Naoki Yoshida interview @Gamescom

[Chessala]

I think you are misreading Yoshida-san and applying a fairly harsh filter to your reading of him as well. I do think he cares pationately about the game and the players. He's very much a MMORPG player, and cares about how things play. I think this is clearly evident in many of the interviews and presentations he's given over the years.

That care and attention translates to sometimes excessive transparency and perhaps attempts to cater to the whims of the loudest forum voices. But because he is open about most things, people on this forum and elsewhere play "Monday morning quarterback" with his every word, and when things do not work out as expected (not uncommon in game development) folks are quick to jump on him about it and use prior interviews against him.

Perhaps if he were like most game producers and really never talked much about the game or what they are trying to do people might be less apt to second guess everything, or be pre-critical about every change before it's even made. On the other hand, if Yoshida-san did that, we would not have the level of communication from the developers that we do currently.

I prefer the current situation and am realistic about how things can change during development. Heck if I was held to every conceptual discussion or prototype I ever made during development, I'd never deliver a thing because I'd be too busy chasing the ephemeral goals created by others' perceptions and expectations.

I honestly considered to stop reading when I saw "Yoshida-san". He is lucky to have such dedicated fans as yourself that see everything he does positively. I want to make a few things clear:
- I do not think he does everything wrong
- I do think he cares about the game to certain extent
- I appreciate the level of communication he is trying to keep up
- I have no problem with the current cash shop

However, an increased level of communication with a gaming community also means that he should be able to deal with an increased amount of criticism. Gamers (and customers) will ALWAYS complain, there is just no way to satisfy everyone.
The problem I specifically have with how he handles the game is, that he has a set vision and is not very willing to go away from that vision. This could have many reasons, including monetization. No matter if we like it not, a game needs to make money to be kept up and running. And if there is one thing Yoshi is good at, it's finding ways to make money.

Just look at the cash shop. Yes, people might feel entitled to certain items because they pay a sub. Fact is: they are not. Having a game running only with subs is difficult at best, even a title as prestigious as "Final Fantasy" will have problems with that eventually, especially with the content schedule they are running (I explained this before and will not do so again). The cash shop offers unnecessary fluff that do not influence your progression in-game at all. This is what I expect from a cash shop in a sub game. If you want the fluff item, you pay for it. We still get plenty of them in-game anyway. If a mount you can't get in game and that you don't want to pay for, ruins your gaming experience, that's your problem.

As for him catering to the "loudest" voices. All he does is cater to the JAPANESE community and even then it is things that fit in his set vision. He only listens to the voices that are convenient for him. And no, he does not understand the community. Look at LoV. People wanted some small minion fight minigame.Maybe be able to challenge someone they stand next to and have their minions brawl. What we got was a convoluted system using DF.

I am not intending to bash on Yoshi, I am just being realistic. He can bring as much communication as he wants, if the content behind it is lacking, that won't help anything.