New Letter from the Producer, XII

[Wolfie]

Tanaka's team gave us a mangled game with monumentally bad design flaws, poorly implemented features, multiple core problems, and zero direction. All of his "novel features" were thrown right back into his face because they were so so s***ty.

Yoshida understands what makes MMOs work, and even if he won't be making the next hallmark MMO, at least he'll turn this s*** ship around.

FFXIV at launch was next generation coaster and toilet paper.

[giftforce]

Tanaka's team gave us a mangled game with monumentally bad design flaws, poorly implemented features, multiple core problems, and zero direction. All of his "novel features" were thrown right back into his face because they were so so s***ty.

Yoshida understands what makes MMOs work, and even if he won't be making the next hallmark MMO, at least he'll turn this s*** ship around.

FFXIV at launch was next generation coaster and toilet paper.

And autoattack and questhubs are the future of MMOs? Do me a favour and make sense.

For all his failings, at least Tanaka was trying to offer something new. Yoshi doesn't know the meaning of imagination. Everything is just a plagiarism of WoW and EQ. He might as well have said so himself in the interview.

This is not the future of MMO gaming.

Every other upcoming MMO offers so much more than FFXIV is about to start offering, and they did it all without actually plagiarising WoW. Yoshi needs to wake the hell up and realise everything he suggests (steals from WoW) isn't worth implementation.

[Richard]

And autoattack and questhubs are the future of MMOs? Do me a favour and make sense.

The future of MMOs is obviously what you say it is. You should design your own and I'm sure you'll have a larger sub base than WoW.

[Wolfie]

And autoattack and questhubs are the future of MMOs? Do me a favour and make sense.

For all his failings, at least Tanaka was trying to offer something new. Yoshi doesn't know the meaning of imagination. Everything is just a plagiarism of WoW and EQ. He might as well have said so himself in the interview.

This is not the future of MMO gaming.

Every other upcoming MMO offers so much more than FFXIV is about to start offering, and they did it all without actually plagiarising WoW. Yoshi needs to wake the hell up and realise everything he suggests (steals from WoW) isn't worth implementation.

Please enlighten me as to how Tanaka's original direction, if any, was good.

Yoshida is adding things that have become standards in MMOs, that this one was completely lacking. It STILL lacks dozens of things that are standard in MMOs.

[giftforce]

Please enlighten me as to how Tanaka's original direction, if any, was good.

Yoshida is adding things that have become standards in MMOs, that this one was completely lacking. It STILL lacks dozens of things that are standard in MMOs.

Proving that Tanaka was bad doesn't make Yoshi good.

One redeeming feature of Tanaka, however, was that he actually took ownership of the game and, under his leadership, the development team still put forth ideas that helped further the genre; tHe armory and crafting systems, for example, and player run companies, etc.

And what does Yoshi give us? The promise of auto attack and quest hubs. These aren't freaking standards anymore!

[Wolfie]

Proving that Tanaka was bad doesn't make Yoshi good.

Your argument was that Yoshi is bad for the game. I countered that saying that he's adding in features to the game that have become genre standard. Your counter argument to that is that Tanaka was an innovator and his novel ideas were good for the game and/or genre. I'm asking you to back up those claims.

One redeeming feature of Tanaka, however, was that he actually took ownership of the game

Irrelevant. Being a director and/or producer means nothing in terms of innovation or the good of the game/genre.

and, under his leadership, the development team still put forth ideas that helped further the genre; tHe armory

The armor system has been bashed up and down by everyone because it creates homogeneous, bland classes. It's impossible to create any sort of class distinction in it, when its basic premise is that you can equip abilities from any class unto any class. To create distinction, you need to have abilities that are unequippable by other classes -- which is going in the opposite direction of the armory system.

and crafting systems

Also has been bashed up and down because of the monotony involved with crafting, the ridiculous interdependency between crafting jobs, stupidly rigid recipes, and the fact that crafting classes are considered viable main classes (meaning that all main story line quests or content that the devs want everyone to see need to be easy boring snoozefests).

for example, and player run companies, etc.

You mean, guilds? Whooo boy, really innovative here.

And what does Yoshi give us? The promise of auto attack and quest hubs. These aren't freaking standards anymore!

Yes they are.

[giftforce]

Your argument was that Yoshi is bad for the game. I countered that saying that he's adding in features to the game that have become genre standard. Your counter argument to that is that Tanaka was an innovator and his novel ideas were good for the game and/or genre. I'm asking you to back up those claims.

