Dualshockers' Gamescom 2013 Interview with Naoki Yoshida

I figured I'd link to this on the Lodestone, too. ^^;

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Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is only a few days away, and for those that will be able to partake in the early access phase, the floodgates will open as soon as tomorrow.

But if you can’t wait, we have a treat for you. At Gamescom in Cologne I had the chance to have a long chat with Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida about his vision for the present, and more importantly the future of the game. You can enjoy it directly from my point of view in the two videos at the bottom of the post. . .

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Read the Full Article!

Awesome stuff, Abriael!

2.1 will be much bigger than launch client. :o

Can someone write the main points please? Can't see videos right now :/

Please, Yoshida! Re-evaluate the voice-acting!

More fun with the CC on You-Tube :)

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Originally Posted by 3Jane

More fun with the CC on You-Tube :)

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Oh My God, English subtitles from Japanese audio is PRICELESS...

"Size of sale suicide the car Oslo"

Interesting interview. I believe this is the first time I've heard anyone at SE suggest that Wada was the one to blame for 1.0 more than Tanaka.

Also good to hear that the new president of SE is more of a gamer than his predecessor.

Good stuff! I do think (and hope) that Yoshida will stay on XIV for as long as possible though. The mini minstrel question was really funny as well :)

Also, am I the only one who kept staring at that awesome Ishgard backdrop everytime the camera turned to Yoshi?

Anyways, nice interview, thanks for the info!

Whoa "I expect less than 100 people will beat Binding Coil of Bahamut before first update"? Challenge accepted!

I'm always wary when MMO devs under estimate the players like that. The SWTOR devs thought it would take some time for people to complete EV and it was cleared in 8 hours. There's going to be guilds who will just try over and over and over and over till stuff is cleared. If he thinks less than 100 people will clear it, I'd guess at least 1000 people will.

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Originally Posted by Pooky

I'm always wary when MMO devs under estimate the players like that. The SWTOR devs thought it would take some time for people to complete EV and it was cleared in 8 hours. There's going to be guilds who will just try over and over and over and over till stuff is cleared. If he thinks less than 100 people will clear it, I'd guess at least 1000 people will.

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Yeah. I mean there's...what? 200,000 people (very conservative estimate) that are gonna be playing? I'm sure there will be a lot more than 100 people that clear BC before 2.1.

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Originally Posted by Pooky

I'm always wary when MMO devs under estimate the players like that. The SWTOR devs thought it would take some time for people to complete EV and it was cleared in 8 hours. There's going to be guilds who will just try over and over and over and over till stuff is cleared. If he thinks less than 100 people will clear it, I'd guess at least 1000 people will.

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I think he knows it will be on farm by a lot of people. He is trying to build hype.
Like that Daikatana Poster that said "John Romero is about to make you his bitch" or From Software naming the PC version "Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition"

It's classic Psychology. Saying that you don't think anyone is going to beat it is inviting every hardcore gamer to crack out on it trying to have it on farm. He knows it's going to be destroyed. It absolutely will not be harder than Ifrit Extreme or Darnus. And even with 1.23's limited population, more than 100 people beat those (And even those were mostly difficult due to grueling lag, not clever design).
To be honest, I don't think Yoshi-p is capable of making content that "under 100 people could beat" without making it extraordinarily cheap and gimmicky (See: Absolute Virtue)

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Crystal Tower will be easier than Coil of Bahamut

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Sigh. I just want a challenging raid to do with a dedicated FC. Am I playing the wrong game?

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Originally Posted by Noroi_Kisaragi

Sigh. I just want a challenging raid to do with a dedicated FC. Am I playing the wrong game?

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You realize that you have zero ability to determine the actual difficulty of either, right? Or, did you get some special version of Beta that allowed you to try out both that the rest of us were somehow deprived? I mean, is it too much to ask for people to actually know what the f*** they are even talking about before making proclamations about the ease/difficulty of content?

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Originally Posted by Noroi_Kisaragi

Sigh. I just want a challenging raid to do with a dedicated FC. Am I playing the wrong game?

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Of course its easier, since Coil of Bahamut comes after Crystal Tower, ist called Progression...

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Originally Posted by AlexNiculaie

You realize that you have zero ability to determine the actual difficulty of either, right? Or, did you get some special version of Beta that allowed you to try out both that the rest of us were somehow deprived? I mean, is it too much to ask for people to actually know what the f*** they are even talking about before making proclamations about the ease/difficulty of content?

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Yea, but at the same time if Corky from "Life Goes On" says he's gonna give you a math problem, you wouldn't expect it to be calculus.
Speculation and anticipation based on past experiences is the bases for most video games.
Part of the reason we play Final Fantasy games is because that's come to mean a certain thing. It normally stands for innovative gameplay and an epic story.
It's funny, as soon as those preconceived ideas allude to something negative, then all of a sudden it's "OMG.. Crystal Ball much?"

But if he was to say "ERMAGAWD, FFXIV is gunna be AWESOME cuz it's SE" he would get the head nod and thumbs up from you.

Double Standard much?

I guess "No Prognosticating unless it's positive!"

Movies and music work the same way.
To be honest, it's irresponsible to not speculate on the difficult and how that relates to your personal preference, because to find out you have to actually pay money first.

SE will probably delete my post and keep yours... so whatever

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Originally Posted by Shenon

Of course its easier, since Coil of Bahamut comes after Crystal Tower, ist called Progression...

