Why is Yoshi-P so loved for a head dev?

[Nutz]

I can't think of any other game where the director/ executive producer actually does a Q&A session with fans regularly, responds to posts on the forum himself, posts updates about what's going on with the game/ himself/ his team periodically, and puts out a good product. Even if things seem to go down an unpopular route, there typically is some reasoning behind it that is relayed to the community. Lots of fan suggestions make it into the game (even if it doesn't feel that way because it's often put into the pipeline to be released in several months), and you feel like Yoshi-P knows the game from the consumer side as well since he obviously plays it.

With most other games you'd hardly know the devs were there. You might occasionally see posts from forum mods or community reps and that would be it. Yohi-P has a real presence and he seems like a genuinely great person.

[Pinkie_Pie]

he took 1.0, arguably one of the worst AAA MMOs ever created and turned it into one of the most successful subscription games ever released. That's pretty impressive.

Plus he likes Dark Age of Camelot.

I LOVE your signature =3

[Stanrule1]

I went to his GDC talk earlier this year (I'm a mobile game producer) and met a few team members. From a development stand point he runs one of the most efficient pipelines in the game industry. FFXIV only has about 16 devs and may occasionally snipe some database guys or artists from other departments to help. He put a emphasis on dev tools that allowed non-coders to create content, robust enough that a single designer could complete a dungeon and the boss encounters without a programmer. He also has team members who specialize in specific areas of design and does weekend game jams where coders, designers, artists pair up to try to build something interesting in engine.

You can see the results, FFXIV pumps out expansion levels of new content every few months, all while in the background an entire new expansion is being worked on. The downside to this is, sadly, that team has been pretty much in crunch for nearly three years now. Minimal vacations, late hours, almost all weekends.

[gornotck]

Why do people keep blaming Tanaka for the 1.0 failure? They MADE him release the game unfinished and almost unplayable. He did his best to salvage the game....

But Yoshi-P. What's not to love. Just seeing him in the live letters makes me smile... HAI

I suspect it's mostly because they "felt" Tanaka didn't "care" about them. Plus he was quite publically crucified around the time that they restructured the development team. He's the scapegoat so that everyone else could go on with their lives believing that they Got The Bad Guy.

[Ceodore]

I think it's cause his name is Yoshi...



Tell me that doesn't just make you smile...

[Shougun]

Communicates, develops fast for SE (. . . ), appears to be of good character (polite, humorous, and humble), and I hate to pull this card (subjective and shallow)- but appearance wise he's more to love than say some other guy we've known.. lol

Though It would be bad of me to say "for a dev he's the only one I think is great". There are a number of other devs I also think are great not only in their design, but also their perceived image.

[Ramen]

he is a down-to-earth guy not like a producer think they are god of everything.

• I remember back at PAX Prime 2012, I got to Red Lion and check out the event place first. The elevator door opened. He stood in front of me. I was like /gasp "Yoshida-san~" /bow. then, he was shocked because he wasn't expect someone knew him (especially the he was using the main elevator and it was full. everyone else inside had weird faces cus they saw me bow to Yoshi-P.) So, I just chat with him and walk with him to the front door for his smoke break. He just smoke @ the door (and still no one stopped for him...) and signed my moogle. I just kept "thank you" and he's like "nonono thank you for supporting." We just keep "thank you" and /bow each other. ^^:
  
  
• same day later, after he finished the opening for the event, he was exiting the stage and heading back for the media interviews. My friend just used Japanese and said something like "come back to us~". He heard it and /nod to her. 30 mins later that we all forgot and got distracted by other shinnies. Yoshi-P suddenly show up again, and he was standing at the table we stood before. People just went up and ask for signature. I still remember it's a golden paint sharpie that first person hold. After Yoshi-P got the pen and FF14 CE box, he opened the pen and marked on back of his hand to make sure the ink came out fully. Then, he did his signature.
  
• He is very humble.
  
• he sneak out to meet fans during the PAX Prime 2012 and Vegas fan fest whenever he can. I think he even added "additional" signature slots for the VIP ppl who missed the time...(not sure)

Yoshi-P sit @ front door of a very popular hotel... and no one stopped =.=

[Ilenya]

I thought CoH had devs people loved, but I'd say when a game has a dev who looks like they enjoy what they do and the game they're making, players will start rallying about them.

Mostly came in here to mention this. I still think one of the worst parts of CoH closing is the fact that the Devteam ended up scattering to the four winds.

[Dalex]

he is a down-to-earth guy not like a producer think they are god of everything.
Snip

My one disappointment about my first ever trip to Japan a few weeks ago was that I wasn't able to track down and be a total geek in front of Yoshi-P or Nobuo Uematsu. I was a dunce and traveled AWAY from Fukuoka on their Live FATE weekend, and despite my deepest hopes I did not see him at either Eorzea Cafe or Artnia (and I didn't want to get arrested by breaking into his office at SE :P). I even carried my FF XIV CE art book around everyone in hopes I might run into him on the streets of Shinjuku (which I found out can be scary in some places at night).

Wow, this makes me sound like a stalker...

[Lemuria]

I really do wish I could understand the hero worship Yoshi gets sometimes. I know it's got to be a very tough balance between what's best for the game and what's best for the players, but it's not a balance I think has been struck as well as people might like to think.

All the time I'm seeing people complain about the endless zodiac grind. People HATED the Atma grind, and Yoshi himself stated he hadn't completed the Atmas quite some time after they'd been released. Nothing was done to redress this until very recently, and it was only slightly tweaked. Each zodiac quest thereafter was a grind unto itself, offering nothing new or interesting.

It's not merely the zodiac either. The entire game is basically an item level grind. Getting new items which outright replace older ones, and the gear is replaced often quicker than people can earn it. So if we're not grinding for a single weapon skin, we're grinding for a single piece of armor or jewelry. Since the recent update, older soldiery items are actually HARDER to obtain because the amount of soldiery gain has dropped significantly.

There are other examples too, so I'm not sure that counts as 'listening to the fans'.

Credit given where credit is due, he revived FFXIV from the grave and breathed new life into it. But I do wonder whether or not he sticks to the very values which he claimed were so important at the initial screening of the game. Listening to the players, addressing their concerns and ultimately building upon them to improve the game.

That final piece is what I feel has been missing since those early ARR days. I only hope it wasn't merely a flash in the pan.