Translation of Yoshi-P JP Interview

FanByte reports on a translation of a June interview of Naoki Yoshida with Game Watch.
https://www.fanbyte.com/games/news/y...-service-game/

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“...I decided to position FFXIV as a fan service title, and because it belonged to the MMORPG genre, I was able to run with an idea nobody had ever tried before and create a sort of Final Fantasy theme park,” [Yoshida-san] explained.

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The full translation by TurquoiseHammer is in a Google doc here.

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Yoshida: We’d like to satisfy as many of those expectations as possible, but when we conducted research on a global scale, the answers we received were even more disparate. While there were many who called FF a legendary RPG franchise with moving stories, other words and phrases came up in reference to the series’ image, such as “cult” and “classic,” as well as the more frank indictment “geared toward children.” This inquiry was conducted by a separate survey company, so we consider the results to be objective.

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Yoshida: FFXIV is a title that plans far into the future and executes that plan incrementally. I think MMORPGs are games that let you enjoy yourself in the present while anticipating what lies ahead.

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Here's hoping that the 'fan service' goes in both directions, then. Simply copying and pasting characters and locations from previous Final Fantasy titles doesn't quite do it for me on its own. I need the sort of presence and consequences that they brought with them in their original home to truly be satisfied. Especially if it's coming at the cost of original content that would help XIV establish itself on its own merits.

You must really dislike Troia then, lol.

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Originally Posted by Greyhawk

You must really dislike Troia then, lol.

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It was an ok dungeon but the story and characters of specifically Troia in FFIV weren't even there. No epopts, no Leonora, and no dark elf. It should've been called something else.

I am OK with them bringing characters and themes from other games, and they have done it well so far, but for major characters and stuff it should not be done for nostalgia alone. If anything I would like to see them use such elements in new and interesting ways that still adds to FFXIVs own unique lore, rather then just “Look! Its Thingyme from an old game! You like them right?”

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Originally Posted by Hurlstone

I am OK with them bringing characters and themes from other games, and they have done it well so far, but for major characters and stuff it should not be done for nostalgia alone. If anything I would like to see them use such elements in new and interesting ways that still adds to FFXIVs own unique lore, rather then just “Look! Its Thingyme from an old game! You like them right?”

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I love FFX, its my 1st and naturally my favorite FF game (plus its in my name lol)
If they just randomly put in Titus, or Yuna, or even Khimari, I wouldnt be impressed or excited, unless they served a purpose in the story they are brought in.
Nostalgia alone does nothing for me, and feel like a cheap tactic to get me excited....it has the opposite effect.

I'm not against putting references to other games in the franchise, but frankly, explain to me who they are.
I haven't played any other final fantasy, besides tactics (and I've never finished it, because my PS1 memory card kept giving error). So I don't know these characters, and I don't care about them.

We killed 2 villains that I wouldn't even know who they are until other people inform me that they are FFIV characters. They appeared so little, and died so quickly, that honestly to me who had never seen them before, it made them look like they were weak. (and I found that DG is also based elsewhere in the franchise)

Do you want to put only characters/places from other games in the franchise? Okay, but not everyone played, not everyone knows. Would it be too much to ask for these characters to have some development within FFXIV before things just started happening?

I know you all hate that someone compares your little game with others, but frankly this is going to start to turn into WoW, where I'll have to play the other 13 previous games, to get to know the characters I'm facing better. (WoW you had to go after the physical books to understand the characters/story better)

I wonder how many people play FF14 while never having touched another FF game, cause I'm one of them.

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Originally Posted by Adamantini

Do you want to put only characters/places from other games in the franchise? Okay, but not everyone played, not everyone knows. Would it be too much to ask for these characters to have some development within FFXIV before things just started happening?

I know you all hate that someone compares your little game with others, but frankly this is going to start to turn into WoW, where I'll have to play the other 13 previous games, to get to know the characters I'm facing better. (WoW you had to go after the physical books to understand the characters/story better)

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I would say WoW is worse in that regard, as its an actual sequel to those past stories so knowing who the characters are can be rather important. With FFXIV though, I feel you never need to know who these character are in past games, because here in FFXIV they are their own people, even if they can reflect the personality and story from past games. That said, I do wish FFXIV would explore more outside media like books and stuff. There are so many events, like the Sundering and the Calamities, that could be explored in novels ect.

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Originally Posted by Zanarkand-Ronso

I love FFX, its my 1st and naturally my favorite FF game (plus its in my name lol)
If they just randomly put in Titus, or Yuna, or even Khimari, I wouldnt be impressed or excited, unless they served a purpose in the story they are brought in.
Nostalgia alone does nothing for me, and feel like a cheap tactic to get me excited....it has the opposite effect.

