Gamescom 2019 Q&A (rough transcript)

[Benjo]

Question #1: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

How fun was it to write up characters like Emet-Selch, Vauthy, and the Crystal Exarch?

Banri Oda:

It is a bit hard to say how fun it was to describe it if that's the way.
And only these three characters but anytime I wrote up with characters I try to have fun as much as possible.

Naoki Yoshida:

What makes them very unique and really cool about story writing is that you can kind of create a fate for these characters.

Banri Oda:

So, the most parts of these three characters were created by Natsuko Ishikawa, so whenever I try to write about them I'm using their settings and I try to be faithful to the settings that Ishikawa created.

Question #2: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

Did the Crystal Exarch stop physically aging when he merged with the Crystal Tower?

Banri Oda:

Anyone who completed the main scenario of Shadowbringers must have seen his face without his hood.

Naoki Yoshida:

Because he is there to save the world and to do the feat he has to live longer. That's why he fused himself to be the a part of the Crystal Tower and at the moment he stopped his growth and he can't age anymore so that kind of trait tells how big this decision he made was.

Question #3: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

Are there any cleverly hidden hints in-game about the identity of our original soul, beyond the Hythlodeus conversation and the moment Emet-Selch sees us, that players should be on the lookout for?
I do love seeing the community investigate the lore together.

Banri Oda:

There may be some hints hidden here and there so there though I won't be able to say anything more on this occasion.

Naoki Yoshida:

During the journey in the Stormblood scenario, the hints are here and there before Shadowbringers as well. But if he say anything about that it would be taken away from everyone so I would invite you to speculate and debate and find out yourselves.
Once thing I would like to point out is that we see the theories online saying that the Warrior of Light may be Hythlodeus - but that's not the case.

Question #4: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

Emet-Selch remarks that we are of the Source, "seven times rejoined". Is he talking about our soul, or only the world?
If our soul has been rejoined, does that mean everyone on the Source has been rejoined to another soul-fragment with each Calamity, or are we (and perhaps other specific characters) special in some way?

Banri Oda:

Each time a journey happens any living thing in the world experience their souls and everything rejoined. It's not a case for just the Warrior of Light / Warrior of Darkness or any specific character - It happens equally for everyone.
Your soul kind of gets thicker and dense and thus more powerful.

Naoki Yoshida:

The journey is not just for characters of the players but for the entirety of the world. Of course your soul is the world-wide amount of the rejoined and so you get bigger and stronger.

Question #5: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

What was the most difficult aspect of adapting both Viera/Viis and the Hrothgar/Ronso into XIV's lore and story?

Banri Oda:

As for Viera, we took the origin setting from Final Fantasy XII as is and as much as possible without giving it sort of the "FF XIV interpretation" to it.
By having talks with (Yasumi) Matsuno-san many times who was in charge of the scenario of "Return to Ivalice", we kind of prevented giving the spoils to FF XIV's world. I would like to thank Matsuno-san.

As for the Hrothgar we didn't want to give the impression that this race just suddenly appeared in the world so we've created a setting like a link towards a place called Bozja Citadel so it doesn't feel like a sudden appearance. And also we touched upon the Hrothgar background in the Tales of the Storm so that it can be better understood by players.

Question #6: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

Ran'jit had vastly more strength than his soldiers as any good general should have, but did Ran'jit get any extra strength from the sin eaters in any way or was it purely his own?

Naoki Yoshida:

This is another hot topic that the community is discussing.

Banri Oda:

He has a unique fighting style that makes him empowered by his serpent dragon but he learned it by his intense training by himself. He is from the area outside Norvrandt, which is already annihilated by the flood of light.
He is a descent from a clan who has this special sort of martial arts. That's where his roots are and also his naming convention is not following the conventional naming.

Question #7: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

Did the Ascian really look the way that we see them in Emet-Selch's illusion, or is he making them look different for "dramatic effect"?

