JPGames: Interview with Yoshida Naoki

[Arland]

Hi guys,

JPGames.de sat down for an interview with producer yoshida naoki at the gamescom 2012 as well.

JPGames-Frederick: With the over howl of existing maps will current players be able to choose a new starting city? After changes are made, maybe a Ul’dah player wants to choose Limsa Lominsa instead, will this be possible?

Yoshida: The current player won’t be able to choose a new starting city. The reason being that current players are playing the story now and the continuation of that story with Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn – So we can’t make any changes there.

For the rest of the interview please check this thread!

[neorei]

lol it's just like every single article........

[bobbygunz]

It's kind of funny how Yoshi just flat-out admitted to making a WoW-clone! And that FFXI was an everquest-clone! Woah!

[yukikaze_yanagi]

It's kind of funny how Yoshi just flat-out admitted to making a WoW-clone! And that FFXI was an everquest-clone! Woah!

incredible huh ? it's not like wow being a clone of almost every mmorpg on the market the day it was released

[bobbygunz]

incredible huh ? it's not like wow being a clone of almost every mmorpg on the market the day it was released

Don't remember seeing question marks floating above people's heads in FFXI

Obviously WoW was an iteration on a pre-existing concept, but it was an iteration and also a progression (you could argue) in some way.

FFXIV 2.0 is kinda a regression in the sense that they are just copying WoW (a nearly decade old game), at least for now, and then, in Yoshi's own words, they will try to develop their own identity at some later date.

I guess the question is: are they for serious going back to WoW and emulating that gameplay as though it's some "winning formula" which will lead them to success? Because when has that ever worked in the past for other developers?

WoW may have been a standard at some point in history, and maybe there's some merit in at least attempting to create a kind of game people are familiar with, but at the same time, is WoW really "the standard"? Today, almost ten years later? And tomorrow?

The reason WoW was successful because there was some degree of innovation. FFXIV is consciously choosing to un-innovate. Seems backwards.

[Renen]

There are different ways one can be a "clone"

[bobbygunz]

There are different ways one can be a "clone"

"cloning", "standardising", whatever you say, it all reeks of an identity crisis and a quick cash-in on a market which might be fading, since the current standard changes.

From watching commentary on beta streams by players, it's clear that not all players love to do pop-up, skimmable, quest chains over and over. And I think FFXIV have fallen for the myth that players love this, and so that's what theyre going to try to achieve. But in reality it's not an achievement.

Trying to market FFXIV on being "standard" is like saying it's generic. It's not a good thing. Especially since, at the moment, it's all theyre saying.

[Gokulo]

Innovation did 1.0 good :3

[bobbygunz]

Innovation did 1.0 good :3

cats have four legs
dogs have four legs
Therefore all cats are dogs?

Just because 1.0 innovated a terribled UI and was not properly tested doesnt mean 2.0 cannot innovate or that innovation is the devil.

Real smart.

[Gokulo]

Sorry, but after that disaster that was 1.0 saying that 2.0 being brought up to todays standard is bad is pretty stupid to me.
They failed with innovation, so right now it's better if they can at least copy what's good. Of course not everyone loves quest-leveling, but the same way not everyone loves what we have now. You can't make everyone happy. They decided on a route they're going to take and that's it. Like it or leave it, as they say. At this point it's not gonna change, S-E is not another ArenaNet, and that's reality.