Famitsu Interview ["it's about time to finish the story that started in 1.0" :O!]
Posted over on reddit there is a Famitsu interview. The trailer had left some pretty great story vibes and I've heard a lot of people talking about how exciting this expansion is going to be story wise.
Well one of the things Yoshida said in the interview: "now that all of that is out of the way, with "Shadowbringers", we decided it's about time to finish the story that started in 1.0. On top of that, we also want to flip over a lot of aspects through the whole game experience.".
/hype /psych :)
I'm so ready to learn about the core we've been working on so long. Also while I'm going to copy what's been translated so far they said it's 2/18 pages translated so.. lol maybe just keep an eye on the reddit thread as it goes along haha.
Also interested in the jobs a bit more than before, DNC when I'm feeling helpful and a bit relaxed and GNB when it's time to do the finger spider dance :D.
copy paste (all thanks to the translator):
Regarding new jobs in 5.0 jobs
Once you understand how steps work, dancer's gameplay is really simple. It's designed and balanced so there won't be an extreme gap between the top tier players and other players. Anyone can enjoy the job.
Gunbreakers on the other hand are technical and keeps your hands busy, but becomes better the more you play it. (note: He uses the term "tastier" and uses a japanese dried squid snack = Surume as an example. The squid snack starts to taste better as you continue to bite it over and over again)
Content in the 5.x series
The 5.x story will reveal secrets that will make you think "Are you sure you want to reveal that much? The game's going to end if we continue on this path".
The 5.0 Eden raid started with the concept: "How would Tetsuya Nomura (artist for the 5.0 Eden raid and famous for designing FFVII, FFVIII and Kingdom hearsts) interpret a certain enemy if we were to introduce it to FFXIV" and also the reason why they decided to give him the offer.
The warriors of Darkness will show up in the role quests. Blanhaerz (Knight of darkness) for the tank role quests, J'rhoomale(Ranger of darkness) for physical DPS, Naillbert (Magus of Darkness) for casters, Lamimi (Devout of darkness) for healers. He does not specify if they are dead or not and if we'll just be following their past.
They are developing a "circle" (tentative name) system for the patch after 5.0. It's a system that helps players create a community that is lighter/looser than an LS or a FC. He uses the FFXIV radio (in Japan) as an example and explains the system as something where you can create a "circle" to listen to the FFXIV radio together and people who want to join can apply/queue for that circle and then the leader of that circle can respond with "We'll have a gathering on insert month and day)". Yoshi-p told the devs to make it a simple as possible and even told them to exclude a chat function so the leader of the circle doesn't have to go through the hassle of responding to all the chat.
Will be adding translations to the whole interview ltself below for those who are interested, since any news about the expansion is welcome right before the expansion:
Q. Tell us about the concept, game experience and direction you aimed for with shadowbringers.
Yoshida: The previous 2 expansions "Heavensward" and "Stormblood" did have a purpose to expand on the game experience, but it also a huge goal and purpose to get over what 1.0 left behind and move closer and shape what a typical Final fantasy title should be. Now that all of that is out of the way, with "Shadowbringers", we decided it's about time to finish the story that started in 1.0. On top of that, we also want to flip over a lot of aspects through the whole game experience.
Q. Flip over..?
Yoshida: By adding the "trust system" where you can fight alongside NPCs in this MMORPG, you'll be able to clear the MSQ and content involved in it as a solo player. This by itself flips the tables by "Making an MMO soloable".
Also with the Main scenario, when people hear "You will be visiting a world filled with light", you imagine "something holy" or "the right side", but it's the other way around where it's a story of bringing back darkness to the world. Just like how the title of the expansion has "traitors" in it, we want to flip over a lot this time (note: The jp title is Jet black villains with "traitors" as the subtitle for the word "traitors". Japanese culture loves adding subtitles on top of subtitles and it's written as "traitors" but read as "villains= the english word", which makes it shikkoku no villains)
Q. Seems like it's different compared to the other expansions.
Yoshida: Although there are things that haven't changed. Shadowbringers can be experienced like "a continuation of a TV series", but like previous expansions, we aimed to deliver a story and game experience that rivals or has even more than a new standalone RPG title and that concept hasn't changed.
Some content we spread out horizontally in the past will receive vertical build ups to each of them and the volume of content surpasses that of the past. I hope people enjoy the expansion as a "Brand new FF series" title.
Q. Seems like people are interested in the new story.
Yoshida: We went through desperate measures to create the main scenario this time. The story will accelerate towards the end of one section of FFXIV's story. Players might even worry about the amount of reveals and be anxious about the game ending soon. We included a lot of features that revolve around the scenario, so we'd like players to enjoy every single part of it.
[They talk about the subscription numbers here, which has already been discussed in recent interviews. Only translating the new info]
Q. How's the game doing in NA?
Yoshida: NA numbers are really visable and easy to tell how they act. When a new patch releases, a lot of players flood in and take a break after they are finished with what they wanted to accomplish. Then this repeats itself for each patch and heats up again before the expansion. The NA region has the most amount of players and even during the "calm" (He specifically references FFX's calm) between patches, they have the highest amount of players.