Banri Oda:

Except the fact that they look like glowing ghosts or phantoms it was a tradition to wear that outfit of a robe and a mask. The reason why Ascians wearing that robe and the mask is that a reminiscence of this ancient tradition.

Naoki Yoshida:

The confusion within the community is that we don't call the entirety of ancient people Ascian. So those citiziens in Amaurot aren't Ascians but they are the illusion of ancient people.
One thing for sure is that the ancient people like you see in Amaurot actually wear the robes and masks.

If you're looking at those people in Amaurot they not have any distinct features because they are blurry and look like aliens but that's not the case, that is not correct.
Of course the actual people who lived in the ancient world had distinct facial features as well - they were all different. The reason why they look all the same in the game is to make them look like the same people It is more a visual kind of presentation.

The source of confusion is that you have this conversation with Hythlodeus in the registration area and also you see this vision in which Emet-Selch sees you as an Amaurotian which is also an illusion.
So this was a wrong conception. Each and everyone of the ancient people had their distinct facial features. The thing is that this illusions that Emet-Selch saw was wearing a different mask than Hythlodeus.

Question #8: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

Are all Ascian / Amaurotine's real names based on Greek mythology?

Banri Oda:

First and foremost if we say Hythlodeus is everything about Greek mythology - That isn't the case.
You may take the impression probably because the name of Hythlodeus sounds like a Greek based word. For any character, area or anything else we tried to use the terms of Greek origin for characters and area names intentionally.

Naoki Yoshida:

Do you have a particular reason behind this?

Banri Oda:

Yes, there is a reason behind this but we can not talk about it here because otherwise it would be a spoiler.

Question #9: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

I have been rewatching cutscenes from A Realm Reborn and think it is very interesting that the Ascians reference the "mournful voice of creation".
How long have you had the Ascians' backstory in mind?

Banri Oda:

We have the basic basic settings for Ascians, the name and also their existence from the Final Fantasy XIV 1.0 era.
When we had the idea of the setting for the Ascians remains a mystery.

Naoki Yoshida:

So if we take this example to refer FF XIV as a tv drama series we kind of apply the first season of FFXIV as ARR (A Realm Reborn).
If the result is not good then the second season, Heavensward, could have been the end of the journey.

We had these overall details though we didn't elaborate those but when we started developing on A Realm Reborn and saw that the rhythm is there and it is looking great we expanded upon to decide on settings around the Ascians.
For those who are handling the main scenario being Oda and Ishikawa - especially Oda they going back to the pages and dialogue and fact log with a thoroughly research and try to adapt those facts.

And after that they add more into it but without creating too many contradictions with the ones that created the facts beforehand and they improvise the new facts so everything fts up nicely. They are skilled to weave out the great story and the lore which is extraordinary.

Question #10: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

Could we please learn the true name of Lahabrea? Finding out Emet-Selch's true name was absolutely awesome and a great reveal so it'd be fantastic if we could figure out who Lahabrea was.

Naoki Yoshida:

Next!

Question #11: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

Elidibus once described Lahabrea as "unique" after taking a long pause to choose his words. Did he, like Emet-Selch, have less favorable judgment on their colleague in recent years while being too polite to say so?

Banri Oda:

I believe between between Elidibus and the others and also the feelings towards the other Ascians will be unfolded in the future in sort of a story development. The plot around that has been already submitted to Yoshida and is under revision right now so as long he gives it a green light then probably we can explore more on this.

Naoki Yoshida:

This ties closely to the future story development so there is nothing we can say at this moment. But I think it is the case that either Elidibus or Emet-Selch underestimated Lahabrea.
Because I believe there is some sort of respect between them and also as you can see from one of Emet-Selch's dialogue speech he said Lahabrea would wear out but it is because Lahabrea did quite a lot of work because he was reckoned as a workaholic like me.

Question #12: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

Gaius van Baelsar is the first major villain we've seen who is now fighting alongside us. Can you tell us a little bit about how the decision to bring him back was made?

