Translations (JP to English)

[Duelle]

Most impressive. Thanks for the translation, Rein.

[Andrien]

solid interview

[Biggs]

Thanks for all the hard work Rein

[Donimo]

That was a fantastic interview; the best of the bunch from the week of E3. Thanks, Reinheart!

[Freud]

thx for the trad!

[neorei]

yoshi is a very competent producer, he actually understands the MMO market and how players play.

[bobbygunz]

yoshi is a very competent producer, he actually understands the MMO market and how players play.

You could say that, but there are times when you could also question just how in touch he is with MMO players. At one point he says that it's a FF game first and foremost, or at least he seemed to prioritise the fact that it's a FF game, which is another way of ignoring the market in favour of their own ideology. Shouldn't an MMO be a MMO first and an FF second? It's like saying the gameplay is secondary.

Perhaps all he was saying was that if it's bearing the FF name, so it obviously needs to do the FF series justice. But still, just the way he said it came off as strange. I don't think you would hear such things from many other esteemed producers of MMOs. Micromanaging how "FF" the game is seems like something that's not even worth mentioning. Obviously it's a factor, but there are more pressing concerns, conceptually, for an MMO than that. And if he sees fit to mention this, then that doesn't bode well for what's going on in his head as far as deign concepts go.

I have read developer blogs for a long time, and they seem to focus more on the ideas and concepts behind the MMO and relate that to the MMO demographic and how their game will succeed. In another interview, Yoshi mentioned briefly the rapid consumption of content in SWTOR and other MMOs and how it led to those failing, but he really gave no indication as to how FFXIV will address and solve this same issue (beyond saying that FFXIV will release with a huge amount of content, just like SWTOR did...).

Sure he's competent, but I think you guys are just too familiar with being abused by Tanaka. As an example, developers such as Jake Song (from ArcheAge), and also the GW2 devs, are people who seem more intellectual than Yoshi in their interviews, and seem to address the current issues facing the MMO market more clearly and with a better plan than simply: "more FF, less lag, more quest hubs". No offence to Yoshi or anything, just some constructive feedback.

[Otaku]

You could say that, but there are times when you could also question just how in touch he is with MMO players. At one point he says that it's a FF game first and foremost, or at least he seemed to prioritise the fact that it's a FF game, which is another way of ignoring the market in favour of their own ideology. Shouldn't an MMO be a MMO first and an FF second? It's like saying the gameplay is secondary.

Perhaps all he was saying was that if it's bearing the FF name, so it obviously needs to do the FF series justice. But still, just the way he said it came off as strange. I don't think you would hear such things from many other esteemed producers of MMOs. Micromanaging how "FF" the game is seems like something that's not even worth mentioning. Obviously it's a factor, but there are more pressing concerns, conceptually, for an MMO than that. And if he sees fit to mention this, then that doesn't bode well for what's going on in his head as far as deign concepts go.

I have read developer blogs for a long time, and they seem to focus more on the ideas and concepts behind the MMO and relate that to the MMO demographic and how their game will succeed. In another interview, Yoshi mentioned briefly the rapid consumption of content in SWTOR and other MMOs and how it led to those failing, but he really gave no indication as to how FFXIV will address and solve this same issue (beyond saying that FFXIV will release with a huge amount of content, just like SWTOR did...).

Sure he's competent, but I think you guys are just too familiar with being abused by Tanaka. As an example, developers such as Jake Song (from ArcheAge), and also the GW2 devs, are people who seem more intellectual than Yoshi in their interviews, and seem to address the current issues facing the MMO market more clearly and with a better plan than simply: "more FF, less lag, more quest hubs". No offence to Yoshi or anything, just some constructive feedback.

Yoshi understands that this HAS to be a FFMMO, if they focused on MMO first then we might get another WoW clone like AION/RIFT/SWTOR. FF is a little different seeing as how they have 25+yrs of "canon" they have to follow and I'm glad he is making that a priority. Lets see when TES:O is released how many people complain and leave because it isn't really a TES game and more of a WoW clone with TES elements.

[Krausus]

Shouldn't an MMO be a MMO first and an FF second? It's like saying the gameplay is secondary.

maybe with a new IP but I dont think so with FF, I mean look what happened at launch an MMO that barely resembled Final Fantasy, kind of reminded me of Spirits Within.

[Betelgeuzah]

You could say that, but there are times when you could also question just how in touch he is with MMO players. At one point he says that it's a FF game first and foremost, or at least he seemed to prioritise the fact that it's a FF game, which is another way of ignoring the market in favour of their own ideology. Shouldn't an MMO be a MMO first and an FF second? It's like saying the gameplay is secondary.

Why "should" he be in touch with the MMO players? They're fickle and there's lots of competition. Going for the FF players would be in their best interest. That's their main market, not some ideology, and as such they are focusing on it. Sure, it's harder to get the average FF player to try FF MMO instead of an average MMO player, but once/if they do they are much less likely to leave and are easier to please.

Other producers of MMO's don't say such things because they don't have the luxury of popular IP that SE does (Blizzard and Bioware excluded).