JP: Yoshi P should step down, FF14 is a sinking ship, in response to interview

[LittleArrow]

Bad news. Unconfirmed Rumor is they swapped over to another group called Hit Detection, which does a lot of the same DEI focused stuff as SBI, but without being as well known.

Man what a punch to the gut. I was so resistant to the DEI argument due to their Japanese based company, and the entire quality of the writing is just atrocious, not just the other stuff, but I believe it now. There's no way the quality of writing went so bad so fast without outside interference.

I honestly felt hopeful we were going to get back to Stormblood / Shadowbringers era, but to hear they're still using these stupid consulting agencies that are scamming companies for money or blackmailing them for a game articles that NO ONE READS is insanely depressing. This was what I was waiting on, for Yoshi to take the reigns of his game and step up to the producer I saw over 10yrs ago when he took over 1.0. What a shame to hear if this is true.

Yoshi, devs, stop bowing down to western pressures. You've made and maintained an incredible product for a decade without outside consulting (at least I hope). Please, just make a fun game for us again. I don't want to see Yoshi step down, I don't want to see my game fail. Please take back your game.

[lolnotacat]

Man what a punch to the gut. I was so resistant to the DEI argument due to their Japanese based company, and the entire quality of the writing is just atrocious, not just the other stuff, but I believe it now. There's no way the quality of writing went so bad so fast without outside interference.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was a combination of the two. If you look at all the stuff Hiroi put out before, none of it was stellar. Hell, most of it was barely passable, but it still wasn't as bad as Dawntrail. Maybe he just couldn't handle having the reins of an entire expansion's story and that's what caused him to fumble so badly, but I'm leaning towards outside influences were the ones trying to polish the turd. None of Hiroi's previous stuff was super engaging, but the stories had more depth than the dry-puddle level of alpacas, tacos, and rubber bullets DT has. Tural seemed almost childish, especially when compared to the Azim Steppe (probably the best comparison since they had similar goals of learning about the culture and installing a leader) and Hiroi had the entire MSQ to flesh it out instead of just one zone.

I'm wondering if Tural had actual lore and an engaging story written, but a lot of it was gutted to appease the sensibilities of outside influences.

[DiaDeem]

Thought this was funny, dunno.

[LittleArrow]

I wouldn't be surprised if it was a combination of the two. If you look at all the stuff Hiroi put out before, none of it was stellar. Hell, most of it was barely passable, but it still wasn't as bad as Dawntrail. Maybe he just couldn't handle having the reins of an entire expansion's story and that's what caused him to fumble so badly, but I'm leaning towards outside influences were the ones trying to polish the turd. None of Hiroi's previous stuff was super engaging, but the stories had more depth than the dry-puddle level of alpacas, tacos, and rubber bullets DT has. Tural seemed almost childish, especially when compared to the Azim Steppe (probably the best comparison since they had similar goals of learning about the culture and installing a leader) and Hiroi had the entire MSQ to flesh it out instead of just one zone.

I'm wondering if Tural had actual lore and an engaging story written, but a lot of it was gutted to appease the sensibilities of outside influences.

Great points, I totally agree.

Before the SBI topic was brought up, I was leaning towards massive last minute rewrites. The plotholes are so -so- bad. The writing contradicts itself sometimes within the same dialogue. I had just resigned it to the mystery vault that is "development process," and accepted we'd just never know the truth.

However, knowing XIV is literally what is keeping Enix alive after all the horrible fumbles they've made with their IPs, and seeing the insane budgets games have now a days that every game has to be an Avengers level of success to break even (which is ridiculous - the FF7 games look great I'm so happy they're made), there's no way the removal of SE from SBI's site isn't a sign there's rumbling going on at SE's offices. I've always had a measured view of criticism towards SE and I was never one to doomsay, however I think I'm changing that opinion now.

I think SE is sweating. XIV isn't well. It might not be dead, but DT is literally like the storm of the century. There are so many issues that all came together collectively; lackluster job designs (just not fun), insanely long periods between patches, the launch having such anemic content, and now the story lobotomizing the WoL and Scions... it's not a good look. I really really hope they're waking up and getting out of their comfy board rooms to get back to making things fun again.

[EDIT]Forgot to add the 'graphic update' to that list - game looks better, but man.. my character looks awful.

[lolnotacat]

However, knowing XIV is literally what is keeping Enix alive after all the horrible fumbles they've made with their IPs, and seeing the insane budgets games have now a days that every game has to be an Avengers level of success to break even....

Ironically, this line confused the hell out of me because Square-Enix published the Avengers game in 2020 that was a flop lol

[TemporalFruitsAndVeggies]

People trying to blame any of DT's problems on DEI is probably the most unhinged take I've read all week, though people who are prone to blaming anything on DEI are almost always unhinged racists to begin with, so that checks out, I guess.

It was just a subpar chapter in a decade-long video game story. That's it. There's no grand conspiracy here.

[genuine_stranger]

People trying to blame any of DT's problems on DEI is probably the most unhinged take I've read all week, though people who are prone to blaming anything on DEI are almost always unhinged racists to begin with, so that checks out, I guess.

It was just a subpar chapter in a decade-long video game story. That's it. There's no grand conspiracy here.

I think calling someone an "unhinged racist" just because they have a problem with how DEI initiatives have been handled in entertainment recently feels like a pretty extreme leap. People can have legitimate criticisms about the way some DEI consulting has influenced creative decisions without it coming from a place of racism.

[BabyYoda]

I used to care.. but if I dont see meaningful changes in 7.1 I will start to leave and cancel my subscription

[LittleArrow]

I think calling someone an "unhinged racist" just because they have a problem with how DEI initiatives have been handled in entertainment recently feels like a pretty extreme leap. People can have legitimate criticisms about the way some DEI consulting has influenced creative decisions without it coming from a place of racism.

This so much, I couldn't agree more.

I can't speak for others and I'm not defending the reciprocal pushback that does go too far in the other direction to legitimate racisim, but there is something wrong with those consulting firms. There's a big difference between the way games were made in the past and the way they've been coming out lately. It isn't good.

Diversity is good. I love seeing different cultures and races in fictional games that relate to real world ones. It is a beautiful thing to have a game filled to the brim with different peoples and how those cultures conflict and resolve. It's great story telling. Not all stories need that and most recently I would argue it has harmed more so than enriched. Still, I've always pushed back against the argument that consulting agencies have impacted SE, but just relegating the story to cheap or bad, idk, I can't agree with that.

The disparity is insane to me. I literally felt like I was playing a different game. I've seen some people say it's still FF and list off some very vague and basic story points that are common in FF games. I can't agree with that either. I could do the same and compare the game to Metal Gear Solid and they're completely different games.

DT does -not- feel like XIV. Whether or not DEI had a hand in it, I think it is very very narrow minded to see that SE has been taken off SBI's website and not infer anything from that with all of the criticisms that have been coming from DT. I 100% could be jumping the to conclusions too soon, I won't argue that. The cope is real right now for me.

[lolnotacat]

Anyone I disagree with is an *ist and a *phobe.

Fixed that for you.