Banri Oda:

We have Estinien in a similar case who is a character who we fought against in the dragoon job quest but he joined the party to the journey in Ishgard because he was needed the character to tell what kind of country Ishgard is so this was a necessity in a different way.
It is the same for Gaius. We thought it is finally the time to learn more about the Garlean Empire so that was the reason behind it.

Naoki Yoshida:

During the development of A Realm Reborn you may remember the massive explosion at the end of the story-line. There is some sort of a theory everywhere whether or not if Gaius is dead and with that kind of fact into account the scenario team and Yoshida had a discussion and the conclusion was that we don't know.
If he died then we have to tell that he died and if he is still alive then we have to make sure that it is being told to the players but at the time we wanted to make it kinda vague because we then could use him in the future.

Question #13: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

We've seen a lot of the men of the Garlean Imperial family - can you tell us about Solus' or Varis' wives and daughters?
Do they keep to the background or are they public figures to the people of Garlemald?

Banri Oda:

It is pure coincidence that many male characters appear for Garlemald. However, of course there are female characters that exist and they aren't kept to the background.
The wife of Varis had died after she gave birth to Xenos so it would be difficult to bring her character back to the story.
The only possibility to talk about her would be during a sidequest.

Naoki Yoshida:

Speaking of side story, the 27th of August is the anniversary for A Realm Reborn so as we have released a side story series like Tales from the Dragonsong War and Tales from the Storm it will be the same for Shadowbringers as well and we are to announce to release a side story on the Lodestone. We'd like you to keep an eye out for it.

Question #14: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

It's been observed by players that in the Chrysalis, the meteor phase of the fight has a crystal formation very similar to the Crystal Tower, as well as a figure that looks a lot like Hydaelyn's portrayal in the caves.
Could you please elaborate on what the Chrysalis is and why the Ascians chose to portray scenes of both gods?

Banri Oda:

The cave painting wasn't done by Ascians, that's one thing for sure but this was drawn by someone who has a memory of the world before the Sundering and he must have saw it through his dream or something and then he made it.
The reason why there is some sort of crystal shape thing is used for anything Ascian related items is based on the Zodiark crystal. You may remember that purplish crystal but it is more like a antithesis crystal to the mothercrystal of Hydaelyn.

Question #15: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

Will we ever learn who or what Sabik is?

Banri Oda:

This is top secret though one thing I can tell you here is that the power is tied to the next story-line, maybe or maybe not.

Question #16: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

Over time, the story and lore behind jobs and classes has been enriched. However, adjustments to jobs and classes over the years means some have drifted away from those stories that may have grabbed people's interest originally.
How have you handled these challenges? Do you see any chance in the future to better align these two sides (job lore/gameplay)?

Naoki Yoshida:

Yes, you're right and we are totally aware that this is the case and a challenge.

There are so many elements in FF XIV like the deep story-line and also we have so many jobs in the game that people tend to see jobs on a spectrum of either weak or powerful and it is kind of hard to satisfy everyone equally.
We totally see that gap between the story-line and the job balance and we kind of turned a blind eye on it but also acknowledge that this is a challenge for sure.

If we adjust the story side of things and if we have further adjustments for the job actions then again we would see the contradictions in the future. So at the moment we don't have any concrete solution to be shared.

Question #17: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

None of the new job actions added in Shadowbringers get any real lore explanation or backstory. I would like to know more about these new actions! Could you provide this information to players somehow?

Naoki Yoshida:

This tied back to the question before but Oda and Yoshida wanted to give some kind of story especially for the level 80 actions. However, we are in the process to make a big adjustment to samurai's Shoha right now so if we just put two and two together there will be the contradictions were the fact doesn't really match up.
So rather than we kinda make it off so we decided not to add any sort of backstory to actions for Shadowbringers.

Question #18: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

We have very little information about the Keeper of the Moon or the Duskwight clans.
Would you consider implementing clan quests similar to beast tribe quests in order to go more in depth on their background?

