Are the developers of XIV out of touch?

[Berethos]

Hell, they're even porting the ENTIRE GAME over to UE4 because UE3 was holding the game back due to feedback in the west and the back and forth between the producer and the community.

A commendable effort...

But one that sounds significantly less impressive when you consider that it's from one version of the game's engine to a new version of the same engine, and much/most (and possibly all) of the work actually developing that engine was done by an entirely different company.

[Dualgunner]

I'll choose to interpret Yoshi P's exasperation as being because a lot of this is stuff he'd love to do, but can't because of SE holding the purse strings.

[Asiragan]

Just coming back in to note that I find Yoshida being exasperated by the repetitive questions very ironic, considering he's been feeding us the same patch content structure on repeat for at least four years.

I hesitate to make this post my signature ...

I'll choose to interpret Yoshi P's exasperation as being because a lot of this is stuff he'd love to do, but can't because of SE holding the purse strings.

You know, I wonder about that. When Yoshida came at the end of 1.0, everyone saw him as the most ballsy devs ever. The guy that could blow up an entire MMO with a giant meteor in order to create an other one from the cinders of the first version.

But now? We either get the same kind of content since years, have the same servers problem since years in the west, or just get flawed game-designed content. Is this really the same guy?


Is it because SE is holding the string? But Yoshida is now a director, he should have some means to take decisions regarding that, no?

[Dualgunner]

You know, I wonder about that. When Yoshida came at the end of 1.0, everyone saw him as the most ballsy devs ever. The guy that could blow up an entire MMO with a giant meteor in order to create an other one from the cinders of the first version.

But now? We either get the same kind of content since years, have the same servers problem since years in the west, or just get flawed game-designed content. Is this really the same guy?

Is it because SE is holding the string? But Yoshida is now a director, he should have some means to take decisions regarding that, no?

I'm offering the benefit of the doubt because of what Yoshida managed to do to save XIV in the first place. Which is what makes all of this really confusing is exactly what you pointed out; Yoshi P stepped into this game and styled all over it, literally nuking Tanaka's XIV from orbit... Yoshida's XIV then became such a bland, milquetoast thing years later, and it makes me wonder what happened. I don't actually buy into the "All the revenue XIV generates is going into XV, KH3, and FF7R" as anything more than plausibility, but seeing such a drastic change in Yoshida, it really gets the noggin joggin' as they say.

I think that has a lot to do with it, for sure. More money, more manpower, more resources of any kind would've let him do so much more. He does what he can with what he's given, I fully believe that as well. Which makes me laugh at the reactions to this:

SE is a small indie company, adjust your expectations accordingly.

SE? No. The part that works on XIV? Certainly feels like it sometimes, with all the sub money going away elsewhere.

I'm a layman when it comes to business. I also don't have Square's ledger in front of me, so take what I say with all the salt a white mage can give you: it feels like Square is not reinvesting in FFXIV, of which ARR is one of the major reasons they managed to stay in the black, and that feels like a bad decision for the long term.

That said...XIV as it is is successful. Nobody can deny that. So why throw money at XIV to try to fix what ain't broke*?

*it's not optimal, but it's certainly operational, and messing with the code could break things and cause costs to skyrocket too.

[MistakeNot]

I'm offering the benefit of the doubt because of what Yoshida managed to do to save XIV in the first place. Which is what makes all of this really confusing is exactly what you pointed out; Yoshi P stepped into this game and styled all over it, literally nuking Tanaka's XIV from orbit... Yoshida's XIV then became such a bland, milquetoast thing years later, and it makes me wonder what happened. I don't actually buy into the "All the revenue XIV generates is going into XV, KH3, and FF7R" as anything more than plausibility, but seeing such a drastic change in Yoshida, it really gets the noggin joggin' as they say.

What's so hard to understand? Yoshida nuked the old game and made it the way he wanted it to be. Now it is already the way he wanted it to be, so why would he want to do any drastic changes to the game?

[Asiragan]

Now it is already the way he wanted it to be, so why would he want to do any drastic changes to the game?

This mindset could be fine for a solo offline game. But for a MMO? A game that always needs to move, to be constantly evolving? It's pure suicide.

[Vhailor]

What's so hard to understand? Yoshida nuked the old game and made it the way he wanted it to be. Now it is already the way he wanted it to be, so why would he want to do any drastic changes to the game?

The same reason WoW has made a number of large-scale changes. By his own admission, Yoshi-P has drawn a lot of his inspiration from WoW, so he should be in a position to know what Blizzard discovered: you have to shake things up significantly every so often in order to keep things feeling fresh. MMOs that remain static are doomed to failure, at some point or another. Oh, sure, it's quite possible that FFXIV will remain a financial success - much as Diablo 3 has been a financial success for Blizzard - but SE is paying a significant price in terms of brand quality. I grew up with memories of Kefka and Sephiroth etched into my mind, and it turned me into a long-term customer who associated 'Square' and 'Quality' for years and years.

Does SE really want to see what happens when people growing up with FFXIV associate Final Fantasy with cheap product tie-ins, shameless cash store gimmicks, and server limitations?

[BillyKaplan]

I'll choose to interpret Yoshi P's exasperation as being because a lot of this is stuff he'd love to do, but can't because of SE holding the purse strings.

I think that has a lot to do with it, for sure. More money, more manpower, more resources of any kind would've let him do so much more. He does what he can with what he's given, I fully believe that as well. Which makes me laugh at the reactions to this:

SE is a small indie company, adjust your expectations accordingly.

SE? No. The part that works on XIV? Certainly feels like it sometimes, with all the sub money going away elsewhere.

[Ziyaal]

Yes, yes they have.

[LeoLupinos]

I wish they answered more precisely our questions, because most of them are a must in-game, and not just a simple suggestion. Eg: "For a character customization revamp, we would need to hire more X developers, and that would delay the current patch releases by X months in order to fit the budget".

It's like the holy formula and releases of patches can not be touched, with this in mind, any major improvement does not fit any patch, such as Ishgard housing, character customization, new race, does not fit even in 5.0+ expansions.
The game needs to keep improving in order to keep things fresh.

It feels like FFXIV is a weak and poor MMO that can't make any significant budget for self improving, just the safe content.