Yoshida interview

[Ingolf]

http://andriasang.com/con1d3/ffxiv_interview/

Famitsu.com was given a chance to see a live play session of Final Fantasy XIV Version 2.0. But before that, the site quizzed director and producer Naoki Yoshida on the long awaited reboot of the troubled MMORPG.

The first question the site asked was about the PlayStation 3 version of the game. Yoshida would not share a time frame for the PS3 version. Rather, he discussed the approach Square Enix will be taking with promoting FFXIV to PS3 players. The PS3 version is especially targeted to new players, so he believes they should start promotions from zero When they open a promotion site for the PS3 version, it will begin with the very basics, such as an introduction to the world of Eorza.

Moving on to a general discussion of Version 2.0, Yoshida listed three points that he, his staff, and Square Enix as a whole consider pillars for Version 2.0's development: the ultimate gameplay, a main story that gives the feeling of "FF," and the ultimate graphics for driving the ultimate gameplay and ultimate story.

On the area of graphics, Yoshida noted that the game's graphics engine, which he's had a hand in since concept creation, is built upon the idea of showing as many players as possible. Also, it's designed to be extremely customizable, allowing it to run on high spec PCs, low spec PCs and PlayStation 3.

All the screens we've seen thus far have been from the PC version, said Yoshida. The quality will go up by about 15% from what we're seeing now.

One area that Final Fantasy fans in particular can look forward to is the inclusion of many fan service elements in Version 2.0. Yoshida personally feels that FFXIV should be a fan service title. They're adding elements from past FF games, recreated with FFXIV-level graphics and in the FFXIV world style. As an example, you'll find a Crystal Tower in Version 2.0. This, of course, is from Final Fantasy III. The Mado Armor (Magitek Armor) that appears in Version 2.0 is pretty much the same design as that of FFVI. He also said to expect an Ivalice and the FFXIII world in FFXIV form. Yoshida hopes that this type of fan service gets players excited as they wonder what game's "essence" will next be added to FFXIV.

Famitsu.com asked Yoshida what's certain to be a common question as Version 2.0's release approaches: how about an Xbox 360 version? Replied Yoshida: "It's an MMORPG, so I believe we should have as many players as possible playing it, and when thinking about it as a business, I believe it is my job to get as many accounts made as possible. So I won't say that there is no possibility. However, until we deliver the promised PlayStation 3 version, no matter what we say, people will ask "Seriously?" and "Uhh, how about getting that Version 2.0 running first?", so we must first concentrate on getting Version 2.0 out.

Version 2.0's roadmap is currently running on schedule. They plan on beginning full promotions around August and starting an alpha test in late September. The plan is to start a beta test without too much wait after that.

For PlayStation 3 version beta testers, the plan is to deliver a client in download form, and allow players to take part in the latter half of the beta.

Yoshida would not give a precise timeframe for start of official service, but he assured that the staff of course knows that the sooner the better. Once the beta starts, he believes they'll be able to have a large number of players trying out Version 2.0.

[Zantetsuken]

He also said to expect an Ivalice and the FFXIII world in FFXIV form.

I hope he is referring more to elements and themes from those games rather than a literal import of the Ivalice world or *shudder* Pulse/Cocoon.

Even if it is only elements or themes, I can't think of much in FFXIII that I'd want to see in this game.

[neorei]

I'm happy about the fan service.

[Teakwood]

I'm pretty confident he's talking about homages and stylistic callouts, despite the ambiguous wording.

Note how he talks about the Crystal Tower that they have plans to add; he's talking about visual and thematic inspiration from FF3, such that people who are fans of the game will be able to look at XIV's Crystal Tower and recognise it at a wide-scale, and go "oh huh this is like what that might have looked like in today's graphics", but that doesn't mean it's a copy-and-paste job of FF3's actual Crystal Tower.

I assume the same principle will hold, generally, throughout.

[Zumi]

Wonder if there will be a Sephiroth fight.

[Teakwood]

Wonder if there will be a Sephiroth fight.

This is why we can't have nice things.

[Zumi]

This is why we can't have nice things.

There very well could be one if hes doing fan service. I mean he has appeared in other SE games as a boss fight before.

[Musaid]

Wouldn't mind a 'Gran Pulse'-like zone.

[Teakwood]

Well, like, my point is there's a difference between "goofy ass fanservice mashup of everything ever" and "stylistic / visual callbacks, clever references, and a sense of the eclectic variety that is really the only constant between FF games", and I'm fervently begging the Twelve for lots of the latter and only a little bit if any of the former.

There's lots of different ways to do fanservice, and the fact that people are actually, actively hoping for nostalgia copypasta is worrying to me as I didn't really buy into the world and storyline of Eorzea hoping that it'd gradually turn into Dissidia Online. If that's the direction Yoshida and his people actually want to take it, I can't really do anything and I'll probably even enjoy it, but it doesn't mean I'm going to be happy about it in the short term, and more importantly, I'm fairly sure that's -not- what they have planned and people should adjust their expectations accordingly.

[Dragonheart]

I wonder why no one has asked for hot questions...

-Regional servers, actual latency/responsivness of the game?
-Action lock? Increased combat speed and more more dynamic combat? ..
-Content with difficult switch (normal, hardmode and "nightmare" like SW) and changes for drops mentality...
-No more istance / boss spamm, but longer raid lock with more assured drops at least in hard mode (meritocracy anyone? )