for all content. To dynamically create an 8-person party all you do is flip a switch and the 7 closest people/npc not in a party with a "auto-join" switch on will join and the content will commence. Your only ability to tell if a player is a computer controlled or not is by asking questions about the world outside the game. eg "How old are you? Where do you live?"
It is a great over-simplification, but this is part of the entire "dating game" genre, where you try to "win over" certain npc's by either being nice, or helping them, and in turn they will willingly help you. In this theoretical game, autonomous computer controlled characters keep schedules like real people, and are actually in demand. Most content could be cleared with an all NPC party, though coordination would be made easier with real people. There are entire games out there already that are basically "dating RPG"'s which western'ers tend to think are a joke. The entire point of that aspect is you don't get to be a jerk to -everyone- , you can completely ignore every npc character and play only with other real people that you met outside the game and likely get through the content much faster.
But I think we're a long way away from simulated worlds that actually have function. A lot of what existing MMO games do is setup goalposts for the ride, and you're just along to push the start button. There can be quite a massive improvement in how player-npc interaction works. There's just not much will to do it because we're still viewing MMO's as games that are full of throwaway props and dolls.
As for VR. I predict it will be even less popular than "3D" is. Sure there will be people who actually buy the entire getup of head, hands and legs. But for all practial purposes, go ask anyone who has ever bought gym equipment what they do with all that crap after a week. It collects dust. Nobody wants to bother "suiting up" to play a game. The proposed VR stuff just isn't going to happen unless they invent an entirely different kind of device that is contained in a helmet. Like think about how expensive a "SLI" setup is already, and now figure out how to stick that on someones head. You will not be buying a 300$ laptop and plugging an OcculusVR into it. You wll be required to buy two of the most expensive video cards available at 1000$/each just so that each eye sees 120fps and you don't get sick.
Gaming has phases.
Adventure games all had a massive die-off due to the internet making it easy to just goto gamefaq's and solve the game so what used to take 3 months to finish could now be finished in about 2 hours. They came back as FPS and Platformers with RPG mechanics thrown on top just to pad the time out, but mostly Adventure games exist as a facet of RPG's or as a narrative switch in other games. There's not much puzzle solving anymore because the puzzles can just be looked up online.
A lot of "edutainment" also had a massive die off, despite it should be massively more successful on mobile devices. The reason? back in the 90's you had to learn to read and type to even play these games. Now both of those issues don't exist on touch devices that can be narrated.
The vast majority of mobile shovelware exists because developers are trying to make a quick buck, and is due for an Atari Shovelware video game crash. Caught in the crosshairs of that will be every game that adopted the freemium business model. -
07-28-2015, 12:09 AMGalkaBikini
You guys have SO obviously not used an Oculus Rift yet, heh. It is the future, period.
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07-28-2015, 12:11 AMAkiza
Every game coming out has a mutiplayer online component with rp elements. The problem is MMO's have forgotten about the rp element and focused on social aspects. MMO's will become shared virtual worlds with single player experience and focus on character progression.
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07-28-2015, 12:11 AMjustinjarjar
Yes and I have heard reviews also it is a gimmick. If you want to use it good for you, but in way is it going to be a thing for many many years to come. Even then what do you mean by 3d? Since right now 3d is a gimmick or it is only used to enhance an image (which is cute but not needed in anyway).
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07-28-2015, 12:14 AMDawnbladeYes, the game was it was before said patch had out of the best character development systems I've seen in any mmo since. There were balance problems of course but those always exist. I was one of those who left at the time. And I've been looking for a similar product since.Quote:
Originally Posted by Magis
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07-28-2015, 12:17 AMDelilyI've seen this statement before, and it's usually lobbied at Apple when they announce a feature that's new to iOS that has been in Android for years, and it represents that same level of misunderstanding about innovation. Innovation is not creating some completely new idea, that's invention. The reason people are wary about invention is because it's extremely risky; plenty of people have great ideas, yet very few actually test them out. In a sense, each idea a person has is a hypothesis about what customers will like enough to pay for. The usual way to do this is to create an MVP that can be used to test your ideas against your target audience, but that's not common (or easy) in the MMO market. The other way to "test" your idea is to look at similar products and see how well they're faring. For MMOs, that's basically WoW, which moved MMOs from niche markets to the mainstream. This creates the problem you mentioned, lots of poorly done clones that are rushed to market.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nephera
FFXIV stands alone in the MMO as the other successful subscription game for several reasons. They did use a successful model (WoW) as their basis, and they did add their own twist to it. The ability to switch your job, the heavy emphasis on story, the intricate crafting are the ones that come to mind. For SE, these ideas had already been validated in FFXI as features customers liked. It also helps they stated they're not aiming for WoW level subscriptions. I think I read that 100,000 was all the game needed.
A few more comments. Truly sandbox MMOs are hard to do right for several reasons. The first is the sheer time investment. A big part of Eve is the metagame, and a lot of the game is "played" in Excel. There's also the "king" premise. People like sandbox games like the ES series because it lets them play king, construct their own kingdoms, and then burn them down. In a sandbox MMO, someone else can burn down your castle. That doesn't appeal to the majority of gamers, especially when people will kick your castle down when you can't retaliate. -
07-28-2015, 12:18 AMTheUltimate3I hung on for about 3 months after the NGE. Yeah you'll never find another.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dawnblade
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07-28-2015, 12:25 AMDelilyThink through the implications of this applied to an MMO. If the NPCs keep a schedule, how would you prevent lockout? Meaning, how would you ensure that if a person (with limited time) wants to clear content, how would you ensure there's always at least 7 NPCs around that can help him? Also, how much time would a person need to spend managing relationships with NPCs. Dating sims work well in a single player setting, I've yet to see one scale out to multiplayer.Quote:
Originally Posted by KisaiTenshi
I'm not trying to shoot down the idea, more just interested in seeing some of the downsides to it. -
07-28-2015, 12:34 AMAsakuraVNArchage is a "Sandpark" MMO, meaning it stands somewhere between sandbox & themepark, because it has tons of limitations & rules enforced by the system to keep a balance (but ended up being exploited everywhere). It only gives you an illusion of freedom.Quote:
Originally Posted by Miiu
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07-28-2015, 01:03 AMAeyisNo. That's exactly what innovation means: a never before thought of idea or use for something that already exists. Invention is simple making something new, regardless of whether or not its like has been seen before.Quote:
Originally Posted by Delily
This seems to be the main line of thought at the core of current days MMOs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Delily
Consider the implications that those with limited time available are now considered the targetted audience of MMOs. -
07-28-2015, 01:34 AMDelilyPeople misunderstand the application of innovation. It's not going to be a game that has completely different game play from existing titles. In fact, I'd wager such a game would fail. It's going to look like similar successful titles but have it's own features. The armory system, for example, would be considered an innovation. Innovation is done with small ideas that undergo rapid iterations of testing and refinement.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aeyis
So? It's a profitable market. Heaven forbid a game company try to make money.Quote:
This seems to be the main line of thought at the core of current days MMOs.
Consider the implications that those with limited time available are now considered the targeted audience of MMOs.