Yoshi-P tells PC Gamer that he is "not shocked" by mixed DT reception

[Morphiana]

https://imgur.com/a/PJItAbi

Great marketing technique, that 38% positive reviews on steam really proves that lmao.

That's not marketing, those are reviews of the product directly from the users. Why would you think that is marketing? User reviews can act as marketing (if they're good a publisher will cite them in advertisements), but they are not something SE will actively attempt to influence as the blowback from doing such a thing would be huge. For example, they aren't saying "Get 30 days free of FFXIV if you give us 5 star reviews!" like some cheap Amazon product from a no name company that will disappear off the face of the planet in two months time.

Marketing is advertising. Interviews are a form of advertising. He's not going to and was never going to say, "Well, we missed the mark with DT, etc." right now - All that does is tell potential new players and returning players that even the devs aren't a fan of the xpac and have no faith in their product. So why buy it when you can just go to our competitor, WoW? - It'll be a cold day in hell when they are critical of their product during both a WoW xpac release and so soon after their own xpac release.

You won't get any real feedback critical of DT's MSQ or gameplay until sales have calmed, subs go down a bit, and we're in between patches. That's when they can be critical of the MSQ as it isn't new, and they can give players who left due to the MSQ a reason to come back.

[Astronis]

But also he stated that he believed she had a parent complex and wasn't confident. Based on what we saw, this isn't the case. She didn't show having any kind of "complex", Koana kinda did, but not Garfield. More importantly the "confidence" thing makes absolutely no sense with how she acted throughout 90% of the story. In short, I don't think Yoshi-P actually looked over the final story that was present. It seems like he saw an early draft, then it was changed and nobody told him.

Yes, he did also say that, which is a different thing than "showcasing the character". Could be, showcasing her differently would have made those character traits clearer for us. They were there, though to me only her lack of confidence was clear. THAT was right there basically the moment we met her in Old Sharlyan. I think probably her 'parent complex' ended up looking to me like an absolutely obnoxious level of trying to find new family members everywhere she looked (no, clingy lady, my WoL does not regard you as family, back off). Which...I can see that perhaps Yoshi-P, seeing the character from his side with all the information, wouldn't have realized that this was not coming across the way they'd hoped. That's a sadly common artist's problem of thinking your ideas got communicated when they didn't at all.

[Daralii]

Yes, he did also say that, which is a different thing than "showcasing the character". Could be, showcasing her differently would have made those character traits clearer for us. They were there, though to me only her lack of confidence was clear. THAT was right there basically the moment we met her in Old Sharlyan. I think probably her 'parent complex' ended up looking to me like an absolutely obnoxious level of trying to find new family members everywhere she looked (no, clingy lady, my WoL does not regard you as family, back off). Which...I can see that perhaps Yoshi-P, seeing the character from his side with all the information, wouldn't have realized that this was not coming across the way they'd hoped. That's a sadly common artist's problem of thinking your ideas got communicated when they didn't at all.

She was so radically different in Sharlayan that I have to wonder if 6.55 was before or after rewrites.

[lolnotacat]

Which...I can see that perhaps Yoshi-P, seeing the character from his side with all the information, wouldn't have realized that this was not coming across the way they'd hoped. That's a sadly common artist's problem of thinking your ideas got communicated when they didn't at all.

This actually makes me wonder if Yoshi-P actually played Dawntrail because it should be pretty clear that Wuk wasn't what he described at all.

FFXIV has been stuck in the "You think you do, but you don't" phase for a while now since ShB and EW's MSQ helped mask somewhat the otherwise poor design choices made elsewhere in the game that they're still continuing to ignore player feedback about, but DT's MSQ just made everything stick out even more. On the other end, WoW is looking to put out another strong expansion by listening, talking, and working to their playerbase.

This is going to be a real big issue for XIV going forward. The game positioned itself as the story MMO. Sure, players like high-end raiding and similar content, but most of it is done by a minority. Anecdotally, I've known a lot of players who only subbed for the story and would quit between patches. They pulled in all these players based on how amazing the story was during ShB and the release of EW. Now that the hype for story isn't there, a lot of the other cracks are really starting to show. The patience players had for the game's other faults has worn thin, and I think it shows with all the complaints about other parts of the game; some of which you pointed out.

I can even say personally, I'm just not motivated like I was with every other expansion, and I've been around since 2.5. The only reasons I haven't unsubbed is because I don't wanna lose my medium house and I'm huffing massive amounts of hopium the 7.1 alliance raid series will be good. But after seeing the new housing system in GW2, losing my medium house seems like less of an issue.

[Willemdarke]

snip

I believe the person you quoted was saying that judging by reviews SE's marketing strategy is not working, not that the reviews themselves are said strategy.

