The new Nomura?

[Atelier-Bagur]

As much as I love Banri Oda, I don't think he has directing experience to lead an entire development team (unless he personally ever had the interest to direct then hey I'm all for it).

The only reason why Yoshida got the job for FFXIV was because of how successful he was in directing Dragon Quext X which is SE's other big MMO, but only in Japan

[jameseoakes]

Apologies for my ignorance.... but "belts"? Not familiar with this reference.

Nomura has a reputation of using an obscene amount of belts on his designs (see Lulu from 10 for an example)

[Carin-Eri]

It's an old meme - Tetsuya Nomura likes to design characters with lots of belts (along with black leather and zippers), sometimes excessively so (Lulu from FFX springs to mind, but also Squall from FFVIII), suggesting Nomura has a thing for them. Yoshi though removed equippable belts from FFXIV back when EW lauched, so... it's a little injoke to an old meme.

Nomura has a reputation of using an obscene amount of belts on his designs (see Lulu from 10 for an example)

I just Googled this Lulu character... and I can see what you mean now! In fact it looks as if her 'skirt' isn't one - it's a collection of belts!

[Koros]

FFXVI was being considered an overwhellming success

It's not even 90 on Metacritic.

Banri Oda

Good one, I actually laughed. Thanks for the funny post.

It seems the game hasn't convinced anyone who didn't already bought it day one.

And it's the direct opposite of BG3. People played FF16 and mention all the issues: its simplicity, linearity, lack of RPG elements, atrocious action gameplay, complete void of difficulty, tedious filler quests, etc. Meanwhile BG3 keeps attracting more and more players. Funny because I literally hear more talk about BG3 than FF16 ever got in-game.

The only reason it's even above 80 is because of Soken's music, the stunning primal fights, the great early game story with a complex political narrative (that they basically wasted after Titan) and CBU3 fanboyism.

[Kaurhz]

I would say we have had good things, but they haven't quite hit the nail on the head. I mean, sure exploratory content was great, but the reality is this particular piece of content started initially in Heavensward with Diadem and had to be scrapped... Not once, but twice before we got something a little more flushed out with Eureka, and even then, personally, I don't think it offered a great deal until it came with the introduction of Logograms, and then Bozja really solidified the whole exploratory content, in terms of what it offered, but they essentially had to throw the entire kitchen sink at it to make it work as well as it did. - This pretty much reigns true for any piece of content. It's never been solid to start with really. Same with Island Sanctuary... I would say though, both Island Sanctuary and combat exploratory content could actually do with taking concepts from each other.

The thing to keep in mind is that it's always going to be a somewhat trial by fire. Budget and resources unfortunately are finite, so you aren't going to get something new without it coming at the expense of something else. This hits the nail harder than anything else, because then they still need to iterate through it, e.g., Pagos > Pyros. So it's like restarting the cycle of content development I guess.

I would say, placing this on a singular individual is a big mistake, as I don't think the issue is wholly on that one person. I don't think XIV gets the budget it really deserves, again, going back to the whole getting x must come at the expense of y - In an ideal world we would have gotten an exploratory zone in addition to everything we've gotten this expansion. With this in mind, I don't think it really matters who you actually put in that seat, to be honest. - Taking into account that they will still be under the same budgeting constraints and would still be developing for the same community, and we're a very divisive community. - You'll find as many people discontent with something such as exploratory content as to what there are people content with it. Similarly, you'll find just as many people discontent with relic grinds as there are people content with it. It's really not just as simple as a 1 person issue.

Dawntrail has given me things to be skeptically hopeful about, and a lot of it is around the interviews, etc., suggesting another exploration zone and a 'never before seen' piece of battle content. Based on this it does have the potential to be one of the most content-heavy expansions we've had... Now whether this potential does make it into reality is a different subject matter.

I think the best thing they need to learn is to reflect on older systems and to see what worked, and how it could be fed into newer systems, e.g., there is no reason why Variant/Criterion couldn't have borrowed a lot more duty actions from the Logos/Essences system.

[CNitsah]

Sales in Japan are so far the worst of the entire mainline series (most of which weren't multiplatform entries), and it was beaten by Pikmin 4 in a single week.
Square Enix claimed the sales were strong after one week, but it barely sold any copy since. It seems the game hasn't convinced anyone who didn't already bought it day one.

From what I got, despite the being a deception in japan, the worldwide number are on par with FFXV (adjusted to to the pool of consoles) .

The only reason it's even above 80 is because of Soken's music, the stunning primal fights, the great early game story with a complex political narrative (that they basically wasted after Titan) and CBU3 fanboyism.

I think they even failed at CBU3 fanboyism. Outside of Japan, FFXIV is mainly played on PC. Making it a PS5 exclusives cut a good part of those fanboys. Most people won't pay 600$/€ for ONE game. The FFXIV playerbase was the most easy sales they could make, and they prefered to take the money for exclusivity. With the lukewarm reception the game got, I'm not sure those people will buy to the game in a year when it release on pc (pretty sure the 18 month plan is linked to that PC release). Reception was good enough, but as some said, it's not acclaimed like TotK or BG3 are. The FFXVI hype is already dead, and it feels like it's gonna be remembered as an "honorable mention", more that a game one of THE games of this year.

[Atelier-Bagur]

It's not even 90 on Metacritic.

So is Nier Automata which is considered universally succesful but has an 88 on that site while FFXVI is an 87.

[TheNight]

So is Nier Automata which is considered universally succesful but has an 88 on that site while FFXVI is an 87.

And Cyberpunk also got 87 despite it being a disaster. Only games over 90 can even be plausibly considered as universally successful.

Nier Automata is not. There are many issues with that game.

[Atelier-Bagur]

And Cyberpunk also got 87 despite it being a disaster. Only games over 90 can even be plausibly considered as universally successful.

Nier Automata is not. There are many issues with that game.

That's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. First of all, it's funny how you take metacritic as gospel when you just proved that the site sometikes makes no sense when something like Cyberpunk has an 86 when it clearly deserves less but it's delusional to think that the original Nier Automata didn't pop off because it didn't have a 90.

You don't understand how success is gauged at all.

[DrWho2010]

anyone who puts XV ahead of XVI has got a screw loose.

metacritic scores mean nothing. stop.

BG3 is being talked about more than XVI because it was released just recently and people are still in the "ooh new shiny" phase.

sales numbers for XVI are doing just fine. once it comes out for PC there'll be more talk again and more sales.