Naoki Yoshida interview @Gamescom

[Mugiawara]

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.

Have a hard time completely believing this.
Of course he's going to listen to Japan a bit. That is his home country but to say that's all he does [and I'm sure you gotta be stretching it a bit] gots to be untrue.
A lot of these nerfs for example, have to be because these forums cry so loud and the absolute hardest that he has no choice but to turn around and try to calm 'em.
Whether here or Reddit and maybe even review/articles.
I don't think the Japanese give up on a lot of things so easily as well, but NA/EU do so much and scream nerf so it's like "Uhh..." We're a bigger crowd than Japan.

Then again, I have not the slightest how the Japanese thinks about most of this stuff just from what I know mostly from this side.
Also, some things we ask for get skewered via translations. One time it was completely wrong lol.

[Alexander_Dragonfang]

Then again, I have not the slightest how the Japanese thinks about most of this stuff just from what I know mostly from this side.
Also, some things we ask for get skewered via translations. One time it was completely wrong lol.

Mostly like us. They hated diadem, they have conflicted opinions on PotD, they also wore out of the tomestone system, their numbers are going down as much as ours after 3 years of this constant patching. Their reactions are mostly identical to ours, that thing about "cultural diferences" is just plain made up BS.

[Velhart]

This game needs something more midcore, something like Abyssea, Sky, or Sea. It can have some interesting gimmicks, but not so many or harsh that doing content with duty finder is not feasible. Perhaps make the open world sections of it with slightly less gimmicks being replaced with various other methods.

I think Diadem is trying to be that, maybe. It would be neat if there was an instanced area similar to Sky your group can travel in, figure out puzzles, obtain items to pop a boss in a specific area, defeat it, and continue on till you get everything needed to pop the big boss and get good gear for a midcore group. Something that can be helpful in raids.

The only real problem with this is it may not be friendly to DF groups unless you can only access via a pre-made group similar to raids, but not sure the development team would be up or that if it was on the casual/midcore side. Also, keeping up with making this content or keeping it relevant is hard in itself. If developers work around those woes, then I don't see why we can't have something like Sky/Sea/Abyssea.

[Zojha]

Accessibility is a great thing. But though I prefer depth which implies interesting systems with complexity. The farther you go into complexity, the harder it is to make content globally successful.

Moreover, complexity does not equal depth.
Fun little article on that note: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DanFe...y_vs_Depth.php

There are probably many more, but it gets the point across nicely. Personally, I like depth, but I prefer my depth as simple as possible. It's quite unfortunate that you can't really create depth without some kind of complexity, but...yeah.

[Mugiawara]

Mostly like us. They hated diadem, they have conflicted opinions on PotD, they also wore out of the tomestone system, their numbers are going down as much as ours after 3 years of this constant patching. Their reactions are mostly identical to ours, that thing about "cultural diferences" is just plain made up BS.

Thanks for clarification. So I guess we're all in the same boat here...

[Velhart]

Moreover, complexity does not equal depth.
Fun little article on that note: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DanFe...y_vs_Depth.php

There are probably many more, but it gets the point across nicely. Personally, I like depth, but I prefer my depth as simple as possible. It's quite unfortunate that you can't really create depth without some kind of complexity, but...yeah.

Funny thing is, a lot of the times, keeping a system simple does allow more depth in content. Yoshi-P even expressed this in wanting to jump back to lv.50 level difficulty in rotation. So the team can go back to more harder levels for Savage. The difficulty decrease in Alex: Creator is only because he believes the lv.60 rotation is too much. I always think of Super Mario Bros. when I think of simplicity with a lot of depth. You get run, jump, and can go left or right. This in turn allows for more imagination on creating stages. Mario Marker proves this.

Now that doesn't mean make FFXIV's combat just a few buttons, but keeping a easy to learn, hard to master mentality is a good way to develop a working system and also allows developers to be more creative with dungeons and boss fights.

[Brannigan]

Didn't the mount come out waaaaaay before the trial(which came out in 2.5)?

Probably. However, Odin's trial was almost certainly in development well before then (since we saw a version of it at Fanfest). The cash shop is BS in general. Since 90% of the rewards in this game are only cosmetic, putting cosmetic stuff in the cash shop devalues content.

[Kosmos992k]

I honestly considered to stop reading when I saw "Yoshida-san".

I could have said Mr Yoshida, or even Yoshi-P, but I went with the Japanese honorific since he is Japanese, I see no reason why I should not use simple polite language when discussing something he's said or done.

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.

A game maker without a vision and the guts to stick with it is simply a populist and will ultimately drive their game into the ground.

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.

All he does is cater to the Japanese community? Really? That totally explains this then...

Duel Mode
We've received numerous requests to implement dueling from the North America region, and so we're pleased to announce the addition of a duel mode in Patch 3.4!

quoted from;
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...=1#post3849410

North America, not Japan...

Also, I'm pretty sure that it was not the Japanese audience that were clamoring for an EU data center.

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.

What you got was a mini RTS game at the GS, with a DF lobby added later. But you described a trading card game, which was already added - called Triple Triad. So rather than add another trading card game, they tried to give us a RTS game instead. I appreciate the effort, even if it is difficult to use (controller)

[Chessala]

I am not sure why I bother answering a white knight so this will be my last reply regardless of your answer.

I could have said Mr Yoshida, or even Yoshi-P, but I went with the Japanese honorific since he is Japanese, I see no reason why I should not use simple polite language when discussing something he's said or done.

Thank you for explaining Japanese honorifics that I totally didn't know after studying Japanese language and culture for several years.
However, I am also aware of the "twist" that is usually given to it when westerners use it (admiration - culture imitation). That is what my comment was based on.

A game maker without a vision and the guts to stick with it is simply a populist and will ultimately drive their game into the ground.

*sigh* As I have tried to explain multiple times, it is not about abandoning visions to ride the latest "complain train" but about staying flexible. The problem is Yoshi's "set-in-(tome)stone" behaviour for me. I didn't say you should agree, to each their own.

All he does is cater to the Japanese community? Really? That totally explains this then...

quoted from;
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...=1#post3849410

North America, not Japan...

Also, I'm pretty sure that it was not the Japanese audience that were clamoring for an EU data center.

One example and one of the most useless things ever. Having spoken and worked with several Asian developers, they usually do not put an emphasis on PvP. This change is a standard adjustment for the west that can be found in multiple games as the western community (for whatever reason) often revels in killing each other.

As for the data center: have you checked how long they waited to do it? Also, better latency = better gameplay= people more willing to join that might not have due to latency before. In either case, having an EU data center when you publish a game in the EU is standard procedure. Not doing it is bad business.

What you got was a mini RTS game at the GS, with a DF lobby added later. But you described a trading card game, which was already added - called Triple Triad. So rather than add another trading card game, they tried to give us a RTS game instead. I appreciate the effort, even if it is difficult to use (controller)

I don't know how you can mistake what I said for a trading game like Triple Triad but ok, have it your way and see it as a trading card game.

Disclaimer: Everything expressed here is my own opinion, which is based on work experience after having worked with games and game publishing for 6+ years. I do not try to force it on anyone.