Q. What about EU?__
Yoshida: It's about to puncture. Each server is reaching its limit and we have already decided to add 2 servers (Note: these 2 servers are Spriggan and Twintania).
Q. So you have to add a server no matter what.
Yoshida: Yes. The EU regions is growing at a scary pace and it's come to a point where we have to limit character creations on all EU servers.
Q. How about hometown Japan?
Yoshida: JP servers are also continuing to grow consistently and the numbers haven't decrease for a long while. Thanks to the schedule where we precisely spread collab events and content out up to the expansion, even though it's before the expansion, the numbers haven't dropped and new players are rushing in. We are also expecting the return of all those players taking a break, so we are in an extremely good state.
[Provided options for "how to start your adventure" with the jump potions]
Q. FFXIV has purchasable optional boost items called jump potions but what's the stance on these?
Yoshida: Let's say FFXIV was a TV series. The entrance changes depending on if a new player is willing to start playing from a realm reborn (season 1) or if they found out about and got interested in shadowbringers and if they understand that shadowbringers is the 4th season in the TV series. The purpose of the jump potion is to provide an option on "how you want to start".
If you start in the normal fashion, you can start from season 1 and if you use the free trial, you can play unlimitedly up to level 35. On the other hand, players can also use the boost items to jump right into the 4th season. By showing the options before they start playing, they are free to choose whichever they prefer.
[Dancers are recommended for beginners as well]
Q. Shadowbringers will bring 2 new jobs, but we'd like you to start by talking about gunbreaker and its characteristics
Yoshida: Just like the job's name spells out, gunbreaker was born from the gunblade. Gunblades that first appeared in FFVIII isn't a weapon where you can shoot and slash, but instead a weapon that enhances its attacks by pulling the trigger right as you slashed. We brought this concept to life by introducing the "soil" (powder gauge in english) mechanic. We decided to provide the game experience of "pulling the trigger" by having abilities in between GCDs. Gunbreakers can deliver a hight paced of attacks by managing the powder gauge.
Q. How about dancers?
Yoshida: It all began from simply trying to express "dances" in a game. It consists of 2 layers, "steps" and "choosing one dance partner". Instead of pumping the entire party, it was developed with the direction of enhancing yourself and your dance partner. We made it so you can really enjoy the "dancing feel" as you control your character. It is really well made, so we'd like you to try it out. Watching the dancer fight and dance in the game is beautiful and a fresh experience.
Q. What about the job's difficulty?
Yoshida: We expect it to be a popular job, including how it looks. As long as you understand the steps, the controls are very simple and it's balanced so there won't be too much of a gap depending on your playerskill. I think it's a job that anybody can touch and enjoy.
Gunbreakers are the opposite and created with a concept that we haven't had before, so it's a little technical and a busy job. In return, it's a job that rewards you, the more you get used to it. It's like a surume (squid snack) that starts to shine the more you bite into it.
Q. Looking forward to try it in a party.
Yoshida: We prepared two attractive jobs. One with an iconic weapon: Gunblade and another that is visually appealing and dances around. I hope these 2 jobs bring in new FFXIV players with not only their game experience, but also with artwork and CG designs for them.
[translated pages 2/18. Translating the rest now]
Source:
http://ff14net.2chblog.jp/archives/55471750.html
Preview for the 18 page article:
https://www.famitsu.com/news/201906/18178159.html
This summary is from the physical Famitsu magazine.
Edit: Update on translation progress:
[Players will see Nomura's interpretations through the bosses in the Eden raid]
Q. The next high end raid "The garden of Hope: Eden (English name: just Eden)" will have its characters and bosses designed by Testuya Nomura, but can you tell us how and why you chose him?
Y:: I cannot go into details, but we always had this idea of implementing "a certain boss" and we started by thinking about how Tetsu san would interprete this boss.
Q. Did you have any precise orders for him?
Y: We told him "This is the story we came up with and these are the roles for each character, it's up to you to interpret and decide the rest" and got him to design them. How Tetsu san interprets it was important. We gave him all the settings and lore and asked him to "just go ahead and draw as you like".
Q. FF fans should focus on his work.
Y:: Tetsu san is someone who has been involved with FF from the old ages. It depends on your generation, but those overseas should be familiar with his work on FFVI and FFVII. Having someone iconic as him perfectly suits the shadowbringers title.
Y:: After seeing characters created by Tetsu and liking them, it would be nice if they take the next step and coslapy as them and push the "FF-ness" inside FFXIV even further. Finally having a character designed by Tetsu in the FF theme park is a concept we always aimed for.
[Materials for the Ishgard restoration will be gathered in Diadem]
Q. Ishgard restoration is end game content for crafters and gatherers, but what is the game experience going to be like?
Y:: I think the ultimate end game for DoH/DoL will still be market board related. However, the hurdle is really high for people who just started playing MMORPGs. Our aim is to provide an opportunity for players to be praised by others through a long term competition.