Banri Oda:

The team had this idea for such a clan quest for a very long time and tried to figure out when would be the best time to release it.
But if we pick one and due to the fact that everyone is playing different races we expect that players would raise their voices why a certain race got clan quests and why another one got none.
While we try to figure out how to do this then the race has been increased ingame more and more and also the cost that require to create such a quest is also increasing enormously.

Question #19: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

In the naming conventions for the Keepers of the Moon, it is stated that some of the family surnames "have survived since the First Astral Era".
Can you tell us more about that? Have some of the surnames been passed down, or are some related to the Ancients from before the Sundering?

Naoki Yoshida:

Everyone is good at researching things.

Banri Oda:

As it was the case who remembered the battle between Hydaelyn and Zodiark there were people who also felt that those terms or words make not clear sense but they felt there were some things important.
By passing through generation to generation they employ the means to those words to their names.

Question #20: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

In Final Fantasy XIV we've seen civilizations influenced by Mayans and Aztecs, by Middle Eastern cultures, by East Asian culture, etc.
Are there any real world influences that we haven't seen implemented yet that you're interested in touching upon in the future?

Banri Oda:

Whenever we create a new area or kanjis we often take a real world culture as reference. What kind of culture the next one will be is kind of a spoiler so we won't be able to talk on that now.

Naoki Yoshida:

For FF XIV's case, Oda is a super fan of world history and culture.
If we would give a hint now people would search what would be the next so that's why we want to keep it a secret for now.

Question #21: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

As an aspiring fantasy writer myself, what is your writing process like when thinking of main scenario scenes and storylines?
How much do you write a day? And how far in advance do you plot your outlines between story updates?

Banri Oda:

First and foremost, I would say that whatever I do wouldn't apply to everyone so I would to remind you to keep that in mind.

At first, I decide the core facts like "what is the story about?".
A key/core message makes things easier to work upon. The key message can be as simple as possible e. g. something you can summarize in one line.

Taking Heavensward as an example, this is the story about the war between the dragons and the humans which lasted for a millennia.

And then I elaborate on that and create questions like "What is this war that lasted 1000 years?" or "Why this war had to happen?" or "What's the difference between dragons and humans?" and then I will create answers for that.
Then I decide an order at which point these questions are answered. During the process I can see the roles for the characters that needs to play.

For instance, taking Estinien as an example he was needed as kind of a mean to explain what kind of country Ishgard is and also the point of view from Ishgardian side and then we elaborate on those.

How much I write depends on how much I can concentrate on writing. If I don't need to work on many other things, I would concentrate on one thing.
Back in the time when I was working on Heavensward, I was working on everything but I can remember that I created tank quests in one day.

As for the main plot which is two years planned beforehand, Yoshida would be the best person to talk about it.

Naoki Yoshida:

For XIV, the team planned out the main scenario right after the recent expansion has been released.
And then the team create the two years worth content including the main scenario quest and also the patch update story line as well. It's more a topline detail, not elaborated ones. They do that in the "scenario camp" - that's what it's called when we lock ourselves and coming up with ideas for the next expansion plot.

Speaking of Shadowbringers the main theme is to drive away the force of light and bring back the night sky and darkness to the world. This key message was decided in September of 2017.
So while is the team working on the regular sort of patch update schedule they also try to come up with lots of ideas so that they can implement those into the next expansion.

In March 2018, we had another scenario camp where we elaborated more into details. So we're working on a long term plan and then try to follow through.

Question #22: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

Will we see another collaboration between Banri Oda and Natsuko Ishikawa for future Main Scenario Quests?

Banri Oda:

Unless I don't get fired by Yoshida, of course I will be working on the main scenario. That said, not only are Ishikawa and I the writers of the main scenario. There are also other people who are working on it.

Naoki Yoshida:

For the main scenario which is a very important part of FF XIV the writers need a very high skill to develop such stories more than sidequests.
However, those people who are in the scenario team are gaining experience over time and while they are working on the patch scenarios they try to steal some skills from Ishikawa and Oda.

The difficult point to cultivate in game development and I'm not speaking just for my own career path is to challenge yourself and I would like to encourage that as well.

