Predictions for OC/FT Live Letter

[ovIm]

Lots of "we'll consider this for the future" and tone-deaf responses. Disappointing.

I am quite shocked that the reason for a lack of "Normal Mode" Forked Tower was, according to unofficial translations, that it would have cost too much.
This game a load bearing pillar for Square Enix.

[Carin-Eri]

I am quite shocked that the reason for a lack of "Normal Mode" Forked Tower was, according to unofficial translations, that it would have cost too much.
This game a load bearing pillar for Square Enix.

Yeah - if ever we wanted/needed evidence that the money the game generates doesn't get fed back into the game, there it is - from the EP's own mouth.

[ovIm]

Yeah - if ever we wanted/needed evidence that the money the game generates doesn't get fed back into the game, there it is - from the EP's own mouth.

Well, according to Avo quoting the translation from the Balance discord, the constraint may have been time cost, not monetary cost?

Not sure which unofficial translator is to trust here, but that raises a different issue I have complained about in the past: why is the PLL only in Japanese? they pre-prepare everything anyhow and this is an international product.

[Valence]

What I find absolutely crazy to hear to is them starting up the stream by saying that the devs took up on them to make decisions on their own before checking up with Yoshida if it was good, and as someone that worked in the dev industry I'm like, what? Isn't that normal behavior? Isn't that what your lead devs are supposed to be doing? And the assistant producers to keep track of little things? And only then the creative director and art director to get the final word on it?

What are their leads doing? Can't they think for themselves?

I am quite shocked that the reason for a lack of "Normal Mode" Forked Tower was, according to unofficial translations, that it would have cost too much.
This game a load bearing pillar for Square Enix.

What I find even more baffling is that they'd prioritize the challenging version over the version for everybody if that was the case.

Development cost, not money. Money isn't a problem. What that means is if they have 10 developers, they assign 3 to Cosmic, 1 to FT, 3 to OC, 3 to extreme and savage - they didn't assign one to a "normal" version.

So next time it'll be solved not due to more money necessarily (considering they are actively hiring), but due to planning the development roadmap better, basically.

So if we posit that money isn't the problem, why aren't they recruiting appropriately to alleviate development times?

[Jeeqbit]

So if we posit that money isn't the problem, why aren't they recruiting appropriately to alleviate development times?

I see battle design and story jobs going pretty often. Even if they do bring them in they may need to give them the specifice experience working there and with their tools. I don't know if they find recruiting easy or hard there either.

[Sekundessounet]

I see battle design and story jobs going pretty often. Even if they do bring them in they may need to give them the specifice experience working there and with their tools. I don't know if they find recruiting easy or hard there either.

They talked about it a lot in recent years, they have trouble recruiting because they need their devs to speak fluent Japanese, and yeah there's teaching for a while. And no amount of money is gonna help if the devs aren't applying.

[TaleraRistain]

I am quite shocked that the reason for a lack of "Normal Mode" Forked Tower was, according to unofficial translations, that it would have cost too much.
This game a load bearing pillar for Square Enix.

It's not really a good look that when they had to choose between content that was inclusive to more people because of cost, they opted for the more exclusionary content.

[Gurgeh]

It's not really a good look that when they had to choose between content that was inclusive to more people because of cost, they opted for the more exclusionary content.

IT would have been fine , but for COVID - Endwalker (an unavoidable trajedy we all had to just accept) and but for BLOODY CHAOTIC, which they did nothing about.
They could even have released an identical fight with some body checks switched off.
They could have.
There is no NEED for savage to still be able to rake in more profitable loot, by strangling supply. Yo had your fun, you beat it on hardmode. Just be prooud. I assume you actually enjoyed the game so what's the issue?
Even with the bad DT story, which they could have rapidly turned writing around for other yellow and blue quests afer, if they'd thrown money at it.
And unless they actually have cashflow problems, throwing money at it should have been an obvious investment for return.
I'm no businessman though so perhaps I'm talking extra ass.

[CidHeiral]

I am quite shocked that the reason for a lack of "Normal Mode" Forked Tower was, according to unofficial translations, that it would have cost too much.
This game a load bearing pillar for Square Enix.

Cost doesn't only mean money. Development costs also include time and other resources. It could very well be that it wasn't in the monetary budget for that patch, or it could be that they were spread too thin between OC, CE, the graphical update, and other things, and they just weren't able to get it done this time. It's unfortunate but every team has limited time and resources no matter how big it is. He probably shouldn't have said anything since the average person obviously hasn't spent any time in that sort of environment and isn't going to understand what he's saying.