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Thats fair yeah. They need to actually add to the lore and world... though I do really want them to add Blitzball one day haha.

Honestly, I think they put too much stead in those old sprite-based games from last century.

As an example, all that alphascape/deltascape stuff in the Omega story is still mega-confusing to me.

I can deal with a bunch of hopping televisions and a braindead click-spam mechanic, but we are we fighting on a train with ghosts one moment then some clown with a statue the next? What does this have to do with the WoL again?

I rejoiced when I saw Fran from FFXII… It made me believe we was going to return to Ivalice properly, especially because she hinted we would cross paths again. That’s the only game I would love to see make another appearance in XIV…

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Originally Posted by SherlottaEryut

I rejoiced when I saw Fran from FFXII… It made me believe we was going to return to Ivalice properly, especially because she hinted we would cross paths again. That’s the only game I would love to see make another appearance in XIV…

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Of all Final Fantasy worlds, Ivalice is certainly the one with the most material to draw from, bar FFXI's Vana'diel. Now that Endwalker is done we can only hope that Maehiro, Matsuno, and other writers who worked on Ivalice games make a comeback for 7.0. The fact that they attempted to wrap up the Ivalice plotline via field notes is something that I still find unacceptable to this day.

The Return to Ivalice raids could have definitely done a better job of introducing the lore to the player, but I still find it hard to believe that the story of Bozja was apparently so unpopular that it warranted such a hasty conclusion. Whether they obtained such feedback from Final Fantasy fans who came here for a rich world and story or those who endlessly like and retweet pictures of the scions without being very invested in FFXIV's actual world remains a mystery.

There's always that problem of actually pleasing the fans of source material, isn't there? You hear a lot about it with the Marvel movies. VII, VIII and X are the only ones I finished. I appreciate the references and it's especially fun to see other people get excited about titles they played brought to life again.

MMOs have more or less kept me from making a dent in the other titles. Having played what MMOs I have and seen so many go, that's where my focus is and how I primarily judge XIV.

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Originally Posted by Hurlstone

I am OK with them bringing characters and themes from other games, and they have done it well so far, but for major characters and stuff it should not be done for nostalgia alone. If anything I would like to see them use such elements in new and interesting ways that still adds to FFXIVs own unique lore, rather then just “Look! Its Thingyme from an old game! You like them right?”

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I admit, I giggled like a school girl when I first heard Golbez's music, but yea, then we get "zero" and now I'm just groaning. Are we going to just remake all the FF games stories as separate mini-patches now? It's a bit silly. Having some fanservice from the old FF games being as part of the Hildebrand quests is one thing, or having Lightning show up for a special event, but having the main story quest bring in a bunch of other FF characters is another.

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Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams

Of all Final Fantasy worlds, Ivalice is certainly the one with the most material to draw from, bar FFXI's Vana'diel. Now that Endwalker is done we can only hope that Maehiro, Matsuno, and other writers who worked on Ivalice games make a comeback for 7.0. The fact that they attempted to wrap up the Ivalice plotline via field notes is something that I still find unacceptable to this day.

The Return to Ivalice raids could have definitely done a better job of introducing the lore to the player, but I still find it hard to believe that the story of Bozja was apparently so unpopular that it warranted such a hasty conclusion. Whether they obtained such feedback from Final Fantasy fans who came here for a rich world and story or those who endlessly like and retweet pictures of the scions without being very invested in FFXIV's actual world remains a mystery.

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I have a sneaking suspicion they aren't done with Ivalice just yet, considering Matsuno had stated in a tweet that Save The Queen (not his involvement with FFXIV) was done. With the way they ended things in the Field Notes, it felt like he was purposefully setting up loose threads to grab onto the next time he's called in to help. Also, from what I heard, the pandemic put a kibosh on a lot of stuff planned for Save the Queen. Apparently there was supposed to be a different zone area that led to Delebrum (likely Zadnor), with a 3rd and final area planned. But due to the pandemic pushing everything back and causing issues, Save the Queen was given the short end of the stick and got hit the hardest (since it had the most assets).

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Originally Posted by Rolder50

I wonder how many people play FF14 while never having touched another FF game, cause I'm one of them.

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A lot. Of my friend group/fc members, none of them were really into FF before starting. Since playing some of them have played some games, but they usually rely on me to explain the references lol.

