Recent Japanese Magazine Articles with Translations by Soukyuu

[Aenarion]

Why are the Debbie Downers in the thread always from Sarg? :<

/punts the lalafell

I know, right :< Makes me feel so shameful at times D;

Because sarg was full of whiny asshats.

The gay marriage thread - sarg
The sexism in games thread - sarg
rokien - sarg

I am ashamed.

Most of them came from lindblum!Saronia was quite nice b4 the merge.

/punts the rest with the lalafell

[whoopeeragon]

/punts the lalafell







/punts the rest with the lalafell

/rescues and deposits in Durandal

[Soukyuu]

I got it from the last live letter. I believe recalling how Wada pulled up some concept art and Yoshi-P started talking about it. Referring to it as "Mansion" and talking about it being for free companies at launch and how multiple players will need to pool their money together to afford it.

That was referring to the L-sized houses though, especially since you will be able to somehow distribute the inner space to make rooms for individual use.

I don't think rulesets were ever intended to be seperate- only the actual gameplay (that is, PvP happens in its own places and doesn't directly interfere with anyone's PvE experience)

The problem is, PvP requires a completely different skill/status effect balance. In most games PvE is getting crippled in the name of PvP because of that.

Some games, for example RO, have separate rulesets once you enter an area that is deemed to bee PvP. YoshiP acknowledges this difference but only says it needs careful balancing. He could save his team a lot of headache if they just separate the rulesets, not having to think about whether to cripple PvE or PvP

[PotatoSalad]

The problem is, PvP requires a completely different skill/status effect balance. In most games PvE is getting crippled in the name of PvP because of that.

Some games, for example RO, have separate rulesets once you enter an area that is deemed to bee PvP. YoshiP acknowledges this difference but only says it needs careful balancing. He could save his team a lot of headache if they just separate the rulesets, not having to think about whether to cripple PvE or PvP

I agree wholeheartedly. Arena Net shot themselves in the foot when they decided not to seperate PvE/PvP rulesets. Boy oh boy the forums of GW2 are alive and practically bursting with contempt and frustration about the consistent NERFS(bad word 'round these here parts) to pve because of the pvp turkies!

[Preypacer]

but im fine with it. i think vieras are very close to miquotes and not only to humans.
miquotes are a feline race yet.. so im okay if yoshi p. thinks a reptile race would be more fresh to the universe.

bangaa ^^

Actually, Bangaas wouldn't be bad. I mean they're "lizard-like", but not so much that you'd mistake them for one of the Beastmen tribe. Their silhouette is very different and easy to distinguish, etc.

Personally, I'd kinda dig having them around.

One thing I'm concerned about from the info is the bit about balancing things for PvP and PvE at the same time. That's led to endless headaches and plenty of complaints about "imbalances" between playstyles, "favoritism" for one playstyle or another in other MMOs, and so on. The PvP'ers always feel they're getting the shaft. the PvE'ers always feel they're getting the shaft. One side always feels the other is being favored, etc. "Balancing everything for PvE is gimping us in PvP. Fix it", etc. etc. Yoshi-P, being a major DAoC player for several years, has certainly seen/heard his share of such complaints/issues. Hopefully they find some way to truly balance that.

[Mudd]

Actually, Bangaas wouldn't be bad. I mean they're "lizard-like", but not so much that you'd mistake them for one of the Beastmen tribe. Their silhouette is very different and easy to distinguish, etc.

Personally, I'd kinda dig having them around.

They could be from the desert, South of Ul'dah.
Maybe the destruction caused by Bahamuts rampage will have opened up pathways allowing them to make first contact.

I can think of a bunch of stuff they could do to give account of the first contact by way of quests.

Maybe start with just talk of mysterious activity in the area and so on, eventually followed by accounts of contact with a strange (Maybe underground faring) society of highly intelligent beast like peoples. And of course actually putting Merchant and Diplomat NPCs from the race into the game shortly before actually releasing the race as playable.

[Preypacer]

I'm not even pasting this. It just keeps happening!


Help!

LMAO! Fantastic.

Now if only that "Like" button would break the same way....

[Preypacer]

They could be from the desert, South of Ul'dah.
Maybe the destruction caused by Bahamuts rampage will have opened up pathways allowing them to make first contact.

I can think of a bunch of stuff they could do to give account of the first contact by way of quests.

Maybe start with just talk of mysterious activity in the area and so on, eventually followed by accounts of contact with a strange (Maybe underground faring) society of highly intelligent beast like peoples. And of course actually putting Merchant and Diplomat NPCs from the race into the game shortly before actually releasing the race as playable.

Indeed.

And as Yoshi's said, a new race would be introduced with an expansion. So they could certainly do plenty to bring them into the fold in that manner.

I always liked the Bangaas in XII. A rather likeable race. They always reminded me of the Mystics from "The Dark Crystal" (and to a lesser degree, their beaked bretheren, the Skeksis).

And hey, they're from the same world as Vieras. So, Yoshi-P would be picking from the same garden, so to speak.

Okay.. I'm beginning to get attached to this idea lol. Don't want to start getting my hopes up o.o

Edit: I started a new thread to discuss this topic on its own, as this thread is more about a number of different topics, not one in particular. Here's the Post.

[Elexia]

If you show someone who knows nothing of Ivalice or FF games in general, chances are they'll look at the bangaa and think they're just more intelligent looking enemies due to being more humanoid which is exactly what the beastmen tribe are, they're more intelligent than your everyday enemy.

Same with this:



If you ignored the filename, you could think that this was either a beastmen type race or a player race coming with XI's new expansion since in MMOs, there's generally a "monster" type choice, especially in western ones. He's also trying to target people who don't play FF games, so he wants to keep the designs as separate as possible, since even a beast like race with "soft features" is a common archetype for FF enemies/sub races (NPCS.)

[Preypacer]

If you show someone who knows nothing of Ivalice or FF games in general, chances are they'll look at the bangaa and think they're just more intelligent looking enemies due to being more humanoid which is exactly what the beastmen tribe are, they're more intelligent than your everyday enemy.

Same with this:



If you ignored the filename, you could think that this was either a beastmen type race or a player race coming with XI's new expansion since in MMOs, there's generally a "monster" type choice, especially in western ones. He's also trying to target people who don't play FF games, so he wants to keep the designs as separate as possible, since even a beast like race with "soft features" is a common archetype for FF enemies/sub races (NPCS.)

It's not really about knowing they're from Ivalice or not. I only noted that because Viera, which has been a common request, happen to be from the same world.

People would be unaware that they aren't an enemy race right up 'til the moment they go to the character creation screen, or look at the info for the Expansion, and see "Oh, they're adding a more reptilian playable race". At that point whether or not they've played any game set in Ivalice before would make absolutely no difference.

People going into GW2 with no knowledge of the series' history wouldn't necessarily know that the Charr were once a mortal enemy and have come over to fight on the same side. It hasn't caused any issues with that game that I'm aware of. They're just a big, beastly looking playable race now that's certainly more likely to be mistaken as an enemy race than a Bangaa would.

Basically, I see what you're getting at. But I don't think the concern you raise would be an issue.