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Yea, about that... coil of Bahamut is in at launch.. The tower wont be here til 2.1

Get speculating on that thing in 2.1 they can't tell us about

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Originally Posted by Rydin

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Yea, about that... coil of Bahamut is in at launch.. The tower wont be here til 2.1

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Logic (and Yoshida-san´s Words about the Progression Crystal Tower -> Bahamut) tells me it should be the other Way around...but stranger things have happened :p

Yoshi may suprise us again by having CT ready for Launch ;)

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Originally Posted by Shenon

Logic (and Yoshida-san´s Words about the Progression Crystal Tower -> Bahamut) tells me it should be the other Way around...but stranger things have happened :p

Yoshi may suprise us again by having CT ready for Launch ;)

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No.. I agree completely. I was POSITIVE that they said Crystal Tower gear gave you a much better chance in The Labyrinth... but then he said Bahamut would be at launch yet the Tower wouldn't be in til 2.1 because it's "Pretty much like completely finished and junk... but it's way too hard for 24 man duty finder"

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Originally Posted by AlexNiculaie

You realize that you have zero ability to determine the actual difficulty of either, right? Or, did you get some special version of Beta that allowed you to try out both that the rest of us were somehow deprived? I mean, is it too much to ask for people to actually know what the f*** they are even talking about before making proclamations about the ease/difficulty of content?

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As much as you'd want to believe this, Yoshida has said content done via Duty Finder is on the easier side to allow people to complete it without needing a dedicated shell/free company (reworded) - Crystal Tower is a Duty Finder content.

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Originally Posted by Holyhunter

Get speculating on that thing in 2.1 they can't tell us about

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What makes you think they haven't told us about it? We already have tons of confirmations about what crystal tower was SUPPOSED to be, and what it is TURNING INTO now.

ORIGINALLY, as mentioned HERE, crystal tower would be exclusive to hardcore free companies like myself, and yoshida was considering not having it be on the duty finder:

Additionally, at the beginning of that video, Yoshida said you would need a full set of primal gear to even ATTEMPT crystal tower, and that you would need fully decked out crystal tower gear to even ATTEMPT bahamut's labyrinth.

That is what endgame for ff14 was SUPPOSED to be, now they have changed their minds:
We have confirmed that the plans now are:

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>Maze of Bahamut is now accessible before crystal tower, you can beat it w/o crystal tower gear
>They already plan on nerfing maze of bahamut in 2.1
>Crystal tower is being nerfed to be enjoyed by everyone, they are tying it to duty finder and balancing it around complete randoms

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Now the speculation starts:

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>You likely won't need primal weapons for crystal tower
>"Challenging endgame" will only exist in 1 dungeon at a time, since they plan on nerfing bahamut's labyrinth everytime they add a new floor

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It's really sounding like this game isn't for me. It's starting to sound like Abyssea 2.0, only made into a game. And if you were a hardcore ff11 player, you already know what Abyssea did to the game. It's a shame, since 1.0 of this game was really quite difficult at points.

Great stuff, thanks for the OP

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Originally Posted by Noroi_Kisaragi

What makes you think they haven't told us about it?

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Besides the fact that the just told me that there's something he can't tell me yet?

Oh yeah. There's that.

And LOL @ Difficult. If you think ANY MMORPG (including 1.0 AND FFXI at any stage of its lifetime) is "difficult" you never played truly difficult games. MMORPGs, included the ones mentioned are a matter of repetition and time investment much more than "skill". The definition "difficult" doesn't apply to them, unless you're just quite bad.

Please do stop behaving like having a degree of success at some MMO makes you in any way special.

Noroi just to put some hope in your heart
In that interview Yoshida said that he expects less than a 100 players to finish the Binding Coils of Bahamut.

Maybe because, despite being accessible, the step in the progression ladder before it isn't in the game yet, thus making it literally impossible to be prepared for it. Thus only the most excellent players would be capable of finding their way through it while underpowered in relation to their plan.

Have some hope

Thanks.
/10char

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Originally Posted by Noroi_Kisaragi

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Perhaps they decided to tone some of the latter stuff down when they found out people were having trouble with the beginning story quests. Sadface.

And it's been known for quite some time previous content will be nerfed when the new stuff comes out.

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Originally Posted by Vaer

Perhaps they decided to tone some of the latter stuff down when they found out people were having trouble with the beginning story quests. Sadface.

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No, they said clearly that they tested it first hand.

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Originally Posted by Eekiki

Interesting interview. I believe this is the first time I've heard anyone at SE suggest that Wada was the one to blame for 1.0 more than Tanaka.

Also good to hear that the new president of SE is more of a gamer than his predecessor.

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Wada's gotten plenty of flack for the general direction he led SE when he took over. It was just one more item in a long list of odd decisions.

Despite his questionable decisions and his love for Lightning, I did grow to appreciate the fact he actually chose to make himself visible by appearing in the live producer letters, which I took as a way of saying "I'm aware of this and I care" (even if the cynic in me writes that off as PR).

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Originally Posted by echogame

Whoa "I expect less than 100 people will beat Binding Coil of Bahamut before first update"? Challenge accepted!

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Maybe it's my WoW experience talking, but that tells me it may be tuned a la pre-nerf M'uru (tuned right on the line between "overtuned to be unbeatable" and "very difficult") or they went the pre-nerf C'thun route (overtuned to be unbeatable).

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Originally Posted by Duelle

Maybe it's my WoW experience talking, but that tells me it may be tuned a la pre-nerf M'uru (tuned right on the line between "overtuned to be unbeatable" and "very difficult") or they went the pre-nerf C'thun route (overtuned to be unbeatable).

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Remember that Yoshi is an experience MMO gamer. personally I doubt that he just ramped up the stats. Most probably it's the mechanics that are the most challenging part.

Either way, we asked (actually demanded) for it.