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Originally Posted by RyuDragnier

I have a sneaking suspicion they aren't done with Ivalice just yet, considering Matsuno had stated in a tweet that Save The Queen (not his involvement with FFXIV) was done. With the way they ended things in the Field Notes, it felt like he was purposefully setting up loose threads to grab onto the next time he's called in to help.

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I found an article that contains his tweets, and he did say he won’t be writing for XIV in the future in regards to Ivalice. Allegedly the project wasn’t well received in Japan.. Which is a downright shame.

https://gamerescape.com/2021/06/24/y...l-fantasy-xiv/

Even so, I’m hoping they can give it another shot… just like aveyond said, there’s so much material they could use.

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Originally Posted by Rolder50

I wonder how many people play FF14 while never having touched another FF game, cause I'm one of them.

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I was one of them when I first started playing XIV. lol I have since played a few others (including XI, the OTHER mmo. lol) and one of the Dissidia games and I can appreciate the various references to the other FF games that they include into XIV, and quite frankly, I'm still surprised just how many references there are. lol

Personally I'd love to see Iroha from the XI crossover event maybe brought into the story at some level since at the end of that event she just walked out of the town (presumably) and we never find out if she managed to get back to her world at all, so it's theoretically possible. lol

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Originally Posted by WhiteWitch

Somebody I met totally spoiled this patch for me. Which is why I think adding characters from previous games is lame.
They told me Golbez is from ff4 and that he had a pet dragon. Sure enough that’s how our patch story went. So that person I met already knew what was going to happen. I imagine it seems boring for people who know how everything is going to happen. I hope they don’t do this again in future story..

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It's actually not boring, since we know what they were like, we just don't know how they're going to be in FF14. An example, we knew about Golbez, but we didn't know how he was going to be portrayed here, or what his plans are. Yes, he had a pet dragon, but he in FFIV also had a multitude of other things dealing with him that haven't popped up yet here. When they use these characters, they often throw curveballs. Such as Greg and Jim in the Hildibrand questline.

I was more of an FF guy than an mmo guy, having bought and finished every main FF game since the first one. It's cool seeing some of the old characters remade in 3D, but at the same time it's not something I would have done at all. The idea of a fan service game seems antithetical to what a core FF game is supposed to be. In the Sakaguchi era, they kept each game very separate and never reused major story characters and soundtracks from previous games.

FF XIV has become constant cameos, always looking for ways to adapt nostalgia pieces into the narrative until they've remade the entire FF series inside the XIV universe. Yoshida's style is making me fall out of love with the series. What once stood above all others is now just another game series to me, nothing special. The fan service storyline isn't a dealbreaker but the predictable, repetitive gameplay formula is.

This being followed by Yoshida-produced XVI, a dark fantasy action game with Clive its lone playable character. That has a different problem in not looking like an FF game at all. Actually Yoshida can't get all the blame because XIII and XV weren't great either. The series has felt lost for a long time. Following his departure from Square, Sakaguchi formed Mistwalker and they produced Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, which are closer to what I wish FF would be.

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Originally Posted by Shibi

Honestly, I think they put too much stead in those old sprite-based games from last century.

As an example, all that alphascape/deltascape stuff in the Omega story is still mega-confusing to me.

I can deal with a bunch of hopping televisions and a braindead click-spam mechanic, but we are we fighting on a train with ghosts one moment then some clown with a statue the next? What does this have to do with the WoL again?

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Not really sure what you find mega-confusing about the Omega story. The first cutscene inside the Interdimensonal Rift already establishes that Omega is searching for the strongest opponent, and that he has recreated candidates from various dimensions. That's really all there is to it.

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Originally Posted by RyuDragnier

It's actually not boring, since we know what they were like, we just don't know how they're going to be in FF14. An example, we knew about Golbez, but we didn't know how he was going to be portrayed here, or what his plans are. Yes, he had a pet dragon, but he in FFIV also had a multitude of other things dealing with him that haven't popped up yet here. When they use these characters, they often throw curveballs. Such as Greg and Jim in the Hildibrand questline.

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I'll add, for some of us, it's been years (decades even) since we played games like FFIV. It's one of my favorites in the series, but I completely forgot Golbez even had a dragon. I probably played that game when I was like 12 or something. I remember Golbez, the Four Fiends, the Moon, the music, etc., but I'm sure there's tons of stuff I don't remember.

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The Return to Ivalice raids could have definitely done a better job of introducing the lore to the player, but I still find it hard to believe that the story of Bozja was apparently so unpopular that it warranted such a hasty conclusion. Whether they obtained such feedback from Final Fantasy fans who came here for a rich world and story or those who endlessly like and retweet pictures of the scions without being very invested in FFXIV's actual world remains a mystery.