Q. What triggered this idea?
Y: What you gain from the Market, in other words "Gil" isn't something that makes others praise you, so we wanted to step in. We tried new challenges for battle content with Diadem and Eureka, so this time we wanted to try something new for crafters and Gatherers and i brought it up and got the devs to start planning it.
Q. When will it be added?
Y Patch 5.1. It's still early to discuss it in detail, but there will be several series of progression within the same patch. __An enormous amount of mats and hand ins will be necessary to finish the restoration__and diadem will be involved in the process.
Q. Ho ho.
Y: Diadem's exploration progressed as players did their work, so we are going to rebalance the whole island. The basic image is "Go to diadem and gather mats, use that to craft and repeat this to restore Ishgard". (Talks about the ranking we found out about in the other interview). Some players might feel cramped if we provoke too much competition, but we also think competing is a part of gaming, so we'd like to challenge what we haven't done before and hope to find something new by using that as experience.
Q. Why are you splitting them into seasons?
Y: To avoid the same person from dominating the top ranks. If we have a rule where you can't reobtain a prize, it will provide space for others to work hard. (Note: talks about info we know for a while). We will continue to update the content and expand on its size.
[We will find out how the warriors of darkness lived on the first, through the role quests]
Q. The roles quests that will be introduced in shadowbringers was explained as something where you reexperience the warriors of darkness' story, but will Arbert and the other warriors of darkness show up in this story?__
Y: Yes. We don't intend to hide that. (Details for each character is in the summary above) The screenshot we showed during the Live letter allows you to imagine "so those are the WoDs when they were young". (sad note: This 80% confirms that that the WoDs from 3.4 are dead) When we talked about how Lalafells are called "Dwarves" on the first, players were discussing "but the white mage Warrior of darkness showed her face, even though she's a dwarf". Don't worry, Lamimi (dwarf WoD) will be wearing a helmet in those quests. We wrote a proper story for her as well, so please enjoy it.
Q.There are a variety of playstyles in FFXIV now and you have players who are passionate about taking photos with the group pose feature, players who have their own restaurant and those who perform music and role play in their own fashion. I think Doman mahjong is the pinnacle of varied content, but are you planning the next step?__
Y: Yes, but we still can't talk about elements as organized as Doman mahjong. We do want to vitalize the community with one more push. With the addition of the world visit system, a lot of events are starting to be held by players and those who want to participate in these are probably demanding a "casual feature".
Q. What do you mean?
Y: For example, if a player enters a famous bar type of house, it doesn't mean they want to heavily interact with the owner. They might just want to sit down or take a sneak peek. To further promote those aspects, we are developing a "circle" system (tentative name).[Note: details for this system is in the summary above] If a notice comes from the circle you are a part of, it might make players want to participate in those events. This circle feature is to help those players who have their own events.
Q. Do you have any finals words for the readers?
Y: FFXIV is content where we continue to strive for "Let's make something interesting". We are actually talking about shifting from a "game" to "entertainment called FFXIV" and have players enjoy that and we are trying to provide a playground that surpasses the boundaries we are currently in. The expansion is one of the timings where the "playground" bumps up in scale. We have countless amount of playgrounds, so not trying those out is a waste. We don't mind if it's just the free trial, so we would like players to casually visit our game. It has been 6 years and yet there exists a FF game that continues to evolve and we'd be happy if people experience it with their own eyes. We have a world created with the hard work by the devs and the community team and a large community built by the players inside of it. I wish for those who read this article to come visit. (Note: this article is from a magazine for gamers and he's talking to those who haven't touched FFXIV here)
Q. Any words for current players?
Y We developed this expansion so players can feel "The expansion is finally around the corner!" and get excited about it. The reason behind this is because as a player myself, i don't want there to be an atmosphere like "yeah, yeah. The usual expansion we're used to is here again after 2 years". Since we have an expansion in the same 2 year cycle, it's inevitable for some players to feel that way, but __ our largest goal is to make players think "You don't have to update 4.x anymore, just let us play the expansion already"__.
Q. I really can't wait for the release.
Y: The current FFXIV has a variety of ways you can enjoy it, so you don't have to be bound to one of them. We designed it so you don't have to rush and compete to win. Like always, we'd like players to play with their own pace and pick what they really want to play first. We definitely won't betray your expectations, so please look forward to it.
[The FFXIV article is 18 pages long, but the interview was only 4 pages. Checking through the rest to see if it's worth translating the rest]
[Note: Seems like the majority of this articles is for those who don't play FFXIV]
Pages 5-6: Explanation on where we are going, trusts and info we already know about Eden and the Nier raid.
Pages 7-8: Introducing the 8 races in FFXIV.
Pages 9-10: Introducing the 18 jobs. Blue mage has the longest explanation on the page. Also has a brief explanation of Doh/Dol classes.
Pages 11-12: Interview with the author of the dad of light and 2 members from his FC.
Pages 13-16: Interview with Yutaka Kiyan (member of the air band: Gonden bomber) who participated in the JP fanfest.
Will not be editing spelling mistakes and such because there are 18 pages.
