I've been reading a lot of different comments on this forum, as well as comments on fansites like ZAM and Eorzeapedia, and something I've noticed is that there are a few people who seem to be under the impression that FFXIV should not borrow any ideas from successful games developed by other companies, or even prior games developed by Square, but instead should do something which is completely new and groundbreaking.

On the one hand, this line of reasoning is perfectly understandable. People want to play an innovative game that is different from any other MMO ever created. They want a modern, cutting-edge MMO, the likes of which has never been seen or done before. They want to play something totally unique and original.

However, these people fail to realize a very important fact of creativity, and that is that nothing is ever truly original. Every "new" idea is really nothing more than a recombination of old ideas into a new arrangement. The ideas for any creative work, whether it be video games, music, movies, books, stories, websites, or anything else... all of it is inspired by the life experiences of its creator or creators.

New games, for better or for worse, will always be influenced by the games which came before them. To try and fight against this universal principle and shun the influences and lessons learned in older works and the works of competitors is to fight against the very ebb and and flow of the creative process. The song Answers from FFXIV's own soundtrack even has a line which wholly encapsulates this concept:
"Look to those who walked before... to lead those who walk after."
Is it not ironic that the Nobuo Uematsu could write such a profound line in a song for a game, only to have the developers of that self-same game completely disregard the advice? Such irony is misfortune of the most tragic kind.

Thankfully, Naoki Yoshida seems to realize that trying to make something too radically different from games like FFXI or WoW wasn't the best approach, and is now taking the appropriate measures to steer this game back in the right direction. It'll probably be a while before we arrive at our destination, but I have confidence that with Yoshida at the helm and the new team under his command, we'll have what it takes to get where we need to go.