Irrelevant. Being a director and/or producer means nothing in terms of innovation or the good of the game/genre.

Regardless of who designs the features, it is someone's job to decide whether or not to implement them. Yoshi decides to implement crap all besides crap.

The armor system has been bashed up and down by everyone because it creates homogeneous, bland classes. It's impossible to create any sort of class distinction in it, when its basic premise is that you can equip abilities from any class unto any class. To create distinction, you need to have abilities that are unequippable by other classes -- which is going in the opposite direction of the armory system.

Oh as if. It is probably the one selling point of the game. And I don't know how long you've been on these forums but plenty of suggestions have been bandied about to create definitiveness within the armory system.

Also has been bashed up and down because of the monotony involved with crafting, the ridiculous interdependency between crafting jobs, stupidly rigid recipes, and the fact that crafting classes are considered viable main classes (meaning that all main story line quests or content that the devs want everyone to see need to be easy boring snoozefests).

Oh no, heaven forbid crafting classes rely on each other for recipe components. This is an MMO, FYI, some degree of social interaction is expected. The interdependency between crafting classes is not ridiculous. It is an asset to the game and facilitates social interdependency. FFS.

You mean, guilds? Whooo boy, really innovative here.

Implementation matters.

Yes they are.

Ten years ago.

[Richard]

Regardless of who designs the features, it is someone's job to decide whether or not to implement them. Yoshi decides to implement crap all besides crap.



Oh as if. It is probably the one selling point of the game. And I don't know how long you've been on these forums but plenty of suggestions have been bandied about to create definitiveness within the armory system.



Oh no, heaven forbid crafting classes rely on each other for recipe components. This is an MMO, FYI, some degree of social interaction is expected. The interdependency between crafting classes is not ridiculous. It is an asset to the game and facilitates social interdependency. FFS.



Implementation matters.




Ten years ago.

you were obviously not hugged enough as a child.

[Wolfie]

Regardless of who designs the features, it is someone's job to decide whether or not to implement them. Yoshi decides to implement crap all besides crap.

Got anything to back up those claims, or are you just flinging insults at Yoshi thinking that's a valid form of logic?

Oh as if. It is probably the one selling point of the game. And I don't know how long you've been on these forums but plenty of suggestions have been bandied about to create definitiveness within the armory system.

It's a "selling point" of the game, because the marketing team tried to push it. But as it turns out, it's a bad system that the huge overwhelming majority of customers hated. Fluid classes and class definition are mutually exclusive concepts; to have class definition, a given class must have skills or a play style that is unique to it. That's what the job system is designed to do.

If you have an example of the contrary -- that is, class definition while maintaining fluidity -- I'd love to hear it.

Oh no, heaven forbid crafting classes rely on each other for recipe components. This is an MMO, FYI, some degree of social interaction is expected. The interdependency between crafting classes is not ridiculous. It is an asset to the game and facilitates social interdependency. FFS.

I think my exact words were "ridiculous interdependency", which kind of implies that it's too much. There's a difference between a few recipes needing ingredients from 1-2 other crafts, and 3 out of 4 recipes requiring ingredients from 3-4 other crafts. There's also the fact that some recipes require a higher level to craft than the end result, stupidly rigid recipes which you did not address, boring minigame which you did not address, and the dumbing down of the main game because of crafting classes ALSO which you did not address.

And for the record, FORCING people to socialize doesn't foster good community. Making socializing accessible and rewarding does.

Implementation matters.

You said Tanaka was better than Yoshida because he brought new ideas to the table, even if they weren't implemented or designed properly. So which is it? Does implementation matter or not?

Ten years ago.

And they still are. Mouse control for video games became a standard in the mid 90's -- that never went out of style. Just because something became a standard a long time ago doesn't mean it's no longer a standard.

[kukurumei]

Oh as if. It is probably the one selling point of the game. And I don't know how long you've been on these forums but plenty of suggestions have been bandied about to create definitiveness within the armory system.

Umm heck no...shown by how badly the community abandoned from the so called "selling point". We didn't want it, goes a long way to show the differences of producers.

Tanaka with whatever faults is the biggest failure as a producer compared to YoashiP. Strictly as a job description, the producer should be the last person to be forcing his views onto others. The producer should be the one on the outside looking in, not the inside looking out.