INCGamers Interview with Yoshida-san dated 08/21/12

[Duelle]

Now we have seen many MMO's be suscessfull for many years using a more narrow targeted market as it's playerbase, and we have seen a singular MMO be rewarded for being (No offence) Instant gratification, and also watch many, many MMO's fail trying to replicate this formula.

Personally, the difference is the IP in use and how well the launch is handled. Warhammer had a pretty decent turnout...until the mess that was PvP reared its head in. Broken PvP in a PvP-centered game is disastrous. Then we have stuff like Age of Conan, which unfortunately only appealed to the people who bothered to read the books, as that Conan is way different from the one used in the movie or TV series. And the brokeness of its launch was pretty bad on its own. Same with LotRO, though it lasted longer because Return of the King was still fresh in people's minds.

TOR has outlasted them all, but it was to be expected between the insane amounts of money Bioware spent advertising the game, the power of the Star Wars IP and the fact Bioware was behind the game. Then the stupid design changes and other problems broke out.

I personally think FFXIV will be fine so long as they stay true to their design, take advantage of the power behind the FF IP, make changes that don't piss too many people off and continue to come clean and transparent as they have since Yoshida took over. Because shadiness and BS is much more likely to drive people away than most would think.

As for me:

Everquest (1 year)
Lineage II (2+ years)
Ragnarok Online (1 year)
City of Heroes (2 years)
FFXI (5 years)
WoW (5 years)
Assorted titles: Granado Espada, Champions Online, Warhammer Online, TOR (beta only)

My main thing is game mechanics, because well-designed game mechanics ensure that shenannigans like FFXI's party dynamics don't happen. Story and all goes to the wind when the gameplay sucks. Progression models come in second, not for my sake but more to prevent seeing people do stupid things to each other in the name of efficacy (again, FFXI being the posterchild for that brand of stupidity). Then comes lore, setting and story, because lore that makes sense is always something that should be present in-game.

[Virtuso]

That line about the Xi -XIV community is so brilliant. The more I hear of Yoshi-P the more I love this guy. Whose ever idea it was to put him in charge of XIV deserves a medal. Regardless of how the relaunch turns out, I cannot conceive of anyone better fit to save both this game and FF's reputation.

Just as a side thought....How have we never heard of him before XIV? And why wasn't this genius put in charge in the first place?!

[KujinRen]

For a theme park game, I believe having various rides are important. I feel we should be able to log on and have a list of things we can do each day, depending on our mood. This is why I am excited that Yoshida confirmed some type of Golden Saucer content!

Some days I feel like soloing.
Some days I feel like partying.
Some days I feel like raiding.
Some days I feel like exploring.
Some days I feel like being creative with player housing.
Some days I feel like raising my chocobo.
Some days I feel like PvP.
Some days I feel like crafting.
Some days I feel like playing mini games.

GOLDEN SAUCER! If it is anything like the Golden Saucer in FFVII and taken to the next level, it could be a great thing to have in the game. Casinos, arcade mini-games... a great place to hang out if you want to take a break from the hard battles and crafting of Eorzea!

Some ideas I have for Golden Saucer inspired from other games:

Casino gambling (Lufia series)
Cooking contest (Star Ocean series) - Wilted salad anyone?
Chocobo Racing (FFVII)
Side-scroll aerial combat (like Gradius or R-Type) but with Airships and FF Elements
Theatrical-related mini game (FFIX)
Dodge lightning (FFX, I remember it was for Lulu's ultimate weapon)
Something sports related (like Blitzball from FFX)
Massaging-related mini game (FFX-2) Hilarious!
Opera house mini game (FFVI)
Some kind of card game similar to Tetra Master (FFVIII)
Dungeon puzzle mini game (Lufia series) - Moving objects to clear a path to the next room
Whack-a-moogle?

[dragorian]

now if they can make golden saucer like serindipity in 13-2 that would be awsome

[Ruisu]

now if they can make golden saucer like serindipity in 13-2 that would be awsome

Serendipity was terrible. The chocobo races were half-assed, the minigames were just generic casino games, and sphere break was a beyond retarded concept. Let's not forget that music.

The Gold Saucer had multiple minigames that played completely different from each other.

[Biggs]

I have looked forward to 2.0 for so long I can't believe I am saying this, but over the last few patches I have begun to enjoy the game more now than at any time since its launch. While certainly myself and other veterans can still site plenty of things we dislike about the current version (caravan enlistment and drop rates being my personal top 2) I have actually reached a point where the thought of drastically changing all this progress makes me nervous. I am confident that the man responsible for all the current changes will usher in even better ones, but I suppose part of me can't help but feel it may change TOO much. Having realized now that the Japanese word for "flood" must mean something very different from what it does here in the states, and that we won't actually know much about the new version until we are playing it, all we can do now is wait for the better. It's been an interesting ride and I look forward to seeing its conclusion/beginning. Hurry up SE the wait for some of us that love you most has been brutal

[Yrusama]

cool, integration for FB and twitter confirmed, plus they want the app ready for the release. Very nice

P.s it's funny that yoshi said that they'cant hear 100% what the current player base is asking, cuz they only played Xi or XIV. So they have very poor experience in mmo terms. This is a thing that i said many times before lol

As someone who has only played XI before XIV (although I've played it for years) I'm actually glad about this. It's good to have people remind us that there is so much to the industry we don't know, even if we've read about it. I wonder if they have members of the development team that are playing the more mainstream MMOs to gather ideas. XIV is already pretty unique as it is now (don't even TRY to convince me that it's just like XI), so I don't think it'll hurt to apply technical ideas from other games to it.

A game can only be so unique before it turns completely bad. XIV originally tried too hard to be unique and it fell flat because of it. The Armoury system is still one of the biggest selling points, but almost everything else has undergone massive changes. A chocobo can only have so many unique features before it loses its appeal, like those mutant rainbow chocobos in FFXIII-2.

[Quesse]

No it's not. People who only play two MMOs ever do not use forums.

I've only played FFXI and FFXIV. You know me. I use the forums. XD Time to rethink your logic! :O

[Amrita]

The only MMO's I have played are FFXI & FFXIV I don't have TIME to play more than one simultaneously.
Former co-workers tried to get me into WoW... but when I went to a friend's house to check it out there wasn't anything I liked about it so I politely declined their offers to "raid after work". (Plus I was just @ work with these ppl for 8+ hours, the last thing I wanted to do was spend more time w/ them XD).

[Asiaine]

I like strategy, good battle mechanics, and crafting.

I liked FFXI for the strategy (at least, with regard to job/sub-job and skill usage).
I like FFXIV for crafting.
I liked SWG for crafting (but not any other aspect of it).

Nothing else out there exists that I know of that has better crafting or more strategic battle mechanics than FFXIV.

And of course, in my opinion, the graphics and music in FFXIV are wonderful. Plus a great story. I do not think those are available elsewhere. If SE can sort out the 'mechanics' and 'server' issues they will have an amazing MMORPG on their hand (although it may not appeal to everyone).