If both Oda and Ishikawa really love to work on FF XIV and create a story it would benefit the team and also the players would be happy and if both are motivated it would be good to hear if they would be working on FF XIV.
That said, if both of them would say they would like to take another challenge outside of FF XIV it would be important for the team to support each other to close the gap that would be there if certain people would leave the team.
I don't have any intention to keep someone in the team like knocking them in.

Question #23: Timestamp from the official Q&A session

Are there any plans for Eorzea Encyclopaedia III?

Banri Oda:

Would you like to have one?

Naoki Yoshida:

So you want the new Encyclopaedia?

Booth audience:

Yes!

Banri Oda:

I will pass that to the publishing department. That said creating Encyclopaedia is such a tough work and I also don't get any revenue

Naoki Yoshida:

Looking at the gaming industry or other titles it is a real opportunity to create your own book. This book is really nicely decorated so it is a really good chance for you to do this.

Banri Oda:

Before I joined, I used to work for a publishing company and I was a writer and I had no experience to release my own book with a nice embossed effect on it. Being in the team and working on the Encyclopaedia already made my dream come true.

Naoki Yoshida:

If you can promise that it won't affect the progress of the main scenario you could work on the next Encyclopaedia.

Banri Oda:

Let me carefully think about it.

[Arale]

Healers? What're those? Anyways thank you for posting these!

[Benjo]

This concludes the Q&A at gamescom 2019. Enjoy reading!

[ExKage]

A. My eyes are still recovering from the amount of tears I've shed from how emotional Shadowbringers has hit me and now I'm in need of those aloe-laced tissues for Tales of/from for Shadowbringers.

B. I MUST DIVE INTO STORMBLOOD FOR THESE HINTS

C. Thank you! I was hoping to see someone post a transcript or something somewhere and this post is the first I've seen.

[Iscah]

Healers? What're those? Anyways thank you for posting these!

Players who didn't notice that this was a Q&A with the head lore writer just after the release of a new expansion with a lot of in-depth story developments? That was always clearly going to be the focus of this particular event.

They have limited time and there are so many more lore questions that got asked and liked and didn't get answered.

[Benjo]

An important disclaimer is that this is not a word-by-word transcript.

I tried to stay as close as possible to what the translator said but due to the audio issues at the booth at certain points I was more or less forced to cut parts while staying true to the core answer because some parts weren't clear enough to understand from the live stream. So roughly 95% is word-by-word.

[odym82]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22SS79SJPEs
here is a video of it

[Shougun]

Nice job! Glad I didn't really mess anything up but this is way better~! lol. I got your back for speed, and you'll hit the quality . Also glad I wasn't the only one to have trouble hearing some of what was said, makes me feel less crazy.

Players who didn't notice that this was a Q&A with the head lore writer just after the release of a new expansion with a lot of in-depth story developments? That was always clearly going to be the focus of this particular event.

They have limited time and there are so many more lore questions that got asked and liked and didn't get answered.

I'm not shocked it was only lore but unless I'm blind, has happened, it would have been nice to be told only lore questions will be answered. At least previously they'll tell people if they're going to focus on a narrow set of questions (before the event I had figured it was going to be general game questions fielded by Yoshi and some lore by Oda, although I guess an hour isn't that long for both :3).

Like I said it's fine because it does make some sense, it isn't out of the blue lol, but there was a sort of hope it might be more than just lore (at least for me ). It's fine I've got my questions ready for copy pasta!

[Benjo]

Timestamps from the official Q&A session have been added.

[Benjo]

Nice job! Glad I didn't really mess anything up but this is way better~! lol. I got your back for speed, and you'll hit the quality . Also glad I wasn't the only one to have trouble hearing some of what was said, makes me feel less crazy.

Thank you. I wasn't sure if anyone was covering it so I went down the road and tried to listen to what has been said. Unfortunately, their microphones weren't picking up every word clear enough to make a 100% full transcript but I think I was able to deliver the vast majority of what has been said during the Q&A.