[BigBoom550]

This is going to be a real big issue for XIV going forward. The game positioned itself as the story MMO. Sure, players like high-end raiding and similar content, but most of it is done by a minority. Anecdotally, I've known a lot of players who only subbed for the story and would quit between patches. They pulled in all these players based on how amazing the story was during ShB and the release of EW. Now that the hype for story isn't there, a lot of the other cracks are really starting to show. The patience players had for the game's other faults has worn thin, and I think it shows with all the complaints about other parts of the game; some of which you pointed out.

I can even say personally, I'm just not motivated like I was with every other expansion, and I've been around since 2.5. The only reasons I haven't unsubbed is because I don't wanna lose my medium house and I'm huffing massive amounts of hopium the 7.1 alliance raid series will be good. But after seeing the new housing system in GW2, losing my medium house seems like less of an issue.

Yeah, a good story can carry the game, but... at this point?

Story's mid, gameplay's homogenized for healers, glamor's overcomplicated and worse than the main competitors, dungeon design is predictable, housing's a mess, character customization's due for serious updates, inventory bloat is real and a lot of items should be tokens (raid rewards, dyes, certain materials probably, etc), fields/open world content's hollow... the list goes on.

[Rekh]

I agree with Yoship. I'm one of those positive reviews in the mix of mixed reviews.

[ViaDesperare]

I have two guesses.

1. Things were changed partway through production. Executives, consultants, etc...

Edit: Also, the fact that only the story is dogwater makes me think this is the case. If resources were spread too thin, encounter design, job design, etc... likely would've been garbage as well but those were OK (though PCT was overtuned).

2. Resources weren't available and CBS3 was spread too thin.

It's also possible it's some combination of the two.

I think 2ch had people talking about DEI, so they're thinking it's consultant groups as well. The evidence really does point towards DEI, and at this point it's what I believe it to be. Consultant group, or an individual got their hand on it, and now this is what we got. Rubber bullets, everyone is happy and peaceful, Mary-Sue OC insert.

It takes like $7 million for a group like SBI based off of Black Myth Wukong. So that money really could have been used for something else and considering the lack of voices, also good voices, and lack of gameplay elements outside of the dungeon/trials it seems like money went somewhere else.

More Quotes!

850. After a major disaster occurs, such as an earthquake, if the person in charge of disaster management, who had not made any preparations or countermeasures, were to say that everything was within expectations, he would probably get his head blown off.

399. Now it's clear that they don't want to listen to the voices of their customers.

158. I guess there's no one who can say no to Yoshida.
Only people around him are yes men, and he loves himself.

1186.
I was thinking of paying the bill tonight because I can't decide to lose my house, but after seeing this, I decided to take the plunge.
I'd rather spend my money and time elsewhere than keep paying for games I don't know if I'll play in the future.

[TaleraRistain]

I've been reading the recent interviews coming out of gamescon, and for me the way YoshiP talks about the MSQ (in the very few times he said anything about it), sound...incoherent. Like he didn't play the final version and he is only talking about the early character concepts he had to approve, without going through the actual text.
I understand he wouldn't throw his team under the bus, but at least addressing these concerns indirectly, or not giving excuses that had nothing to do with the actual majority of the feedback, would've sounded better in my opinion.

Something I have thought about constantly in regards to the expansion is how the heck did something like this get past Yoshi-P, who has always maintained a standard of quality. If he's not directly involved anymore and doesn't have a chosen successor in that position with that oversight, then that could explain the downgrade in quality.

[BigBoom550]

I think 2ch had people talking about DEI, so they're thinking it's consultant groups as well. The evidence really does point towards DEI, and at this point it's what I believe it to be. Consultant group, or an individual got their hand on it, and now this is what we got. Rubber bullets, everyone is happy and peaceful, Mary-Sue OC insert.

While we'll probably never know, this is unfortunately probably the case.

I'm a big fan of geniuine diversity, and that means good and bad. Sanding off the hard edges of a culture is not diverse. It's a pastiche, like going to Taco Bell for mexican food.

The worst part to me, is that most people aren't particularly bothered by good faith but incorrect attempts to interact with their culture. They aren't usually bothered when you take an idea from their culture and put a new spin on it.

And this is setting aside that it's a fantasy game in a fantasy world where you legitimately have multiple sapient species running about. Why was 'representation' even a concern? Ishgard's not France, Doma's not China. Limsa, Ul'dah, Gridania, Ala Mhigo, Eulmore, the Crystarium, Sharlayan, Raz ad Han- none needed that, nobody complained because *elements* were brought in but they never purported to be anything close to real life.

But, well, SBI bullies its way in, wouldn't be surprised if Geografy or whatever their name is did too.