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Rather condescending to think liking and tweeting pictures is somehow mutually exclusive with being invested in FFXIV's world. Or does someone only count as "invested" if they share your specific views or desires for it?

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Originally Posted by Rolder50

I wonder how many people play FF14 while never having touched another FF game, cause I'm one of them.

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Same here for the most part. I hadn't even played FF7 until a couple months ago. The last FF game I played before this was 2 or 3, on the SNES back in the 90's. If they dropped any of the characters from that game in here I wouldn't have a clue who they were.

The new content is cool and all, but the gravity of the individual characters is completely lost on me because I have no idea who any of them are. What's even worse is there's a side quest you do after the fact that gives insight into these character's origins. A freaking side quest. This is the kind of thing that should have been part of the msq, and BEFORE you go after and kill them. This is storytelling 101, the whole thing felt completely backwards.

I really wish THIS would pop up every time you started XIV. It would be funny!

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Originally Posted by Adamantini

We killed 2 villains that I wouldn't even know who they are until other people inform me that they are FFIV characters. They appeared so little, and died so quickly, that honestly to me who had never seen them before, it made them look like they were weak. (and I found that DG is also based elsewhere in the franchise)

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They got about as much characterisation in the original game as they get here.

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Originally Posted by Shibi

As an example, all that alphascape/deltascape stuff in the Omega story is still mega-confusing to me.

I can deal with a bunch of hopping televisions and a braindead click-spam mechanic, but we are we fighting on a train with ghosts one moment then some clown with a statue the next? What does this have to do with the WoL again?

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I haven't played the games they're referencing in Omega either, so I don't "get it", but I don't mind it too much in that context because it's a short-term confusion. I don't get why we're on a train, but I also don't need to comprehend why we're on a train to follow the story. All the important continuity stuff happens outside of the battles.

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Originally Posted by Darthgummibear

The new content is cool and all, but the gravity of the individual characters is completely lost on me because I have no idea who any of them are. What's even worse is there's a side quest you do after the fact that gives insight into these character's origins. A freaking side quest. This is the kind of thing that should have been part of the msq, and BEFORE you go after and kill them. This is storytelling 101, the whole thing felt completely backwards.

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I did the MSQ ASAP on patch day, and I only just found out today that that sidequest even existed! Sure we get a hint towards it at the end of 6.2, but it really feels like it should have been signposted more.

In a perfect world they should have sprinkled such infor in the MSQ, but I can kinda understand why they put it after the event. I feel that the fact said characters are from FF4 is causing people to make them out as more lore-important then they are. In the context of FFXIV and the overall story the 6.x patches seem to be telling, they are just stepping stones leading to the actual important plot character that is Golbez. The fact that we actually get really interesting histories of what are kinda glorifyed roadblocks so far is a great boon. Like I said above, I just wish that it had better signposting.

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Originally Posted by Rolder50

I wonder how many people play FF14 while never having touched another FF game, cause I'm one of them.

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I'm in this base.

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Originally Posted by Rolder50

I wonder how many people play FF14 while never having touched another FF game, cause I'm one of them.

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I've only played the original nintendo Final Fantasy, the Secret of Mana, and FFXIV.

I admit this has caused some misunderstandings on my part. One time I even complained about viera gear being nothing but "chainmail bikinis for Frazetta fans" not knowing the gear was a reference to Fran, a character from another FF franchise. *embarrassed*

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Originally Posted by Infindox

A lot. Of my friend group/fc members, none of them were really into FF before starting. Since playing some of them have played some games, but they usually rely on me to explain the references lol.

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I haven't really played any of the other FF games (one on Nintendo DS I think.. when I was a kid), so I don't really have the nostalgia others have, no idea on most references. Apparently, the new storyline is reusing characters from another game? Archfiends? Golbez? I just know what I have skimmed from the forums. Neither have I done the story after EW, or would I know who any of the same named characters would be. It's part of the reason I stay out of a lot of the story discussions for this game.

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I decided to position FFXIV as a fan service title

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https://i.imgur.com/3nCeQB5.gif

Much rather they focus on XIV original content instead of floundering around inside the corpses of better FF stories

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Originally Posted by Rolder50

I wonder how many people play FF14 while never having touched another FF game, cause I'm one of them.

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It probably makes all the references less jarring.

Eh, I treat the FF references the same as any other non FF reference in this game, like, say... all the stuff in the World Unsundered. It is a balancing act of referencing certain things while not adhering too hard to the source material, and the story needs to be coherent in the world with the names replaced with generic titles.

6.2 is doing fine so far. As long as they don't do another Sigmascape things will probably be fine.